Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Canon balls flew all over the port as no one really knew who was with who. Rafael's fleet was considered to be allied to Eden, whether they liked it or not, forcing them to return fire. The independent pirates also got embroiled in as Teague, Ching and Villanueva would rather kill 'innocents' than allow possible allies for Eden and Boris.

The port of Shipwreck City was ruined in a matter of minutes, but all ships moved towards the Devil's Throat.

Eden heard a few cannons go off inside the passage, but they quickly stopped as the pirates there quickly realized the gravity of the situation, and jumped on board of the first ships to save themselves.

Among all this chaos, a small schooner did not draw any attention, allowing Eden and the crew to sail off Shipwreck Island.

As they exited the Devil's Throat, with ships following behind, Barbossa exclaimed, "By Davy Jones, there's a real armada out there! There must be hundreds of ships, flying the French and Spanish flag! What are we doing?"

They had arrived faster than Eden had anticipated, but that was fine. If anything, they would help him escape.

Taking out the Skull for a moment, Eden felt the mysterious pull, and pointed in that direction, "That way! We don't care about anyone else, we go there full speed!"

Barbossa yelled excitedly, "Aye!"

They deployed their full sail, using the superior speed of a schooner to leave.

Bare some magical exceptions such as the Black Pearl, bigger ships were more powerful, but less maneuverable and slower.

However, the difference in speed was not so big that a tail could be easily lost.

Seeing Eden's ship flee, Boris decided to follow, and with his large Man-O-War leaving, all pirate ships naturally followed as well.

A flood of pirate ships of variable sizes poured out of the Devil's Throat, numbering just under a hundred, and all heading East.

The Royal Fleets, who had been arriving from the West, were not far behind.

Were one to be looking from the clouds, they would see a long line of ships stretching over several kilometers, headed by Eden's schooner and tailed by the Royal Fleets.

Leaning against the railing at the back of the ship, which had been damaged by a stray cannon ball, Eden looked at the ships following them, the Skull in hand.

No one else was affected by the necrotic energy released as it would hover in place upon being released from the skull, allowing Eden to recover his MP and feel the connection at all time without slowly killing off the crew.

Standing a safe distance away, Drakon looked at the Skull curiously, and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

Barbossa, who was at the helm, and thus within earshot, lent an ear as well.

"We've escaped, isn't that good enough already?"

"I'd sooner believe you are the devil than you not having something planned."

Barbossa chuckled, and Eden smiled as well.

Turning around, he studied Drakon's expression, and revealed, "I plan to unleash a calamity on our enemy. You probably won't want to stick around when I do."

Barbossa turned around, looking both shocked and impressed as he exclaimed, "Blimey, yer really the Devil ain't ya?"

Eden smiled, but said nothing.

As time passed, the distance between their ships and the larger ones increased, but Eden did not want to lose them, so he had Barbossa occasionally slow down their vessel to allow those behind to follow.

Boris either took this as a sign of cooperation, or was curious enough to see where Eden was leading them, as he did not send any of his faster ships to intercept them. As for those behind, they would have to pass past Boris' Man-O-War and multiple frigates, so they did not even try.

A full day passed, reaching the sixth day, and they still hadn't reached their destination. Eden was not worried though as he could feel a sense of how far the island was, and from that he concluded they should arrive by dawn of the next day with their current speed.

And indeed, on the dawn of the seventh day, an island came into sight.

It did not look any different from other islands, most of the parts they could see was covered in a forest. There were no obvious signs of civilization, but that was the case for most islands.

As they approached the island, Eden warned, "If I were you, I would get as far away from here as possible."

Barbossa grinned, "And miss out on all the fun? I think not!"

Eden shrugged, that saved him a swim.

They stopped by the beach, and as Eden was getting off, he heard Pintel exclaim, "F-Flying Dutchman!"

Everyone whipped their head back, and saw that another Man-O-War had mysteriously appeared beside Boris' ship. It had partly torn sails, and although Eden did not recognize it, everyone's reaction to it confirmed it was indeed the legendary ship.

