"I want to ask a question: why is your merchant group's travel route map so similar to our route deep into the Eight Greed Kings desert?" Barrett asked.
"Ah? Is that the case?" Steve wore a shocked expression.
"I happened to see your map and noticed a lot of similarities," Barrett said.
"Is that so? You have a map of the Eight Greed Kings desert too?" Steve asked cautiously. "Could I borrow it for a look?"
"It's just a map, nothing special to see," Barrett hesitated.
"I just want to get a sense of what other hydrological and terrain maps of the Eight Greed Kings desert look like..."
Steve immediately dropped his captain's airs and begged persistently for Barrett to lend him the map. With no other choice, Barrett rummaged through his spatial ring for a moment and handed over a few parchment maps to Steve.
"This is a map surveyed by the Slane Theocracy's Six Scriptures—it's extremely valuable. Make sure to return it right away once you're done," Barrett instructed.
Steve nodded eagerly in agreement, took the maps, and headed back to the captain's quarters, saying he wanted to study them thoroughly.
...
The calm days didn't last even two full ones. One night, a continuous clatter of metal impacts suddenly rang out from the side of the Emerald Sandboat warship, like a shower of metal raindrops pounding the vessel.
WOO!~ A sharp steam whistle blared immediately. Soon, everyone realized it was the sound of armor-piercing arrows piercing through the deck and hull.
A white phosphorus flare shot up into the pitch-black night sky, its white glow spilling over the land. Under the light as bright as day, the crew saw the scene below the ship, and their faces turned deathly pale.
An army made of yellow sand and skeletons was marching rapidly across the desert. They pursued the three-masted warship, their iron crossbows and longbows launching volley after volley of rusted copper arrows. Several night-shift crew members had already met gruesome deaths under the arrow rain.
This army seemed like skeletons buried in the desert for hundreds of years. They rode skeletal horses, their blades spotted with rust, and grains of sand spilled from the fine cracks in their skulls and neck bones.
Under the eerie moonlight, the vast skeleton legion charged across the desert, drawing ever closer to the Emerald Sandboat three-masted warship. Already, a few mounted skeleton soldiers were swinging iron hooks in their hands, trying to fling them onto the deck and climb aboard.
"FIRE THE CANNONS! FIRE! Let these remnants of the Eight Greed Kings see the might of us City Alliance folk!" First Mate Bill waved his curved blade, roaring madly as he urged the crew on.
The Emerald Sandboat was equipped with 32 16-pound fire magic cannons: 12 on the top deck, 18 inside the cabins, one at the bow, and one at the stern.
The crew rushed to their stations, loading crystals into the cannon chambers. The dark muzzles spat out tongues of flame, and brilliant magical shells arced through the air, slamming into the skeleton legion and blasting apart huge swaths of them, scattering bones and dust in all directions.
EeDechi stood on the deck, leaning over to watch the skeleton soldiers below. The bursts of fire from the cannons lit up her face brightly.
The skeleton soldiers blew hoarse, droning notes on their copper horns, merging into a single raspy voice: "LIVING FLESH, OFFER UP YOUR BLOOD AND MEAT!!"
EeDechi raised her hand, unleashing the 5th Tier spell "Earthquake" over and over, turning herself into something like a mobile artillery piece as she bombarded the skeletons trying to climb the deck into fragments.
Barrett stood nearby, drawing his bow and loosing arrows that pierced the skulls of dozens of cavalry skeletons. Though he excelled with throwing axes, he was an all-around adventurer, skilled with bows as well.
Franco wasn't idle either; he stood with two traveling mages, casting magical light shields and offensive spells from the 10th tier.
"SKELETONS ARE BOARDING THE SHIP!" A crew member at the stern howled in agony. EeDechi and Barrett hurried over, but they were already too late.
Several crew members were snagged by magic chains resembling scorpion tails, the sharp iron hooks piercing straight through their guts, dragging them alive off the ship and into the yellow sands below. More than a dozen streaks of dripping blood on the deck spoke of their dying agony.
The others on board had no intention of saving them. The three-masted warship cranked its speed to the max, plowing through the dunes like a ship cleaving waves, racing away from the battlefield in a desperate bid to shake off the skeleton legion's pursuit.
After battling fiercely for half the night, the skeleton legion had taken heavy losses, their fierce assault finally petering out. Only a scattered few dozen skeleton soldiers remained, standing atop the dunes, gazing distantly as the Emerald Sandboat pulled away.
"These are all undead armies from the Eight Greed Kings era. They've been buried in the yellow sands, their spirits refusing to fade, waiting to ambush any travelers passing by," Captain Steve sighed. He directed the crew to inspect the ship's damage—they might need to stop for repairs.
...
Four or five days flew by in a blink. EeDechi leaned against the deck railing, gazing out at the desert landscape.
The boundless desert stretched like a yellow ocean, the sun beating down and sparking a thousand points of light. The rolling dunes truly resembled waves on the sea, and the Emerald Sandboat was sailing across this sandy expanse.
