Zorian felt sorry for himself, and he was not easy to get along with. Withdrawn, short-tempered, and always thinks the worst of people. He knew this all along, and even before he died and was caught in a mysterious time loop, he always felt justified his actions.

In fact, if someone were stupid enough to criticize him before the time loop, his reaction would be as subtle and graceful as a disturbed rattlesnake.

The time loop has changed him. It makes him calmer and more considerate of the people around him. He hadn't had an argument with his family in years, and once the time loop was over, his financial independence was almost guaranteed, and his growing magical abilities worked wonders for his confidence, and the setbacks seemed insignificant in comparison.

So when Kiriel kicked him in the knee for the third time in a matter of minutes, he deliberately didn't lose his temper with her. He didn't even sigh in annoyance. He just continued to stare out the window, watching the fields speed by and the train getting closer and closer to Xhosa.

"I'm bored," El complained.

Zorian glanced at her curiously. While the guards protecting the train disrupted mana formation, they had only a tentative effect on his empathy, and what he sensed from Kirill was not boredom – but a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and apprehension. To Zorian's knowledge, this complex mixture of emotions appears to be the most common "emotions" that people experience, and that they are almost completely impossible to decipher with Zorian's current level of technology.

"What's really bothering you?" He tried. There was a commotion in her mind, she opened her mouth to say something, and then she lost her courage and lamely disguised her speech as a particularly deep breath. Oh, it turns out that she wasn't just upset......

"Nothing." She whispered, looking away, frustratingly tugging at the hem of her shirt.

Zorian rolled his eyes and kicked her lightly in the knee. Even though she had done the same thing to him a few minutes earlier, she glared at him fiercely. Unsurprisingly, her attempts at intimidation failed completely – she was as frightening as an angry kitten.

"Tell me," he insisted.

She gave him a puzzled look before relenting.

"Man, can you teach me some magic?" She asked hopefully.

What a hassle. The smart, reasonable answer is "no" – there's no way she's going to make any progress in just one month, this particular reboot is going to be hectic, and she'll forget everything she's learned by the end. Anyway, this month.

“…… I'll see what I can do," Zorian said after a few seconds of nervous silence. Well, Kirill was nervous – he was pretty sure she really stopped breathing while waiting for an answer.

"Yes!" She cheered and swung her fists triumphantly.

"But in exchange, I need your help with something," he added.

"Okay." She hurriedly agreed, without even asking him what exactly he wanted to do. "Hey, can you-"

"No," Zorian said immediately. "This train is blocked in order to disrupt mana formation. No one can cast spells here. ”

"Oh," El deflated.

Truth be told, Zorian is a bit of a distortion of the facts. The disruption of mana on the train was designed to deter overzealous students and random acts of sabotage, which was nothing more than an annoyance for a regular mage like Zorian.

He can easily suppress the guards, but he analyzed them in detail the last time he rebooted and knew that it would report any important spell casts to a remote location.

Kyrière opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly interrupted by a sharp crackle, the voice of a radio announcer.

"Now stop in Xhosa," an invisible voice sounded. "I repeat, now stop in Xhosa. Thank you. ”

"So many people," Kiri said through the window looking at the crowd at the train station. "I didn't know there were so many people in your school."

Zorian, who was amusing himself and counting the number of people in the train station with his mind, let out a voice of agreement absentmindedly. Although he no longer completely ignores the world when using his mind, he still needs to spend most of his attention to get anything useful out of it. However, after half a minute of trying to divide the crowd into a number of discrete individuals, he decided that he could not do the task with his current skill level, and refocused his attention on Kirille.

"Why are there so few mages when so many people are studying to become mages?" She asked.

"They're not terribly rare," Zorian said. "It's just that most of the teachers from the countryside don't stay there after they finish their studies.

"What!? Why!? Kili Elle protested.

Zorian raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I have to answer this question?"

