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A better way?
If he had a better way, would he still be out here blowing in the cold wind?
The two retraced their steps and re-entered that dark, damp karst cave.
The ghostly blue campfire still burned quietly in the depths of the cave, illuminating the figure in the dark blue robe like a ghost from another world.
The Merchant was crouching on the ground, holding that extremely luxurious gold jewelry mask in his hands. He was obsessively wiping it over and over again with a piece of velvet cloth he'd pulled from who-knows-where.
He didn't even look up when he heard the footsteps.
"Hehehe... my two generous gentlemen, returning to patronize my little shop again. Do you... have some new good things to sell me?"
His voice was filled with contented pleasure.
This time, before Noah could speak, Leon S. Kennedy took a step ahead and strode toward the Merchant.
His movements were a bit rough, his massive shadow directly obscuring the light reflecting off the mask.
The Merchant looked up in dissatisfaction, a flicker of displeasure seemingly crossing the eyes hidden behind his purple mask.
"Hey, friend, you're blocking my light."
"I need rope," Leon S. Kennedy interrupted him directly, getting straight to the point. "Long and strong rope. Do you have any?"
The Merchant tilted his head, seemingly sizing up this somewhat impatient customer.
He stood up slowly, carefully tucking the priceless golden mask back into his robes.
"Rope? Hehehe..." He let out a burst of ambiguous laughter.
"A distinguished, Advanced customer! Of course! Of course I have it! Everything you need, I have right here!"
The Merchant turned around nimbly and began rummaging through his mountain of goods.
A moment later, from beneath a large wooden crate, he dragged out a bundle of bright-colored climbing rope, neatly bound with professional straps.
He tossed it casually, throwing the heavy bundle of rope to Leon S. Kennedy.
"Hehehe, the best climbing rope, military grade, with a breaking strength of over two tons. It's yours, for free."
Leon S. Kennedy caught the rope, feeling its tough texture and heavy weight, somewhat surprised.
"Giving it to us? Since when were you so generous?"
"Hehehe..." The Merchant rubbed his hands together. "For the sake of the silver emblem. Consider it a small... bonus gift."
He paused, then added: "Besides, this thing isn't mine. It was brought here by an... unlucky fellow with bad luck."
"He came here saying he wanted to challenge his limits and conquer the highest cliff in this valley. Hehehe..."
The Merchant's laughter was filled with schadenfreude.
"And then what happened?" Leon S. Kennedy asked instinctively.
"Then?" The Merchant spread his hands. "Then all his equipment ended up with me."
Leon S. Kennedy: "..."
He weighed the climbing rope in his hand and fell silent for a moment.
"Then... thank that unlucky fellow for us."
The Merchant's body stiffened slightly, and then his laughter, sounding like a broken bellows, echoed throughout the cave.
"Don't worry, hehehe... I will definitely pass on your gratitude."
Having obtained what they needed, the two didn't stay any longer and turned to leave the cave.
They followed a more hidden downhill path marked on the map near the lookout tower.
The road was rugged and difficult, but its advantage was its concealment, allowing them to perfectly bypass any enemies that might be on the mountain path.
Soon, a breeze mixed with the smell of fishy water and rotting wood blew from ahead.
At the end of the road was a simple Dock built with rough wooden planks.
After years of being soaked in lake water, the Dock had become slippery and grimy, creaking underfoot as if it might fall apart at any moment.
A speedboat that looked fairly new was moored quietly by the Dock, bobbing gently with the waves.
The two suspicious Villager they had seen on the lake earlier were nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the Dock, a wide area of water was enclosed by a row of crooked wooden fences.
That must be the fishing grounds marked on the map.
"Splash... splash..."
Noisy sounds of water and chaotic roars were coming from inside the fishing grounds.
About a dozen Villager were running back and forth in the shallow water area of the fishing grounds like headless flies, pushing and shoving each other, busy with something unknown.
They were all dressed in rags, their expressions frenzied, letting out meaningless roars from their mouths.
Standing on high ground, Noah looked down at the Villager splashing in the water and spoke calmly.
"There's quite a lot of bait."
His voice reached Leon S. Kennedy's ears clearly.
Leon S. Kennedy slowly turned his head to look at Noah beside him.
At this moment, he was finally one hundred percent certain what Noah's crazy 'fishing' plan was really about.
After the brief shock, a sense of absurd and twisted black humor welled up in Leon S. Kennedy's heart.
He looked at the manic Villager in the fishing grounds and remembered the small mountain of children's skulls in the secret room beneath the church.
The anger that had just settled in his chest flared up again with a 'whoosh.'
He slowly cracked his wrists and neck, his joints making a series of crisp popping sounds.
"There really is a lot."
A cold smile spread across the corners of Leon S. Kennedy's mouth.
"And they look lively, irritable, and easy to provoke."
"Make it quick," Noah spat out three words. His figure flickered, and like a ghost, he silently slid down a slanted wooden post and into the outskirts of the fishing grounds.
Leon S. Kennedy followed close behind.
The two were like two hungry wolves sneaking into a sheepfold.
A Villager with his back to them, waving a pitchfork and frantically stabbing at the water, let out a short 'ghk' in his throat and slumped down softly.
Chief Marvin's sharp tactical dagger was pulled from his heart, bringing with it a smear of dark red.
Leon S. Kennedy didn't even look at the corpse, letting it sink into the murky water.
On the other side, Noah's figure shifted and dodged between several wooden breeding boxes.
Every time he struck, it was clean and efficient.
