anwhile, deep in the east of the purple forest, the trees opened up into a wide clearing.
Right in the middle, a big campfire crackled cheerfully, sending sparks dancing into the air.
Thick chunks of at sizzled on sticks over the flas, filling the clearing with a smoky, mouth-watering sll.
All around the fire lay twenty giant ti rewinding purple wolves.
Each one was as big as a house.
They were completely lifeless now.
Every wolf had only one clean wound on its body, the single strike that had ended its life.
Rosalina sat on a thick log in front of the fire, poking the flas with a long stick. She let out a big sigh.
"Babe, I’m getting so bored of eating wolf at every day. Can’t we eat sothing else for once?"
Julius sat across from her, staring at the grilling at.
He carefully flipped a big chunk over so it would cook evenly on the other side.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked with a small laugh.
"We only have salt, pepper, and chilli. at is pretty much all we have right now."
Rosalina sighed again, louder this ti, and rested her chin on her hand.
"I thought you bought proper food before we ca here. But no... you only brought salt and pepper."
"These wolves taste so plain and bland. I really wish we had so good seasoning. Maybe so garlic or honey or sothing nice..."
She poked the fire again, watching the sparks fly up.
For the past three days, they had been stuck in this part of the forest.
The first day they spent cultivating hard until they both reached the peak of the arcane core stage.
The next two days they spent hunting, they had already killed eighty huge purple lightning wolves.
They kept only their remaining twenty for food because the earlier ones would have gone bad if they tried to save them.
Rosalina looked up at Julius with big, hopeful eyes.
"So... when are we going to the second floor?"
Julius humd softly as he poked the at with a stick.
It was perfectly cooked now, juicy on the inside with a nice smoky crust.
"For so reason, the professors didn’t show up," he said quietly.
"In the book, they were supposed to be here. But now they’re gone. I think it’s because of the Invincible Path. They probably weren’t allowed to co."
He lifted the big piece of at and handed it to Rosalina.
"The temptation of the legendary Invincible Path is too strong. They must have been stopped so they wouldn’t interfere."
Julius picked up another piece for himself and took a big bite.
The at was tough and chewy, almost like rubber. He tried not to make a face.
"Anyway," he continued while chewing, "I think the students will need at least four days to reach the sixth floor."
"Not everyone will make it that fast. Only a few strong groups can do it. I bet Cillian’s group is one of them."
Rosalina held her chunk of at and frowned at it.
She hesitated for a second, but when her eyes t Julius’s, she suddenly giggled.
"Hehe..."
Julius quickly looked away, feeling a little shy. Rosalina started eating with a smile.
He took another bite of his own at. It still tasted bland and rubbery, but he kept chewing anyway.
"We’ll wait here today," Julius said.
"Crypian should already be at the ninth floor by now. He’ll probably get stuck there for a while... but the tenth floor will be the easiest one for him to clear."
Rosalina frowned again as she chewed. "Why is that?"
Julius looked up at the sky. Even though they were inside a floor of the dungeon, beautiful stars twinkled above them.
"The tenth floor is a trial of true love," he explained.
"Only couples who really love each other can pass it. But I think we’ll clear it without any problem."
He gave her a small smile and took another bite of the rubbery at.
Rosalina chewed on the rubbery at for a while. She didn’t complain this ti.
Instead, she thought quietly, then asked,
"Can he regress if he doesn’t die? Dying here doesn’t an anything, right?"
"Yeah," Julius nodded. He rembered the original story.
"He can’t regress in this place. It only happens when his life is truly in danger."
He took the last bite of his at, leaving only the bone.
With a quick flick, he tossed the bone into the dark trees.
"His life isn’t in danger after all," Julius said clearly.
"Oh?" Rosalina made a small ’O’ shape with her mouth.
Then her brows pulled together. "But what if he does regress? How would we even know? We won’t have our mories, right?"
"Well... it’s actually pretty simple," Julius said as he wiped his hands.
"Uriel is divining right now. I asked him to keep watch. The mont Crypian regresses, Uriel will know imdiately. And even if Uriel doesn’t notice anything... we’ll still get hints."
He paused and suddenly looked to the side.
An intense wave of bloodlust rolled through the air like a cold wind.
"My my... we have company, babe," Julius said calmly. He didn’t stand up.
He just turned to Rosalina with a relaxed smile. "So, like I was saying, even if Uriel doesn’t catch it, we’ll feel things like deja vu."
"Deja vu?" Rosalina frowned.
She shifted her gaze toward the strong bloodlust coming from far away.
She could already guess what it was, one of those big ti-rewinding purple wolves, the sa kind they were eating right now.
It didn’t scare her much.
She turned back to Julius, still focused on her question.
"Yeah, deja vu," Julius nodded.
The bloodlust in the air grew stronger and stronger as whatever was coming got closer.
It felt heavy and wild, like a storm about to break.
But then, right when it seed closest... the bloodlust suddenly stopped completely.
Silence fell over the clearing.
Only a faint trembling could be felt through the ground, coming from deep inside the purple forest.
The trees shook slightly, as if sothing huge was standing there, watching them.
But Julius didn’t mind, he just kept talking calmly, not even looking toward the forest.
"You see, when Crypian regresses, he goes back to the sa world but earlier in ti."
"The future disappears once he goes back. But our souls also regress with him. That ans our souls have already lived through those events once before."
"So if you ever feel anything weird, like we have done sothing before, tell Uriel right away. With those clues, his divination will beco much more accurate."
Julius finally turned his head toward the forest where the trembling was coming from.
He stared at the dark trees absent-mindedly, lost in thought.
The previous Julius had co up with this theory during Crypian’s fifth regression.
His plans kept getting blocked, so he started connecting the dots.
He used his All-Seeing Eyes right before killing Crypian.
When he saw that the future completely vanished after the kill, he understood the truth, Crypian was a regressor.
Later, the previous Julius even figured out exactly how many tis Crypian had regressed.
Rosalina listened quietly and nodded. It made sense now that she thought about it.
But then her eyes moved back to the forest.
The vibrations under the ground were getting weaker. It felt like the group of wolves was slowly retreating.
Her voice suddenly turned cold and sharp.
"You take one more step... you die!"
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