Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 308 (Patreon)

Chapter 308: The Arrival

The sky was a cloudless azure, blending seamlessly with the horizon.

The incoming ship, appearing slightly dilapidated, had its deck edges curled up in places.

There were only five passengers aboard: Machi, Buhara, Uvogin, Nobunaga, and Linne.

Upon catching a glimpse of Devil Island's silhouette, they hurriedly burst from the cabin to the deck.

The waters around Devil Island were calm, but its edges were encircled by numerous sharp stone pillars, resembling blooming sunflowers in their haughty aloofness, leaving only a sizable gap where the island's only port was located.

"Ruo..." Machi muttered worriedly to himself as he gazed at Devil Island.

"Who knows how many delicious ingredients the boss has found on the island during this time," Buhara said, far more relaxed and even hopeful that Ruo might have unearthed a plethora of tasty ingredients on the island.

Machi gave Buhara a silent look.

As they spoke, the ship slowed down suddenly and eventually came to a steady halt above the water.

They were still a significant distance from Devil Island.

Feeling the stop, none of them showed any surprise.

"So it begins here," Uvogin remarked as he stretched and warmed up, looking toward Devil Island.

Nobunaga glanced at him and quietly moved toward a corner of the deck, where a small boat was securely placed.

In the cabin, at the moment the ship stopped, Linne slowly opened her eyes. With her heightened senses, she easily detected that the vessel had ceased moving.

A sun-tanned middle-aged man approached, stating earnestly, "According to the agreement, this is as far as I go."

Linne's gaze, unfocused, swept over him as she nodded slightly and pulled out a small exquisite glass bottle filled with fine, transparent crystals resembling salt from her pocket.

Tossing the glass bottle casually to the middle-aged man, she then slowly stood up and made her way out of the cabin.

Seeing such a precious item as the "special sea salt" being tossed over so casually, the middle-aged man's heart skipped a beat as he clumsily caught the bottle, heaving a sigh of relief.

For someone who spent years at sea, such a small bottle of sea salt was significantly valuable, defying common sense.

The middle-aged man looked up, about to complain to Linne, but found that in the short span of a moment, she had already left the cabin and thus held his peace.

On deck, Linne joined Machi and the others. Nobunaga had already thrown the small wooden boat into the water and was the first to jump in, followed by Machi and Uvogin.

When it was Buhara's turn, Nobunaga yelled, "Don't jump!"

Buhara, standing at the edge of the deck, looked puzzled and asked, "Why?"

"If you jump in, the boat will sink. Find a rope and come down slowly," Nobonaga said, his face slightly dark.

"Do we really need to..." Buhara muttered as he touched his head, turning around to look for a rope. Suddenly, he was yanked up by a force and lifted off the deck.

Taken aback by this sudden turn of events, Buhara turned his head downwards only to see Linne holding him single-handedly.

"Master Lin..." Buhara started to ask what was happening, but before he could finish his sentence, Linne, holding him up, jumped silently onto the small boat.

Machi, Uvogin, and Nobunaga on the small boat were startled by this scene, and the next moment, they were dumbfounded.

Linne landed firmly on the small boat, and although she was holding the not-so-light Buhara, the boat barely vibrated upon her landing.

Facing the astonished stares, Linne expressionlessly tossed Buhara aside, and only then did the small boat begin to rock violently.

"Let's go," she said, sitting down, her voice weary and aged.

The others looked at each other and then sat down, while Uvogin, holding two oars at the stern, chuckled, "Hold tight!"

No sooner had he spoken than he went all out, his Nen enhancing the oars, vigorously propelling them forward.

The oars stirred up wild waves, and with a splash, the small boat shot towards the horizon, heading straight for the only port on Devil Island.

The nearly hundred soldiers stationed at the port noticed the small boat and its five passengers. Before they could act, the boat crashed into the concrete wall of the port and instantly disintegrated, while the five passengers landed steadily on the ground.

"Crash!"

Almost the moment Linne and the others set foot on the port, the soldiers snapped to attention, raising their firearms

 towards them.

No questions needed; there were no new island entry permits issued recently, meaning these arrivals were boldly intruding!

Their thoughts didn't linger long; the next second, they were ready to pull their triggers.

Just then, a terrifying aura burst forth from Linne's frail body, sweeping over the soldiers like a fierce wind.

This sudden explosion of aura startled even Machi and the others.

"That's a scary old lady," thought Uvogin and Nobunaga.

Click...

The soldiers' firearms fell to the ground as each of them trembled violently, their eyes lifeless and faces filled with extreme fear, as if they had seen something horrifying.

"Let's go."

Linne withdrew her aura, turned her back, and walked towards the only path leading into the island, uttering "Let's go" once more.

Machi and the others exchanged glances again and quickly followed Linne.

That diminutive figure, suddenly loomed large in their hearts.

Age, it seems, was no excuse for frailty. The half-buried old woman in front of them was unfathomably strong.

It's exaggerated to mention such strength, for they could not gauge the old woman's true power before their junior eyes.

Devil Island Forest.

A faint fragrance lingered in the air, unnoticed by the former members of the Seiren Squad as they briskly passed through with their synthetic soldiers, walking roughly through this area.

There were fifteen magical beasts, like bright glowing bulbs, moving swiftly through the woods.

Ruo, standing on a tree, played with a flower emitting the stench of corpses, his gaze piercing through the gaps in the foliage to focus on prey two hundred meters away.

He smirked slightly.

"Bzzz...!"

Intense buzzing filled the woods as giant black and yellow bees darted between the trees.

Then, this seemingly dangerous swarm of bees surprisingly avoided Ruo, bypassing him and heading towards the magical beasts and Seiren Squad members.

Ruo watched the swiftly departing swarm of bees, suddenly gripping the flower, crushing it, and then smeared the residual juice of the crushed flower onto his body.

"It's the little yellow bee, containing deadly poison. Don't get stung!"

In the woods, as nearly a hundred bees the size of mastiffs buzzed around, someone solemnly warned.

Despite its diminutive name, the "little yellow bee" was far from small. It was many times the size of a regular bee, its "little" likely referring to its deadly stinger.

Compared to its size, the stinger was about the length of a sewing needle used at home, but the little yellow bee could fire about a dozen stingers at a time, each leaving the hive with hundreds of stingers in reserve.

The swarm attacked the Seiren Squad.

Ruo muttered to himself, "How many years have you been on the island? There seems to be a lot you don't understand."

Saying this, he leapt from one large tree to another ahead, each landing making a distinct sound, unconcerned about being discovered by the Seiren Squad.

In fact, the Seiren Squad, distracted by the bees, noticed Ruo due to the noise, but they were too preoccupied to engage him.

Ruo charged alone into the swarm of bees, but instead of attacking him, the bees seemed to avoid him like the plague.

He slashed at a member of the Seiren Squad, then quickly withdrew from the battle, waiting for another opportunity.

It was just like fish on the chopping block.

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