"Leader, that guy wants to steal the boss!"
"Damn it, trying to steal our boss — we should've taken him out first!"
"Leader, let's split off a speedboat right now and go kill him!"
……
When the members of the Free Alliance saw that Shi Feng had already launched an attack on the Sea King Serpent, they flew into a rage. On the open seas, the Free Alliance had always been the ones taking advantage of others — no one dared take advantage of them.
"Calm down, what are you worried about? That's a Sea King Serpent. You think a single speedboat can make a splash? Once we finish off the Sea King Serpent, we can deal with him easily enough!" Jun Wuchang was irritated as well, but he understood clearly that this was a critical moment. He couldn't afford to get distracted, or Shi Feng would reap the rewards while they did the hard work.
Just as Jun Wuchang finished speaking, the magic formation Shi Feng had activated for the Dragon Lock Cannon finished charging.
A beam of dark light erupted from the bow of the Swift Dragon speedboat, piercing straight through the oncoming wall of waves and striking the Sea King Serpent's relatively vulnerable underbelly scales with pinpoint accuracy.
"Aoow!"
The Sea King Serpent let out a miserable shriek, its HP dropping by 322,849 points in an instant — over 220,000 more damage than the specially crafted Thunder Fire Bomb had dealt. The pained scream alone was proof that this strike had truly hurt it. After all the attacks it had endured before without so much as a whimper, a single shot drawing out that kind of cry was more than enough to show that this cannon was far more powerful than anyone had imagined.
"What incredible firepower!"
"You've got to be kidding — what kind of speedboat is that? Our Bronze speedboats can only deal around 120,000 to 130,000 points of damage even with Thunder Fire Bombs!"
Everyone stared at the shrieking Sea King Serpent, stunned by the Dragon Lock Cannon's destructive power.
"Leader, it looks like that guy's no pushover. That speedboat is definitely above Bronze Rank — it's very likely a top-tier Iron Rank speedboat!" Lan Xin, aboard one of the Bronze speedboats, couldn't help but gaze toward the Swift Dragon speedboat, her heart filled with shock.
What shocked her wasn't the damage dealt to the Sea King Serpent.
Over 300,000 points of damage was nothing to a Sea King Serpent that still had even 1% of its HP remaining. After all, 1% of the Sea King Serpent's health was still 1.6 million points, and combined with the creature's natural combat regeneration, actually killing it would be nearly impossible.
What truly stunned her was the speedboat's rank.
As players of the maritime empire, they had been battling sea beasts from the moment they left the starting towns, and obtaining speedboats came more easily to them than to land-based players. Even so, the Free Alliance's Third Fleet had only managed to acquire four Bronze Rank speedboats, and it was those four that gave the Third Fleet its considerable voice within the Alliance.
Yet the speedboat before them was Iron Rank. The entire Free Alliance didn't possess a single vessel of that caliber. Only a first-rate guild in the Terminal Sea had one, and that single ship had given the guild enormous influence across the Terminal Sea — no one dared provoke them on the open waters.
A fleet of Iron Rank speedboats was incomparably stronger than one of Bronze Rank speedboats. Had the Free Alliance not held an overwhelming numerical advantage in Bronze Rank vessels, they wouldn't even be able to hold their own.
And now, right in front of them, sat an Iron Rank speedboat. It was almost unbelievable.
……
"Incredible defense — worthy of a King-rank sea beast," Shi Feng murmured, clicking his tongue at the damage numbers.
The Dragon Lock Cannon's power far exceeded that of a standard Tier 3 spell, but against a berserk Sea King Serpent, even that amount of damage was negligible. The only consolation was that the cannon had managed to crack the creature's near-impenetrable scales, drawing some blood and inflicting a measurable wound.
Still, this initial strike had more or less served his purpose.
The Sea King Serpent was a level 52 King of the Seas — did anyone really think it would go down easily?
He had never harbored any illusions about soloing it. The entire exercise was a demonstration of strength aimed squarely at the Free Alliance.
That was the way of the Divine Realm. The strong ruled, and without sufficient power, no amount of talk would earn you respect. Only by showcasing real strength would the other side take you seriously.
After firing that single shot, Shi Feng held off on further attacks. Instead, he sent a message directly to Jun Wuchang while waiting for the Dragon Lock Cannon's cooldown. The cannon's cooldown was a full fifteen seconds — longer than a standard artillery piece. Even if the Sea King Serpent just stood there and let him shoot, he could never kill it. A King-rank sea beast was simply not the kind of monster a single speedboat could take down.
The message Shi Feng sent was straightforward.
Team up to kill the Sea King Serpent. Afterward, split the drops fifty-fifty.