14 Keep trying

"What is the date today?" Ernesto soullessly asked.

Ernesto, the regressor, was back at his starting point.

He came back to the same place with the same anxious servant that he saw in his first regression.

"It's the 389th day of the 3037th year, young master." 

The servant's response was also the same, as if he was watching the same scenario that he had already seen. The only thing he should be thankful for was he still had another chance.

"Ugh."

Ernesto clasped his head as felt a sharp pain in his head. It was not physical pain but a psychological pain from what he did to die. After piercing his head with his mana, the dizziness from that short experience of death and despair was making his insides a mess.

However, Ernesto doesn't have time to feel sick. He shook his head and clenched his fist. He then narrowed his gaze as he said, "I need to hurry!"

He has no time to feel unwell. He needed to run after Ndulou, who was about to enter the primordial beast's prison.

He left his servant, whom he advised not to follow him. He hurriedly ran as fast as he could. As everything resets, including his mana, he can not use his magic yet. His body returns to being an ordinary kid once he regresses.

He passed through the castle's main kitchen and ended up inside the butcher's room. He instructed everyone to not enter the room and leave him alone.

He then moved to the metal cabinet and saw a mahogany door behind it. He turned the knob and immediately ran inside. The door welcomes him to an infinite stairway.

He commented to himself, "It's great that my memory retains every time I regress." while still running down the stairs.

The Halo detection magic that he cast before his previous death recorded a clear map of the entrances and exits of the labyrinth and the underground city inside his head-his memory. This includes the secret passage inside the butcher's room.

He ran for an hour and finally reached the underground city. He then hurriedly looked for the blue building that he saw while scanning the area with his halo detection magic.

After locating the blue building, he kicked the locked door and went inside. What he found was an empty room with a lot of runic symbols drawn on the walls, floor, and ceiling. He sat down in the middle of the empty room and gathered his mana, which caused his whole body to glow.

"I hope this room works the way I think."

Ernesto suspects that this room and its runic magic circles can help him improve his mana capacity. He only caught a glimpse of this room in his previous life through halo detection magic, but he wished that this room would help him increase his magic skills. He needed magic to instantly teleport him to the prison. The location of the prison was too far for him to run, and it may have taken him a day to run.

The runic magic circle glowed red after he activated it with his small amount of mana. He closed his eyes to focus more on stabilizing the new power that was entering his young body.

The prickly sensation within his body grows little by little into pain. He clasped his hands while enduring the pain, and as time passed, the flow of mana became excruciating.

"Did I miss something? Why is this so fucking painful?" 

There was nothing he could do but frown.

Fifteen minutes have passed. Ernesto's clothes are now soaked with his own sweat. The pain was still there, but the glow of the magic circle became dimmer as time went by.

SSSSSSSSS

A sizzling sound ended the casting, and Ernesto finally relaxed his body, but it was no longer hurting.

He closed and opened his hand to check if he had successfully improved his magic, then smiled after confirming. He was about to leave when he noticed a book lying alone on the floor. He was rushing a while ago, so he didn't notice right away. 

He picked up the dusty, thin book and read the title of the book."A manual?" 

Luckily, Ernesto studied the Runic language in his previous life, so he could easily understand what's written in the book.

He read, "How to cast blah blah blah."

He continuously flipped the pages because he already knew the process of casting, but then he burst into laughter after reading the last page.

[Reminder: Perform the ritual slowly and delicately so that no vital points are missed. Do not rush. Any sudden movements may rupture any part of your body, or worse, you may die. Please complete the process in 5 hours minimum.]

"Haha! That is why it was so painful!?"

Miraculously, Ernesto shortened the 5-hour ritual into a 15-minute, painful mode without ending up dying.

"Well, it doesn't matter." 

He throws the manual back to the floor and casts a teleportation spell, saying, "Whatever, I'll be back if I die."

He then reappeared in front of the tall stone prison door.

This time, he did not hesitate to open the heavy door.

"Shit!"

He should be happy that he finally caught Ndulou, but the situation was still worse. Nudlou was being bound by the ominous chains forged by the gods. Ernesto ran into him and looked at him anxiously.

"Did he possess you already?"

He tried to touch the chains, but it automatically gave him an electric shock.

He loudly asked, "How should I remove this?" That caused Ndulou to wake Ndulou up.

Nduou dawdled and asked, "Young master?"

Aside from his mouth, he cannot move his whole body as if the chains are in control of his strength.

"Hey! Hold on! I will get you out of here!"

Ernesto wanted to check on Ndulou's state, but he could not touch him. He stands up and scans the area, asking, "Is there anything that can help me here?" to look for something useful, but he finds nothing.

Chains were the only thing he could see.

Ernesto exclaimed, "Ah! That's right!" as he remembered the whole city beside the labyrinth. He leaned closer to Ndulou again and said, "I'll be back! Keep holding on!"

He then teleported back to the abandoned city.

"Did I see it right? It's here!"

Ernesto grabbed the golden goblet from inside the magic-restricted shelves of a temple in the middle of the abandoned city and gulped down the liquid inside it. He staggered from where he was standing because of another pain he was feeling again.

"This will grant me divine powers! If it's an object made by the gods, their divine powers will surely deal with those chains!"

Still feeling the pain inside his body, he quickly went out of the temple and immediately cast a teleportation spell to go back to Ndulou. However, the image of Ndulou being chained inside the dark room wasn't there; instead, Ernesto opened his eyes inside his room in the Marquis's castle again.

"Wait, what the fuck!?"

He cursed openly.

"Why? Did I die?"

The usual servant, whom he always sees, was now standing nervously behind him, wondering why he was cursing while standing in front of the mirror.

"Don't fucking follow me."

Ernesto left his room once again and ran back to the passage in the butcher's room. Once he reached the blue building again, he paused for a moment.

"Wait, did I die because of the strain of having my magic suddenly increase and mix with divine powers? But if I choose divine power, I won't be able to teleport to him right away. If I choose my magic, then I cannot remove those fucking chains."

Ernesto covered his face with both of his hands to refocus himself. After a moment, he went to the temple, where he drank the liquid containing divine powers and began running indefinitely.

Fortunately, the divine powers helped him replenish his strength from running endlessly. He still feels exhausted, but his knees have never given up after running for days.

Ernesto was breathing heavily. He has eaten nothing for days, and the only thing he has done is run.

He mumbled, "How many days has it been?" as he could taste his own sweat. He did not know how long he had been running since the area was always dark. His whole body trembled from exhaustion as he finally reached the tall stone prison door.

Ernesto said, "I hope you are still okay." while he pressed his hand to the gigantic door. He thought to himself that he would just kill himself if this time didn't work out. He is now confident that he will return if he dies.

He pushed the door open and saw Ndulou still chained inside. He touched Ndulou's cheeks and said, "Ha! I can even touch you!"

The divine powers let him touch the cursed child, and although he was celebrating, he still felt anxious, wondering, "Is this a good thing, right?"

Ernesto finally smiled. He closed his eyes and controlled the divine powers inside him to spread around the chains. He slowly purified the ominous chains that, one by one, broke down.

Ernesto caught Ndulou, who had slid down from the loose bind of the chains.

"Well now, the problem is, how the fuck will I drag him out of this place?"

Ernesto feels exhausted by thinking he will run again, but this time he will carry his friend.

"Hey Kuya, you better treat me well. Look how hard I work!"

Ernesto carried his friend on his back and ran once more.

With no heavy feelings in his heart and mind, the thought that he had succeeded delighted his exhaustion.

"Let's think about the curse later. The important thing is that you're finally with me."