Chapter 153
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 153
* * *
Toxic gas hung thick around the cabin, and a barrier had been erected. It was Jenath's doing.
Chaos upon chaos. Asdal swept his gaze across the devastated surroundings.
Margaret had been abducted by Jenath, and Kaiden had suddenly vanished without a trace.
Rujeep had barely regained consciousness, but upon hearing the situation, he fell into panic. He was torturing himself with guilt, convinced that everything that had happened was his fault.
"Your Grace must focus on recovery right now. Self-recrimination will only hinder your healing—save it for later."
Yuanna, speaking with measured composure to keep Rujeep from falling apart, placed her hand upon his chest.
A pristine white light emanated from her palm, flooding the entire field of vision. The air felt purified. Though she had merely stood beside him, Asdal felt as though his very mind had been cleansed and sanctified.
Fortunately, Rujeep's complexion improved noticeably. Yuanna wiped away the beads of perspiration dotting his brow and surveyed the surroundings.
"There don't appear to be any serious complications. What His Grace needs now is rest."
The woman named Anata assisted Yuanna in arranging a comfortable place for Rujeep to rest.
Watching this unfold, Asdal collapsed onto the ground with a hollow sense of defeat.
'Damn it. My body won't obey me. That cursed earring.'
Suddenly, Kaiden's final words before disappearing echoed vividly in his ears.
Immediately after Margaret's abduction, light had burst from Kaiden's earring. He'd heard it was a mana-amplifying artifact, but something had clearly gone wrong with it.
After speaking those words, Kaiden had vanished without a trace.
He had no idea where to even begin. Could they truly escape from this island?
Asdal's vision caught Enoch attempting to charge into the barrier shrouded in thick toxic gas, with Diego barely restraining him.
"Perhaps it would be better to simply destroy it."
Enoch drew his longsword. Yellow light crackled like lightning from the blade, flickering with savage intensity.
A startled Asdal rushed forward and grabbed his shoulder.
"Listen, Half-Emperor! Have you lost your mind!"
At Asdal's intervention, Enoch's vacant gaze flickered toward him.
"Please, calm yourself!"
"Calm myself? When we don't even know if Margaret is alive or dead, you're telling me to stay calm?"
Enoch spoke in a low, growling voice. The weight and savagery of his tone made the air itself turn biting and cold.
Yet Asdal refused to back down, gripping his shoulder and pointing at the magic circle with his finger.
"How many people have died trying to destroy an active barrier by force? Do you know that, and yet you're still going to attempt it?"
Enoch let Asdal's words pass over him, his eyes fixed upon the magic circle. Asdal couldn't discern what Enoch was thinking, but it was clear he was not in his right mind.
Asdal watched as Enoch carved through the barrier with nothing but his sword energy, and found himself at a loss for words.
Sword energy, generated and wrapped around the cold blade, grew larger and larger, enveloping Enoch's body.
Soon a fierce wind whipped around him. Yellow sparks erupted violently in all directions. The overwhelming aura was so intense it seemed as though lightning itself was striking down.
Enoch's body was cut and torn by that fierce, sharp power, wounds opening across his flesh.
"Damn it, you'll die at this rate!"
Asdal's cry fell on deaf ears.
"It's fine. It's dangerous, so step back."
Fine, his foot! Asdal stamped his feet in frustration, but Enoch paid him no mind and continued generating sword energy. He focused entirely on carving through the barrier. Besides, Enoch had never intended to accept anyone's help in the first place.
Standing helpless, unable to do anything, was profoundly despairing. Asdal gazed at Enoch and sank into self-reproach.
It was then that Yuanna, who had been tending to Rujeep and only now grasped the situation, spoke to Asdal.
"As long as Your Grace draws breath, I will heal you with my own life if necessary. First, let us find a way to enter the Barrier quickly."
At Yuanna's words, Asdal bit his lower lip and stepped back from Enoch. There was nothing he could do—pacing anxiously would only waste his strength.
In this situation, all that remained was to wait quietly as Yuanna suggested and pray that Enoch and Margaret would return alive.
After spending months on this Island, narrowly escaping death repeatedly, they had all clearly gone mad. Everyone treated their own lives far too lightly.
In truth, Asdal himself was no exception. He had been thinking that it didn't necessarily have to be him who escaped the Island.
Asdal struggled to grasp his crumbling resolve.
Enoch tore through the Barrier—a blue curtain hanging like a veil—and the purple poison gas spreading like smoke, carving an opening with his blade.
