Panic!

**Inside the Principal's Office of Grace Magic Academy**

The principal of the Academy, Yullia and her assistant Diana were listening to some audio recordings. A total four of them. The air inside the office became cold due to the sheer presence oozing out of the emotionless Yullia.

"Mi--Miss!" Diana couldn't hold on the pressure any longer and blurted out her words.

The pressure was gone suddenly.

"I am sorry, Diana! I just couldn't keep it in control after hearing those records." Yullia looked a little apologetically towards Diana.

"It's fine, Miss! I understand."

"This is really bad. Diana, call my father here, quickly!" Yullia ordered Diana and the latter went straight out of the office to call the Vice-Principal of the Academy.

She sunk herself into the back of the chair and started making all sorts of deductions of what could have happened there.

~knock .. knock~

"Come in."

The door opened and a man with same hair color as Yullia walked inside along with Diana.

Owen Sebes, the head of the Sebes family and the best craftsmen to ever grace the humanity. Owen was not only a craftsmen, but also an elite theorist, a professor and a retired hero of the previous generation.

In his prime, Owen was nicknamed as 'Steel Owen' due to his mastery of steel element in attack, defense and forging. When his daughter entered the S-Rank, Owen stepped down from his hero work and instead became the Vice-Principal of the Academy to assist his daughter and do her work during her absence.

It was also at that time that Owen took the position of the Family head from his father. Owen loved his daughter very much, especially since her mother passed away when Yullia was still a child.

Unlike his expression right now, which was full of annoyance. Owen was immersed in a very important research for about a month now, and he also had a 'Do Not Disturb' sign hanging on his lab door. But still his beloved daughter has called him in her office in the middle of the day.

"You know Rick from the first years, right?" Yullia asked her father without giving him any time to nag.

"Rick? Off course, I know him!! I was the one who brought him to the Academy. You too know that!"

"Father, he and his entire party was murdered in Ashell. There are some intruders on the island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And someone from our side has backstabbed us." Yullia dropped the bomb on her father.

"Wh-What? Wait-How? Rick. . . . . . . . . . died?" Owen was utterly shell shocked after hearing those words from his own daughter.

After the shock faded, a huge wave of anger rose from his emotions. The entire Academy Building started shaking in tone with the killing intent Owen was releasing.

"Father!"

"Huh. . . . Huh. . . .Huh, I am fine now. Do you know whose work it could be?" Owen became calm again and there was now a firm determination in his eyes.

"Warlocks!" Yullia replied with a single word, but the weight of that word was huge on Owen who had lost something very precious to those guys in the past.

"Bast**ds! And the traitor?"

"No idea, but only the class advisors can get an outsider inside the island. There, you can take a look at the list of all class advisors, who are around Ashell. Father, I don't want to inform anyone on that side and you are the only one who I can fully trust and is capable of handling all the levels of emergencies that could happen there. So, I need you to go there and make sure the safety of all the students as your first priority and after that, you have full authority to take whatever action you feel like to control the situation."

"Don't worry, I will leave immediately!" Owen stormed out of the office leaving Yullia and Diana alone.

"Miss, why didn't you told him the truth?" Diana asked about fact that it was Rick who killed his friends under the influence of the artifact, but Yullia said to Owen that they all were murdered by the Warlocks.

"That artifact was given to him by my father!" Yullia said those words and once again got sunk in the back of her chair.

Diana also understood Yullia's words and just hoped that the situation would be brought under control as soon as possible.

____________________

On ship number one, Adrienne was sleeping soundly inside her room.

~Trrriiinngggg. .. .. .. .. .Trrrriiinngggg. .. .. .. .. ~

The emergency phone on her desk was ringing on and on, finally waking Adrienne up and forcing her to pick up the phone.

"Miss, this is the caption of the ship, We have an emergency. Please come and take a look as soon as possible!"

~beep .. beep~

The captain spoke in an urgent tone and asked Adrienne to come over quickly.

"The minute I want to rest, something happens!" Despite the grumbling, Adrienne quickly got up and moved out of her room.

Inside the captain's chambers, there was a huge digital map of Ashell on the central machine. The central machine was connected to every wrist device and had the count of total devices on the island. This central machine was only installed on this ship and only the Captain of the ship had access to it.

The central machine gives out the total count of students on the island for every 12 hours. The problem for the captain started when the previous count showed the number '1003' instead of the constant number of 1000 which was shown in the previous 3 counts.

But this was not a major problem to call the ship administrator Miss Adrienne, as only an administrator can send extras on the island. So, this wasn't that much of a problem for him, until the fifth count came in.

The fifth count showed the number '999' on the screen. It was not that of a surprise as the captain thought that the three extras were tasked with something and they returned after completing the task. But then the casualty alarm rang for the students of ship number one. The alarm notified the deaths of four students from their ship.

This puzzled the captain greatly. The students from this ship are the best of the best, and to think that they would die on the third day was even more baffling. And the count too didn't add up. Now looking at the numbers, the three who he thought exited the island, were still there and four excellent students die on the island. The captain was very experienced, and he understood his grave mistake and called for Miss Adrienne, who should be coming here any moment.

And right after the door opened and Miss Adrienne walked in with a serious look on her face. She knew that the captain is a very experienced veteran in handling of the surveillance of the students and handling the uprising difficulties brilliantly. But even that person is calling for her help then the situation is already out of his hands.

"What happened Captain?? I take that the emergency is already way above your control, So what is it??"

"Miss, please take a look at the casualty meter."

When Adrienne looked at the screen, it said the casualty number was four and all four of them were from ship number one.

"This is truly unfortunate! But this isn't the only thing, is it?"

Even though the students were told that the shields from the device would activate just before they receive a decisive blow from a monster, but that was only the case for monster attacks. There are many other ways to die on a monster island, that is by falling into a trap, poison, or by an attack so quick that neither you nor the device had any chance to react.

There would always be casualties, no matter the place. Be it a dungeon or a monster island. Even though the securities are tight for stopping the students deaths in these places, still some casualties are inevitable. The only shocking thing for Adrienne was that the deaths were all from the her ship, which meant that four out of the top hundred had died. And she felt a little bad for the loss of four excellent students, but that was all she felt.

But this wasn't enough to call it an emergency.

The captain also read the thoughts of Adrienne and brought her over to the central machine.

"Miss, this machine tells us the number of devices present on the island. There are a total of five readings over the last two and a half day. The first three show a constant 1000, but please check the fourth and the fifth yourself...."

Adrienne looked at the those two readings and was utterly shocked. One showed a 1003 and the next 999.

"How can there be three extra people, we only sent the students which numbered 1000 and since then no one is sent on the island, then how??"

Hearing the words of the Administrator, the captain was now sure of his deduction and he realized that his negligence had caused the death of four students. He was truly ashamed of himself.

Even Adrienne didn't take too long to notice the loose threads. This was more complicated than she thought, and if her guess is correct then one of the administrator is with the intruders. This was a case where she couldn't rely on anyone but herself.

"I am sorry, Miss!! This all happened due to my negligence!" The captain bowed his head down and apologized with all his heart.

"It's not your fault, captain! I am ashamed to call myself a teacher and couldn't even recognize a traitor amongst ourselves. Captain, please don't share these information to anyone else and pretend like nothing happened. I will go and personally give a visit to all the other nine administrators on their respective ships. Take this ring, and send me any new information, even a minute one through this ring. I am going out right now!"

Adrienne went outside the captains chambers to take her weapons and gears, meanwhile the captain left all the work on the table and started to find every little information he can.

After ten minutes, Adrienne was just about to leave, when a familiar figure landed on the ship from the sky.

"Master . . . . . !?"