Chapter 39: Hellscape Island (4)
—Splash splash!
Was it because of the name Hellscape?
Despite being part of the same sea, the waves in this area felt particularly ferocious.
“Pwah!”
“Urk!”
Water flooded their noses and mouths, and their vision darkened, reminding them of the fear of death.
As noble heirs and students unaccustomed to swimming, they flailed desperately to survive.
“Damn it!”
“Pwah!”
Still, as those specially selected by the Academy, they didn’t beg for their lives.
Whether driven by pride or not, they had the will to reach the island on their own.
But their bodies, plunged into cold water, refused to obey their minds.
“Ack! Cramp!”
Naturally, a student succumbed to a leg cramp.
The instructors, quietly following, swiftly intervened.
“Urp!”
“Breathe out through your nose! Don’t inhale!”
The instructor, as if accustomed to this, swam with one arm, grabbed the student by the scruff, and pushed through the current.
“What’s all this chaos?”
“Beats me. We were just told to bring them here, so that’s all we do.”
Amid the sailors watching the commotion from the ship, I, Evan, appeared and climbed onto the railing.
“Thanks to you all, I had a comfortable trip. I’ll head out first.”
“No problem. Good luck.”
After greeting the sailors, I ran along the railing like a tightrope walker toward the bow.
Then, I leaped, diving into the deep water.
—Splash!
The impact pushed Jaina, who was slightly ahead, causing her to swallow a gulp of water.
“You bastard!”
Her refined demeanor gave way to coarse words, a sign of her heightened agitation.
In response, I let out a laugh that rang clear even over the waves and shouted.
“I’m going ahead! Enjoy your bath!”
Instead of apologizing, I teased her and surged forward.
Seeing this, Jaina burned with determination not to lose.
‘Even if I can’t outfight you, I’ll beat you in this!’
For the first time in her life, she swam across the sea with all her might.
But I, having fought countless battles on land and sea in my past life, was no match for her.
By the time I sat leisurely on the beach, wringing out my shirt, she finally arrived.
“Huff… Huff…”
Exhausted, her trembling limbs barely held her up.
Behind her, the other students staggered onto the beach, some dragged by instructors.
“All students have arrived at Hellscape. No issues!”
With the head instructor and the ship’s anchoring, everyone successfully disembarked.
To the infamous Hellscape, Benner Island.
“All rise!”
Their trembling came partly from muscle fatigue, but the main cause was the cold.
Their soaked clothes were sapping their body heat.
Changing their clothes immediately would’ve been ideal, but this was intentional.
“Welcome to Hellscape. The nine of you aim to complete the Executor training unscathed.”
“Ugh…”
Their voices barely emerged, prompting Everhart to bellow.
“From now on, all responses will be a shout! Understood?”
“Argh…”
“Again!”
At his roar, the students shouted.
“Argh!”
“Good. From now on, shout at that volume. We’ll now begin mental training! Everyone, link arms!”
Though not usually close, the shivering students clung to each other like best friends.
Their faint warmth felt like a bonfire’s heat to them now.
“Now charge into the sea!”
“Argh!”
They responded but hesitated.
They knew how cold that water was.
To go back in seemed insane.
“Ugh.”
“I can’t go in…”
Then, the head instructor drew his sword and unleashed a sword aura.
—Boom!
Sand exploded in front of the students, carving a crescent-shaped crater.
They were now covered in sand.
“Get in now. If you don’t, I’ll cut you for real.”
Screaming, the students rushed forward.
—Splash!
As they plunged into the water, the surrounding instructors barked orders.
“Get in up to your waists!”
“Deeper!”
Meanwhile, I looked pityingly at the shivering students.
‘They tried to put me through this? Dean, you’re dead when I get back.’
As I vowed revenge against the dean, Nell called from behind.
“Evan, we have work to do. Go to the ship and change first.”
“What work?”
Now that I thought about it, there were ten instructors managing the students, excluding the head instructor.
Five stayed to handle the students, while the rest headed to the anchored ship.
“Cleanup. We need to prepare the place we’ll stay.”
“Can’t the hired hands we brought do that? Are we short on labor?”
There were quite a few hired hands with us.
“Not that kind of cleanup. We’re clearing out hazards.”
“Hazards?”
“Yes. The fortress where we’ll train and stay, Bentram Fortress, is ten minutes from here.”
“Are there monsters in it?”
“Strictly speaking, not inside the fortress. But there are some around it. That’s what we’re clearing.”
Nell initially hesitated to involve me, even as an instructor, since this was dangerous for an underage student.
But after seeing my antics on the ghost ship and the expression I wore now, he decided I could handle it.
“How many? Can I take them all?”
Seeing my eagerness, Nell couldn’t fathom why I hadn’t become a monster hunter instead of coming here.
‘Right, he’s a noble.’
He kept forgetting that fact when it came to me.
“Let’s go. I’ll tell you about the island’s environment on the way. It’s quite a unique place.”