"I will find Margaret."
With those words, he vanished into the Barrier before anyone else could step forward. There was no opportunity for the others to intervene.
As Enoch disappeared, the morale of the group plummeted.
'Sigh...'
Asdal rubbed his temples firmly and exhaled, his gaze falling on Anata, who sat blankly on the ground.
"Tell us how to escape quickly. You brought us here at such a cost to our group—you owe us that much, don't you?"
Asdal pressed Anata with a grim expression. Yuanna sighed, but understanding and sympathizing with his fierce reaction, she did not stop him.
"...There's a door in the Cottage Basement. You just need to open it while avoiding Jenath's sight. With that key—the same way you opened the Room of Rest."
Anata pointed to the key in Yuanna's hand as she spoke. At her words, Yuanna's eyes widened in shock as she looked down at the key.
"...Was it really just a matter of finding the door?"
She murmured in disbelief, her voice hollow. Asdal and Diego felt the same way.
"It's a door that only opens once every year, and that's how Jenath brought Test Subjects through. He said that with just that key, he could open the door without waiting a year."
Anata shrugged as she added this.
"Don't blame yourselves. Even if you had known this fact earlier, you wouldn't have been able to open that door."
"What do you mean by that?"
Asdal furrowed his brow and asked. Anata stared at him for a moment, then turned her gaze toward the distant Cabin.
"There's always mist surrounding the Cabin. That monster of a Crown Prince could enter, but you would have all died before even getting close to it. Be grateful you were with Flone Young Lady."
"What are you saying? Why could Margaret...?"
"Because she's a soul that has traveled to another Dimension, the system of Alea Island doesn't fully apply to Flone Young Lady. She alone could use mana, couldn't she?"
"Yes, that's right."
"That's because she's a soul that has traveled to another Dimension. That's why the Island's system doesn't recognize her properly and keeps making errors."
Asdal and Diego didn't fully understand the meaning of what Anata said, but Yuanna, who retained memories from before the regression, grasped her words.
"I don't know exactly what Jenath is planning, but Margaret might be the only person who can dismantle that plan."
At Yuanna's words, Anata nodded.
Even before turning the regression gate, Anata had held hope that Margaret, who had traveled to another Dimension, might become the key to helping everyone escape the Island.
And fortunately, that hope came true. Unlike before the regression, no one had died—everyone was alive, and here they were.
In a thousand years, not a single Test Subject had ever attacked Jenath's Cabin so directly.
"I don't know how she'll manage to ensnare Jenath, but I too hope such a thing comes to pass."
Anata murmured with a glimmer of hope.
"I'll help the rest escape, so don't worry. Open the escape door with the key, and those who can leave should go first. You must not hesitate."
At Anata's urging, Asdal exhaled with his arms crossed.
"I'm grateful for your help, but I'm not cowardly enough to escape alone when my comrades are in danger."
"I have no intention of leaving alone either."
Diego agreed with Asdal's words and added his own. Yuanna also turned to look at Anata as if sharing the same thought.
As everyone's attention focused on her, Anata finally let out a sigh.
"Then perhaps we should rescue the Crown Prince and Flone Young Lady first, then save our descendant."
"Why is Rodban last?"
"Jenath is likely occupying his body. That's the reason our descendant was included in the Test Subjects list."
"...How could such a thing...how could a person...."
Asdal, shocked into silence, could only gape wordlessly. Anata paid no mind and shrugged before laying out the plan.
"First, we need to neutralize the Cabin's Barrier."
"How do we neutralize the Cabin's Barrier?"
Anata answered Yuanna's question.
"I'm not strong enough to match Jenath, but I am a mage nonetheless. Now that I've recovered my mana, I can dissolve a Barrier like that."
"Then why didn't you help when the Half-Emperor tried to cut through the Barrier earlier?"
"I was going to. But it didn't seem like much help was needed, did it? I was too shocked to stop him."
At Anata's response, Asdal closed his mouth. He largely agreed with that assessment.
Finally, Asdal nodded and rose from his seat, fixing Yuanna with a sharp gaze as he picked up his crossbow.
"Then let's prepare first and begin immediately."
* * *
Enoch steadied his wavering limbs and straightened his blade. His clothes hung in tatters, completely torn, and his body was covered in wounds without a single unblemished spot.
