I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 153

***

A thick layer of poisonous gas settled around the cabin. It was Jenas’ doing.

Arthdal scanned the chaos around him.

Margaret had been taken by Jenas, and Kayden had suddenly disappeared.

Ruzef had barely regained his senses, but when he heard what had happened, he panicked. He blamed himself for everything that had happened.

“Archbishop, you need to focus on your recovery now, and you can blame yourself later.”

Yuanna, who had spoken soothing words to keep him from breaking down, placed her hand on his chest.

The pure white light that emanated from her palm surrounded them. It was like the air was cleansed, and just by being there, Arthdal felt as if his mind had been purified.

Fortunately, Ruzef’s complexion had visibly improved. Yuanna wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and looked around.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong, but the Archbishop needs rest right now.”

A woman named Anata helped Yuanna to make a place for Ruzef to rest.

Arthdal slumped down in his seat in exhaustion.

“Damn it, my body isn’t listening to me. Damn earring!”

Suddenly, Kayden’s words echoed in his mind just before he disappeared.

Shortly after Margaret was kidnapped, Kayden’s earring suddenly glowed. I’d heard it was a magical aid, but something was wrong with the earring.

After he said those words, Kayden disappeared.

Arthdal couldn’t figure out where to begin. Would we ever get off the island?

His vision caught a glimpse of Enoch about to jump into the barrier thickly covered with poison gas, with Diego barely stopping him.

“Might as well smash it.”

Enoch drew his sword, and a yellow light that looked like lightning crackled and flashed fiercely from the blade.

Startled, Arthdal ran up and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Hey, Banhwang! Are you crazy!”

Arthdal’s interruption caught Enoch’s impassive gaze.

“Please, calm down!”

“Calm down? You’re asking me to calm down when Margaret’s life and death are at stake?”

Enoch growled in a low voice. His tone was heavy and murderous, and the air grew cold in an instant.

Still, Arthdal didn’t back down, grabbing him by the shoulder and pointing a finger at the barrier.

“How many people have died while trying to break the barrier activated by mana? Even knowing that, are you still going to do that?”

Enoch stared at the barrier as he listened to Arthdal’s words. It was impossible to tell what Enoch was thinking, but it was clear that he was not in his right mind.

Arthdal was at a loss for words when he watched Enoch trying to break through the barrier with only his sword.

The aura generated by the cold blade slowly expanded in size and enveloped Enoch’s body.

Before long, a fierce wind whipped around him. Yellow sparks flew wildly everywhere. The aura was so overwhelming and murderous that one might have thought lightning was striking.

Enoch’s body was slashed and torn by the strong, sharp force.

“Damn it, you’re going to die!”

Arthdal’s cries were useless.

“It’s okay. Get out of the way. It’s dangerous.”

Arthdal stomped his feet, but Enoch didn’t seem to care, focusing all of his attention on drawing his sword and breaking the barrier. Besides, Enoch had no intention of receiving help from anyone in the first place.

Standing there helplessly, unable to do anything, was pretty hopeless. Arthdal stared at Enoch, drowning in self-pity.

It was then that Yuanna, who had been tending to Ruzef and had caught up with the situation, spoke to him.

“As long as His Highness is still breathing, I would risk my life to heal him, but first, we must find a way to get through the barrier.”

At Yuanna’s words, Arthdal bit his lower lip and took a step back from Enoch. There was nothing he could do about it, and stomping his feet would only waste energy.

The only thing he could do at this point was to do as Yuanna had said and pray that Enoch and Margaret would make it back with their breath.

It was clear that after months of dying on this island, they had gone collectively insane. Everyone was taking their lives too easy.

In fact, Arthdal himself was the same. He’d been thinking that he didn’t have to be the one to get off the island.

Arthdal struggled to hold on to his crumbling mind.

Enoch kept swinging his sword through the poisonous gas that spread like purple smoke until he finally made a gap in the barrier.

“I will find Margaret.”

