Chapter 145
“Damn it, damn it! This doesn’t make sense!!!”
Yuanna was still being attacked by Monsters because she was covered in Monster blood.
Before they knew it, the Monster Asdal was standing on was almost completely submerged in the swamp. Asdal gave up hope of surviving. He drew back his bowstring and shot the Monster that was leaping from the opposite side of Yuanna, helping her.
Since it’s come to this, I have to save her at least.
Then Yuanna suddenly changed direction. She lured the Monsters straight toward the direction Asdal was sinking.
Here and there in the swamp rose desolate trees, and she grabbed the tree branches that drooped down to the water's edge and hung from the tree.
Then, using the momentum of hanging, she kicked the Monsters with her feet, making very good use of the terrain.
He knew Yuanna was agile. But she had only used that advantage to run away from the Monsters. So this was the first time he had seen her use her strengths so effectively.
In that way, she quickly approached him and grabbed his collar.
“Hey, Prince. Have you ever been hit by someone in your life?!”
Asdal frowned at Yuanna's shout. Such a strange question in this situation.
“Is that even a question?”
“Oh, then this will be your first experience.”
“What?!”
Asdal couldn't ask any more questions. It was because of the Orangutan-type Monster that was right behind Yuanna.
The guy followed Yuanna, stepping on the Monsters, and swung his huge fist at them.
Yuanna, who was holding Asdal's collar, quickly ducked, and thanks to that, Asdal was directly hit by the guy's fist and flew far away.
“Damn it!!!”
It felt like his bones were broken from how hard he was hit. It was also the first time in his life that he had cursed so much.
He was sent flying straight out of the swamp and crashed onto the flat dirt ground.
He was inadvertently beaten by a Monster and escaped the swamp.
If he had been hit wrong, he might have died instantly. It was a very reckless act, but in conclusion, she had saved his life again.
Besides, the real problem was not him, but her.
Yuanna was constantly luring the Monsters and crossing the stepping stones. It was so dangerous that he was worried she would be bitten by a Monster at any moment.
Asdal, unable to even support his body properly, lay face down and watched Yuanna running from afar with anxious eyes.
Just as he thought it was too close for comfort, she was eventually caught by the Orangutan-type Monster right before reaching the solid ground.
“Damn it, be careful!”
She fell into the swamp with the huge Orangutan monster. She had her head out of the water and was trying to swim out, but she completely disappeared, as if she had been caught again by a Monster lying beneath the surface.
“Th-this is… This can’t be… This can’t be happening…”
Asdal stared blankly at the spot where Yuanna had disappeared, his face filled with shock.
He could see Monsters roaring from the opposite side above the muddy and still surface.
And then, suddenly, the surface of the water stirred. Then, something popped up above the surface!
As if it had been hit by something and popped up, it was slammed down in front of Asdal.
It was Yuanna.
Covered in mud, algae, and Monster blood, Yuanna groaned faintly and got up.
“Are you okay!”
At Asdal's surprised shout, she found him and smiled faintly.
She rummaged through her pocket and took out something. The square thing looked as small and hard as a finger.
Asdal had seen Margaret pack something similar into her bag at the cabin on the South Island.
Yuanna roughly wiped the mud flowing over her face with her hand and took a deep breath. Soon, when she opened the lid of the square object, a fire blazed up.
Asdal was startled and backed away.
“Where did you get such a Magical Artifact…”
“I picked it up this morning. I just remembered an older sister I knew telling me how to use it a long time ago.”
‘An older sister I knew.’ Her explanation was ambiguous. Margaret clearly had no idea what it was when she was carrying around a similar object…
Madness flashed in Yuanna's green eyes. She smiled with a disheveled look.
Her half-crazed face was eerie.
“Did you know that fire burns well when Monster blood is mixed with water?”
Yuanna asked Asdal. He seemed to have heard it from his aide when he was commanding the Monster subjugation squad. But he didn't remember exactly, so he frowned and shook his head.
She got up from her seat. Asdal tried to get up from his seat following her, but he screamed in pain and fell back to the ground. His bone was definitely broken.
“Just watch.”
Seeing him like that, Yuanna smiled and threw the fire she was holding toward the swamp.
Whoosh-
The swamp was already full of Monster corpses, so after throwing the fireball into the middle, the fire spread throughout the swamp.
Needless to say, the Monster hordes that had gathered to devour them were all set on fire at once.
The huge swamp burned with the Monster hordes. Heart-rending Monster roars ran rampant.
“Are you watching, Zenas! Wait for me there?! I’ll be there soon!”
Yuanna, watching the Monsters burning to death, burst into loud laughter.
He didn't know who she was talking to. Asdal stared at Yuanna with a bewildered face.
She really seemed like a madwoman. At least, she didn't seem to be thinking normally.
Watching her, Asdal realized.
The reason why the two of them, who had no survival skills, were able to survive. It was because she was crazy.
She had changed somehow from the moment Margaret's group fell into the river.
Then, since a while ago, she had suddenly changed like someone who had regained lost memories, like someone who knew something, and said incomprehensible things.
