The deal was done.
Lenny and Perseus went onboard the ship, following behind Captain Crimson.
Glenn waved a good bye behind and watched as the sails sailed on the sandy desert.
Lenny looked behind once more as she went back into her territory.
It was not out of regret.
No! It was out of joy.
As far as Lenny was concerned, he just dodged a bullet.
Lenny was not a good guy, but at the end of the day, he was aware of his fault as a man.
There was no way he was going to spend so much time with Glenn and her ceaseless pampering and not start developing feelings.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Such emotions as love were not required for the great mission he had set his heart on.
He had goals to fulfill, and he would do them no matter the cost.
For now, the best he felt for Glenn or any of the others in the domain was akin to the usefulness of property.
Loving was not Lenny's problem. The problem was the terrible distraction that came with it.
Besides, with his experience of the emotion, common sense was never a part of the feeling.
Besides, that feeling of constant bliss at the sound of a lover's voice could potentially cause untold problems, not to mention the dampening of the senses.
The ship was like what Lenny would expect from an old pirate vessel from the 1900s.
The pirate crew aboard this vessel was mostly men, with only one or two women, and even they were quite old.
But what really caught his eye was the fact that every single person on this ship had negative magic.
Although they were all acolytes, equivalent to having a strength level rivaling gladiators of lower levels, it was actually very impressive.
According to the information about this world that Lenny was familiar with, the world was supposed to be in short supply of humans.
In his surprise about this, he did not mind asking Captain Crimson.
And what he found out made much more sense.
According to the pact, Magic users were spared from the apocalypse as they aided in the invasion of this world.
In the former world, magic was greatly frowned upon.
In fact, there was a time in history when witches were hunted and crucified.
However, the magic societies quickly used the apocalypse as an excuse to spread their wings, establishing different magic schools and the like, branched extensions of notable families of the underworld.
Of course, only a few made it in time to join these incredible societies.
Those who could not pay but wanted to survive had no choice but to sell their souls or owe unpayable debts for their entire lives.
Incredibly, one only needed small enough magic power to become an acolyte, the only requirement needed to stay in certain witch's zones.
After all, the pact would not allow devils and demons into witch's zones, but roaming the world was an entirely different matter.
It was for this reason that fellows such as Captain Crimson, bravely crossing the lands, were very rare and paid well.
Of course, most of them had secrets; some actually worked for demon families, trafficking human beings, or, better yet, hunting other pirate vessels for cargo and their own human beings.
It was a very strong and pittable dog-eat-dog world.
Nevertheless, this was their reality.
With the coming of demons and devils also came the arrival of terrifying beasts or the awakening of the ones sleeping deep within the earth.
The pumping of all sorts of magic energy into this world also led to the mutation of different animals.
These were mutated animals. Examples would be the common ones that Gladiators were used to fighting at the Arena or the ones that currently pull the ship.
Of course, they were more terrifying ones than that, only getting stronger with the passage of time.
Humans were the lowest of the food chain in this world.
In fact, Lenny learned that even the pirates believed it to be a curse that they were born humans in this world.
Even being born a cockroach seemed to have a better survivability rate than this.
The ship had set sail in the mid-afternoon.
According to Captain Crimson, they would make a couple of quick stops along their journey for the crocodiles to eat and rest.
But in total, if all things went well, they would be at their destination in another week.
Unfortunately, things did not always go according to plan.
Only at the setting of the sun did they met their first set of enemies, and Lenny got to experience firsthand how pirates of the sands battled.
Luckily, Captain Crimson was fast enough to evade two incoming vessels, one each, from either side.
However, Lenny, from where he was, watched the fierce battle between both vessels.
In the vast, arid expanse of the Desert Sea, the two pirate ships clashed under the setting sun, their sails billowing like storm clouds on the horizon.
These, like the Crimson Leviathan, were no ordinary vessels, but mighty ships propelled forward by colossal mutated beasts that defied nature itself.
The first ship, the "Scorpion's Wrath," whose name was acknowledged by Captain Crimson, rode the dunes with sails of raven-black, drawn forward by the colossal legs of a mutated sand scorpion.
Each of its massive pincers, sharp as swords, clawed at the earth, churning the golden sands beneath it as it propelled the ship forward.
The Scorpion's Wrath was a fearsome sight, adorned with blackened cannons that gleamed like obsidian teeth.
On the other side, "Cobra's Revenge," a name also acknowledged by Captain Crimson, emerged from behind a dune, its glistening scales glinting like polished emeralds under the unforgiving sun.
This ship was drawn by a colossal, serpentine creature, its body coiling and uncoiling in rhythmic waves.
The Cobra's Revenge's bow was adorned with a figurehead carved in the likeness of a hooded cobra, its eyes piercing and deadly.
As the two ships drew nearer, their cannons roared to life.
Explosions of sand and smoke erupted in the sky, shrouding the ships in a fiery haze. Cannonballs streaked across the desert, some finding their mark with thunderous impacts, while others buried themselves harmlessly in the dunes.
Lenny could see that these were not ordinary cannonballs but were cannonballs of magic energy.
Pirates aboard each ship swung from rigging like acrobats, their cutlasses and other weapons gleaming in the dying yellow-red light of the sun.
The clash of swords and the roar of muskets filled the air as they engaged in a fierce boarding action.
Hooks and ropes were hurled across the gap between ships, and the pirates descended like a storm, their boots sinking into the shifting sands of the battlefield.
Mutated creatures, drawn by the scent of blood and battle, also emerged from beneath the desert dunes, adding to the chaos. Giant sand scorpions clashed with massive desert cobras, creating a bewildering melee of fangs and stingers.
Amidst this tumultuous scene, the battle raged on, with pirates fighting for treasure, glory, and survival on the backs of their colossal beasts.
The Desert Sea, a desolate and merciless expanse, had become a theater of epic conflict where only the most daring and ruthless could hope to emerge victorious.
Lenny watched the happenings in the distance, and he felt a raging urge in his blood to partake.
This was a fierce raging that made his fingers sink slightly at the sight of the ship.
Unable to hold on any longer, he turned to the captain.
"Stop the ship; I'll be right back."
Instantly, he dove into the desert sand...
(Author's note: A bonus chapter, guys. Please enjoy. And please leave a freaking Review if you like the book. It's really not so hard. ???)
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