Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 128

The next day, they went back to the same spot along the Cayman River to fish.

Iris excitedly jumped off the boat and called out, “Mung Bean!”

“Krwaaak!”?the softshell turtle responded.

Henrick was surprised that the softshell turtle was waiting in the same spot where they had separated the previous day. He exclaimed, “Wow! Why is this thing here?”

“There is no doubt that Mung Bean came to find me,” Iris said proudly while patting the softshell turtle on its head. Mung Bean extended its head and growled happily.

Shaneth let out a yawn and said, “Nothing’s been happening for quite a while now.”

Their fishing trip today was on the boring side, as they had not caught a single large fish. Instead, they had only caught a few small ordinary fish and some rubbish buried in the riverbed.

[The ‘Fishing’ skill level has risen.]

[You may now catch rare items from now on.]

Kang Yoon-Soo threw a large goldfish into their tank and thought, ‘My fishing skill is finally Level 5.’

He looked up into the sky. Rain clouds started to gather, and a light drizzle began before the real downpour came. All the party members left their fishing rods and sought refuge from the rain under the nearby trees.

“I wonder if father is doing alright…” Yan said worriedly, extending his hand into the rain. It was already the fourth day since his father had gone missing, and it was not strange that he was slowly starting to lose hope.

“He’s fine,” Kang Yoon-Soo said with complete certainty. He did not provide any specific explanation, but Yan strangely felt reassured by the man’s words.

Yan smiled and said, “I believe he should be fine as well.”

Shaneth crouched on the ground and said while watching the rain, “I don’t like the rain.”

“Why? Because it’s gloomy?” Henrick asked.

“No,” Shaneth replied as she extended her hand into the rain. A flame suddenly appeared atop her palm, but it was immediately extinguished, and all that was left of it was a thin strand of white smoke. She continued, “I can’t use fire in the rain.”

“Be careful not to fall into the water. People who use fire like you always tend to die by drowning,” Henrick said.

“I probably swim better than you, ahjussi,” Shaneth retorted.

While they were leisurely chatting away, Mung Bean suddenly growled loudly toward the river. “Krwwaaak!?Kwraaaawk!”

“Mung Bean! What’s wrong?” Iris called out as she walked hurriedly toward the softshell turtle. However, Mung Bean kept growling loudly toward the river, which had begun raging wildly because of the downpour.

“Krwaaaak!”?The sound of the turtle’s growls echoed into the rain. It seemed to be looking at a silhouette across the river that resembled an island.

“W-What is that…?” Shaneth turned around and asked Yan.

However, even Yan seemed to be surprised by the thing’s appearance, and the only response he could give her was, “That’s strange… There was no island over there before.”

It would be impossible for an ordinary river to have a landmass the size of an island in it, but that was not the case for the Cayman River. It was not strange at all for the largest river on the continent to have a few islands.

“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, then walked into the rain toward the river.

“Where are we going?” Iris asked.

“That island,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The party gathered their fishing rods and boarded their boat.

Yan suddenly spoke up hesitantly. “It’s dangerous to ride the boat when it’s raining. I suggest that we wait out the rain first before embarking.”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and replied in his usual certainty-filled tone, “We can’t go to that island after the rain stops.”

Yan was strangely convinced once again, and he could not refuse.

Iris boarded the boat and looked back at Mung Bean before saying, “Mung Bean, I will come back quickly, so you have to take care of yourself here. Do you understand?”

“Krwaaak!”?the softshell turtle replied, as if it understood her words.

Yan calmed his breathing before boarding the boat and rowing it with all his might.

Creak…

The relentless downpour of rain showed no signs of stopping, and the river raged wildly with its currents picking up speed. A single mistake in rowing could lead to the entire party drowning at the bottom of the river.

“I feel nauseated,” Iris said, her face pale as a sheet.

It was not only her; all the other party members were experiencing severe motion sickness. They could not fix their sights on one spot due to the boat’s rocking, making their heads hurt and their stomachs churn violently. The boat swayed wildly, seeming as if it might capsize at any moment because of the raging river rapids.

Kang Yoon-Soo approached Yan, who was drenched in both sweat and rain, and said, “Let’s switch.”

Yan exclaimed in horror, “Have you gone mad? The boat will immediately capsize if a newbie rows it in this weather!”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not even bother replying as he forcefully snatched the oars away from Yan. Yan was surprised to see the oars suddenly enter the other man’s hand in a split second.

