Sailing the Maze Sea was less difficult than the crew had expected; however, without Silius and Blodwen on their side, they would certainly die. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The main property of the Maze Sea was that anything that sailed into its dangerous zones would immediately sink. Even in the places that were safe to travel, the ocean tried its best to suck them down, and would succeed if they didn’t have a good enough navigator.

If not for the Needle of Ruin, they would have recognised no danger. The sea looked normal, except for the fact that the water was a slightly brown-red colour.

The safe route of this sea was very wide, and left much room to steer the ship. It wasn’t like a narrow tunnel where one misstep would ruin your journey.

They used the Needle of Ruin by sailing down the path, constantly steering slightly left and right. When the Needle of Ruin pointed towards their right, that meant they were closer to the danger zone on the right, and would turn left. They would do the same if the needle pointed left.

There seemed to be multiple of these routes, which were straight lines, and between each route were zones of danger.

Using his skill, Blodwen was able to keep an eye on the Templar ship in the distance.

This was not to avoid them, but rather to catch up with them. However, it was suspected that the Templars were using some sort of skill to travel faster through the water.

Roseus wondered whether it was time to try out his Storm Divination skill to use the winds to aid them; however, he realised that the storm would likely aid the Templars too.

That was when he looked over at Blodwen. The man realised what the captain was suggesting.

With a sigh, he used an ability that everyone was now familiar with.

Roseus had previously thought that turning into a green shark was one of Blodwen’s own skills; however, the Second-Mate of the Redflowers explained to the crew that it was actually a treasure.

The shark carcass that he wore over his body had come from an Elite creature he had once defeated, known as a Megaladon Infant. This was a small and ferocious creature, which, if not killed, would rapidly grow to ginormous sizes, eventually becoming a beast that far exceeded the Elite tier.

Since this shark had found its way into Blodwen’s lake, he had no choice but to fight it.

It took two months for the battle to end, and by then, the shark was already huge.

However, after defeating the shark, Blodwen found that its body swiftly shrunk, and its corpse became hollow. When he lifted the remnants of its carcass, it had already become a treasure.

This treasure allowed its wearer to transform into a shark form, whose strength was determined by many factors which Blodwen didn’t name. However, he expressed that the longer he held this form, the harder it became for him to breathe when he returned to his human form.

This was its main effect, and could lead to death if he wasn’t careful, or a permanent desire to live underwater.

The name of this item was Spirit Carcass Megaladon, and its rank was Epic, like the Greycloud Longsword.

The crew watched as Blodwen transformed into the dark green shark and dove into the water. Once there, he positioned his six-meter-long body behind the ship, and used his head to push against the stern, granting it boosted speed. As he pushed, Dawn steered the wheel under Silius’s guidance of when to turn left or right. Jackson manned the numerous sails on the masts, which billowed heavily with the winds. Pip helped him with the sails.

This method of fast travel carried risks, the largest being that Blodwen would need time to recover once they reached their destination.

And it didn’t take long for that to happen...

...

After less than an hour of swimming, Blodwen returned to his human body and climbed onto the deck. Strangely, the man’s clothes were never torn during transformation.

As he landed on the deck, out of breath and soaked, he wasted no time heading to the helm to look out at sea.

He used Mariner’s Third-Eye to confirm something to himself. Once it was confirmed, he shared the knowledge with his crew.

"The Templar ship has slowed down. They are hardly moving."

Everyone knew what this likely meant.

They had been spotted, and the Templars were now waiting for them to arrive.

It was just as they had planned.

...

Half an hour later, their theory was confirmed.

Using his spyglass, Roseus had long since confirmed the appearance of the Templar ship, but now they were close up, slowly approaching.

A brig did not completely tower over a sloop, but as their small Redflower ship approached it, the differences could easily be seen. Not only in size, but in the complexity of the design and the equipment attached to the ship.

This brig was equipped with four cannons on each side, totalling eight. Their wooden hull was reinforced with steel bands and plates in key areas. Most of its numerous flags were currently lowered, and there on the back of the ship was a flag with the symbol of a giant pink brain resting atop a redwood tree against a black background.

Most noticeably, the few flags that were raised had small red glowing seams running through their material. Roseus believed this was likely a ship modification...

The Redflower Pirates made the necessary adjustments to position themselves beside the Templar ship. From this position, they felt extremely vulnerable, as they were faced with cannons and roughly twenty men staring down at them from the railing of their ship.

Some of these men wore white robes with their brain-tree symbol across the chest, as well as white pirate hats. Others wore grey steel armour over their white robes, but not too much to weigh them down significantly.

Each of the men held rifles, but they were not yet aiming at the insignificant crew beneath them.

One of the armoured men, who was one of the few who wore a helmet shaped like a bucket over his head, pointed a finger at the Redflower Pirates.

His voice called out over the sounds of the splashing waters.

"Do you believe in god?"

The question hung in the air, as the Templar men gripped tightly around their rifles.

Roseus felt his hand naturally gravitating towards the Greycloud Longsword resting on his back. He was tempted to bring Rai’zac’s wrath down on the zealots.

But then, Lavender stepped forwards, her purple hair cascading around her attractive face.

She clasped her hands together as though she were praying and responded:

"Yes, I do. Blessed be the God of Knowledge and Civilisation!"