Chapter 123: Chapter 123 Blood-striped Marlin!

Marlin! It’s a marlin!

And what makes him most fearful is not the sharp and long jaw of the fish, but the very obvious blood-red pattern on the marlin’s body, even deeper in color than that on Silver King and Mimi!

This is an intermediate mutant creature!

An intermediate mutant marlin!

“Damn it! Why did I encounter such a fish? Isn’t this a fish from the ocean!”

Xu Xin quickly pulled out his spear from his backpack and stared closely at the next move of the blood-striped marlin.

He didn’t understand why one of the deep-sea ocean masters would suddenly appear here.

He even opened his mouth to take a sip of the water, confirming that this body of water is indeed freshwater.

“This is too ridiculous!”

You know, marlins can speed through the water at 110 kilometers per hour; they are the fastest short-distance swimmers in the ocean.

Due to their incredible speed, aggressive nature, and strong attack power, they eat anything, and their sharply-pointed jaw can be used to deal with larger fish, making adult marlins almost have no natural enemies in the ocean, basically at the top of the food chain!

This kind of existence suddenly appeared in this freshwater area formed by rain, leaving Xu Xin puzzled and confused.

What on earth is within this vortex!

A blood-striped marlin that can survive in freshwater actually emerged from inside!

Fortunately, after emerging, the marlin only pointed its sharp and long jaw in Xu Xin’s direction but did not launch an attack.

He was too shocked just now to notice that the marlin’s sharp jab is longer than its body, and its stout jab has blood-red rings, looking sinister and terrifying.

An intermediate mutant beast will reinforce a part of its body. This marlin has apparently enhanced its long jaw as a weapon.

The sinister long jaw aimed at Xu Xin stiffened his muscles, ready to evade at any moment.

But the blood-striped marlin still did not launch an attack, merely swimming forward before stopping and retreating, seemingly hesitating and fearing something.

Xu Xin thought of something, and his tense thoughts slightly eased.

It seems that the intimidation effect of his python scale armor set on aquatic creatures is starting to become effective.

But he still cannot be complacent!

As long as he’s still in the water, even with an ordinary marlin, he cannot compete, let alone with this intermediate mutant marlin.

Even though he’s wearing a purple-grade python scale armor set, he hasn’t tested its defense capability yet, nor does he know if it can withstand a strike from the enhanced jaw of the blood-striped marlin.

At least, blue-grade steel armor is no match for the ear of the intermediate mutant rabbit.

In the water, Xu Xin’s offensive methods are greatly reduced, and his spear cannot unleash its power due to the water’s resistance!

“No, retreat.” Xu Xin faced the marlin and began to slowly swim backward.

But at the moment Xu Xin retreated, the blood-striped marlin near the vortex suddenly launched an explosive attack, charging rapidly toward Xu Xin!

“Damn it!”

Xu Xin swam in the direction of the current at his fastest speed, quickly moving away from his original position with the help of the water flow.

The marlin brushed past him, narrowly avoiding the attack.

The marlin circled back after racing over dozens of meters, returning to a position about twenty meters away from Xu Xin, pointing its sharp jaw at him and stopping again, seemingly hesitating once more.

The scale armor set still has an effect.

Probably because Xu Xin’s retreat was seen as a show of weakness by the blood-striped marlin, it charged forward aggressively.

During the marlin’s circling period, Xu Xin was already far from the vortex center and had sunk to the bottom of the water.

Here, the small trees provided cover. Although only arm-thick, they are randomly distributed underwater, and if the marlin wanted to rush through, it would inevitably hit a few trees. If it wanted to shuttle through the trees, it couldn’t swim in a straight line, reducing its stab’s speed and power, allowing Xu Xin to evade with the help of the trees.

Of course, if it could return to the vortex, it would be best.

However, things didn’t go as wished. Seeing Xu Xin retreat, the marlin charged toward Xu Xin once again!

As Xu Xin expected, the marlin was shuttling through the trees, not as fast as before, and due to not being able to avoid fast enough, its sharp jaw even scraped the trunks of some small trees during its rapid movement.