Leaving the students soaked in seawater behind, I headed to the ship to change.
***
While Hellscape welcomed rare visitors, the Viper gang, sent to hunt me, was also inquiring about ships at the harbor, heading toward Hellscape.
“Damn it! How many ships do we have to take? Who knew that bastard Evan went to an island?”
They’d learned from an Academy hire that I had left for the Executor training.
“Be grateful we got a ship, Rauf.”
Hellscape’s infamy made it hard to find vessels willing to go there.
So, they’d nearly strong-armed a fisherman into giving up a small boat.
“All we got is this fishing boat. Wish it was bigger. Hey, Lina, speed it up a bit.”
“Shut up!”
The small fishing boat gained speed using the recoil from Lina’s wave magic, cutting through the current.
“Ugh, my magic being used like this. My master would cry.”
“Your master probably cried the moment you joined this outfit.”
“You blockhead!”
“What?”
Ignoring their bickering, their leader, Kasion, spoke about the island.
“Quiet. Before we arrive, I’ll tell you about Benner Island, known as Hellscape.”
Benner Island, commonly called Hellscape, was unknown to most.
Despite its secrecy, the Viper organization had gathered intel through various channels.
Kasion, privy to classified information, began as the others fell silent and listened.
“I’ve never been to the island myself, but one thing’s certain: let your guard down, and you’re dead before you know it.”
“Because of monsters? But those are everywhere. We’re pros at hunting them.”
Lina’s reply was echoed silently by Rauf.
Kasion shook his head.
“It’s on another level here. The deeper you go into the central jungle, the more dangerous the monsters. Rumor has it there’s a hydra somewhere on the island that once terrorized the kingdom’s south.”
“Those things still exist? Weren’t they all killed back then?”
“They might exist here. Point is, this place is crawling with plenty of threatening beasts.”
“Then why does the Academy train in a place like that?”
Why would the Academy bring students to such a dangerous island?
“Because Ernst, the kingdom’s legendary sage, put his mark on it.”
“Huh?”
“Even you, Lina, and you, Rauf, who knows nothing about magic, would recognize Sage Ernst’s work. It’s called the Eternal Hourglass.”
At his words, Lina, who’d been quietly managing her wave magic, spoke up.
“So it’s true that it’s there.”
Amazed, Lina was interrupted by Rauf.
“Wait! What’s that? Stop talking about stuff only you two know.”
“The Eternal Hourglass is a kind of magic circle. A sealing magic circle that lasts forever.”
“Then why call it an hourglass? Just call it a magic circle.”
“It’s because of the circle’s shape.”
Lina, the mage, took over the explanation.
“Look, the bigger a magic circle gets, the more mana it consumes. What about one the size of an island?”
“Hmm…”
“Even a grandmaster’s great-grandfather couldn’t manage that. So Ernst stretched his limits, and the shape came out like that. That’s why it’s called that. I didn’t know it was real.”
After the brief magic circle explanation, Kasion spoke.
“No one knows what he meant to seal in the island’s center. Just that it’s some monster. As Lina said, sealing the entire island was beyond even his power back then. But leaving it alone wasn’t an option.”
The royal family ordered periodic visits to the island.
To check if the seal showed signs of breaking or if anything unusual occurred, inspectors were dispatched regularly.
“For those visitors, a safe zone had to be secured. So he cast a barrier over parts of the island, not the whole thing, to keep monsters out, centered around the core. From above, it supposedly looks like an hourglass.”
It was the maximum expression of one mage’s skill.
Later generations called it the Eternal Hourglass to honor his magic.
Of course, only a few knew of the barrier’s existence, and even fewer knew it was made to seal something.
“The safe zones are in the north and south. The Academy likely settled on the closer northern coast for the Executor training.”
“So we head south?”
“Yes. No need to clash with the instructors. We land south, then seize the chance to head to their northern safe zone.”
“Damn, no wonder the bounty was so huge. All this running around.”
Rauf grumbled.
But what could they do?
They couldn’t turn back now, especially with such a high bounty.
So, despite complaints, there was no reason not to go to the island.
“Just let those monsters get in my way. I’ll crush their skulls.”
“Oh, scary! Gotta stick close to the boss.”
Lina teased him at every chance.
Kasion sighed softly, staring at the direction the boat was heading.
—Swish!
Cutting through the current, they entered the fog.
Whether by luck or because their boat was too fast, the ghost ship I’d encountered didn’t appear.
“We’re in the fog, so Hellscape should appear soon. Lina, adjust the waves.”
“Got it, boss.”
As the fog cleared, the ominous island came into view.
They, too, had arrived at Hellscape.
“Rauf, steer with the oars. Lina, prepare to stop the magic.”
“Easy enough.”
The small boat slowed, reaching the southern coast.
—Thud!
After a rough docking, the Viper gang disembarked.
They dragged the boat beyond the waves’ reach and surveyed their surroundings.
“Let’s get to work.”
Each drew their weapon.