Endless World: The Rise of Leonard Lawson
Chapter 41: Engine Room

Chapter 41: Engine Room

The engine room could be considered the main lifeline of the ship. Without it, nothing could be done to operate the ship.

Therefore, Leonard realized the sea monsters’ attacks were only just an appetizer. The real threat was the internal ship’s system that would perfectly bury the ship alive in the sea.

Even if some were to uncover and find the ship later on, much of the evidence would have been destroyed courtesy to the sea monsters.

Leonard failed to calculate this aspect and thought the enemy might strike on the second or third day. Alas, they actually chose to strike immediately—that too in a lightning manner.

"Aren’t we going to assist those in the upper deck?" Mirelle was oblivious to the situation and wondered why they needed to rush to the engine room.

For a mage like her, she never had to deal with such a situation. After all, she had the backing of the Mage Association, and not even the Assassin Syndicate would wish to provoke such an entity for no reason.

Most mages that got the support of the Mage Association were usually neutral in the political stance. Hence, nobody would be foolish enough to put a killing order against one of the neutral mages.

While Leonard prepared to head toward the engine room, the current section was filled with screams of agony and disbelief.

Astral Gale, Engine Room

STAB!

"What are you doing, Liam?" One crewmate eyed their companion with a look of astonishment.

Below their chest was a large wound that was starting to bleed out, their hand grasping it tightly to prevent it from leaking out further.

"Liam?" In response, the person being addressed as such raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh, do you mean the person I disguised as was called Liam? My bad, I didn’t even know when I lured him to the corner and gave him a swift death. That man was such a lecher, did you know?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Deeply confused, the crewmate couldn’t comprehend his companion’s words.

It was precisely because he recognized the latter as Liam that he was taken by complete surprise when they suddenly launched an attack on him. They had worked together for nearly a decade and were quite close.

Just when they were still in utter confusion, the crewmate witnessed his companion Liam transform into a more feminine figure. Their bosom grew large and what followed afterward was the "man" face had turned to a "woman" face—a very beautiful one at that.

"A disguise spell?" Alarmed, the crewmate finally figured out why Liam would suddenly attack him.

It was an impostor all along!

They gnashed their teeth in fury and cursed, "You dare to kill a crewmate of Astral Gale and impersonate them. Do you not know your crime?"

"Oh come on, being beautiful isn’t a crime." Liam, who had now reverted to their original appearance, chuckled softly in amusement. "Either way, why should I worry about what crime I’ve committed when you won’t even be there to witness it."

With that being said, the woman pierced the crewmate’s heart in an instant, giving the latter zero chance of retaliating.

Greg struggled to point his fingers at the woman before collapsing with his eyes closed.

"Phew, this disguise spell duration is really short. Thank goodness I found another person to disguise myself." The woman smirked and glanced down at the corpse.

The name tag attached to the corpse was called Greg. She quickly inspected Greg’s physiques and began to transform. Her body was shrouded by a few light particles as her whole physique underwent the change.

No longer appearing like a woman, she now looked no different than Greg.

Despite feeling quite uncomfortable repeatedly disguising as a male, the woman had no qualms in doing whatever it took to accomplish her mission.

Soon, she stepped over a pool of blood, leaving behind a pile of corpses as she entered the Engine Room. Her expression was nonchalant, almost as if she didn’t commit a massive killing spree.

Each corpse trailing behind her was either killed in one strike or disfigured beyond recognizability. They were drenched in their own blood, and their bodies showed little to zero resistance, clearly not anticipating an inside attack.

Time quickly went by, and footsteps could be heard.

"This is—" Mirelle, who arrived at the engine room section, was startled by the pool of blood and numerous corpses that could pile up to a small mountain.

In the meantime, two regular crewmates were alerted by the scene.

One of them quickly assumed the front while the other assumed the back.

"Please return to the private chamber, Crown Prince. There might have been an infiltrator." One of them warned Leonard of the danger.

"The engine room is an important section of the ship, but even then, it was attacked. Do you think my private chamber is safe if the ship were to sink?" Leonard coldly remarked, his eyes narrowing.

A total of 13 crewmates were counted at a glance. From their expression, he could tell they had hardly put up a fight.

Leonard was about to command them to enter the engine room to check the damage when a crewmate suddenly emitted a very faint voice.

"C-Crown Prince..."

"Who?" Bewildered, Leonard’s eyes scanned around and spotted a bloody crewmate near the engine room’s entrance. He was about to rush over and inquire about the situation when the crewmate at the front extended their hand to block him.

"Careful, Crown Prince." They warned softly.

"Scram!" Leonard hissed and shoved the latter’s hand away.

He didn’t sense any abnormal mana coming from the severely injured crewmate, which meant that it was a legitimate one and not a disguised enemy.

As he approached the severely injured crewmate, Leonard noticed their name tag was snatched away and their face completely disfigured.

He knelt down on one knee. His knee sank into something wet, warm, and unmistakably blood. But he didn’t care and asked, "What happened here?"

"T-There was an infiltrator disguised among us." The crewmate responded very weakly. It was clear that they were struggling at the death gate to relay some critical information.

"The disguised enemy identity is a woman, and she could be using my identity."

"And you are?"

"G-G-Greg..." Having said his name with much difficulty, they succumbed to their injuries.