Chương 136: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Thirty-Six

The Creaking Madam docked at Morgan's Rest an hour later and they were met by six brawny-looking White Flags on the wooden dock. After tethering their ship and having the extendable walkway slapped onto the main deck, Adam allowed the men on board. It's a bit contrived that they knew we were bringing Morgan's quest item, but I suppose it's a helpful bit of contrivance, since we won't have to carry the slugwhale ourselves.

They'd stored the slugwhale in the hold of their ship, since it stood out quite a lot and Adam was worried about any of the Drakes ships noticing when they moored. After all, he was hoping they could develop a friendly relationship with the faction, since it would help with several of their quests, not to mention their main objective. It had been easy enough to get the slugwhale down into their hold with Adam and Julie's magic, but the six White Flags struggled quite a lot to pull it up from below deck.

Once the men had gotten it off the ship and onto the wooden dock, they marched into the forest, heading for the settlement in the centre of the donut-shaped island. < < Quest Complete > > < What's For Dinner? > < Returned the body of the Slugwhale to Morgan's Rest >"I guess we go talk to Morgan for our reward," Adam said. With that, they all left the ship, though not before Lasse and Ellen brought their loot with them.

As they passed through the forest, Julie paused beneath where Adam had hanged his human-sized flesh effigy. Adam went over to where she'd stopped as the others continued on.

"I want you to teach me the spell you used earlier," Julie said.

"Sure," he replied.

"I'll teach it to you if you drop whatever schemes you've got going. I know you told Ellen something about me."

"The Lady likes when I pit people against each other," she said.

"Well, I don't, so knock that shit off or I'll make good on my promise. I'm not playing around, Julie. If you try anything again, then it's lights out forever." She grinned.

"The Lady said you don't like killing."

"Liking something and doing something are two different things. I may not like it, but I've killed more people than you ever will. I don't need you to survive this, but you need me."

"If you don't need me," she said, "then why are you trying so hard to keep me alive? Just admit you're scared, I won't judge you for it."

"I would be stupid to not fear an Absolute," he said calmly.

"I can tell you're scared too. Even if you're having fun, I can tell that a part of you is trembling, deep down." Julie's grin faltered, and Adam walked on. A moment later she caught up to him, but he could tell that his comment had struck a nerve. They found the others by the bridge leading into the settlement, and at a gaze from Lasse, Adam shook his head as if to say, "Don't worry about it." After entering Morgan's kitchen, they found that it was fairly empty of pirates.

Adam walked up to the counter that the big man was leaning on.

"Good work getting me such a beaut," Morgan told them.

"My men are bringing the rewards for you. I've added a bit extra since you were quick about it."

"Where has everyone gone?" Ellen asked.

"Back to base," Morgan replied.

"Turns out y'all were right, Fallow's Fallen are truly out in force. We haven't seen such a resurgence of them since before Fallow was defeated. It's as if they are coming out of every hole in the ground, taking to the sea and swarming any vessel they come across."

"Why?" Adam asked.

"They finally got themselves a new captain," Morgan replied with a sour face.

"I reckon Captain Drew will soon call the White Flags to arms if nothing is done about them." The big man sighed deeply.

"I had planned such a feast, and now this…"

"We were actually looking for the whereabouts of the Golden Fortress' stronghold," Adam said, "but maybe we can help deal with the Fallen?"

"Captain Drew ought to know where that is," Morgan replied.

"If you head northeast, you'll eventually stumble upon Windtop Cove. That's where he and his crew resides. He should also know more about the Fallen's new captain." Four big White Flags guards came in carrying an Upgrade and a Relic Chest between them. [Since you completed your quest quickly, your rewards have gone up one Rarity level,] their cubes announced.

"Nice," Jabari muttered.

"We also picked up some anchor mechanisms from two Treasure Hunter ships," Adam said.

"We were hoping to get one installed on our ship."

"Talk to my son about that," Morgan replied. He gestured for the two treasure chests his men had brought.

