Chapter 33: Missing

  [Déjà vu System: Level 25]

  [Loop Count: 37]

  [Experience Points (XP): 10,562 / 17,000]

  I woke up with the meeting with Chronos still running circles in my mind. Things were clearer now – Erebus’ methodology and how he chose who to mark. But I also understood that time was of the essence. Once Erebus caught wind of the change caused by Kaelstrife’s death, he would search for me. I needed to find the third Darknessbound Core shard and lock him away before he did, because if I didn’t, and instead I got marked, my progress would halt immediately.

  Wait a minute…Why can I remember that I defeated Kaelstrife?

  I quickly turned to the second inventory. There it was – Silverfang!

  The glaive materialized in my hands as I was still in awe that I could recall the fight I went through to obtain it. Well, not entirely…some parts of the memory seemed to blur, especially the location of the battle. All I knew for sure was that there had been spiders involved. Large ones at that.

  The two Memory Fragments in my inventory caught my attention. I selected them, immediately unlocking and reliving the memories they held. Both provided more questions than answers, and I knew I had to find the rest of them if I wanted to understand anything. The third shard and the additional items Chronos said I needed to collect to lock up Erebus were hidden somewhere in the tomb, and only by understanding the truth behind it would I be able to find them.

  ***

  Stocked up at Christian’s.

  Reached the tomb.

  We had split into teams and then we realized someone in my team was missing.

  “Who’s missing, Fiona? I thought we counted a hundred before Lorren began his speech.” Lady Mikaela addressed a young woman next to her – a level 82 Enchantress who seemed to be in charge of the logistics for the raid, judging by the stack of papers she was holding.

  “I thought so too, m’lady. Let me check.” Fiona replied, humming softly as she shuffled through the documents in her hands.

  Lady Mikaela nodded before turning to the crowd of adventurers that had now gathered around us, curious. She scanned their faces, looking for someone. “Evangelina!” she called out.

  “Were you prepared with substitutions for cases like this?” I asked Yana as we waited.

  “Of course.” She replied confidently. “Our guild provided ten possible substitutes. I think that Ironfall Vanguard also has some adventurers on standby.”

  “Then it shouldn’t be a problem even if they don’t find the missing member.” I replied.

  “Guess so.” Yana said with a shrug.

  “Wrong. We’re missing our Rogue.” My team’s leader, a mage named Jax, interjected.

  “So?” I asked, confused and irritated that he was eavesdropping on us.

  “So not only are you weak, you’re also ignorant, huh?” Jax scoffed, rolling his eyes with a look of disgust. “The guild masters put a lot of thought into balancing the teams. Rogues are essential for their unique abilities. Without them, we’d be in a disadvantage.” He turned to Yana. “Ironfall Vanguard doesn’t have Rogues in our ranks. I assume your guild doesn’t either. That’s why Silvercry were invited.”

  As Jax spoke, a woman draped in a sleek, black outfit approached Lady Mikaela. Twin daggers, both elegant and menacing, hung from a belt slung diagonally across her torso. She was a level 85 Rogue, and seemingly the on-field leader of Silvercry, the Rogue guild that had joined the quest today.

  “Goren Shein from Silvercry is missing.” Fiona whispered to her guild master, her voice barely audible, as if afraid the approaching woman might overhear.

  The name sent a shiver down my spine.

  Goren, Dolos’ champion, the man who had killed me repeatedly in this time loop, exploiting my memory loss each time, was supposed to be on my team? And now he was missing? Just after Chronos had suspected Dolos was behind the disappearance of the third shard of the Darknessbound Core? This couldn’t be a coincidence. He had to be planning something.

  “Goren is missing, I know.” The Rogue woman said as she reached Lady Mikaela. Her smug expression made Fiona shrink back.

  “You knew he was missing and stayed quiet?” Lady Mikaela asked, her voice calm yet also judgmental. “You’re too experienced to be slacking like this, Evangelina.”

  “Hardly.” Evangelina retorted with an exaggerated eye roll. “Goren has…many responsibilities back at home. We assumed he was just running late because of them. You don’t expect me to snitch on my people and risk them not getting paid fully over something so trivial, do you?”

  “I expect transparency from you as one of the secondary leaders of this raid.” Lady Mikaela shot back, her gaze piercing.

  Evangelina rolled her eyes again, a smirk on her lips. “You’re right, Mikky. My bad, hon.”

  Lady Mikaela clearly didn’t appreciate the nicknames but maintained her composure. “We agreed with your boss that if anyone from your guild was missing, you’d provide a substitute. We cannot compromise the balance of the teams.”

