The shark suddenly attacked the fishing boat, instantly causing the entire hull to collapse. The fishermen only realized the approaching danger at that moment, and in terror, they shouted loudly.
This type of shark is known as a man-eater, its ferocity is fearsome, and once a fishing boat encounters it, the entire crew is often wiped out.
Normally, ordinary sharks do not prey on humans; the fish in the sea are sufficient to meet their needs. However, occasionally sharks will accidentally bite a human, and this bite is often fatal.
However, the man-eater specifically hunts humans. In the same waters, as long as there are humans, the man-eater will prioritize attacking humans, other food is ignored. Even if the person is on a boat, the man-eater will overturn the boat and eat the people who fall into the water.
Fishing boats are simply no match for the man-eater's attack, even warships often suffer heavy losses when encountering them.
Athenians generally believe that the man-eater is Poseidon's way of frightening mortals. If someone is unwilling to serve Poseidon, they will be attacked by the man-eater.
Of course, Poseidon's followers have a different explanation: Originally, all sharks in the sea liked to eat people, and it was Poseidon who tamed them, preventing them from preying on humans. But later, humans became ungrateful, even when sailing at sea, they did not offer sacrifices to Poseidon, so he allowed the man-eater to revert to its nature, as a punishment to humanity.
The man-eater shook its head, saw a young girl falling into the water beside it, opened its mouth to bite, about to bite her in two, suddenly its head tilted, and it missed.
The girl was able to escape from death, desperately swimming away. The man-eater tried to chase after her, but it swam crookedly, soon sinking and then surfacing, finally, after struggling for a while, it disappeared completely.
Linley said to Dave, "Take me there."
"It's too dangerous!" Dave exclaimed, "That's a man-eater."
"It's okay," Linley replied.
Dave cautiously took Linley out to sea. At this time, the boats on the surface were frantically paddling towards the pier.
Seeing Linley arriving, they all avoided him, reminding him, "There are sharks ahead! Man-eaters!"
"I've already seen it," Linley said.
At this time, the man-eater surfaced again, swimming on the surface of the water. Linley pulled back his slingshot and shot a grape bullet filled with alcohol.
The bullet hit the man-eater's nose, instantly shattering. Although the shark seemed unharmed, it quickly sank. These grape bullets cannot directly kill the enemy, but they can inject the alcohol inside into the enemy's body.
Alcohol is toxic to most organisms, and sharks are no exception. After the bullet hit the man-eater, a large amount of alcohol entered its body, causing it to rapidly become poisoned.
"Did you kill the shark?" asked the girl who was almost eaten earlier.
"It shouldn't be dead yet," Linley said.
The man-eater was huge, two grape bullets might not be enough to poison it to death.
"I'll go see," the girl jumped down, a knife in her mouth.
Linley was startled, what if the man-eater woke up? Not long after, the girl swam up, holding a large piece of shark nose in her hand, excitedly said, "The man-eater is dead! The alcohol killed the man-eater!"
Everyone cheered, the believers sang hymns, Linley only felt a little dizzy, he waved to the believers and said, "I'll go down and take a look."
Linley took a deep breath and plunged into the water. He was a competent swimmer, and the shallow, clear water made him feel like a fish. Since becoming a deity, his body was exceptionally strong, and he seemed to no longer need to breathe, moving effortlessly through the water.
He dived deeper, and soon discovered a shark lying on the seabed. The shark was still, with a large chunk missing from its nose, blood pouring out. Linley had never seen a shark up close before, and out of curiosity, he reached out and touched its rough, sandpaper-like skin.
With his push, the shark began to float in the water. Linley pushed again, harder this time, and the shark lifted off the seabed, slowly floating up. He lifted the shark and quickly rose to the surface.
The shark's weight increased dramatically the moment it left the water, and Linley nearly twisted his waist. In the water, buoyancy made pushing the shark easy, but once that support was gone, even with his divine strength, he couldn't budge it.
Linley slowly pushed the shark carcass to the shore, panting from exhaustion. The fishermen cheered and rushed forward, working together to drag the shark onto the beach. Such a large shark was incredibly valuable to them.
Shark skin could be used to build houses. While shark meat wasn't particularly tasty, it could be eaten after processing. Sharks have no excretory organs; they excrete through their skin, which is why their meat has a strong smell. However, throughout history, many people have eaten sharks, with coastal communities often consuming small sharks. Eskimos even fermented and pickled shark meat, creating a unique food.
Additionally, shark liver can be extracted for a large amount of shark oil, which can be used for skincare to prevent dryness, or in cooking, with wide applications. Despite its strong smell, it was still useful.
"Does anyone have a knife?" Linley stared at the shark's belly.
A young girl quickly stepped forward, offering a short knife and kneeling before Linley, saying, "Dionysus, please use my knife."
Linley took the knife and made a cut across the shark's belly, revealing various debris, including fish remains, half a sea turtle, and a severed arm.
"It ate a human?" Linley felt a wave of nausea.
"Probably," the girl replied. "We're lucky, this hand still has a ring."
Linley took a closer look and saw a diamond ring on the arm, exquisitely crafted with a dazzling diamond, subtly flashing with magical light, clearly extraordinary.
He hesitated, but the girl had already removed the ring from the severed hand and presented it to him with both hands. Linley used a small tool to pick up the ring and examined it closely, but couldn't see anything special. He called out to his system, "System, can you tell me what this is?"
"This is a beauty ring," the system replied. "Wearing it can preserve your youthful beauty."
"But this hand is clearly a man's hand," Linley said.
The knuckles were thick, the palm calloused in many places, the nails neatly trimmed, and there was a lot of hair on the hand. It looked like a man's hand no matter how you looked at it.
"Even men want to stay youthful and handsome," the system explained.
Youth was something everyone craved, but beauty was another matter. He couldn't help but wonder what this person looked like when he was alive. Linley decided the ring was useless to him and said to the girl, "This is a beauty ring, it can preserve your youthful beauty. I bestow it upon you."