The Great Worm Lich

Bathing in the radiant sunlight, Zhang Lisheng turned to walk on the fine sand of the beach and walked up to Tukansa. He picked up the bark paper roll that Tukansa offered with both hands and gradually unrolled it.

Above the vast and endless ocean, a shining sun quietly glowed behind the Wizard Li’s Conqueror, dying its figure as a god of the mortal world.

After he took a look at the several maps of the islands that had grotesque shapes of neither round nor square, the young man, who already knew the bird’s-eye view shape of the few islands from the satellite map, could not help but smile and shake his head, before crumpling the bark papers and throwing them behind him.

When the Moon Island’s native headman, who was kneeling on the ground, saw Zhang Lisheng’s actions, he immediately felt a jolt in his heart. He seemed as though he wanted to make an explanation but in the end, he did not emit any sound and just buried his head in the sand with his entire might, allowing the sharp blade-like gravel on the Hellfire island’s beach to rub against the tough and rough skin of his face.

“Tukansa, my believer, look after my island when I go on an expedition…” Looking at the middle-aged aborigine, whose hair was already gray by his feet, Zhang Lisheng did not get angry but exhorted under his breath. “Also, even though these maps are useless, remember to give handsome rewards to those converters who drew the map, understood?”

“Y-Yes, Great Conqueror!” Tukansa was astonished. Struck with panic, he quickly replied loudly. When the young man saw his confusion, he shook his head and smiled. “Oh Tukansa, looks like you’re still a long way off from Tugra. Even though the maps drawn by those foreign tribesmen who have just converted to Wizard Li are useless, as long as they have made great contributions to the tribes by obeying orders, they should be rewarded by the tribe regardless of the outcome. Do you understand?”

“U-Understood, Great Conqueror…” A look of realization dawned on Tukansa’s face that was buried in the sand.

“Managing a city, an island is very complicated but actually, there are only a few principles that you have to obey. Rewarding cleverly is one of the most important ones. You’ll slowly realize it in the future,” Zhang Lisheng purposely said in a profound manner. Then, he incarnated using the wyrmdragon’s transformation power and his body suddenly transformed to become a wide-mouthed giant with bulging eyes. Dense cloud gathered beside him and brought him flying to the Wizard Li fleet not far away.

After the Conqueror landed on the steel deck of the giant steamship, Bansaru, the captain of the flagship that had already been loaded up to full capacity with warriors, quickly ran up to him and kneeled before asking, “Great Conqueror, you have already boarded the iron ship. Do we sail now?”

“Set sail, Bansaru. Let’s go to the leaf-shaped island on the far corner southeast of Moon Island.”

“Yes, Conqueror!” The young captain, who had already seen the sea chart of this outer island’s sea region that was the closest to Wizard Li island for thousands of times and had already become so familiar with it as though it was like the back of his palm, answered and climbed up from the deck before turning around to shout, “Set sail! Our target is Leaf Island at the southeast direction! Blacktail Fish, Big Round Stone… Explore the route…”

(T/N: Blacktail Fish, Big Round Stone are the ships’ names)

The instant Bansaru shouted, the Super Hellfiremen in charge for fleet communications captured the waves and dispatched the flagship captain’s order to the entire fleet.

Not long after, the Wizard Li warships, that had gathered in the harbor like a circling giant snake, slowly moved and entered the vast sea.

Departing from Moon Island to the outer islands was several times closer than departing from Wizard Li Island. However, the straight-line distance of less than 200 kilometers appeared to be unusually long due to the lack of a nautical chart.

Even though there were several steamships that were vacated, due to the casualties in the Wizard Li expeditionary army, which could do some exploration in front of the fleet, it still took a voyage of two days and one night before they finally arrived at the destination the next night.

Looking at the island visible to the naked eye in the middle of the night through the lookout window, Bansaru excitedly clenched his fists. After breathing a long sigh of relief, he told the first mate next to him, “You’ll be in charge of the helm. I’ll go see the Conqueror.”

“Yes, Captain!” Even though the first mate of the steamship appeared to be much older than the captain, he still respectfully replied and took over the helm when he heard Bansaru’s order.

The young captain began to walk out of the steering cabin and suddenly came to a halt before leaving the cabin. Turning his head around, he reminded, “Tantusa, don’t be careless just because we’ve gotten near to the coast. Watch out for the reef.”

“Yes, Captain! I’ll watch out!” The older first mate answered as he stared ahead, sailing the ship without turning his head around.

“Very well…” When Bansaru saw his first mate’s concentration, he nodded in satisfaction and pushed the heavy iron door of the cabin open to walk up to the deck.

Strong howling winds blew on the sea as huge dark clouds gathered in the sky. The weather was still sunny and bright in the afternoon but it soon turned into a stormy scene.

The irregularly terrible weather was one of the terrifying things about sailing in the Hellfire Archipelago region. No matter how big or magnificent a fleet was on the deep sea, it could be easily wiped out by a horrifying typhoon overnight like this.

Sensing the biting coldness, Bansaru pulled his clothes tight under the strong wind. He took a good look at the weather and hurriedly walked up to the largest cabin on the deck to knock on the wooden door.

