"......what? Wait, wait, wait......!"
Jenas walked slowly toward me, standing on the magic circle, and I hastily held out my arms to stop him.
He looked down at me arrogantly, eyebrows raised in annoyance.
"Why? You got something to say?"
"Are you going to kill me?"
"You're going to die anyway, so why are you so scared? It's okay, I'll make it quick."
Startled, I quickly asked another question.
"Okay, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Kayden......! Is Kayden really dead?"
"Might as well be dead. I told you, I ate him. He'll never wake up from this," Jenas replied, pointing to his chest once more.
My mind went blank at his answer which made me despair. I tried to control my emotions and told myself:
'It's okay, he's not dead, and I don't have to die, so get a grip.'
***
Jenas narrowed his eyes and stared at Margaret as she whimpered.
Trapped inside the magic circle, unable to escape, she was like a cute little canary in a cage. She could only rack her brains with her tiny head for words.
A thin smile crept across his face, shadowed red by the candlelight. A low, bassy voice echoed through the room.
"Don't waste your energy racking your brains."
Margaret lifted her head and looked up at him. Her sparkling blue eyes held a flash of displeasure. Jenas took her dislike for him in stride.
Hesitating, with a troubled look on her face, Margaret spoke cautiously, "......you asked me why the people of the world beyond don't open the dimensional door? There is no magic in that world. It's not magic, as you imagine, but rather highly advanced industrial technology."
Margaret's words piqued his interest. A world without magic, how could there be such a thing?
Jenas tilted his head, as if to indicate that he was willing to listen to her story, and then asked her to continue.
Margaret bit her lower lip and glared at him, then continued.
"There's no point in opening my head, because first-hand experience and fragmentary memories don't compare. You'll never make it in that world without me. Think about it. You need me."
The way Margaret glared at him with malice in her eyes, even as she told him he needed her, was something to behold. He wanted to torment her more, to see her tears.
It was a kind of sadism Jenas had never felt before. It was the first time he'd ever been this interested in someone, the first time he'd ever found it enjoyable to have a conversation with.
Jenas stroked his chin and studied Margaret's face. She doesn't want to be killed, so she's trying to talk him down, but she doesn't seem to be able to hide her hostility toward him.
'She's cute.'
Too bad I can't kill her right away.
Looking at her, Jenas couldn't help but smile. Unaware that he was smiling like that, he turned to Margaret and said with a hint of arrogance, "I'm afraid not, Margaret. I have no intention of adapting to the world beyond the dimension, not when I'm in complete control."
Glaring at him, Margaret's eyes shook violently. Jenas crossed his arms and watched her agitated face. Then he pulled up a chair and sat down close to her.
Margaret gave him a puzzled look.
In fact, apart from his subjective impressions, she had a beautiful appearance. But this strange feeling that Jenas had for her was obviously not caused by such external factors.
Perhaps it was the fact that she had been to another dimension that made her feel so special.
"I haven't seen anything like you in a thousand years."
Jena's offhanded comment made Margaret frown.
"You're so fuxking good with words. You didn't have any friends a thousand years ago, did you?"
"Friends? Why would I need that? Hmm. Well, if your goal is to pass the time by having these useless conversations, then you've succeeded. It's a trashy conversation because you have nothing else to talk about, but that's not a bad thing."
It was enough to make him want to procrastinate and keep talking to her.
His response enraged Margaret, who spat out a string of expletives that were hard to keep in her mouth. Jenas listened to her expletives with amusement.
Wanting to talk to her a little more, he decided to change the subject.
"By the way, how did you manage to deal with the poison last time?"
"You bastard...... what?"
"Tentathionem flower. You seemed to be heavily poisoned. How did you all handle it?"
Margaret, who had been cursing for a while, suddenly shut up with a pained look on her face. She seemed to be trying to figure out the gist of the question.
Jenas thought back to the last time he'd seen her. When he'd met her in the bunker, she'd already been seriously addicted to the Tentathionem flower.
He could still feel her face pressed against the nape of his neck as she pulled him into a hug and wouldn't let go.
"Don't go, please......"
The sound of her voice, so desperate and pleading, made him feel a little strange.
"What do you want to hear?"
Margaret was staring at him, irritated. The fact that she was looking at him with such a rebellious stare and keeping her mouth shut only made him more curious.
As he stared at her, Jenas made a suggestion. "If you answer me, I'll give you one answer to your question in return."
"Enoch and Kayden detoxed it to help me. Don't ask more than that."
Margaret answered quickly, as if she'd been waiting for it, then glared at him with a challenging gaze. Her answer reminded Jenas that he had left her in front of Enoch and Kayden.
