Pirate Kingship

Chapter 376 - 314 Opening of the Taming Spear: Sea Monster Ammonite

Chapter 376: Chapter 314 Opening of the Taming Spear: Sea Monster Ammonite

The white fog over the sea became even denser, and the pungent smell of fish filled the nostrils.

Violet immediately returned to Byron’s side and took his hand to complete sensory sharing.

After a jolt of stimulation, like an electric shock to the soul, Byron’s vision instantly expanded beneath the surface of the water, where he saw a colossal figure stirring the currents and rapidly advancing towards the Golden Deer.

The first thing that caught his eye was a spiral shell, brown and yellow in color, with a smooth glazed texture, resembling a giant chrysanthemum in full, vibrant bloom. Then came a cluster of dense red tentacles behind the shell. As the tentacles moved, they whipped up high-speed Torrents, forming a spindle-shaped film of water on its body. It seemed to fly through the water without any resistance, its speed increasing ever more rapidly. Even if there were rocks protruding from the sea floor in its path, they would be crushed to pieces as if struck by a heavy siege hammer.

Without a doubt, this was an oceanic giant.

The diameter of the giant chrysanthemum-patterned shell alone exceeded twenty meters, and with the cluster of tentacles, it reached a total length of forty meters.

By its distinct biological features, Byron immediately recognized it as a descendant of the ancient ammonite, a close relative of the commonly used communication tool, the mini Parrot Conch.

Most crucially, it had as many as sixty tentacles!

This mollusk appeared similar to squids and octopuses, with the exception of an additional shell, but the number of its tentacles far exceeded the sum of the latter two. The males had 60 tentacles, while the females boasted an astonishing 90.

In Byron’s eyes, this was a perfect creation of the gods. Indeed, the creature was perfect! Stir-fried squid blossoms, deep-fried squid rings, sizzling squid on a hot plate, steamed squid, creamy seafood soup... there would be too much to eat, simply inexhaustible.

SLURP!

This time, having sensed something amiss, Violet observed closely. She could not only feel Byron’s intense craving for food, but even hear the sound of him swallowing his saliva.

"That’s right, last time’s feeling wasn’t my illusion."

She could almost imagine Byron gnawing fervently at her feet someday, thankful that he seemed to still have the willpower to control his appetites.

The girl’s cheeks, like white jade, were still tinged with an enticing blush.

Of course, Violet didn’t forget to immediately alert the crew, "It’s a Major-type Sea Monster, an [Ammonite], with combat power roughly equivalent to a Fourth-rate Ship! All hands, prepare for battle."

"Understood."

The battle-hardened crew members immediately responded, taking their positions like finely tuned machinery and keeping a vigilant eye on the fog-enshrouded seas.

Whether terrestrial creatures, birds, or marine life, due to various reasons—be it influence from Source Tides, ingestion of some treasure, or contact with Indescribable contamination—they might accidentally break through their racial limits. Just as humans receive titles, these creatures acquire a special Rank.

The apex of the ocean’s food chain is composed of various colossal Sea Monsters. The most obvious feature of those who have attained a Rank is rapid growth in size, with even the smallest Sea Monster exceeding thirty meters in length. With brute force alone, they far surpass even High Sequence human Transcendents. It has always been humanity as a collective, not individuals, that could stand against them.

The Lighthouse Union categorized these Sea Monsters based on their size: Minor-type, Major-type, and Jumbo-type. Their challenge level corresponded with the six levels of Warships, loosely matching the length of the Sea Monster with the gun deck length. For example: Minor-type corresponded with Sixth-rate and Fifth-rate Ships; Major-type corresponded with Fourth-rate and Third-rate Ships (40-meter, 50-meter class). At the Jumbo-type level, they were formidable; nothing short of a hundred-gun Second-rate or First-rate Battleship, or a Wonder Battleship of equal power, could stand against them.

This didn’t even account for their additional transcendent abilities, such as creating fog, illusionary sounds, mental suggestion, controlling currents, Deep Sea Leap... and so on.

Sailing ships usually prioritize driving them off when encountering them on their course, as killing or capturing them is extremely difficult. Byron earned the title "Sea Hunter" by audaciously killing a Minor-type Sea Monster, the Twin-Gun Squid, before a Long-range Fleet, which speaks to the legendary nature of such feats.

Now, they faced a Major-type Sea Monster with combat power roughly equivalent to that of the Fourth-rate Golden Deer.

At that moment, Small Eight, the ship’s octoman livestock handler, warehouse manager, and cook, approached Byron with bad news. "Captain," he reported, "we’ve used up all our Fish Poison Potions during the previous battle with the octopus Warship."

Without the Fish Poison Potions, they couldn’t force the opponent out from underwater, which would surely put them at a disadvantage in the fight.

Small Eight looked at the expression in Byron’s eyes, and then boldly volunteered, "Captain, shall I use ’Wild Ally’ to try and make it give up the attack? It might just require sacrificing some cattle and sheep to satiate it."

