Captain Sebastian Bluerose was feeling hyped up, despite the fact that the other graves were mostly the same: Some corpses in rags, some letters on the wall, but not enough to decipher a word. However, if there were graves here, it could be more.

While a very small voice in his head admits the possibility of humans still living on this island, his idea of this being part of the Zheng Empire outshouted that voice by far and interpreted their finding in ways that there was more evidence that these people were dead for a long time, like how the graves were unattended for probably millenia.

Until he had conclusive evidence, he would press on with his excursion. That's why he took his compass, made sure they weren't facing southeast and then picked a random direction: “Let's head this way!”

Was this incautious? Was this unreasonable? Yes, many times yes. However, while Captain Sebastian Bluerose was a very smart man at times, he was in the end a legendary explorer, which in return meant that 'reason' and 'caution' weren't his strong suits to begin with.

On the other hand, his underlings felt very uneasy. They knew that they signed up to a suicidal mission, but they still feared death. Especially as they thought that their captain lost the grasp of reality because he was basically a demigod in their eyes, a being with abundant magic, capable of impossible feats.

That also brought some awe, as in-midst their fears are awe and expectation, they wanted to follow this man to witness what he would do next. That was why nobody dared to speak up at that moment, even though they were harboring some dark thoughts.

Now it was back to the plan, if it even deserved such a noun: Go through the forest, look of what might be ahead, have some fun on the way.

Behind the forest Captain Sebastian Bluerose and his crew found what their quartermaster found before, the very earthen land full of vegetables and fruits. While the captain had some interest into the flora of this island and intended to take his time to study it later, he also knew that the vegetable won't run away—most likely.

Oh well, there was a bit time for some considerations: “Hm... the vegetables aren't sorted by species and just sprawl wherever it wants, so I come to the conclusion that these are just wild vegetables. Here and there are animal bites as well, but if we take the cadaver of that—a cadaver! Come, let's look what kind of animal that is and how it died! Maybe these vegetables are highly poisonous!” These weren't meant to be words that could be spoken so joyously, but the renowned explorer just felt excitement at the moment.

Which didn't mean that he wasn't aware of his surrounding. He reacted in time to evade a maw snapping from under the ground, as a huge monitor lizard was trying to eat his leg in whole. The lizard dug itself out, revealing six legs, four of them as expected and then two thin and scrawny hind legs with long and strong claws, reminding in anatomy of those of a mole.

The captain already readied his armblade, but hesitated for a moment, as he had an inner monologue whether to kill it outright or to observe it more. He never saw a beast like that and maybe it was the legendary basilisk or rather a beast that turned into such a legend over time.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

That moment of hesitation changed the whole situation, as the monitor lizard just buried itself back into the ground. “Odd,” the captain says as he kept his eyes on the beast, but retrieved his notebook from the mantle: “The lizard is big enough to be a predator, but instead it's laying a trap. Almost like a crocodile, but burying would be a tactic for smaller animals. Burrowing costs a lot of energy, and other than a crocodile, there is no stream that will lead beasts here. So there are only two reasonable explanations: This one is a wild outlier of its species or that there is an even bigger hunter here. If we take the second possibility into account, burying would be most efficient to protect from above, so are there massive birds of prey here?”

He lifted his head, hoping to see one or two above them or at least at a distance. However, he wasn't rewarded with that sight, so he sighs and decided to watch out for dangers from below for now. He put just some mana into his Lifeform Radar, enough to feel two steps ahead, as there was no reason to do more in this case. Especially over an extended frame of time.

The cadaver he saw before seemed to be have been some sort of game, but the lizard got that one and there were just an arse and two legs left.

Time to move on! The captain carefully guided his team around the field, but he only sensed one more of those huge lizards, so there was no reason to be alarmed. As they got closer to the center, the even light mist started to vanish and Bluerose used this opportunity. “Wait here for a bit!” He used his Jumpman to its fullest, boosting his jump power and the power to endure these landings, and took a great leap to get an overview of the island.

As he soars through the air upwards, he realized how huge that island was. A giant mountain—no a volcano—dominated the middle of it, but several small ones were here and there and the big question was, whether it were individual volcanoes or if they were all connected with each other.

Around the volcano was another forest—or maybe even a jungle—the trees high and mighty, and in front of that was a hillside with some smaller volcanoes here and there. Their smoke went up to the mist, puncturing it with small holes in the sky.

These volcanoes are all active, and they may be the reason for the very unique current around it, basically a reinforcement of why the Mist Sea in itself was that difficult to journey.

On his way down, the captain took a glance at the closer surroundings and he saw some ruins, which just supported his hypothesis of this being pieces of a fallen empire. These ruins would be essential to find out whether these were the Zheng or if they just shared the same script.

“I found another ruin!” He exclaimed in excitement and went forth without noticing the irritation and insecurity in the faces of his followers. “Let's see what we find there. Maybe some tablets, maybe some artwork, or maybe even a treasure.” While Captain Sebastian Bluerose wasn't a person who was in for the treasure, he never got rid of the childlike excitement the idea of a treasure hunt brought.

For the very materialistic members of his party, this was enough to spur their motivation and they would love to find lots and lots of treasure to get back as rich people. Especially if they could pocket some small trinkets without anyone noticing to bolster their share.

It took around an hour to get there, they went from the earthen area to more of a meadow, though it was slightly declined. However, the interesting part was the size. They were walking towards a piece of a gigantic structure.

The captain mused about it, from the air he wasn't too sure of its size. “This certainly has to be of giant origin. But the graves before were human-sized, the skeletons as well, so why are giant ruins here? Are they older than the graves? Oh well, let's find out!”

The vigor from before vanished from everyone except the one they also called the Daring Deviant...