He wondered what was going on, but before asking that, he had to thank her for saving him first.
But he couldn't bring himself to say those words. His mind went blank with the surging pain.
His bone was broken, so he couldn't move his body. On top of that, he had given all the fruit he had gathered for days to Yuanna, so he had eaten almost nothing, and even his mind became hazy.
He had survived, but he even thought that it might have been better to die. Asdal groaned in pain and lost consciousness.
So it was a long time later that he heard about the ‘truth’ from Yuanna.
\ \ *
‘The Margaret you know is not Margaret.’
‘It seems like another Soul has entered Margaret Rose Flone.’
When Enoch first heard those words from Zenas, he was not surprised. It was because he had been guessing.
‘The Young Lady really seems to have become a different person.’
‘She is a different person.’
‘I’ve really become a different person. Just think of it as being reborn.’
Enoch suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Margaret after opening his eyes on this island.
Damn it.
Enoch muttered a self-reproachful curse. Maybe Margaret had been sending signals from the beginning.
Asking him to recognize her.
Kaiden also didn't look that surprised. Luzef and Diego seemed to have different reactions, though.
‘She probably knows it herself, too?’
‘You were all being deceived.’
Zenas's words had no proof. But to those who had thought that Margaret had changed so much that she seemed like a different person, those words were no different from fueling a fire.
Zenas scanned the confused people with a satisfied face.
‘I came to tell you that.’
After saying those words, he disappeared without a trace.
Enoch saw Zenas disappear, but he didn't think about chasing him. Finding Margaret was the priority.
“Let’s find Margaret first.”
Everyone was still in a daze at Enoch's words and didn't answer. Even Kaiden.
Enoch sighed.
“Everyone, pull yourselves together, hasn't the Wizard brat disappeared?”
And at Enoch's next words, everyone was surprised and looked up at the tree. As Enoch said, the silver-haired pretty boy who had been on the tree had vanished without a trace.
“What on earth is going on?”
Luzef asked Enoch as he packed his things and struggled to carry his heavy backpack. Kaiden, who had been quietly watching Luzef, snatched the bag from him and lightly slung it over his shoulder.
“I think it would be better to talk about that after we find Margaret?”
Kaiden turned to look at Enoch this time and said.
“Let’s split up and find Margaret. We don’t know what that XX is going to do again. The best thing to do now is to find Margaret.”
Enoch's indifferent gaze, which had been crossing his arms, reached Kaiden's face. He nodded in agreement with Kaiden's words and turned to look at Diego.
“Sir Diego.”
“Your Highness, what are your orders?”
As soon as Enoch's call ended, Diego knelt down on one knee with a precise movement.
“You will move with the Bishop.”
“Yes? But…”
Diego glanced at Luzef. He didn't say anything, but it was like the gaze that came out when looking at an unreliable colleague. Luzef, who was quick to notice, frowned with a dissatisfied face.
“Any objections?”
“No, sir.”
Diego answered without any extra words to Enoch's question. Kaiden, with his backpack on, watched the scene and said to Enoch.
“Let’s move quickly.”
Enoch talked with Diego about when and where they would meet again, how they would send signals, etc., and then moved with Kaiden.
And after he thought that he had distanced himself from Diego and Luzef to some extent, Enoch turned to look at Kaiden.
“You seem to be thinking the same thing.”
Kaiden ruffled his hair with his backpack on and sighed.
“There’s only the Bunker. The only place Margaret can go from here.”
“Whatever the truth is, whatever Margaret is doing in the Bunker, we have to find out first no matter what.”
Kaiden sighed and muttered irritably at Enoch's indifferent words.
“Isn’t that obvious? That’s how we can defend Margaret from others.”
It was rare for Kaiden and him to be on the same page. Enoch nodded and agreed with his words.
“Then let’s go to the Bunker.”
“Ah. But Margaret has the map.”
At Kaiden's words, Enoch walked ahead with an unconcerned face.
“I’ve been on the battlefield for a long time, so I’m used to looking at maps. I can even memorize it after looking at it once.”
Kaiden was relieved only then at Enoch's answer.
Thanks to that, they were able to find the entrance to what appeared to be the Bunker in half a day without wandering around for too long. Although they had wandered around the vicinity for a long time because it was hidden among the bushes.
The problem was that someone had arrived there before them.
At first, they didn't even know it was a Gate. If the Gate hadn't been slightly open, leaving a small gap, they might have just passed by. Only then did they discover the doorknob attached to the stone Gate.
Enoch and Kaiden looked at each other's faces once, then opened the Gate and went inside.
As soon as they opened the thick stone Gate, they saw stairs going down right away.
The walls were all made of solid stone walls. It felt like this place alone would be safe no matter what happened outside.
As they slowly descended the stairs, they encountered an unidentified man holding Margaret in his arms.
He was a man with silver hair, red eyes, and a flamboyant appearance. Unlike Kaiden, who had sharp lines, the man, who exuded a languid feeling, was nonchalant even after facing them.