Blood dripped from his forehead, wetting his cheek, but he paid it no mind. He had finally breached the Barrier and arrived at the entrance of Jenath's Cabin.
"Forcing your way through an active magical Barrier—you could have died. Your recklessness is truly admirable."
The shadow that emerged from the Cabin door belonged to someone far too familiar.
Enoch fixed his gaze on the man with silver hair, crimson eyes, and an earring adorning his right ear.
The man spread his arms wide, drew in a breath of air, and looked down at Enoch with a refreshed expression.
"Margaret is the same way—these young people are brimming with audacity these days. But unfortunately, this is where it ends. You've come so far, yet you cannot go any further."
That face was unmistakably Kaiden's.
Yet the expression, tone of voice, and gestures were absolutely nothing like the Kaiden Enoch knew.
Enoch briefly assessed the Cabin's location, Jenath's position, and the width of the Cabin's front yard.
According to the explanation Margaret and Kaiden had given before, the Room of Rest was on the Third Floor of the Cabin. If Jenath had abducted Margaret and taken her somewhere, it could only be there.
The moment he gauged the location, he immediately took his stance and leveled his blade at Jenath.
"Tell me—do you truly intend to face me while wearing one of your companions' bodies?"
Jenath stroked his chin with amusement and laughed.
Enoch stared at Jenath in silence. Suddenly, a faint wind began to swirl around Enoch's still form. His black hair fluttered gently, and from beneath his feet, a violent whirlwind erupted.
Crackle—!
The sparks that burst sharply from Enoch's blade radiated an overwhelming, oppressive aura that dominated in an instant.
Jenath paused momentarily, then marveled.
This was the final stage of the long experiment. He had carefully selected only those with the greatest mana on the continent and had personally approved this plan. Yet actually facing that power was something else entirely.
'A war hero, they called him. Truly astounding.'
Still, even with a complete body and fully awakened mana, Jenath was not someone he couldn't handle.
Jenath warped behind Enoch to evade his charge, then immediately unleashed an attack spell aimed at his back.
Unfortunately for Jenath, Enoch nimbly rolled across the ground and dodged the attack. His reflexes were remarkable.
Enoch straightened his posture and immediately drove his blade into the ground. The earth split open with a sharp crack in the direction where Jenath stood. Whirling flames erupted violently through the fissure, bursting forth to attack Jenath.
Jenath quickly activated a warp spell to evade the incoming blade energy. Moving in front of Enoch, he manifested a magic circle beneath Enoch's feet to cast a binding spell.
However, since Enoch was channeling mana to deploy his blade energy, the flow of power was disrupted, and the binding spell proved ineffective against him.
'Impressive. I'll need to fight seriously.'
Jenath steadied himself and gathered his mana. A colossal sphere of light swirled above their heads, expanding in size before crashing down directly toward Enoch.
Boom!
The ground around where Enoch had been standing caved in deeply, accompanied by a violent shockwave.
Thick dust obscured the entire field of vision. The surroundings fell silent.
No movement was detected—it appeared Enoch had been rendered unable to continue fighting.
'Is it over?'
The battle had concluded far too easily, but it had been a decent fight after so long. Jenath clicked his tongue and was about to turn away without hesitation.
Tap-tap-tap—
From within the dust so thick that nothing ahead was visible, something rapidly struck the ground. Soon it leaped through the haze.
Tap-tap-tap— Clang!
Though his appearance was drenched in blood, Enoch was remarkably intact. Jenath hastily rolled across the ground to evade.
Crash—!
A blade pierced the spot where he had been standing moments before. Jenath regarded the sight with a mixture of bewilderment and disbelief.
Enoch turned to face him, slowly rising to his feet and pulling the embedded blade from the ground.
"What the hell is this thing?"
An attack of that magnitude would kill any ordinary human. He was an extraordinary monster.
'Perhaps I should simply destroy the entire Island. Then I could kill him in one stroke.'
But if I did that, a thousand years of The Experiment would become meaningless.
Troublesome as it was, I had no choice but to move directly and finish this myself.
Jenath cast a doppelgänger spell as Enoch rushed toward him. In an instant, Jenath's form multiplied from two to three, then from four to five.
While Enoch hesitated momentarily, the true Jenath appeared behind his back, generating a sharply concentrated bolt of lightning and driving it down toward him.
This time, there was no way he could escape!
I unleashed the attack with absolute certainty.
"Watch out!"
A pink-haired man pushed Enoch aside and took Jenath's attack in his stead.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------