With those words, he disappeared into the barrier before the others could even react. He left no room for the onlookers to intervene.

With even Enoch gone, the morale of the group plummeted to the ground.

‘Ha……’

Rubbing his temple, Arthdal sighed and looked over at Anata, who sat dazedly on the ground.

“Then tell me how we can get off the island, you’re the one who brought us all here.”

Arthdal questioned Anata with a vicious look on his face. Yuanna sighed, but she didn’t argue with him, understanding and relating to Arthdal’s fierce reaction.

“……there is a door in the bunker of the cabin, and all you have to do is open it without Jenas knowing. Open it with that key.” Anata pointed to the key in Yuanna’s hand.

Yuanna looked down at the key in surprise. She muttered, “Is all we have to do is open the door?”

“It’s a door that only opens once a year, and we brought the test subject through it. Jenas said that if you had the key, you could open it without waiting a year.”

Anata shrugged and added, “Don’t beat yourself up, there’s no way you guys would have been able to open it anyway, even if you’d known about it earlier.”

“What do you mean?” Arthdal asked, his brow furrowed.

Anata stared at him for a moment, then looked toward the cabin in the distance.

“There’s always a fog around the cabin. Let’s just say you made it through the barrier thanks to the crown prince, but you wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the cabin, and you’d all be dead. You’re lucky you were with Lady Flané.”

“What are you talking about? Why Margaret……?”

“Because she’s a soul from another dimension, and some of the systems on Alea Island don’t work for her. She was able to use her mana on her own, right?”

“Yes. She did.”

“That’s because she’s a soul from another dimension, and that’s why the island’s systems don’t recognize her properly and keep making errors.”

Arthdal and Diego didn’t quite understand the meaning of Anata’s words, but Yuanna, with her memories from before the regression, did.

“I don’t know exactly what Jenas is planning, but Margaret may be the only one who can thwart him.”

Anata nodded at Yuanna’s words.

Even before she opened the Return Gate, Anata had hoped that Margaret, who had traveled to another dimension, might be the key to getting everyone off the island.

And she was right, thankfully. Unlike before the regression, no one was dead, they were alive, and they had made it this far.

In a thousand years, no subject had ever attacked Jenas’ cabin with such vigor.

“I don’t know how she’s going to stop him, but I hope she does,” Anata muttered with a little hope.

She added, “As for the rest of you, I’ll get you escape, so don’t worry. When I open the escape door with the key, whoever wants to get out goes first. So don’t hesitate.”

At Anata’s assurance, Arthdal crossed his arms and sighed. “It’s nice of you to help, but I’m not cowardly enough to escape alone when my companions are in danger.”

“I don’t intend to escape alone either,” Diego added, agreeing with Arthdal.

Yuanna looked back at Anata as if she was thinking the same thing.

With all eyes on them, Anata sighed. “Then I think we should save the crown prince and Lady Floné first, and then my descendant.”

“Why is Lord Kayden the last?”

“Probably because Jenas is taking over his body. That’s why my descendent was included on the list of test subjects.”

“……how could that be……”

Shocked, Arthdal stammered, speechless. Anata shrugged her shoulders and made a plan.

“First, we need to neutralize the cabin’s barrier.”

“How do we neutralize the barrier?”

“I may not be a match for Jenas, but I’m also a wizard. Now that I’ve regained my mana, I can break the barrier.”

Nodding, Arthdal stood up and raised his crossbow, looking at Yuanna with a sharp glance.

“Well, then, let’s get ready.”

***

Enoch steadied his wobbly limbs and straightened his sword. His clothes were tattered and torn, and he was riddled with wounds.

A trickle of blood from his forehead ran down his cheek, but he didn’t care. He pushed through the gap and finally pulled up in front of Jenas’ cabin.

“I can’t help but admire your recklessness, forcing your way through the barrier with an active magic circle, even though it could kill you.”

A familiar man opened the cabin door to greet him.

Enoch stared at the man with silver hair, red eyes, and an earring in his right ear.

