Chapter 46: Hellscape Island (11)
I looked down into the pit where I had pushed Lina.
“…”
Even with the moonlight directly overhead, the depths below remained invisible.
‘That fall would’ve killed her. She was practically dead the moment I pulled out the spear anyway.’
Having pierced a vital spot, there was no chance she’d survive.
After confirming, I turned to leave the fortress.
‘But what’s that ominous presence I feel down there? It’s not hers…’
As I entered the fortress, I glimpsed the Hydra outside the barrier.
True to its reputation as a legendary beast, its size was truly intimidating.
Yet, despite facing the Hydra head-on, the unseen pit bothered me more.
I couldn’t pinpoint why, but my instincts were screaming.
‘Let’s not peer into that deep abyss.’
Though I loved adventure, I wasn’t reckless.
Even when walking a tightrope, I always planned for what came next.
Thus, I dealt with Lina and left the fortress.
Just then, I ran into instructors approaching the area.
“Evan! You!”
As expected, the instructors rushed over, alarmed.
“How did you get to the central area alone?”
“I came to catch an escaped prisoner.”
They noticed the blood-stained spear.
“Did you get her?”
“Yes. I executed her on the spot. The situation didn’t allow otherwise.”
“…Well done.”
Seeing me unscathed, the instructors sighed in relief.
‘He took down that mage in one strike? His skill is undeniable.’
With the task complete, they had nothing left to do.
“Let’s go. The others at the fortress will be worried.”
“Yes.”
We turned toward Bentram Fortress.
On the way, I asked something that had been nagging me.
“By the way, what’s that place? It looks like a fortress too.”
The response was vague, as the instructors themselves didn’t know much.
“No idea. I don’t know when it was built or why it’s here.”
“No records at all?”
“None. It’s said Ernst created the barrier to seal something in the island’s center, but no one knows what. That fortress is in the central area, but whether it’s the sealed thing is unclear. Other fortresses lack records too.”
“But monsters didn’t build them, right?”
At my obvious statement, the instructors nodded in unison.
They agreed but had no further answers.
“All I can say is there’s nothing known about it. The records might be lost.”
“Hm…”
This island’s identity was a mystery.
My curiosity about Hellscape Island intensified.
‘No records? Unless someone hid them. This isn’t some uninhabited island the kingdom ignored.’
The fortresses clearly bore human craftsmanship.
Some even had names.
Yet no one knew their origins?
And that eerie hole in the abandoned fortress—was it just there by chance?
Hellscape Island was full of suspicious elements.
“What’s the deal with the Hydra? You’re not saying you don’t know that too, right?”
“Honestly, I don’t know much. From what I’ve heard, it was relocated by a great mage long ago…”
Nell began a brief history lesson.
The conclusion was that one person turned this island into a monster exile.
“That’s impressive. Even the Empire’s renowned mages couldn’t do that.”
“How do you know about the Empire?”
A flash of old memories hit me, and I quickly changed the subject.
“Oh, I read it in a book.”
“You studied Empire history? You?”
My academic performance was abysmal, unlike my physical skills.
Nell chuckled at the idea of me studying Empire history.
“I know you’re a noble’s son. But to care more about a foreign country’s history than ours?”
“It’s just something I came across. But why choose this island to corral monsters? The kingdom has plenty of islands.”
I threw out a question to flaunt kingdom knowledge.
“No idea. Maybe it was Ernst’s whim. Or the late king’s will.”
“They didn’t leave any word about this island, did they?”
“No. Now that you mention it, I’m curious too. Is there some secret here?”
“Hm.”
Hearing this, I fell into thought.
“Mass monster migration, periodic human visits, and this barrier. What is this…”
But I couldn’t grasp the island’s true secret.
Carrying more questions, I returned to the fortress with the instructors.
***
After a chaotic night, dawn broke.
“Yawn~”
Weeks had passed since arriving, but waking early still didn’t come naturally.
I yawned widely as I stepped into the clearing.
The instructors surrounded the clearing,
and the cadets gathered within it.
“Aaaagh!!!”
The usual screams sounded different today, laced with desperation tied to survival.
The reason was that Lizards had been released in the clearing.
“Insane, seriously!”
“Spread out! The venom’s deadly if it hits!”
An unexpected monster attack.
Jaina, acting as leader, stayed relatively calm and faced them.
