Chapter 405 The Third Time
Just as he rushed through the spatial rift, Jemin felt a sudden wave of dizziness, as if someone had hit the back of his head with a blunt object.
But he quickly regained his balance and almost instantly regained his senses.
"Captain?" came a teammate's question from behind.
"It's nothing." Jemin raised his hand to indicate, but his gaze had already swept ahead.
Crossing the dark spatial rift, their thousand-strong force appeared high in the sky behind the battlefield.
Ahead lay a massive army of wizards, millions of them arrayed in formation, with various rune turrets standing tall and energy shields gleaming in the air.
Further away, on the horizon, were dark masses of enemy troops.
At that moment, the guards behind the wizard army had already turned their guns on them.
"Reinforcements?" A level six wizard flew out from the ranks, his voice full of vigilance. "At this time?"
Without saying a word, Jemin simply raised the Magic Network Terminal.
A beam of light was projected into the air, revealing the command document of the Starforger Artorias, with the mental imprint of an eighth-level wizard at the end as dazzling as the sun.
The sixth-level wizard's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately bowed: "Verification passed."
He turned and gestured behind him, and the guards lowered their weapons.
But the atmosphere remained tense—the wizards all looked confused, clearly not understanding why an additional reinforcement had suddenly appeared.
"Fortunately, Lord Artorias made preparations in advance," Jemin thought to himself.
If that level eight wizard hadn't first withdrawn all troops from the plane and explained the situation after discovering the truth about the time loop, he would still be having to use his words to persuade these people.
Now, all it takes is one command.
Soon, the level seven wizard leading the team flew over from the command platform.
He was a stern-faced middle-aged man, wearing a silver-gray robe and a silver seven-star medal on his chest.
He took the order and examined it carefully, his expression growing increasingly grim.
“So…” the seventh-level wizard raised his head, a flash of realization in his eyes, “we’ve been trapped in this cycle for a long time, haven’t we?”
“Yes, Lord Frost.” Jemin nodded. “According to the command’s observations, it has gone through one hundred and thirty-eight cycles.”
Frost was silent for two seconds, then suddenly sneered: "No wonder the scouts reported that the enemy's formation had suddenly changed completely. I thought it was a delay in intelligence updates..."
He looked at the thousand people behind Jemin: "You are the new variable. Lord Artorias hopes you can break the deadlock?"
“We are the first combat team,” Jemin said frankly. “Our mission is to gather intelligence in the cycle and test the limits of the enemy’s response.”
“Very good.” Frost nodded. “Then let’s not waste any more time. You will go to the center position and command the 203rd to 207th formations. Remember—observe carefully, don’t rush into a fight. I need to know the enemy’s changes.”
"clear."
Jemin led the team to the designated location.
The central command is located slightly behind the center of the battlefield, where the view is wide, allowing them to see the overall battlefield situation clearly while remaining relatively safe.
Surrounded by other wizard squads, they nodded to each other and then took their positions.
Jemin landed on the command platform, and the team members behind him quickly dispersed to begin inspecting the rune turrets and energy nodes.
These are all standard features, and each command post has them.
"Captain, the cannon fodder formation is in position," the adjutant reported. "Should we deploy them now?"
"Get immersed," Jemin said, his consciousness already sinking into the inner world of his body.
As is customary, he should immediately unleash the Black Giant Legion to join the front lines.
But when Jemin's mental will swept rapidly through the cave within his body, he froze.
The once neatly lined-up legion of five thousand black giants was now reduced to half. Two thousand five hundred dark figures stood silently, while the other two thousand five hundred positions... were empty.
In front of the empty area, there are two white metal plaques on the ground.
A piece marked "1".
The other one has "2" written on it.
Jemin's pupils contracted sharply.
Knowing himself well, he quickly realized what was going on.
Number cards... This is a habit I have of marking myself.
1 and 2... I've already gone through two cycles?
He looked sharply at the charging platform—three Fire Extinction Divine Light Staffs were stuck on it, with energy readings showing charging progress of 47%, 63%, and 22% respectively.
I've used it.
In the previous cycle, I already used my trump card.
Good news: the inner cave seems to be unaffected by time reversal.
The bad news is that once the contents are removed, they will not be reset through reincarnation.
“Time paradox…” Jemin uttered the word in a low voice.
His inner world is essentially an independent small plane. Although it is attached to him, its time flow and rules are not completely synchronized with the reincarnation plane.
When time reverses in the cycle of reincarnation, the timeline within the cave may remain unchanged—or at least, what has already happened will not be reversed.
Those vanished black giants were beings whose existence was "cancelled" by the time paradox.
They neither existed in this timeline nor returned to the cave; they simply... disappeared.
Jemin felt a chill run down his spine.
The most terrifying kind of loss is the silent, stealthy kind.
If he hadn't seen it, he would never have realized that he had lost half of his Black Giant army, and that he had already gone through at least two fierce battles.
"Captain?" came the adjutant's voice. "The enemy has begun their advance."
Jemin forced himself to come to his senses and subconsciously searched for other information within his internal space.
Fortunately, he found it easily—behind the metal plaque with the number "2" written on it, there was a small pile of recording crystals.
That was information left behind by my previous self.
But the enemy was closing in from afar, and there was no time to check now.
Jemin took a deep breath and pulled himself back to reality.
He raised his hand and waved it, opening a crack in his inner world. After hesitating for a moment, he selected 1,000 black giants from the remaining 2,500 and sent them into the cannon fodder formation in front.
His gaze passed over his own ranks and fell into the distance.
On the horizon, a black tide is surging.
That's an army of insects.
Hundreds of millions of creatures with mantis heads and cockroach bodies, covered in chitinous exoskeletons, some crawling, some flying, and most even carrying what appear to be sophisticated energy weapons.
They made a dense "clicking" sound as they moved, forming a continuous sound like a never-ending downpour.
Behind the black tide, dozens of enormous shadows could be vaguely seen—creatures that had advanced to level 7, each as large as a mountain.
Further away, five suffocating auras emanated from the sky.
Level 8.
"What a... impressive lineup," Jemin murmured.
Frost's voice echoed throughout the army via the magic network: "All units, prepare to engage the enemy—remember, this time we're changing the rhythm! After the first volley, the left flank advances forward, and the right flank retreats to regroup!"
With the order given, the wizard army began to adjust its formation.
But at this very moment...
Suddenly, Jemin sensed that the army formation of the Scythe-Skull Clan... was also being slightly adjusted.
Their air units began to concentrate on the left flank, while ground forces significantly strengthened their defenses on the right flank.
It was as if... they had known all along that the wizard would change his tactics like this.
“As expected.” Jemin gripped his staff tighter. “They remember. They remember every single cycle.”
The black tide suddenly accelerated.
All the wizards immediately focused their attention and prepared to respond.
The enemy began their charge.
(End of this chapter)
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