Chapter 408 Message from Myself
Jemin sat cross-legged on the base of a collapsed rune turret, his eyes slightly closed, his consciousness completely immersed in the inner world of his body.
Time is of the essence.
The next battle could be triggered at any time, and given the vast disparity in intelligence between the enemy and ourselves, it will be another fierce struggle.
The metal plaque with the number "2" written on it lay quietly on the ground.
It's clear that during the first round, he wasn't sure if his grotto would be affected, so he simply put up a sign just in case.
They realized this during the second round, so they consciously began gathering intelligence.
Jemin's attention was drawn to the pile of recording crystals next to him.
He needs to review this intelligence as soon as possible.
Because the enemy's next attack... could come at any moment.
This time, he had to be at the forefront.
"Therefore, this information is key."
Jemin looked at the pile of crystals behind sign number 2.
A rough count revealed at least thirty pieces, each radiating a faint spiritual energy—these were the soul imprints he himself had left behind, serving as authentication and access keys.
He picked up the nearest piece and probed it with his divine sense.
The image began to flow.
What is before my eyes is not a visual image, but a "memory replay" directly injected into my consciousness:
underground.
The nest passages are dark, damp, and intricate.
Jemin (or rather, his previous self) is leading a twenty-man wizard squad on a rapid advance.
The surrounding walls were covered with low-level Scythe-Skull Clan members, who swarmed in like a tide, but the team easily cleared them out.
Suddenly, the ground shook.
Not from above, but from deep underground.
The ground of the nest cracked open, and hot energy streams gushed out from the cracks.
Immediately afterwards, figures "rose" from the cracks, appearing directly in three-dimensional space as if floating from water.
Those figures were completely different from ordinary Scythe-Skull Clan members: their carapaces were dark gold with more complex patterns, they were a size larger, and their auras... were all above level four.
"Guardian Insects." The memory of himself spoke in a low voice, "Damn it, this is a trap. Their main force isn't even on the front lines..."
They replaced it with another piece of crystal.
Another memory: on the edge of a battlefield, I was using some kind of detection magic to scan the earth's veins.
On the instrument screen, the dots representing the number of Scythe-Skull Clan members were as numerous as stars.
“These guys are behaving strangely; they seem to be trying to play guerrilla warfare right now,” another wizard’s voice came from the side.
Jemin nodded to himself: "Strange, if we could go back in time to when the starting conditions were that the group's numbers dropped to a certain threshold, or the death rate was higher than a certain percentage, they should all be fighting alongside us—at least to gather more intelligence."
"...Unless, reincarnation also comes at a price for them."
"Or... what they fear is something else entirely."
Jemin opened his eyes, quickly put the crystal aside, and picked up the next one.
The crystal records the discovery of what appears to be a "reincarnation device".
In my memory, based on the intelligence from the previous rounds, I had located an underground energy anomaly.
The detection results showed that the concentration of time-law fluctuations there was abnormally high, clearly indicating that it was an artificial structure.
The team decided to launch a surprise attack.
Then... they fell into a trap.
That wasn't a device, but a carefully designed "decoy node".
As the squad ventured deeper, the node detonated, releasing not an explosion, but some kind of spacetime turbulence.
The three wizards were torn to pieces on the spot by the disordered flow of time—their "existence time" was randomly disrupted, part of their bodies aged and turned to ash, while the other part degenerated into embryonic cells.
He barely managed to withstand it thanks to the adaptive evolution of the body tempering method, but the time flow rate of his right arm has not yet fully returned to normal.
In his memory, he could feel that arm moving at different speeds, like an unstable pendulum.
"So the location of the reincarnation device is still unknown," Jemin murmured.
He continued browsing.
The following crystals are mostly about tactical details: the characteristics of various variant units of the Scythe Skull Clan, terrain information for specific areas, the combat process of friendly wizards, and the enemy's response...
Until he picked up the third-to-last crystal.
The moment he started reading, Jemin's breath hitched.
This memory... is a near-death experience.
In the scene, the player's squad is exploring an abandoned sickle-skull tribe building.
The building had a peculiar architectural style, resembling some kind of temple, with walls covered in incomprehensible symbols.
Suddenly, without any warning, an eighth-level Scythe-Skull Clan member descended.
The monster "appeared" directly inside the building, as if it had always been hiding there.
The terrifying pressure rendered all wizards below level four incapable of fighting on the spot, while level five wizards barely managed to hold on.
The team's only level six wizard, "Iron Wall," roared and stood at the forefront, his entire body glowing with thick law patterns, and his hands unfurling a tortoise-shell-shaped energy shield.
Then the level eight Scythe-Skull Clan member simply raised one forelimb and tapped it lightly.
The shield shattered.
A transparent hole appeared in the Ironwall Wizard's chest, allowing him to look down and see what was behind him.
But he did not die immediately; instead, he used his last strength to detonate all the energy reserves in his body.
The impact of the self-destruction briefly disrupted the lock-on of the Level 8 Being, giving the others less than a second to escape.
The self in my memory activated the "Five Aggregates Transformation into Rainbow Mirror" without hesitation.
Huaguang.
The body decomposes into countless light particles, which escape outward at the speed of light.
But the moment the light was activated, dozens of energy fields suddenly lit up around the building.
These energy fields precisely blocked Jemin's escape route after he turned into light.
These force fields have different properties; some interfere with energy flow, some distort spatial structures, and some are specifically designed to target high-speed moving targets...
The stream of light that he transformed into barely passed through the force field, but he could sense that the lurking scythe-skull race members were clearly "stunned" for a moment.
The last thought in my memory came through clearly:
"It seems I used the Light Transformation here in the last round as well. They saw it before... but didn't understand it."
Jemin opened his eyes abruptly, his back soaked in cold sweat.
He looked down at his right hand.
It is now intact, but in that memory, the arm almost collapsed in its light-transformed state because it forcibly passed through the interference field, leaving permanent damage to its laws.
Then he saw the "text message" attached to the last piece of crystal.
"...The Scythe-Skull Clan's underground lair is a trap. They use a large number of low-level individuals to draw fire, while their true main force consists of 'Guardian Insects' directly teleported from the ley lines, generally at level four or higher..."
"...The trigger condition for time reversal is most likely the population size of the Scythe-Skull Clan, but strangely, the Scythe-Skull Clan seems to be avoiding exceeding this threshold..."
"...High concentrations of temporal law fluctuations were detected at the underground energy source in the area, suspected to be man-made structures. Initially, it was suspected to be a 'reincarnation device' of the insectoid civilization, but it was later discovered to be a trap..."
"Don't use the Five Elements Rainbow Mirror's light-transformation ability to escape. Although I used this ability to escape at the last moment of this round, the opponent clearly reacted. However, they didn't understand the specific nature of the light transformation, so it failed. If I use it again in the next round, I'm very likely to fall into their trap..."
"I have already revealed my strong physical strength, but the other party probably doesn't know the exact strength. I need to find a way to let my next reincarnation know this."
Looking at this information, Jemin remained silent for a long time.
(End of this chapter)
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