The man who had fired the lightning was being congratulated and fawned over by a member of his family. It turned out he was from the Regalia family, the crown displayed on his armor had been coated with gold making it glow when it was reflecting the sun.

“What a magnificent strike”, one of them said.” Those Murlocs didn’t stand a chance against you.”

Meanwhile, the other families were complaining. “Flavius, you only manage to get so many of them because you were the first to land. If we had started the fight at the same time, I bet I would have been able to kill more of them than you.” An arrogant youngster from the Vega family said.

“Oh Appio, are you jealous of me?” Flavius laughed.

Another member of the Potentia family spitted in the sand before replying. “There were too few of them. They don’t represent any challenge to us, so it’s pointless to check who killed the most. Any single one of us would have been enough to kill them all. We need a bigger challenge if we want to compare ourselves.”

“I guess you are right every once in a while, Heraeus,” Flavius said haughtily. “This is but the first island. When we reach Egregius’ Folly I hope we will meet enough Murlocs to satisfy us. After all, this is the biggest island on our trip.”

Flavius suddenly noticed Edward. “You, you are not wearing a blazon. Are you the stray adventurer I heard about?”, he asked mockingly.

Edward gritted his teeth. You arrogant rascal. You may be powerful but that doesn’t give you the right to treat others like shit.

“Maybe I am. I couldn’t help but listen to your conversation. Could I join in your competition?”

Flavius burst out laughing. “Look at him. Isn’t he full of himself?”, he asked to Appio and Heraeus while pointing at Edward. “If you want to humiliate yourself so much, I will gladly accept your participation in our little concept.”

Edward cut him. “Actually, I have a condition. I agree with Appio, for it to be a fair contest we should all land and begin the fight at the same time.” I need to level the field. Since you are so arrogant, at least give me the same fighting conditions. This expedition is useless for me if I can’t absorb more monsters’ blood. As for who kills the most monsters I don’t care that much, though I would gladly trample on your vanity if I can.

Flavius frowned, displeased that Edward was acting as if he was his equal. However, under the discontent gaze of both Appio and Heraeus, he couldn’t refuse to set fair conditions for their challenge. “Fine. Don’t complain when you lose that it wasn’t fair.” He said before turning away and ignoring him.

The Murlocs’ corpses were soon cleared of their blood, the absorption process not lasting long. As there was nothing more to do on that island, the group returned to the rowboats and then to their vessel, leaving the desiccated corpses behind them for wild beasts to do as they please.

The group of vessels continued their journey, stopping at several more islands that were teeming with Murlocs. However, due to the small size of the islands, the Murlocs’ number couldn’t grow too impressive either. They were quickly disposed of without any difficulties. Each time Edward hadn’t been able to absorb much blood.

I really hope that there will be more Murlocs at Egregius’ Folly, otherwise, this whole trip would have been a waste. This small amount of blood won’t do much for me.

Curious about the name of the island, and anxious not to be able to kill enough Murlocs, Edward enquired about this island from the vessel’s crew.

As it turned out, Egregius was an ambitious man who had wanted to build his own small village on this island away from Gobéliard. The island wasn’t big enough to really establish a city, but its size was enough to establish a village, with enough space left for pastures and fields. Many had warned him that he was too far from Gobéliard and would have to count on himself only to repel monsters, but Egregius didn’t want to hear anything.

In the end, what was due to happen, happened. One day, when some of his fisher friends went to meet him at his island, only to find his house trashed, blood marks left on the floor, and furniture toppled. There were no traces left of Egregius however. From that day onward, the island was renamed Egregius’ Folly.

As the day progressed, Egregius’ Folly finally came into view, the first impression was the sheer difference in size compared to the island they had encountered until now. It couldn’t be called massive, but it was a real island where one could install a settlement and not just an islet of one or two kilometers long. From what he could see, Edward judged that this island was around ten kilometers long and five kilometers large.

As he was coming closer, he was able to discern more details. A small mountain was overlooking the island in the center, on the West an actual forest was growing, while the Eastern part was more welcoming with green pastures. While there was a beach of fine sand on the East side, it wasn’t the case for the rest of the island, which was instead displaying steep cliffs. Egregius’ Folly wasn’t flat, there was a slight slope from East as the lower point and West as the highest. Overall, the only welcoming area to land was the East side.

