The sea was no longer calm. It stank of brine, blood, and the faint metallic tang of fear.
Ling Yu stood at the prow of the ship, her hands still trembling faintly, though not from exhaustion. Her movements were precise and brutal, her weapon an extension of her will as she skewered monster after monster. She had learned the trick from her past life, the one loophole the Apocalypse System had left unguarded. If one could create a concentrated enough slaughter within a short timeframe, the system would recognize it as a wave being "cleared." That was exactly what she had done.
Over five hundred Reef Gnashers, their jagged coral teeth snapping hungrily only moments ago, now floated lifeless in the water. Their corpses bobbed in the crimson waves like grotesque buoys, rolling in and out of sight beneath the blood-tinted foam. Some were still twitching, severed fins slapping weakly before sinking into the abyss.
