Ch 85 – Arriving at Tyburg

"[Cleanse]" Lute chanted, the tip of his long wooden staff glowing a white light as the bodies of both Honda and Kira got enveloped in blue light. The dirt, mud, blood, flesh, and other stains that were taken from killing the Alpha Ogre magically fell down to the ground as Honda looks down at his body with amazed eyes.

"Is that another spell of yours?" Honda said while they entered the cart. The smell of blood permeating from their previous dirty body and clothes were now fully clean without a speck of dust even dirtying them.

"Yeah, it was a spell I made back in the days when I was an E Rank mage and can only use F rank spells like Blood Knife and Blood Arrow. I spent most of my money buying a special knife where I won't feel a speck of pain when cutting my palm so I can use blood for my spells." Lute explained, his hand rummaging through the light brown pouch hanging from his waist and taking out a knife that looks normal except for the strange markings written down on the blade itself.

"Wait, what's your attribute? You're a Blood Mage?" Honda asked, in this world, attributes can be used as an indicator of what a person is like. For example, having a Fire attribute would have a person most likely be fiery in nature, that kind of stuff. Blood mages are a bit distant, cold even. But Lute is the furthest from what a normal Blood Mage is.

"Oh, no, no. My attribute is Sacrifice." Lute said as Honda's eyes widened in surprise.

In this world, there are many attributes ranging from the common elements to the rarest attributes such as Time, Space, Life, and Death. The higher the rarity, the stronger it generally is. And sacrifice is a very rare attribute, but it has a very big downside, and that is most spells made by Sacrificial Mages rely on harming themselves, so most newbies don't get that far unless they have been under the tutelage of an experienced mage until they can finally develop their own spells.

"You're a Sacrificial Mage?! So that's why you have been using mostly Mana Spells. But do you have any spells specifically made for your attribute?" Honda asked, intrigued at what spells Lute could have made.

"Oh, I made plenty of spells already. Like Blood Empowerment, Blood Location, Damage Share, Damage Transfer, and all kinds of spells. Though they are not that efficient considering their nature, so I mostly use simple spells like Mana Bullets. And it is also due to me having only a C Rank soul," Lute said, but Honda noticed the strange remark.

"Wait, C Rank soul? I thought you were a B Rank mage, and you clearly killed that Alpha Ogre with only two Mana Bullets." Honda asked, confused at the situation.

"Oh, so technically, I'm a C Rank mage. But in terms of battle power, I'm a B Rank. And if you are wondering how, well it's because I'm a genius." Lute snickered as Honda saw Kira's eyes roll from the side. It was probably from the "I'm a genius" part, and Honda already notices how Lute kept saying he was a genius these past few hours.

"Mmm. But there is something I am curious about, what was that white material Kira-san summoned?" Honda asked, and he instantly noticed the atmosphere inside the room getting heavier.

"Well… I think it's fine explaining it to you. You see here, my hubby wubby Kira-chan has a unique ability where he can summon a strange material out of nowhere, he had it since he was young, I don't know what it is nor its true extent but it's pretty durable, it can even tank through some pretty tough hits from B Rank monsters without breaking and regenerate quite fast." Lute explained as Honda nods his head, he decides to stop there as prying too much into other people's secrets and trump cards in this dangerous world is not that good.

'If I get killed by Kira, what are the chances of me attaining that ability for myself? Sigh, it would probably hurt a lot though, another phantom pain to have nightmares off nearly every single night.' Honda thought self-deprecatingly, his eyes closing on their own as haunting images of his past deaths resurfaced in his mind. But what he didn't notice was Lute's eyes gleaming for a split second, as if he has heard something quite interesting.

"Hey, Yuuya-chan, don't you think Honda-sama is super cool? Like avoiding death and returning back in time, I'm pretty envious of that ability not gonna lie. Though, it is a bit strange how fast his growth was, considering he has been in this world for less than a year and he's already thought to be an A Rank mage and B Rank fighter, being a Looper won't give that much growth, now does it?" Lute said out of nowhere which caused Honda's eyes to shoot wide open, his breath trembling and his mouth subconsciously gulping.

"That fast growth, could it be… Another secret ability related to death?" Lute said, a small grin forming on his face as Honda's heart skipped a beat.

"Or maybe he was just accelerating his time to train a lot faster, it was rumored that he stayed inside his room for most of the day, he must be secretly training right?" Lute instantly changed the conclusion as Honda's heart instantly calmed down.

"Or maybe… He can copy abilities upon death." Lute's grin instantly widens as Honda's eyes dilated, and his heart started trembling nonstop while his breath became ragged.

"Eh, that sounds pretty ridiculous, considering Looping is already an absurd ability, having a second hidden ability like that is just too overpowered now, isn't it?" Lute said, the chaotic wave of emotions surging from Honda's heart made beads of sweat trickle down his forehead.

"Oh, are you okay, Yuuya-san? You're sweating buckets right now!" Lute said in worry, he then hastily took out a handkerchief and wiped it on Honda's forehead, and one thought resounded in Honda's mind.

'He's so… pretty.'

