Chapter 158: Fishing

Ten minutes later, the Undead Mage stood at the edge of the stone platform, the blue flames inside its eye sockets slowly flickering as it stared at the lava sea ahead.

Most of the armor damaged on the twenty-sixth floor had been repaired by Ruo Yan while they waited for the Challenge Gate to open. A few areas still showed the color of the newly replaced materials, but its basic functions had largely been restored.

The Undead Mage stared at the lava sea for a while before slowly turning its head.

Ruo Yan stood several meters away.

For some reason, when she looked at the blue flames inside the puppet’s eye sockets, she felt as though that gaze carried an extremely complicated emotion.

"Stop looking at me."

The Undead Mage continued staring at her.

Ruo Yan felt slightly uncomfortable and explained, "You are only going down there for a little while. Besides, you are not afraid of heat anyway."

The blue flames inside its eye sockets flickered once.

Ethan stood nearby, trying to keep a straight face, while Laira had absolutely no intention of holding back her laughter.

"I think it is cursing you."

Ruo Yan immediately turned toward her.

"Then do not use it."

"No." Laira quickly grabbed the Boundless Fishing Rod, her face already filled with interest. "I want to try."

Ruo Yan coldly replied, "Then use yourself as bait."

Laira immediately shook her head.

"I am a dragon. Fish do not like dragons."

"Who said that?"

"I did."

Ruo Yan stared at her for several seconds before finally deciding not to continue arguing about the matter.

While the two were talking, Ethan had already walked behind the Undead Mage and hooked the fishing hook through an armor ring on its back. He tugged it several times by hand, found it extremely secure, then nodded.

"All right."

The Undead Mage slowly turned its head toward him.

Ethan lightly patted its shoulder.

"Sorry for the trouble."

Immediately after he said that, two streams of transparent liquid suddenly flowed from beneath the hood, right under its eye sockets.

Ethan froze.

Ruo Yan also stood motionless for several seconds.

Laira immediately clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha!"

Ruo Yan’s face turned slightly red as she hurriedly said, "The Undead Mage cannot cry!"

But the two streams of liquid continued flowing downward.

Laira found it even funnier.

"Then what is that?"

"Mana condensation."

"Mana just happens to condense on both sides of its eyes?"

"Laira."

"I was only asking."

Ethan turned his face away, but his shoulders were still trembling slightly.

Ruo Yan immediately noticed.

"You are laughing too?"

"No."

"You are obviously laughing."

Ethan struggled to keep his expression normal and calmly said, "I just think the weather is a little hot."

"Ethan."

He immediately coughed, then turned toward Laira.

"Throw it."

"Okay!"

Laira gripped the Boundless Fishing Rod with both hands.

The moment Ruo Yan saw her stance, her expression immediately changed.

"Wait, gently..."

Whoosh!

Too late.

Laira had already swung the rod.

The Undead Mage instantly left the ground. Its dark cloak was pulled straight behind it by the wind, both arms and legs stretched out in midair, while its heavy body traced a perfect arc across the blazing red sky.

The two streams of transparent liquid were still trailing behind it.

Ruo Yan raised her head and watched the scene, the corner of her eye twitching slightly.

Through the Soul Threads and her connection with the puppet, for one brief instant, she genuinely felt as though she could hear a silent curse.

Ruo Yan slowly closed her eyes.

’Sorry.’

’It is all for victory.’

SPLASH!!!

The Undead Mage plunged straight into the lava sea, creating a pillar of blazing red liquid nearly ten meters high.

The black fishing line quickly sank after it.

Ethan stared intently below.

One second.

Two seconds.

The Undead Mage remained standing in the lava as though it were ordinary water.

The bone armor covering its body showed no sign of turning red from the heat. In fact, the deathly energy surrounding it caused the nearby lava to darken slightly.

Ruo Yan watched for a while before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Laira, however, pursed her lips slightly.

"It does not look much like bait."

Ruo Yan immediately turned toward her.

"Then pull it back up."

"I am evaluating it."

"You just said it was useless."

"I had not finished speaking."

"I heard you very clearly."

"You heard wrong."

The two started arguing again.

Ethan was about to speak when a soft sound suddenly came from beside him.

Boing.

Mumu jumped.

The halo above its head flashed.

Three seconds later, a notification immediately appeared before Ethan.

[Mumu has activated Endless Blessing.]

[Buff acquired: Fishing Luck.]

[Chance of encountering rare creatures: +0.1%.]

Ethan looked at the notification, then slowly turned his head.