Creak… Creak…

‘The life I lived as a boatman?who?caught the monsters of the deep waters…’?Kang Yoon-Soo reminisced before slowly starting to row the boat. His rowing was neither fast nor slow, but the boat seemed to glide easily across the raging river rapids.

“You’re… quite good at rowing…?” Yan murmured. He could not hide his surprise when the boat’s shaking calmed down and it slowly started to travel in the right direction. The man’s rowing skills were far greater than his, even though he had lived along the river for more than twenty years.

Rumble… Baaaam!

The sound of thunder boomed across the sky. Lightning struck a tree in the distance and cut it in half. The river rapids grew wilder, and the tides surged violently. All the party members were now soaking wet from the rain.

“The weather is getting even worse!” Shaneth cried as she observed the dark clouds above them. It was too late for them to turn back and reach the shore.

Henrick squinted and looked ahead, then called out, “We’re getting closer to the island!”

The island in the middle of the Cayman River was surrounded by raging tides. Strange vegetation grew on the island; the large roots of several trees protruded from the ground, intertwining with each other.

[You have discovered an undiscovered location on the Cayman River.]

[It is a mysterious island that no one has ever set foot on.]

[If you map out the entire island and its surroundings, the value of the gathered information will be priceless.]

[There are 48 species of marine life that inhabit the island, which have not been registered in the encyclopedia of marine life.]

[Beware. You do not know what kind of danger lurks on this island.]

[You can obtain experience points by exploring the whole island.]

“How has no one ever discovered an island this big that\'s obviously visible even to the naked eye?” Shaneth asked. Yan, who was a native of the Cayman River, could not give her an answer.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo was aware of the reason why the island had remained undiscovered. He thought, ‘The?Unknown?Island.’

The Unknown Island was one of the hidden locations on the continent. It was a place that could normally only be reached by those with the Marine Explorer class, if they received the special quest related to it. That quest did not show up easily; one would have to clear all sorts of quests from the boatmen on the Cayman River, and spend countless nights digging for information, before they could receive it. They would also have to navigate all sorts of twists and turns just to accurately locate the island.

‘The only way to?reach?this island without diving and swimming against the flow of?an?undersea tunnel is to come here when?a?heavy downpour occurs,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought. The island would disappear as soon as the heavy rain stopped; that was the exact reason why he had risked riding a boat in such a downpour despite the danger.

‘It isn’t?a mere coincidence that nobody has found the?island until now,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

They began to draw closer to the island. It was then that Shaneth suddenly pointed at the tides and shouted, “Look over there!”

A large school of fish emerged from the wild river rapids. It was not only a few of them; there seemed to be hundreds of fish beneath the water’s surface. A few swam toward the boat and started to chew away at its hull with razor-sharp teeth.

Kwachik! Kwachiik! Kwachichik!

The boat began to be shredded bit by bit; the fish seemed to be determined to chew holes right through it in order to drown the passengers.

“What the hell?! What kind of fish would eat a boat?!” Henrick exclaimed in surprise.

However, Yan hurriedly took out his harpoon and shouted, “These things are Giant Piranhas! They have razor-sharp teeth, and they’re very aggressive! They can even chew up a large animal in an instant! We have to reach the island quickly, or else the boat will sink and we’ll become fish food!”

He stabbed his harpoon into the water, but even more Giant Piranhas gathered after smelling blood in the water.

“Damn it! It looks as if the final moments of my life will end with me becoming fish food!” Henrick cursed loudly before taking Rick out of his summoning box. He grabbed the nape of the little girl’s neck and asked her, “Is your skin sturdy?”

“I’ll be fine even if a wyvern bites me,” Rick replied confidently.

“Oh right, you were fine even when that vampire tried to bite you on the neck. You’ll be fine this time as well. I believe in you!” Henrick exclaimed.

“Huh? What?” Rick replied in confusion.

Henrick looked intently at Rick and said, “I’m doing this because I love you and this is all for your sake. Please don’t go crazy.” He then threw Rick toward the school of Giant Piranhas without even an ounce of hesitation.

Plop!

The Giant Piranhas flocked around Rick as soon as she dropped into the water. They promptly tried to rip her to pieces, but it was their teeth that were smashed into pieces the moment they tried to bite her.

Rick looked back at Henrick and said, “You’re bad.”

[Rick is greatly disappointed by your cruel actions.]

[Rick has realized something]

Sanity: -25

Current Sanity: 5

*Rick will go on a rampage if her sanity drops to zero.

