Dusk came sooner than expected, the last of the sun's rays cosseted behind soft grey clouds. The sandy streets of Pirate cove took on the look of an old photograph, every familiar thing a shade of grey. Slowly the view faded to blackness and the night began, slowly letting the stars in the sky shine. The sound of waves hitting the sea boulders as well as the birds chirping radiated a soothing effect to everyone on the island.
Right at the moment, Michael stood on the docks looking at the sun disappearing into the horizon. He felt peaceful as the time flew by without his notice. Soon when the light of the sun completely vanished, a merchant ship sailed towards him to dock at the docks.
"Hop in" After the ship stopped, Michael saw a 7ft gigantic man throw him a plank to get on board the ship. The moment he stepped on the upper deck, he noticed a handful of crew running around the deck.
"Welcome on board, new guy" Michael had to look up to see his face. He had ruffled short-length hair, well-defined muscles like a bodybuilder. He only wore brown breeches as well as black boots, nothing to cover his upper body. On his behind, Michael noticed a huge Warhammer hanging on.
Coupled with his dark skin, the man could give a heart attack to any soft-hearted person. Regardless of his terrifying body, he welcomed Michael with a genuine smile on his face. He also reached out for a handshake,
"how're you doing?" Michael shook his hand with a smile.
"Hey gang, move your asses over here, the new guy's here!" he shouted with his thick voice. Soon after his shout, a group of people walked out from the captain's cabin. He saw a young short golden-haired girl with a crossbow, a brown-haired youngster with a rapier hanging on his waist, a short person with a hood covering his face, and finally, a youngster with big round glasses on his face.
Michael looked around to see the hooded figure he met in the alley but he wasn't with the group in front of him.
"So what's your specialty?" the golden-haired girl asked. She was an average-looking girl, fair skin, square jaws, hazel eyes. the only unique thing about her was the tattoo on her neck, a tattoo of a raven. Unlike the man who welcomed Michael, there was no friendly smile on her face, she seemed as she was pissed off at someone.
"Depends" he just shrugged.
"That ray of sunshine is Marcella" the big man began to introduce them one by one to Michael,
"He calls himself Brownie" he pointed at the brown-haired youngster,
"I think it's something to do with his brown hair" the big man whispered with a chuckle,
After introducing Marcella and Brownie, the big man pointed his finger at the short hooded figure,
"That's Jessie," the big man said as Jessie waved his hand,
"You might wanna hide your things from him" the big man whispered again before pointing his finger at the glasses-wearing youngster,
"I'm Jonah, welcome...welcome aboard" before the big guy could, the youngster introduced himself with an awkward smile.
"You can call me, Logan" Logan again reached out for a handshake,
"David" Once again, Michael shook his hand,
"You got quite a grip, David" Logan gave a friendly pat on Michael's back.
"I don't see any piece on you, David. Where we are going, you'll need something" Marcella said,
"Let's bring him up to speed" Michael turned his head towards the captain's cabin to see a bald muscular man with various tattoos covering his neck walking towards him. Judging by the height and the device strapped around his wrist, he knew this guy is the hooded figure he met earlier.
The man had tanned skin, a round face with small lively eyes. He was not as tall as Logan but not short as Jessie either.
"Follow me"
"That's Ross, in case you didn't know" they all followed Ross behind into the captain's cabin. When they opened the door, Michael saw another man wearing full leather armor standing behind a round oak table. The armor looked sturdy. The man was an inch taller than Ross, neatly combed his short black hair to the side. On his back, Michael saw a shiny silver round shield as well as a long sword hanging on his waist.
After everyone entered the room, Ross closed the room while the man tossed a paycube towards Michael
"Your advance is in the paycube, you can cash in any of the banks in Southern Continent"
"Alright, I assume you're all acquainted, so let's start the briefing "
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"What happened to Rowan? And we don't know anything about this guy" Marcella's words slightly annoyed Michale but he let Ross handle her.
"Rowan went to the Island with the recon team and the less we know about each other is best"
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"Quit whining Marcella, David seems capable to me," Logan still had a smile plastered across his face yet he sounded like he doesn't like Marcella very much. In Michael's eyes, the two of them were polar opposites, Logan seemed like a nice friendly guy while Marcella seemed like a typical cold-hearted bitch.
"David, you know where we are going exactly?" the man in armor asked Michael,
"Ross said we're going to the Gisel Kingdom for a simple retrieval job. But I know it might not be that simple, considering the payday. So bring me up to speed"
The man nodded and continued, placing his finger on the map on the table. Michael saw he was pointing at a small island near the Kingdom Gisel.
"Harford Isle, now known as the zombie island" Michael was genuinely surprised by the man's words.
"You call them Netherels," Ross said.
It was obvious Ross gathered information about him at the tavern through one of his crew members. However, by the look of Ross, it was evident that the crew members kept their mouths shut about Michael using arch energy inside the void line.
"You dealt with them before?" the man asked,
"Yeah, killed a few"
" you're okay with venturing into an island filled with fucking undead because you killed a few" Jessie, the hooded figure opened his mouth for the first time. He had the voice of a teenager, if Michael had to guess, he would say Jessie is eighteen or nineteen years old.
"As some of you may know, the annual hunting of the undead starts two days from now. We'll enter the island as hunters, reach the center of the island, get what we need, and get the hell out of there. This is the short version of the plan"
"The longer version is, the island is divided into three circles. The outer circle has fewer undead creatures, hence less dangerous. The deeper we move forward towards the center of the island, the dangerous it'd be. After we get through the outer circle, we'll meet the recon team here" Ross pointed at the river on the map
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"The recon team went there with professional builders. If everything went according to the plan, there'd be a ship waiting for us "
"How did the recon team enter the island before the hunting season begins?" Logan asked, looking at Ross and the man in armor.
"Let's just say my employer called in some favors," said the man in the armor.
"Moving on. After we get on the boat, we'll travel straight to the center of the island where we believe the undead are building a temple"
Except for Marcella and the man in armor, everyone else was stunned by Ross's words. Back in Abyssal, Dular was using rituals and a mysterious book to control the Netherels to do his bidding. If what Ross said was correct, someone on this island or something was controlling the Netherels just like Dular.
"Undead building a temple? Are you kidding us right now? The last time I heard, undead can't think for themselves" Logan threw his hands in the air, refusing to believe Ross's words.
"The normal undead can't but the alphas can," Marcella said as Ross and the man in armor nodded,
"Alphas?" Michael asked as he wanted to know more about the alphas that Marcella was talking about.
"New breed of Undead. We believe something in the island is mutating the undead, the alphas are the completely mutated ones-" Ross was intercepted by the man in armor when he was going to finish his sentence,
"As for what's mutating the undead, it's no one's concern"
The others might have no idea but Michael knew what might be mutating them, the same artifact he's looking for.
"What about the terrain of the island?" Logan asked,
"The island is a rainforest. Hope you've all brought umbrellas people" Ross joked.
Everyone looked gloomy except Michael. The rainforest would give him the advantage to double-cross them and disappear after getting his hands on the artifact. Plus, he firmly believed that most of these people would die before reaching the artifact because he already injected himself with the vaccine for Netherel bite. He had to buy a few herbs from the system but with the help of his alchemy knowledge and ample amount of Netherel samples, he was able to make the vaccine.
"Rain and forest, the two things I hate the most" Logan rubbed his temples.
"If you need any last-minute supply or a weapon, go get them now. We'll leave the docks in one hour"
Michael was the first to leave the room after Ross's words. He had to retrieve the Doombringer and the mark 3 grappling hook from his space ring without anyone noticing.