Kirill snorted, his arms crossed over his chest, visibly annoyed. "I guess not. But that means I'll be alone with my parents then. Too bad. ”

"Just pester Mom to make you come to see me often," Zorian shrugged. "She's going to give in eventually, especially since you're going to be the only way they can keep in touch with me. Dad doesn't care about us, so he'll listen to Mom. ”

Kiriel gave him a strange look. "Can I come and see you?"

"Anytime you want," Zorian confirmed.

"Don't you think I'm annoying?" She asked.

"Oh no, you're really annoying," Zorian said, smiling at her rebellious expression. "But you're still the only person in our family that I really like. I bet you'll find me annoying too. ”

"Damn," Kirill kicked his knee again in a huff.

They silently watched as people boarded the trains, looking for empty carriages for themselves and their groups. But soon, the number of such empty cars decreased, and their cars soon accommodated more passengers: Ibery, Byrne and two other girls whom he had not seen until this restart. It was a bit of a surprise to him – he really just hoped that Iberg would be there. But it doesn't matter, maybe it's better that way. The more his audience, the better. Now all he needs is a vacancy.

"I almost decided not to take her, the whole Byron affair," Zorian interjected. "But then I thought they might just be a bunch of crazy idiots. I mean, if it were so easy to summon an army of demons, all of Artazia would now be a burning ruin, wouldn't it? ”

All the conversation stopped, and everyone turned their heads to stare at him as if he had grown another head. Zolian feigned confusion and looked at them blankly.

"What?" He finally asked.

"You...... What the hell are you talking about? Byrne asked cautiously.

"Didn't you hear?" Zorian frowned, moving restlessly from his seat. "The Dragon Sect has threatened...... Well, strictly an announcement of intent, but anyway...... They plan to summon an army of demons on the day of the Summer Festival. The Plane Convergence planned to take place that day would be the most powerful in centuries, so it was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. ”

"You're serious," Iberg asked, half answered.

"That's what they say," Zorian shrugged. “Cyo

IA has a lot of these maniacs running around, so I think it makes sense for me to be a little worried. ”

“Cyo

There are a lot of dragon worshippers in IA? Byrne asked incredulously.

"This is the hole," Iberg said with a sigh. "It was a sacred place for them, a huge hole in the ground of an indeterminate depth, constantly spewing mana into the air. They see it as a direct gateway to the center of the world.

-rest

The difference last time was that Zorian now had a Guardian Necklace made while Silin was waiting for departure time, so keeping a rain barrier around the party didn't deplete his mana reserves in the slightest. Therefore, when Kirill insisted on accompanying Byrne to the academy, he decided to act friendly and not argue at all.

The important thing he has to do is talk to the spiders and let them regain their memories, but this time he also brings an additional gift - five stone disks that act as telepathic repeaters, greatly improving the spider's ability to coordinate their actions at long distances. Of course, the sixth disc was still in Zorian's hands, so he didn't have to go down the sewers every time he wanted to talk to the matriarch.

[You know, I didn't really want you to call me in the middle of the night when I told you to contact me as soon as possible,] Zorian sent to the matriarch to express his annoyance and grumbling as much as possible. He can manage to get the message across. He's still not very good at incorporating emotions and images into his communication, but he trusts her to get a general idea of what he's trying to convey. [I'm not sure about spiders, but we humans actually have to sleep at night to function properly.] ]

[I'm sorry,] the matriarch sent it back. Her tone wasn't apologetic at all. [This is a mesmerizing device you gave me.] The most impressive. ]

[Not really.] As far as magic items go, it's pretty inferior. I took a lot of shortcuts to make so much, and that shows that. It is a rather large, heavy disc made of solid stone, so it is not too inconspicuous and not easy to carry, and it has a lifespan of only two and a half months. ]

[This is still a month and a half longer than it needs to be,] said the matriarch.

[That's right,] Zorian agreed.

[I think you can make a lasting version?] ]

[Yes, of course,] Zorian said.

