翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

Recalling the incident at the amusement park, a slight sliver of hope appeared in my mind.

My dragon\'s eye had advanced the last time I time-traveled, so what if it upgraded and activated my Dragon\'s will again this time?

...First, let\'s get through this alive, then worry about that.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I nearly jumped back in shock as a voice spoke from my left.

"Boss... where the hell did you get a cat?"

Zeng is here... so we haven\'t entered the tunnel yet or fought the stalker with the blood-red sword.

Why is this the checkpoint, though, and not somewhere else? Did the critical moment happen now, then? Is it a clue about what I need to do? What do I need to change? What did Astrid and I do wrong?

"... wait, repeat that last part, Zeng."

"...boss the cat in your arms."

Inhaling and exhaling, I slowly shifted my gaze downwards, and indeed, in my arms was the cat that Audrey had given me back at the coliseum.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE A CAT NOW? HEY GODS, DO YOU THINK THIS SHIT IS FUNNY???

Venting my angry thoughts for a moment, I looked at the cat, which was now standing up in my arms and staring at me.

The cat\'s ocean-blue eyes perfectly contrasted with my blood-red eyes, and its glossy black fur seemed to be as dark and black as Corruption of the Night.

Did this mean something?

Surely, it can\'t be a coincidence that out of all the things in the world, a cat was sent back in time with me, right?

Staring intently at the cat, trying to see if there were any hints, the cat simply licked its whiskers before laying back down in my arms.

...this world is a joke, isn\'t it? Yeah, it has to be. I\'m dreaming, right? This can\'t be real life, right?

Haha, come out, who\'s playing this joke on me..?

Recalling the memories of the coliseum almost collapsing, I regained my composure as I seriously considered what my next actions should be.

Let\'s just put aside this cat for now...

Staring at the reflection in the cake shop\'s glass windows, I saw the 2 stalkers once again intently staring at us from the alleyway.

Do we attack and capture them like last time?

Before figuring out the cause of the attack on the coliseum or why Astrid and I failed, I needed to figure out why I was sent back to this specific moment in time.

Clearly, I needed to change something at this time period, but the question was, what?

Should I still attack the stalkers but not kill the blood-red sword one, or should I just avoid attacking them at all?

...Or could I take the easy route and just skip everything?

"Zeng, let\'s go inside."

Well, since Zeng was useless because he couldn\'t fight without revealing his horns, I wanted him to return to headquarters with the cat. After some thinking, I decided to keep both of them, as the cat must have some purpose, and Zeng still could be valuable—albeit as a distraction.

Not wasting any time, as the stalkers would be suspicious if we were inside the cake shop for too long, I walked up to Astrid, who was making small talk with the owner to make him lower his guard.

"It\'s here."

Surprised by my sudden appearance next to her, Astrid blinked for a moment before asking.

"...and what exactly are you talking about?"

Not answering her question, I jumped over the counter and delivered a karate chop to the shop owner\'s nape, rendering him unconscious.

Following my lead, Zeng jumped over the counter, clumsily knocking over a couple of decorations in the progress, while Astrid simply stood there in disbelief.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?"

"y-you... just what the hell are you doing?"

As Astrid jumped over the counter, joining Zeng and me, I used my awakened force to crush the same elevated area of the floor, revealing the gigantic hole and ladder.

Astrid, who had been awestruck by my sudden sequence of actions, immediately regained her focus as she realized that I had somehow discovered the location of the hideout we were looking for.

Casting a wind current around the 3 of us, Zeng and I jumped down first while Astrid followed a second later.

Sprinting into the tunnel, leaving behind Zeng and Astrid, I manifested my bow and arrow before realizing that the corruption I had lost from my arrow\'s destruction earlier was back!

Slinging the bow around my shoulder, its curves resting on my back, I carefully placed the sleeping black kitten in my sweatshirt\'s hoodie to free up my hands.

Reaching the clearing, I wasted no time as I immediately threw my 2 standard daggers at the scientists, instantly impaling two of their bodies, and nocked my single arrow.

As my arrow flew through the air and towards the remaining scientists, Astrid appeared just in time as she trapped them scientists in a cage of tree roots, making them unable to dodge my arrow.

