Chapter 126
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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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Chapter 126
"Listen, Margaret. Anata's magic circle should have activated—what did you see? If you tell me, I'll help you."
Anata, his sister who had betrayed him belatedly after creating Alea Island together and conducting The Experiment.
Before her betrayal, she had inscribed a mysterious magic circle in the underground of this Bunker.
It was a magic circle he couldn't touch. He was curious how Margaret had managed to activate her magic circle.
Her soul, the book written by Yuanna, and the magic circle. Was it a combination of these three things?
'It's possible that Anata's plan was to bring another soul through the dimensional rift. I don't know what the plan is, but it's quite intriguing.'
Making such assumptions, he pressed Margaret again for an answer, but as expected, she was too severely intoxicated to regain her senses.
Jenath had no choice but to bend his waist to lift her into his arms.
At that moment, the Silver Snake, which had been hiding and watching the situation the entire time, finally mustered its courage and burst out from beside Margaret's head.
Screeeech—
Then it spewed fire toward him.
The Silver Snake displayed sharp vigilance, as if determined not to let him lay a hand on its master. Despite trembling, its devotion to protecting its owner seemed admirable in its courage.
Jenath stared quietly at the snake. Since it was imprinted, he couldn't dominate its mind and borrow its body like other monsters, but threatening it would be possible.
As expected, the creature was startled by his crimson eyes and convulsed, burying its face beside Margaret's head once more.
'How pathetic.'
Jenath let out a soft chuckle and lifted Margaret into his arms. Her body settled lightly into his embrace.
She was far too light. Painfully so.
'Well, she probably hasn't eaten properly. It's only natural.'
Jenath hummed as he carried Margaret back up the Underground Staircase. The Silver Snake timidly followed behind him, watching his movements carefully.
Margaret, nestled in his arms, reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He stopped in his tracks without realizing it.
"Haah."
She soon buried her cheek against his shoulder, her warm breath seeping through the fabric of his hood and brushing against his skin.
Jenath was startled at first, then let out a sigh.
Margaret, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulled him closer as if unwilling to let go.
"Don't go...."
She whimpered softly, her breathing ragged and uneven. Then she rubbed her cheek against the nape of his neck.
Jenath's eyebrows rose. He tilted his head slightly and looked down at Margaret's flushed face with a slanted gaze.
"Margaret, this is rather difficult."
Jenath murmured in a low voice.
But Margaret shook her head vigorously without speaking, pulling his neck closer with greater force. She let out a pained cry, burying her face in his shoulder as she shook her head repeatedly.
Her slender body trembled with what seemed like a mild seizure.
"Don't leave me, please...."
Margaret desperately groped for his skin, then burst into tears, and whimpered in agony as she struggled.
"Do you know who I am?"
At his question, Margaret shook her head. She seemed to lack the mental clarity to comprehend such things. Was she even properly hearing his question?
Jenath regarded her with curious eyes.
Through a monster's eyes, he had once witnessed how Margaret's group descended into madness from addiction to the Tentationem flower. But this was the first time he'd seen such suffering unfold before him directly.
"It's quite severe."
As Jenath murmured to himself, he caught sight of Margaret convulsing as though gasping for her final breath, and instinctively pulled her into his arms.
The moment body heat and skin made contact, she seemed to calm slightly. She pressed her face against his chest, her breathing ragged and desperate.
Jenath cradled her in his embrace and soothed her as one would a distressed child, his hand sweeping gently down her back in rhythmic motions.
"What am I even doing right now?"
Even he found it absurd, muttering such words to himself, yet his hand continued its tender caress of Margaret without pause.
As he did so, he found himself growing curious about Margaret's reactions—perhaps he should introduce more Tentaculum into her system? Jenath pondered this with genuine consideration.
"No. If Margaret ruins The Experiment like some Holy Maiden because of this, that would be problematic."
They had been on the verge of success, but the regression gate's opening had forced The Experiment to restart from zero.
Over the intervening years, he had gathered the magical power of hundreds of subjects to advance The Experiment, and had nearly accumulated enough power to open a dimensional gateway.
One final push, and this tedious Experiment would finally be complete.
"So cooperate with me, Margaret."
Jenath gazed at Margaret's contorted, anguished expression and smiled crookedly.
Once The Experiment concluded, he would seize the body of his descendant and reclaim his pendant. Then he would possess power enough to dominate dimensions themselves.
Only with such ability could the countless ages he had endured be truly compensated.
"Well. Whatever your soul is—it no longer matters. Thanks to you, this promises to be a far more entertaining Experiment."
With those words, Jenath flicked Margaret's nose with his finger as she lay cradled in his arms.
And at that moment,
"Who are you?"
A voice he recognized from somewhere echoed through the space. Jenath glanced up.
At the entrance to the Bunker, at the foot of the Underground Staircase, stood a silver-haired man and a black-haired man, both staring down at him. It was Enoch and Kaiden.
