Lu Mao took the dry ration but didn't eat it.
He gripped the rock-hard food in his hand, feeling its rough texture against his palm. This was real, not some lingering memory from before his save-reload.
Misha was still alive, Gerak was leaning against the boulder with steady breathing, and Rayne, Balen, and Elliot were still making their way through the other corridor.
Nothing had happened yet.
“Misha,”
he said, his voice steadier than he had expected. “No matter what I say next, don't be surprised.
“All five members of your party have likely been marked with a Tracking Mark for destroying the altar. Yours is on your left palm, and Gerak's is on his back.”
Misha froze upon hearing this. She looked down at her left hand, and sure enough, there was an extremely faint blue mark on her palm.
“This mark will draw all the goblins on the ninth floor to us—including an Elite-tier goblin. If you're caught unprepared, you won't stand a chance against it.
“So we don't have time to rest. We need to find your captain right now and buy you all more time to recover.”
“You...”
“Your goal is to destroy the altar to get the Panacea to cure your loved ones. There are five of you in total. Balen the dwarf has explosives hidden on him, Elliot has a Seventh-Circle necromantic scroll, and you...”
Lu Mao rattled off all the information and speculations he possessed as quickly as possible, trying to convince Misha in the shortest amount of time.
Misha gripped her staff tightly.
These details were things only members of their party should know.
It was impossible to have overheard them, and it certainly wasn't information an employer could provide.
“...Who on earth are you?”
“A failure,”
Lu Mao said. “There's no time to explain. If you believe me, we go find your captain. If you don't, I'll follow you anyway. That Elite-tier goblin is already on its way, and if the five of you rush in blindly, you're only going to your deaths.”
Misha stared at him for a few final seconds, then turned and tapped her staff against the ground. The sphere of light flared to life once more, brighter than before.
“I'll carry Gerak. You lead the way—the backup passage is to the south. They should be on their way to meet us.”
...
On the southeastern side of the Blood Nest Cloister.
“Captain! My mana is at less than thirty percent. I can only cast Wind Blade three more times at most.”
“Three times is enough.”
“Like hell it is.”
“...”
Just as a second wave of spear rain was about to rain down, a bright light suddenly erupted from the corridor behind the three of them, burning the eyes of the goblins and making them screech and bare their teeth in pain.
The three of them turned their heads.
At the corner of the corridor, Misha leaned on her staff with one hand, while a strange man next to her supported a limping Gerak.
The swordsman opened his mouth and shouted, “Fall back!”
With unspoken coordination, the three of them quickly abandoned the center of the battlefield and closed in on Misha's position.
Rayne was the first to arrive. Looking at the harmless-looking Lu Mao, he couldn't help but ask Misha,
“Who is this...?”
“No time to explain! Let's retreat to the backup passage first.”
“Alright.”
The six of them moved in unison.
Rayne took over from Lu Mao, carrying Gerak on his back as he charged at the front, with Misha close behind, leaning on her staff.
Elliot and Lu Mao stayed in the center of the formation, keeping a constant eye on their surroundings, while Balen the dwarf retreated backward with his shield raised to cover the rear.
Although they still almost got ambushed by goblins lurking in the shadows along the way, they ultimately made it through without any major incidents. Everyone's condition was far better than in the previous timeline.
Rayne was still in perfect shape, Elliot hadn't overused his magicules, Balen wasn't injured, Gerak had woken up early, and Misha wasn't exhausted from carrying Gerak.
As for Lu Mao, he had returned after completing his Level Breakthrough Quest in the previous timeline. This time, even if he just killed a few extra goblins to earn some experience points to prepare for breaking through to Level 4, it would be well worth it.
Once the last member of the party successfully entered the passage, Balen slammed his heavy shield into the entrance, blocking it completely. The immediate crisis had finally passed.
Rayne set Gerak down against the wall. The beastkin was mostly conscious now. He took a waterskin, gulped down a few mouthfuls, wiped his mouth with his remaining good left hand, and asked in a raspy voice,
“Where to?”
“No rush,”
Rayne said, turning to look at Misha, then casting his gaze toward Lu Mao, who was standing two paces away from her.