Soon, the trio conversed with one another and Honda managed to hear Kira's voice after a while. It was soothing, a different feel from Lute's voice which was similar to a breezy spring field, it was instead like a calm lake in the middle of a quiet rainforest.

'These two, are they the interesting characters Kilt was talking about?' Honda thought with a goofy grin as they retold fun and interesting stories to one another throughout the day, and they finally arrived at Tyburg in the late afternoon where the sun could be seen already setting in the distance.

"Whoa! So this is Tyburg! This is the second Kingdom I've ever been in!" Lute said as they got out of the cart and said goodbye to the old man who owned the cart. Their grins were wide and a feeling of excitement coursed through their bodies, especially when they saw the large horde of adventurers in the distance all surrounding a certain gigantic blue portal.

"Sigh, it seems like we won't be able to get a wink of rest today, boys. The dungeon is officially opening in less than 5 minutes, so go take a piss or something already!" Lute shouts as Honda saw him instantly rushing to an inn in the distance to refreshen himself while Kira silently walked forward, leaving Honda all alone.

'All right, five minutes, in and out. I need to pee, drink some water, and maybe eat a piece of bread or two. The dungeon expedition should only take less than an hour using my previous experience inside Kilt's dungeons, so this should end quite fast and we could sleep after that.' Honda yawned as he followed Kira and Lute to the inn, he went to take a piss, drink a cup of cold water, and ate a small cupcake to refreshen himself, the sugar inside it energizing him for the upcoming dungeon.

"Whew, you guys ready?" Lute asked as they walked towards the horde of adventurers with palpitating hearts. The fear of the unknown makes their bodies excited and thrilled for adventure.

"As ready as I could be," Honda said, a confident grin is also plastered on his face because he knows he can handle this with past experience. Of course, he was confident, he is a Reincarnate who has fought alongside ridiculously strong maniacs like him, a puny A Rank dungeon won't faze him that much, though if Lute and Kira died, then he might really have to die to save them if the worst happens.

'Shit, Kilt really is right! If I get a party, then I would probably have to sacrifice myself for them.' Honda thought as a shiver crawled up his spine upon realizing Kilt's plan. Now he has decided that he will delay having a Hero Party, or maybe he won't even make one and continue solo.

"Look! The first team is already entering!" Lute shouts as Honda puts his attention on the team in the distance entering the gigantic blue portal with intrigued eyes. That was until they noticed something strange.

"Hmm? Why isn't the portal closing?"

"Yeah, it should have closed by now."

As more and more adventurers noticed the strange occurrence with the portal, the officials guarding the portal suddenly let another party go through, and just like last time, the portal stayed open without closing in on itself.

"Huh? Is that really a dungeon portal?"

"What if it's a trap to kill us all?"

"Yeah! It might actually be a portal that leads to a trap!"

"But, the pressure it emanates is indeed what a dungeon is like, so maybe it's a new dungeon type?"

As more and more adventurers theorized what the problem could be and its cause. The third party was let through and the portal remained the same, with no fluctuations, no visible changes, it was just the same ol' gigantic blue portal.

"Hey, what do you guys think about the portal? Should we enter it?" Lute asked the two as they stood quite far away from it.

'Hmm… If I do die, then I can just loop back and say we probably shouldn't enter the portal, I'm sure Kilt would understand.' Honda thought as he decided to enter the dungeon. He was this brave and courageous due to the threat of actual death being zero to him with his cheat, or one of his cheats to be exact.

"We should enter it, who knows, it might be a new dungeon type just like the others are saying," Honda said with a smile.

"But what if it's actually dangerous? Who knows, it might really be a trap set up by the kingdom of Tyburg?" Lute asked, his worries were indeed valid.

"But… What if we lose the chance to explore the chance of a lifetime, this is the first-ever dungeon to appear like this, so the value outweighs the risk, come on, we only live once!" Honda insisted, he knew how ridiculous his speech sounds, but he must enter it with the two, if not, he was sure it would be a lot harder clearing it all alone.

"Fine." Lute sighed after a short pause of contemplating. Upon hearing his response, Honda's grin widens as they continued to patiently wait for their turn.

"You guys, you plan on entering the dungeon?" The guard protecting the dungeon portal said.

"Yes, we would like to enter the dungeon," Lute responded, his hand rummaging through his pouch and taking out 75 Gold coins.

"Hey, are you sure you want to pay for all three of us again like last time?" Honda whispered to Lute's ear, he has the money so he doesn't mind paying for the three of them.

"No worries, didn't I tell you? I'm pretty wealthy with the business I run." Lute smiled, giving the gold coins to the guard as the guard nods his head.

As they walked right in front of the gigantic blue portal the size of a building, the three each took a deep breath and passed walked right through the blue portal without hesitation, for a new adventure is now starting. An adventure of action, fantasy, thrill, and most importantly, a mystery that spans multiple loops, for this is a Timeloop Mystery!

AN: This is 2073 words, you're welcome.

It's time for Volume 6 Arc 2: Bootleg Summertime Render in Another World's Dungeon.

Writing takes a lot of time and effort, so it would be most appreciative if you send me your power stones.

(July 12, 2022 – 230th day of writing)