What appeared before everyone was a Sha Hua Fishman covered in wounds.

It wasn’t one of those Elite Guards with two pairs of arms, nor a Fishman Priest with casting ability, but just the most ordinary, most common individual of the Sha Hua Fishman race.

It looked like it had just gone through a fierce battle; on its body, covered in fine blue-green scales, there were many deep, bleeding gashes, the worst of which had almost peeled open its chest and belly, faintly revealing the outline of organs beneath the diaphragm.

Its right hand was gripping tightly the standard-issue metal fish spear of its race, but the spear’s tip wasn’t pointed at them; instead, it was driven deep into the mud beneath it, being used to prop up the Fishman’s body.

Obviously, this Sha Hua Fishman was in a gravely injured state.

As mentioned earlier, although Sha Hua Fishmen are viewed as Demons by islanders living along the coast because of their inherently brutal nature and extreme hatred of other races.

In reality, they are also a kind of intelligent creature, with their own language and script, and a unique civilization.

They fear death, and they grieve the death of their companions.

Under normal circumstances, a lone Sha Hua Fishman that has fallen into a heavily wounded state, when it encounters a Senior Adventurer team like Sword of Vengeance, in perfect condition and with overwhelming strength.

Knowing it is no match, and that it cannot even run away.

Aside from the few particularly hard-headed individuals, it would rarely take the initiative to attack.

Begging for mercy or simply waiting for death would be the most likely actions.

But what was very strange was that this Sha Hua Fishman showed obvious hostility the very first instant it saw the people on the field.

Among everyone, Xia Nan’s Perception Ability was the sharpest. Drawn by the faint sounds coming from outside the corridor, he actually saw the Fishman even earlier than the Fishman saw them.

Precisely because of that, he could be said to have fully observed the other party’s reaction.

No hesitation, not the slightest trace of wavering.

In the instant that Sha Hua Fishman saw them, it let out a roar brimming with aggression.

For an intelligent being with a certain capacity for thought, this was undoubtedly abnormal.

Of course, its own strength did not match the reckless courage it was displaying at this moment.

With a Challenge Level of 0.5, plus a body mired in serious injuries, facing these Senior Adventurers before it, whose average Professional Level already exceeded Level 3... the outcome was obvious.

"Garru!"

Thick drool splattered from its mouthparts along with its Anger-twisted, near-maniacal roar.

With considerable difficulty, it wrenched the fish spear out of the mud beneath its feet, and limped toward the adventurers before it, launching an attack.

Shrrrip—

That was the harsh sound of a sharp blade tearing through flesh.

The heavy axe blade, shaped like an anchor, swept through the air in a weighty arc. Without any special power infusions, relying only on the pure Strength of flesh and a sharp weapon, it easily chopped through the thrusting fish spear, and the Fishman’s body behind it.

Without a shred of mercy, Akken used the weapon in his hand to cleave the enemy before him diagonally into two pieces.

After confirming there were no more enemies and that this was just a lone Sha Hua Fishman, Sword of Vengeance’s tight battle formation, originally fully prepared, loosened slightly.

Captain Lorin stepped forward slowly. Looking down at the Sha Hua Fishman at her feet, whose upper body had been separated from its lower half, with its viscera spilling all over the ground, yet was still gripping the remaining handle of the broken fish spear, trying to attack her, she frowned slightly.

"Something’s off."

Even the thick-nerved barbarian hulk Akken could see the oddity in this Fishman.

"It’s not like we slaughtered its whole damn family. I’ve never seen such a gutsy Water Rat."

At the same time, Xia Nan’s gaze was fixed on the fish spear that Akken had chopped in half.

—The blood left on the fish spear’s tip was a fluorescent blue.

"You mean... these Fishmen have been fighting among themselves too?"

Standing to the side, Hai Yin crouched down, carefully examining the body of this Sha Hua Fishman.

She could see that many of the wounds on its body matched the shapes of weapons used by Fishmen.

That made things very interesting. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Granted, whether among humans or among the Sha Hua Fishmen themselves, internal strife was nothing unusual.

But at this particular point in time, they had first discovered traces of islanders killing each other inside Twin Canyon, and then, quite "coincidentally," they had spotted Fishmen who were likewise engaged in internal fighting, even faintly showing signs of losing their sanity. On top of that, there were the strange buildings along the way, filled with Exotic Realm flavor. It was hard not to make certain associations.

"Maybe... there’s something in these Ancient Ruins that can affect the minds of living creatures?"

Based on the clues they had uncovered so far, Hai Yin made a reasonable deduction.

For Senior Adventurers like them, with rich experience, the things they were most averse to and wary of during a job were not the powerful Demons, but rather precisely these kinds of invisible, intangible latent threats.

Hearing her say this, the Spotted Cat race member Sasha, standing beside her, suddenly tensed up, fur all over her body bristling. One more nudge and she looked like she’d start hissing.

Xia Nan inwardly agreed with Hai Yin’s speculation.

Combined with what they had encountered along the way and his past experience, he also suspected that some object within the Secret Realm was affecting the minds of the islanders and Fishmen in Twin Canyon, driving them to Murder each other.

And once he realized that this might be the case, he raised his guard even further, constantly monitoring his own mental state.

Yet up to this moment, he still hadn’t noticed anything unusual.