[Can other craftsmen reproduce your work?] She asked. [Or did you come up with it yourself?] 】

Zorian frowned. Now that she has him, does she need any other technician? Was she going to abandon him as soon as they were out of the time loop?

[I came up with it," Zorian said. [Other craftsmen must design the drawings first.] This may take a while. ]

[I see," she said. [Well, I guess I shouldn't have put you to sleep anymore.] I just wanted to tell you that I've looked at the memory package and am convinced that it's real. ]

He sighed. There's no way he's going back to sleep now. He quickly cast a silence enchantment on the room, then slowly got up from his bed, careful not to wake Kiriel. Yes, she's annoying, but it's not her fault that his sleep is ruined.

"Self-reminder: Next-generation relays need a close button."

-Rest-

Imaya woke up already awake, which surprised her, and Zorian went into town to go to the store. The plan he and the matriarch had in place during the last reboot involved him creating a large number of magical items on his own, which meant buying material components and specialized tools. What's more, if he wants to seriously start teaching Kiriel how to become a mage, he also has to buy something.

He really hopes that Kyrière will be able to charm Kana in this reboot as much as he did last time - and while Zorian himself is skilled in alchemy and can manage it himself if needed, Kyle's help will be invaluable in some of the projects he has planned. This reboot......

"Zorian! This way! ”

Zorian snapped back from his thoughts and quickly gave way to the man who called him. Benisek was exactly the man he was looking for. He hurriedly sat down next to the chubby boy and exchanged a few words of greeting before he said the reason for tracking the boy today.

"Ben, my friend, you're not going to believe what I found out during school break," Zorian said. "I still don't understand what they were thinking when they came up with these things. It's like something out of a bad adventure novel. ”

"Please tell me," Benisek leaned forward.

"Hmm......" Zorian began, suddenly feigning reluctance. You know, it's a kind of confidentiality. I'm telling you about this in absolute secrecy, because we're friends, so don't spread it around, okay? ”

Noticing that he was going to tell him some confidential information and warn him that it was crucial to keep it a secret – meant that Benisek would spread the story twice as fast as usual.

"Of course," Benisek said pleasantly. "You know me, Zorrian. I will never let your trust go down like that. ”

Zorian couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, Ben. I know I can count on you. ”

-Rest-

After telling Benisek about the dates of the summer festival, all the dastardly plots of the enemy to bomb Kooria, Zorian returned to Imaya's quarters to await Tewen and her offer to join the sewers. He made a practice card that Xvim had him hone his shaping skills for fun. He had intended to simply buy a bunch from a store he visited this morning, but they were much more expensive than he thought – and his respect for Xvim rose slightly when he realized how much money he had actually spent on his training during the reboot.

When Tevin rushed into the kitchen and locked his place, he had just put the finishing touches on the card.

"Hey, Roach, it's such a great place for you to be here," she said, settling into the seat next to him and gazing at his work carefully. "Oh, I know what that is. I've always wanted to buy some these days, but in the end I always spend my money elsewhere. How much did you buy? ”

"No," Zorian said. "They were too expensive for my taste, so I decided to make them myself. This is the only one I've done so far. ”

Tevin raised an eyebrow at him, amused by his statement. Zorian frowned, not liking the expression - she didn't believe he could make such a card? It's nothing! He frowned and shoved the finished card into her face.

"Try it," he told her.

Thaivin sighed deeply and ...... frowned. Surprised and frustrated, Zorian realizes that she had tried to burn the circle he had drawn on the card, but failed.

"You can't do it, can you?" Zorian grinned.

"You're mistaken!" She said in a huff.

"Nope!" Zorian protested. "You're just terrible!"

"Don't!" She fought back. "If you're so special, why don't you do it?"

"Hmph." Zorian sneered and snatched the card back. He put the card aside and expertly flashed mana into the card.

This circle – and only this circle – glows red instantaneously at high temperatures, and then turns to ashes. Zorian blew into the cave, scattering the remains on the table, then proudly handed the used card to Thaivin. He crossed his arms and waited for her reply.