If that was not enough, the giant tentacles that emerged from the sides of Boris' ship erased any doubts.

Davy Jones and his Kraken had entered the fray.

While the others watched on in awe, Eden started walking in-land, warning, "I'm heading in. Good luck surviving y'all!"

Where the others might be worried at the participation of so many big players, for Eden, the more people there were, the better it was.

The Skull was an Epic rank item, and it was a key, so whatever door it opened, the calamity that would come out of it ought to be devastating. Something that could not be stopped, and would kill everything in its way.

What kind of reward would Eden get if it killed everyone present?

As he proceeded deeper into the island, following the directions from the Skull, he started seeing an old path going deep into the forest, an ancient paved road. It was made roughly, and was likely hundreds of years old.

Eden followed the path, Rafael walking by his side, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The forest was lush with life, and apart from being old, the path had nothing special to it.

At the end of it though was a giant pyramid, likely Aztec in style. Eden had once visited Mexico, and it looked just like the ones he had seen, although on a far grander scale. As a comparison, it was closer to the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

And the Skull led him right into it. Unlike most pyramids in America, this one had not been built as a giant altar to the gods, but instead had a large interior space.

Having watched Indiana Jones movies before, Eden was on edge as he entered the ancient temple, ready to dodge any traps. He also felt thankful he had worked on his Dark Vision, which allowed him to see where he was going even in the pitch-black pyramid.

Contrary to his expectations, however, not a single obstacle barred Eden's way, and the way inside was straightforward.

However, Eden still felt there was something amiss, which he realized was the walls.

They were too smooth.

Carving a rock into a smooth stone was a complex affair in the 18th century already, not to mention hundreds if not thousands of years into the past, especially on a creation of this scale.

Moreover, this pyramid was not made out of limestone, which was easier to carve, but of a light grey stone that felt much tougher to the touch.

The path itself was not very long, which Eden quickly understood was due to sheer size of the inner chamber.

It was a circular chamber that went up forty meters at its highest, and had to have a diameter of around 50 meters. It was built like a bowl.

It was a magnificent sight, and one that allowed Eden to understand what stone the pyramid was made of as he observed the basalt columns littering the sides of the chamber.

The whole chamber was illuminated by the soft glow of a white crystal at the very top of the room, atop which was a small opening showing the sky, and on the ground under it was a raised altar, around which was a giant runic circle.

The Skull was leading him to that altar.

Having finally reached the final destination of his quest, Eden felt truly excited. He slowly ascended the steps to the altar, at the top of which was a small pedestal. He could tell that all he had to do was place the Skull on it, and the door would open.

A part of him wanted to scribble down the runic circle surrounding the altar, as it had to be powerful magic, but there was far too much to write down. Not only would it take him a long time, but he still did not have a pen, meaning he would have to write it down with his blood.

Still, after thinking about it for a moment, Eden grabbed the Rosa Estrellada, Rafael's sword, and gave him Sasquatch's Hammer instead. The sword suited him too much to be lost, and Rafael would be deadly enough with the warhammer.

Then, Eden placed the Skull on the pedestal.

The runic circle around him suddenly glowed with a deep, bloody red, and mots of dark light started rising from the ground. He also started hearing a faint humming sound, alongside… chants?

Stepping back, Eden left the confines of the runic circle, and with each step the phenomenons became more intense. His surroundings also started to shake, and a beam of light appeared from the ceiling.

It was the light of the sun shining through the opening and into the crystal, he realized. But it was moving too fast, and despite it being dawn, it only took seconds for the sun to reach its mid-way point in the sky, positioning itself right above the temple.

Upon being illuminated by the large beam of light going through the white crystal, the altar unexpectedly started crumbling down, revealing a giant hole in the ground.

Then, a pair of gigantic hands grabbed at the edges of the hole.

[Side Mission (An Ominous Call) Completed!]

[Mission Content: Use the Skull of Mictlantecuhtli to open the door to the realm of the dead.]

[Main Reward: Fruit of Life and Death (Epic)]