Mumu was happily jiggling its body.

"Mumu!"

Three seconds later, the halo flashed again.

Hum!

[Mumu has activated Endless Blessing.] 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

[Buff acquired: Bait Attraction.]

[Chance of creatures approaching the bait on their own has slightly increased.]

Ethan silently stared at the notification.

Three seconds later.

[Buff acquired: Steady Angler.]

[Chance of the target escaping has slightly decreased.]

Ethan slowly turned toward Mumu.

Mumu looked back at him, then tilted its head.

"Mumu?"

Previously, Ethan had always believed that Mumu’s talent, which generated a buff every three seconds, was best suited for combat.

Only now did he realize that he had severely underestimated the word buff.

It could be used for fighting.

It could be used for escaping.

And now, even fishing could benefit from it.

If Mumu generated a beneficial effect based on the current situation every three seconds, then the longer this forty-eight-hour challenge lasted, the greater their advantage would become.

Ethan looked at the timer.

Forty-seven hours and fifty minutes remained.

The corner of his mouth slowly curved upward.

"Looks like this round..."

Laira turned toward him.

"What?"

"It will be difficult for us to lose."

...

In another area of the Lava Sea, things were nowhere near as cheerful as they were on Ethan’s side.

More than thirty participants had gathered on a large stone island.

Each of them had already received a fishing rod. Most were only Rank C or B. Two lucky participants had opened Rank A rods, while one Elf had even obtained an Epic fishing rod, making everyone nearby stare with envy.

But no matter how good their fishing rods were, all of them faced the same problem.

"Where is the bait?"

No one answered.

A Beastkin took a piece of meat out of a storage item and tossed it into the lava.

Sizzle!

The meat had not even sunk half a meter before rapidly burning into charcoal.

Everyone stared at the scene and fell silent.

A nonhuman with a humanoid body and a lizard’s head began looking around.

His gaze swept across everyone before slowly stopping on the group standing to the right.

Four Crabfolk stood there.

Each was more than two meters tall, with two enormous pincers, red-black shells, and long antennae.

The atmosphere on the island immediately became strange.

The four Crabfolk quickly noticed everyone staring at them.

They looked at one another, then all stepped backward.

"Kra! Kraak!"

No one understood their language, but just from their tone, it was obvious they were not saying anything pleasant.

The Beastkin slowly rubbed his chin.

"Crabs that live in hot environments..."

An Elf beside him immediately understood.

"Their meat probably has heat resistance."

The four Crabfolk instantly took another step backward.

"KRAAA!"

The challenge rules prohibited attacking other participants, so naturally the people around them could not rush over and chop off their pincers.

But the rules only prohibited fighting.

Negotiation was another matter.

Ten minutes later, the four Crabfolk were surrounded by more than thirty people in the middle of the stone island.

A Dark Elf took out five crystals.

"One section of pincer."

"KRA!"

"Ten crystals."

"KRAAA!"

"We will give you a share of the fishing points."

The four Crabfolk fell silent for a moment, then immediately shook their heads.

Someone else spoke up.

"We do not need the entire pincer. Just a small piece from the tip. If you break it off yourselves, it will not count as us attacking you."

The four Crabfolk immediately began shouting in their own language.

The entire island quickly became as noisy as a marketplace.

After nearly half an hour of arguing, an extremely humiliating agreement was finally reached.

The Crabfolk could regenerate lost sections of their pincers after some time, so they agreed to break off a small piece from four of their pincers in exchange for resources and a share of the support points earned during the challenge.

The moment the fresh red crab meat appeared, everyone’s eyes immediately lit up.

A Beastkin stared at the meat and unconsciously swallowed.

"I have never eaten Crabfolk before."

The four Crabfolk immediately turned their heads toward him.

"KRAAAAA!"

The Beastkin jumped and hurriedly waved his hands.

"I was just saying!"

A lion-headed nonhuman beside him also stared intently at the meat.

"Neither have I."

The four Crabfolk fell silent.

Then they immediately retreated far away from the group and decided that from now until the end of the challenge, they would stay as far away as possible from anyone who looked at them with hungry eyes.

The remaining participants quickly cut the crab meat into smaller pieces and used magic or energy to wrap around them to prevent the lava from burning them.

At last, they had bait.

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, a shared notification immediately appeared before them.

[Ranking Announcement.]

[The first participant has successfully caught a target.]

[Rank 1: Ethan Ashford.]

[Target: Lava Carp.]

[Weight: 70.2 kg.]