"Ahem." A mature female voice interrupted the scene from behind. "Of course, you'll clean up the mess on my desk, won't you, Mr. Kaczynski? Oh, I want to warn you if your ...... I will charge you for any property damage caused by the experiment to my material property. ”

Zorian turned around and gave Imaya a big friendly smile. She rolled her eyes at him and pointed to the ashes on the table. Zorian bowed his head in frustration and went to the bathroom to get a rag, ignoring the soft laughter of Thaiwen behind him.

Briefly. In fact, this time he had to go with her.

"So what exactly do you need from me?" Zorian asked, sitting next to Tevin again.

"Ah, well, I wonder if you'd like to go on a little expedition with me......"

"Since you apparently think you're good enough to walk alone in the dungeon and encounter sentient monsters, God knows what else, I want to test your skills," Tevin told him. "Also, if you're going to accompany me and my team into potentially dangerous situations, it doesn't hurt to know your actual combat skills. You do know some fighting skills, don't you? ”

"A lot," Zorian assured her.

"Okay, come to me tomorrow at noon, and I'll test you." Thaivin said. "Are you sure they'll give us the clock if we ask for it?"

"If they had," Zorian said. "The guy who gave you the job doesn't sound very reliable to me. I don't believe at all that he doesn't know what a spider is, but he sends you to them anyway to get a pocket watch. Either he wants to kill you all, or ...... Hell, I don't know what he's up to. ”

"If the watch is something very valuable or very illegal, he probably doesn't want to send someone who can recognize what they're holding," Tevin frowned. "How dangerous are you spiders? I mean, even though they have the ability to feel, they are still vulnerable to injuries like burns. Maybe he thinks we'll use a bulldozer to knock them down without speaking? ”

"Alanea's all mages," Zorian said. This is not entirely true, as only a small percentage of Alanyians have a true spellcasting system, but psychic powers are versatile enough to count as a specialized spellcasting system. "They are particularly fond of psychic magic, illusions, and stealth. They have a telepathic connection to each other, so if you slaughter some of their outposts, they will know and remember you. Then, the next time you enter the dungeon, a horde of magical spiders full of resentment will want to ambush you

"," Tevin said. He felt a surge of anger welling up in her, but she controlled herself and forced herself to calm down. "That bastard had better not know the danger, or I'd report him to the nearest police station I found. This is actually an attempted murder! ”

"Let's talk to the spiders first and see what they have to say." Zorian hurriedly said. He didn't want Tevin to confront this person and then cancel the whole thing. "I promise, as long as I'm here, they won't attack you."

Thaiwen gave him a long, incomprehensible look.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," Tevin said. "It's just...... I thought I knew you, but now it turns out that you have a whole secret life that I never knew before. It's a bit untrue. ”

"Yes!" Kiri-El suddenly interjected. She had been silent during their discussions, but apparently she had been listening intently. "Why don't you ever tell your sister about these things!?"

"Oh, it's easy." Zorian replied fluently. "I don't want my parents to know, so it's stupid to tell you. Do you know how many times you've gotten me in trouble for divulging my secrets in front of our parents? ”

"Oh, come on!" Kirrell wailed. "I'm still a baby! I don't know anything! You're still angry about it, are you? ”

"No, of course not," Zorian muttered uneasily. "I did tell Tevin about the spider in front of you, didn't I?"

"Wait," Zorian said. "Actually...... Yes, I have something to tell you. All of you. Miss Heshka, I know you've been eavesdropping on us for a while, so sit down. ”

Imaya turned from where he was fiddling with the dishes, crossed his hands on his hips, and looked at him angrily.

"I didn't do anything like that," she told him, "and I was just minding my own business, and in my own kitchen." If you don't want me to overhear your conversation, you should take it elsewhere. ”

"My bad." Zorian easily agreed. He was pretty sure she had done everything she had to do in the kitchen, just hanging out and listening to them, but anyway. "Kiri, do you remember how I promised to teach you to cast a spell in exchange for a favor on the train?"

