Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

The edges of the hole cracked as the owner of the hands lifted itself, revealing it to be a giant humanoid. It had charcoal black skin, spindly limbs, and was decorated with golden accessories. Its wrists and ankles had golden runic tattoos, a large chain made out of golden human skulls around its neck, and large headdress made out of feathers.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

[Title: God of the dead, King of Mictlan]

This was all Eden was allowed to see as he gazed upon the giant deity. It released a dreadful aura that sought to devour everything around it, but Eden's Talent completely blocked it off, as it had with the priest's or Guts' back in Dreamland.

Mictlantecuhtli's large eyes, which were these black orbs that absorbed all light with a single spark in their middle that served as a pupil, stared at Eden, and its face split in a wide grin as it spoke in an otherworldly voice.

Eden did not understand what it said, the system did not translate, but he could tell it was not friendly. Apparently, Eden did not have any special privileges for being the one to release it.

Stepping back cautiously toward the entrance, Eden sent a glance at the reward he had gotten for all this trouble.

[Fruit of Life and Death]

[Rank: Epic]

[Effect: Eating this will temporary endow you with the powers of life and death, significantly increasing the power of the soul and granting good luck. Lasts for ten minutes.]

…was this a joke?

The cave, Guardian, Morgan, Shipwreck, he had gone through all of this for a fucking fruit that increased the power of the soul?

Eden guessed eating it would also give him control over Mictlantecuhtli for ten minutes, but what use would that be? Sure, he could get it to kill his enemies for ten minutes, but what about after that? Wouldn't it turn on him?

There was no more time to complain about the piss-poor reward he got however as more beings started coming out of the hole. They were all a strange mix between animals and humans, with some having the body of a dog and the skull of a man, or a bird with a set of arms under its wings. One thing they all shared though was their emaciated figure and charcoal black skin, apparently token of their god.

Mictlantecuhtli's laughter echoed through the entire temple as Eden turned on his heels and ran, Rafael pulling him to go faster.

Eden heard the clattering of bones against stone behind him, and the whole temple once again started shaking, dust rising as if they were going through an earthquake.

As he got out of the pyramid, Eden figured he would much rather have had to deal with an earthquake, as it was the God of the dead tearing down the pyramid instead, rising to its full glory as it escaped from its confines.

Eden ran without looking back, and managed to reach the beach, which had somehow devolved into a chaotic mess since he had left.

Dozens of ships had beached themselves, some toppling over, others speared through other ships, while an army of men fought one another. Men of all allegiances gathered on the beach, while the situation at sea was not much better.

There was constant cannon fire, the giant tentacles of the Kraken rising far above any ships and smashing into them mercilessly.

Well, Eden would very much rather have to face the Kraken than the God of the dead, so with Rafael leading the way, Eden made his way to one of the ships.

Some tried to stop them, but a single swing of Rafael's hammer either killed or incapacitated everyone standing in their way.

Eden himself had the Rosa Estrellada out, granting his Agility a considerable boost as he easily weaved between the attacks, moving deeper into the sea of ships.

But as he climbed onto the first ship, everyone around him suddenly stopped, and looked at the giant stomping toward them. They were all terrified by its aura, and stood frozen, until it swooped down, grabbing a handful of people, and throwing them into its mouth.

Following it was its own army of the dead, which started fighting those who had stayed on the beach. None of that was Eden's problem though, and if anything, it helped him as he jumped from ship to ship, drawing the most distance possible.

His goal was to reach the last line of ships, commandeer one of them, and get the hell away from there.

Unfortunately, things were bound to not go smoothly for him as the God of the dead, after eating a few on the beach, started running toward the sea, headed right in Eden's direction.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but Eden doubted it, so he changed his course, and headed in the direction of the one thing that could potentially put up a fight against the God.

The Kraken's giant tentacles made it easy to spot, and although Eden did not know why it was rampaging through the ship like it was possessed, ignoring canon fire to inflict the most destruction, it should be able to stop the god for a while.

Only the largest and toughest of ships were left floating around the legendary monsters, and on their board were the strongest around. Eden spotted Teague's ship, along Villanueva's, as well as four large ships rivaling theirs in size, sporting the French and Spanish flags.

However, all these ships palled in comparison to the one at the center of it all.

It was a giant ghost ship, made of pallid wood and white bones, covered in sea-shells and barnacles. The sails were torn at the edges, and shared the pale gray color of a corpse.

This was the legendary and dreaded Flying Dutchman, and at its helm was the squid-man Davy Jones.

[Davy Jones]

[Title: Ferryman of the Dead, Lord of the Locker, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, Ruler of the Ocean]

[HP: ?/?]

[MP: 210/210]

[Strength: ?]

[Agility: ?]

[Physique: ?]

[Intelligence: 21]

[Wisdom: 16]

As Eden used Analysis on him, Davy Jones suddenly looked back, locking eyes with Eden. Then, he appeared right in front of Eden.

