Chương 133: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Thirty-Three

Ellen had caught a glimpse of what Adam had done to stop the attack that Julie had been preparing, and, as they moved towards the triangular temple of Anchor Hole island, she stayed close to Lasse. Julie was staying by Adam's side, but he could tell by the melody in her blood that she finally understood how powerful he was and the fact that he wasn't bluffing. His delicate control of the blood he'd injected into her head was likely also causing her to view him in a different light.

Unfortunately though, she hadn't lost that part of her melody that told him she was enjoying the thrill and danger of it all, and he worried she'd try something again the moment he let down his guard. When they neared the edge of the large temple, they came across a couple of airships tethered to the ground of the island by thick cables fired from a mechanism attached to their undersides. That has to be the Anchor Shot upgrade.

We should try and harvest them so a portsmith can attach it to our ship without requiring us to pay them a fortune. It seems a lot safer than using my magic to lower our ship. The airships belonged to the Treasure Hunters faction and were dark-brown with light-brown sails and fins. Out of all of the factions, he knew the least about them, despite coming under attack by their vessels during his visit to the Stage. The Golden Fortress was also still an enigma to him.

I think the gravity-defying Relic boots were associated with the Treasure Hunters though, so they've gotta have some weird powers.

"Before we leave, we need to get those mechanisms keeping their airships tethered to the island," Adam told the others.

"You think we can sell them?" Jabari asked.

"Yes, and hopefully we can install one on our own ship too," Adam said.

"It was quite bumpy with your magic," Cathy remarked. Julie glared at her, but Adam just said, "It's difficult moving such a big thing even with the two of us using our magic." Besides the Anchor Shots keeping the ships tethered, they also had long rope ladders that allowed their crews to get up and down. They were required because the ships floated above the palm trees, making any attempt to disembark unassisted a one-way trip to the hospital. Strangely though, neither ship had people on board.

From what Adam remembered of Captain Drew's description in his fourth loop, the mechanism they had to find had been unearthed by one of the factions, and then a fight had broken out over it between multiple groups, with the victors taking it to their stronghold. And since Treasure Hunter airships are still here and abandoned, I'm willing to bet they were the ones who found it, only to be defeated and lose control of it shortly after. You wouldn't leave your ships behind without guards if you had won, after all.

But Emelia said we'd have to gather a total of four clues to find out who has the mechanism, although there was a way to tell by just knowing two of the clues. I wish she'd taught me how though. After looking around for a bit, they finally stepped up onto the temple grounds. The dark-green bricks were half-a-metre tall and stacked to form columns and small hills in front of them. In the distance was a pyramid-like shape that reminded him of Teotihuacán outside Mexico City.

The moment Adam's feet left the sandy ground and touched the bricks, an announcement hit him. Based on the change in everyone's melodies, he knew they received it too when they stepped up onto the temple grounds. < < Stage Objective Updated > > < Find a clue to the Godstone on Anchor Hole island >"Keep your eyes peeled," Adam told them.

"I have no idea what we're supposed to find, but I'm guessing it's a clue to find out who has the mechanism that Morgan told us about."

"Do you think the mechanism is required to reach the Godstone?" Jabari asked.

"That would be my guess," he replied.

"It makes sense that it would be more convoluted since we have three days," Ellen remarked, finally finding her confidence again after remaining quiet on the walk here. Julie's reaction must've really shaken her, Adam thought. They walked towards the flat-topped pyramid while looking around, and Adam sidled up to Jabari and Cathy who were walking together.

"Jabari," Adam started, "were you the only one who worshipped Nharlla in your last group?" The warrior turned to look at him.

"No. There was someone else," he answered.

"Why?"

"The human mimic is tied to worshipping Nharlla, and if you only saw one in your last Stage, then it may not have been the one tied to you."

"You think we might encounter another in this Stage?" he asked. Adam nodded.

"I'm afraid so. Everyone has to stick together. If we get separated, we become exposed to a mimic's ambush."

"Good call," Jabari said and Cathy nodded. Adam went over to Ellen and Lasse who were looking around near one of the small hills of bricks and told them the same thing. All the while, Julie was following close behind him. Around the left side of the large flat-topped pyramid were dead bodies and signs of a three-way fight.

