Chapter 131 Infinite Loop [ 2 ]

-Julian Reinhard's point of view.

He knew whose magic was cast, so he was not surprised.

However, Julian, who looked at Grey, soon returned to the combat point where they were.

For more Wraiths came out of nowhere.

However...

Crunch.

His hands filled with electricity as he shot out.

Grey looked at Julian fighting.

Simply put, Julian's fighting style was aggressive and fast.

Seeing Julian's swift movements and his mastery in lightning affinity, Grey thought:

"He is incredibly fast, and his attacks are destructive."

However, remembering all of Asher's fights, Grey sighed.

"I guess we're still behind him."

He admitted.

After a few minutes, Julian returned to his position from before and looked at Grey.

It was because he had something to tell him.

He knew something was wrong with the Dungeon from the start and the separation from the others.

He soon spoke as he looked at Grey.

"You know, don't you?"

"Yes."

Grey nodded.

He knew perfectly well that the Dungeon was strange.

However, soon the others would be able to kill the Dungeon boss.

For there were several against one.

An overwhelming advantage that the Dungeon boss would not be able to deal with.

"The Dungeon changes every hour."

"Its structure too."

"Monsters appear every time the Dungeon changes. That's why I thought something was weird."

Grey explained.

"What if it's some illusion or something, Grey?"

"No, it's impossible."

"Besides, it's hard for something like an illusion to be big enough to make changes to the entire maze. Knowing its size, that's..."

"Impossible, I know, but there's nothing else we know."

The Dungeon is constantly changing and the monsters never end.

Julian knew that.

If there were hundreds or thousands of Wraiths in the Dungeon, then the Dungeon was grade 8.

However, the dungeon management people did not mention this.

Knowing that inside the Dungeon there are hundreds of monsters, the report was incomplete.

Because they would have noticed something, or possibly because they were hiding something.

If they think the Dungeon can't be cleaned, they must be wrong.

Grey and Julian nodded inwardly.

The only variable, and the only person who could clear the Dungeon easily at this point, was Asher.

While the two of them were trapped in the maze, the others were possibly already out. However, they didn't know if they were actually all out of the Dungeon, which left this in doubt.

Although Julian agreed with Grey that the others could be outside the Dungeon.

What if there is someone else?

Then they should look.

However, with the constantly changing structure of the Dungeon, it was impossible to search for anyone else, knowing that the Dungeon boss was watching them from somewhere in the Dungeon.

Grey then spoke up.

"The Dungeon boss is on the other side of the maze."

"How do you know that?"

"Remember when we went in? On the other side was a gigantic fog that covered an entire radius of at least 100 kilometers."

"You're right, but what's inside the fog?"

"I thought the same thing."

Although they knew that, it was impossible for them to know exactly what was after the fog.

The Dungeon boss would definitely be somewhere inside the fog, hiding.

A boss hiding for a reason.

Because his power is relatively low or because we have someone strong in the group.

Either answer would be correct.

However, the answer was the stronger one.

The Dungeon boss never thought that a stronger than expected human would enter a grade 9 Dungeon.

However, another mystery was the mana beasts.

Grey, who had heard their roars, had also thought so.

"Mana beasts shouldn't be in a Grade 9 Dungeon."

Julian, likewise, thought the same thing.

Why were mana beasts in a grade 9 Dungeon?

Why didn't those managing the Dungeons give a full report?

Whatever the answer, they would soon know.

However, the problem at the moment was to find the way out of the labyrinth and get to the other side, just where the fog was.

For only then would they be able to meet up with the others.

Killing the boss was the priority at the moment.

"If you kill the boss, the Dungeon will have no one to control it."

Once you kill the boss of the Dungeon, the Dungeon would be completely silent.

As if the monsters inside had quieted down.

Raaaawr-rrrrrRRRRRREEEEGGHH!!!!

More Wraiths.

The Wraiths, with their long hands and hundreds of them, ran towards the two.

"Tch..."

Grey clicked his tongue.

The Wraiths were annoying.

However, their numbers weren't even going down at all.

Somehow...

Either it's the boss controlling them or it could be something else.

"We should look for the source of the Wraith."

Because Grey realized that it wasn't actually the dungeon boss controlling them.

It's someone else.

No...

A being other than the boss controlling them.

"The king of the Wraith is here."

A grade 8 monster.

However, why would a monster of that caliber be in a grade 9 Dungeon?

Was it perhaps what the dungeon management failed to report.

It was actually the Wraith King that was the real challenge.

In retrospect, if so, then it will be tricky.

A grade 8 is twice as strong as a grade 9.

However, looking at the number of Wraiths, it appeared to be that the Wraith king was a semi-grade 7, one that is close to reaching grade 7 fully.

Monsters of that grade were rare to see.