The legendary sailor's body had little of him still human, with his face turned into a squid's, his left arm a large crustacean pincer, and his right leg a crab's. And, of course, his missing heart.

These features only made him more deadly however. He looked at Eden with narrowed eyes, and said, "I can feel it on you. You were the fool who released this cursed god on us!"

Eden looked around, and spotted one of the masts of a nearby ship starting to tilt. Strangely, there was also a small group of humans who had not been transformed present on the Flying Dutchman, which allowed Eden to understand why Davy Jones was here.

A group of Players had managed to get his heart. Eden did not know how they had done so, but considering he had brought down the God of the dead and his army onto this world, he could not judge.

His sword sheathed, Eden took out the Scroll of Thunderwave, and used it on Davy Jones.

It felt quite strange to use a scroll, but it was quite handy as it did not require any MP from his part. Davy Jones was blasted with a cone of thunderous force, taking it head on, but where Eden had been sent flying when he had tanked it before, Davy Jones only took a single step back.

That was enough for Eden though as he used the opportunity to escape, sprinting to the left as the scroll in his hands turned to ashes.

Davy Jones released a guttural roar which further exposed his inhumanity, but a hammer slammed into his shoulder before he could chase down Eden.

At the same time, the mast, which had been tilting, started falling with a loud creak, and slammed down onto the side of the Flying Dutchman. The legendary ship was tough enough to withstand it without taking much damage, but more importantly, it created a bridge for Eden.

Running deftly onto it, Eden saw multiple members of Davy Jones' cursed crew waiting for him, so he thrust his palm forward.

"I cast Strengthened Fireball!"

They might have become unkillable due to their curse, that did not stop them from burning. A quick glance at their attributes showed that they were all only Tier 0, so Eden's fireball cleared the way.

The humans on board, seeing him run over, looked troubled, as many of the crew-members of the Flying Dutchman had already left to attack the other ships, leaving only a few behind.

As for Eden, when he saw their status, he picked up the pace, a bloodthirsty light behind his eyes. They were all Tier 0, with the best among them only having an Agility of 18.

"I cast Mists of the Underworld!"

The Flying Dutchman had a length of around 50 meters, while Eden's spell had a radius of ten meters, meaning that the moment he cast it, nearly half of the ship was suddenly covered in supernatural darkness.

"I cast Mists of the Underworld!"

And like that, nearly the entirety of the ship was covered in shadows, which Eden could see through thanks to his Dark Vision. It was a 2nd Circle version of the spell.

Eden had not spent the two day-trip to this island idle, he had used the opportunity to work on his spells. He improved his Dark Vision to Second Circle, which allowed him to see better through darkness for an elevated cost of 50 MP. Eden had cast it for the temple, and since it lasted for two hours, he had plenty of time left.

Thus, even in the Mists of the Underworld, Eden was able to see his surroundings clearly. The cursed crew, however, were turned completely blind, weakened by Eden's spell. The Players were even worse off.

Mages started off as weak because low level spells were quite weak, and when not mastered, required a lot of mana to be cast. Now that he had mastered his spells, and had also gained a humongous mana pool that was nearly double of its normal version, turned Eden into an absolutely deadly foe.

So far, that deadliness may have been contrived by the fact he was facing the top powerhouses of this world, but now, left alone with a bunch of mid-level characters, he established his dominance.

Weaving through the shadows, Eden severed the heads of several cursed crew-members, Rosa Estrellada's edge easily cutting through their armored flesh.

Eden's main strength was that of a mage, but his physical attacks were nothing to scoff at either. His sword had an attack power of 175, which by itself was enough to bypass the defences of anyone below Tier I. Moreover, Eden's Tier I suppression did not only apply to his magical attacks, but to his physical ones as well.

The Players themselves were not faring very well. The Mists of the Underworld lowered all attributes by eight, which was enough to stick them in place.

A sword swing each, Eden dispatched four of them, leaving only a single one of them.

[Name: Joker]

[Title: N/A]

[Talent: ?]

[HP: 170/170]

[MP: 100/100]

[Strength: 14]

[Agility: 18]

[Physique: 12]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Wisdom: 11]

He was the strongest of the bunch, and probably their leader. He also happened to be the only one who was still capable of moving among them.

And as Eden was about to finish him off, his danger sense went off, and he leapt back just in time as a beam of light pierced through the Mists of the Underworld, dispelling it as it obliterated a part of the ship, along with the corpses of the Players.

"OZYMANDIAS!"

Eden furrowed his brows as a familiar figure tore through a Spanish soldier, screaming his name.

[Name: Henry Morgan]

[Title: Lord of Munro Island, Shadow Lord]

[HP: ?/?]

[MP: 126/294]

[Strength: ?]

[Agility: ?]

[Physique: ?]