The pyramid foundation was square, but since the temple grounds had a triangular shape it meant that the back-left corner was really close to the edge, and it looked like there were scrapes in the large bricks from a ship tethering itself there. A big Whale Eater pirate lay at the foot of the pyramid next to three dead Treasure Hunters who hadn't been able to get their weapons out in time.

Their weapons of choice were literally sharpened spades with telescopic handles, unlike the Whale Eater who had a big snap gauntlet on his right hand. The three had been killed by a barrage of small bolts, as had the big guy. Stolen story; please report. As they continued up the steps of the pyramid, they found more Treasure Hunters, as well as a few Cloud Skimmers and Whale Eaters. Most of them had been pumped full of bolts, like those from a crossbow, but a few had died to each other's weapons.

The Cloud Skimmers seemed to favour daggers and long rifle-like crossbows, but based on the arrow-like ammunition on their corpses, it was clear that their weapons were not the ones that'd taken almost everyone out. Lasse and Ellen rummaged through the belongings of the dead bodies, but when they tried to grab the weapons they became like ash in their hands. They did manage to find some Doubloons though, but nothing otherwise useful.

Julie looked around at the dead bodies as they climbed, and the melody in her blood was expectant, as though she was waiting for something to happen. But then Adam saw the way she was glancing at him. Is she expecting something from me? He met her eyes.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to do your trick on their blood?"

"Trick?" he asked.

"You can hear it, can't you?" she responded.

"You know what we are feeling, because you can hear it. Even if they are all dead, their blood is blood no less." She's figured out that I can hear the song of their blood… I suppose it was only a matter of time.

"I'll try, but let's get to the top first so we have an overview of what happened." Although I'm already starting to form an idea in my mind. As they neared the flat top, Adam noticed something strange. There were two large splotches of blood, enough to suggest that people had perished there, but there were no bodies. I think the faction responsible for turning everybody into pincushions took their dead with them before they left. I wonder why.

They ought to have been in a hurry, given the scale of the fight here, but maybe they had enough firepower to allow them to take their time? There were no signs of any Cloud Skimmer or Whale Eater airships though, so they had no doubt left the moment the situation turned against them, leaving in such a hurry they didn't take their dead with them.

As for the Treasure Hunters, it seemed they had all disembarked their ships, perhaps because they had thought it was safe to do so, given that the island required an Anchor Shot to reach for most airships. On the large ten-by-ten-metre platform at the top of the pyramid lay a dead Cloud Skimmer in a black boilersuit and goggles. He had been killed by a terrible blow from some kind of large hammer and his mid-section was crushed, blood leaking out from him and running along the stones for about two metres.

There was also the body of a Treasure Hunter in a workman's leather apron over light-brown clothes. He had been shot in the back by several bolts as he'd attempted to flee down the steps, but he hadn't made it off the platform before succumbing to his injuries. Adam kneeled by the Treasure Hunter's body and dipped his glass hand into the old blood. A melody like nails on a chalkboard echoed up his veins, making him grit his teeth and retract his hand quickly.

"What did you see?" Julie asked.

"He was trying to protect something," Adam said. Then after a moment of digesting the violent and disordered emotions, he added, "This guy was holding the mechanism. The whole battle started with his death. I think he was trying to sell it to the Cloud Skimmers." Adam looked down at the pattern of bodies that led from the flat top and to the bottom of the steps and the edge of the triangular temple platform.

"The Whale Eaters must've ambushed them, since they all seem to have come from the same direction and killed several Cloud Skimmers and Treasure Hunters on their way to the top. But then a fourth group ambushed from above, probably without using the tethers like the Treasure Hunter ships we saw. They brought a serious amount of ranged firepower with them and killed everyone. A couple of their men died, but they had enough time to collect their bodies and bring them back with them."

"And who is the fourth group?" Lasse asked, having joined Adam and Julie at the top with Ellen. Jabari and Cathy were still making their way up.

"The Golden Fortress," Adam said. He remembered one of the Relics tied to them in this Stage, the crossbow bracer. He was quite certain that the types of bolts it could fire would match the ones on the dead bodies around them.

"But where did the mechanism come from?" Ellen asked, looking around. They all realised she was on to something and also started looking around on the platform for clues.