His gaze lingered on Lu Mao for a couple of seconds. The young man wore a tattered, dusty cloak, had a short dagger tucked into his waist, and bore no profession marker or Adventurer's Guild badge. Standing next to the cleric, he looked like a villager who had just been rescued from a goblin's clutches.
Yet Misha had allowed him to support Gerak, and on the retreat, this youth had guided them with a familiarity that surpassed even Rayne's, who actually held the dungeon map.
“And this brother is...?”
Misha briefly explained how she and Gerak had split up, got surrounded while destroying the altar according to the map's markings, and how Lu Mao had rescued her and revealed the tracking marks.
“The three of us are marked too,”
Rayne said, and the others showed their marks.
Seeing this, Misha was now absolutely certain that the marks were connected to the altar.
“Damn it! The bastard who posted this quest must have known about this crap. He wanted us to die in the dungeon after completing it! It's like hiring miners and not even giving them pickaxes!
“If a contractor like that showed up in dwarf territory, we'd have stuffed him into a minecart and pushed him into the furnace long ago. Back home, we have a saying for people who only give orders without providing tools: ‘Hiring a lame donkey to turn the mill—and trying to swallow the bran yourself!’”
Balen cursed. He caught Elliot and Gerak winking and gesturing at him out of the corner of his eye, then noticed Misha's knuckles whitening around her staff. Only then did he suddenly shut his mouth.
Misha didn't reply.
Averting her eyes from Balen's broad back, she turned to Lu Mao. “You said an Elite-tier goblin would follow the marks to find us. What should we do?”
“Elite-tier?”
The remaining four were taken aback. Although Gerak had woken up early on the way over thanks to the Low-Grade Healing Potion Lu Mao had given him, he had still been unconscious when Lu Mao spoke with Misha. He hadn't heard them mention it again on the road, so he now wore the same stunned expression as Rayne and the others.
“Are you sure it's not a High-Tier magical beast?”
Elliot asked instinctively. After all, when the three of them had been besieged by the goblin mob earlier, not even a High-Tier magical beast had appeared.
“I'm sure,”
Lu Mao replied quickly in a quiet voice, as if he had expected the question.
“It's a genuine Elite-tier. My source of information doesn't make mistakes about this kind of thing. The goblin mob you ran into at the altar was just the vanguard. The thing summoned by the altar's marks is still to come.”
“Elite-tier...”
Elliot repeated the words, his tone not of doubt, but rather like someone weighing a stone that was far too heavy.
“Elite-tier,”
Lu Mao emphasized again. “Its name is Zhalge, a Goblin Hero. It's so massive that it's nearly as tall as this corridor. Its healing speed is so fast that light wounds close up in the blink of an eye, and even heavy wounds won't slow it down for long.
“Though I don't know why it appeared on the ninth floor, it will be here in less than five minutes.”
Having said that, he scanned everyone present as naturally as possible.
Although they all looked solemn, no sense of despair spread among them.
If any other ordinary adventurer party had heard they were about to face an Elite-tier magical beast, they would likely be paralyzed with fear by now.
After all, that was an Elite-tier magical beast that even Silver Rank adventurers dreaded.
“How do you know this in such detail?”
Rayne calmly pressed Lu Mao for confirmation.
“Because someone already paid the tuition fee for you,”
Lu Mao said, offering no further explanation before turning to Elliot. “Your Ancient Wraith Soul Reaver takes too long to prepare and the cost is too high. Do you have any alternative scrolls?”
“You...”
Elliot gasped, instinctively touching his sleeve. “I do have other scrolls, but their effects aren't as powerful.”
“That's fine. I have a mana potion here for you.”
Lu Mao pulled a blue potion from his spatial ring and tossed it to Elliot, then turned to Balen the dwarf.
“Can you take off those explosives strapped to your chest and bury them along its path? Stop acting like a human magnet.”
“Human magnet?”
Balen wedged his shield tighter against the cave entrance and looked back with a frown. “What do you mean by that?”
“...I mean, stop treating yourself like a mobile explosive pack.”
Lu Mao didn't have time to explain metaphors from another world, so he spoke rapidly. “Those three sticks of dynamite strapped to your chest won't even scratch its hide. Take them off.
“Rig them as a tripwire mine and bury them in the narrowest part of the corridor. Waiting for it to step on them before detonating will be ten times more effective than throwing yourself at it.”