But not impossible.

Julian then ran as blue sparks covered his entire body, and various spells were generated around him as different electric magics appeared.

It was a barrage of lightning affinity spells that Julian made appear.

"Crazy."

There were so many spells that Grey was surprised.

While Julian wielded multiple spells, he was quite the opposite.

"I barely have five," he thought.

The amount of spells Grey possessed seemed minimal in comparison. However, Julian seemed to control more than ten and used them all simultaneously, without backing down or showing concern for mana consumption.

That was due to his incredible affinity mastery.

Thanks to his high-ranking mana control, he managed to reduce consumption considerably.

Likewise, Grey also threw himself into combat, as the ground trembled and began to distort, as if he was molding an oversized terrain.

***

-Scene change.

-Freddy Siegfried's point of view.

There was no way to escape the infinite loop he had been trapped in for over an hour.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..." His breathing was rising and falling erratically.

"Damn it," he thought in frustration.

Escaping from an infinite loop is a complicated task. You have to find a solution, or else you'll never get out.

Freddy had tried every possible way he knew of, methods that, in theory, should work.

Some involved huge amounts of mana and mass destruction of his surroundings. However, nothing was working.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

The situation was exhausting and frustrating, looking for a way out of an infinite loop always was. As the name suggests, this phenomenon could be generated by monsters with control over illusions.

Although getting out was possible, the challenge lay in finding the solution.

Time was a priority for Freddy. If he failed to find the dungeon boss, it would be problematic and he would not get the elemental stone, which would prevent him from becoming stronger.

He needed to become stronger. Only then would he be able to fulfill his dream and protect the weakest.

Despite his cold and distant attitude, Freddy had not always been like this. In the past, he observed how commoners were treated inhumanely.

The nobles were the cause of their suffering. In a world full of monsters, humans still mistreated each other. Nobles and commoners had never gotten along.

"That is why I must be stronger, overcome all mages and protect the weak," he said to himself.

If you didn't protect the weak, you didn't deserve the title of nobleman.

Freddy didn't give up; he forced himself to think of a clearer solution. Getting out of an infinite loop was different from what he had faced before. He tried the most common solutions, the most difficult and the simplest, but none of them worked.

"Maybe I should invent a new way," he mused, then realized. "It's possible it's all an illusion."

The fog, the snow... it had all started when he entered the forest and the fog became dense, enveloping him in the loop.

"The key is in the mind," he concluded. It wasn't a physical challenge, but a mental one. Freddy closed his eyes, concentrating on strengthening his mind.

When he opened them again, he visualized his surroundings. "At the moment, everything looks the same," he thought as he began to walk slowly.

Perhaps the way out of the loop was in that process, though he wasn't entirely sure. He took a few more steps, moving away from the tree, until he realized that the landscape had changed: the tree was no longer in the same place.

"Now I must look for the dungeon boss," he thought, quickening his pace.

The problem was that the others would also face the infinite loop.

He stopped and looked around. Although the fog was dense, he found it impossible to see beyond five meters. Freddy expanded his peripheral vision by channeling his mana as a catalyst.

However...

"It's impossible," he muttered.

He sensed that the mist was made of pure mana, stretching for several kilometers, exceeding a hundred, all condensed into a magical substance.

"Damn fool...", he thought. It was inconceivable. If the mist was so dense with mana, then the boss must have possessed an unimaginable amount to create something so vast, even with extraordinary abilities.

However, or is it because, in reality, the mist is a phenomenon that the Dungeon had before the Dungeon boss took possession of it.

Being a simple idea, it could be the latter.

"It's impossible for a grade 9 monster to have that much mana."

It was impossible.

If it was actually like that, then it would be at least a grade 5 at the very least.

Because the fog stretched over a hundred kilometers in a large radius of distance.

Perhaps a sixth circle mage could do it, however, a grade 5 monster would also find it difficult, and even its mana would be nearly consumed.

He soon took quick steps as he approached what appeared to be an area cleared of trees.

It was a dead spot.

For there was nothing at least within a 100 square meter radius.

However, he saw a silhouette.

Was it human or a monster?

Both seemed the same with every step it approached Freddy.

Freddy, seeing it, raised his eyebrow curiously.

"There's no way anyone else is here."

Unless the others had already killed the Dungeon boss and were now returning.

However, they had to go through the infinite loop that the fog created, and of course, that would take at least one or at most three hours to get out.

Also, the time they would take to kill the Dungeon boss would be quite a bit.

So, whatever was coming from the shadows in front of them, what appeared to be human but also monster, were not their friends.

However...

"W-What...?"

He opened his eyes helplessly.

That was because he saw himself on the other side.

He was an identical double to Freddy: same appearance, same features. He was a perfect double and the same as Freddy, who came out of the forest....