Either a precise hand-chop to the target's carotid artery,
Or a swift grapple that snapped the throat before the opponent could sound an alarm.
He didn't even draw his dagger.
The fanatical Villager, who had once seemed so troublesome in the village, were as fragile as paper dolls before the two men who had cast aside all mercy and hesitation.
The entire process didn't even produce a proper alarm.
In less than three minutes,
The originally noisy and chaotic fishing grounds had fallen completely silent.
Only a dozen corpses remained, bobbing up and down in the murky, reddish water.
A breeze blew, and ripples spread across the water, slowly dispersing that piercing red.
Standing in knee-deep water, Leon S. Kennedy looked at this slaughterhouse. He silently wiped the blood off his dagger on the clothes of one of the corpses and returned it to its sheath.
From the pile of corpses, Noah dragged out the fattest one.
It was a big fat man who looked to be at least three hundred pounds. Even in death, his massive frame still gave off a strong sense of oppression.
He grabbed the fat Villager's ankle with one hand and, like dragging a bag of trash, walked expressionlessly toward the speedboat.
The corpse dragged across the ground covered in gravel and mud, leaving a dark trail mixed with mud and blood.
Leon S. Kennedy took a look and also began to act silently.
In a crude wooden shack by the Dock, he found several spare gasoline cans.
He picked up one of the cans, unscrewed the cap, and with a 'glug-glug' sound, filled the speedboat's fuel tank.
By the time he finished, Noah had already dragged the 'heavy enough' corpse to the side of the speedboat.
He exerted effort to flip the corpse over so it was facing up.
Then, from his tactical backpack, he took out six fragmentation grenades.
He placed the grenades one by one on the fat Villager's mountain-like belly, adjusting their positions as if calculating the optimal angle for the explosion.
Leon S. Kennedy watched silently without saying a word.
He knew what Noah was going to do.
This plan was crazy, bold, and... extremely effective.
Using the nylon straps attached to the climbing rope, Noah bound the six grenades tightly to the corpse's abdomen, securing them firmly.
Finally, the most critical step.
He connected the safety pins of all six grenades together using a short length of tough, thin steel wire.
The other end of the steel wire was tied to the hundred-meter-long bundle of climbing rope.
A perfect, borderline insane remote trap was thus completed.
As long as that big guy in the lake swallowed this 'bait' and swam far enough to pull the climbing rope... those six grenades would throw a grand and bloody party inside its stomach.
"You drive the boat." Noah threw the other end of the climbing rope to Leon S. Kennedy.
Leon S. Kennedy took the rope and tied a secure sailor's knot on the cleat at the stern.
"Are you sure this thing... likes to eat this?" Leon S. Kennedy looked at the corpse, which was already starting to bloat slightly, his stomach churning.
"It eats people," Noah said succinctly.
"Those two Villager were here to 'feed' it. However, what they threw down were likely corpses prepared long ago."
"And this one of ours, hey..." Noah patted the fat man's belly, making a 'thump-thump' muffled sound.
"It's fresh."
Leon S. Kennedy: "..."
He felt like he might have nightmares tonight.
Together, the two of them lifted the heavy corpse rigged with grenades onto the stern of the speedboat.
Noah started the speedboat.
The motor let out a roar, and the speedboat cut through the calm water, pulling a white arc behind it as it sped toward the center of the lake.
They soon reached the area where they had seen the giant beast earlier.
Noah turned off the engine.
The speedboat glided forward a bit further under its own momentum before slowly coming to a stop.
All around was silence.
Only the breeze brushed over the lake, creating shimmering ripples.
The bottomless lake water appeared a heart-pounding dark green.
It was as if something was silently watching them from those dark depths.
"Throw it," Noah said.
Leon S. Kennedy took a deep breath and, together with Noah, pushed the heavy corpse off the boat.
"Splash!"
A loud splash broke the silence of the lake.
The corpse bobbed up and down in the dark water with a series of bubbles.
"Go!"
Noah didn't hesitate for a second and immediately restarted the engine.
He twisted the throttle to the max. The speedboat let out a roar, suddenly turned its bow, and sped at full speed back toward the Dock.
Leon S. Kennedy crouched at the stern, tensely watching the climbing rope.
Under his control, the rope rapidly unspooled from the roller at the stern into the depths of the lake.
The speedboat had already traveled a long distance, but the lake surface remained calm.
Nothing happened.
"Are you sure... it will come?" Leon S. Kennedy's voice was a bit dry.
"It will," was Noah's one-word reply.
His eyes were fixed on the area in the center of the lake that they were rapidly leaving behind.
Just as Leon S. Kennedy's patience was about to run out,
The climbing rope in his hand suddenly yanked down!
A massive force came from underwater, nearly dragging him into the water!
"It's here!" Leon S. Kennedy let out a shout.
Almost at the same time, in the center of the lake dozens of meters behind them,
The originally calm lake surface suddenly and without warning began to churn violently.
It was as if a super-powered blower was frantically stirring the water at the bottom of the lake.
"Glug... glug..."
Countless giant bubbles rose from underwater and burst, forming a boiling area.
Then,
"BOOM—!!!"
Accompanied by a deafening roar loud enough to tear eardrums, that boiling patch of lake surface exploded!
A massive shadow that blotted out the sky broke through the water!
Water splashed everywhere like a torrential rainstorm.
It was a head so massive it defied description, inducing a sense of despair.
The giant wave it created even caused the fast-moving speedboat to toss and turn violently.
The Lake Master had appeared.
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