The marlin brushed past the small trees, directly snapping a few unfortunate ones with its sharp jaw, severing them into two on the spot!

Xu Xin grasped his spear with one hand, and held onto a small tree with the other. As the blood-striped marlin approached, he leveraged himself and narrowly dodged the marlin’s attack once again.

He held the spear tightly, leaving its tip at his former position. As the marlin sped by, the spear tip instantly left a mark on its body.

The blood of the marlin began to diffuse in the water, and the faint scent of blood filled the nostrils.

Xu Xin squinted his eyes and swiftly swam toward the direction of the treehouse.

From previous hunts of the Blood Pattern Rabbit and Blood Patterned Cat, he understood that injured intermediate mutant creatures would relentlessly pursue their enemies who harmed them, even fighting to the death despite severe injuries.

So from the moment he wounded the blood-striped marlin, he was already locked in.

Xu Xin’s plan was simple: leverage these small underwater trees as cover and guide the marlin toward the treehouse at maximum speed.

In the water, he was no match for the blood-striped marlin, but near the treehouse, harnessing the roots hanging in mid-air, he could enter the treehouse and use a heavy crossbow to attack.

Near the treehouse is his home ground.

Close to the water’s bottom, Xu Xin quickly swam through the forest, and as expected, the marlin, having been wounded, no longer feared the intimidation of his scale armor set, repeatedly launched attacks on Xu Xin.

Xu Xin managed to dodge every time, but it was a pity for the newly grown small trees underwater, which were smashed and snapped by the irrational marlin.

Xu Xin kept dodging while observing the blood-striped marlin behind him.

This intermediate mutant creature emerging from the vortex might be the guardian beast of the vortex, and only by killing it could he explore what exactly lies within the vortex.

If it wasn’t hurt, it might just return to the vortex of its own accord after straying far away.

Only by fully locking onto him could he lure it near the treehouse, where he’d use the treehouse’s abilities and a heavy crossbow to kill it, allowing him to return to investigate the contents of the vortex.

Although Xu Xin was slower than the marlin, his swimming speed was much faster than a normal human, and even amidst constant evasions of the marlin’s attacks, it only took about five minutes to return a kilometer away, underneath the treehouse, emerging from beneath the water’s surface.

“Eek eek eek!” Keke’s anxious calls came from above as it had been lying on the windowsill looking out, and seeing Xu Xin now, was warning him of the danger behind.

Behind him, the marlin once again launched a charge!

With Xu Xin at the surface, there was no cover, and the marlin’s speed was incredibly fast, rushing to his side in an instant, about to pierce his body!

But Xu Xin had anticipated this, directly grabbing the roots of the treehouse and with a thought, the roots quickly contracted. He was like a hooked fish pulled from the water.

However, the marlin was still a step faster, and even with Xu Xin quickly retracting his legs, the sharp jaw still struck his boot.

After all, an intermediate mutant beast was much faster than a normal marlin, and without cover, the speed was fast enough to soar.

Indeed, as Xu Xin was pulled from the water, the marlin’s attack was angled upward. With its incredible speed, the marlin directly leaped out from the water, its sharp jaw striking Xu Xin’s boot and scraping across it, making an unpleasant “zzz laaa” sound, followed by the entire fish flying diagonally up, reaching a height of two to three meters before falling back in a parabolic arc into the water.

Xu Xin felt no pain in his foot, and he lifted his struck foot for a look, slightly relieved.

After all, his armor was purple-grade; although the marlin’s jaw too was reinforced, based on experience, it was merely the strongest material below purple grade, ultimately still blue-grade, naturally not as strong as his scale armor.

But even so, owing to its extreme speed and strength, this attack still left a noticeable mark on the surface of his boot, distressing him.

Although weapons and armor can be repaired at crafting stations, purple-grade armor requires purple-grade materials! Where does he have purple-grade materials?

Damn, dare to damage my purple-grade armor, this blood-striped marlin must die!