"Yes?" Kiriel hesitated in confirmation.

"Okay, first of all, a little bit of background. I am commonly known as an empathizer – someone who can sense the emotions of others. Unfortunately, until recently, my power has been a bit out of control. I can't ask anyone for help...... At least in terms of human nature. ”

"Spider." Imaya guessed.

"Yes," Zorian agreed. "Araneans are all empathetic, it's part of their birth. Thanks to them, I now have more or less control over my empathy abilities, although it takes years of practice to really distill them into something reliable. And followed me so far? ”

"How do I feel right now?" Kirrell asked.

"I don't actually know," Zorian admitted. "It's rare for people to feel simple, and unless they feel an emotion very strongly, I'll make an educated guess based on my previous interactions with the person. The more time I spend with someone, the easier it is for me to read them. ”

"But isn't she your sister?" Imaya asked. "You might think that if there's one person you're familiar enough to be competent enough to work, it's family."

"Our family is ......" Zorian hesitated, looking for a suitable word. A bit dysfunctional, I guess. Most of the time I try to stay away from them, so I don't interact with Kyrière very often. I'm not the only one here to keep a secret – Kiriel also keeps a lot of things a secret. I guess despite the sibling relationship, we don't know each other very well. ”

There was a brief silence on the scene as everyone digested the acknowledgment, but Imaya cleared his throat and quickly broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Okay," she said. "I think it's a good thing that you're all here now."

"Yes!" Kiriel immediately agreed. "Hey, do you think I can be an empathe too?"

"I'm sorry, Kiri, but I'm pretty sure you're not," Zorian said. "If you are, I can feel it."

"Can you feel the other empathizers?" Thaiwen asked.

"I can feel the thoughts of everyone around me, whether it's empathy or something else," Zolian said. "I also got some basic information about each person – how complex their ideas were, their species, their gender, things like that. The empathic effect glows like a little sun in my telepathy, so ...... I'm sorry, Kiri. ”

"It's okay," she said dejectedly.

"Can you feel the people around you, no matter what the obstacles are?" Thaiwen asked. Zorian nodded. "What is the scope of that ability......?"

"What if I'm busy with other things and just running my consciousness in the background? About ten meters," Zorian said. "What if I focus exclusively on the scanning environment? Ten times easier. However, if I have a lot of ideas around me, I have a hard time processing the information, and they start to mix together and form a confusing, headache-inducing mess. When I'm in a crowd, I mostly shut down my empathy. ”

"Roach, I'm recruiting you to join my team," Tevin said. "I've been trying to find a tracker for my team! Now all we need is to teach you some divination spells, and-"

"It's done, thank you," Zorian said. "I'm pretty good at divination."

"Even better!" Thaivin said. "You've been admitted."

"We'll see," Zorian sighed.

"It's fascinating," Imaya said. "I've never heard of this aspect of empathy, although I think it makes sense that people who can sense emotions can use it to locate other people. But that's not what you want to talk about, is it? ”

"No, it's not," Zorian nodded. "It's not common sense, but empathy is just a more ...... The first expression of the ability to be dangerous. A sufficiently skilled empathizer can bridge the gap between thoughts and connect with anyone within range in order to telepathically talk to them, read their thoughts, fool their senses or mess with their memories. Alanya has been teaching me how to do this. ”

He stopped to observe their reactions. Well, none of them were quietly panicked or angry, so that's encouraging.

"I have no intention of doing this to any of you without permission," Zorian said. "But at the same time, I also need someone to practice. Spiders are not well suited to this – their minds are too foreign to beginners like me. I need a human volunteer and I hope you can help me, oh my sister. ”

"Do you want to read my mind?" Kirrell asked.

"Frankly, yes," Zorian said.

"If I refuse, will you still teach me magic?"

