I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 171

“Eunji! No! Damn, you fxcking monster!”

I ran toward Eunji.

Enoch, who was close by, snapped the thick branch in two.

Kayden scooped up the shrinking Eunji with both hands. I gingerly took her from him and checked her condition.

Even though she was bleeding, she looked up at me, her tail wagging as if nothing was wrong.

Tears welled up in my eyes. She can’t even say she’s sick.

‘Damned monster. I should have torn it to pieces with my own hands……!’

Apparently, it wasn’t dead yet. I could see a giant branch rising from the ground and reaching up into the sky once more, with what appeared to be the head of the monster at the end. And it had one of the Imperial Knights in its mouth.

I won’t leave you alone!

Handing Eunji back to Kayden, I jumped onto the branch and continued to climb upward.

“Margaret!”

I heard Enoch and Kayden shout behind me, but I didn’t turn around. A magic circle formed beneath my running feet. Kayden, realizing he couldn’t stop me, must have cast a protection spell on me.

The tree monster soared higher and higher into the sky. I stepped on a branch and ran, pulling the lever on my flare gun. I aimed the flare gun under the head of the monster that was closing in on me.

It was holding one of the knights in its mouth, so a direct hit to the head would be dangerous.

‘I need to separate the head from the body.’

Having made my decision, I pulled the trigger.

-fizz.

-boom!

The monster groaned in pain, and the wood began to crack and splinter. Its head was falling off one by one.

I looked down in panic. It was at least five stories high.

‘Be it Enoch or Kayden, whoever it is will catch me.’

If they can’t, despite being a war hero and archwizard, then they’re incompetent!

With that brazen thought, I leapt down from the height.

But unexpectedly, the one who caught me was Eunji, who had once again grown in size. She had just eaten a monster to fill her stomach and had regained her strength.

I slid down her scales and landed safely on the tip of her tail.

“Ouch!”

I think I broke a rib.

Eunji shrank back to size, and I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder before turning to look at Enoch and Kayden.

Enoch and Kayden rushed toward me.

“Margaret, are you okay?”

“Are you hurt?”

“I think I broke a rib.”

I slumped to the ground, unable to move, and Kayden immediately cast a healing spell. It helped me get back on my feet.

“You almost died. Do you know that? Why do you worry people so much?”

Kayden yelled as he helped me to my feet. Enoch’s face was just as furious as Kayden’s as he approached me.

“Lord was right, you almost got yourself killed. I hope you don’t do anything like that again. Do you think we’re not good enough?”

I shook my head vigorously at Enoch’s words. “No. I did it because I trusted you, trusted you enough to have my back. I’m sorry I acted without a plan.”

“Ha, you are good at stringing words together.”

Kayden ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He glared at me in disapproval, but I was grateful for the comforting hug.

Just then, a completely broken tree monster crashed to the ground with a loud crack, smoke trailing behind it. The surroundings became silent.

With a gasp, I turned my head and was met with countless pairs of eyes staring back in this direction.

I struggled a bit, but I’d been on the island for months, slaying monsters. It was nothing special to me, but apparently not to the other knights. Only a few knights had witnessed the slaying of the crocodiles, but now the entire Order had.

The knight I’d saved earlier had apparently been picked up by Kayden down below. He was a bloody mess, but he seemed to be in good shape.

He staggered over to me and thanked me. “Thank you, young lady.”

At his gratitude, the knights, who had been watching, raised their swords in the air and let out a shout, “Waaah! Floné! Floné!”

The knights shouted my name over and over again. I rubbed my throbbing ears and looked back at Enoch and Kayden, who in turn stroked my head.

I heard that a sudden attack by a monster of this size would result in dozens of casualties for even the best-armored troops. Fortunately or unfortunately, there were a total of seven casualties. As if they had only fought a small-scale battle.

No wonder the knights were so happy.

‘This is better than I thought it was going to be, I wonder if I’m going to be recruited as an imperial knight?’

Of course, that’s ridiculous, and I checked the flare gun’s magazine while thinking about it. I’d used all the bullets in the magazine. I have a few spare bullets left……

Still, the flare gun had done its job, and the Langridge Empire was just around the corner.

Watching the knights clean up the mess, Enoch muttered, “The monster’s behavior was suspicious. We need to investigate.”

“Isn’t it strange that it has evolved into such a strange shape? There shouldn’t be any beasts inland with such a strange form,” Kayden agreed.

I chimed in as well, “Didn’t it seem like it was drawn to something?”

No sooner had I spoken than the knights brought in a bound Rodvan and knelt before Enoch.

“We found this in Prince Rodvan’s pocket.” The knight handed Enoch a strange lump of stone.

The black stone seemed to have been worked, but it was still rough and unsightly. It looked like some kind of strange amulet, strung together into a necklace.

On my shoulder, Eunji bared her teeth and glared at the stone.