"Go on, take your rewards." Adam approached the Relic Chest and opened it. < < Relics Available > > < White Flags Chain-Sleeve (Rare) — Increases Player Defence by 10% | Increases Player Damage by 10% | Reduces Movement Speed by 10% > < Whale Eater's Snap Gauntlet (Epic) — Punch the gauntlet against a target to trigger the spring-loaded mechanism to snap and latch on to their flesh, inflicting 100% weapon damage.

30-second cooldown | Afflictions delivered with this Relic are twice as potent > < Drake's Wing (Epic) — Deploy mid-air to gain the ability to control your flight | Take 25% less damage from Slug Dragons > < Golden Mask of the Fallen (Epic) — Gain 1% Attack Speed & Damage for every 10 pieces of currency in your possession | The potency of the Gold-cursed affliction is twice as potent and can be triggered by all currencies >"That's a lot of Epics," Jabari muttered in awe.

"Let's see," Ellen started.

"Lasse and Adam have both gotten to pick a Relic so far, so is there anything the rest of you would like?"

"I could use the gauntlet," Cathy said.

"I would like the Drake's Wing," Jabari added.

"It sounds fun."

"I was thinking maybe the wing or mask myself," Ellen said.

"That mask is trouble," Adam told her.

"How can you be sure? We don't even know what Gold-cursed is," Ellen said.

"It might not be that bad."

"The gold curse is a troublesome affliction," Morgan interjected.

"All of Fallow's Fallen are deep within its clutches, hungering for valuables and losing themselves to unadulterated avarice. They have truly gone mad, the lot of them. Y'all take care not to hoard your wealth, lest it happens to you fine folk as well." Ellen gave Adam a look, and it was clear that she wondered how he'd known. The melody of mistrust emanating from her grew stronger. Goddamn it… I've gotta be more careful.

"What about you, Julie?" Cathy asked.

"What would you like?"

"I am okay," she lied. Adam knew she desired both the mask and gauntlet. Her melody told him that she believed herself stronger than the gold curse.

"So, three-way rock-paper-scissors?" Jabari suggested. Ellen shrugged.

"Why not. Second place can get the upgrade."

"I already got an upgrade," Jabari said.

"Then maybe Julie should take it?" she replied. Julie didn't wait for anyone else to agree to that and opened the upgrade chest, picking a Rare Invocation Range for her blood sigils. I wonder how close she is to the third evolution, Adam wondered. Ellen ended up winning the rock-paper-scissors and picked the Drake's Wing, having changed her mind on the Golden Mask after Morgan's comment, tying the Warlord's Cape around her waist like a belt.

"How are you going to test that?" Lasse asked her.

"I can launch her into the air," Adam said. Ellen frowned.

"I picked it mostly because of the dragon thing. I'm not planning on going airborne."

"That's a shame," Lasse said.

"I would've used it to do a fly-by attack on enemies." With their rewards settled, they went over to Morgan's portsmith son.

"We've picked up two anchor mechanisms," Adam told him. The teen looked up at him with his round goggles and messy hair.

"Anchor Shots?" he asked.

"The kind for reaching deeper islands?"

"That's right," Adam replied.

"We'd like one installed on our ship and we'll sell you the other one in exchange for the work."

"We can do that," he said.

"We also need a compass, can you throw that into the deal?" Adam asked.

"Sure," he replied easily. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anchor Shots must be more expensive than I thought.

"How long will it take to install?" Ellen asked.

"It won't be that long," the portsmith replied and immediately took off with his crew. Good thing I shifted all the flesh away from the ship's underside while we were flying, Adam thought. It would probably have been an issue if I'd just left it. He'd planted most of it inside the captain's quarters by slipping it through one of the windows on the back of the ship, though some of it also coated the fins, propellers, and rudders, allowing him to control them without steering the ship from the helm.

He'd been more and more worried about Julie trying to take off with the ship that he'd finally settled on this countermeasure. Another benefit was the fact that the ship was also a lot slower when he wasn't actively steering, because of the flesh he'd planted on the important parts, so he'd be able to catch up before any would-be thieves could get far with their ship.

"Should we head back?" Ellen asked.

"Actually, I think I would like to look at the weapons," Cathy said. They returned to the blonde woman in the purple corset and Cathy looked at the harpoon spear for a long while, asking the vendor some questions about it as she tried to decide if it was what she wanted.

