"This… what is this situation?"
The group of contestants who had worked so hard to make their way through the Demon Forest all stared blankly at the scene in the red sea, completely dumbfounded.
Especially the Treant clan, who had been the fastest to cross the Demon Forest. They all looked confused and said, "Could this be an intermission? Are we temporarily not supposed to compete anymore, and they're letting us go onto the raft to relax first?"
"Th-That… isn't impossible!"
"But there seems to be only one raft on this whole sea!"
Some clever Rakshasa had signed agreements with the Treants long ago. For the water stage of the third round, they would carry the Treants across by flight.
Or, whenever there was a stage that required flying, the Treant clan could have them help.
In return, the Treants would protect them through the Demon Forest.
So… Quite a few clever contestants had already formed alliances, supporting each other through the second round of the competition.
But when the Treant clan and the Rakshasa finally struggled their way through the Demon Forest, only to see a mere human actually vacationing in the sea, they naturally became indignant.
One enormous Rakshasa bird king, with wings like blades, directly spread its wings and swooped toward Ethan's raft, saying, "You mere human vermin, you think you deserve to enjoy something this good? Get down here for me!"
"Hm?"
Ethan was currently soaking in the hot spring while taking a nap.
Hearing the commotion outside, he naturally opened his eyes and looked toward the shore.
He saw a Rakshasa birdman twice the size of a white eagle swooping toward him, its enormous claws even looking as though they intended to crush Ethan to pieces.
"Hmph! You're asking to die!"
Ethan snorted coldly and simply raised an arm from the hot spring. His Demonic Armor instantly transformed into a knight's lance, the kind that was a long, pointed cylinder, and pointed it straight at the Rakshasa birdman.
He waited for it to charge over by itself and turn into a roasted bird skewer.
"As expected, you're vermin!", The Rakshasa birdman became furious at the sight. It instantly used its two several-meter-long wings to shield its torso, saying, "You think a lousy human weapon like this can do anything to our Rakshasa clan? Then you must be underestimating our Rakshasa clan… Aaaah!"
Zzzzt~
However.
The Rakshasa birdman had not even clashed with Ethan yet when everyone saw it get shocked by the protective barrier around the Super Raft, its whole body smoking.
The Rakshasa birdman let out an even more miserable scream and fell into the red sea.
Splash!
Countless waves of red seawater immediately splashed into the air.
"Ahhhhh!"
"This water is corrosive, ah! Guards, hurry and save this king!"
Rip~
Hiss~
Unfortunately, before everyone had figured out what dangers were hidden in this red seawater, nobody dared rashly go down to save it.
After all, this seawater looked far too terrifying.
In just a few seconds, the incredibly powerful defenses of the Rakshasa Bird King had already been corroded by the water of the red sea, stripping away a layer of skin. Very soon, even its flesh was decomposed along with it, leaving only its internal organs and bones bobbing up and down in the seawater.
But the Rakshasa Bird King's internal organs lasted only a few more seconds before disappearing as well.
The skeleton sank to the bottom.
The dignified Rakshasa Bird King had been completely devoured by the terrifying red sea just like that.
And Ethan, who was soaking in the hot spring, finally felt how terrifying the red sea was at this moment. But he suddenly became curious whether his Demonic Armor could withstand this level of corrosion.
"Don't go looking for death," The Eye of Nightmare sensed Ethan's curiosity and immediately spoke up, "This isn't a red sea at all. It's a Sea of Devouring Worms. These worms can devour all things. Even the scales on your body, metal, and even shells, they devour everything."
"You're saying this sea is fucking full of worms?"
Ethan was stunned.
Only then did the Eye of Nightmare blink and say, "Yep! And they're worms that naturally possess the talent to devour. It's said that these worms were formed after the corpses of Starry Sky Worms fell here and decomposed, forming this Sea of Worms."
"…"
Ethan didn't know whether they could devour the armor on his body, but right now, he definitely didn't want to touch this seawater even a little.
And because everyone had witnessed the fate of the Rakshasa Bird King, from the birdmen to the Treants, nobody dared target Ethan anymore.
But that didn't rule out some people wanting to cooperate with Ethan.
"Hello!"
A man wearing a wizard's hat directly used sound transmission to communicate with Ethan, "I'm the mage Wardimore. I can pay one thousand Dragon Coins. All I need is for you to let me sit in one corner of the bamboo raft so that I can safely cross this red sea."
"Hm?"
Ethan's eyes immediately lit up when he heard this.
'How did I not think of this move? Right, I can completely work as a boatman here, and an expensive one at that.'
This was absolutely a great opportunity. Why would he give it up for nothing?
"One thousand is too little."
Ethan rejected him without hesitation.
Mage Wardimore was still somewhat unwilling to give up and said, "One thousand Dragon Coins is already quite a lot! You should know that even winning a place in the top hundred only gets you a prize of one hundred thousand Dragon Coins. And we're only at the third round right now. Paying one thousand Dragon Coins to cross a sea is already a high price, okay!"