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Chapter 118 ‌‌‌‌
Enoch knelt on one knee before Margaret, carefully arranging the strands of hair clinging to her cheek as he spoke.
"Poisoned ‌‌‌by toxic gas? That sounds quite dangerous."
"If the symptoms match what we saw before, we can only wait for time to heal her. It seems rest allows for recovery."
As Rujeep spoke, Kaiden also ‌‌‌‌exhaled in relief. Their attention then shifted to ‌Diego.
"Ah, don't worry about Diego either. I've finished disinfecting his wounds, so ‌‌he just needs to recover."
Reassured by Rujeep's words, ‌‌they carefully laid both ‌‌patients to rest inside the cave. Then they gathered at the cave ‌‌entrance and built a fire.
Enoch tended the flames, sitting before them and adding more wood.
Rujeep sat beside Enoch and asked.
"What exactly happened?"
"While Diego and I were standing watch, I suddenly heard strange sounds from somewhere. Even though it wasn't Anaconda territory, I discovered a pack of Anacondas moving with perfect coordination, searching for something. And when some of them ‌‌‌encountered us, they suddenly evolved."
Enoch explained the events of the previous night calmly.
"They didn't seem to ‌‌‌‌‌see the barrier, yet they moved toward it as if guided by instinct—as though they were sensing some kind of ‌‌aura."
As Enoch spoke, he turned to look at Margaret with ‌‌‌an expressionless face. Rujeep followed his gaze.
"The monsters seem unusually aggressive toward Flone Young Lady. I wonder if they're being drawn here because of her. It ‌‌appears to be due to her magical power, but what do you two think?"
A long ‌‌‌silence fell over the group at Rujeep's question. Enoch ‌‌‌and Kaiden said nothing, and only the crackling of burning wood echoed through the air.
After a long moment, Kaiden spoke first.
"The most plausible explanation is certainly Margaret's magical power. I've questioned it before, but the fact that Margaret alone possesses magic is extremely suspicious. At first, I even wondered if she might be a spy wearing Margaret's face."
"That's a reasonable point. Flone Young Lady has certainly changed so much that she could be considered a different person."
After Rujeep finished speaking, Kaiden lowered his voice further.
"Rujeep, you don't know this yet, ‌‌‌but there's a great sorcerer from the Ingram ‌‌Dynasty era living on this island—one who's been alive for a thousand years. That sorcerer told me the time hasn't come yet. I don't know what will happen ‌‌‌when it does, but Margaret is clearly the key."
"A thousand years alive...!?"
"Lower your voice, priest. You'll wake Margaret."
Enoch, who had been sitting quietly ‌‌with his arms crossed, warned Rujeep in a low voice. When Rujeep's eyes met his—an intimidating gaze with golden irises—he quietly ‌‌‌‌closed his mouth.
"It's also suspicious how ‌‌freely she handles magical artifacts. Honestly, the language she calls 'Alea' doesn't seem to be the language of any ethnic minority on the Eastern Continent either."
At Kaiden's murmur, Enoch sighed and spoke again.
"Whether she's a spy for the experimenter who designed this island or not doesn't matter. What I trust is Margaret as she is now."
At his words, Kaiden immediately showed displeasure.
"Do you think I don't feel the same? But we ‌‌‌need to judge this objectively, for Margaret's sake. The important thing is determining whether the monsters ‌‌are really targeting Margaret because of ‌‌her power. That's how we can protect her."
At his response, Rujeep's eyes widened.
"Is there a way to find that out?" ‌‌
"We'll have to think about it from now on."
"Margaret might be the most vulnerable among us. So we need to protect her."
"Protecting her is fine, but how?"
As Rujeep spoke with frustration, Kaiden, who had been quietly lost in thought, offered a solution.
"I think we should try temporarily ‌‌sealing Margaret's magical power. I'm not sure if it's possible, but let's test it. Let's see if monsters are still drawn to Margaret even without her power."
"Flone Young ‌‌‌‌Lady might not agree ‌‌‌‌to that. And her magical power is necessary for our survival."
Rujeep's point was valid, but they couldn't sacrifice Margaret as an individual for everyone's survival. Kaiden shrugged and replied.
"If Margaret is really being attacked because of her power, then it's better for her not to have it, ‌‌‌even if it's inconvenient. We've survived well enough ‌without it all this time."
"Not having something and then having it is different from having it and then losing it."
"Hey, you coward. So you're saying it's fine if our Margaret gets put in danger?"
"What are you talking about? Of course not."
"Then shut your mouth."
As I mediated between their quarrel, Enoch posed a question ‌to Kaiden.
"But how exactly do you plan to seal the magical ‌‌‌power?"