Over these past few days, attacks from all sorts of desert monsters—Sandstorm Stalkers, skeleton soldiers, ghosts, corrosion beasts...—had come one after another without end. The Eight Greed Kings desert had fully bared its vicious fangs to the travelers, hell-bent on stripping this lone, struggling sailship to the bone, then devouring its flesh and picking it clean.
The carefree mood from when they first entered the Eight Greed Kings desert had vanished like a drop of water in the sand. The Golden Aquarius merchant group had already lost more than ten crew members, most of them dragged into the yellow sands by the monsters, their bodies gone without a trace.
And this was still the result with EeDechi turning the tide; if not for the Last Defender of the Way adventurer team, the Golden Aquarius merchant group would have been wiped out long ago.
The whole ship was steeped in an atmosphere of sorrow and exhaustion, but the journey continued.
"Put your backs into it! Don't slack off, don't give up! We're already very close to the Vast Stellar Gate; in just a few more days, we'll pass through the Vast Stellar Gate and return to our homeland. Then, everyone will earn chests full of gold coins—so many they won't even fit in your bathtubs!..."
Captain Steve stood on the bridge, using a magical amplification device to shout encouragement, boosting the crew's morale. If it weren't for this energetic middle-aged man constantly inspiring everyone, the crew would probably have sunk into despair in this hopeless desert.
The three-masted warship traveled a distance, and amid the endless sand and dust, earthy yellow towers loomed behind the dunes. It was another Eight Greed Kings city ruin buried in the winds and sands. The captain ordered the ship to slow down and stop, heading into the ruins to dig for treasures.
The crew disembarked under the scorching sun, shoveling away the yellow sand and dust, and soon collected a large amount of gold and silver vessels, along with some magical items of unknown effects—wondering if there were any terrifying things like the Box of Bewilderment among them.
Wiping the lustrous treasures in their hands, the crew members were all grinning happily, and the captain and first mate were beaming with joy.
Digging up ruins and picking up treasures along the way was one of the few activities that brought hope. Everyone believed they could strike it rich, of course, on the condition that they made it to the Vast Stellar Gate alive.
Barrett naturally wasn't idle either. As a veteran adventurer, when it came to searching for gold, silver, and jewels in ruins and ancient castles, these crew members and merchants had to admit defeat.
Casually, Barrett took out his compass and glanced at it. Rarely, the compass needle wasn't swinging around like it was drunk. The surging magical turbulence in the Eight Greed Kings desert, and the magnetic field disruptions caused by magic, often made compasses fail.
The compass's lodestone needle pointed south at one end, and Barrett noticed that this matched the direction of the three-masted warship's bow—the Emerald Sandboat was still heading deep into the Eight Greed Kings desert.
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Chapter 192: Dragon Endbringer
"Captain, look, I found the other two pieces of the Eight Greed Kings' Imperial Map Fragment." In the cabin, Barrett excitedly said to EeDechi.
Two ornately decorated triangular silk cloths lay spread out on the table, their edges embroidered with gold thread patterns depicting all the races of the world, from elves to merfolk to flying dragons, symbolizing the Eight Greed Kings' rule over all things.
But the center of each silk cloth was blank, with no text, no drawings, and no lines.
These two silk fragments had both been scavenged by Barrett from the ruins. Amid the dust and sand covering everything, Barrett's eyes were incredibly sharp—he immediately spotted these two grimy silk cloths and stowed them in his spatial ring.
Once, when EeDechi had beaten the crap out of Sebas, she got a piece of the Imperial Map Fragment from his accompanying maid, Solution.
Legend had it that the power and wealth behind the Eight Greed Kings' rule over the world were hidden in this Imperial Map Fragment. Gather all the remnants, and the path to the treasure would reveal itself—the one who controlled them could inherit everything from the Eight Greed Kings.
"Such good stuff—hurry and put them away." EeDechi looked at the exquisite silk cloths and couldn't help feeling a bit thrilled herself.
Outside the cabin, several shouts of alarm rang out: "Sandstorm's coming! Sandstorm! Captain, turn the ship around quick!"
EeDechi felt a little puzzled. It was just a sandstorm—what was the big deal? They'd run into countless ones, big and small, all along the way.
EeDechi stepped outside and took a look, only to see the sky a murky yellow. It was clearly noon, yet the sun couldn't shine through a single ray. Right at the horizon where the desert met the sky, a massive sandstorm was rolling in. The sky-blanketing sand and dust showcased nature's boundless power to the merchants swaying in the wind.
This sandstorm was huge, almost bigger than all the ones they'd run into on the journey combined. The dark yellow storm stretched on endlessly, like a constantly tumbling wall of yellow sand, pressing right toward the three-masted warship.
"Turn the ship around! The sandstorm's heading north—hard to starboard!" Steve was in the captain's quarters, desperately spinning the wheel, while several crew members climbed the masts, cut the ropes, and lowered the sails.
