"Swish!"
The demon-hunting longsword of Silver City's Chief Colin Iliad struck out swiftly, tracing a brilliant arc through the air.
Gold and silver lit up simultaneously, causing the dark temple to become bright as day in an instant.
"Ah!"
The little boy Jack couldn't help but let out a terrible scream, enveloped by the dazzling radiance.
After the light dissipated, the human face that had grotesquely grown from his chest and abdomen had been sliced away by the longsword, replaced by a horrifying hollow wound exposing his internal organs.
The twisted, terrifying aura about him also disappeared. He had returned to being an ordinary boy.
Colin Iliad appeared behind Jack. On the ground before him, that indifferent human face was being torn to pieces.
Eyes, mouth, and other organs twitched, gradually rotting away and dissipating.
Derrick watched this scene, feeling as if some invisible barrier around them had quietly shattered.
He held his breath and waited several seconds, discovering that he hadn't returned to the camp outside the city, nor did he need to repeat the same experience again.
The aura Ouroboros had left on the boy had been eliminated. The "loop" hadn't reactivated.
"Thank you, Mr. Temperance."
Derrick let out a long breath, thinking from the bottom of his heart, "If not for him, who knows how long we would have been trapped here..."
The little boy Jack, having suffered serious injuries, immediately fell into a coma.
Chief Colin Iliad immediately went over and treated his wounds with medicine he carried.
"Well done."
Seeing the little boy Jack's wounds being bandaged and the blood flow stopped, Colin Iliad breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He turned to look at Derrick and said, "Your reminder was very timely and ensured his life. This may very well be our hope for communicating with the outside world."
Actually, doing this was to break the loop...
Derrick thought to himself. Of course, being praised by the Chief still made him very happy.
I must repay Mr. Temperance. I need to find a good opportunity to ask Chief about the "Black Knight" potion formula.
Both Mr. Temperance and Mr. Hanged Man believe the Chief has already guessed that I have an unusual force behind me, so asking directly shouldn't be a problem...
But then he quickly remembered Elder Lovia's meaningful gaze, and his heart couldn't help but tighten.
It's better not to let her know if possible...
Derrick followed the other team members out of the temple.
Aside from him, the others had no idea how many repeated loops they had experienced.
Perhaps only after returning to Silver City would they discover the anomaly in the discrepancy between the changed dates and their physical sense of time.
---
"Boom!"
The ghostly blue flames on the Lava longsword burned.
Because it was swung violently, it left a trail of ghostly blue afterglow in the pitch-black tomb chamber.
The longsword fell on the gargoyle's hard grayish-white exterior. The high-temperature blade only left a corroded mark on the surface.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this result, Silas couldn't help but frown.
Sequence 6 abilities are already somewhat inadequate when used on this guy...
In the moment he was distracted, the six-winged gargoyle opposite him took the opportunity to swing its stone halberd at him, cleaving his body in half from top to bottom.
"Gah..."
The gargoyle's face was a hard shell with no way to show expression.
But its eyes, flashing with red fierce light, undoubtedly revealed cruel delight.
However, this delight didn't last long.
Silas's body became flat, shrank, and eventually turned into a small paper doll split in two that burst into flames.
Crimson firelight bloomed behind the gargoyle. Silas used "Flaming Jump" to appear behind it.
The gargoyle's hard shell provided it with powerful defense, but it also made its movements extremely stiff.
It simply couldn't turn around quickly and could only let Silas strike at the back of its head with full force.
"Boom!"
While using "Lava Sword," Silas also activated the Sequence 5 "Desire Apostle" within his body, forcibly elevating the ability's rank, enhancing the sword's power.
The blade successfully severed the gargoyle's head.
"Thud! Thud!"
Its heavy body and head fell to the ground separately, making loud sounds.
However, Silas had no time to relax.
Just as he finished off one gargoyle, another had already caught up. Its halberd swung, cutting through the air with a piercing shriek.
It wasn't just him. The other several people were also entangled with monsters.
The crude Kate swung her greatsword, clashing with the gargoyle's halberd, while Zoroya on the other side adopted a more flexible posture.
The gargoyle fighting him seemed to be toyed with by invisible rules, occasionally attacking other gargoyles or having its abilities weakened.
As for the Sequence 6 Best, he appeared rather disheveled, hiding behind the two of them and occasionally using abilities from different sequences, though all were somewhat inferior to their original versions.
The effects could only be described as better than nothing.
"Roar!"
The gargoyle before him let out a roar. Its eyes flashing with red light locked gazes with Silas.
Silas immediately felt the world become sluggish.
The gargoyle's movements seemed to be in slow motion, jumping frame by frame before him as it swung its halberd down at his body.
Yet he could only watch helplessly, his body unable to move.
I'll have to take this hit head-on...
Silas thought, preparing himself to endure the damage.
But the next moment, he saw Sharron's figure in her court dress suddenly appear in the gargoyle's crimson pupils.
His body immediately loosened.
The trapped feeling vanished instantly.
The gargoyle, meanwhile, went rigid in place, only letting out angry roars as its halberd moved inch by inch toward itself.
Wraith Possession!
Silas seized the opportunity and commanded his flock to activate their abilities.
His body immediately underwent changes, with countless intense desires radiating outward from within.
One of the Desire Apostle's abilities: Desire Incarnation.
The gargoyle wasn't human, but precisely because it was a monster, it had even purer and more depraved emotions.
Stimulated by Silas's ability, it immediately became frenzied and twisted.
"Roar!"
Its roar was unprecedentedly loud.
Its spirituality instantly overflowed. Its crimson pupils blazed brilliantly, as if about to explode, making Sharron's figure inside even clearer.
"Crack..."
Cracks appeared on the gargoyle's exterior, as if unable to bear its own violence.
It became increasingly manipulated by Sharron.
The halberd in its hands was raised high, then swung down viciously at its own head.
With a "boom," it severed its own head.
The other several people also successively dealt with the enemies before them, finally clearing out the monsters that had surrounded them.
"Sorry."
Sharron's figure soon floated out from the gargoyle's corpse.
She said to everyone in a voice that betrayed no apology, "I encountered extraordinary creatures while exploring and was slightly delayed."
"Hehe... No need to mind. Having so many extraordinary creatures is a good thing. Six-winged gargoyle eyeballs are worth quite a bit... Hmm?"
The middle-aged gentleman Zoroya said with a smile, but his smile quickly stopped.
The gargoyles' bodies were rapidly fading, turning into pure stone.