Chapter 69
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Chapter 69
"Bishop, do you think Margaret has simply vanished?"
"I'm not certain. If that's not the case...."
If that's not the case, then she might be dead. Rujeep swallowed his words as he stared at the colossal Tarantula.
Rujeep couldn't hide his own confusion either. He didn't even want to consider the latter possibility.
Margaret dead? That was unthinkable. She couldn't be dead. She mustn't be.
"Isn't that a footprint?"
Rujeep spotted something at the cliff's edge and drew closer to examine it.
The darkness made it difficult to discern clearly, but at first glance, it appeared to be a human footprint.
"Judging by the size, it looks like it belongs to Flone Young Lady."
Rujeep traced the footprints with his eyes. There were smaller prints and larger ones beside them. The larger set almost certainly belonged to Kaiden.
An ominous premonition seized him. Rujeep stared intently at the footprints, unwilling to comprehend this terrible situation.
"...It appears they engaged in combat with Monsters."
The footprints led toward the dead Tarantula, and there were signs of extremely violent movement.
Following the trail of the prints, Rujeep walked and saw them end abruptly at the cliff's edge.
It didn't appear to be voluntary movement. As if struck by something and sent flying, the prints simply ended there without any trace of lateral or forward evasion.
"Do you see, Your Majesty? Could this possibly mean...."
Rujeep hurriedly crouched at the cliff's edge and peered down into the abyss below.
It was a dizzying height. If something had struck them and sent them plummeting, death would have been instantaneous.
Enoch stood beside Rujeep with his arms crossed, silently gazing down into the darkness below the cliff.
Rustle.
A sound of movement came from the grass thicket. Whether it was merely the wind or a Monster, there was no way to tell.
Rujeep felt a chill run down his spine and turned to look at Enoch.
"Your Majesty, I think it would be best if we left this place. Staying here any longer is dangerous."
But Enoch remained motionless. Rujeep wondered if he had even heard the words. He kept glancing nervously over his shoulder.
Fortunately, it seemed to have been only the wind, for no further movement emerged from the Forest.
Enoch still stood at the cliff's edge. When Rujeep approached, his expression remained utterly unmoved.
Rujeep had no desire to linger any longer in this place with the Monster's corpse, yet he lacked the confidence to return alone.
In the end, he simply stood quietly beside Enoch.
* * *
Margaret had vanished.
Whether she had left of her own accord or met with an accident, either possibility was enough to drive him mad.
His insides twisted.
Inexplicable burning emotions flowed through his chest like molten lava, impossible to contain.
His hand trembled as it gripped the strap of Margaret's bag.
Anxiety and restlessness made his heart race uncontrollably. He felt suffocated by the helplessness that consumed him. Breathing became difficult.
Rujeep spoke to him from beside, but he couldn't hear a word of what was being said.
Beyond the vast River and the dense undergrowth, a great Mountain ridge loomed against the night sky. Above that ridge, countless stars filled the darkness.
And among them hung a great Moon, illuminating the dark night with its radiant glow.
That sight resembled Margaret perfectly.
'I suppose I've gone mad over Margaret.'
Now, whenever I gaze at the moon, my thoughts inevitably drift to her.
"Honestly, I cannot fathom why Your Highness refuses to marry or even become engaged to me. I possess what you lack—pure noble bloodline."
Margaret's words from the past echoed in Enoch's ears.
"Now that you've become Crown Prince, marriage is all the more important, is it not? You must establish your position. Consider yourself fortunate that I, the Young Lady of Duke Flone, harbor affection for you."
Even after inheriting the noble status he had always yearned for and coveted, she could speak only in such a manner. The Margaret of the past.
She had claimed to care for him, yet her demeanor toward him contained not a shred of respect.
Had anyone ever truly respected him? Likely not. That was why he had to be perfect.
'But if it were the Margaret of now....'
The woman he had encountered again on this Island cared neither for his status nor her own. This version of her pursued the essence of a person, not their appearance.
Perhaps she was the one he had been seeking all along—noble and formidable in spirit.
Enoch furrowed his brow as Margaret's face surfaced in his mind, then closed his eyes with a pained groan.
"I'm losing my mind."
He tightened his grip on the bag in his hand.
"Do you suppose both of them are still alive?"
Rujeep voiced his concern quietly.
"They must be."
Enoch muttered as if brainwashing himself.
Rujeep had been watching Enoch with hopeful eyes, but his expression hardened quickly, and he exhaled a sigh.
Enoch tidied his surroundings and swept his gaze across the area before answering casually.