Rick’s sanity had worsened greatly, but that was still better than the boat sinking and the party ending up becoming fish food. Henrick did not hesitate one bit as he continued to control his mana threads, maneuvering Rick to chase away the Giant Piranhas.

Kwachik!

“There’s no end to them! They keep coming no matter how many we kill!” Shaneth shouted as she swung her scythe and cut a Giant Piranha in half.

The Giant Piranhas showed no signs of going away. In fact, more of them came rushing over the more the party killed, as if they were multiplying. That was because the other Giant Piranhas in the vicinity smelled the thick stench of blood in the water and swarmed over.

“Damn it! There’s a hole in the boat!” Henrick shouted.

A small hole had formed in one of the spots the Giant Piranhas had chewed on. It was a small hole, but it was still enough to allow water to slowly trickle into the boat.

Yan threw his harpoon aside and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Plug that hole with anything you can find! We have to hold on, even if it’s for just a bit longer!”

“Fuck!” Henrick cursed loudly while busily moving his mana threads and searching his pockets for anything he could use to plug the hole. He managed to find one alcohol bottle that fit the hole perfectly, so he quickly rammed it into the hole to seal it up. He then shouted at the top of his lungs, “A bottle of booze saved your lives! Praise all the drunkards on the continent!”

“They made other holes in the boat too!” Shaneth shouted in response to his idiotic outburst.

“…” Henrick was speechless.

It seemed certain that they would sink into the waters and end up becoming fish food at this rate.

“Kang Yoon-Soo,” Iris called out.

“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“I believe you would know. What can I do to help the others right now?” Iris asked.

The sky was covered by rain clouds, making it hard to tell whether it was night or day, but it was definitely daytime at that moment. Unfortunately, Iris could not use her powers during the daytime.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo promptly grabbed the back of her neck as if he had been waiting for her to bring that up, then said, “This will hurt.”

He bit Iris’ neck, and her body trembled in surprise from his sudden actions. Kang Yoon-Soo sucked some of her blood from an artery, infusing it into his sword and causing the weapon to glow bright red.

[The Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword has consumed blood.]

[You have lost a lot of blood, but you were able to compensate for it by using Greater Blood Drain.]

[The woman’s blood has amplified your magic power.]

[The Vampire Lord’s skill has been unleashed!]

[Your blood offering has stirred up Blood Storm!]

Blood started to gush out from the tip of Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword in a stream, which twisted and turned in midair before becoming a deadly storm of blood. Kang Yoon-Soo gripped his Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword in both hands and swung it.

Shwwww… Boooom!

The Blood Storm swallowed up all of the Giant Piranhas without leaving even a single one behind. The Giant Piranhas voluntarily jumped into the storm of blood like moths to a flame, intoxicated by the smell of blood. The fierce maelstrom ripped the Giant Piranhas to pieces, leaving behind only their scales and chunks of meat.

[You have massacred 273 Giant Piranhas.]

[The ecosystem around the island has been affected.]

Shwiiiiiik…!

The Blood Storm had unleashed intense wind pressure on par with its destructiveness, and it seemed as if the boat the party was on would capsize.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo held the boat with one hand and his Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword in the other, warning the others, “Hold on tight.”

“Euuuuk!”

“Kyaaaaaaahk!”

The intense wind pressure pushed the boat out of the water, launching it through the air. The party members held on for dear life as they were flung into the air with the vessel, as their vision became blurry and their heads spun. The next thing they knew, they collided against solid ground.

Bam! Thud! Thud…

The party members rolled violently a few times across the ground before coming to a halt.

Shaneth shook her head and spat out some mud she had accidentally swallowed while rolling. “Cough! Cough! Ptui!”

“Gulp…!”?

“You stupid girl! Why would you swallow mud?!” Henrick grumbled, smacking Iris’ back a few times.

“It does not taste good…” Iris complained with a frown, spitting the mud out.

Yan looked around and observed the surroundings, muttering, “This place is…”

Thankfully, they were on the island’s shore. However, the sand had been dyed red with blood. The thought that they would have become minced meat and fish food if they had been a split second too late sent chills down the party members’ spines.

Yan let out a sigh and said, “It’s a relief that we made it to dry land.”

“I’m not so sure about that, from the looks of it,” Henrick said while pointing toward something.

The boat they had ridden to the island was shattered, its pieces scattered across the shoreline. Its main body was stuck in the sand.

Shaneth despaired as she looked at the shattered boat, murmuring, “What will… happen to us now…?”

“We have to kill the owner of this island,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he stood up. He added, “Then we can save Nell as well.”