Back on Halrverold the main continent.

“What? A new event is happening?” asked a sharp-dressed demigod Knight whose armor was shiny but looked to be well-worn and in need of repair.

“Guild leader, reporting in! A new continent has risen out of the sea and is supposed to contain some secret!” said a demigod who was missing pieces of his armor and had no weapon.

“Then why are you here!?” asked the guild leader.

“We ran into a bit of trouble on our way there. We were attacked by several ships from the demon races... and since we lost our bases over there... here we are guild leader,” said another half-naked member of the group that had shown up.

They were all looking at the ground or the ceiling of the guild house, not looking at the guild leader as they passed on the information embarrassed at their utter failure and loss of so much gold, armor, and weapons. They hoped with this new information their guild leader would let them off the hook for their failure.

“Do the demon races also know about this so-called secret?”

“It appears so, otherwise why would they be sailing in the same direction as us?”

“They don't hate us that much to follow us wherever we go. so...”

“You lot are lucky you brought this information to me. If it weren't for this fact you would be facing some serious hardships to pay everything back all that you lost in the last main event! Go gather everyone from your group. You are going to be sent out as a raiding force and you will find that secret first!”

“Why can't we send everyone? That's what caused us such issues last time!”

“There have been a lot of events happening here. If we were to all go then we would be left out of the loop and be another step behind the main guilds!” said the guild leader dismissing their complaints.

Similar conversations were being held in various small and medium-sized guilds throughout the continent. Each decided to send out small raiding forces to try and find this ‘secret’ first.

***

Some time later out in the middle of the vast seas.

“It looks...” said sister Teresa pausing for several seconds as she was having a hard time describing what she felt upon seeing the new land as she looked down on it from the forecastle tower of [K.S. Wulfric].

“Barren,” said Akira as he looked over the gray sandy beach that looked more like ashes than sand.

It was supposed to be noon but so far the entire time they had been anchored off the shore the land had been covered in eternal night.

There was no normal sunlight shining down on this desolate place, only a red glow giving the land an even more eerie vibe. Akira looked up at the swirling whirlpool of dark clouds in the sky and squinted trying to see where the red light was coming from but saw nothing of importance.

Splash!

The two mermaid princesses' upper bodies appeared next to the anchored ship.

He had been waiting offshore with the rest of the fleet while the princesses and their warriors scouted the shores of the new island checking for any dangerous traps or sea creatures in the area.

“We found what looked to be several demigod ships that either crashed or anchored on the far side of the island. Other than that we didn't find anything else. This island is so strange. I have never heard of such an island in the ocean,” said Cora.

“I have read all the old maps that our ancestors created and there are also no mentions of such an odd island... and these maps all have the ancient islands and small rocks that have either grown from volcanic activity or disappeared from wear and tear. Whatever is on this new land and wherever it came from I have a feeling it is not such a simple matter,” said Shaarla.

“If everything is safe on the shore, then we can start working on the major repairs to the ships. Several of them need it badly,” said Akira as he looked over the ramshackle ships from both Kodria's navy and Captain Pegleg's own even more shabby ships.

“Lord Akira, there is no need to worry about our ships! We are skilled seamen and can take care of our ladies. You don't have to stay here the whole time if you have other things you need to do,” said Captain Walcot.

“Well, then I guess I should take some people with me to head ashore and check out the local terrain. We can scout out a suitable place to build our temporary base of operations,” said Akira as he looked over the gathered people around him.

“I'm coming with you! There is no telling what type of dangerous or poisonous plants and monsters are on this island if it can even support life,” said Klyn.

“I have to keep watch over you or your wife would get angry with me if anything happened to you,” said Zundar.

“Yap!” said Fluffball.

“How could I leave you behind?” said Akira as he scratched Fluffball's head.

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“Take the marines with you,” said Captain Walcot. “This is what they have trained for otherwise they will just be sitting around and drinking up our meager supplies of beer.”

Of course, Akira's two long-time bodyguards would be coming as well.

“Sister Teresa I need you and the other members of the [Full moon] to stay here and protect the ships from any enemy demigod attacks,” said Akira.

“You can count on us!” said Beater, giving Akira a sharp salute.

With everything decided, the order was given out and several whaleboats from each ship were lowered along with a rope ladder for the marines and others that would be going to shore.

Captain Pegleg, seeing all the activity from Kodria's ships, was also intrigued so he turned to his own sailors.

“Hurry lower the small shnips! We must join those fleshy dogs and see what this land has for us!” ordered Captain Pegleg. “The rest of you stay here and protect the sheeps from any boarders!”

After several minutes of chaos, the whaleboats were filled with marines who were desperately holding onto the sides of the boat as they rocked up and down on the rough waves waiting for the last man to arrive. Those stationed at the ores had to use them to keep their small boat from crashing into the side of the large ship next to them.

