Chapter 133 Ambush and Ambushed

Jace refused the harpoon offered to him by the gnome, and instead unwrapped the stick he had wrapped in a cloth and held it in his hand.

The tangled cloth on the surface of the staff was now soaked through, and it was a little heavier on the end than before, but Jace still felt more secure holding it.

Eyes on the cavernous hatch, this feeling of knowing the other person was waiting for you in the dark, but still having to face them head on was really unpleasant.

The five men were lined up, walking between the corridors of the staterooms on the level below decks, the three men in front, Grid in the rear, and Jace in the penultimate, leaning against Grid.

The guy at the front was a shaven man, naked with a rope on his back, completely devoid of any clothing or defense, holding a long pitchfork aimed straight ahead, his muscles always taut.

Jace held his own little notebook in his hand that had wet its pages, looking at the spells he’d memorized earlier in the blurry handwriting, silently reciting them in case it would be bad if he forgot them when the time came.

“Hey, watch this.” The leader said.

On the stairs into the bottom cargo bay is the body of a goblin, one of several who came down earlier to hunt the panther.

There were two deep scratches on his back, one of which had cut right through his abdomen and his insides were just dripping out. The guy seemed to have died from serious injuries crawling here, the only corridor away from the hatch.

But with the injuries he had sustained, it would be hard to escape death even if he crawled out.

The others were expected to end up no better, either killed or hidden somewhere, or else someone must have run back to the deck for help.

The lead man walked down the stairs around the body and poked his head inside to make sure there was no danger close by, then beckoned.

After they all landed in the cargo hold, a less distinct murmur came from the distance over the stray sounds of waves and rain lapping against the ship’s shell.

All five of them changed their complexion, obviously all of them had heard the sound.

Grid looked toward the source of the sound and asked softly, “Can anyone hear what this is?”

“Help?” The man with a ponytail, holding a fishing net and carrying a short stick said, “I heard a man yelling for help, sounded like a human.”

When he said that, Jace thought it looked like a cry for help, too.

But none of the five men made a move, for they all knew what the voice was used for.

The evil beast hidden in the bottom of the ship could never have spared the wounded man for no reason, and must have wanted to use his voice to attract others to come to the rescue and then sneak up on the rescuers.

There were animals on Earth that had mastered this kind of seduction skill, not to mention these more spiritual and treacherous beasts in Azeroth that were nourished by arcane magic. Those present were all hunters with some experience, and would certainly not fall for a similar trick.

“I’ll go take a look.” Grid said, “I have a shield, I can use it as bait to attract that black panther to attack me, then stall him …… you guys find a chance to catch him!”

“Are you sure?” Jess asked.

“Of course I’m sure. Why else would I bring it up? Cut the crap, Jace.” Grid muttered.

“Go ahead, Dwarf.” The ponytailed man said, “We’ll cover you.”

The topless man nodded back.

The woman with the stick said, “Be careful, Dwarf, if you can’t, run away, don’t lose your life.”

“Don’t say such unlucky things, dammit.” The dwarf said unhappily.

“Pay a little attention behind the crate next to it.” Jess warned.

Grid nodded, adjusted his grip on his shield, and took a step toward the source of the sound, probing one step at a time for fear that he would suddenly be pounced upon.

The crowd followed, stopping at a distance where they could almost launch a quick attack, and watched as Grid stepped into the shadows without a hint of light.

The ship rocked, seemingly a little more violently at this point than it had earlier on deck, the woman holding onto the cabin wall next to her keeping a close eye on the dwarf’s movements, and the pony-tailed man leaning against a wooden crate.

The topless man was crouched on the floor against the bulkhead, his long fork ready in his hand. A white not-so-clear shadow could already be seen in the bottom of the ship here, remembering that the sailor had come down earlier wearing a layer of lockjaw over a white shirt, and it looked like the lockjaw had been stripped off.

Jace was a little worried about Grid, he had spells ready for all sorts of situations, and as for whether or not these guys would notice the shadow magic he was using, he honestly didn’t care at this tense moment.

Grid was close to walking over to the white man, but the panther hadn’t shown up yet.

Jace said, “We need to get closer or we won’t be able to back him up first if he gets attacked.”

“That’s right.” The topless man lifted his hips and marched forward in a crouch, and the others followed in his footsteps.

Jace glanced back at the other end of the cabin, rows and rows of assorted crates and completely soaked blindfolds mixing together under the dim night, when a flash of lightning lit up, illuminating the empty rows in white, and Jace was expecting a very classic horror movie style glimpse of a monster in the blackness, but there was nothing.

