How can one fold a low-level sea monster to occupy the least amount of space in a one-cubic-meter area?
Seraphina couldn't be bothered to think about it and chose a more convenient method—split it into pieces!
One part for the tail, one part for the body, and the hands and head could also be detached. If they were arranged properly, they wouldn't take up much space at all!
This is exactly what Seraphina was doing now.
Lucas Hall walked over and asked, "Do you have any basic rope?"
"15 units," Seraphina replied. (One unit equals one meter.)
"That's perfect!" Lucas exclaimed, "Give me all the rope, and I'll make a raft. That way, we can cross this sea area. It's too dangerous to swim over."
Seraphina stopped what she was doing and glanced at the sea.
Her Astrology ship was docked next to the Nightmare, about a thousand meters away from land. It really would be too dangerous to swim.
"Alright."
After a moment of thought, Seraphina agreed to Lucas's suggestion and handed him all the rope.
At this point, cooperation was the best option.
The recent battle had established a basic level of trust between them.
Lucas took the rope and ran back into the cave, where he stripped the clothes off a male corpse to convert into fabric. He also rummaged through the pile of bones and found five fabric pieces, which he used to craft five units of simple rope.
Now they had 20 units of rope.
Next, he gathered some raw wood.
Lucas held a flintlock rifle, which had powerful firepower—one shot was enough to snap a tree of reasonable size.
After a little work, they had enough wood.
He then used a witch's dagger to refine the wood and tied it all together with the rope.
In no time, a one-meter-wide raft was completed!
It cost a total of 13 units of rope and eight pieces of wood.
The extra rope could be tied to both Seraphina and Lucas's waists. If one of them fell into the water, the other could pull them back up in time.
With everything ready, it was time to see how well the two could execute their plan.
After all, they had only just met, and there were still many unknowns.
"Alright, get on. The raft's ready!" Lucas called out.
Seraphina had finished disassembling the sea monster and walked over to climb onto the raft.
They each took a simple oar (sharpened daggers) and began pushing the raft toward the ship.
The water was much calmer here due to the trees and the island, making it easier to navigate.
The journey went smoothly, and they quickly approached the ship.
Lucas even started eyeing the coconut trees.
Though submerged, the trees still had coconuts, and they could use a hook to pull them down.
Just as he was thinking this, a massive force struck the bottom of the raft, nearly throwing both of them into the sea.
"There's something in the water, and it's big!"
Lucas immediately became alert, pointing his flintlock rifle at the water.
Seraphina, who had almost fallen over, spotted a dark shape swimming past out of the corner of her eye.
"There's a giant snake in the water, right there!" she pointed.
Lucas was about to look when the raft was knocked again, and a rope snapped. The raft became unstable.
If this continued, the raft would definitely break apart!
If that happened, they would both fall into the water and be directly attacked by the sea snake.
The consequences didn't bear thinking about!
They were still about two hundred meters from the ship, and swimming over wasn't an option!
Realizing this, Lucas's eyes gleamed with madness.
He was in a frenzy, fearless and highly combative.
This sea snake wanted to eat him? Well, if it wanted him that badly, he had no problem being eaten!
He grinned, dunked his flintlock into the water, and fired.
Boom!
Water splashed everywhere.
As expected, the flintlock didn't care about water—rain didn't affect it, and it even worked when submerged!
Seraphina heard the shot and turned to ask, "What are you doing?"
"Testing the gun."
Seraphina frowned, confused by his words, and suggested her own plan.
"We could try using the sea monster's flesh to lure it away. I can throw it far..."
"No need. It won't work." Lucas shook his head, eyes still locked on the dark shape in the water. "I can feel it. It's focused on me. It's inviting me down to fight!"
"Feel it? Are you sick? How's your sanity?"
Lucas didn't respond. Like a madman, he jumped into the water, leaving only this phrase behind.
"When there's big movement underwater, pull me up immediately!"
"You... you plan to fight it in the water? You're committing suicide!"
But in reality, Lucas had a high chance of victory!
