Ambrose’s expression fell, and his interface mysteriously disappeared, leaving his arm dangling in the air.
The feeling was heavy and suffocating.
This was the feeling of being a slave trapped inside an invisible prison.
Mars put the medallion around his neck and caressed its smooth surface, which also had a symbol of a black heart.
“This is a treasure I found a while back.” He whispered. “It holds dark magic that allows me to bind people to me. If you try to escape from me, the black heart will send your right back to me.”
“Fuck…” Ambrose jumped over the bar counter, picked up a bottle of whiskey, flicked the cork across the room, and took a long swig.
The bottle of whiskey emptied rapidly, and when he was done, there was only a drop left at the bottom.
“Ugh…” Ambrose grimaced, feeling a burning sensation on his throat.
“We’ll be returning to the ship.” Mars stood up from the high stool and made his way outside, slamming the doors wide open with his exit.
As the bitter taste lingered on Ambrose’s tongue, he followed Mars with a depressed look on his face.
When he reached outside, a shocking sight awaited him.
The festival had died down; every performer, every cheerful townperson, even the innocent children, were quietly sitting on the ground, motionless.
They were like hollow shells, with zero emotion left.
‘He even stole their fate.’ Ambrose angrily clutched his sword and felt like beheading Mars swiftly and quickly.
However.
The single thought of attacking Mars seemed suffocating and overwhelming at the same time.
It was a feeling he had received from only one person before.
From Reinhardt.
He thought he would never find someone as strong as Reinhardt—he even felt like he was stronger than Yughragh and the God’s Paladin from Lowceiling.
But now, when he looked at Mars’ broad back, he felt like no one could defeat him.
After they walked out of Borneo Town, Mars came to a halting stop beside the welcoming sign.
Mars’ lips twitched into a small smile as he turned back to Borneo Island and slowly cracked his knuckles.
“What are you doing?” Ambrose asked, but seeing the smile, he had a very bad feeling.
“I have forgotten.” Mars said with a smile. “I have forgotten to exercise today.”
“Eh?” Ambrose mumbled in confusion, but before he could react, Mars sprang high into the air.
The ground showed a small crack where Mars had just stood.
Ambrose snapped his head towards the bright sky and saw Mars soaring through the air—around a hundred meters above Borneo Town.
In the air, Mars gazed down at the bright and colorful town.
Then he flexed his hand into a tight fist, and his arm, from elbow to shoulder, expanded with powerful muscles with fiery veins dancing in them.
“Jupiter…” Mars whispered under his breath menacingly, and when he began falling back to the town,
He reeled in his right arm and delivered a heaven-breaking punch that made the air in front of his fist explode and crack.
As the first shockwave struck the ground, a deafening boom echoed through the entire town.
“Meteor!” With a powerful scream, Mars crashed into the ground fist-first, causing a massive shockwave to ripple outwards.
Crack, boom—the earth split open, creating a ravine with magma pits sizzling at the bottom.
The tavern was the first to fall into the ravine, with all its customers, dancers, barkeepers, and guitarists still inside.
Following that, all the townspeople, including the performers and the sailors who had come for a supply run, all fell to the ravine, falling into the magma pit that burned hotter than the depths of hell itself.
Mars spread his arms wide open while the rest of the buildings fell to the ravine behind him.
“This is power!”
His shout exploded in Ambrose’s ears as he helplessly watched the whole cheerful town, filled with colorful and happy-looking people, fall into the depths of the ravine, where they’d never be found.
Mars, with heavy and powerful steps, walked past Ambrose with his silly grin long gone—only a look of dead seriousness left in his eyes.
“Before you even think about killing me to get rid of the contract, look at them.” Mars gestured towards the large pit, as if a meteor had crashed into it just moments before.
“I understand…” Ambrose loosened his bloodied hands, turned away from the long-gone town, and followed behind Mars with a heavy look as they went to the harbor.
When they arrived at the harbor, Ambrose saw an impressive ship with black sails and a hull made of ebony wood.
It was twice as big as the sailor’s ship, and its three masts reached high into the sky, adorned with intricate carvings and billowing with majestic black sails.
The interior of the ship looked just as intimidating, with dark, mysterious corridors and a sense of foreboding lurking in every corner.
It had a lot of space to roam and get lost in.
