To obtain the crucial 'sample', an elite force of nearly 500 people was dispatched from the Amber City. Among them were Sanbica and a dozen or so Hunters from the Association, as well as a medical support team of about twenty people.
The team consisted of nearly 500 people. Before heading to Demon Island, no one in the team thought it was an easy task and they had mentally prepared themselves for the challenges ahead.
However, even with that preparation, the events unfolding before them gradually shattered the morale of some team members.
One night, during a temporary rest stop, a magical beast attacked their makeshift camp.
That night, forty-five people lost their lives, including ten tour guides sent by Clort Prison.
The irony was that despite being a well-trained, fully armed force of nearly five hundred, they not only failed to capture or kill the beast, but also couldn't even get a clear look at its appearance.
The bodies of those killed in the attack were not left behind. The beast had taken them under the cover of darkness. One can easily imagine their fate, as they had likely become the beast's meal.
Perhaps the beast decided it had enough food, as it stopped after claiming its forty-fifth victim and retreated.
The team leader immediately led the entire group away from the temporary camp that night. By dawn, they had moved to a location they deemed safe enough, and the team leader promptly used the specialized radio to contact the staff at Clort Prison.
After explaining the situation to the prison, they received a reply that the prison's people would come to pick them up. However, several days passed with no sign of the promised reinforcements, and for some reason, the radio communication also failed
The situation grew increasingly dire, so the team leader decided they could no longer afford to wait and made the call to continue with the mission.
Although there are no 'tour guides' from the island's personnel, there is a detailed map, so they should be able to find the approximate area where the samples are located by following the instructions on the map.
However, without the guides' knowledge, they were unable to identify many of the hidden dangers along the way.
Over the next three days, the lack of guides made progress far more difficult than before, and the losses were devastating. More than a hundred people died one after another.
If time could be rewound, the team leader would undoubtedly have chosen to retreat temporarily and wait for reinforcements from Clort Prison. But that was only an 'if'.
After three days of reckless advance, the team was getting closer and closer to their goal. However, the dangers they encountered were also becoming more and more absurd.
Various giant beasts, cunning magical creatures, and venomous insects and snakes that were impossible to guard against rapidly reduced the team's numbers to just 235 people.
At this rate of loss, even if the team reached the target area, there wouldn't be enough personnel left to conduct a proper search.
The team found themselves in a dilemma. If they continued forward, they might be reduced to just a handful of survivors, with no guarantee of finding the sample. If they retreated, the mission would fail, but more lives could be saved.
Given the circumstances, retreating seemed like the most logical choice. However, the soldiers had received orders to retrieve the target at all costs.
The thought of letting the mission fail was unthinkable for the team leader and many of the soldiers. Thus, the team leader made the difficult decision to press on.
Then, just this evening, the team leader was now on the brink of death after being bitten by a palm-sized mosquito. Within three minutes, his organs began to fail rapidly, and he was not far from death.
At dusk, they encountered a swarm of insects.
What they witnessed was beyond comprehension. It was as if they had become the island's public enemy. Countless insects of various species, without any provocation, banded together and launched an attack on the team.
Is a single ant scary? Is a single mosquito scary?
Here, the answer is: Yes!
Even a single small insect, when it carries deadly poison, bacteria, or viruses, and possessed the intent to attack, can become terrifying. What's even more terrifying is when they swarm together, blotting out the sky.
When the insect swarm, resembling a dark cloud, descended upon them, the entire team initially fought back fiercely. But once their bullets ran out, the team quickly fell apart.
With the death of the team leader, the remaining members began to scatter, fleeing in all directions for their lives.
Faced with the insect swarm attacking from all sides and the venomous creatures crawling on the ground, survival became their only thought. The mission was forgotten in the chaos.
Sanbica was among the team. When she saw the overwhelming swarm of insects, she decisively plunged into the mud along with two other Hunter Association's members to avoid the terrifying onslaught. In contrast, the others used every means possible to escape.
No one could explain this phenomenon to them, as the Alcatraz Island's personnel who had accompanied them were among the first casualties.
The promised reinforcements had yet to arrive, and the worst-case scenario was that the radios had failed, cutting off communication with the prison.
These radios, designed for communication within the island's range, were specialized equipment provided by Clort Prison to replace personal communication devices.
Like everyone else, Sanbica had been prohibited from bringing personal communication devices when they landed on the island. Instead, they were given radios provided by Clort Prison.
However, in the face of such danger, the radios had become useless.
Why had the radios stopped working after the first contact with Clort Prison?
Since the first attack had killed the ten prison staff members, the remaining team members had no reason to suspect the prison. In fact, everyone who landed on the island knew how terrifying this place was, as it was largely untouched by human interference.
Located in the center of Alcatraz Island, there is a huge lake with an island in the middle. On the island stands a huge prison primarily black in color. That is Clort Prison.
The lake's waters were connected to the outside ocean, and the prison staff primarily used submarines to travel to and from the island. The port outpost was merely a facade.
Inside the towering black prison, in a room filled with various instruments and equipment, there are many people walking back and forth. All of them are wearing white coats that symbolize researchers.
A large screen displayed a map of the entire island, with nearly a hundred flashing red dots and over four hundred flashing green dots.
A bespectacled, scholarly-looking man sat in front of the screen, holding a slice of pizza with a few bites taken out of it.
Beside him stood a short-haired woman who looked like a high school student. She wore a black uniform, with a weapon pocket on her clothes containing a dagger and some unknown concealed weapons.
The woman's eyes were sharp, her nose small and adorned with two iron rings. Her slightly parted lips revealed a row of small, sharp white teeth.
"At coordinates F115, there are 26 baits. Prepare to lead a team to retrieve them." The bespectacled man said as he finished the rest of his pizza in two or three bites.
After finishing the pizza, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and then rubbed the grease off on his white lab coat.
"What if there are survivors near those coordinates..." The short-haired woman said with a grin.
"Do you still need me to teach you?" The bespectacled man glanced at the woman.
"No, I just wanted to confirm... After all, I don't want to get scolded by you again for killing the wrong people." A cold and cruel smile appeared on the face of the short-haired woman.
"Except for those Nen Users, you can do whatever you want with the others. Anyway, they're just barely passable as high-quality food." The bespectacled man stared at the red and green dots on the screen and said with an indifferent tone.
"Understood."
The short-haired woman whistled in a strange tone, then turned quickly and walked towards the door.