  Evangelina’s smirk faded, replaced by a mock concern. “Sadly, we don’t have anyone to spare. Everyone, including Miss Belle, is assigned elsewhere. Goren was supposed to be here. We didn’t anticipate this.”

  Lady Mikaela’s irritation was evident, but before she could respond, Stephan Lorren stepped in.

  “I don’t like it anymore than you do, Mikaela.” He said, his tone tense. “But we can’t call off the raid over this. The King wouldn’t care that Silvercry let us down. Sure, they’d face sanctions for this blunder, but the King would still be furious if we failed to solve this problem on our own and proceed.”

  “What’s your suggestion, then, Lorren?” Lady Mikaela asked.

  “With no other options, we’ll have to assign one of the higher-level adventurers to team four. Meanwhile, we’ll request a substitution from one of our guilds and wait for them to arrive. My teleportation magic would hasten their arrival.” Lorren proposed.

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  Lady Mikaela frowned but eventually nodded. She turned to the high-leveled adventurers who were grouped together nearby. Her voice carried authority as she spoke to them. “I understand this isn’t an ideal situation, and I apologize for asking this. The low-leveled teams were meticulously balanced to ensure the successful clearance of the first levels of the tomb, but with the absence of a Rogue, we need to adapt. I must ask a volunteer among you to join team four. Your expertise will help mitigate the imbalance, and you would be greatly compensated for this, of course.”

  None seemed to be excited about the proposition. I mean, who would? They all came here for glory, not to kill low-level slimes.

  Yana looked ready to step forward, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that considering she was marked, but before she could, an unexpected voice cut through the murmurs.

  “I’ll join them.” Said Aric Kelltins, one of Lady Mikaela’s strongest guild members, and a bit of a celebrity in his own right.

  ***

  We entered the tomb.

  Cleared the chambers assigned to us – [+680 XP]

  Aric Kelltins was of the Vanguard class, stepping in as the second tank for our team. He was quite famous in our kingdom. Why? Well, that was simple: at just 24 years old, he had already reached level 87. For comparison, our two level 100 adventurers were in their late 30's. Everyone in Tepan believed that, unless the System suddenly told Kelltins he had reached his cap, he would eventually become the youngest level 100 adventurer in history.

  He also sounded like a very down-to-earth person and even insisted Jax remain the team leader despite being 22 levels stronger than him.

  In battle, his taunting skills were invaluable, drawing the attention of the Undead that attacked us, allowing the rest of us to deal with them more efficiently. His presence surely made our progress incredibly easy.

  I was cautious, though. Kelltins’ experience made me wary that he might notice something unusual about me. To avoid drawing his attention, I used my abilities sparingly, even if it meant fewer kills than I would have preferred.

  “Great job, everyone!” He said as we made our way back to the antechamber. “We handled these chambers well. I’ll be sure to let Lady Mikaela know how exceptionally you’ve all performed.”

  “It was all because of you, Mr. Kelltins.” Lena, our healer, gushed, her admiration for him evident.

  “Oh, nonsense.” He said, waving off the compliment. “If anything, I probably slowed you down and made everyone work harder by conserving my energy for the depths of the tomb.”

  “You’re planning on joining the others in the lower levels later on?” Waylan asked, sounding surprised. “I thought they were sending in a substitution.”

  “They are.” Kelltins nodded. “But that’s just to meet the quota. I’d be damned if I missed the rest of this raid. No offense to all of you.”

  “None taken.” Henry said, looking a bit too starstruck.

  Their conversation was just background noise for me. My thoughts remained fixated on Goren. Where was he? What was he planning? The questions gnawed at the back of my mind, refusing to let go.

  Then, suddenly, a bone-chilling screech tore through the chamber, and three monstrous apparitions materialized from thin air – Blood Wraiths, level 90.

  Waylan raised his shield instinctively. “What the hell? Aren’t those way too strong to be here?”

  Lena gasped, clutching her staff tightly. “We can’t…we can’t fight those! They’re too strong!”

  Jax and Henry exchanged uneasy glances, before the leader raised his staff and stepped in front of his apprentice. Meanwhile, Dina moved her staff quickly, conjuring a barrier around us, her eyes flicking nervously between the wraiths and Kelltins.

  “Calm yourselves.” Kelltins commanded, his voice steady. He stepped forward, lifting his war axe. “Follow my commands, and we’ll get through this.”

  Waylan nodded, stepping up beside Kelltins to form the front line. I gripped Silverfang tightly, taking position just behind them.

  “Waylan, with me.” Kelltins barked. “We’ll hold their attention. Lena – stay close to the back and keep us standing. Dina – focus on barriers and buffs. Jax, Henry, pour everything you got on the leftmost wraith. Aidan – cover Dina and strike when you see an opening.”

