“There’s… water in Area 4, right?”

Maria’s lips were cracked and dry as she looked at Rio.

He didn’t answer, just nodded.

Bottle Island’s Area 4 lay along the eastern coast of the main isle. Hidden in the forest there were springs of fresh water.

Even if Gwangcheon had gone ahead, there was no way they could drain every last spring.

In the minds of all twenty students of the alliance, one thought eclipsed all others—water.

Since entering the dungeon yesterday, they’d spent the whole day searching and fighting without a proper meal.

The only thing they’d eaten were bugs. Seven had managed to choke them down, the rest had spat them back up.

The twenty students reached the border where the northern forest met the eastern coast.

There, a shimmering rainbow-colored barrier stretched across, like a wall of soap bubbles.

Toby stepped forward with the jewel in hand. At his approach, a large opening formed, and the alliance filed through. He was the last to enter Area 4.

The moment they set foot inside, they scattered to search for water.

“Look near the coastal woods!” Toby ordered.

The twenty spread out, combing the forest until—

“Found it!”

Rio’s shout rang out as a flare of magic lit the sky.

At once, the scattered students sprinted with the last of their strength toward the signal.

After nearly twenty-four hours in the dungeon, they had finally found water.

To their eyes, the spring was more beautiful than the rarest treasure.

They fell on it, scooping up water with cupped hands and drinking greedily.

“Pwahhh!”

“Haahhh…”

“Finally. I feel alive again.”

The hostility that had clouded their eyes since leaving the entrance eased a little.

But as soon as their thirst was quenched—

Grrrrrrgle!

Hollow stomachs cried out.

“We need to find food, now.” Inhu, water still dripping from his armor, straightened up. “We can’t let Gwangcheon snatch it all again.”

“I agree about food,” Rio said, “but do we really need to rush? Area 3 only had seven points, but Area 4 had dozens. Not even Gwangcheon can strip them all.”

“No, we do need to hurry.” Toby looked up.

Above, drones had arranged numbers in the sky.

“The day’s nearly over. The committee will start sending quests soon.”

The moment he spoke, every smartwatch chimed at once.

“…They’re here already?” Zen blinked in surprise, checking his screen.

“It’s a gathering quest. Hongbaek Stone. Rare material from Area 3. Worth twenty points.” Rune read aloud, her eyes widening.

“Same for us.”

“Same here.”

“Let’s split tasks,” Toby decided immediately.

“Martial God, Dai, and our Crystal team will handle the gathering. Magica, you search for a safe zone and secure a base. Ucheon, focus on food and water.”

“Twelve people for one gathering quest?” Maria frowned.

“Gwangcheon got the same assignment,” Toby replied. “If we want to block them, we need to send numbers. There’s no time—move now.”

No one argued.

As planned, the alliance divided into three groups and scattered between Areas 3 and 4.

Magica scoured the forest near the coast for a safe zone.

Safe zones in Area 4 are always near springs. Rune recalled the advanced demonology lectures.

Only in Areas 4 and 5 did such places exist—where monsters dared not approach.

Any hunter planning to stay long in Bottle Island had to secure one first.

The spring will have a pinkish hue. That’s the sign.

She pressed forward, determined to find it quickly so they could rejoin the food search.

Now that thirst was gone, hunger reared its head with sharp insistence.

Grrrrrgle!

The loud growl drew stares.

“……”

Rune’s face burned red.

“…Let’s find the safe zone fast.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Right.”

“Got it.”

Zen, Nia, and Horim answered quickly, pretending nothing had happened.

They knew their leader’s pride—tease her now and she’d refuse to speak to them for a month.

Fifteen minutes later, Magica had already passed five springs, all identical to the first.

“This proves it. Gwangcheon can’t pull the same trick here. They might’ve picked the fruit in Area 3, but they can’t drain every spring.” Nia said.

“Still, pretty dirty of them,” Zen muttered. “They knew they’d head to Area 4, but they stripped the fruit just so we’d go hungry.”

“And we’re not dirty?” Horim smirked. “We ganged up twenty against four.”

“T-that’s…” Zen shut his mouth.

Rune’s expression hardened.

In truth, it wasn’t four being bullied by twenty— it was twenty being toyed with by four.

We must win survival. I can’t let it end like it did against Meiling…

The humiliation of that duel still haunted her.

“Hey, look!” Zen suddenly pointed. “Up there—doesn’t that look like another spring?”

Everyone’s eyes turned upward.

Beyond an overgrown slope, the terrain resembled the other spring sites.

“Let’s go.”

Rune led, and the others followed.

But when they crested the slope—

“What the hell?!” Zen shouted.

Their faces froze.

Where a spring should have been, the ground was pitted with craters, as though bombed.

Rune stepped to the edge and looked down, her teeth bared.

“…Meiling.”

The gouges could only be the marks of Inferno Orbs.

“Did Gwangcheon… destroy the springs here?” Nia asked.

“Looks that way,” Horim said bitterly. “Judging from the surroundings, this must have been a safe zone.”

“This is insane…” Nia whispered.

Since this morning, we haven’t heard a single explosion. Rune realized.

That means they did this yesterday—or early today, before we arrived.

Rage surged through her like fire in her veins.

It was devastating.

Without a safe zone, the alliance would have to retreat to Area 2 again for the night.

That meant no real rest. And if they received a hunting or gathering quest in Area 4, they’d lose precious time just traveling back and forth.

“What now, Rune?” Zen asked, panic in his eyes.

“The professor said there are always three safe zones in Area 3,” Nia added quickly. “If this one’s gone, then maybe the others—”

Crack.

All three turned at the sound of Rune grinding her teeth.