After Mars walked up the gangplank, Ambrose followed right behind, but then caught sight of a rough-looking man sitting alone in the harbor’s pier. 𝚟𝐞xt.𝔠𝒪
He was the captain of the sailor’s, and now he had the same look as those fateless townpeople—emotionless and cold.
‘Him too…’ Ambrose sighed, turned away from the captain with a heavy look, and walked up the gangplank to the ship’s deck.
As soon as he was in, the ship set sail, leaving behind Borneo Island empty and hollow, all of its fates stolen and its future uncertain.
As Ambrose watched from the ship’s deck, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness for the island he had only visited briefly.
This was not the kind of adventure he expected to have.
Tap—Mars slammed the ship’s door open that led inside to the crew’s quarters. There were dark corridors with flickering lights and many cabin doors.
“The rest of the crew should be at the dining hall.” Mars said with a smirk. “Go meet them. You might get along with them. They are also here unwillingly, haha.”
“Tch.” Ambrose clicked his tongue, not understanding how Mars could be proud of the fact that he had just killed hundreds of people and had nine abducted people on board.
It was clear to Ambrose that Mars had a twisted sense of morality.
Ambrose then walked past Mars and heard him say:
“I’ll be at the captain’s quarters; do not disturb me.”
Slam—the door slammed shut, causing him to be left alone in the dark corridor, his only companion being the creaking floor, flickering flights, and the distant sound of dripping water.
Ambrose shook his head and walked down the dark corridor until he arrived at a heavy, iron door with a rusted lock.
It was unlocked, and there were distant whispers coming from the other side.
Ambrose touched the doorknob cautiously and pushed the door open, revealing a damp, dimly lit room.
It had one long table with chairs strewn about haphazardly.
There were a few candles on the table, their flickering flames casting eerie shadows on the worn wooden surface.
As soon as he entered the room, it turned quiet, and all the hushed whispers died down.
Ambrose gulped and saw eight figures; all had stopped eating and were looking at him with mixed emotions.
“Oh, a new guy!” A single figure then stood up, his aura radiating with warmth and friendliness.
He was tall and lanky, with extremely fair and beautiful skin, as if it were made of porcelain. His hair was black as night, and he wore a large-collared coat with knee-high leather boots and a pocket watch hanging from his waist.
However, what took away Ambrose’s attention were his eyes.
‘Red… another fucking vampire!’
His eyebrow twitched furiously, but then the beautiful young man patted Ambrose’s shoulder with a friendly look.
“My name is Damian, and I have an important question!”
“Does the question include my blood type?” Ambrose asked, and now his lip was twitching as well.
As soon as his question lingered in the air, a few of the crew members chuckled and continued eating their dinner.
“Hahaha!” Damian laughed, his pearly teeth and two sharp fangs showing. “Nah, I am not that kind of vampire. I only eat animal blood, believe it or not.”
“Oh?” Ambrose raised his eyebrow in surprise. He expected most people under Mars’ leadership to be total psychos, even if they were abducted as well.
“Are you another cult follower?” Damian asked with a serious look. “We have already one of those, and we do not need another cultist who follows some fucking moron!”
“How dare you!” A ragged-looking man stood up with an angry look on his face. “Anti-Christ will bring salvation to his world. He will cure this place from vermin like you and your kind!”
“As you can see, that fucking cult isn’t very fond of vampires.” Damian chuckled and then asked again. “Well, are you?”
“I am not a cultist.” Ambrose replied.
“Whew, thank the Vampire Goddess for that.” Damian wiped his imaginary sweat and then wrapped his arm around Ambrose’s neck. “Then we’ll get along just fine.”
“In here, we shit talk about that fucker Mars, eat, and sleep together while occasionally performing bizarre blood rituals for the Blood God. It’s completely normal stuff. We’ll; I am also the ship’s cook, so let’s get you something to eat!”
“Wait, what the fuck did you say?” Ambrose’s eyes widened, and he was then pushed down on a chair, and Damian put a plate right in front of him.
“Eat up~” Damian laughed. “I promise, there isn’t any blood or human flesh inside. Well, not much at least; I try to get the crew to have a healthy diet!”
‘Yeah, they are psychos.’ Ambrose sighed and pinched his forehead. ‘Great.’