He was remarkably calm, carefully timing everything.
In just 15 seconds, he would have another shot.
With the flintlock's power, if he hit it once, he could kill the snake.
Meanwhile, the snake would need several minutes to kill him.
It didn't have the sharp teeth to shred its prey—it killed by constriction and suffocation.
During that time, Lucas would have at least three, maybe even four, shots.
As long as he landed one, the snake would be torn in half!
The snake, eager for a meal, quickly swam up to him.
Its body was as thick as an adult's thigh, and it swam as swiftly as a fish.
If it were on land, Lucas might have had a chance to fight it.
But in the water, without the right weapons, his chances were close to zero.
The snake tightly wrapped around him, and he could barely free his right hand to shoot.
What happened to the rest of him didn't matter to it!
Soon, Lucas fired the first shot.
Click!
The gun jammed.
But that was fine. He still had more chances!
The sea snake tightened its grip, and Lucas felt his ribs grinding together, unable to resist.
He counted the seconds, then fired again.
Click!
Another jam.
By this point, Lucas had lost much of his air, his ribs felt like they were about to snap, and his whole body went numb.
Yet, he remained calm and waited for the next opportunity.
The sea snake sensed something was wrong.
Lucas was unlike any prey it had encountered before!
It tried to finish him off with one last strike, biting into Lucas's left shoulder.
"You dare bite me? Well, I'll bite you back!"
Lucas retaliated, sinking his teeth into the snake's body, his strength so fierce that it punctured the scales.
At the same time, his third shot hit the snake's head.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang out underwater.
The bullet blasted off half the snake's head.
But the snake didn't die immediately. It let out a loud, tragic hiss and released its grip on Lucas.
However, its death was inevitable. It was already done for.
"I won!"
Lucas let out a breath of relief.
Though the battle had been hard, he had emerged victorious!
His body began to sink slowly...
"Shit, I've got to swim up!"
Lucas tried to move, but to his surprise, he couldn't summon any strength.
Above the surface, a massive splash erupted, sending water spraying into the air.
Soon, thick black blood began to float up.
Seraphina had been watching for any movement underwater. As soon as she heard the gunshot, she yanked on the rope tied to her waist.
But the rope had snapped.
It had broken sometime during Lucas's battle with the sea snake.
Seraphina looked at the water's surface, hesitated for a few seconds, then jumped in.
Minutes later,
Lucas coughed up a large mouthful of water and a piece of snake skin that had been bitten off.
After he regained his breath, his blood quickly returned to normal, and his mind cleared.
It was Seraphina who had saved him, performing CPR on him.
"Thank you. I owe you my life," Lucas said gratefully.
He had noticed the snapped rope before he lost consciousness and thought he was done for. But to his surprise, she had jumped in to save him.
He also noticed that his question mark skill progress had increased to 2/3.
At that moment, Lucas had a good guess about the skill's requirements—likely three near-death experiences.
Seraphina, on the other hand, was feeling conflicted inside.
Her gaze toward Lucas was somewhat strange... like she was looking at a rare animal.
"Betting one's life on combat without hesitation... this goes against every biological instinct!"
She thought to herself, then noticed the wound on Lucas's shoulder.
"You've been bitten. The snake's venom could be toxic!"
Seraphina moved closer and began sucking out the venom, stopping only when the blood turned bright red.
Lucas looked at her, feeling a strange sense of gratitude.
After all, this was a risky procedure.
While snake venom was mostly protein, which would be digested in the stomach, it could be dangerous if there were any cuts or sores in the mouth or digestive tract.
Once the procedure was done, Lucas began to recover.
The two of them made their way to the ships and boarded their respective vessels.
.........
Lucas Hall's Observation Journal:
His madness is so captivating!
He never hesitates, always has a clear sense of purpose, and creates battle strategies.
But he probably doesn't even realize how strong his desire to fight is, how much he craves to kill, even if it costs him his life...
But what if the enemy is too strong?
How will he choose then?
That remains to be seen...
— Witch Seraphina