"How many upgrades do you need for the third evolution?" Ellen asked Cathy.

"Four," she replied.

"Don't you think it would be worth more than getting a new weapon? Especially if it's only Uncommon," Ellen argued.

"Stage-based weapons also seem to not give you any choice for evolutions," Adam said.

"The harpoon spear is an excellent weapon," argued the blonde vendor.

"Why do you think all the guards use it?"

"There's a way for me to use two weapons, right?" Cathy asked, looking at Adam.

"There is," he confirmed.

"Then I can always select Lancer again when I get back to the island," she said.

"Next time I will pick Spear Rain instead of Hastatus. I thought the shield would be useful, but having more throwing spears would've been better." Cathy looked at each of them before asking, "Is it okay if I spend some of our coins on this weapon?" No one had any complaints about that, so as they left the settlement she was holding a tall harpoon spear with a nasty tip. I stand corrected about her, Adam thought. I was certain she'd stick with the weapon choice she had, even though she was unhappy with it.

They left Morgan's Rest and sailed east towards Mast-Chewer's Nest, though all of them assumed they were following the golden trail of Adam's special map. Thanks to the portsmiths, they now had a large spherical compass planted on the helm next to the wheel, and an Anchor Shot sprouted from the underside of their ship.

The Creaking Madam was going a lot faster than normal, since Adam was pushing the copious amounts of flesh he'd spread across the hull with his control sigil, but no one seemed to really notice the speed difference. Unlike before, Julie kept mostly to herself. Whenever she wasn't on sail duty, she just sat at the bow of the ship between the two turrets and meditated. Her melody was even and calm, making it hard for him to figure out what she was truly thinking.

The gold-tinged clouds rolled past them, above as well as below, while they flew east. Many islands both big and small filled the sea around them, but Adam kept their focus single-minded for now. After two hours though, he could tell that his crew was getting bored, so while he'd been actively steering them away from the clusters of worked-up melodies he'd identified as belonging to roving pirates, Adam slowly course-corrected them towards one such symphony of life.

As predicted, it turned out to be pirates, but he hadn't realised just how many there would be, because the way that their melodies were so similar to one another's masked them amongst themselves. As it were, the Fallow's Fallen numbered perhaps sixty in total, split between two small ships and a medium-sized one.

"Pirates on the horizon!" Lasse yelled from the crow's nest the moment he spotted them. Cathy and Jabari ran down to the ballistae below deck while Ellen joined Julie on the bow of the ship. While the Crusader couldn't cover even a quarter of their ship with her protective bubble skill, she would be able to stop any shots lined up to strike their foremast and bow. For now though, she was just watching and waiting.

Julie was swirling around three separate balls of blood in front of herself, shaping each into a large spike. Adam guessed she would try to fire them at the airships, but he was uncertain what exactly she'd be able to do. Lasse came over to where Adam steered the ship.

"Should I use my barrage on them?" he asked.

"If you think you can hit the large ship," Adam replied. Lasse nodded and ran down to the bow, joining the two women. The two smaller vessels were coming up on their starboard side, while the medium one was thundering towards their portside, seemingly intent on ramming them. Adam shifted the flesh on their hull to the front of the ship. The mass was heavy enough that the whole deck tilted slightly forward.

He had to move down the deck to the foremast to be able to control it all, and he quickly shaped the surface of the flesh into something sturdy and tough, like hardened leather and scales mixed together. Then he flew himself up to the crow's nest and aimed his hands at the nearest vessel off the starboard side. It was still four-hundred metres away, but had already started to fire its broadside and bow-mounted ballistae in their direction.

On each of his arms were woven spell constructs for Heart Lance and Adam activated both simultaneously. He'd fed them copious amounts of blood and flesh, and when he squeezed his fingers over the spells as they formed in the hollows of his palms the sound they produced was a high-pitched scream of pressurised air. The three Players at the bow looked back to where he stood in the crow's nest, before watching the rapid beams fly across the air between them and the enemy ship.

Adam had moved his hands slightly as he fired, which meant that the beams didn't fly in a single stream, but rather as slicing blades. The addition of flesh to the spell patterns seemed to have also increased the physical strength of the Heart Lances, and as the first one struck, he carved a horizontal slash across the starboard side of the enemy ship, cutting off its fins.

