Chapter 134
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Chapter 134 "What is this map?"
"I'm not certain. Could it be that those spirits kidnapped Diego and dropped this in the process...?"
Rujeep's response to Kaiden's question trailed off. Kaiden was staring at him intently.
"You know that sounds absurd, right?"
"There's nothing particularly absurd about it. On this island, things far beyond imagination happen constantly."
Rujeep furrowed his brow and replied with evident displeasure. In truth, Rujeep was right. On this island, whatever one imagined, reality always exceeded it. I pointed my finger at the monster illustration on the eastern side of North Island.
"This marking on the map—it appears to be the progenitor of the monsters."
I gestured toward the grotesque monster drawing depicted on Rujeep's map and spoke. Enoch questioned me with a puzzled expression.
"The progenitor of monsters?"
"I heard this island has been deteriorating as The Experiment repeated itself for a thousand years. The evolution of monsters is one of the signs of that deterioration. Jenath said there's a monster progenitor on the eastern side of North Island, and if we eliminate it, the monsters will stop evolving."
Listening to my explanation, Kaiden asked me with a grave expression, like a student solving a difficult problem.
"What exactly is a monster progenitor?"
"I don't know. He said to go see for ourselves."
I turned Jenath's words over in my mind and swallowed a curse. Damn Jenath. Enoch, who had been listening to our conversation, opened his mouth with a calm and weighty voice.
"Margaret, did you ask why this Jenath fellow revealed information about the monsters to you? It seems suspicious. It could be a trap, so we should be cautious."
Enoch's words made sense. I fell into thought, recalling what had happened then.
"I think he told me because he believed I would die in that situation. I was nearly consumed by a monster."
"What?! You never mentioned that!"
At my words, Kaiden erupted in fury and shot to his feet. Crunch— At that moment, the canned goods Enoch was holding crumpled violently. Sinews bulged across his taut forearms, sculpted with rippling muscle. Kaiden, Rujeep, and I all fell silent, staring at Enoch. He asked me with an unruffled expression.
"That sorcerer tried to kill you?"
His voice was measured, yet something akin to madness gleamed subtly in his eyes. Startled by his intense reaction, I rolled my eyes and averted my gaze slightly.
"Well... actually, it was more like abandonment. Jenath didn't directly threaten me, but when the monster that burst into the cabin dragged me away, he didn't rescue me—he simply left me to my fate."
"That bastard never sat right with me from the start."
I pulled Kaiden's hand as he shot up to leave, forcing him to sit back down, then turned to Enoch.
"This map is our only lead. What if we search for the monster progenitor? If Jenath spoke the truth, we need to eliminate it to eradicate the monsters. And if we do, Jenath won't be able to use the monsters' eyes to spy on us anymore."
"Margaret is right. This is our only clue, and it's also the closest to us in terms of distance."
"Before we search for the monster progenitor, shouldn't we meet with the Holy Maiden?"
This time, Rujeep offered his opinion cautiously.
"The Holy Maiden's map had supply locations marked on it. If I recall correctly, one was along the path heading east toward the island where the monster progenitor supposedly resides."
As Rujeep finished speaking, Enoch stroked his chin and gazed down at the map spread across the floor once more. I followed Enoch's gaze to the map. Our map lacked supply markings, but from my memory, there were three locations marked with supplies on North Island. One of those three locations was the current bunker's position. I suspected the items we'd gathered might be those 'supplies.' "I recall there was a supply marker near the Mother Monster's location."
That was when Enoch spoke up. He looked at me and sought my opinion.
"What if we search for Diego first and check that location? After that, we can look for the Holy Maiden. The area where the Mother Monster resides is extremely dangerous, so let's assess the situation first before making further plans."
Everyone nodded at Enoch's words. As I thought about the Mother Monster, I recalled what Jenath had told me.
"I'm merely borrowing the monsters' eyes, not controlling them. They simply like you."
"Why would monsters like me?"
"You must smell delicious to them, Margaret. Different from other people."
So the monsters liked me, he had said. But that "liking" wasn't the kind of devotion Silver Earthworm showed—it was the feeling of viewing me as a delicacy and attacking me. Was it truly safe for someone like me to meet the Mother Monster? 'And it seemed like someone in Margaret's group could use magical power.' 'I'm being controlled by magical power in this body—how did that person use it?' If Jenath had eventually discovered that my soul was different, wouldn't he have also noticed that I could use magical power? I wanted to see Jenath. I still had so many questions for him. 'What exactly is the Mother Monster?' 'Go see for yourself.' 'But I hope Margaret survives. Call it a gamble? Or entertainment, if you will. Try your best. This is Alea Island, after all.' I recalled Jenath's words and clutched my head in frustration. 'Damn Jenath!' * * * Whoooosh— It was an afternoon of torrential downpour. In weather like this, even flares had their limits; the rain extinguished their flames far too quickly. 'Damn it, there weren't any umbrellas or rain gear in the bunker.' I pulled the hood of my flight jacket over my head. The three men, however, had no hoods and were forced to endure the relentless rain. Kaiden and Enoch each carried large backpacks, while Rujeep held Silver Earthworm. I watched my crossbag getting soaked and adjusted it inside my flight jacket. The flares and lighters were wrapped carefully in cloth like t-shirt material, but even that could get wet in rain this merciless. The volume of rain falling was extraordinary. We trudged through the muddy ground with difficulty, and eventually, unable to go much further, we had to find a cave near the river bank and take shelter inside.