The Emerald Sandboat laboriously rotated its massive hull in the sea of sand, with overwhelming wind and grit slamming against the deck and windows. The three-masted warship was like a tattered green leaf trembling in the wind.
The Emerald Sandboat finally turned course, sailing away from the sandstorm's path. The crew all breathed a sigh of relief, but in an instant, everyone's faces changed—that storm surging north had actually veered, rolling straight toward the Emerald Sandboat's position.
"Could this be a Sandstorm Stalker?" Steve's face went pale.
ROAR— A desolate, grating howl echoed from the sandstorm. Two plumes of dust rose up from the storm, like enormous bat wings.
"This isn't a Sandstorm Stalker—this is something way more terrifying than a Sandstorm Stalker. It's a Dragon Endbringer!" The first mate Bill Hades' legs were shaking, and he could barely hold onto the knife in his hand.
"That's the ancient Dragon Lord that rules over death—its soul stripped away by the Eight Greed Kings and refined into an ancient spirit puppet using top-tier necromancy to guard the Eight Greed Kings' cities!"
His words came true like a prophecy: a massive ancient dragon made entirely of yellow sand burst out from the fog-like sandstorm, charging straight at the three-masted warship.
"I'm going to take it on! You all protect the ship." EeDechi stood on the deck railing, giant sword in hand, and leaped with all her might, shattering the metal railing under her feet. Like a shooting star, EeDechi hurtled toward the yellow sand giant dragon.
"I don't give a damn what kind of dragon god Dragon Endbringer you are! Come at me!" EeDechi landed solidly, raised her giant sword, and swung it high—a massive blast of air sliced into the yellow sand giant dragon, shattering the dense sand mist.
The giant dragon beat its wings and dove down, its two huge jaws snapping viciously at EeDechi, the sand-formed fangs interlocking in a deadly mesh.
"Die!" EeDechi bellowed, swinging her giant sword and slicing the dragon's entire maw wide open.
The storm-like giant dragon howled and thrashed its body, sand pouring from the wound like blood. But EeDechi's face was unusually grim—she'd made a huge mistake!
She shouldn't have yelled!
In this sand-choked battlefield, opening her mouth for a shout had instantly filled it with grit. Sure, EeDechi's jaw strength could crunch rocks to bits, and her tough stomach could handle digesting a few grains no problem, but the taste of that dirt was downright awful.
"Ptooey ptooey ptooey!" EeDechi spat out several mouthfuls of sand-laced saliva, her temper flaring. She immediately hoisted her giant sword high and brought it down in a furious chop right at the dragon's head, severing the neck, hacking off both sharp front claws, and splitting the whole body in two—it crumbled into fine sand and hit the ground.
"This Dragon Endbringer was way too easy to beat—for an ancient Dragon Lord's soul, it was a total pushover." EeDechi kept spitting out the sand in her mouth, her head covered in dust, leaning on her sword in the sand, planning to head back to the ship later for a bath.
Suddenly, EeDechi felt a chill. This chill came from behind, like cold air spreading across the ground. In this scorching endless desert, why would she feel cold?
EeDechi turned her head and saw the Emerald Sandboat warship far behind her, her pupils widening involuntarily.
An ultimate aura of death was taking root and sprouting on the ship, a deadly silence of spiritual energy shooting skyward, the entire vessel shrouded in despairing gloom. The reason she felt cold wasn't due to changes in weather or temperature, but that icy grip of death, chilling her to the core.
"Fell for it." EeDechi muttered to herself. This yellow sand giant dragon she'd just slain wasn't the Dragon Endbringer at all—just a decoy to lure her away.
The enemies lurking in the Eight Greed Kings' desert knew the ship had EeDechi, the peak of combat power, so they specifically set this up to entice her away and then wipe out everyone on the ship!
EeDechi's heart went cold, and she immediately bolted toward the warship now stalled in the desert. Without warning, not a single one of the ship's thirty-two fire magic cannons had boomed, and no one had sent up signal flares.
In two leaps, she boarded the warship, stepping onto a deck permeated with decaying aura. Everywhere she looked, there were the corpses of the crew. The bodies were intact, as if they were just sleeping, their faces peaceful and serene. These people had all been stripped of life in an instant.
"Barrett! Franco! Cheeko!" EeDechi's heart panicked, kicking open cabin doors one after another, searching for traces of her companions.
On the deck, bloodstains crisscrossed everywhere. EeDechi followed the blood trails and saw over a dozen black chains with iron hooks, snagged onto the crew's corpses, dragging them off the ship.
EeDechi swung her sword to sever the chains, suddenly feeling the chill intensify, as if an iceberg was blocking her path. She looked up and saw a blurry, murky shadow standing at the stern, the ultimate aura of death bursting forth from it.
"DRAGON ENDBRINGER! GO TO HELL!" EeDechi gritted her teeth in hatred, her body like black lightning, raising her sword and slashing straight at that shadow.