He opened his arms wide and sucked in a breath of air, then looked at Enoch with a fresh face.

“Like Margaret, kids nowadays are so ambitious. But I’m afraid you can’t get in anymore, after all the trouble you’ve been through.”

The face was unmistakably Kayden’s.

But the expression, the way he spoke, the body language, it wasn’t the Kayden Enoch knew.

Enoch took a moment to estimate the size of the cabin and the front yard.

From what Margaret and Kayden had told him, there was a sanctuary chamber on the third floor of the cabin. If Jenas had kidnapped Margaret and taken her somewhere, that would be the only place.

As soon as he’d gauged the location, he straightened up and pointed his sword at Jenas.

“Come on. You really think you can take me on, when I’m in the body of one of your companions?” Jenas smirked amusedly, rubbing his chin.

Enoch glared at him wordlessly. A light breeze suddenly blew through the stillness around Enoch. Enoch’s black hair fluttered and swayed, and soon a circular, powerful whirlwind formed at his feet.

The fiery sparks from Enoch’s sword exuded a formidable aura that could overwhelm an opponent in an instant.

Jenas was taken aback for a moment, then admired it.

This was the end of a long experiment, and he had chosen only those with the greatest mana on the continent, even approving the plan with his own hand. But to see them in person was different.

‘A war hero, they say? This is unbelievable.’

Still, he was no match for Jenas, who had gained a perfect body and even regained his mana.

Jenas dodged Enoch as he rushed toward him and then warped behind him, firing an offensive spell aimed straight at Enoch’s back.

Unfortunately, Enoch simply rolled to the ground and dodged the attack. It was astonishingly quick.

Straightening his stance, Enoch slammed his sword into the ground. Then, the ground cracked in the direction of where Jenas was standing. A whirlwind of fierce flames leapt through the crack and attacked Jenas.

Jenas hastily activated warp magic to deflect the flying sword. Moving in front of Enoch, he cast a magic circle at Enoch’s feet in an attempt to cast a binding spell.

However, since Enoch was using his mana to spread his sword skills, the flow of Jenas’ mana was disturbed and the binding spell did not work on him.

‘That’s quite good. I’ll have to take him seriously.’

Jenas straightened his stance and gathered his mana. Above their heads, an enormous beam of light swirled and grew in size, and it struck straight at Enoch.

-wham!

The ground caved in around where Enoch stood, accompanied by a violent gust of wind.

A cloud of dust completely obscured his vision.

There was only silence.

No movement was detected. Could Enoch have been knocked out?

‘It’s over.’

It was his first fight in a long time, but it was over far too easily, nonetheless, it wasn’t a bad fight either. Jenas clicked his tongue and turned to leave.

-tadadak.

The sound of something stomping on the dirt came from somewhere in the distance. Soon, something popped up out of the dirt.

-tadadak. tak!

Enoch was covered in blood, but he was surprisingly unharmed. Jenas scrambled to get out of the way.

-kung!

A sword stuck into the spot where he had been standing a moment ago. Jenas stared at it, feeling a little perplexed.

Enoch looked back at him and slowly stood up, pulling his sword out of the ground.

“What the hell?”

An attack like this would have killed a normal human. Enoch is an extraordinary monster.

‘Maybe I should just destroy the whole island, so I can kill them in one fell swoop.’

However, it was clear that the thousand-year experiment would be for naught.

I’d have to take matters into my own hands and see it through.

Seeing Enoch rushing at him, Jenas cast a clone magic. In the blink of an eye, Jenas’ figure increased from two to three, from four to five.

Enoch paused for a moment, and the real Jenas behind his back cast a bolt of lightning, sharpened to a point, and struck him.

Enoch paused for a moment, and the real Jenas stood behind him, creating a bolt of sharp-edged lightning and striking it at him.

This time, you won’t be able to dodge!

He attacked with such conviction.

“Watch out!”

At that moment, a pink-haired man who appeared out of nowhere pushed Enoch away to avoid Jenas’ attack.