“When the monsters were coming, this stone kept glowing. It’s like they were attracted to it.”

“Eup! Eup!” Rodvan shook his head violently at the knight’s testimony, his mouth still gagged.

Looking at the stone in Enoch’s hand, Kayden whispered in a low voice, “A magic stone.”

Enoch and I both looked at Kayden at the same time.

Kayden stared at the stone, then frowned. “Wait a minute, that looks like something the old man would know about.”

The old man was referring to Jenas. Kayden said nothing after that, staring off into space, as if he were having a conversation with Jenas.

After a moment, Kayden spat out an expletive. He glanced around and lowered his voice, “It’s a magic stone shared by the Peony Blossoms, and it produces a similar ripple effect to that of the mother of monsters.”

A magic stone shared by the Peony Blossoms? Why would they share such a thing?

Enoch, who had been listening to Kayden’s explanation in silence, replied, “If it has a similar power, then it’s capable of evolving demons just like the mother of monsters.”

Evolving monsters. My mind goes blank. Does this mean that those horrible monsters on Alea Island are now going to take over the entire continent?

I asked Kayden, “Why does this magic stone have the same power as the mother of monsters?”

“I don’t know the exact reason. Like the Tentathionem flower, it’s a special magic stone developed by the Rohade family in the past, but it didn’t have this power at first. Perhaps the power contained in the magic stone has somehow been corrupted.”

“What do you mean, the magic stone became corrupted?”

“The souls of some of the deceased test subjects were bound to it. Remember how the mother of monsters on Alea Island was made of mana from a collection of spirits? It’s similar to that. If they’re vengeful spirits, no wonder it’s inflicting such damage.”

“Axxholes……” I spit out an expletive.

Kayden sighed and let out a string of expletives about the Rohade family.

“Why do they share this magic stone thing?”

“You do realize that mana exists within our bodies like air, right? When a dimensional door opens, it collapses. Normal people can’t even use their mana because the flow is disrupted, and I think they wanted to have the power to control it intact.”

Kayden’s eyes narrowed and he cut himself off mid-sentence. It was probably because Jenas was still speaking in his head.

“This magic stone is the one that controls the flow of that disrupted mana, and they planned to use it to rule the continent when the rest of the populace couldn’t touch it, until they realized the experiment had failed.”

Rule the continent? It’s so ridiculous.

I’m sure Jenas said something similar. But he seemed to be speaking about a larger scale, to rule on a dimensional level, not a continental one.

There was a short silence. We each stared at the black stone in Enoch’s hand with complicated faces.

“Do they all have one of each?”

Kayden nodded at Enoch’s question.

“If it has the same power as the mother of monsters, then it is indeed dangerous. We must collect them all.”

I rubbed my forehead at Kayden’s answer.

Damn, that means we have to find and destroy not only the Blood Oath, but all the magic stones that everyone in the Peony Blossom faction has.

At that moment, Eunji slithered down to the ground, and then up to Enoch’s body, and leaned her head toward the magic stone. Her curious nature was probably a good thing.

“Eunji, it’s danger–”

Before I could finish my sentence, Eunji swallowed the magic stone whole.

“Eunji!”

“Eup! Eup!”

Rodvan, who had seen the scene from afar, struggled violently, and I patted Eunji on the back.

“You can’t just pick up anything and eat it!”

I was so surprised that I loudly scolded Eunji. She looked up at me with a disgruntled look on her face, her tongue flicking out, and then she burped.

“What, did you digest it?” Kayden looked down at Eunji, surprised.

“Please examine her. What if there are side effects?”

At my frantic fussing, Kayden made Eunji stick out her tongue and examine her condition.

Meanwhile, Enoch had ordered all but a few knights to prepare for departure. As soon as the order was given, the knights began to clean up the wreckage of the fight in unison, preparing to depart for the Langridge Empire again.

“All is well. She looks so well. Who the hell is this snake?”

After picking Eunji up and examining her for a moment, Kayden flicked a finger on her nose. Eunji made an annoyed face and blew a small blast of fire from her mouth. What’s wrong with this kid? Is she in puberty?

“We need to find all the magic stones and deal with them, but if she can eat them, that’ll take care of it.”

At Kayden’s words, Eunji snorted and looked up at me, as if she was asking for my approval.

I stared at her, feeling a little conflicted. Lately, Eunji had been like a puppy entering puberty.

Anyway, now that Kayden is going to find the Blood Oath and Enoch is going to find Alea Island, Eunji and I have to help destroy the magic stones.

Even without looking, the path to hell was clearly visible.

Why on earth are you putting me through this ordeal……!

At that moment, Rodvan struggled violently once more. Enoch was annoyed, too, and ordered the knights to remove his gag.

As soon as the gag was removed, Rodvan let out a scream. “Damn it, what have you done with my magic stone?!”

“Your brother seems to be kindly admitting that this is a ‘magic stone’.”

“What?”