A Journey That Changed The World.

Chapter 1662: Dark Lurker

Archer handed the tickets to Mila, who accepted them with a practiced flick of her wrist. She scanned the three tickets using a mana device, its faint blue glow buzzing as it registered their passage with the Draconia Express records. Designed by Dellah, the device pulsed briefly, confirming their entry, and would keep everyone safe.

The girl looked up, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. ʼʼRight this way! Iʼll guide you and the ladies to the First Class car.ʼʼ

The group followed her toward the rear of the train, where luxurious cars stood, their polished exteriors catching the magical sheen of the stationʼs lights. Archer noted how few passengers approached these cars, a detail that brought a smile to his face. As the four stepped inside, they froze, awestruck.

The interior was a vision straight from history books, like the grand carriages of a long-gone era, with plush velvet seats, polished wood paneling, and brass fittings. Chandeliers hung overhead, their soft glow enhanced by faint magical runes etched into the glass. ʼʼItʼs like stepping into a story,ʼʼ Meredith murmured, taking it all in.

Archer and Malakia, equally captivated, exchanged excited glances as Mila turned to them, a bright smile crossing her face. ʼʼHere we go, enjoy your journey and ring the bell if you need anything.ʼʼ

ʼʼThank you,ʼʼ he replied, dropping a gold coin in the girlʼs hand.

This shocked Mila, but she quickly handed it back. He shook his head with a friendly smile. ʼʼKeep it for yourself.ʼʼ

Following that, the young girl got excited before thanking him and rushing off to continue with her duties. Malakia sat down on one of the four beds in the carriage as he locked the door behind them. Meredith rushed toward the nearby kitchen and started making tea for them.

Archer slumped into the plush chair, its vantage point offering a view of the station. Sleek trains glided in, letting off hundreds of passengers or whisking others away. The sight mesmerized him, every element of his plans falling into place, even as the Long Winter loomed like a shadow on the horizon.

The trainʼs horn let out a long blast that rolled across the platform, signaling the start of their journey to Ashkari. With a lurch, the machine eased away from Easthomeʼs station, iron wheels finding their rhythm on the frost-kissed rails. Snowflakes danced across the carriages.

Beyond the wide windows, the landscape of Orientia unfolded in white. Endless fields lay buried under a layer of snow that caught the pale sun. Here and there, trees stood in defiant clusters. Distant farmhouses sent thin plumes of smoke curling into the steel-gray sky, each wisp fighting against the cold.

Archer leaned closer to the glass, breath fogging the pane in fleeting clouds. The train gathered speed, and the world outside blurred into streaks of silver and ivory, yet every detail etched itself into his mind: the way the snow muffled sound until the only heartbeat was the steady clack of wheels on track.

The sudden flash of a foxʼs red tail vanishing into a copse of evergreens; the faint, crystalline shimmer of icicles hanging from a forgotten mile-marker. All of it felt alive, breathing in with the locomotiveʼs steady pulse, carrying him deeper into the heart of the frozen continent and closer to Ashkari.

Archer leaned back, eyes drifting shut, while the womenʼs voices bubbled with gossip about the fabled western city in Orientia. A quiet smile tugged at his lips, warmed by their thrill as the train rolled past a small farming village lit up with swaying lanterns. Days later, the locomotive hissed to a stop at their destination.

***

(Lucrezia, Aurelia, Ashoka, and Eveline)

Lucrezia glanced at the excited Eveline, who was happily training in their private small palace that the legions created for the four empresses. Once they landed on the island, it was full of all kinds of monsters that were quickly killed before they could do any damage to the growing fortress that was being built on the shore.

While exploring, a Mana Storm descended on the island, forcing the women to hunker down as the ships anchored in the new port. The waves crashed against the island, but the shields kept them safe. The blonde narrowed her eyes as the rabbit woman just finished training and glanced at her with an amused smile.

ʼʼThis place seems peaceful,ʼʼ Eveline commented, a grin crossing her face. ʼʼDonʼt you find it boring, Luce?ʼʼ

ʼʼNo,ʼʼ she answered. ʼʼThereʼs plenty to explore under the waves, but Iʼm forced to stay here to guard you three from the stronger beasts.ʼʼ

The rabbitʼs red eyes narrowed. ʼʼAnd how strong are they?ʼʼ

ʼʼDemi-God strength monsters,ʼʼ Lucrezia revealed, leading her toward the portʼs lighthouse. ʼʼCome this way.ʼʼ

After hearing this, Eveline followed the blonde through the fortress. When the pair reached a high vantage point overlooking the island and the ocean, which was the lighthouse built at the entrance of the port. The Mosasaur woman turned to Eveline. She lifted one hand, pointing toward the horizon.

