I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 157

***

I led Anata to the front yard of the cabin where Jenas’s body lay.

There, his wounded body lay in a pool of blood. His breath was already gone.

I thought it would be hard to kill him. But in the end, was the archmage also a person with imperfections?

Anata staggered forward and dropped to her knees in front of Jenas. We watched wordlessly.

Except for Diego, who stood wary of her, still carrying Kayden.

Anata’s shoulders shook. She was sobbing. After crying like that for a while, Anata looked up, her face a mess.

She turned to me and asked, “What about the pendant?”

Without taking the pendant out of my pocket, I replied, “I’ll ask you again. Did you really not know that you’re not supposed to force open the escape door?”

She looked at me helplessly, like someone who had lost the will to answer.

Before long, Anata nodded slowly. “I really didn’t know, but would you believe me no matter how much I told you?”

“If you can convince me why you helped us…… I’ll believe you.”

Hearing my words, Anata glanced at Kayden, whom Diego was carrying with one arm.

Kayden still hadn’t woken up from his earlier collapse. It looked like he had overexerted himself.

“I know I’m a sinful human being, but I’m not sure I can convince you anymore. I’m the one who designed this whole damn experiment.”

Anata looked at me as if she had no intention of explaining anything, telling me to kill her if I wanted to.

Maybe what she said was true. It seemed unlikely that Jenas would have told someone who had betrayed her, even if she was his own sister, of the trap he’d laid.

“Yeah, well, that’s not going to convince us. You’re one of the designers of this damn experiment.” Arthdal’s face flushed with anger.

He was covering one of his eyes with a cloth torn from his t-shirt, and thanks to Yuanna’s divine power, the bleeding had stopped.

Enoch, still with his sword drawn toward Anata, spoke murderously, “The only reason I am not killing you now is because you are the only one who knows how to escape.”

Anata buried her face in her hands in agony. 

“But I want you to believe me, it was me and Jenas who designed and led the experiment on the island, but it wasn’t just the two of us. There were other people involved, other forces, other wizards, and they all died on the island instead of surviving.”

“……”

Yeah. I had expected that. The Holy See and House Rohade were involved in this experiment. Not that I didn’t expect there to be others who colluded in sending us here.

“Everyone who came with me is dead, so I’m alone.”

That’s what little Jenas said to me when I first met him. He was clearly referring to the “people” he came with, not “someone” he came with.

Jenas’ cabin was far too large for two people. It had too many rooms for at least ten people to stay in.

And it was messy, as if it had been occupied by quite a few people, not just one or two.

“They’ve been out there for a thousand years, sponsoring this experiment, killing those who oppose it, killing those who know about it, and doing it over and over again, all because Jenas, the mastermind of the experiment, has kept them all in line.”

For a thousand years, they’d been doing it. It made me realize the ugliness of human desire and the extent to which they were capable of cruelty.

Anata continued, “They worshipped him as if he was a god. He’s a thousand-year-old archmage, so why not serve him? But he was drunk on his own glory, convinced that if he could make the experiment a success, his thousand years would pay off, but I beg to differ. This experiment is only to do them good.”

“And those people are the Holy See and the Rohades?”

At my question, Anata looked at me for a moment as if she was trying to collect her thoughts.

After a long moment, she replied, “There’s more to it than that. You’re all here because you’ve been betrayed by those close to you… well, some not so close.”

So I was brought to this island because I wasn’t betrayed by someone?

I felt my breath catch in my throat as I remembered all the hardships I had endured since being dragged to this island without knowing why.

“When you leave the island, there’s a peony caught in a spider web. Find it, it’s proof of their involvement.”

Having finished speaking, Anata’s gaze turned to Kayden. Something about the way she was looking at him was telling.

Curious, I followed her gaze and examined Kayden, but I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

The others were all shocked by Anata’s words, but soon their attention was drawn back to me. They seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

I asked Anata again, “What is the other way to escape the island, and surely the Saintess can escape as well?”

“If the island is destroyed, the soul binding becomes meaningless, so of course the Saintess can escape. Even if you force the escape door open, you’ll need the power to surpass it to make the portal gate work.”

“Wait, can I really, really get off the island……?” Yuanna interrupted, her voice shaking wildly.

She covered her mouth for a moment to clear her throat, then looked at Anata in disbelief.

Anata stared at her in silence, then nodded. “You can, I’ll make it happen.”

Dazed, Yuanna looked around with a confused expression on her face. Perhaps she still didn’t fully believe it.

“Don’t get your hopes up in the first place, it’ll make it harder later……”

I stood next to her and quietly took her hand. Her face contorted as she looked at me. Biting her lower lip, she slowly lowered her head.

Anata, still watching us, said,

“The spirits you hold within your body, the ones you haven’t consecrated, release them. They will help us destroy the island. I will unseal the pendant and open the portal gate so you can escape the island.”

All eyes turned to Ruzef.

As if he had expected this moment, Ruzef answered bluntly, “……not that I want you to live, but just so you know, if I release the spirits, they won’t leave you alone.”

“……”

“Their power is stronger than you realize. Even if you break the seal on the pendant and take its power, you may not be able to defeat the spirits.”

“I told you, my purpose is to get you all out of here, the experiment failed and I’m going to hell anyway, I don’t need your pity.”

No one could respond to Anata’s words. There was a short silence for a moment.

She is a woman who has played with the lives of countless people for millennia. No one felt any sympathy for her.

Looking again, Anata’s red eyes were lifeless. She looked as if she had given up all will to live.