"Damn it. The rain came right on cue, didn't it?"
Kaiden muttered irritably, wringing out his water-soaked collar. I sat blankly at the cave entrance, gazing miserably at the falling rain. Just as I'd resolved to do something, this disaster strikes. It felt like it had been ages since I'd watched rain fall. Since I first opened my eyes on this island, I don't think it had rained once. Whoooosh— Whether or not the rain knew of my gloomy mood, the sound of it falling was refreshingly pleasant. I opened the crossbag slung over my shoulder and examined its contents. Yuanna's notebook and the novel "More Important Than Survival" were partially soaked. The lighter and flares, along with the first aid kit, seemed intact, and the telescope Jenath had given me was also fine.
"A flashlight without batteries."
I tapped the flashlight I'd brought from the bunker against the ground a few times and sighed. 'I should probably discard the telescope and flashlight.' I put the telescope and flashlight aside, returning everything else to my bag. Then I turned to observe the men busily cleaning the cave. Though these men had spent their lives being attended to by others, their fastidious nature meant they couldn't bear the sight of filth. As a result, I had little work to do. I watched Enoch struggle to ignite damp firewood, then retrieved a lighter from my bag and lit the kindling. Rujeep, who had been quietly observing, asked me a question.
"Is it because the Young Lady lived a different life in a different world that you know how to use such objects?"
At Rujeep's question, both Enoch and Kaiden turned to look at me. It seemed they had been curious about this as well. I nodded in affirmation.
"Yes. I'm not sure how I came to live a different life in that world, or why objects from that world exist here either..." -Speaking of which, let's discuss Margaret's soul, which disappeared beyond the dimension. Only Jenath can open the dimensional gate. And it's not something he can simply open whenever he wishes...... It's only possible after The Experiment is completely finished, by gathering the magical power of the dead. It's not a gate that opens with just one or two people's magic. -That said, there isn't a complete absence of other ways to open the dimensional gate. If you open the regression gate with that key, the dimensional gate will open as well. I'll bring Margaret at that time. Since Jenath doesn't know this fact yet, you need to move quickly. Anata had certainly said such things in the memory I saw through the magic circle. I sat before the campfire and looked at the three men.
"Of the two doors in the bunker, the one with the magic circle drawn on it seems to be the dimensional gate. The door leading to the world where I briefly lived. It appears that objects from that world come through there every year. I heard The Experiment repeats on a yearly cycle. The other door is the regression gate as I mentioned before. You said that if the Holy Maiden's key opens the regression gate, the dimensional gate will also open, right?"
Enoch and Kaiden, who had learned about the regression gate, Yuanna, and Anata from me in the bunker, nodded as they listened to my explanation. Rujeep looked bewildered, but I could see him nodding as he tried to understand through inference.
"But what do you mean The Experiment repeats on a yearly cycle? Did Anata say that?"
Kaiden suddenly expressed his doubt to me. I took out the novel "More Important Than Survival" from my crossbody bag and opened to the first page. - Every year, a door connected to the outside of the Island opens. And they had to survive on the Island by any means necessary until that 'door' opened. It was a passage written in the opening of the first-person narrative novel. It was a handwritten practice novel by someone, but that passage alone had a different handwriting style, which was strange. Of course, there were other sections with different handwriting throughout the middle, but they were subtle differences, and I hadn't even considered that they might have been written by two different people.
"Based on the circumstances, this passage was likely written by Anata. It seems the original system was designed to open a door every year and bring in test subjects. However, looking at the situation, it appears we are the last test subjects, so the door that opens every year would be meaningless."
"If we open that door, can we escape?"
Rujeep's question made Enoch shake his head.
"Didn't you say one is the regression gate and one is the dimensional gate? It doesn't seem like either of them is a door through which we can escape."
"I agree with you. There must be another way to escape. For instance, we might have to destroy the Island, but that would be no different than suicide."
If there was another exit, where could it be? If I had to pick the most suspicious one, it would be that mysterious 'door' in the underground of Jenas's Cabin.
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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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