ʼʼLook there,ʼʼ she advised her friend. ʼʼYou should be able to make out its fin.ʼʼ

Eveline followed the line of that outstretched arm. At first, there was only the endless roll of the sea, but then a dark, triangular silhouette knifed through the water, as large as a small ship. It carved the waves, not bothered by the chaotic storm above, before vanishing into the darkness below.

The rabbit woman gulped, turning to the blonde as she questioned, a confused expression appearing on her face. ʼʼWhat is that thing?ʼʼ

ʼʼA Dark Lurker,ʼʼ Lucrezia answered with a deep growl. ʼʼThe same power as me, but Iʼll have to ask Arch or Mary to help me fight it just to make sure, its mate might be nearby and ready to defend it.ʼʼ

ʼʼWhy donʼt you do that? Husband can fight in the water, or the other women who have sea monster forms like Kassandra and Teuila,ʼʼ Eveline replied, red eyes locked onto the monster that slowly got close.

When Lucrezia heard this, she sent a message to the Nameless-Thing Mary and got an instant reply from the older woman that she was free to help. Without delay, she leaped into the rough waves, transforming into her Mosasaur form, growing so big that Eveline could see her from the lighthouse.

Her heart raced as the blonde rushed toward the Dark Lurker, and a portal opened nearby as a massive Kraken and Serpent appeared, crashing into the sea like the duo of death, causing Evelineʼs eyes to widen, muttering. ʼʼKass and Mary! They will kill this horrible monster.ʼʼ

Moments later, the enemy monster rose, and Eveline realized it was a shark straight from a nightmare, longer than three galleons end-to-end, its hide blacker than the void between stars. black-eyes glowed sickly green, each the size of a wagon wheel, shocking her to the core.

When it opened its jaws, the sea itself seemed to scream, rows of serrated teeth spiraling inward like a meat-grinder built by a mad god. Following that, Lucrezia met it first. She erupted from the depths, tail whipping a cyclone that hurled whitecaps skyward. Her roar shook the ocean.

She struck the Lurkerʼs snout head-on, jaws clamping down on cartilage that cracked like cannon fire. Blood clouded the water in swirling nebulae. The beast thrashed. A flick of its tail carved a trench through the sea, sending shockwaves that shattered coral a league away.

Lucrezia held fast, claws raking, tearing away slabs of armored hide that drifted down like fallen banners. A violet portal opened above the fight, and Kassandra poured through in her Kraken form, tentacles unfurling. Each limb was a living battering ram, lined with suckers that flared open to reveal spinning rings of bone and fire.

She descended like a meteor shower of muscle and malice. One tentacle lashed around the Lurkerʼs dorsal fin and pulled. The monsterʼs spine bowed with a sound like breaking cathedral bells. Another coil snaked beneath its belly, hoisting half its bulk clear of the water to give the others a chance.

For a heartbeat, the monster hung suspended, thrashing in the open air, jaws snapping at nothing. Mary rose from the abyss: a serpent without beginning or end, scales shifting through every color ever drowned. Her giant green eyes were twin galaxies, cold and ancient.

She opened her mouth, and the water around her teeth ignited, white-hot, boiling the ocean into steam. With a soundless hiss, she struck. Her fangs punched through the Lurkerʼs gills, sinking deep into the soft machinery of breath. Venom, liquid starfire, flooded the sharkʼs veins.

It shuddered, dark eyes bursting in gouts of green flame. Mary coiled upward, looping around its torso once, twice, three times, until the pressure cracked ribs the size of ship masts. Lucrezia released the snout and dove. She surfaced beneath the sharkʼs thrashing tail, jaws wide, and bit down.

The tail severed clean, spiraling away in a ribbon of gore. Kassandra hauled the torso higher, tentacles tightening until the Lurkerʼs spine snapped with a report that rattled windows on the distant island. Mary reared back, jaws unhinging impossibly wide. In one fluid motion, she swallowed the sharkʼs head whole, throat distending like a black hole devouring a moon.