Since the beginning of this century, the colony has been developed over the past few decades.

The adventurers, naturalists, and cartographers who set off with the ship did not know how much hardship and even their lives had to pay to get a rough grasp of the Bantaan Islands.

A rough nautical chart is drawn.

There are thousands of islands, large and small, in an east-west band.

On the east side is the colony-occupied area of the countries of the Old World, and it is also the terminus of the first circulation belt of the "Ekudena Triangle".

On the largest island to the west are two indigenous empires of Azq and Taya, which have been battered but are still fighting with extraordinary strength.

The middle zone is dotted with a large number of small tribes and city-states.

The richness of the Bantaan Islands has long spread throughout the Old World.

Located in the tropics, most of the islands are lush and productive.

The yield of various crops and medicines on the surface alone is far from comparable to that of the Old World.

Not to mention the gold and silver mines here and the special spices, so that the poor and crazy colonists of the Old World, even if they paid a big price, still flocked to it.

However, there is not only milk and honey in this overseas archipelago, but also blood and death.

Because there is no strong suppression of the main body of the Silver Law.

The raging essentia tides have created countless transcendent monsters, evil spirits, and grotesques

Coupled with the prevalence of blood sacrifices and animistic beliefs among indigenous communities, many of the islands are so dangerous that they are absolutely off-limits to outsiders.

There are many human colonies, all of which are at odds with those forbidden areas.

It is not entirely uncommon for a pioneering town to disappear overnight.

The Tayman Islands, the new territory of Countess Catherine and Governor Byron, is located at the junction of east and west.

To the west is a fragmented indigenous territory, and to the east is the vicious neighbour of the Kingdom of Castile.

Of course, there is only a tiny private autonomous colony compared to the entire occupied area of the sea overlord.

If it weren't for the production of precious spices, the 24-square-kilometre island of Taymanbrac might not even be marked on the official map.

Rustle

Although the Bantaan Islands also have a rainy and dry season, they are located in a tropical maritime climate, which is hot and humid all year round, and even in the dry season of winter, the rainfall is only slightly lighter.

Nothing can be done when it rains.

As the sky gets darker.

In the heart of the town, in a pub where nothing is missing, a group of drinkers are enjoying a good beer, a variety of fruits, cheeses, and grilled fresh beef

It can be clearly seen that the consumption level of the residents here is not low.

Of course, the highlight is the hot and beautiful dancers!

On a humble stage in the middle of the tavern.

A fair-skinned, blonde-haired Castilian girl twists her waist to the beat of a long drum and dances an exotic dance full of bantaan flair.

It even imitates the costumes of the local aborigines.

Red parrot feathers are inserted in the hair, a colorful fabric is wrapped around the waist, and the wrists and ankles are adorned with ornaments made of animal teeth.

The whole body is full of exotic customs and wild beauty, which makes people shine.

With that white skin that seems to glow, raising your hands and feet, and smiling, you are all seductive.

Syllable! Syllable!

The girl turned around and clapped her hands gently, and the small amount of clothing on her body was still falling one by one in the dance moves with great amplitude.

Gradually revealing a slender and soft waist and slender thighs, it challenges the fragile nerves of the men in the tavern every moment.

Most of the drinkers were residents of the island who had been entrenched for many years, and they did a little better watching the girls' performances.

There are even some young people who seem to be afraid of something, and deliberately dodge and dare not look at her enchanting dance steps.

It's just that there are six outsiders who are obviously not local residents, but they can't help but widen their eyes, and they can't help but crave the beautiful girl into their own eyes.

His eyes gradually became a little blurred, and he muttered to himself:

"Beautiful, so beautiful! I didn't expect such a beauty to exist in such a small and remote place.

Thank you for the sea breeze that brought us here this afternoon.

No, it is the will of the Lord. ”

"Maybe only in the Grand Theater of the Sacred Silver Empire, there will be dancers comparable to her, right?

I decided that I would marry her and let her dance alone for me in the future. ”

"I should marry her"

The islands of the Bantaan archipelago are close and far, but they are not as dangerous as the ocean routes.

The transportation of people and supplies between the islands is much simpler, and can be undertaken by dhows, small fishing boats, and even paddle boats.

These outsiders were a group of "traveling merchants" who roamed between the islands, transporting goods, delivering letters, occasionally engaging in petty theft, and doing some intelligence business.

Even if this group of people is well-informed and even has a good adventure experience, they still can't help but indulge in the girl's dancing.

What's worse is that she also walked off the stage while dancing, twisting and dancing next to several of them.

As the drum beat gets faster and faster.

Beads of sweat from the girl's body rolled down from the white lower abdomen to the round thighs, and then to the floor.

A fragrant fragrance permeated the already enthusiastic tavern.

"Goo."

One of the young men was the first to resist, and stood up with some excitement, and began to dance with the girl's dance steps.

The rest of the people also fell, putting down their wine glasses and dancing with the girl, with an extremely intoxicated expression on their faces.

Even the only first-order transcendent in the team was no exception.

