Crackle...
"KAHAHAHA!" The Captain let out a bellowing laughter as he sat cross-legged around the campfire that had just been created.
He looked towards Lillian with his arms folded and his cutlass stabbed into the ground. The Captain had just listened to the entirety of Lillian’s story since their appearance on the island.
Lillian had recounted how she had gathered everyone else and also her intense and high-paced battle with the Jungle Lord, while making gestures towards it.
Fortunately, whatever hostility and wariness between the Wendigo and the Captain had now fizzled out as they sat comfortably beside each other.
Currently, they were sitting inside the cave, where they had managed to scrounge a bit of firewood for the fire.
"What an excellent summary, Matey! Yar could be a storyteller, I tell yar!"
Lillian gave a crooked smile at that, rubbing the back of her neck at the compliment.
If she had to be honest, she did weave the style of the game’s dialogue in her storytelling to make it sound much more exciting.
"I’m not that good... If you experience it, it would obviously be easier to describe."
The Captain shook his head while simultaneously wiggling his finger at her. He clicked his tongue a few times before stating:
"No need to be humble, crewmate, such a manner isn’t needed with me. Be proud of yar skills! It’s the only thing yar have going for yar in the time of loneliness."
Lillian blinked at his encouraging words before chuckling nervously. She thanked him before glancing towards the Cliff Lord, who still laid dead and unmoving.
No signs of it suddenly coming back to life, unlike the Jungle Lord.
"You also went on quite a bit of an adventure, didn’t you?" Lillian asked, wiping her hands with a handkerchief and watching as it became stained with blood.
Just earlier, she had ventured inside the chimera’s body in search of its poison glands, which were fortunately unharmed by the Captain’s bisecting slash prior.
It wasn’t an ingredient she needed for the medicine, but she felt it would be nice to have on hand.
She had, after all, used up all the poison she had on the Alpha back in the Town of Blackridge.
"An adventure yar say?" The Captain repeated as he ran his hand through his beard, thinking of a way to put together his story as well as Lillian did.
As he thought of that, Lillian shifted her gaze towards the Jungle Lord and found him staring at the Manticore with a complex look in his glowing hollow eyes.
It had been stated that each of the Lords knew about each other’s presence on the island, but besides their location and knowledge that they were close in power... That was all they knew.
Lillian tilted her head as she tried to make out the Wendigo’s expression.
Unlike the Beetle, which had an actual fleshy face that could exhibit emotions, Lillian only had the help of the Jungle Lord’s eyes to discern its current emotions.
"Well, then! I shall start, do keep your ears wide and open, Matey."
Lillian turned her attention back to the Captain, who seemed to have finally prepared his words.
Two days ago, when they appeared in the Trial, the Captain had appeared somewhere within the jungle before managing to make his way through the dense plant-life.
He would then find himself in front of the cave after reaching the outskirts of the jungle.
Once he killed all the Kobolds inside, he flew towards the Cliff God’s Temple and slaughtered all the lingering kobolds there as well.
The Captain glanced towards the Manticore.
Looking back on his battle with it.
"This was a fearsome fellow yar call the Cliff Lord was surrounded by countless flocks of birds that had speeds on par with flintlock bullets! Luckily, such speed is bearable for someone like me"
The Captain then paused before pulling his cutlass out of the ground and holding it up for Lillian to see.
He gently ran his finger near the sharp edge of his sword and said. "It even had the strength to bend the blade of my cutlass with a single swipe! That is by far no easy feat!"
After carelessly swinging his sword around and causing Lillian to flinch, he yelled:
"But with a mighty right hook and a swing from my Tidebreaker Slash! I eventually put down that beast."
Once he had finished recounting what he had been up to, they immediately began their travel to the Cliff God’s Temple after putting out the fire.
Something that was particularly easy with the help of the Captain’s wings.
Fwoosh...
Upon Arrival, Lillian, who had transformed the Jungle Lord back into his Shard form, summoned him back out again as they took a look around their surroundings.
Compared to the tribe inside the dense Heart of the Jungle, this one looked like a bustling village... Or what was left of one.
All of the buildings were left in tatters as the deceased bodies of birds had fallen through the roofs onto the streets.
Even the kobolds weren’t safe from the destruction.
Lillian subtly glanced at the Captain and found him staring at the destruction without a single remorse.
She turned away and looked towards the large colosseum in the distance and the massive Greek temple behind it.
Usually, the players would face the Manticore inside the colosseum, but of course, the option of taking it to the sky was a thing.
They made their way into the colosseum and stood before a wide elevated stone platform at the centre of the arena.
Lillian snapped her finger and ordered the Jungle Lord to shatter it apart with a swing of his battle axe before walking over and rummaging through the pile of stone rubble.
Soon enough, her hand made contact with a smooth, but hard surface that wasn’t stone.
Pulling it out, she now held a deep brown gem that gave off the distinct smell of stone.
Lillian smirked. She had now acquired one of the three gems.
==
[Item Name: Divine Gem of the Cliff God]
[Item Description: The core of the Cliff God temple’s power and ability to transfer back the collected divine power from his subjects, it also granted the ability to initiate the temple’s destruction under the rules of the Divine Game.]
==
The Captain peered over Lillian’s shoulder and noticed the look she was giving to the gem. However, he ignored it, for he too would give such an expression to a beautiful jewel like that.
But.
That wasn’t what got his attention, instead...
"Crewmate, how did yar know this gem was here?"