Ch 93 – An Intriguing Duo

"Start!" Honda shouted with a cold face as he watched the screen scroll down slower and slower with each passing second while he recounted his previous encounter with Yami.

'Immune to magic? Shit, if we only knew that, we could have killed Yami already! Tch, what even is that ability of them and that black substance that their body is made of?' Honda thought, annoyed at how close they were at winning and just suddenly losing out of nowhere due to a bullshit ability.

But his furrowed brows shot wide open when he saw what popped up over his cheat, Gacha of Death, shown, 'Impurity Manipulation?'

As knowledge and data entered his mind, he can't help but widen his eyes and felt them dilate from the sheer shock he learned about this new ability.

'Impurities! Those are the impurities that reside in souls! Does that mean… Shadows are made out of impurities? Wait, I clearly remember Kira having these black edges over his limbs, those are clearly impurities! Can he also manipulate impurities?! Is that the reason why he can sense shadows?!' Honda thought as more information swallowed his mind whole. The revelation given to him by this ability made him the more afraid of Kira, and of the one who potentially created these perhaps, man-made monsters called Shadows.

'They are clearly made by a sentient being, not of natural birth! What if…?' Honda thought, his body feeling cold as he theorize what the creator of the dungeon, the Shadows could be. A legendary mage? A reincarnator? An otherworlder from a different planet, a different universe altogether?! The existence of guns itself was alarming, but the more he uncovered these strange secrets made his heart feel cold at the hidden monsters that lurk around the world.

'Could there be more Reincarnators other than us?! Is there a traitor in the Nine?!' Honda thought deeply, realizing that what he previously knew is breaking down fast and he can't help but hyperventilate. Fear, confusion, chaotic emotions, and thoughts whirled in his mind for a long while inside the dark void of pure silence. It was just him, and his thoughts.

But he steeled his mind and slapped himself on the face to calm himself down, 'There's no use in theorizing, I still have to kill that damned Yami to get out of this dungeon, and start from there on what I would do later.'

Nodding his head, Honda closes his eyes and felt the rivers of time taking ahold of his astral form and went against the tides of the river of time. And he focused on the destination of this certain trip he was currently on.

Opening his eyes, he takes in a deep breath and found himself standing in front of the cave entrance while the others around him wore their new equipment, and Lute was about to cast Light Ball.

"Stop," Honda suddenly said which caught the others' attention, and they saw his gaze that showed he had just recently looped.

"What happened?" They all inquired except for Kira who stayed silent.

"Lute-san, transfer my memories," Honda muttered while taking in a deep breath as Lute nods his head and pointed his new metallic staff at Honda with the blue gem at the tip glowing a blue light.

"[Memory Transfer]" Instantly, the memories of the previous loop replayed in their minds as their eyes opened wide in shock. Of course, the memories about his time in the dark void were kept hidden, but is that really true for two certain individuals?

'Yami definitely knows I'm a Looper from his previous statement, so I need to keep my Impurity Manipulation a secret. If not, I'll lose a valuable trump card for the end battle.' Honda thought with a resolute gaze as he opened his mouth and whispered to the five, "We will need more than us five. From what was shown, Yami has an army of Shadows, each having the strength of C Rank. We obviously can't defeat them all, we were just lucky last time that Yami let us fight him 1 versus 5, but this time, we might not be so lucky."

Hearing his explanation, the four nodded silently. The air became tense and grave as their defeat and death lowered their morale, except for Lute and Kira who still remained the same. Smiling, Lute opened his mouth and said, "Let's just rest for now to recover our strength for tomorrow. Who knows, we might find a way to deal with Yami with refreshed minds."

Nodding their heads, they went far away from the cave entrance and set up camp. They went to find a clearing inside the dense forest and went to set up a campfire easily using a tiny bit of mana to light up a fire, and Lute went to cook as usual.

"Whoa! Lute-san, I didn't know you cook so well! You might even rival Shijou Yukiko-sama in cooking!" Silvy gasped in shock as she bit into the juicy piece of meat given to her by Lute on a stick. Her eyes were shining and full of stars, it was like she went to enter heaven for a split moment upon her mouth making contact with that fat juicy meaty goodness.

As everyone's stares fell on Honda who was wolfing down on Lute's food, he cleared his throat and exclaimed, "Lute-san definitely rivals Yukiko-san when it comes to cooking. But in all honesty, she is better than you, but that is all because she can use much more high-quality ingredients. I fully believe that if Lute-san can have the same ingredients she uses, you can definitely surpass her in terms of taste and quality."

Hearing his claim and his credibility as being Shijou Yukiko's colleague and fellow Reincarnate who has probably tasted her cooking, the two sisters gasped in wonder while Lute only chuckled in response.

