Shrouded Seascape

A hand wrapped in bandages was holding a pen in a dim cabin of the Narwhale, and the hand moved swimmingly, writing out words in elegant cursive.

Mother, how are you back at home? I'm doing well here. We haven't been able to find anything here; this place isn't dangerous at all, and everyone is still alive.

The bandaged hand suddenly paused, and then Bandages crumpled the paper into a ball. The bandaged hand then remained frozen in mid-air for quite a while before it began writing new lines.

We have found a way to stop the rising sea levels. Once we've resolved that problem, everything will eventually return to normal. By then, I can finally come back home.

You're not in good health. You must visit Lily's father for a checkup every 1st of the month. That way, any illnesses can be treated as soon as they are found.

In the cabin just below Bandages, Audric and Sniffler clinked wine glasses.

After taking a light sip, Sniffler revealed a pained expression as he swallowed the blood in his mouth. "Ugh~ This plasma pack is really hard to drink; the blood has mostly congealed into chunks.

"Do you not have anything fresh here, man?"

"There's fresh blood, but you must learn how to play cards first," Audric said, "Anyway, I still don't understand why you're here. One vampire is enough as a lookout and scout. You didn't have to come here."

"Come on, don't say that, man. I became a crew member of the Narwhale earlier than you. You weren't even on board yet back when I was still with the captain.

"By the way, the Mother asked me to deliver something to you—something that will allow you to reach the next rank," Sniffler said. He took out a tiny vial of blood from his coat. The blood emitted a peculiar luster, and it looked more like a dazzling red gem rather than blood.

As soon as the vial was out in the open, Audric's nose twitched incessantly, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed mouthfuls of his own saliva.

"Here, enjoy it. This isn't something that ordinary members of the Blood Clan can enjoy. You can't even buy this on the black market," Sniffler said, shoving the vial into Audric's hand.

Audric pulled out the vial stopper and brought his nose closer to the vial. He took a light sniff, and his scarred face flushed red, seemingly intoxicated. Just as he was about to consume it, Sniffler's words made him stop.

"You just have to do your part, and there is more where that came from."

Audric put the stopper back in and handed the vial back to Sniffler. "I respect the Mother, but no... I will not betray the captain."

"Come on, don't say that. You're still a Blood Clan member from Dark Crystal Island," Sniffler said, handing over the vial of blood to Audric.

"No, I'm not a vampire of Dark Crystal Island. That island did not bring me any hope at all. Ever since I received that injury, those bastards on Dark Crystal Island have done nothing but bully and humiliate me!" Audric said, sounding agitated as he recalled a few unpleasant memories.

"Hey, calm down, man. I did not say anything about betraying your captain. You can consider this as compensation from the Dark Crystal Island for our wandering comrades outside," Sniffler said.

Audric seemed convinced by Sniffler's words, as he stopped pushing the vial of blood away. It couldn't be helped as the vial contained a high-quality blood essence from a vampire, which was certainly tempting in any vampire's eyes.

"I'm really not bribing you here, man. You can consider this an investment at best. You can say that your close relationship with the Governor of Hope Island is worth this much investment," Sniffler said.

Audric went silent for a while before pulling out the stopper and downing the blood. An icy sensation rushed from the blind vampire's throat straight to his stomach, making him inhale sharply. His body mutated rapidly, and he transformed into a strangely bloated vampiric creature.

Just then, Audric's scarred face healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. A few seconds later, the changes to Audric's body began to wound back like a tape until he reverted to his previous appearance.

However, he did not completely return to his previous appearance, as his scarred face had healed completely.

Audric was thrilled, and his right hand was trembling as he took off his sunglasses and stared at his own reflection in the sunglasses. His pair of eyes, which were supposed to look like boiled eggs, had been replaced by a pair of blood-red eyes. Moreover, he could see the world once again.

Vampires generally had good looks, and this included Audric, who had just recovered completely from his old injuries. Despite being over a hundred years old, he looked to be in his early twenties with a straight nose and a flawless face.

"Sorry, let's chat another time. I'm on duty in the turbine room," Audric said. Then, he turned around and rushed toward the infirmary.

Meanwhile, Charles was in the bridge and was standing next to Norton, who was manning the helm.

Charles' gaze was at the semi-desert outside.

"Port thirty. The Explorers Association has reported an expanding pool of blood ahead of us. Several exploration parties have been annihilated upon encountering it. We have to go around it to avoid any issues."

Norton nodded, and his steady hands began turning the wheel.

"Captain, there are tire tracks ahead of us. Someone must have already explored this region."

Charles nodded and said, "The tracks don't look that old; the previous batch of explorers must have already explored this place. Keep going. Our mission is to venture into unexplored regions."

"All right, but... Captain. The Light God was a god, so it wasn't strange that He could touch the darkness and even take it away, but... how are we supposed to retrieve something like that?"

"Let's cross that bridge when we get there. We've yet to find even a trace of the darkness, so it's meaningless to think about that in the meantime. We also don't have a choice but to keep exploring for now," Charles said.

Charles' words had yet to finish echoing in the air when the door to the bridge opened, revealing Dipp. Dipp's missing legs had been replaced by prosthetic limbs, which were made out of intricate gears and steel tubes.

Dipp chuckled and raised his foot, showing it off. "Captain, look! This thing feels really nice. It feels like a real foot! There are even springs inside of it, and it allows me to jump more than ten meters high."

"But there's one downside.... They'll disconnect from my knees the moment I activate my ability to become a blue mist. I have to manually reattach it afterward."

However, Charles couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to him. Charles didn't even respond and simply turned to look at the map next to him. Every arrow on the map represented an explorer, and the arrows were all pointing west.

The Narwhale was one of the arrows on the map.

The cogs in Charles' mind turned rapidly as he calculated how long it would take them to reach the unexplored region.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed just ahead of the Narwhale, and a cloud of thick smoke appeared before them.

Fortunately, Norton's nerves had been stretched taut since he started manning the helm, so he reacted quickly and turned the wheel. The Narwhale only grazed the cloud of smoke rather than entering it.

"What's going on? The intelligence reports say that this semi-desert region is safe. Are we getting attacked by an underground monster?!" Charles exclaimed, but his keen nose caught a whiff of the smell of gunpowder in the air.

Charles immediately realized that the explosion and the cloud of smoke weren't from a monster on the surface. They had been ambushed and were being bombarded!

Dipp had also caught a whiff of the gunpowder in the air. He sounded the alarm, and the crew members moved quickly to counterattack.

Meanwhile, Charles was already outside in his bat form. He looked around and saw several modified amphibious steamships in the distance. Before Charles could do anything, a shell flew over and exploded not too far away from him, knocking him over.

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