As the arrow pierced through one of the scientists, I dispersed it and my bow before manifesting my two daggers and dashing into the cage of roots.

Slicing the roots with my daggers, I forced my way into the cage before taking care of the remaining scientists, gaining some corruption.

As Zeng and Astrid stared at the gigantic board with Bertus\'s picture, I shifted my attention to the other aspects of my room and examined everything for any clue or hint as to their actual plan.

However, even after surveying every single corner of the room with my eyesight, I didn\'t find anything peculiar.

The only things in the room were the scientists and the board.

Was this cave all a distraction?

Maybe, in an act of desperation, or maybe I was just going insane, I slowly removed the cat from my hood and placed it in my hands.

Like Simba\'s dad from Lion King, I extended my arms upwards, holding the cat right above my head.

"DO SOMETHING!"

Waking up from my shout, the cat stood up on my hands before staring at me for a moment... and then letting out a... growl.

After ensuring I heard its growl, the cat simply laid back down in my hands.

...This cat was mad at me for interrupting its rest.

Well... they do say pets tend to resemble their owners... that goddamn Ren must have taught his pet this!

Putting the sleeping cat back in my hoodie, I glanced at Astrid and Zeng as they shifted their attention from the board.

As the two stared at me with confused and concerned expressions, I simply shrugged my shoulders and said.

"...It was worth a try."

In a cheerful tone, Zeng gave me a thumbs up and enthusiastically said.

"Well... it was a good damn try at that! You\'ll get \'em next time, boss!"

Looking at Astrid, who looked like she was a second away from banging her head against the cave walls, I tried to recall other clues from the previous timeline.

The broadsword guy was quite suspicious, but I couldn\'t tell if he was insane or not. He was right, though... what we did to him didn\'t matter as they still succeeded in their academy attack in the end.

Walking back up to Astrid and Zeng, I said.

"Let\'s wait here."

"... and why would we do th-"

"Sounds good, boss!"

Stopping Zeng from sitting down on the floor, I responded to Astrid.

"There were some people following us today. If they\'re part of this organization, there\'s a possibility they could come down here and see that their plan has been foiled."

"Isn\'t that a good thing? If they see their plan failed, they might give up entirely."

"Conversely, they could also come up with another plan or target on the spot, basically making all our work here useless."

"Then, what do you suggest we do?"

"Well, it\'s pretty simple; I\'ve already done it once."

Gesturing to Zeng and Astrid, we left the clearing and hid behind some rocks near the end of the tunnel.

With my bow hung around my shoulders, I peered towards the ladder and saw two figures descending down it.

"Be careful... they\'re down here."

"What do you mean, Caster?"

"You idiot, did you not see the trapdoor fucking obliterated?"

"...my bad."

"How did they even find this place... we hid it in a damn cake shop."

"maybe they just really like sweets."

"...yeah man, they love sweets so much that they\'re destroying the damn floor."

As the two of them neared our rocks, we all stayed absolutely still, ensuring that no noise leaked out, until finally, the two villains entered the clearing.

Stopping a few feet into the clearing, the two silently stared at the dozens of tree roots and dead bodies lying on the floor.

"See, I was right."

"...is this really the time?"

"Shut it, they were bound to die anyway; they\'re just a bunch of decoys."

As the two villains walked further into the clearing, I crawled out from the rocks, silently equipping my bow and nocking another arrow.

With the arrow strung against my bow, I aimed toward the weak spot on the roof and patiently waited.

It was like gambling.

For the trap to be most effective, the two would have to be as far into the clearing as possible, but they could turn around and head back at any time.

Do I shoot now and be safe, or wait and risk them turning back?

Seeing them examining the bodies in the center of the clearing, I didn\'t hesitate as I let the soft string of the bow go, releasing the arrow.

*RUMBLE*

*RUMBLE*

As the arrow hit its mark perfectly, the roof of the clearing immediately began to collapse as rocks began falling down and the ground started shaking.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the clearing was almost immediately blocked off by countless rocks, so I couldn\'t see how the two villains inside were fairing.

However, that did give me time to think about their words.

Decoys... huh?