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Chapter 580.5: Training Ground of the Sea of Death
Shame they didn't make a reckless move. Just showing up could've earned her a big box of dried cod.
Yaya patted her head, closed her spellbook with a dizzy frown, and pouted:
"Let's go. Time to head back."
"There's a special treat on the ship. You'll love it!"
At the word "treat," Little Menglan's eyes lit up. She turned around excitedly, asking what food it was and how it tasted.
Arriving at the deep waters of the perilous Sea of Deathâ
Bay Territory's steel magic warship crew swiftly rotated personnel.
Two-thirds of the veterans boarded the newly arrived warships.
They quickly took charge of their designated combat units.
Seeing the large group of fresh recruits, now Company Commander Yudala beamed at the eager young faces.
Beside her, Vice Commander Rika coughed lightly, signaling Yudala to begin introductions.
After a month of crash training, Yudala quickly got the message.
She had the recruits introduce themselves, then briefed them on their battle positions.
Adjustment time: just half an hour.
Almost immediately after the handover and quick intros, a readiness command came down.
"Deploy the bait!"
At once, Yudala had her soldiersânow familiar with their rolesâsnap into alert.
Watching body bags tossed into the sea, the 1.2-meter-tall Yudala marched confidently among the artillery crew.
She corrected errors and shouted in a voice that defied her small size:
"Round one: wound as many mutated sea beasts as possible."
"Round two: target the biggest, healthiest ones."
"Rounds three to five: focus fire on the most dangerous extraordinary beasts."
"That's our basic combat flowâfollow orders and give it your best."
"If you do well, I'll request commendations for you!"
Nervous new recruits braced for battle.
But veterans, experienced and tireless, kept their minds occupied with tactics.
Soon enoughâ
Hundreds of mutated sea monsters swarmed in, drawn by the scent of corpses.
Impressed by the bait's effectiveness, Matthew turned to Elio:
"Tell Fish Island to gather and produce more corpses. You also need to regularly clear Wokou piratesâmake good use of the waste."
Elio knew the Lord's stance on the Wokou and happily accepted.
Clearing out that scum was a very satisfying task!
Five minutes laterâ
Elio, perfectly on time, ordered a barrage.
Thirty-two warships opened fire.
Water splashed over ten meters high.
320 shells rained down on most of the mutated monsters.
Elio carefully observed the performance of old and new cannons.
Noticing different wounds on the beasts, she nodded in satisfaction:
"The new cannons are accurate, with stronger penetration. Great improvements."
Liana set down her spyglass, studied the new data, and mused:
"The new shell shape flies straighter and faster..."
Battle mode engaged.
Navy soldiers sprang into action.
Each one performed their role like a cog meshing with the others.
The giant war machines roared into motion.
The wounded monsters didn't even realize who their real enemy was.
Smelling blood, they went berserk, tearing into their wounded kin.
They devoured flesh greedily, and their bodies rapidly changed.
Already deformed parts twisted further.
A close look would feel like stepping into a nightmareânauseating and unsettling.
For melee soldiers, fighting such horrors took immense courage and willpower.
But for the navy, they were much luckier.
Their powerful magic cannons gave them unshakable confidence.
Amid thunderous blasts, the twisted monsters were blown to bits.
After just three rounds, the navy had fully hit their stride.
By the fifth round, only five grotesque extraordinary mutants remained afloat in the foul sea.
Finally, they sensed the attack and, with twisted limbs, began crawling toward the warships.
Spinning shells hit their excess limbs, leaving only central lumps of flesh.
Under constant bombardment, they instinctively hardened their defenses.
Scales and armor grew thicklyâas if enduring long enough meant victory.
But relentless shelling only made them tougher.
In the end, they became floating targets, lacking even organs to swim.
Heavy armor cocooned their bodies. Only a small rear part, untouched, still showed deformities.
After the eighth barrage, Elio ordered a ceasefire.
Five warships surged forward to encircle the remaining beasts.
The twisted creatures thrashed desperately upward.
The bloated, heavy bodies dragged them downward.
It created an absurdly ridiculous scene.
Beelzebub waved to Lokfar, raised a dragon-hunting crossbow, and pulled the trigger at the powerless mutated sea monster.
Bang!
The wrist-thick bolt pierced deep into the sea monster's body, a thick chain connecting it to the ship's crane.
On the other side, Lokfar also raised his crossbow. As the crane began lifting the curled-up sea monster, he decisively pulled the trigger.
The bolt slipped through the gaps in its armor, precisely striking its core, dealing massive damage and halting its final resistance.
The Shadow Hunter lowered his crossbow, watching the hoisted sea monster get dragged to the butchering zone. He patted its thick gray-brown scales with a look of anticipation.
He hoped to craft a light yet strong scale armor from those gray-brown scales.
Lokfar personally took the knife and sliced off the most valuable scales along the armor gaps.
Meanwhile, he explained to the new soldiers and butchers:
"The key to handling mutated sea monsters is speed. While they're still alive, cut off the valuable parts."
"Mutated sea monsters are unique. Their bodies self-heal and strengthen, adapting to their surroundings."
"So we exploit thisâforce them into a form we want, drain their energy, and render them helpless for slaughter..."
As he finished, Lokfar sliced through the monster's core.
Worthless chunks of flesh dropped into pitch-black sacks.
"Flesh remnants must be promptly disposed of to prevent mutation contamination..."
With that, Lokfar pulled a purification potion from his pouch and downed it.
The soldiers looked at him with respectânot because he was a troll, but for his actions.
All races accepted by Bay Territory either abandoned their vices or embraced its ideals.
Or they earned enough merit to redeem past shames.
Joining the deadly squads and completing three high-fatality missions.
Bay Territory judged people by thought, not race.