However, one of the similarities with the other island was that it was covered by Murlocs. Due to the size of the island, it was indeed representing a number a lot greater than what they saw on their previous stops. The vessels stopped some distance and fired flares and even some cannonballs to push back the monsters and secure a landing point for the rowboats. Thanks to the number of monsters, they had to fire several times to secure an area large enough to land. This gave the city’s vessel, where Edward was situated, enough time to catch up with the other families’ vessels.

The rowboats reached the beach roughly at the same time. “Are all of you ready? You won’t find another excuse for losing this time? We all reached at the same time and there is enough of them to count the kills, right?”, Flavius shouted.

“Just watch. I will show you what I’m able to do.”, Appio from the Vega family answered.

The next instant his figure blurred, and he became visible five meters away with a Murloc impaled on his sword. He threw it away scornfully on the sand, blood whipping out from his sword. “First blood.”, he told them with a toothy grin.

Flavius harrumphed and flashed his sword, a distinctive beam of lighting leaving it and impacting a Murloc before chaining with two more of them since they were in close proximity. “That’s three for me.”

Edward and Heraeus didn’t stay behind and entered the melee. Edward teleported into a middle of a group and swiftly jabbed at them with his dagger, killing two before they could react, and finishing the other three before they could gather any decent amount of resistance. Meanwhile, Heraeus send two water blades flying, effectively cutting two Murlocs in two.

With the ferocity of the assault, the Murlocs started to get pushed back even if they had the numeric advantage. At this rate, the question wasn’t if the group would be able to defeat the Murlocs, but rather how much time it would take. That’s when something strange happened, a foghorn rung through the battle, the Murlocs disengaged from the fight and ran away toward the forest and the mountain in the center of the island.

Are Murlocs supposed to do that? Edward thought while glancing at Flavius, Appio, and Heraeus. However, to his shock, they seemed as surprised as him.

“What are they doing?”, Heraeus asked in dismay.

Appio busted out laughing. “They are running away with their tail between their legs! Haha, look at how scared of us they are. They look more like chicken than monsters.”

However, Flavius, who was usually boasting seemed disturbed by this turn of events. As if he was aware of something the others weren’t. He stayed silent before speaking with an unusually serious tone. “We set camp on the boats for tonight.”

Appio was caught unprepared. “What?! Are you telling me we aren’t pursuing them?”

“We aim to slaughter them. I don’t feel like running after them for the whole night while they hide.”, he continued with a lower voice. “Besides, they might set up ambushes.”

This time it was Heraeus who responded. “Ambushes? From Murlocs? They run and attack everything that they see moving.”

“Things may be different this time.”, Flavius answered.

“Don’t tell me you are scared of Murlocs? Flavius the cissy, haha, that names fit you like a glove.” Appio mocked him.

Meanwhile, Edward was watching the argument silently. Something strange is going on. Appio is too stupid to notice but Flavius seems a little spook. It didn’t escape Heraeus’s attention, however.

The mockery hit a nerve, and Flavius struggled to control himself. “Fine, do what you want. But I won’t go with you, you can just go on your own if you want to chase them that much.”

Appio laughed once more. “How low has the Regalia family fallen.” He addressed his subordinates. “Come on, let’s show them what the Vega family is made of.”

Heraeus hesitated but he chose to stay with Flavius, to spend the night on the vessels. He stayed on the beach watching Appio’s group leaving to hunt down the Murlocs.

Nobody asked Edward his opinion, ignoring him since he wasn’t anybody important in their eyes. The retreat of the Murlocs had spoiled the mood and their little challenge to know who killed more than who was forgotten.

From the way Flavius is acting I bet he knows something, we don’t. Is it not the first time that he has heard of Murlocs behaving this way?

Edward was torn with uncertainty. What should I do? From the way they are acting the situation is dangerous. But at the same time, it is the perfect opportunity for me to absorb more blood and grow stronger. From the way things are, if I stay in the group, I won’t be able to absorb much blood, the Murlocs are getting decimated too fast.

Screw it, I don’t have much time. There are no rewards without risks. I’m going too. I have my teleportation power and my overwatch meditation if I need to rest during the night, this should be enough.