"The magical auxiliary device given to me by ‌‌‌‌the Crown Prince has both a function to release magical power and a function to control it. Through the ring, I can control it so that the magical power appears to be sealed within the body. Essentially, I'm temporarily putting her in the same state as us. Then we lure a Monster to confirm the test is successful, and we simply eliminate the Monster."
Enoch listened quietly to his explanation, stroking his chin with a troubled expression on his face.
Kaiden waited for his response. After a long pause, Enoch finally spoke.
"If that's possible, then I agree with Rodban as well. Temporarily sealing it and observing the situation seems best. For Margaret's sake. But still, hearing her opinion should come first, so let's discuss it again once she wakes tomorrow."
At Enoch's words, Kaiden nodded vigorously.
"Margaret will naturally agree as well."
Of course, they had no idea that Margaret ‌‌‌‌had only caught fragments of that conversation and misunderstood it, nor did they realize she had been poisoned by Anaconda's toxic gas and had lost her rationality.
* * *
Breathing had ‌‌‌become difficult.
After running for a while, I found a large tree and climbed it. There, I paused to catch my breath. Silver Earthworm, coiled around my bag strap, quietly slithered down onto my lap.
I wondered where that nauseating fungal stench was coming from—only to realize it was emanating from my own body.
'How disgusting.'
I exhaled a weary sigh and leaned my back against the tree trunk. Had ‌something gone wrong when I dealt with Anaconda?
The headache might be caused by this smell. ‌‌‌‌‌Everything felt muddled. My rational thinking had become nearly impossible.
The dam ‌‌‌‌of my shattered emotions refused to mend, flowing endlessly and pooling into a murky swamp below. I felt myself floundering in that thick, stagnant flood of emotion.
My mind knew that Enoch and Kaiden would never harm me, yet I couldn't ‌‌help feeling melancholy and betrayed.
I didn't need ‌‌anything anymore. I just ‌‌‌wanted to run away alone. All I could think about was escaping this unbearable situation.
Until now, I had struggled to keep my mind from ‌‌crumbling. But at some point, that resolve had grown dull and worn, and it had finally collapsed in an instant.
"I want to go home."
Even if it wasn't my own home, I'd be satisfied with Margaret's. Anywhere—anywhere but this Island would be fine.
Anywhere but this Island, where I faced threats to my life at every moment, would suffice.
Even if it meant Enoch and Kaiden posed a threat to my survival, I didn't need them. Shamefully, I even thought I'd abandon everyone if it meant staying alive.
'I want to live.'
Tears streamed down my face. Sobs burst forth uncontrollably.
'I don't ‌‌want to die.'
As I wept like that ‌for a long time, Silver Earthworm, who had been sitting ‌‌on my lap and watching my reaction, suddenly began crawling up my body.
And then it bit my neck.
"Ow!"
Startled, I tumbled down from the tree. Fortunately, the height wasn't great, so I ‌‌‌didn't sustain ‌‌‌‌‌serious injuries.
I touched my neck, which was throbbing. Blood came away on my fingers—not red blood, but a thick, purple liquid.
"Damn it, what is this?"
Wrapping my neck with my hand to stop the bleeding, I turned my gaze toward Silver Earthworm on the tree above.
Silver Earthworm paced back and forth on the branch, and when our eyes met, it suddenly opened its mouth wide and expelled what looked like a purple gas.
It resembled the toxic gas that had erupted when Anaconda exploded on South ‌‌‌‌Island.
"Poison gas?"
At my puzzled question, Silver Earthworm sprang up excitedly and spun in circles as if to confirm. Then, wriggling ‌‌‌‌and squirming, it scrambled down the tree, laboriously climbed up my body, ‌‌and coiled around ‌‌‌‌‌my neck.
The creature tapped the spot on my neck where it had bitten me with its head, repeatedly and insistently.
"Why...?"
I asked with a confused expression, and it descended to the ground again, opened its mouth wide, and expelled a fist-sized ‌cloud of violet gas. Then it climbed back up my body and tapped my neck again, this time more deliberately.
Only then did I ‌grasp what Silver Earthworm was trying ‌‌to tell me.
"Ah. This violet blood is poison gas, isn't it?"
Silver Earthworm flicked its tongue and, as if delighted, wrapped itself around my shoulder and nuzzled its face against my cheek.
I retrieved the bandages I had packed in my bag. As I pressed firmly against my neck, violet blood continued to ‌‌‌‌seep into the cloth. The more violet blood stained the bandage, the clearer my mind became.
The overwhelming sense of despair and anguish that had consumed me moments before gradually began to fade.
"Ah, could it have been ‌because of this?"
The reason I couldn't think rationally.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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