But they didn't notice that the drumming had quietly stopped, and the other local drinkers in the tavern had all stood up silently and stared at them coldly.

There is no sarcasm, no pity, only indifference and numbness that seems to have been experienced too many times.

The maiden dancer smirked, and walked out of the tavern with brisk steps, and entered a church, or rather the lowest chapel, built opposite the tavern.

Behind her, six outsiders lined up neatly, following her in unison.

Like marionettes.

Obviously, the girl is not an ordinary person, but a second-order professional [dancer] of the palace sequence.

When the incumbent is a woman, she is often called a "dancer".

The core ability of the second order is [Dance of Rhythm], which can easily stir people's hearts.

Anyone who usually likes to watch dancing knows that even just normal beauty singing and dancing has some kind of magical effect.

Gentlemen can trigger the debuff that makes the passage of time faster, and when you look at it, you find that you have accidentally forgotten to eat and sleep, delaying your work, and you are getting thinner and thinner.

[Dancer] is even more powerful.

It can express the emotions of various dance postures through [Rhythmic Dance], manipulate the audience's mind, and give different effects such as blessing, weakening or controlling.

The frontal combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning, but it can inadvertently find a gap and enter it, and it is impossible to prevent it.

What the girl is dancing now is the "sacrificial dance" of the Bantaan natives.

As the name suggests, the purpose is to offer sacrifices to the gods!

After being expressed in another way by the [Body Rhythm], the "Living Sacrifices" can be easily manipulated to make them jump into the mouths of the "gods" themselves.

Save crying and shouting, blasphemy.

Bang!

The gate was reopened.

From the outside, the chapel still looks like the church of the Creator, and the inhabitants seem to be devout followers of the Creator.

But as the secret passage behind the silver cross was opened, there was a hole inside.

In a secret room without any windows, hundreds of people had gathered in the dark.

It seems that all the inhabitants of this small colony have already arrived here.

And many make no secret of their spiritual glow.

In the spiritual vision of the transcendental, there are only a dozen people out of the hundreds, who have awakened spiritually.

plus the dancing girls, there are even as many as three second-order professional levels.

It's already far stronger than many of the famous pirate ships of the Old World.

It's not hard to guess why, this small colony is small, but it is rich in high-quality spices.

Just a long time in their daily work and exposure to spices makes them much more likely to awaken than their compatriots living in the Old World.

Naturally, the proportion of transcendents on the island is far higher than elsewhere.

Seeing [Dancer] leading a group of outsiders into the secret room, the crowd parted by itself.

An old man in a black robe and holding a cross emblem looked kind, and said to the girl:

"Charlotte, let's start the sacrifice."

"Got it."

The girl named Charlotte answered crisply, and led the six of them to a native stone altar in the middle of the chamber that looked to be some years old.

There is a pure and immaculate crystal skull on top of it!

It's like a perfect replica of a human skull, but the two hollow eye sockets shimmer with a strange red light.

Once you look at them, you will be surrounded by illusions.

Boom!

The girl took the lead and knelt before the altar, and the other six knelt in a row beside her.

Behind him, six middle-aged men armed with logging axes stepped forward and slashed off the heads of six outsiders as the old priest waved.

He lifted their heads again, smashed their skulls, and poured hot blood and brains onto the crystal skulls.

The blood light in the eye socket of the crystal skull suddenly erupted, converging into a "corn emblem" that symbolizes abundance in the Bantaan Islands.

Undetectable waves of light exploded from it, spreading across the island in an instant.

Watching the townsfolk drag the six corpses away, the old priest's eyes fluctuated, and he repeated to them again what he had said countless times:

"Whether it's forbidden knowledge that symbolizes 'bestiality' or the ladder of glory that symbolizes 'divinity', any supernatural ability comes at a price.

It's not us who pays, it's someone else.

But that's not what we intended, it's just part of the cost. The Creator will forgive us for our transgressions and bear our sins. ”

At the same time, silently said in my heart:

Yes, will forgive us.

Otherwise, when I was building this church, I wouldn't have accidentally dug up this magical crystal skull that seemed to belong to the Taya Empire.

It is not a curse, but a great relic given to us by the Creator! ’

Then.

The crystal skull on the altar, after eating and drinking, opened and closed its jaw up and down, and sang a poem called "On Man":

"Man, his foolish cleverness, his clumsy greatness;

a narrow headland located in the middle state;

He doubts everything, but he has too much knowledge;

He wants to be resolute, but he is weak-willed;

He hangs in the middle, and the source is hidden, hesitating;

hesitate whether to consider oneself a god or a beast"

The Crystal Skull led the singing, and the others all sang along:

"Hesitating whether to have a soul or a body;

Half of his birth will ascend to heaven and half will go to earth;

both the Lord of all things and the slave of all things;

He is the glory of the world and the laughing stock of the world."

The firelight flickered, and the long shadows behind them fangs and claws, one moment like sages, the next like demons.

At the same time, the skins of the island's tall spice-producing trees gradually flowed red with oil, like dripping blood.

The branches and leaves rattled, as if to say:

"Abundance, abundance"