Chapter 183: Blood Pact

The abyssal mana in his veins throbbed in resonance as a colossal centipede raised its head. Purple metallic scales devoured the light of sun while thousands of eyes surveyed the entire region.“A nice base you’ve built.” Marquis Wu praised and focused his eyes back on Zyrus.

“Which is why I want you to protect this place.”

“Hmm…an interesting proposal. What do I get in return?”

As if he had guessed such a scenario, Zyrus raised his hands and revealed an item from the faction storage. It was a foot-long wooden box containing a grayish-black rock.

[A fragment excavated from a collapsed dimension]

Contains dimensional energy. Can be used for skill enhancement and various crafting formulas.

The eyes of Marquis Wu enlarged at the item description. But Zyrus wasn’t done taking out items.

[Mutated Seed of the Dracaena cinnabari]

A seed that was soaked in the blood of Kraken. It could absorb ambient mana from the air and feed it to its root system.

With enough mana supply and careful planting it is possible to create an ecosystem originating from the seed.

“I see what you’re planning…”

“Always a pleasure to talk with someone who thinks on the same wavelength. I have a flag’s authority as well which would allow me to make contact with other dimensions.”

A sudden silence ensued after Zyrus’s words. One was a regressed monarch while the other was an abyssal creature who had lived for millennias. They both had their own interests in mind, and fortunately for them, they were aligned.

Zyrus wanted Marquis Wu to oversee and thereafter protect the altars he would create. He had no plans to be passive in using his flag’s authorities. His class had stagnated due to him being unable to sacrifice any creatures from the sanctuary, but that rule wouldn’t apply to other dimensions.

And this was just the tip of the iceberg of his grand plan. The mutated seed, dimensional fragment, and marquis Wu were far from the final pieces for that. Marquis Wu was aware of that, yet he agreed with Zyrus’s proposal since he too needed a lot of energy to recover.

There was no contract nor were there any vows of promise. As abyssal creatures, they had a much better way to finalize their collaboration.

“May the abyss devour all.” Zyrus slashed his palm and a viscous drop of blood fell from the cliff, merging with a similarly sized ball of violet energy.

“That it Shall.”

The blood pact had been established.

…

A few hours later,

A thousand ships were anchored at the docks leading to the third zone. Wind howled under the searing heat of the midday sun, making the sails flutter like war banners. It wasn’t the best weather to set sail, but waiting any longer would be unwise. The last thing you’d want is to travel on an unfamiliar ocean in the middle of the monsoon.

“Is everything ready?”

Ria nodded at Zyrus and handed him a list of names. The new command structure was written in her elegant handwriting. In order to ease the future assimilation, Zyrus had ordered the players to create a command structure like the Streit bastion.

Private, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Commander, and Marshal. Even though their current numbers weren’t enough to justify the use of such a ranking, he decided to go with it nonetheless. It would be better if the players felt somewhat unworthy of their grand title and worked harder.

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Ria was appointed a special position as the military advisor. There were a total of 10 marshals in the army– six of whom were appointed. Kyle, Lauren, Shi Kun, Jacob, Druv, and Strongfist. Each marshal would oversee 100 commanders.

Ignoring the ranks further below, even the 600 commander posts were barely filled by 15%. Just as Zyrus intended, it had a positive effect on the players as they worked harder to grab the empty spots before the new recruits. The 4 Marshal positions were especially alluring.

Zyrus recalled the past events as he looked at the map of Kyros. He was unsure if his regression had caused any butterfly effects in the lives of renowned people. Whatever the case may be, he had to reach the mainland to figure things out.

*Clack*

“You done? Everyone’s waiting,” Franken tapped his hoof on the door and called out the duo.

“Mhm, let’s go,” Zyrus placed everything in the right place and left with Ria and Franken. He didn’t plan to come back here for a couple of years. Thus, it was important to make sufficient preparations for Stephen to manage non-combat players.

Ria left for the new carrack which acted as the central command center– Waarnemer. It was built with three masts and other stabilizing formations to handle the rough waters. The 150-foot-long carrack was built with a huge storage area that contained emergency supplies. High-calorie preserved food, repair materials, and many other strategic resources were prepared in excess.

Apart from Ria and a few hundred players who were responsible for communication, there was no one else on the ship. Since Waarnemer would always remain at the center, Zyrus had decided to build an infirmary there as well.

*Thunk*Thunk*Thunk*

Zyrus slammed the twilight crusher on the deck with a flag in his hand. Mana-filled vibrations spread to every corner of the 1000 ships.

“Hoist the anchors.”

*Schhhk*

It sounded as if a mighty cavalry was passing by as hundreds of iron anchors were lifted up. Just their clanking was enough to scatter the spectating fish.

“Set sail!”

*Flutter*

Reddish black sails glowed with mana as the speed formations were activated. Nuckelavee’s essence was assimilated to a greater extent in the past few years. All the ships needed was a trigger that could cause a qualitative transformation.

The original ships that had followed Zyrus from the start stood out among the rest. They were like a pack of ravenous beasts that were let loose on the vast ocean.

“Maintain the formation till we reach the border region.”

“Roger that,” Ria replied via the comms device and conveyed his orders. With the dragon of war at the front, the fleet was sailing in an arrow formation.

Two galleons, Tiamat and Sedna acted as the edge of an arrow. They sailed behind Zyrus and protected the middle ships from the flanks. Waarnemer was at the center at an equal distance from both Tiamat and Sedna. Lastly, Shi kun covered the rear with Phorcys.

“Tell me if anything comes up,” Zyrus waved at Franken who was tapping on the helm and dived into the ocean. They had already planned that he would check out the twilight zone to see if there were any valuable resources.

*Splash*

The heated seawater felt just nice on his scales. Without caring about any particular destination, Zyrus swam around the fleet to his heart's content.

It was a pity that his joyful activity didn’t last for more than a couple of hours. Instead of finding any treasures, he encountered a school of hostile fish.

*Thunk*

“Back already?”

“Enemy ahead,” Zyrus spoke to Franken and relayed the same message to the command center. Encountering hostile fish wasn’t uncommon, but as they were approaching the border region, any bloodshed would mark the start of a tedious war.

It wasn’t long before the players felt as if a tsunami was about to engulf the horizon.

“Brace for impact!” Ria’s shout rang from the comms artifacts. But even with clairvoyance, she was a tad bit late. Knowing the future was useless without the needed reaction time.

*Craash*

The ships were forced a hundred feet back even before the enemy arrived. If not for the dragon of war that diffused most of the impact, quite a few ships would’ve sunk. The ones attacking them were no longer schools of fish that acted on pure instinct. It was a pre-planned assault launched by an army of fish-type monsters.

“Not planning to help her?”

“Let them learn.”

Zyrus’s knights, rats, goblin riders, and the specter scorpions were on the dragon of war. The rats and scorpions were busy clearing the bugs since the start of the flag march. Theirs was an overlooked job, but it wasn’t like there were no rewards.

All of the rats had grown to a meter in length. Their low starting point made it such that they’d experience a period of exponential evolution. Even though they weren’t able to increase their numbers due to system’s restrictions, their overall prowess went up by a notch.

“Maintain the formation for now. At my signal, we’ll change into a ring formation.” Ria’s voice once again sounded from the comms.

“Roger that.”

“Roger that.”

Zyrus observed her actions and the approaching fish tide with calm eyes. His only job was to make sure that the dragon of war held out against the impact.

He believed that 400 Aydahar Cavaler along with the evolved rat and specter scorpions were enough for the job.

And indeed, he was proven right shortly after.