  Everyone nodded, tension thick in the air. I decided to play along, careful not to reveal my true abilities just yet.

  The wraiths screeched again and surged forward. Kelltins and Waylan moved together, their shields raised, glowing with magic. They met the wraiths’ attack head on, the impact echoing around the chamber. Behind us, Jax and Henry unleashed their magic on the leftmost Blood Wraith, forcing it to retreat, though the damage was frustratingly small.

  Dina’s hands moved swiftly as she wove barriers around everyone, while Lena muttered healing spells to stabilize Kelltins and Waylan.

  The second wraith lunged at me, its claws shredding through Dina’s barrier as it closed in. I dodged, sliding under its strike, and countered with a quick slash from Silverfang. The glaive’s blade connected, but it went right through it, barely leaving any damage – not because the weapon or I were weak, but because wraiths were notoriously difficult to hit effectively. The creature, now entirely focused on me, seemed angered.

  “Fall back!” Dina shouted, her voice strained as she cast another barrier around me. “Don’t get caught alone!”

  I darted back toward the group, narrowly escaping another swipe of the wraith’s claws.

  Meanwhile, Kelltins roared, his war axe suddenly radiating a brilliant light – Holy Magic. He swung it with incredible force, cleaving into the first wraith. Its form flickered violently, but it managed to escape his follow-up strike.

  “Keep it up!” Kelltins called out, his voice booming around us. “Waylan, Dina – watch my rear! Jax, Henry – more pressure!”

  The mages doubled their efforts, their combined attacks battering the third wraith, keeping it occupied and unaware of the approaching Kelltins. He moved in and delivered a crushing blow with his glowing axe, dissipating the creature into mist.

  The second wraith returned its attention to me. I dodged a few times, countering with Silverfang, chipping away at it. Kelltins closed in from behind and brought his axe down at it. Not about to let him take this valuable XP away from me, I made sure the final blow was mine, slicing the wraith with a wide arc.

  [+798 XP]

  The last wraith returned for another round, diving toward us. Waylan intercepted it with his shield, grunting under the impact. “Now!” he shouted, holding it in place.

  Dina cast another barrier around him as Kelltins stepped forward, his axe poised. “Move, Waylan!”

  Waylan rolled aside just as Kelltins swung his weapon, shattering the wraith’s form and dissolving it to mist.

  For a moment, no one spoke. We were all breathing heavily, the adrenaline slowly subsiding.

  A quest popped on my system screen.

  [New Quest Available: Ghostbusters #1]

  [Slay 50 Blood Wraiths]

  [Current Status: 1 / 50]

  [Reward: 15,000 XP]

  “We…we actually did it.” Lena whispered, her voice filled with disbelief.

  Jax collapsed onto the ground, panting. Henry knelt beside him, checking on his mentor before turning to the rest of us. “Thanks to Mr. Kelltins. That was insane!”

  Dina wiped sweat from her brow, smiling weakly. “We had no business surviving that fight without casualties, but you made it work, Kelltins.”

  Waylan nodded as he got back to his feet. “That was incredible leadership, Mr. Kelltins.”

  Lena stepped closer to Jax, weaving a soothing spell over him. “I second that. Absolutely incredible!”

  I found myself nodding along. As much as I hated holding back, I couldn’t deny Kelltins’ impact on the group just now. He kept everyone steady and focused, ensuring his orders were minimal and to the point. In the end, everyone survived.

  Kelltins chuckled, as calm as ever. It was clear he was used to situations like these. “Give yourselves some credit, folks. We pulled through together.”

  Despite the exhaustion, the mood lightened slightly. But one thing was still unclear…why were there level 90 monsters here? Didn’t Lady Mikaela confirm the first levels only had weak monsters? Without the Déjà vu System, I would’ve been dead, restarting the loop.

  It seemed I wasn’t the only one troubled by the question, but before anyone could voice their concerns, a low guttural growl echoed from beneath our feet. The deep sound sent vibrations through the stone floor. It was followed by a faint rumble, and somewhere far below, I could swear I heard something massive shifting.

  “What was that?” Jax asked, his voice shaky.

  The ground trembled slightly. “Everyone stay sharp.” Kelltins ordered, his tone rising. “We – “

  The chamber shook violently, cutting him off. Cracks snaked across the ground. Before anyone could react, the floor gave way entirely. We fell, crashing into the floor below in varying states of pain. As we struggled to recover, another tremor struck, and this floor collapsed as well.

  We fell again, rubble and debris raining down on us.