When they were filled to the max a low-pitched whistle was sounded and the boats began rowing to shore.

Akira was in the first wave of whaleboats that came ashore and was one of the first to hop out onto the gray sandy shore, his feet sinking several inches into the ashy sand as he did so.

“Achoo,” Fluffball started to repeatedly sneeze after he sniffed a large amount of the ashy sand which ended up inside his furry nose.

Akira looked around the shore but found no plants, creatures, or monsters wherever he looked on his left or right. In front of him, there was a tall hill that blocked his vision of what lay behind it.

As Zundar, Klyn, the royal guards, and the rest of the marines landed on the gray ashy shore they all joined Akira and were also fully alert scanning the area for threats.

“This land... it smells familiar...” said Captain Pegleg as he walked over to Akira with his band of shabby skeleton guards.

“Uh...,” Akira was unsure how to reply to that as the pirate captain clearly had no nose and he was not sure if he could even smell. “In what way?”

“Not sure... I just get the feeling of familiarity from seeing everything...” said Captain Pegleg as his bony head made motions as if it was sniffing the air. It really just looked like he had a bad twitch.

Akira turned his head away from the eccentric skeleton captain and began walking up the ashy hill that kept trying to suck his armored boots off his feet with each step.

When he reached the top of the hill he found it was flat and fairly firm with no plants or animals nearby. The hill's height and its firmness would do just fine for a temporary base until they found something more suitable.

With his inspection of the hill finished he walked to the edge of the hilltop to look down at the land that had been hidden, he remained silent for some time as he took in everything.

“Are they all dead?” asked Akira a minute later.

“I don't think so. Look, they all have small red leaves on them,” said Klyn as he pointed at several of the large trees that were all an ashy gray that looked like fossilized stone.

An entire forest of these stone trees covered the entire land below the hill and off into the distance in every direction. Akira was unable to see its end even with the help of standing on top of the tall hill.

Akira turned to one of the marine officers and said, “Start setting up a redoubt atop this hill. If possible, cut down some of those trees and use them to fortify the place and set up a sharp barricade to stop anything from getting close.”

“And what about your protection?” asked the officer.

“I'll just take a small wolf pack to help Zundar and the royal guards. We are just going to scout the forest and see what it holds,” said Akira as he began to walk down the hill with his hand-picked escort.

“I will come with you. Watching things get built is such a bore!” said Captain Pegleg as he joined Akira in the walk down the hill.

“Are you sure this is a smart idea?” Zundar asked Akira as he walked up to a stone tree and tapped it with his thick knuckle. The tree let out an odd gurgling echo from inside the trunk.

“We are one of the strongest groups out of everyone on this expedition. If not us, who else should scout out the area?” asked Akira as they walked through the maze of gray trees.

With the dark sky and red glow from the swirling clouds, the stony forest gave off a very creepy vibe.

It made Akira feel like there were eyes constantly watching them or that there was something that was waiting to jump out at them from the shadows. But it had already been an hour since they had entered the forest and they had not seen or heard any sound of a living creature.

Akira, Fluffball, and the other marine werewolves all stayed alert by sniffing the air for any changes every so often, but nothing had caught their attention so far.

“Ah, an opening!” said Klyn pointing to a distant gap in the clustered trees.

Seeing this everyone started making their way to the opening wanting to see if it was the end of the forest.

“Yap!” warned Fluffball. His twitching nose sensed something unusual from that direction.

They all slowed their noisy steps and cautiously walked to the edge of the treeline and peeked out.

“A village?” asked Akira quietly.

More than 80 gray brick houses with thatched roofs were built inside the opening. There was a large wooden fence surrounding the village. The thick fence had been made out of the stone trees, which answered one of Akira's questions from before, the trees could be cut down.

“Is it an abandoned village? Where is everyone?” asked Klyn.

“I don't think it is... look, the ground over there looks to have been freshly tilled. Those hardy-looking plants look like some sort of crop,” said Akira pointing at a large dry and gray field next to the village's large fence.

Just as he said this... several unseen figures darted out of the shadows and launched an attack on them!

Zundar was the first to act as he jumped in front of Akira and grabbed the charging attacker, stopping their charge and effortlessly tossing the attacker onto the ground.

Similar things happened to the other shadowy figures who were all rolling on the ground in pain for several seconds before crawling back up onto their feet and grasping their spears ready to fight.

The noise of the short scuffle and pained cries was loud enough for several villagers with lanterns from inside the buildings to come out. With so many lanterns appearing the village was lit up brightly allowing Akira and the rest to see that they were all wearing shabby armor while carrying stone clubs or spears in their hands.

With the bright light shining all around them the features of the surprise attackers were revealed...

“Zundar, what is this?” asked Akira as he looked at the angry villagers.

“How should I know? I'm just as confused as you!” said Zundar.

The villagers standing in front of them... were all of the same demon race as Zundar!