Shipwreck

On a storm-ravaged night, the roaring waves churned furiously.

The upheavals of fate had filled his eyes with astonishing hatred at every moment. That hatred had even become a chill capable of affecting others; anyone who came even slightly close would feel a bone-piercing cold.

Thus, he had to disguise himself at all times. Only the night allowed him to shed that false mask.

Kiram sat atop the mast, letting the violent sea wind batter him without reacting in the slightest. Perhaps his heart had long since become fiercer and colder than the gale...

Compared to Grimm, the orphan from Bissell City on that remote island, Kiram had endured a far more twisted and bizarre fate.

Fifteen years ago, on a peaceful night in an ordinary village on the Wizard Continent, a terrifying black wizard descended upon the village and slaughtered every force that dared resist his will.

That black wizard's true purpose was to collect experimental materials... living humans.

No one could understand the thoughts of a black wizard. They had already strayed down the wrong path in their pursuit of wizardly knowledge, willing to use any means for greater power. In their eyes, even their weaker kin were nothing more than stepping stones on their path forward.

Little did they know that the original purpose of wizards and magic was to protect humanity from the plunder and enslavement of powerful lifeforms from other worlds!

In a dark cage, Kiram spent more than ten sunless years. At first, as a child, he watched his relatives being seized one after another by the black wizard's irresistible power and forcibly subjected to cruel human experiments. Later, batch after batch of new "experimental materials" were thrown into the cells.

Kiram witnessed too many deaths, some of them unbearably cruel and bizarre.

Until one day, his fate took a turn!

Other than himself, no one knew why he could miraculously survive again and again on an operating table where the chance of survival was one in ten thousand. Even the black wizard could scarcely believe such a miracle, but Kiram had truly done it.

And after repeatedly facing the terror of death, his eyes gradually calmed and became incomparably cold, like the black ice beneath the legendary Wailing Abyss.

Until several years ago, when demon-hunting wizards from the Black Isotta Wizard Academy killed that evil black wizard and rescued all the commoners imprisoned in the cages, Kiram finally regained his freedom after more than ten years.

For that reason, Kiram came to regard the Black Isotta Wizard Academy as his home.

At the same time, through the combined efforts of the academy's many wizards, they discovered why Kiram had repeatedly survived the experiments. To the astonishment of the wizards, they realized that the Black Isotta Wizard Academy had gained a true genius—a genius with a strong chance of winning the Holy Tower Qualification Battle.

Soon afterward, Black Isotta Tower received intelligence that two rare geniuses with innate manifestation talents had appeared on distant East Coral Island. However, that place belonged to the territory of another wizard academy, Lilith's Cottage.

Driven by certain ambitions, the Black Isotta Wizard Academy—whose code of conduct was mutual competition, survival of the fittest, and natural selection—launched a meticulous mission...

"Hoot! Hoot!"

In the darkness, an owl calmly landed on Kiram's shoulder. Kiram seemed prepared for it and showed no surprise at all as his black eyes turned toward the owl.

"At your current speed, you should reach the target waters around seven tomorrow morning. When the time comes, scatter that thing inside the ship's cabins, and your mission will be complete."

The owl spoke human language in a low voice.

"Understood," Kiram said heavily.

As a violent gust swept in, the owl wobbled away into the distance. Kiram remained seated in silence, his icy eyes fixed on the endless darkness ahead.

"Kiram? Solam?"

These past few days, Grimm's life seemed to revolve around only two things: studying magic books and fresh fish mushroom soup.

Inside the ship's cabin, it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night outside. Only one candle after another burned down, maintaining what seemed like eternal light.

Rubbing his eyes, now sore and streaked with bloodshot veins, Grimm closed the Nose-Hunting Modification and Scent Atlas, though he had no idea how long he had been reading it.

Stretching, Grimm muttered, "Binhanson hasn't come by in a long time. Sigh, I should go for a walk."

Perhaps because he had been still for too long, Grimm's bones crackled before he tucked away his magic stones and magic book close to his body and left the cabin.

"It's morning?"

Grimm muttered in surprise. By his sense of time, he had thought it was the dead of night.

Rumble!

Suddenly, a deafening sound rang out. Grimm, who was about to head for the deck from the fifth-level cabin, was thrown to the ground. For a moment, the enormous Hailun seemed to turn upside down, shaking violently.

Grimm's first thought was that they had struck a reef!

Before he could recover, the cabin erupted into panicked, chaotic noise.

"What happened? Did we hit a reef?"

"Help! A sea monster..."

Numerous Wizard Apprentices fled their cabins in panic, trying to reach the deck and find out what was happening. But just then, a gigantic creature standing a full two and a half meters tall entered through the deck exit.

The upper body of this enormous creature was humanoid, while its lower body was serpentine. Green scales covered its entire body, and it held a gleaming metal trident in both hands as it greedily eyed the stunned Wizard Apprentices.