"Margaret will return. If not, I'll search every corner of this Island until I find her."
As Enoch finished his murmur and turned to retrace their path, it happened.
Spiders the size of human bodies had gathered densely around the Cliff, though it was unclear when they had assembled.
"Ahhh!"
Rujeep shrieked in alarm and collapsed to the ground.
*Shing.*
Enoch drew his sword and swept his tense gaze across the endless stream of Monsters approaching them.
"Perhaps this is an opportune moment to exterminate these Monsters."
Exterminate Monsters? Rujeep looked up at Enoch in bewilderment.
"But there are only the two of us. Isn't that dangerous?"
Regardless of when they had gathered, the number of Monsters surrounding and advancing toward them was staggering. And they continued to pour through the undergrowth relentlessly.
Enoch calmly assessed the situation, surveying his surroundings.
"I don't know how they knew to gather, but if we leave them be, they might even surround the Cabin."
Enoch glanced sideways and turned to face Rujeep.
"Fighting on the Cliff is dangerous, so we'll need to relocate. For that, we'll need an enticing bait."
"Y-you don't mean me...?"
At Rujeep's flustered question, Enoch smiled and slashed his own forearm with his sword before Rujeep could stop him.
"Your Highness! What are you doing?!"
Despite Rujeep's startled cry, Enoch answered calmly without wavering.
"If the rampage doesn't cease even after all the Monsters are exterminated, strike me down with your sword and knock me unconscious."
With those words left behind, Enoch moved.
'If you stab incorrectly with the sword, it won't be unconsciousness—it could be death!'
Rujeep wanted to scream internally at Enoch's absurd words, but he remained frozen in place. Enoch had already vanished between the monsters.
Enoch's sharp blade cut through the air. The edge gleamed for an instant under the moonlight before swinging with terrifying speed. Following the brilliant arc of his sword, the monsters' green blood scattered like a fountain.
Like a person without brakes, Enoch's movements showed no sign of stopping. He was not in his right mind.
Chills ran from my head to my toes, leaving me paralyzed. I wondered if Enoch had finally lost his sanity. Only Margaret's return would bring him back to himself.
Overwhelmed by Enoch's frenzy, Rujeep couldn't move a single step from where he stood and could only watch as he slaughtered the monsters.
And so they spent two days like that. Until Margaret appeared with Kaiden.
* * *
Silver Earthworm, who had been coiled around my forearm, suddenly leaped down and crawled across the ground. It was certainly faster than I was.
'Goodness. Crawling is faster than running. It really is a monster.'
Kaiden found this fascinating too, his eyes fixed on Silver Earthworm's tail as he ran.
"Will it grow too?"
At Kaiden's question, I shrugged while chasing after Silver Earthworm.
"It probably will."
"If that Anaconda hatchling we saw back then is the same species, it would grow to that size, wouldn't it?"
At his words, chills ran down my spine and I stopped in my tracks. Silver Earthworm and Kaiden both came to a halt simultaneously, staring at me.
"Don't say things like that. Silver Earthworm won't grow that large."
Silver Earthworm tilted its head at my words, clearly not understanding.
I approached Silver Earthworm and stroked its back.
"Growing larger would be better, wouldn't it? Train it as it grows. It might even catch other monsters for us."
Crash! Boom!
A tremendous sound of something collapsing echoed through the Forest. I was startled and looked up from stroking Silver Earthworm's back.
"We shouldn't be doing this—we need to move quickly!"
At Kaiden's words, I nodded and stood up again.
'This feels ominous. Could Enoch have gone berserk?'
I suppressed the wave of anxiety washing over me like a tide and ran forward.
After running for some time, we came to a stop before a Clearing. More precisely, it was a Clearing artificially created in the middle of the Forest where all the trees had been knocked down.
The Clearing was densely covered with the corpses of spiders.
Thick green blood pooled on the dirt ground in a grimy mess. I hurriedly picked up Silver Earthworm, as it was about to crawl over that viscous green blood.
Not understanding, Silver Earthworm looked up at me with its tongue out, its bright eyes tilted in confusion as if asking why I wouldn't let it pass.
"What on earth is this...?"
Kaiden's mouth hung open in shock as he surveyed the surroundings. When the wind blew, a stench hit us and I pinched my nose.
"Whose doing could this be?"
"Whose else would it be."
Kaiden and I were thinking of the same person. Enoch.
There was no one but Enoch who could devastate monsters to this extent.
Bang!
Then a loud sound came from not far away.
"Your Highness! Please stop! It's dangerous!"
The agonized shriek sounded unmistakably like Diego's.
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