‘Good. Lizards aren’t too smart, so flanking them should work.’
I suppressed my urge to jump in, mentally assessing the cadets.
‘No! Dodge the tail, you idiot Elliott! Against a mere Lizard!’
Frustrated but watching until the end, I observed the cadets.
The instructors stayed put, cheering as the cadets fought the monsters directly.
―Slash!
Finally, Jaina sliced a Lizard’s neck, and all cadets collapsed.
“Haa~”
“Ah.”
They’d defeated the monster unscathed.
Seeing this, Instructor Nell gave brief praise.
“Well done.”
Then he continued the training.
“Next, you’ll face one Kobold. After that, we’ll increase the number.”
The monster-based training was just beginning.
“Ugh!”
The cadets cried out in despair.
They’d barely handled one, and now it wasn’t over, with more to come?
What a thunderbolt of a revelation.
From now on, they’d have to risk their lives daily, truly fitting the Executor course.
Unlike the cadets, who felt this deeply, I itched to join in.
‘Man, I want to jump in. I’m confident I’d fight monsters well.’
Having fought countless battles, I still craved hunting monsters.
But as an instructor, I had no chance to join, and for ten grueling days, I could only watch as each cadet took down a Lizard.
‘If hunting monsters was training, I should’ve said I’d train too.’
Around then, something erupted.
Something massive enough to shake the kingdom.
***
The ruined fortress in the island’s central area.
It was once a castle called Leborn.
But due to certain events, the castle was erased, leaving only its foundation and surrounding walls.
Now, even its existence had vanished from history, and those in the present era called it merely the abandoned fortress.
The Viper gang’s corpses, killed weeks ago, had turned to bones, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
One corpse remained above ground, but the other, Lina’s, had been pushed into the pit by me.
And that one hadn’t decayed.
Deep underground, beyond the reach of moonlight, a massive iron stake was embedded.
Lina’s corpse lay draped over it.
Though long dead, it hadn’t rotted for some reason.
Her skin had turned white as jade, as if all her blood had been drained.
And that was the truth.
The blood from Lina’s body had been slowly absorbed into the ground along the stake.
The ground, as if sentient, drew a pattern with her blood, resembling a magic circle.
A mage’s mana-infused blood.
Over a week, it traced lines like a snail’s trail.
The intricate magic circle was finally complete.
―Clatter!
Blood-red chains wrapped around the stake appeared.
―Crack!
The magic circle glowed, and the chains began to break one by one.
When all the chains fell from the stake, the circle’s light intensified.
―Rumble.
The ground shook as the stake shot skyward.
―Boom!
As the stake soared, all of the Hydra’s heads bristled, warily eyeing the fortress.
“Saaak!”
All heads simultaneously showed hostility.
From the pit the Hydra watched, a small coffin rose.
The coffin, with a hollow center, floated beyond the fortress and outside the barrier.
―Creak.
The coffin slowly opened, revealing the being inside.
Long white hair.
Skin paler than the hair, so pale it could be called ghostly, belonging to a refined young man.
A young man with a pierced heart slowly opened his eyes.
As he did, blood-red pupils with inverted irises fixed on the Hydra.
“Finally awake…”
As the being spoke, one of the Hydra’s heads crushed the coffin and the youth.
―Crunch!
As it chewed, countless blood spikes shot out from the Hydra’s mouth.
―Stab! Stab!
The indiscriminate spikes caused the Hydra excruciating pain.
It tried to spit out the youth, but a head was severed, and the blood-soaked youth emerged.
He held a scythe made of blood in one hand.
“Quite a rough welcome.”
“Saaak!”
The remaining Hydra heads sprayed venom at him in unison.
―Sizzle.
The acid would melt bones in seconds for an ordinary person.
But he, unfazed, conjured a red barrier.
With a disgusted expression, he shook off the venom.
“You filthy snake… How dare a creature like you challenge me? Not just your size, but your ego has grown too.”
The scythe he held morphed into a sword.
“Starting with you, I’ll take revenge on the kingdom’s inferior species who sealed me. Only then will centuries of resentment be quelled.”
His name was Gaiard Lecan.
Sealed for eternity by Great Mage Ernst centuries ago, killed by the kingdom’s subjugation force.
A non-human species from ancient times,
known in the present era as a vampire or bloodsucker.
The Red Count had awakened after centuries.