The second beam was aimed slightly higher and it carved through both the main mast and the foremast, sending both tumbling off the side of the ship. Adam used his control of the flesh coating the fins and rudder of their ship to turn their bowsprit so that it pointed at the medium airship flying straight towards them.

"Fire on starboard side!" he then yelled down to the ballista crew. A second later two bolts shot out from their broadside, shooting across the distance and striking the small airship disabled by Adam's magic. Then a roar of fire came from in front of them as a curtain of arrows rained down onto the medium-sized airship as it thundered across the air, its own bowsprit like the curled horn of a demon bull.

The enemy ship lit ablaze and quickly lost its heading as it started tilting towards its starboard side along with its three masts that cracked and broke under the heat of the fire. Another volley launched from their broadside, striking the second small airship that was closing in. The disabled one was still airborne, but it was listing to its portside and going in a circle because it'd lost the fins on the starboard side.

Julie walked out onto their bowsprit and shot her spells into the medium airship as it coasted towards them. She managed to strike the crew with each of her blood lances, but that was about it. Or so Adam thought… Because suddenly Julie pulled the blood out of the bodies of those she'd struck and started shooting it between them and the remaining crew, killing dozens while the others succumbed to the roaring inferno consuming their ship. She must have a lot of range upgrades, he realised.

For someone whose power lies in overtaking other people's blood, getting a lot of range does make sense. I can't believe she hid that from me though… I'll have to reconsider my strategy for dealing with her, because she could probably attack me from almost 50 metres away. When the airship finally sunk, Julie had fully filled her capacity of blood, hovering three large balls out in front of herself. [Medium airship defeated.] But she wasn't done, because she fired her spells at the small airship closing in on them.

Cathy and Jabari struck it with bolts again, but it just kept coming towards them and Adam was forced to take evasive manoeuvres and shift the flesh armour on the hull to their starboard side. Meanwhile Ellen prepared for them to be rammed by activating her bubble, moving along the deck towards where it looked like they were going to be struck. Lasse joined Julie in shooting at the crew aboard the airship, but even after the person at the wheel was taken out, their ship had too much momentum to slow down.

The tip of the enemy ship struck the Creaking Madam near the middle of its starboard side, but Ellen's shield significantly dulled the impact, although everyone, herself included, was knocked off their feet as it struck. Gleeful shouting came from the airship as ten Fallow's Fallen pirates emerged from below deck, having hid away from the barrage of blood magic, arrows, and bolts. Ellen, Lasse, and Julie were still only getting to their feet, so Adam knew he had to act fast.

Before the pirates could jump onto the Creaking Madam, Adam leapt from the crow's nest, landing atop the frontmost pirate and crushing him into the ground with a downwards application of the Mana in his body. The man's head popped like a watermelon across the wooden deck. Adam shaped his arms into spiked weapons and his fingers into hardened claws, flying through the pirates like a bear gripped by bloodlust.

He finally put his tail to use by smashing it into a couple trying to sneak around him to attack from behind, sending both tumbling off the side of their ship. Thanks to his enhanced muscles and the strength they imbued him with, his claws tore the gold-cursed pirates apart, scattering them across the deck and coating himself in their viscera. Once there was nobody left to fight back, an announcement came from their cubes. [Small airship defeated.] Adam breathed quickly as he crouched within the middle of the carnage, the physical exhaustion of his violent outburst nearly draining him completely. He knew it would've been easier to attack them from afar with his Spidersilk Needle, but one part of him had wanted to use his hands and another part had feared someone would get hurt if he wasn't quick enough. He stood up straight and slicked his hair back while pulling the blood and flesh off of himself with a fine application of his magical control.

As he turned around and looked back at his ship, he saw his crew standing there on the deck, looking at him like he was a monster. Adam pointed behind him at the Upgrade Chest that'd appeared on the helm of the enemy ship.

"Cathy, you should go grab that since you just got a new weapon." Julie's melody transitioned into full-on desire as she looked upon him, but he could tell that the others were reevaluating their opinions of him in their heads.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked. He only got nods in return.

