The Archipelago, Silver Sand Bay.
The mountaintop manor where the great slaver once entrenched himself had long been leveled to the ground. In its place stood a towering structure, its grayish-white body visible from far away.
The entertainment venues at the foot of the mountain had also been cleared out, rebuilt into rows of somewhat disorganized shacks with curling smoke from cooking fires.
The population of the entire island was even larger than before the Mist wreaked havoc.
After all, all the survivors of the Archipelago had been settled in Silver Sand Bay and several nearby islands by Sophia.
The bay was moored with ships of all sizes—some newly built, some repaired—their masts standing like a forest. Furthermore, new ships were being built around the clock.
More than ten miles to the east, on a small island much more inconspicuous compared to Silver Sand Bay.
Two Tiger-men squatted among the reefs, heads down as they hauled in a fishing net.
Their fur colors were one dark and one light. The dark-furred one was sturdier, while the light-furred one was tall and thin, missing a small piece of his ear.
Both carried the brands of slaves on their bodies, but that was all in the past. Today's Archipelago no longer distinguished between slave and non-slave.
"Pull slower, don't tear it," the dark-furred Tiger-man said without looking up, his thick fingers deftly untangling the fish caught in the mesh. "If it breaks again, we'll all go hungry."
"I know, I know," the one with the missing ear replied, but upon looking at the catch in the net, he couldn't help but mutter, "It's getting less and less. This net used to bring in half a bucket, now it doesn't even cover the bottom."
The dark-furred one didn't make a sound.
He gave the net a hard yank, and the pouch flipped up out of the water, revealing a few more palm-sized trash fish and a couple of half-dead sea crabs.
The earless one spoke again: "This won't do. You know how much food those shipbuilders consume every day, but the fish have all been eaten by the bugs. Where are we supposed to get that much food? Even the Murlocs on the neighboring island don't have any good ideas!"
He leaned in closer, dropping his voice significantly: "Brother, I think everyone leaving together on ships is completely unrealistic. In the end, a batch of people will definitely be left behind. We need to make plans early!"
"Shut up!" the dark-furred Tiger-man suddenly shouted harshly, giving his younger brother a start. "Lady Hero said she would take everyone with her, so she will definitely do it! Even if, forced by circumstances, someone has to stay... our lives were saved by Her Ladyship anyway. What's the big deal if we have to give them back?"
The earless one resentfully shut his mouth.
The dark-furred one patted his shoulder: "Cast the net one more time. We haven't reached the point of starving y—"
"Big brother?" the earless one asked, somewhat confused.
The older brother signaled for him to stay quiet. Those tiger ears twitched slightly, listening carefully to the surrounding sounds.
*Splish—*
After the earless one quieted down, he finally heard that abnormal noise as well.
Something was approaching, stepping through the water. The sound was very faint, almost entirely masked by the sound of the waves, but the Tiger-men's hearing could barely distinguish it.
The earless one looked around but saw nothing.
Having dealt with Keith many times, both of them understood what this meant—the bugs had come ashore again!
Just as the two Tiger-men were preparing to make a move, the tip of the distant tower suddenly lit up with a brilliant light. The light condensed into a single line, instantly crossing over ten miles of ocean and landing a dozen meters in front of them.
*BOOM—!!*
The reef shattered, and purple blood splattered.
A bug's body materialized there. Its six sharp claws reached toward them menacingly, but it had lost its head. The headless torso swayed, then slammed heavily onto the reef. The squeezed-out purple blood even splattered near their feet.
Before the two Tiger-men even had time to marvel at it, the sound of many more footsteps splashing in the water suddenly echoed around them. Only then did they realize in shock that they had unknowingly been completely surrounded by bugs!
This time, however, the bugs weren't coming for them; instead, they were retreating back into the sea.
Soon, the coast returned to silence. That arrow radiating magical brilliance also gradually dissipated, leaving behind only the corpse of a bug.
The earless one stood with his mouth agape, staring blankly at the still-twitching bug corpse, his claws still gripping the fishing net he hadn't had time to cast out.