"What the—that bastard looks like that damn brat?"
The descendant he had waited ages to find, whose compatibility with him was excellent, proved remarkably insolent. Jenath let out a soft laugh and tilted his chin arrogantly upward.
"Forgive me for disappointing you. This is my true form, after all."
"What? Jenath? How did you even get a body?"
Kaiden's expression darkened with fury as he demanded answers. Meanwhile, Enoch fixed Jenath with a piercing glare before drawing his blade with deliberate silence.
"There's no need to converse with a suspicious figure. Subduing him by force would be preferable."
Even as the sharp blade gleamed menacingly, Jenath merely shrugged his shoulders with an unhurried expression.
"Margaret deceived you, did she not? Yet you still trust her? This child is not the Margaret you know."
Jenath gestured with his chin toward Margaret, whom he held in his arms.
Following his gesture, Enoch's gaze shifted back to Margaret, and his face twisted into something far more sinister.
Though Enoch held his blade, he could not launch an attack freely with Jenath holding Margaret.
Shadows fell across his broad shoulders, making him appear even more colossal and savage. His golden eyes, gleaming with an unsettling intensity, were more threatening than any roaring flame.
"Why would you presume to judge? We will make that determination."
Enoch responded as though grinding his words between his teeth.
Witnessing the overwhelming pressure this man exuded—enough to give pause even to one who had lived countless ages—Jenath felt a moment of genuine admiration.
His intention had been to plant seeds of doubt, but it appeared to have little effect on these men.
'With other test subjects, this tactic would have sown discord instantly.'
Jenath clicked his tongue with disappointment.
This man was obsessed with Margaret. Normal conversation was impossible in his current state. One could see it in his eyes alone.
'How fascinating.'
As Jenath recalled, the two men before him had shown no interest in Margaret before time turned back, and they had conducted themselves like people who kept their distance from women.
Yet now they were obsessed with her?
'No, perhaps it's not Margaret, but some other woman whose identity remains unknown.'
Jenath gazed down with renewed interest at Margaret's flushed face nestled in his arms.
She clung to his neck like a cat, her face rubbing repeatedly against his shoulder, her arms tightening with a grip that declared she would never let him go.
Seeing this, Jenath shrugged his shoulders toward Enoch and Kaiden.
"It seems Margaret prefers me to you two."
Kaiden's eyes blazed with an intensity that suggested he might tear Jenath to shreds at any moment, and he laughed coldly. His crimson eyes, sharper than Jenath's own, flashed dangerously.
"You bastard, I'll only listen to what Margaret says. You scoundrel. Put Margaret down."
Jenath held Margaret while deliberately stroking her back for their benefit, then burst into laughter.
"What can I do? I'm quite interested in Margaret too."
"That son of a—!"
Kaiden could no longer contain himself and lunged at Jenath. With fluid movements, Jenath descended the stairs while evading Kaiden's assault.
As a result, he found himself back at the location where the magic circle was drawn.
Jenath glanced back once and clicked his tongue. Then he looked up at Kaiden and Enoch, who had taken defensive stances at the top of the stairs.
"Our descendants certainly have crude mouths. It seems they don't teach manners in later generations. I did not raise the Rohade Family that way."
Before his words had even finished, Enoch's sharp blade grazed across his forearm.
Jenath felt the searing pain in his arm and furrowed his brow. It was a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long time.
"I'm losing the desire to give more."
Jenath sighed with an annoyed expression and muttered under his breath.
But enduring any longer in this place had reached its limit for him as well. Left with no choice, he snapped his fingers lightly.
Flames erupted before Kaiden and Enoch. The Silver Snake bounced frantically, unable to cross over to this side.
However, the flames were conjured by magic power and would clearly extinguish soon. So he had to leave before they died down.
Jenath slowly lowered Margaret back onto Anata's magic circle.
She thrashed about, unwilling to separate from him.
His feelings watching her were somewhat peculiar.
This was the first time I had made direct contact with an experimental subject like this.
When I first created this Island and voluntarily became trapped here with other sorcerers, Anata had said something to me.
'Don't meet the subjects directly. You'll psychologically synchronize or assimilate with them. The moment that happens, it's over. You won't be able to kill them.'
Anata, who had spoken such words, ended up synchronizing with Yuanna, and ultimately betrayed me, with whom she had cooperated for a thousand years trapped on this Island.
I am different from Anata. Unlike Anata, the thousand years were not so easy for me.
"Margaret. You really have to let go now."
As I forcibly separated Margaret's hands, she burst into tears and began convulsing again.
Her face flushed red as if she were suffering from shortness of breath, and she could barely breathe properly.
But I could no longer help Margaret. Having completely exhausted my magical power, I quickly reverted to my child form.
The exhilaration I had felt from returning to an adult form for the first time in ages now dissipated coldly. A wistful sigh escaped me.
"I'm sorry, Margaret."
I rose from my place, leaving Margaret to suffer upon the magic circle.
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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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