"Of course," Zorian said. "This is a request, not a blackmail. If you don't, I'll have to find someone else to help me. ”

"Okay," she said. "I think I'll help you. But you can't talk to anyone...... Things in my head. In exchange, you'll have to tell me all your secrets! ”

"Of course," Zorian smiled. "Fair trade."

-Rest-

Zorian reflected that the whole confrontation went surprisingly well. Of course, Imaya had been avoiding him ever since, and Kiriel had looked at him with strange eyes, but none of them were afraid of him or anything else - just a little uncomfortable.

And, of course, Thaivin, who is clearly not bothered by his admission that he is learning how to read people's minds.

"Are you ready, Roach?" She asked, turning the combat staff in her hand.

"I'm ready, yes," Zorian said, clenching the spell rod.

If he had known Tevin's thoughts—and he did—she would have attacked immediately. Her fighting philosophy basically boils down to "attack fiercely and never have to defend in the first place...... Although she can defend if there is pressure. Fight her for a long time, even if his mage skills are higher than hers, he will not be able to win, so if you want to win here, you can only use trickery.

If only he could barely beat her - when she loses to Little Old "Cockroach", her face will be very bright.

In the blink of an eye, five magic missiles suddenly struck him. He let them uselessly crash into his shield and responded with a somewhat bizarre electric charm. A bolt of lightning shot at Thaiwen, who erected his basic shield to block it.

On the way to the target, the beam splits into three smaller beams - one spinning to the left of the Thaimon, another to the right, and a third directly above it. Then they all changed paths again, crashing into her from three different directions, completely bypassing the shield in front of her.

This is not enough. Somehow, Tevin managed to make a smooth transition from one-way shield to full protection before the beam reached her. Zorian threw several smoke bodies around the training ground to blind her, relying on his consciousness to tell him where she was, and began casting a complex spell that was not engraved on his spell stick when his location was obscured by the smoke

Thaiwen reacted by spewing a few gusts of wind to disperse the smoke and hoping to catch him in the area of effect. When he finished the spell, she had just peeled off his smoke screen and felt like his mana reserves were almost completely depleted.

"If that doesn't work, then that's the end of the fight," he thought.

A bright, concentrated beam of light shot out of his hand and slammed into Thaiwen's shield. The shield burned at the point of impact, shattering almost immediately, and Tairn was lifted from his feet by the force of the impact and slammed to the floor.

"Oops," Zorian said calmly. "I think I'm overdoing it a little bit – if the guards don't work properly, she could easily die."

-Rest-

"Come on, Roach," Tevin growled. "Find those spiders of yours so we can complete this mission. I'm tired of this place. ”

Zorian sighed, refocusing his ability to scan his surroundings. If Thaivin stopped losing his temper with him from time to time, things would have progressed much faster – talking about being a painful loser.

"Hey," a male voice whispered in Zorian's ear, interrupting his thoughts. "What the hell happened between you and Tevin that bothered her so much?"

Zorian glanced at Grant and thought about how to answer. He decided to be frank and honest.

"I beat her in a boxing match," he said. "She thinks I'm cheating."

Grant gave him a thoughtful look. "You beat Thaiwen in a joust? Aren't you in third grade? ”

"Of course," Zorian agreed, and then he noticed something familiar appear on the map in his mind. "Oh hey, they're there."

Zorian knew it was all a bunch of nonsense. The watch was indeed elsewhere – especially at one of the outposts used by the invaders to launch attacks on Aranea – but it was there because Aranea had put it there. The idea was for Tevin and her team to stumble upon the outpost, realize they had stumbled upon something big – beyond their ability to handle – and report it back to the authorities.

Zorian's job is to ensure that Tevin and her team survive their encounter with the invaders.

"It's so convenient," Zorian scoffed, "that getting the watch means getting rid of one of your enemies in the process." ”

"What a happy coincidence." The matriarch said lightly. "After all, we all got something out of it – you can get the location of the watch for free, and I can solve one of my problems without risking the internet. Right now...... Do you want the location of the base? ”

"Who the hell is your enemy?" Thaiwen asked.