"Let's go deal with the next airship," Adam said.

"There should be another chest in it for us." Julie helped Adam clear the bodily material off the enemy ship and add it to their stores while Jabari accompanied Cathy to the helm where she looted the chest.

"What the fuck was that?" Lasse asked Adam seriously as he stepped back onto their airship.

"My final evolution is called Red Prince," Adam said.

"It's mainly a melee-focused evolution. I don't like to use this fighting style because it's messy, but I didn't have a choice. One of you would've gotten hurt." Ellen frowned.

"It was like watching an animal fight."

"Is it going to be a problem?" Adam asked them.

"I will do whatever it takes to protect you all, but I need you to trust me." Lasse forced a smile.

"I mean, I can't really forget what I just saw, but you're right, I do trust you." They continued on to the disabled airship after Cathy returned, and her and Lasse got the task of taking out the pirates on board, although some were hiding below deck until Julie sent some well-placed blades of blood through the holes torn into the side of the enemy's hull. [Small airship defeated.]"I'll get this upgrade, since it's hard for anyone else to get over there," Adam said and flew from their airship and onto the slowly spinning one in front of them. From the upgrades available, he got himself a Rare Invocation Range, putting his total at 85% which pushed his maximum range to somewhere close to 28 metres. After seeing how Julie uses her blood magic, I figure it can't be a bad investment. Range was also an issue with my Warder setup.

I think I've been underestimating it since I've been too focused on the early Stages and the narrow confines of Alepheria's Tower. Based on how this Stage and the next two are designed, as well as future ones after Stage Ten, range is actually quite powerful, especially when considering that blood magic relies less on damage and more on control. I wonder if Julie figured that out herself or was guided by the Flayed Lady. She may have maximised her upgrades to only be Invocation Range.

It would be more expensive to do because of the reroll cost, but it might be better than just picking the best out of a bad selection of upgrades. Adam returned to the ship but let Jabari take the wheel for a bit, since he expressed interest in trying it out.

"It's strange," Lasse mused as they were sailing eastward again.

"You and Julie have the same base class, but you use them so differently from each other."

"I think Julie's magic is elegant," Ellen commented.

"Adam's way of using it just now… It's like a wild animal flailing violently." I can't fault her for seeing it like that, Adam thought.

"You're wrong!" Julie exclaimed, surprising them all.

"What he did requires a lot more skill than my way of using the magic. He also possesses powerful spells." I seriously can't get a read on her… Does she like me or hate me? Is she trying to betray me or not? But at least she can appreciate the fine control required for manipulating my own flesh and lifting my body to fly. Although, perhaps I should be concerned that she's paying that close attention?

"Those whistling spells, the beam ones, they're pretty cool," Lasse admitted.

"It's a bad idea to stick to only one trick though," Adam said, "and the Heart Lance spells take time to prepare. Time I didn't have when the pirates were about to board us."

"I didn't realise how much power is behind one of these airships," Ellen said, changing the subject.

"If not for my protective shield softening the blow, I think we might've been thrown overboard by the impact." Adam nodded.

"You timed it well." Cathy came running down the deck from the helm to where they sat in front of the main mast.

"Jabari said he saw something on the horizon." Adam got up and pulled out his Navigator's Telescope, looking past the bowsprit to where they were heading. Sure enough, it was a familiar sight. A cluster of six islands surrounded a large fortress with walls made from large dark stone blocks reinforced with metal. The islands around it were covered in lush forests and each had a stone tower on its outward-pointing side, although Adam knew that none of the fortifications were armed.

Then again, Mast-Chewer is dangerous enough by herself, so she doesn't really need the artillery. Adam tucked away the telescope and reached into his backpack, withdrawing the Time-Frozen Egg he'd found on the roof of Alepheria's Tower.

"What's that?" Lasse asked.

"A quest item," Adam lied.

"I just got an update that we're in the right place."

"Right place?" Ellen remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I found this in the last Stage," Adam said, "and it gave me a quest to return it to where it belongs. It's apparently here."

"Who or what are you returning it too?" she asked suspiciously.

"A slug dragon," Adam said.