“Haaah…”

“Not again…”

Jin Yuyeon sighed. I Yeonmun muttered under his breath.

The others from both academies looked grim.

After rushing from the coastal spring to the northern forest, the Martial God-Dai-Crystal team had begun searching for Hongbaek Stone.

But none of them found it.

More precisely—they found the sites where it should have been.

But every last one was already stripped bare.

Someone had already dug up every site.

“This doesn’t make sense,” George muttered, “The quest only came in thirty minutes ago, and you’re saying every Hongbaek Stone in all the collection points is gone? That’s impossible!”

It was possible.

Toby’s mind pieced the answer together.

Gwangcheon had that green-haired girl, the one who could hide herself completely from monsters. With her, they could comb through Area 3 unhindered, collecting every stone.

Or perhaps, anticipating that the quest would call for rare materials, Gwangcheon had already swept through the area since morning, gathering Hongbaek Stone and other resources in advance.

Toby just stood there, dazed.

Resources wouldn’t respawn for days. There was no solution. Thinking further was pointless. It felt like he’d been struck hard in the back of the head, his thoughts dulled and numb.

“……”

Iris watched him silently, lips pressed tight.

“What?!”

Maria shot to her feet, shouting. She’d been roasting fish over the fire.

“You mean there’s no safe zone left for us?!”

Her glare was fixed on the Magica team, just back from scouting.

They had reported that of the three safe zones in Area 4, two were destroyed, and the last one was already occupied by Gwangcheon.

“Taking theirs by force… that’s impossible,” Hayugeun muttered, staring into the flames.

“…Let’s wait for the gathering team to return first,” Rio said with arms crossed.

“Rune. You said you saw all four of them in the safe zone, right?”

“Yes,” Rune answered curtly.

“Then that means they gave up the quest. The points will be ours. Finally, a win for us.” Rio allowed a flicker of relief to show.

Unless there aren’t five Hongbaek Stones to share…

Distribution would still be a problem.

Moments later, the gathering teams returned—Martial God, Dai, and Crystal.

“…You didn’t find any Hongbaek Stone?” Rio asked in disbelief.

“But Magica said Gwangcheon’s still in the safe zone. How—”

“They must’ve gathered the materials in advance,” Toby cut in. “Every point had already been dug up.”

“This can’t be…” Rio swayed.

“……”

Taeil’s eyes swept over the others. Whatever fragile hope had existed earlier was now sinking into disappointment and despair.

He glanced at his team and came to a decision.

This won’t work. We should break away. Even if we can’t take first, going solo gives us a chance to climb in rank.

He swallowed and was about to speak when—

“We’re done here.”

All eyes turned to the voice.

“Magica is leaving the alliance,” Rune declared, her face rigid.

“What? Wait—!”

“There’s no more benefit in staying,” she cut Rio off sharply. “Don’t you see it? Better to act alone and hunt for points than keep dancing to Gwangcheon’s tune. We’ll need someone to escort us back to Area 3, though. The jewel.”

“…We’ll leave too.”

Taeil finally spoke, a beat too late. Rio and Cheongryong’s faces stiffened.

“Same. Just escort us to Area 3.”

“You call this loyalty?” Cheongryong bristled.

Rune’s expression hardened into a glare.

“Loyalty? Don’t make me laugh. We got nothing out of this alliance. Don’t tell me you’re trying to preach about honor. This alliance was never about that.”

“Even so, once you agree to cooperate, there are obligations to uphold,” Cheongryong shot back.

The two stood face to face, tempers flaring. Behind them, Magica and Martial God squared up as well, the air thick with the threat of violence.

“Enough.”

It was Iris who spoke.

“Toby. Let Magica and Dai go.”

Her voice was clipped, firm.

“Forcing them to stay will only breed conflict. I’ll escort them to the boundary myself.”

“…Fine. The sun won’t set for a while yet. Everyone else, eat and rest here.”

“But we should—”

“No. Stay. You too, Muimi.”

Iris’ eyes cut to them. Muimi, halfway risen, sank back down. No one dared argue further.

“Let’s go.”

Toby lifted the jewel.

Not long after, he saw Magica and Dai pass through into Area 3. When he withdrew, the gap in the barrier sealed shut.

“Toby.”

He turned.

Iris stood with arms crossed, eyes fixed on him.

“We need to talk. Alone.”

He studied her face, then nodded.

“Wow, this fish is amazing!”

“The roasted mushrooms smell pretty good too.”

Lumina and Meiling chatted cheerfully, skewers in hand.

I bit into one of the fruits we’d picked in Area 4—sweet and tangy, crisp like an apple but juicy like an orange.

“This doesn’t feel like a training task. It’s more like a vacation. HAUT’s difficulty is nothing special,” Meiling said happily.

“I was honestly worried at first,” Lumina admitted with a wry smile. “That survival training during summer break was brutal.”

Meiling’s face darkened.

“…Wait a second.”

She suddenly turned on me, eyes narrowing.

“Hey, Nam Yein. If it’s this easy to find food here, then why the hell did we have to eat bu—bugs back then? That training was completely unnecessary!”

…Ah. She caught on.

“Well, I’ll just go check on the senior.”

“Hey! Explain yourself before you run off! Nam Yein!!”

I slipped away quickly, leaving the safe zone.

I stopped at the foot of a tall tree and looked up.

“Senior, I’m here.”

A moment later, a figure dropped down from the branches.

Seo Yui landed lightly, rising with her spear like a staff.

“Anything unusual?” I asked.

“It looks like two academies split off,” Seo Yui said.

Finally, division.

I smiled inwardly.

(End of Chapter)