Everyone sucked in a breath. There was no need to think about it—this monster was definitely not something a group of Wizard Apprentices could handle!

"What is it? What's happening..."

A wooden door opened in a room beside the deck exit, and a bewildered Wizard Apprentice poked his head out, trying to figure out what was going on outside. He happened to see the huge monster at the doorway.

"Damn... I'm not dreaming, am I?"

The Wizard Apprentice had only enough time to curse before the sea monster's huge metal trident pierced straight through him. The crudely made weapon even dragged out a length of intestines, and the heavy stench of blood immediately filled the entire cabin.

"Run! Sirens! They're Sirens! The Sirens are killing people!"

The fifth-level cabin instantly exploded into chaos. The Wizard Apprentices fled in terror, shoving one another as they ran. The sight of that Wizard Apprentice being killed had truly terrified many of them.

The Wizard Apprentices on the fourth level were still confused and tried to come upstairs to see what was going on. With everyone squeezing against one another, the entire cabin descended into complete disorder.

"Grimm, over here!"

Yorkris called out to Grimm. Yorklianna was beside him as well. Grimm's heart leaped with joy, and he hurried over.

"Wait for me!"

For some reason, Lafi, who had been in the room next door, ran over too. Perhaps she felt unsafe alone in her room, believing there was strength in numbers.

During that time, two panicked Wizard Apprentices also temporarily took refuge in Yorkris's room. Together, they braced themselves against the wooden door.

Everyone was still shaken. Grimm could clearly hear waves of wailing and screams from the corridor. It seemed there was more than one monster, and they were slaughtering everyone who had failed to escape in time.

Yorkris moved the table, the wooden bed, and everything else that could block the door over to barricade it. The room instantly fell silent, leaving only ragged breathing and pounding heartbeats.

No one knew how many Wizard Apprentices had already died in the cabin, but judging by the screams, there had to be more than twenty.

At the same time, the sounds of humans fighting and the Sirens' distinct hoarse, rasping roars gradually reached them. The people in the room brightened, guessing that the powerful sailors had come to rescue them.

For the first time, everyone found those filthy, crude sailors so endearing.

Yet even after the sailors came to help, the cabin remained filled with the screams of countless Wizard Apprentices.

Suddenly, after the sound of a door being smashed open next door, desperate screams and wails erupted. Everyone's hearts turned cold. There was no need to think about it—they knew that a terrifying sea monster had broken in and was carrying out a bloody slaughter.

No one in Yorkris's cabin dared make a sound. Despair filled their eyes.

"It's all right. We still have hope. As long as Wizard Dila takes action, she can definitely kill these sea monsters!"

A male Wizard Apprentice who had fled into Yorkris's room spoke in a low voice.

Everyone's eyes lit up. That was right!

They still had complete faith in the mysterious and powerful wizards.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the Hailun shook again. The violent rocking made everyone in Yorkris's room turn pale. After a crisp crack of breaking wooden structure behind them, a torrent of wood splinters surged in like a ferocious sandstorm.

Everyone instantly curled into a ball and shut their eyes. A moment later, bright sunlight streamed into the room from behind them.

They turned back in horror, only to see a scene fit for the worst nightmares.

A hole seven or eight meters wide had been torn through the ship's hull, which was twenty to thirty centimeters thick. Yorkris's cabin was located right at the center of that massive hole!

Above the hole, a black creature resembling a sea serpent was slowly crawling upward. Its body was more than two meters in diameter, making its horrifying size easy to imagine.

"Ah..."

A female Wizard Apprentice let out a heart-rending scream. Looking down, they saw that she was one of the two unfamiliar apprentices who had taken refuge in Yorkris's room.

A wooden stick had pierced her abdomen, protruding halfway through her body. Blood covered the floor.

The female Wizard Apprentice wore a look of despair as she pleaded with the others, but everyone could only look back helplessly.

Grimm also felt something wrong beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw that the base of his leg had been stained red with blood. During the impact from the flying wooden debris, a plank had cut his foot.

The wound was not severe, but it affected Grimm's movement.

"No!"

Yorkris covered Yorklianna's eyes in grief and despair, his expression crazed.

A wooden branch had not only sliced open more than half of Yorklianna's cheek, but had also pierced her eye. Though it was not fatal, such an injury was far too cruel for a girl.

"Hiss..."

Lafi also sucked in a breath, her face pale. Her left shoulder was soaked red, the flesh there mangled and bloody.

In the span of that instant disaster, only Yorkris and the unfamiliar male Wizard Apprentice remained relatively unharmed in the cabin.

However, as though it had noticed the movement inside the room, a metal trident slammed into the door with a boom, and a pair of bloodshot scarlet eyes peered at them through the gap.

Despair appeared on every face.