Small Eight, though aspiring to be a great Sword Saint pioneering the Eight-Blade style, had not neglected his primary job as a Beast Tamer. Perhaps his Second-order ’Wild Ally’ was not as powerful as the Third-order ’Domination Holy Seal’ or the Fourth-order ’Heart of the Beast King.’ However, he believed that if paired with a bribe of food, it might work. Pioneering a new sea route is like running an escort agency; if you fight your way through everything, even the strongest agency can’t bear such losses.

"No need for that," Byron decisively waved off Small Eight’s suggestion. "This time I will personally take care of this... SLURP, tentacled monster."

Satiating it? Who’s going to satiate me?

Today, not only had Byron consumed a cup of Third-order Blood Brew, but he had also experienced the advent of the Touch of the Kraken, and he felt hungry again. His desire for tentacles was especially strong.

Such a large ammonite with sixty tentacles was simply Byron’s dream pet, a naturally born Sacred Body, a reserve of provisions!

Similarly, as a provision reserve, Small Eight, with only eight tentacles, had no idea that he had instantly fallen out of favor.

The Sure-hit Spear, Gungnir, once again landed in Byron’s hands, targeting the Sea Monster across from him. The blue, transparent, crystal-like spearhead shone bright, with a Rune lighting up on its side. One side of the spearhead held the ’Spear of the Hunt,’ an ability he had been relying on until now. However, the other side, ’Spear of Taming,’ had never been used before.

The effect read, "Restricted to non-human creatures. Upon hitting the target, it will enter the Spiritual World on its own. Only by using one’s will to overpower the prey can one truly Tame the opponent. If the target manages to break free or overpower the attacker in return, it could lead to mental trauma. The more creatures one Tames, the heavier the burden, so proceed with caution based on one’s capacity."

BOOM!

An Air Blast Ring burst forth, and the Sure-hit Spear turned into an invisible, intangible phantom, plunging into the body of the underwater ammonite.

YING—!

The Sea Monster made a sound like a baby’s wail from its mouth, suddenly halting its forward charge. It seemed to be bound by an invisible chain; despite its continuous rolling and struggling, it was utterly unable to break free.

Byron also closed his eyes, entering a Spiritual World where only he and the ammonite existed. He saw a mini ammonite much smaller than in reality—only about three meters long.

This is humankind’s strength! Compared to those giant monsters with brains no larger than apples, whether in Wisdom or mental strength, humans were far beyond comparison. If one couldn’t match up in physical Power, then it was time to compete with their intellect.

Byron, enveloped in a whirlwind, took an arrow step and rushed forward. Dodging the sweeping red tentacles, he rapidly moved to position himself on the dividing line between the creature’s shell and its tentacles, which was also where the nerve center between the eyes of this mollusk resided. Radiating Divine Light, he swung his iron fist and smashed down ruthlessly.

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

"Do you submit?"

"YING YING YING..."

"Eighty!"

"Eighty..."

"YING YING..."

Taming a Sea Monster was much like taming a Dragon. Especially since Byron had previously completed the battle at the International Port; his Starlight Body had already returned, together with an intense aura... of Dragon Soul. It was a double dose, both Mithril Dragon and Blue Dragon Soul. The Sea Monster, afraid even of imitation Dragon Dung Potions, how could it not fear a real Giant Dragon?

Although the ammonite was a Major-type Sea Monster, it was forced into continuous retreat under Byron’s iron fists, uttering pitiful cries. After rolling around for half an hour, it finally let out a groan and ceased to struggle. A Rune representing taming surfaced on the creature’s spiritual forehead.

Byron felt his Spirituality sink as if suddenly burdened with something. Today he had slain two Fourth Order beings, preventing the advent of the Old Gods. Although he used a loophole, it still completely aligned with the professional creed, "I am the vanguard." Plus, the responsibilities of the Lamplighter allowed him to grow rapidly all the time. His Spirituality had shot up from 11, at the time of his recent promotion to Third Order, to 12.5. There was no problem shouldering the burden of this Major-type ammonite. Of course, for the time being, he could only handle this one Major-type creature and had no strength left to hunt other Sea Monsters.

Byron spat out a tough bit of something, like a sinew from an ’octopus sashimi’ dish. He patted his belly and belched contentedly.

He approached to gently caress the battered and bruised ammonite, now curled up in the corner of the consciousness space, its broken tentacles wrapped around its body, sobbing pitifully.

"Don’t cry. From now on, I will treat you well. How about I give you a name? Since you’re crying ’YING YING YING,’ why not call you... Little Snail? Little Snail, fantastic! My Talent for naming is as excellent as ever."

Having completed the taming ritual, they could now communicate telepathically. Byron enabled the Sea Monster to accurately understand his combat intentions, allowing it to cooperate with his Warship in battle. This was different from the Barnacle Crabs, controlled by conches, which were essentially just tools for transport.

When he opened his eyes again, feeling the waves of adoration (flattery, pleading not to be eaten) coming from the water opposite, he nodded with great satisfaction. "Now, with double insurance for exploring the Doldrums, we’ve achieved a good haul. Let’s set sail back to the Royal Port."

As soon as the words were spoken, the Lamplighter mark on his back began to flash urgently. It was a communication request from the Lighthouse Union.

Byron immediately realized that after eliminating the "Blood Brew Calamity," the real grand event and the most valuable rewards were finally forthcoming.