"I don't know," said the matriarch. "The attacker is a mage controlling two war trolls, but the base definitely has more troops than that."

"War Trolls!?" Thaiwen's face turned pale. "Oh my God, that's a lot more than we signed up!"

"The money this guy paid us is definitely not enough for us to fight against a couple of war trolls with the support of a mage," Mamble said calmly.

"Maybe check it out?" Zorian tried. "Like, from a distance? I might be able to find out how much power there really is. ”

"Yes," Thaiwen said after a moment's thought. "Yes, we should at least check it. No offense to the matriarch here, but a group of people running around the sewers with tame war trolls sounds a bit ...... Unbelievable. Maybe she saw something else. ”

"I think it's possible," the matriarch admitted. "I hadn't actually seen trolls before, and I wasn't physically present at the time of the incident, but they sounded a lot like trolls as humans would call them."

"Okay." Thaiwen nodded. "Where do you think this base is?"

-Rest-

The base is not actually in the city sewers. That part of the dungeon had a certain level of patrolling and surveillance, and it was impossible to hide a large number of soldiers there for quite some time. For that matter, spiders don't actually live in sewers either, although they consider sewers to be part of their territory. On the contrary, the bases of the Alanya and the various outposts of the invaders are located in what the Kooria authorities call the "middle layer".

Descending to the middle level is not particularly uncommon for mages, but it's also not a common thing either. The middle level is too dangerous for unarmed civilians, and mostly doesn't have anything of value that would attract dungeon explorers and other adventurers. Every few years, the city hires mercenaries to sweep the area for any obvious threat of established dwellings, and they usually clean up anything of value here, leaving a large area of little value. For those who want to challenge themselves against the inhabitants of hell and find riches, there is a hole that leads directly to deeper levels that have not been dug up for decades.

The intruder chose the timing of the invasion well. The city is so focused on the summer festival and its related issues that it doesn't pay attention to what's happening in the dungeon at all. This usually won't be a problem, as very few problems will come out of nothing in just a few months – especially since there is hardly any indication that something big is happening – but now......

"Oh my God," Tevin whispered, gazing back at the camp from behind their bunker. "They have a terrible army there!"

"Get down, you idiot," Gollum growled at her, pulling her behind the rocks they were using as cover. "Do you want them to see you? If they notice us, we're dead. There are at least a hundred trolls and at least twenty manipulators there. ”

"I'm sorry," Thaivin said. "It's just ...... It's so unreal. ”

"Well, I want to know ......"

He silently stroked the walls of the tunnel that had brought them here with his fingers. The road was bumpy but smooth. It's too smooth and unnatural. The rocks behind which they hide are the same.

"Obviously, it's more complicated than I thought," Zorian thought. "I bet one of the Arab mages built this tunnel specifically so we could find it. This would explain why no one seems to notice this particular entrance, even though the other two entrances are guarded - they don't even know it exists. '

Well, anyway – it's time to do your part in this guessing game. He took out a mirror from his backpack and silently cast a divination spell on it. Of course, the base has a divination area, but its purpose is to prevent people from becoming aware of the base's existence. Since Zorian knew the existence and location of the camp, and was actually right next to it, the entire ward was almost useless to him.

After looking at the camp through the mirror for five minutes, Tevin decided she had seen enough and motioned for him to cancel the spell.

"Let's go," she said. "I want to get out of here before our luck runs out."

As the four of them approach a seal between the sewers and the deeper part of the dungeon, they suddenly encounter two hooded mages flanked by four trolls. For a moment, both groups stopped, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, but neither group really expected to bump into each other.

The deadlock is broken when a mage orders the troll to charge.

Neither Tevin nor her two teammates hesitated in the face of the charge of the four war trolls, raising their staffs and bombarding the attackers before they could overrun. Zorian decided to keep the mages busy and fired a small missile swarm of four piercing shells, two for each mage.

