Record of a Thousand Lives

 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]

Mental State: -25

Current Mental State: 5

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

Rick’s mental state 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.”