"Th-this..."
He turned his head and looked toward the west. That tip of the tower still stood quietly at the boundary between sea and sky, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Lady Sophia's magic arrow?" the earless one's voice floated. "From this far away... she actually could..."
The dark-furred one squatted down and poked the bug corpse with his claw.
The carapace was as hard as iron; he couldn't pierce it.
He withdrew his hand, wiped the purple blood off on his pants, stood up, and also looked toward the tall tower.
"She is the Hero, after all!" His voice was much steadier than the earless one's, but he also couldn't hide the reverence in his eyes. "If she didn't have some extraordinary abilities, how could she have led us to survive until now?"
"No matter what, we have meat now... even if it's the worst-tasting kind."
The earless one, however, felt his legs go a bit weak.
It wasn't just narrowly escaping death from the jaws of a bug. He was even more afraid that, aside from her extraordinary vision, Lady Hero's hearing was equally good, and she had heard everything he said earlier.
He could only comfort himself in his heart: *She is Lady Hero after all. She has a broad mind and probably won't make things difficult for me over a few idle words...*
He was overthinking it. Sophia only had clairvoyance, not clairaudience.
Atop the tall tower, Sophia stood at the highest point.
Sunlight shone diagonally from behind her, stretching her shadow long and casting it onto the stone brick floor.
She gazed in the direction of the small island. Deep within her pupils, a white rectangular frame was slowly rotating.
In her eyes, the silhouette of every single invisible Keith was outlined by a white frame. **[Refraction Stealth]** was completely useless against her.
However, after Keith began to retreat, she didn't continue attacking.
After quite a while, when all the bugs had run away, she finally spoke with some regret: "This bug has learned to be smart. It already knows to hide the eye-bugs behind cover to prevent me from picking them off."
Possessing a status panel, Sophia, after analyzing the bugs' skills and statuses, naturally understood that Keith relied on individual eye-bugs to control the swarms below.
If she couldn't kill the eye-bug, merely killing a few ordinary bugs was meaningless.
And Keith, after losing eye-bugs a few times, had also gradually figured out Sophia's strength.
This ambush just now was merely another probe.
Sophia knew that this bug still hadn't given up on eating their group. The only reason it hadn't launched a large-scale attack until now was because it was somewhat wary of her.
And her reason for not shooting those ordinary bugs to weaken the swarm as much as possible was also out of a desire to play it safe.
After all, what she had to protect now was the entirety of Silver Sand Bay and the surrounding small islands.
And the crisis they had to face, aside from the bugs, included the Mist that could surge back at any time.
"Time is running out. I'm afraid we won't be able to take everyone with us," the Captain of the Guard beside her suddenly said.
Sophia looked down at the shacks below the tower: "They chose to stay in Silver Sand Bay because they trusted me. Many of them originally had the opportunity to set sail and return when the Mist first retreated. I cannot abandon a single one of them."
"Sometimes, you have to choose to sacrifice a portion of people. It is all for ultimate victory," the Captain of the Guard said again.
Priest Samuel beside them remained silent.
Sophia sighed: "Bella will bring back good news. With the Kingdom's help, we will be able to transport everyone back at once."
Suddenly, Sophia's eyes lit up!
She saw a familiar ship at the boundary between sea and sky—Bella had returned!
Although the ship was in poor condition and there were far fewer crew members, when the ship docked, Silver Sand Bay still erupted in fierce cheers, scattering the gloom that had been hanging over everyone's hearts.
Bella had brought back hope!
Seeing Bella's visibly weakened body, Sophia couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache and be moved.
After some greetings and catching up, Bella delivered the communication crystal, and also incidentally mentioned the matter of Puchis having almost taken over the Kingdom and currently fighting with Keith for the ocean.
It took Sophia and the other two quite a while to digest this before finally accepting the fact that the Puchi, this round, beginner-village monster, had actually become a world hegemon in just a few short years.
(End of Chapter)
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