Several things happen at the same time. A mage dropped any spell he was casting and raised his shield to successfully block the missiles coming at him. The other man was less skillful, his shield missed—two piercing jets hit him directly in the chest, and he collapsed in a rain of blood. Gollum and Mamble used a quick flame to stop the troll's charge, but when three of the trolls did retreat from the flames, the largest, best-armored troll leaned forward, a little dazed but unharmed.

Thaiwen knocked them all down with a fierce battering ram, intending to knock the entire team down and leave them some space, but it largely succeeded - the three recovering trolls and the surviving mages were thrown deeper into the tunnel, away from them, but the troll in front held his ground.

It raises its massive hammer for an overhead attack and screams for a challenge, its screams staggering like a physical blow, almost like a miniature version of the battering ram that Tevon has just cast.

But he didn't have time to think about it, and the troll immediately took advantage of the distraction and rushed forward.

Zorian frantically erected a huge shield in front of everyone, trying to buy time. Sadly, this troll is too smart not to hit the shield directly. It slammed the shield with its mace - once, twice, three times. The shield cracked, and the troll kicked him in the chest, catapulting him backwards, colliding with Grunte and Mamble, interrupting any action they were about to perform.

Thaivin, on the other hand, successfully completed her task. A vortex of flames surged forward, killing the surviving mage and the other three trolls who were on their way to their aid, but the lead troll was only scorched.

And very, very angry.

"Damn," Tevon whispered, and the troll raised his mace for the fatal blow.

Even though he knew that her death would not be permanent, and even though he knew that it could happen when he agreed to participate in the program, Zorian found himself completely shocked by the thought of watching Tevin crushed to death. Killed because of his conspiracy......

He reached into the troll's mind and found that it was no longer muted - while Thaiwen's spell failed to burn the troll, it seemed to have burned anything that protected it from psychic magic. Instead of attempting any sophisticated attacks, he simply flooded it with meaningless gibberish, blasting its mind with random telepathy.

The troll flinched and spasmed in shock, stopped its attack and threw down the mace in his hand. Zorian immediately threw two explosive blocks at its feet.

"Thaiwen, come back quickly!"

She didn't need to be told twice, she immediately came to her senses from her daze and crawled backwards out of the troll's reach. As soon as Zorian judged that she couldn't reach it, he set off the bomb, and the troll was surrounded by a deafening explosion.

Somehow, it survived. It was on its knees, clutching its legs in pain, bleeding all over, but Zorian could already see its flesh gluing together.

Damn, what the hell is going on with this troll!? Is this a super troll or what?

Then two ice-blue beams struck directly into the troll's chest, the favor of Grunte and Mamble, and the creature immediately froze and remained motionless.

"Finally dead?" He asked.

"I don't know and I don't care," Thaivin said. "Let's disappear before we meet another person."

Zorian took a deep breath with a shudder and nodded in agreement. Then he tried to take a step, and the pain in his leg made him frown. He can walk, but he knows he'll be injured for the rest of the week.

"It's better to be worth it, you damn controlling spider," he thought to himself.

-Rest-

[So it's all done?] The matriarch asked.

Zorian gripped the stone plate tighter in his hand. [Yes.] That's what I just said, didn't I? Thankfully, while the casualties were close, there were no actual casualties. In many ways, our close proximity to death has served your plans, as Thaiwen is now genuinely angry with these people and determined to bring them to justice. She will report the whole thing to the municipality tomorrow. I sincerely hope that you didn't arrange for us to strayed into that group, Miss Spear of Determination, or I'd be mad at you. ]

[Don't worry, I have nothing to do with this,] the matriarch assured him.

[Okay,] Zorian sighed. Maybe he's a little paranoid, but in the last few reboots, the matriarch's behavior has become more and more mysterious, and he won't let her do such a thing. [What about you?] Have you accomplished your mission? ]

[Yes,] the matriarch confirmed. [I've reached out to Zach and told him that spiders know about time loops.] ]