The Black Fog Approaches

On the deserted island, a lone man and woman.

The man is in charge of swimming and collecting wood.

The woman handles fishing, gathering cloth, fresh water, and food.

Although it's a bit tiring, compared to the nerve-wracking voyage across the sea, this feels incredibly pleasant!

If possible, settling down on an island, farming, wouldn't be a bad choice.

But Lucas Hall knew that it was impossible!

He looked toward the direction he had sailed from.

On the sea, at the end of his line of sight, there was a thick blackness – the black mist.

Today, this streak of black had deepened, indicating that the mist was getting closer. They better escape the area soon!

It had been three days since Lucas woke up, meaning he and Seraphina had been on the island for almost four days.

Today marked the fifth day.

They still needed 72 units of wood, but they had enough cloth and stone. Lucas even had Seraphina gather extra stone in case it was needed later.

Stone was easy to gather but difficult to obtain at sea, as it could only be fished up, which was incredibly inefficient.

After all, just like steel, stones didn't float on water unless they happened to be in a resource box.

If nothing unexpected happened, they would have enough materials to rebuild the Nightmare Star by the end of the day.

After breakfast, Lucas started his wood-cutting task early.

Through several days of training, he wouldn't claim to be a swimming champion, but he could certainly call himself a swimming expert.

With the added benefit of his sharkskin swimsuit, Lucas felt confident enough to compete even against a swimming champion!

The first three trips went smoothly, and Lucas collected 57 units of wood.

Just one or two more trips, and they would have enough!

But on the fourth trip, something strange occurred as the sea started to churn violently.

Lucas was about to shoot down the second tree when a huge school of fish rushed past him.

These fish were of all sizes, many of them unfamiliar to him, but they had one thing in common—they were frantically swimming forward, as if fleeing from something.

Even the aggressive carnivorous sharks had abandoned their hunting instinct and sped past Lucas like a gust of wind. The water's force created a shockwave, tossing him around and disorienting him.

Finally, he managed to surface.

He wasn't injured, but he had swallowed a few mouthfuls of seawater.

The fish seemed to deliberately avoid him, not pausing for even a second.

This was something Lucas had never seen before.

As a result, the wood he had prepared was lost, carried away by the water's current.

Even Lucas himself was pushed forward by the current caused by the fish.

"Lucas, are you okay? Something's off with the sea!" Seraphina sent him a private message.

She was fishing onshore and had noticed the strange behavior.

But Lucas had noticed it earlier and felt it firsthand.

"I'm fine, just swallowed some water!

The fish are going crazy, all of them swimming like mad! I think the black mist is coming!

I'm swimming back to shore, give me a hand!" Lucas replied.

He wasn't feeling too energetic, and he didn't have confidence in swimming back by himself, so he asked Seraphina for help.

Luckily, Seraphina was quick to respond, pulling him to shore.

Once back on land, Lucas had only 23 energy left, and they were still short 15 units of wood, just that little bit more.

He stood up, looking toward the horizon.

A swarm of giant insects had followed the fish and were heading toward them.

However, something strange happened when these giant insects reached the buffer zone—they vanished.

It was as if they passed through a thin membrane into another dimension.

"Good thing the bugs can't come through!" Lucas sighed with relief.

If they could, he would probably have to give up.

"Seraphina, we need 15 more units of wood. It's impossible to go back into the water now!

Fishing is unstable too, let's try digging up some tree roots!" Lucas suggested.

The remaining 15 wood seemed like a small amount, but it could take them a whole day just to get it through fishing.

And the black mist might not give them another day.

After regaining some energy, Lucas joined Seraphina in digging up tree roots.

However, it was incredibly inefficient!

By evening, they had only gathered 7 wood, still far from the 15 they needed.

Lucas was anxious.

The black mist was already visible in the distance.

Three giant insects were approaching, each nearly 7-8 meters in diameter, moving in parallel toward the buffer zone before vanishing.

Where the insects disappeared, three giant harpoons were left behind.

Soon after, the cries of anguish and wailing could be heard.

"Big Brother! Second Brother! Dog Egg! Where'd you three go?!"

Behind the three giant insects, a massive iron warship appeared.

The voice came from the captain of this ship, David Yates.

Lucas immediately recognized the ship.

Despite several areas of the ship smoking and scorched, the iron body and the immense two-hundred-meter length of the ship made it unmistakable as the Steel Heart.

He had no idea how, but David had somehow obtained 1000 units of steel, upgraded the ship to level 2, and had made it out of the swarm of giant insects!

The ship was covered in the marks of battle, and bloodstains were everywhere. A giant sharp jawknife, from a recently destroyed insect, was even stuck on the deck.

The upgraded Steel Heart had increased its firepower considerably.

In addition to the enormous cannon at the front, there were over forty smaller cannons extending from the sides, though many of them were broken or bent.

David Yates himself stood alone on the bridge, smoking a cigarette, grumbling as he occasionally glanced toward the black mist behind him.

The speed of the Steel Heart was... not exactly fast, but it was a lot better than before.

Having gotten used to a ship that sailed at dozens of knots, Lucas thought the ship was incredibly slow.

Seraphina stood beside him, and the two of them watched the massive ship.

Behind it, the black mist was gaining on them, its speed at 15 knots, but still a fair distance away from the Steel Heart.

Without the giant insects to pull it, the Steel Heart couldn't outrun the black mist. David was panicking, jumping around like a helpless ant on a hot pan.

Finally, he spotted Lucas and Seraphina on the island, his eyes lighting up. He immediately waved and shouted.

"Hey, you two, a little help here! Can you lend a hand?!"

But the distance was too far for his voice to reach them.

With no other choice, David started steering the Steel Heart toward the island.

After the upgrade, the ship's speed had doubled!

[Steel Heart, Level 2, Durability: 5829/10000, Capacity: 20000 units, Speed: 10 knots]

[Ship Skill: Full Firepower: Cannon rate of fire increased by 200% for 15 minutes.

Triple Harpoon Shot: Can pierce and hold onto an object, cooldown time: 1 hour.

Sea Monster Slayer: An incredibly powerful super cannon capable of sending sea monsters back home, cooldown time: 4 hours.]

[Description: Bigger, stronger, sturdier! Speed increased by 200%!]

At first, David Yates was surprised to see Lucas and Seraphina, but soon realized they were likely the other survivors from the Storm Sea.

If they were willing to help him, they might be able to escape.

In this buffer zone, there were no giant creatures to help pull his ship.

Unable to get through by shouting, David quickly thought of using the chat system in the log to call out.