“Great Conqueror! Your devout believer Bansaru is here to see you,” he shouted reverently in the typhoon.

The cabin door opened slowly without any sound. Through the warm firelight, a calm voice resonated in Bansaru’s ears. “Bansaru, enter. Have we reached Leaf Island?”

“Yes, Great Conqueror! The fleet has arrived at the coastal water of Leaf Island,” the young captain replied while walking respectfully into the bright cabin with a lowered head.

The cabin was forged from black iron but the ceiling and walls were tightly wrapped with a layer of thick bark that was peeled off from lush trees, making it appear as though it was made from logs.

The floor was covered with animal leather skin with long fine hair. However, in the middle of the blackness, there was a round spot of snow-like pure white fur.

A blazing fire was burning vigorously in an unsophisticated three-legged iron cauldron, which had a diameter of three meters, that was placed on the only white carpet in the cabin. Its fire lit the entire cabin up, illuminating the body of Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting cross-legged on the huge wooden couch till his shadow danced.

Watching the fleeting figure of the tribal Conqueror, Bansaru reverently walked up to him and kneeled by his feet. “Great Conqueror, in 15 minutes at most, the fleet will sail to a distance that can be docked at any time but right now, the weather has started to show signs of a storm and perhaps we’ll have to dock in the shallow sea first to avoid the storm before we can continue to search for a natural harbor to disembark.”

“A storm?” Zhang Lisheng frowned and leapt down from the wooden couch covered with animal skin. “I’ve personally witnessed the horror of the storm in the Hellfire sea region. Can the ship withstand it?”

“It would undoubtedly be very dangerous if we’re in the deep sea where the dark tide is surging and I’d have long done my best to avoid it. But if we’re at the coastal area, the waves will be more than ten times smaller so there should be no danger,” Bansaru answered with his head buried.

“We also need to separate the fleet’s warships to a sufficient distance to prevent any danger from happening, so as to avoid too much disaster,” Zhang Lisheng pondered and ordered.

“Yes, Great Conqueror! I’ll give out the orders right now!” the young captain answered as he stood up and walked out of the cabin. Watching his gradually disappearing back, Zhang Lisheng strolled back and forth on the soft skin before walking outside as well.

The instant he stepped out of the cabin, he was immediately wrapped in a chilly wind.

The dark clouds in the sky were already densely layered and even though there was no rain yet, the air on the sea, that was already humid, became twice as humid and made breathing difficult for them.

In the hurricane, Zhang Lisheng raised his head and saw that the rain clouds were almost just at the top of his head. Relying on his amazing eyesight, he noticed some faint flashes of lightning in the clouds. The young man originally wanted to come out to take a look at the situation when immediately recalled the stormy rainstorm that he encountered when he got lost in the Hellfire sea region last time and could not help but start to become dignified.

He strode to the side of the ship and looked down. He saw that a vague vortex had gradually appeared in the dark sea in front of him. At once, he became more uneasy and at this time, the flagship captain of the Wizard Li expeditionary army had already passed down the command of the Conqueror. The entire fleet began to change its formation slowly and put some distance between each other.

Sensing that the speed of the iron ship beneath him began to speed up, Zhang Lisheng looked up at the island that was seemingly in sight. After a few seconds of careful ponderation, he turned and strode into the steering cabin of the warship.

Unlike those sailors who would be frantically surrounding the masts while adjusting the sails of a large sailboat that relied on wind for sailing, the crew members of the steamships that had some status were now gathered in the steering room with a solemn expression, awaiting for the captain’s order.

Upon hearing the iron door opening and the tribal Conqueror appearing in front of them without warning, everybody froze instantly, before kneeling on the ground in a panic. However, before they could open their mouths to say anything, Zhang Lisheng had already asked Bansaru, who had returned, to be in charge of the helm, “Bansaru, I see that you’ve sped up the sailing. Can we still pull in to the shore in time before the storm?”

When Bansaru, who was concentrating on steering, heard the tribal Conqueror’s voice all of a sudden, his body also froze right away. He understood that Zhang Lisheng’s question was actually more of a request. Silently, he bit his teeth and said, “Great Conqueror, according to the saying of the mainland navigators, the Hellfire Archipelago has a special topography and the island’s continental shelf is deep, so there are many large natural harbors in the coastal area. However, even though there are many of them, it’d still take time to look for them one by one. Wanting to pull in to the shore before the rainstorm arrives would most likely result in a greater danger.”

“I understand now.” Zhang Lisheng nodded. “In that case, let the fleet stop beside a shore most similar to a natural harbor if time permits.”

“Yes, Great Conqueror!” Even though Bansaru did not understand Zhang Lisheng’s intention, but since it was within his ability to do so, he agreed to it without hesitation.

When the Wizard Li’s overlord was talking to the young captain, the steamship had already sailed into a sea region that was less than 300 meters from the island. Bansaru controlled the rudder and slowed down, before changing the iron ship’s straight sailing to side sailing.

The flagship sailed slowly along the coastline. He paid attention to the changes in the clouds in the sky while doing his utmost to keep his eyes wide while staring at the shore terrain, staying like this until the first drop of rain finally fell from the sky.