I guess I don’t have to worry that she might take the pendant’s power, change her mind, and betray us, as Ruzef said.

In fact, there was no other option but to give the pendant to Anata.

After much deliberation, Ruzef quietly placed his hand on top of mine holding the pendant.

“The fury of the spirits is beyond imagination. Once I release them from my body, the island might collapse right away, so you better run as soon as the portal gate opens.”

Hearing Ruzef’s words, I glanced over at Eunji, who was hanging onto my arm and peeking her head out curiously. If I have to, I might have to ride Eunji to the portal gate, since she’s so agile.

“But isn’t the pendant something that can’t be unsealed unless by Jenas?”

“You know what? This isn’t Jenas’ body. It’s a piece of his soul, a part of his mana. I can unseal the pendant by making contact with his soul.”

Anata pointed to Jenas’ corpse. Well, that makes sense if it’s a fake body.

I hesitated for a moment, then handed her the pendant.

“Everyone back off.”

She said in a whisper as she took the pendant. We slowly moved away from her.

Anata took Jenas’ blood and pressed it against the teardrop-shaped amethyst embedded in the pendant. A pure white glow rose above the pendant, and the magic formula began to be drawn. It seemed to be the magic formula for unsealing the pendant.

Seeing this, Ruzef took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He muttered a few words under his breath, and suddenly the sky began to darken.

This was the same phenomenon as the day the spirits were sealed inside Ruzef’s body, and when the seal was broken in front of the cabin and the mana was released.

-flash!

A bolt of lightning struck in white.

Ruzef’s long hair whipped in the gale. Enoch gently pulled me to him, hugging me from behind as if to protect me.

There was another gust of wind, followed by thunder, and then several bolts of lightning struck again.

[Aaaaah!!]

Loud shouts announcing their release echoed through the sky, bizarre as if dozens of people were making the same sound at the same time.

A pure white light erupted from Ruzef’s body, followed by a bolt of lightning from the sky that struck Anata.

It was like a divine punishment.

-flash! roar!

Anata’s entire body burst into flames. She screamed in agony.

I could no longer see her face as it disappeared through the flames.

Suddenly, the lightning that was attacking Anata also began to strike Kayden. No, why was it suddenly hitting Kayden?

“Kayden!!!” I screamed, rushing over to Diego, who was carrying Kayden.

Kayden wasn’t engulfed in flames like Anata, fortunately. Enoch checked Kayden’s condition for me, and he appeared to be alive. Unlike Anata, the spirits seemed to be focused on something other than Kayden.

Strangely, the lightning bolt had no effect on Diego.

“Hey, it looks like the portal gate is open!”

That’s when Arthdal said, pointing to the west. True to his word, there was a huge gust of wind in the western sky, and something was forming, like a black hole.

Feeling the ground vibrate violently, I transferred my mana to Eunji. Eunji’s body slowly grew in volume and soon took on the shape of a giant anaconda.

Jumping high above her head, I called out to the others, “Everyone get on!”

I saw Diego dragging Yuanna, who couldn’t leave Anata’s side.

With the others on top of Eunji’s head, I looked back to Anata. She was still engulfed in flames.

The manifestation of Anata’s magic formula ended then, and it swirled splendidly from the pendant above the flames.

It soon spread out, taking over the area.

Suddenly, all the sound was muffled.

A moment later, the ground vibrated with a huge light. It seemed that the island had indeed begun to destroy itself.

Through the flames, Anata’s fading voice echoed through the air.

[I’ve opened the gate, get out now, and tell my descendant this.]

Just as Eunji was about to leave, Anata added her last words,

[Thank you for being alive.]

At the end of her words, the flames that enveloped her grew more vigorous. A series of crackling bolts of lightning crashed down on the flames enveloping Anata.

Lightning continued to strike not only Anata, but Kayden as well. In front of and behind Kayden sat Enoch and I. Again, it had no effect on us.

What the hell is this doing to Kayden?

“Ugh.”

That’s when Kayden let out a groan in pain.

Ruzef panicked and tried to stop the lightning, but to no avail. The lightning struck Kayden relentlessly.

“It doesn’t seem to be life-threatening, but it could be dangerous if it continues,” Enoch said, checking Kayden’s condition.

“I think we have no choice but to leave quickly!” Ruzef shouted, and I urged Eunji to hurry.

The ground cracked and quaked. On the seaward side, a massive tsunami seemed to be rolling in, flooding the land.

Near the western side of the island, a black hole was still forming, and a moment later, a gate appeared in front of it. It looked like a portal gate. Eunji, who was carrying us, quickly slithered toward it.

But the closer we got to the portal gate, the stronger the magic waves became. We all felt like our bodies were being torn apart. At this point, I thought we were going to die before we reached the portal gate.

Suddenly, a pure white protection shield formed around Eunji and us.

Arthdal, who was sitting behind me, exclaimed, “A protection spell! Looks like that wizard is keeping her word to help!”

[Destroy!!!]

Hearing the maddened voices of the spirits, we rode through the portal gate with Eunji in a giant form.

At the same time, the island completely exploded.

Once we were completely through the portal gate, Kayden was no longer attacked by the spirits.

***

And so we returned to the Langridge Empire we’d always dreamed of, but with one rather minor problem.

We had fallen into the midst of a war between the Empire of Langridge, the Kingdom of Hestia, and the forces of the Holy See and the Northern Empires.

Needless to say, the sight of a giant anaconda falling from the sky sent the soldiers into a frenzy.