[Intelligence: 21]

[Wisdom: 25]

At the same time, an ungodly roar shook the air as Mictlantecuhtli arrived. The roar did not come from it though, but the Kraken, whose many tentacles assaulted the God of the dead, its great maw shredding its leg.

[Name: Kraken]

[Title: Leviathan, Beast of the Deep, Guardian of the Locker]

[HP: ?/?]

[MP: ?/?]

[Strength: ?]

[Agility: ?]

[Physique: ?]

[Intelligence: ?]

[Wisdom: ?]

Eden's mind worked rapidly as he weighed in his options, and decided on what the best course of action was.

He could not fight Morgan head on, he would get demolished. Rafael would only be able to stall him, which was hardly better, so Eden needed to get Davy Jones to fight him. The one good thing was that Eden had ordered Rafael to follow behind him, and had now reached the ship, along with Davy Jones, so he was close enough to intercept Morgan.

That meant he had to either convince Morgan or Davy Jones to fight the other. The easiest way to do so was to get Davy Jones' heart, which Joker most certainly had.

Before Eden could resume his offensive, however, Joker slapped his hands together, and disappeared from the spot.

Eden doubted he could have gotten far, but he had no time to look for him.

So, he shouted instead, "Jones, we need to take care of this guy!"

Saying that, he sprinted for Jones, who was inside the first Mists of the Underworld Eden had cast. He was not affected much by it, and hearing Eden, his face-tentacles twitched.

Eden ran inside all the same, just in time for Morgan to leap onto the ship.

Normally, Eden would have tried to trick Davy Jones, having experienced the shrewdness of Morgan in the past. However, right now, the so-called 'Shadow Lord' looked closer to a beast than a man, frothing as the mouth as fur had appeared on his hands and feet.

Ignoring him, Eden threw himself behind Davy Jones, putting himself in his attack range. Were Davy Jones to attack him, Eden would hardly be able to dodge it.

But his bet paid off as Davy Jones only snarled at him, spit flying in Eden's face before he turned around, parrying Morgan's claw with his pincer.

Morgan had seemingly lost a great deal of intellect in his transformation. However, it was not for nothing as he overpowered Davy Jones, and slashed off several of his face-tentacles with a swipe of his claw.

Where Davy Jones looked only a little slowed down by the Mists of the Underworld, Morgan was wholly unaffected by it, just as Eden and Rafael were. Curiously, neither of the two were blinded.

Eden slipped past Davy Jones and slashed at Morgan's Achilles' heel, but instead of slicing through the flesh, Eden's sword only produced sparks as he heard a metallic clang, as if he had struck a piece of metal.

Davy Jones' also slammed his sword into Morgan's wrist, aiming to sever his hand, but the blade only cut a couple of centimeters in before being stopped.

Unexpectedly, it was Rafael's strike that had the most effect as it slammed into Morgan's ribs, sending him reeling back, releasing a painful wheeze.

Davy Jones, seeing this, clicked his tongue as he swung his sword. It was not at Morgan this time, however, but at Rafael, cutting off his left hand and snatching Sasquatch's Hammer from him.

Eden retreated at the same time, ordering Rafael to let go of the hammer and retreat as Davy Jones easily handled the heavy warhammer with a single hand, and smashed Morgan with it.

Davy Jones proved himself worthy of his many titles as he engaged Morgan, and dominated him. Even with the influence of the Mists of the Underworld, Davy Jones had the advantage of immortality.

Seeing how fast Morgan was, Davy Jones stopped trying to dodge his attacks, choosing to tank them instead as he dealt heavy blows of his own.

But while Eden watched on, he suddenly felt time slow down, and rolled to the side, barely dodging a sniper bullet. The bullet was quickly followed by a katana's edge, which slashed Eden across the chest.

On the crow's nest of a nearby French ship, a sniper had his rifle aimed at Eden, while a woman was in front of Eden, wielding her katana.

[Name: Evie]

[Title: Demon Slayer]

[Talent: ?]

[HP: 163/190]

[MP: 130/130]

[Strength: ?]

[Agility: ?]

[Physique: 19]

[Intelligence: 13]

[Wisdom: 12]

Eden recognized her, she was the one who had attacked him back at Shipwreck Island. Most likely Shadows' team leader.

Ignoring the pain in his chest, Eden used his Talent's danger sense to parry her next blow, while casting a Strengthened Fireball at the nearby crow's nest, while Rafael shot his pistol at the sniper.

[You have killed Player 'Locust'. Player Cache sent to your Inventory.]

Evie stared at him with dark eyes, the two at a stand-off as they waited for the other to act. That stand-off was rapidly broken, however, as they heard a sudden gasp from Davy Jones.

All of his men stopped, and turned to see him falling to his knees, clutching at his heart.

In his last moments, the man turned into a monster muttered, "Calypso…"

Then, a claw severed his head from his shoulders.