The ponytailed man grabbed the edge of the porthole window, his hair blowing about in the wind as he followed Jace’s line of sight backward and said, “We should guard our backs as well, in case he’s waiting for us from behind.”

The topless man nodded and glanced behind him as well. At that moment, a series of muffled thunderclaps brought on by the lightning bolt from earlier rang out, and Grid shouted from the front, “This man can’t be saved! He’s missing half his body! Damn him!”

“Holy light.” The ponytailed man sighed, “Tell me where that panther is, will you?”

“Now I’m afraid Holy Light won’t be able to find him.” The topless man looked back and forth and said, “Could it be that we’re overthinking it, and that the panther just injured this man thinking he was dead and left? This cargo warehouse isn’t as big as we thought, if it was here with our senses it’s impossible that we wouldn’t be able to detect any traces at all!”

The entire cargo hold was filled with that foul odor emanating from the leopard, but it was hard to tell where it was strong and where it was light, and the cage was still in place and hadn’t been moved, so maybe it was just the smell of the feces in the cage.

The topless man was right, this cargo hold wasn’t that hideable, unless this Panther could be stealthy.

But as far as Jace knows, this world does not have the kind of direct invisibility in the game, you need to run in front of you to find the translucent shadow “sneak” skills.

As the men debated what to do next, the cabin jolted without warning, and Jace unknowingly peeled himself against the bulkhead next to him.

There was a sudden growl at his side and a figure flashed and disappeared, he turned to look but couldn’t immediately turn his head because of the lurching of the ship.

“He …… meh!”

The topless man yelled something but slammed his whole body into the outer bulkhead, got back up and yelled, “There was something!”

When everyone came back to their senses the ponytailed man was gone, leaving only a stick in its place!

He was taken?

“It’s the one with the hair tied up that’s been taken!” The woman raised the club in her hand and faced behind her, “I don’t see anything …… nothing behind me either, I was just watching behind me!”

“What nonsense?” Grider said as he ran to the crowd, “He’s just gone?”

“You didn’t see it?” Jess asked.

“It was pitch black on my side, and I was crouching down to look at the man’s wounds when I was shaken down, so how could I possibly see what was going on over here?”

“He’s taken, and he’s extremely fast, we’re no match for him, he’s here waiting for us to make a mistake!” The topless man said, “We should go back and wait for daylight, damn, this ship is too damn big! Now we’re not the hunters, we’re the prey!”

The vicious beast was more patient and adept at improvising than they would have liked.

Jace was incredibly tempted to release Saeuno at the moment, the little brat was definitely better at detecting danger lurking in the shadows than the few of them, after all, its eyes were the eyes of a demon, and no matter how well that animal could hide itself it was still a living thing, dripping with the power of life ……

But what’s the point of casting a shadow spell and telling them it’s arcane magic to fool these spell-ignorant amateurs, when a blatant demon scurries out? “Will we make it back alive?” The woman asked.

“Pull yourself together, all of you.” Grid tapped his shield with his stick and said, “Now there’s one less person to split the money with! Shouldn’t you guys be more excited! Now don’t go after any live captures, pull out all the stops you can, we’re going to kill this son of a bitch!”

“Agreed.” The topless man said, “I agree to kill him!”

“The key thing now is to know where that panther is.” The woman said, “Since you’re all experienced hunters, shouldn’t you arrange how to round it up?”

“I’ve only ever hunted in the forests of the Valley of Thorns, where have I done it from a ship?” The topless man said, “All the more reason for us not to separate now; separation is certain death!”

“Okay.” The woman said, “But it’s also important to find the location of this monster, let’s determine exactly what just happened.”

An ear-splitting clang came from above, like someone was fighting, but more like something in the cabin had fallen to the ground.

The sea wind was howling like a ghost, and a few people were a little frightened.

The woman looked up and asked, “Want to go up there?”

“On the off chance that it’s another false alarm.” The topless man said helplessly.

Now, the remaining four couldn’t make a decision whether to go up again; if they went up and pounced, wouldn’t it be like being slipped by that beast?

Jace wondered why the Panther hadn’t gone for Gridd, who was alone, if he was going to be caught. If one possessed the ability to catch one person in the middle of four, even if the Panther had stalked right up to Grider and grabbed him while the ship was rocking in the stall, the others would never have had a chance to react at that distance.

So what exactly is restricting the other side from attacking Greed instead of attacking a group of people on this side?

Jace looked over to the dark place where the body had fallen, and then over here where it was illuminated by the moonlight.

The window. It’s the window!