"Look at the blood," Julie then said after a moment. They followed where she pointed and saw that the blood from the Cloud Skimmer ran along the tracks between the large dark-green bricks, before suddenly vanishing down into a dark crack in the stone. From the way the golden light hit the top of the temple, it was incredibly difficult to tell that there was even a crack, but once they all knelt down to inspect it with their hands, they were quickly able to get their fingers dug in and lift up a heavy stone hatch.

Jabari and Cathy joined them for the final heave-ho to open the stone hatch all the way and it struck the platform with a loud thud, trembling the ground under their feet. The opening they'd revealed was a stairwell that led down into the centre of the pyramid.

"Should we explore?" Jabari asked.

"I don't think it would be worth our time," Adam said.

"We should continue on with our journey. I'm very certain that the Golden Fortress has the mechanism we need." Emelia said there were several clues to find, but it's possible that it's different every time. I don't see any way that it wasn't the Golden Fortress who killed everyone and took the mechanism, unless it was stolen from them afterwards.

I suppose there's a way to find more clues, perhaps by returning to Morgan's Rest with what we found, but the bodies are at least two days old, even if they haven't started decaying. I can tell by the blood. That means that we'd just be chasing the past if we go the route of looking for clues, so it'd be way more expedient to head straight for the Golden Fortress' stronghold.

To find out where that is, we probably need to head for Windtop Cove, and if we're going that way, we ought to stop by Mast-Chewer's Nest and befriend the Drakes. The Drakes are also allied with the Golden Fortress, so befriending them first and doing their feral dragon quest before we hunt down the mechanism is no doubt a good idea. If we do it in the other order, then we might end up becoming enemies with them, blocking us from doing their quest and getting help for Cathy's noxious dragon thing.

It's also possible we can skip going to Windtop if the Drakes will tell us where the Golden Fortress hangs out.

"I think we should see what's down there," Ellen said. Jabari nodded.

"The announcement also said we had to search for a clue on the island."

"Let's put it to a vote," Adam replied.

"Who wants to go down into the pyramid?" Everyone except Julie put their hands up. Adam sighed.

"Let's make it quick then." Everyone started heading down, letting Jabari and Ellen go first, since they were most suited to be the vanguard of their group.

"Give me a minute to catch up, and don't do anything risky. There may be traps down there," Adam said. As they disappeared into the centre of the temple, he went about stripping the corpses of their flesh and blood while Julie watched. He continued down the steps, quickly harvesting the rest while adding the flesh to his own body as extra limbs, allowing him to store more than he could carry, even with his enhanced capacity. Julie skipped along behind him, saying nothing about his grisly work.

Once he was done and the skeletal remains were pushed off the side of the island, he formed a platform out of the flesh.

"Get on, we've gotta hurry," he told Julie. She hopped onto his squishy platform and he quickly flew them back to their airship, attaching most of the harvested material to the underside of the hull, weighing it down a lot and helping to keep it tethered to the island. However, despite the large tentacle limb Adam had made earlier, as well as the three anchor hooks tied around palm trees, it was clear the Creaking Madam had shifted and gone up at least a full metre.

We don't have endless time to explore, he realised. Because sooner or later something will snap and our airship will leave without us. Although I guess it's not the end of the world. We could take one of the Treasure Hunter airships, but we'd lose our hull upgrade. Adam pushed the thought from his mind for now and pulled the temporarily-attached limbs from his body and stuck them to the airship. He saved a bit of the harvested blood and flesh, but not enough to scare any of the others.

"Let's go back," he told Julie.

"I can't fly," she said.

"Oh, right…" He thought about it for a moment, and then he hardened the skin on his body before picking her up. With his restructured muscles, she weighed basically nothing to him, and it seemed that what he could carry while controlling the Mana in his flesh was really just decided by how strong his body was, which was somewhat peculiar. As he set Julie down on the top of the pyramid, she kissed him on the cheek, the same spot where he'd injected his blood into her head earlier.

Okay, maybe carrying her like that was a mistake… Adam gestured for the steps.

"After you." Julie grinned. He then noticed that the melody of her blood had transformed into excitement and desire, with the note of fear completely gone. Yep, that was definitely a bad decision, Adam considered as they walked down into the darkness inside the pyramid.