“How is it, Zhuluo?”
On the bumpy deck of the wooden ship, Ella supported herself with both hands on the rough handrail, desperately standing on tiptoe to peer outside.
But this ship from bow to stern had been built according to beastman proportions.
The handrail was ridiculously high.
Even if she stuck her entire upper body out, her view was still tightly blocked.
Realizing this, several black lines instantly dropped down Ella’s smooth forehead.
In her heart, she silently roasted this broken ship from top to bottom.
The black-haired spider girl stood behind her.
Her eight slender yet flexible jointed limbs lightly rested on the deck to maintain balance.
Her voice calmly reported,
“This ship is merely an ordinary wooden sailboat with a set of extremely crude power devices installed. Its limit is only enough to barely return in windless weather. Wanting to voyage far and escape this sea area is fundamentally impossible.”
“Tch…”
Ella withdrew her hands and unhappily pursed her lips.
The original plan had directly gone up in smoke.
She had originally calculated that once on the ship, she would find an opportunity to dump this group of obstructive beastmen at the port and directly steal the ship to run.
Now it seemed this broken ship, let alone a long-distance voyage, might fall apart after sailing a few more days.
It was even possible it would sink midway.
It could only be said that as expected of a beastman ship—it not having fallen apart already was already a trampling of all mechanical laws.
Just as she was feeling depressed, Zhuluo suddenly spoke softly in reminder, her gaze turning toward the distant sea surface.
“Your Majesty, look over there.”
Ella followed her gaze and looked over.
Her pupils slightly shrank.
On the sea horizon, a steel warship of astonishingly massive size was slowly sailing.
Its pitch-black hull was conspicuously painted with the alliance’s emblem.
Figures shuttled across the deck.
She glimpsed quite a few figures with wings growing from their backs, as well as those with pointed ear tips and an ethereal temperament—seemed to be elves.
“Is that an alliance ship?”
“That’s right, Your Majesty. Those with pointed ears are elves. They excel at controlling various magics and are very powerful classes.”
Ella stared at one of the figures flapping white wings, lost in thought.
“That one—is it the same as Sereya, an angel?”
“The wings are on the smaller side, and the light is also dimmer. Its strength should be far inferior to Sereya’s.”
Even so, just one warship equipped with so many powerful class players was enough to show how enormous the alliance’s power had grown.
Ella’s heart sank.
She increasingly felt that she must accumulate sufficient strength as soon as possible.
Otherwise, once targeted, the few of them would have no room left to resist.
“All right, you can put me down now.”
A lightness came from behind.
Zhuluo silently withdrew the hand supporting her under the armpits.
Her feet once again stood steadily on the deck.
Ella silently swore in her heart that once conditions allowed in the future, she must find a way to make herself taller.
She would never again be limited by this broken height.
“We have officially left port, Your Majesty.” Shuang Ling stepped forward and reported in a low voice.
“Mm.” Ella leaned against the ship’s side and casually responded.
“I wonder what that group of beastmen can catch and bring back for us.”
Anything is fine, she silently added in her heart. Just don’t bring back some big monster with an octopus head and randomly growing wings on its back.
At this moment, Zhuluo suddenly opened her mouth, her tone carrying a trace of puzzlement.
“Your Majesty, you didn’t directly kill that green-skinned beastman just now. You only used one of his arms as the price to let the Sleeve Sword Insect rapidly grow. That actually surprised me somewhat.”
“Surprised?”
“Yes.” Zhuluo nodded.
“Based on your usual style of handling things, I thought you would directly suck him completely dry. That way, we could obtain an even stronger helper.”
Ella lowered her head and looked at her right hand.
The Sleeve Sword Insect was quietly lying on her arm.
Its carapace emitted a cold, hard luster, and it gave off no aura of a living creature whatsoever.
She knew clearly in her heart that the Sleeve Sword Insect, just like the previous Nest Tyrant, possessed no digestive organs of its own.
To maintain the high-heat sword edge’s ability, it had to rely on a specially established charging station.
Once its energy was depleted, it would completely degenerate into an ordinary cold weapon, possessing little deterrent power anymore.
Actually, it was not that she did not want to kill him, it was just that…
Ella gazed at the vast sea.
Her eyes dimmed slightly for an instant.
It was not that she did not want to rebuild the Insect Nest.
It was just that the moment she thought of doing so, she would once again revert to that Insect Mother who only knew devouring and expansion, cruel and merciless.
From the bottom of her heart, a trace of resistance inexplicably rose.
“Ella.”
A soft, gentle voice came from the stern of the ship.
Ella turned around and saw the red-haired mosquito girl Yiwen slowly walking up onto the deck.
Her originally neat skirt hem was stained with quite a few dark red blotches.
Even on her two sharp fangs, there were still traces of undried blood hanging.
Ella was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood.
That’s right. Yiwen’s original form is a mosquito. She definitely ran off to suck blood from the prey the beastmen just caught.
She could not help but roast in her heart: when she originally designed the character, she had probably modeled Yiwen after a vampire template, right?
“The beastmen actually kept their word. They have already helped us catch two big fellows,” Yiwen walked to her side, her tone carrying a trace of excitement.
“One giant deep-sea worm and one juvenile Kraken. They are being dragged at the stern right now. Both are fellows dozens of meters long. The scene is quite spectacular. Your Majesty should go take a look.”
Ella, however, had no interest.
She lightly shook her head.
“I’m thinking about other problems.”
“What problems?”
“We need a place to store these two big lumps of organic matter.” Ella’s brows slightly furrowed as she seriously calculated.
“Even if I inject insect eggs into them right now, it will still take quite some time for the Strider to completely digest them and fully grow. We must find a sufficiently safe and hidden place to settle them.”
Yiwen pondered briefly and gave an answer.
“There are quite a few idle warehouses near the port. That beastman has already promised to give us all the gains from this hunt. The other fish we catch can be sold. We can use that money to rent a warehouse.”
“Good. Let’s do it that way.”
Ella let out a breath of relief.
The corner of her mouth finally curved into a relaxed smile.
The first step of the plan had finally been completed smoothly.
With the Strider as this trump card in hand, they finally no longer needed to be on edge at all times.
They could also peacefully earn money at the port and hide their traces.
In her heart, she silently prayed, hoping that everything in the future would go smoothly.
It would be best if they never had to use this Strider at all.