The other extraordinary mutated sea monsters were processed similarly, yielding precious materials, then purified.
"Yeah! First battle complete!"
Yudala beamed at the now-empty sea.
Seeing some soldiers still tense, Rika urged them to check weapons and gear to stay focused.
Many recruits were still savoring the brief battle, their fear and worry gone.
Some even felt unsatisfied, hoping for the next fight.
Commander Elio quickly granted their wish.
A second batch of bait was deployed in another direction.
Another wave of mutated sea monsters arrived, drawn by the scent.
At their officers' command, the soldiers began a new round of live-fire training.
With fierce firepower, superior numbers, and well-trained troopsâ
The navy cleaned out wave after wave of mutated sea monsters.
Until the sun touched the sea.
Only then did the battle-hardened sailors rest.
The ironclad warships carefully navigated reef clusters to reach a vast island.
A gift from the Leviathan tribe to Matthew.
They acknowledged Matthew and Bay Territory and wanted easier access to pirate corpses.
Matthew gratefully accepted.
With a wave, he gifted them 20,000 corpses.
He had ordered them brought aboard before departure.
For yet another of the Lord's "prophecies," everyone admired him more.
Recently, the Leviathan elders had been delivering these precious gifts deeper into the Sea of Death.
A newly rising port city and neat rows of houses marked over a month of construction work.
Cargo ships constantly unloaded supplies.
Hundreds of tons of dried fish were sent to the reef outskirts.
After a month-long wait, the Leviathans could finally feast.
A proper meal at last!
Alongside dozens of containers of living supplies, a large batch of sealed machinery and military goods were discreetly sent to the underground base.
There, a brand-new underground arms factory was being steadily built.
Mining golems swung mechanical arms, pounding ore chunk after chunk.
The falling ore dropped into waiting mine carts.
Once full, operators guided small mining golems out of the tunnels.
At a giant steel furnace, carts full of premium ore dumped their loads.
The rocks fell into molten metal.
Separate channels flowed with different molten metals.
Yaya grinned as she watched the golden stream.
Most abundant were iron and copperâthe main materials for magical cannons and shells.
So when Matthew discovered the massive ore vein beneath the island, he decided to build a sub-base here.
The island spanned 100,000 square kilometersâbarren, lacking vegetationâ
But situated in the Sea of Death's mutation zone, with a massive vein beneath, it was worth developing.
Moreover, controlling it brought another benefit.
On the Bay TerritoryâFarsicoâNew World trade route,
They needed such a supply and operations base.
It was also a fallback for Matthew.
After all, the northern continent's future would be chaotic.
Over the next three daysâ
All sailors cleared mutated sea monsters around "Abbot Island."
From group saturation strikes to ship-level engagements.
From fire coverage to precision targeting.
From long-range strikes to close-quarter combat drills.
From single cannon attacks to multi-weapon warfare.
In the unnoticeable Sea of Death, Bay Territory's navy was rapidly growing stronger.
Nearly 10 million gold worth of extraordinary materials accumulated through battle.
Naturally, these weren't for sale.
They would enhance Bay Territory's crafting of magical equipment and tools.
Ultimately, they'd equip reformed soldiers and extraordinary Professionals.
Matthew didn't share profits with the Yao Moon Family.
Give a measure of rice, they ask for a bucket.
Matthew always had clear boundaries here.
Only after repeated requestsâ
Did he feign impatience and dispatch 12 warships and 20 transports toward the New World.
Rare metal veins were irresistible to Bay Territory!
Crafting extraordinary magical tools, gear, golems, war puppets, and grand arraysâ
All needed massive amounts of rare metals. Luckily, Underdark mining and new factories barely met demand.
Butâ
The large Mage Tower under construction,
And future strategic floating citiesâ
Were true gold-devouring beasts!
Even the Underdark's output couldn't satisfy their growing hunger.
If not for them, why else would Matthew travel so far?
Bidding the "naval training ground" Sea of Death goodbyeâ
The fleet sailed south along the coast, reentering the Caribbean.
Leveraging Yao Moon and Farsico port connectionsâ
Bay Territory sold off the last military supplies for trade.
They also purchased rare metals and spell tomes in bulk from Farsico.
This detour was for future deals.
The Yao Moon Family understood Matthew and Bay Territory's intentions.
But they welcomed it.
Bay Territory's goods didn't compete with theirs. They could profit from rising war supply prices.
The coastal journey along Farsico took ten days.
The fleet reached the coast of the Death Peninsula.
A perilous sea zone teeming with extraordinary monsters.
Even hugging the coastline, wrecked ships and ruins were everywhere.
Fortunately, after hundreds of battles, Bay Territory sailors could now handle lone extraordinary beasts.
Each became war spoils!
These unmutated monsters netted nearly 500,000 gold each.
The profits made the Yao Moon Family envious.
But upon seeing the warship decksâ
Covered with kill-mark murals for each slain extraordinary beastâ
They realizedâwithout Bay Territory's magical cannonsâ
Even Legendary classes couldn't hunt these monsters easily.
The astonishing range and firepowerâ
Were what made those monsters fall so fast.
Plus, Little Menglan's underwater ambushes ensured no survivors.
In eight days, the fleet earned 8 million gold from hunting.
Of course, subtracting combat costs, upkeep, and rewards, Matthew pocketed just 3 million.
Even so, when Yaya did the math, her eyes lit up.
It was like discovering a gold mine!
Yet the fleet continued south under Yaya's wistful gaze.
They left behind the dangerous peninsula and final land signs, entering the open sea.
To Matthew's surprise, the sea between the two continents was calm.
They faced no danger and, after 20 days of sailing, saw new land.
A new continent of wealth, honor, territory, and death!
The Continent of Heroes!