'Maybe I should have just taken her out then.'
He knew how to detoxify Tentathionem, and he felt bad for just imagining it.
"Now answer my question: If your soul is pledged to this island, do you have any way of surviving?"
Margaret asked him, standing close to the edge of the magic circle. Jenas understood at once why she was asking such a question.
"I know what you're asking, but that's impossible. The Saintess can't be saved."
And then, with a look of mercy on his face, like a god looking down on a mortal, he added, "Perhaps if the entire island is destroyed, she can. If you can destroy it all, there's no need to pledge her soul as collateral. But, Margaret, you can't destroy the island, can you? Don't you think?"
Jenas took his pocket watch out of his pocket for a moment and checked the time, which had already passed. He wanted to continue the conversation with Margaret, but he didn't want to waste any more time.
However, he found it a little too annoying to let her sit there with a despairing look on her face, so he finally spoke up.
"Actually, there is one way to destroy the island."
She looked at him with a brief, hopeful glance.
The look on her face was hilarious, getting hopeful over what I was about to say.
"This island has a door to the Empire of Langridge that opens every year. When it does, Anata and I receive a new offering. You have not yet been on this island for a year. What would happen if you forced open the closed door at the wrong time, when the cycle was not complete?"
"What would happen?"
"The answer to your question ends here."
"Damn it, if you're going to tell me something, do it right!"
"You didn't answer all my questions either."
-kwaaang!
No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a frighteningly loud bang and a strong vibration from the floor. It was as if a violent collision had occurred outside the barrier. Jenas glared at the door.
Someone had broken through the cabin's barrier.
"We have a visitor."
As he slowly rose from his seat, Margaret pounded on the barrier surrounding the magic circle.
"Where are you going!"
"Greeting the guest."
"Let me out."
"You sound funny. Stay here, I'll protect you."
"You're telling me to stay put until you kill me yourself. If you're going to say that, just shut the fxck up!"
Jenas chuckled amusedly at Margaret's outburst. Maybe he should keep her alive until the end after all. That would be fun.
"I'll be back."
With that, Jenas left the sanctuary chamber, leaving Margaret alone in the magic circle.
***
I struggled to get out of the magic circle, but eventually ran out of steam and fell back to the floor.
'Damn you Jenas!'
As I lay there cursing at Jenas, I felt a weight on my stomach. It felt like something heavy was sitting on my stomach.
I gently lowered my head and saw Eunji looking at me, looking sullen.
I wonder what will happen to Eunji.
It's okay if I don't have to be the one to escape. I want Eunji to get off this island, breathe fresh air, and live happily ever after.
"Eunji, are you okay?"
In response to my question, Eunji looked at me with slightly sad eyes. I've never seen such eyes on such a bright and cute child before.
He looked terribly down. He seemed to be blaming himself for not being able to help me. My heart melted, and I stroked his head.
"It's okay, it couldn't be helped."
Apparently, my comfort wasn't enough. He buried his face in my stomach and stayed that way for a while.
Suddenly, I felt my mana drain from my body.
I was dumbfounded by the strange phenomenon, but then I realized that the mana must have seeped into Eunji's body. His body had a faint glow to it.
"Wait, Eunji, what are you doing?!"
I shouted in surprise, and he looked up with a puzzled expression on his face. A blinding light filled the room.
When the light faded and my vision returned, I saw the silver scales of a giant anaconda weighing heavily on my body.
"Ugh."
I yelped in pain as my stomach was severely compressed, and the silver scales stood upright, then moved quickly. I stared at it in amazement, even through the pain. Eunji had grown to a size that could fill the room.
Eunji slithered around the room in a state of confusion.
Thanks to his evolution, some of the candles in the circle had been knocked over, and the magic circle was a mess. It was drawn with mana, so it shouldn't have been crushed.
I swallowed dryly and stood in front of the mangled magic circle, then slowly reached toward the barrier.
My hand, which should have been blocked by an invisible wall, waved through the air unhindered.
'Oh, my God, it's really gone.'
I walked out of the magic circle. Eunji was still slithering around the room, looking confused.
I wonder if Eunji's evolution as a monster has affected the barrier.
I remembered the unimaginably large anaconda I'd encountered on the North Island, and wondered if I could give him more of my mana, could he grow to be as large as that monster?
'If so......'
I thought of a great idea.
"Hey, Eunji, why don't you go play with this Unnie [1]?"
The silver anaconda's tongue flicked out with a smile on her face that said anything I said was good.
[1] Unnie is what a woman calls an older sister. Since this isn't the first time Margaret has referred to herself as Unnie instead of Noona in front of Eunji, I'm 100% sure Eunji is a female!