The fish monster finally lost its grip — but still refused to fall back into the water. Its razor-sharp claws dug into the ship’s iron hull, its thick fish tail beating against the side of the vessel. Half dangling from the ship, it let out a furious, indignant shriek!

A’long and A’qing attacked with everything they had, but whether it was bamboo poles or blades, whatever they jabbed into its tough scales caused no visible pain whatsoever!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ashalina had been drawn into a desperate fight!

She couldn’t handle the fish monster alone!

She knew the throat was its weak point, but the creature was crawling flat across the deck, and she could barely find an opening to reach its throat!

She thrust her bamboo pole at it — the monster opened its mouth and bit down! The long pole snapped apart section by section, chewed up like a stalk of sugarcane.

The back half of the pole was still attached to a tattered fishing net. The monster chomped through that too, without a second thought.

Ashalina felt like cursing!

And over on A’long and A’qing’s side, the situation was equally perilous — the fish monster below had tremendous strength, and was visibly starting to creep back up toward the deck!

In that moment, Ashalina didn’t know whether she should keep dodging or go help A’long and A’qing.

Two fish monsters had indeed spread them too thin, just as they’d feared.

“Get back!” Bai Youwei suddenly shouted.

Ashalina grabbed the last of the fishing net and flung it over the monster’s entire face, then turned and ran!

At the same moment, Bai Youwei threw the rabbit — a brilliant arc of blue-violet lightning struck the mermaid monster’s back with a crackling blast! The fish monster convulsed violently!

Ashalina turned her head just in time to witness this, and her breath caught in astonishment.

But the electrocuted fish monster only collapsed for a few seconds before it raised its upper body again, front limbs moving with agile purpose as it crawled toward Bai Youwei!

Ashalina’s heart clenched. She rushed forward to help!

But the mermaid was faster than her! Its lower fish tail slammed hard against the deck, launching its entire body into the air — it hurtled straight for Bai Youwei!

*Boom!*

A massive burst of electricity detonated!

The mermaid monster was flung sideways as if slapped by a tremendous invisible force, its body lurching and crashing heavily onto the deck!

Ashalina thought — surely that was fatal?

It wasn’t.

The fish monster was stunned for only a few seconds before it swayed back upright. It flipped over, rising onto its limbs, the umbrella-shaped skin membrane on its neck flaring open in fury! It let out a piercing, grating screech!

“This… this monster isn’t even afraid of electric shocks?” Ashalina was utterly flabbergasted!

She was someone who had entered labyrinths and cleared games before, who had seen all manner of strange creatures — and yet this fish monster was, frankly, obscenely powerful!

As the fish monster attempted to launch another attack, Bai Youwei unleashed another electric shock.

—

This time, the fish monster didn’t even flinch — it only retreated half a meter before crawling back toward her with furious intent!

Bai Youwei furrowed her brow, and the rabbit continued releasing electric shocks.

If this continued, the situation would turn against her. The rabbit’s charge would run out eventually.

And there was no telling how long it would take for the boat to reverse out of the passage.

It was also entirely possible that without killing the fish monsters, they couldn’t back out at all!

Bai Youwei looked at the bamboo poles on the ground, chewed to splinters, and something suddenly occurred to her. She turned and shouted toward the wheelhouse: “Xiaoxin! Open the hold hatch!”

“The hold?” Ashalina caught on immediately. “…Those fish!”

“Right! The bamboo poles were used to dry the nets — they’re soaked in the smell of fish!” Bai Youwei gritted her teeth. “…Maybe it’ll work!”

The mermaid lunged at them again! Neither of them had time to think further — they scrambled to deal with the threat in front of them, while buying Pan Xiaoxin a window of opportunity.

Pan Xiaoxin ran at full speed.

He had his small backpack on his shoulders as he sprinted down to the deck level where the fish were stored and yanked hard on the ring bolted into the wooden hatch!

An overwhelming stench of fish poured out in an instant!

Both fish monsters were immediately drawn to it. They abandoned their current targets and scrambled quickly toward the lower deck, burrowing into the unbearably reeking pile of dead fish!

Ashalina arrived the very next moment. She drove her foot into the wooden hatch, slamming it shut with a heavy thud!

Then she fastened the latch with a swift snap!

—