Balen opened his mouth, stunned.
Before he could even brag about the three dynamite sticks on his chest, this kid had detailed their exact number, how they were tied, and his planned method of detonation without missing a single beat.
He glanced at Misha, and the cleric gave him a small nod.
The dwarf fell silent for two seconds, then looked down and began unbuckling his breastplate.
“...Fine, I'll take them off. But kid, if you use weird words to describe me again, I'll smash you with this shield.”
Elliot caught the mana potion Lu Mao threw, spinning the blue crystal vial in his palm.
“I have a Sixth-Circle necromantic scroll. Its casting time is short and the side effects aren't severe—but if the enemy really is an Elite-tier magical beast, I can't guarantee it will do much.”
“It'll be enough.”
Lu Mao turned to Rayne. “I don't know much about your abilities. If you have any powerful attacks, would you mind sharing them?”
In the previous loop, Rayne hadn't shown any outstanding performance.
But as the captain of this Hero's party, Lu Mao didn't believe he wouldn't have some ace up his sleeve.
Just in case, Lu Mao quietly ordered the system to scan the party members' information.
Rayne fell silent for a moment, his fingers tightening and loosening around his sword hilt.
“My swordsmanship is Silver Rank. The guild's evaluations don't mean much—they only look at what you've killed, not how you killed it.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “There is one move. It requires a long charging time, and using it leaves me in a weakened state for a short while. I only use it when I can guarantee a hit to turn the tide of battle. It's called ‘Dawnbreak’.”
He offered no further explanation, but Lu Mao had already had the system scan him:
【Target: Swordsman Rayne】
【Level: 9】
【Status: Perfect】
【Skill 'Dawnbreak' Analysis: Signature combat technique of a Level 7 Swordsman. A charged slash with a maximum charge time of up to 15 seconds. The longer it is charged, the greater the power, enough to deal lethal damage to non-melee Elite-tier magical beasts. The user cannot move while charging and requires effective cover from allies. Leaves the user in a weakened state for a short duration after use.】
【Additional Detection: Rayne possesses an inactive hidden state—Onification】
【Onification Analysis: Trigger condition is related to the bloodline seal on the chest, requiring the user's own blood as a catalyst to break the sealing talisman. Once triggered, all attributes are significantly increased, and the user gains special Oni combat techniques. However, the physical changes caused by triggering Onification will plunge the user into a brief coma.】
【Note 1: Onification is irreversible. Once triggered, the user's appearance will permanently change to the demi-human race—Oni.】
【Note 2: Rayne is highly likely the offspring of a human and an Oni. The Oni bloodline was sealed due to various considerations, and objectively, he may have no intention of breaking the seal.】
【Remarks: Rayne, captain of the 'Hero's' party. Possesses outstanding sword skills and calm judgment. An excellent swordsman and a reliable captain.】
Aside from Rayne, the information of the other four wasn't much different from what Lu Mao already knew.
Misha, Balen the dwarf, and Gerak the beastkin were all Level 7, while Elliot was a Level 8 mage.
Although this party had almost defeated Zhalge in close combat during the previous loop, it had been achieved at the cost of Elliot's life to cast his spell. Sacrificing teammates to clear a dungeon was the worst possible strategy.
In the terms of Lu Mao's past life, if you were going to play an open-world game, you had to aim for the perfect ending. Usually, the perfect ending came with the most complete side quests and special storylines.
Unless he was truly backed into a corner, only then would he prioritize saving his own skin. After all, he still had four save-reloads left; he had nothing to fear.
Besides, if Elliot or any other party member died, how could Lu Mao bring himself to ask to join the party?
It was entirely possible that after such an ordeal, the remaining members wouldn't be able to move past the grief and would simply disband the party.
If that really happened, who would he even go to for help?
Having scanned all this information, Lu Mao looked up and met Rayne's eyes with a meaningful look.
“If we don't choose to go all out when facing an Elite-tier magical beast, things might turn out very badly.”
Rayne glanced at him, saying neither “yes” nor “no.” He simply pulled his longsword from the crack between the stone bricks, its blade reflecting a faint, cold light in the dim corridor.
“What's more important, myself or the lives of the entire party?” he said. “I know the answer.”
With those words, Lu Mao felt at ease.
Rate on N.U.