[Rarity: Common.]

[Points Earned: 2,000.]

The entire island instantly fell silent.

The Elf holding a piece of crab meat completely stopped moving.

A Harpy slowly raised his head.

The lion-headed Beastkin stared at the notification for several seconds before finally speaking.

"Him again?"

No one answered.

A few seconds later, everyone almost simultaneously turned toward the lava sea.

"Start fishing!"

"Stop arguing!"

"Throw the bait in!"

"Ethan already has two thousand points!"

Less than a minute later, dozens of fishing lines flew from the island at the same time.

The four Crabfolk stood behind them watching the scene, then lowered their heads and looked at the missing sections of their pincers.

"Kra..."

Their voices sounded incredibly miserable.

...

Back on Ethan’s side, Laira suddenly shouted with laughter.

"Got one!"

She immediately pulled hard on the Boundless Fishing Rod.

The black fishing line snapped taut, but the trait that reduced 99% of the target’s weight immediately took effect.

The creature below originally weighed more than seventy kilograms, but the weight transmitted to Laira’s hands now felt no different from a small fish.

The one actually struggling, however, was the Undead Mage.

Beneath the lava sea, a carp nearly two meters long was biting tightly onto the puppet’s shoulder.

The Undead Mage turned its head, immediately grabbing the fish’s two long whiskers with both hands.

The Lava Carp thrashed violently in panic, while the puppet held on stubbornly and refused to let go, causing the two to begin wrestling beneath the lava.

Laira could not see any of that from above.

She only felt the fishing rod shaking violently, and her eyes immediately lit up.

"It bit!"

Ruo Yan also sprang to her feet.

"Wait, I think the Undead Mage is..."

"Up!"

Laira pulled hard.

Whoosh!

The fishing line instantly shot out of the lava sea.

The Undead Mage flew up first.

Its hands were still tightly gripping the Lava Carp’s whiskers, while the nearly two-meter-long fish remained clamped onto the puppet’s shoulder and refused to release its bite.

Both of them traced an arc through the blazing red sky.

BOOM!

The Undead Mage slammed heavily onto the stone platform.

The Lava Carp landed right beside it, thrashing continuously.

Every time its massive tail struck the stone, red sparks scattered around it.

Ruo Yan immediately ran over.

"Undead Mage!"

The puppet slowly sat up.

Its body was still intact.

It turned its head and looked at Ruo Yan.

She immediately avoided its gaze.

"...Sorry for the trouble."

The blue flames inside the Undead Mage’s eye sockets flickered once.

Ruo Yan felt even guiltier.

Ethan paid no attention to that scene.

His gaze was fixed on the notification before him.

[Successful Catch: Lava Carp.]

[Weight: 70.2 kg.]

[Rarity: Common.]

[Points: 2,000.]

[Current Ranking: 1.]

Ethan lowered his gaze toward the nearly two-meter-long fish still thrashing on the stone.

Seventy-point-two kilograms.

Two thousand points.

Yet according to the System’s evaluation, it was still only Common.

He slowly raised his head and looked across the lava sea stretching all the way to the horizon.

The enormous whale he had seen when they first entered immediately appeared in his mind.

More than one hundred and fifty meters long.

A single leap had been enough to shake the entire lava sea.

If that thing was also classified as a fish by the rules...

Ethan lowered his gaze toward the Lava Carp again.

Suddenly, it looked very small.

Mumu was still happily bouncing beside him.

"Mumu!"

A new buff immediately appeared.

Ethan turned toward Laira.

"Continue."

She immediately smiled.

"I want to catch a bigger one."

"Go ahead and try."

Ruo Yan, who was inspecting the Undead Mage, immediately turned her head.

"Wait."

But Laira had already picked up the fishing rod.

"Let’s go."

The Undead Mage slowly stood up.

Ruo Yan looked at it.

The puppet looked back at her.

The two remained silent for several seconds.

Finally, Ruo Yan said somewhat awkwardly:

"...Just one more time."

The blue flames inside the Undead Mage’s eye sockets flickered twice.

Watching that reaction, Ethan somehow felt that the puppet did not believe her at all.

He was about to turn away when the Lava Carp still thrashing on the stone caught his attention.

Ethan frowned, then crouched down and reached out to touch its transparent red scales.

The temperature was extremely high.

But the smell was not bad.

Ethan stared at it for several more seconds before raising his head.

"This fish..."

Laira, Ruo Yan, and Mumu all turned toward him.

Ethan asked very seriously:

"Can we eat it?"