After eating, they all went to lie down on the ground over soft blankets Honda brought inside his Storage Ring and all went to silently sleep. But unbeknownst to them, as they all went to sleep with full stomachs, Lute's eyes opened discretely with a small smile over his face.

"Operation: Amass an Army, start," Lute sarcastically said and stood up silently. He then went to walk away from the other four and went towards the direction where the town resides, for a secret adventure is in store for Lute.

(The Next Morning)

'Huh?' That was the first thought that came to mind as bright light entered Honda's squinted eyes. He was just peacefully sleeping when he noticed the clamoring sounds around him from all directions which made him groggily wake up. The more he regained clarity, the more sounds entered his mind like he was in a town filled with adventurers all talking to each other.

'People?!' Instantly, Honda opened his eyes fully and saw a weird sight. All around them, adventurers can be talking to each other casually, eating some food on wooden plates, drinking water from wooden cups, and such. The most distinct piece was the fucking guns they all wielded, some were even admiring the guns they held like national treasures.

"I can't believe Lute-san managed to replicate Anastasia Melokva-sama's iconic gun!"

"Mmm-mmm, a single bullet can even kill a wild boar so easily! I wonder how Lute-san managed to make this so swiftly?"

As Honda slowly stood up in shock, he felt a hand patting him on the shoulders and saw Lute standing beside him with a wide grin. "Oh wow, how could these adventurers suddenly be all around us and are now wielding guns?"

"How?" Honda asked, trying to understand how Lute manage to do this all alone.

"Well, it took some convincing to show them that the Shadows are real and where the Boss monster is. And don't worry, I didn't use my [Memory Transfer] spell, that would be too dumb revealing I wield a second attribute. And if you were wondering how I manage to make so many guns, they aren't actually guns," Lute mysteriously said while pointing at Kira in the distance manifesting a gun out of nowhere. It was not the usual white material he always uses, it was all colored and such.

Nearing his ear, Lute whispered to explain more of the situation, "You know those white flash the Shadows used in Loop 1 back in the village? Well, I reverse-engineered it after a while and analyze the whole gun. Then I just transferred the schematics to Kira-chan and bam, infinite guns and ammo. Pretty cool, right?"

Hearing his explanation, Honda could only nod his head, dumbfounded at Lute's and Kira's mysterious abilities. Just reverse engineering a spell from memory alone is insane, but to create guns is a whole 'nother matter altogether. If word of this gets out, Kira would instantly become a ginormous threat to the safety of the whole world if he decides to sell guns to the whole world.

Noticing his furrowed brows, Lute only chuckled, "Don't worry about the guns, I have a way to deal with them if, if, we successfully defeat Yami this round. If not, then them getting guns wouldn't even matter if it never happened in the first place."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Honda nods his head and stood up. Now that everyone is armed and ready, Honda lets go of his questions about how Lute managed to convince all of them and prepared to rush back into the cave to finally end this once and for all.

But (perhaps) unbeknownst to any of them, a certain scarlet-eyed Shadow glared at the open cavern. But what he was actually doing was looking at his memories that replayed in crystal clear quality like a video.

From his memories, a scene of Lute and Kira silently walking away from the camp was seen and the duo arrived at the town where adventurers were still bustling around even though it was nearly night. From drinking beer to talking with each other, it was a lively night for the adventurers around here who had only recently entered this dungeon a few hours ago.

But what was strange to Yami was once Kira clapped his hands, hundreds of adventurers suddenly turned their eyes to the duo at the same time.

"Oh dear adventures, I beseech thee of your plentiful help in defeating the great evil that lies within this dungeon, under the caverns and caves of this very island we stand upon! Malignant shadows who…" As Yami silently listened to Lute's speech which was clearly made for fun and full of sarcasm, Yami can't help but feel a chill crawl up his shadow as the adventurers around the duo became entrance with his soothing voice.

Even though it was an insincere speech, Yami felt more and more estranged as even he felt inspired by Lute. It was a strange feeling he tried to resist but the longer he listened, the more he felt his mind being swallowed by Lute's charismatic words.

"… Who are you, Lute and Kira?" Yami muttered with a glint appearing in his eyes upon watching the video end. The scene was just too weird, there was no magic involved, no secret technique he could find, it was just Lute speaking with a goofy grin that somehow enraptured his mind.

And it was all it took to somehow made all the adventurers numbering in the hundreds become his allies like sheep.

'Was it just charisma? Yes, charisma can indeed convince even the most stubborn of minds, but that's far from what charisma could possibly do. Wait…' Yami's mind instantly went to go to a certain individual, The Daughter Villainess, Imerda Pinata.

'She does wield a power that could sway the mind of thousands with casual words… But this one, it's different compared to that, hmm.' Yami thought, the more intrigued he became the more he replayed the memory over and over again, trying to understand the secrets those two individuals hold.

AN: This is 2002 words, you're welcome.

Future author here, I just realized a strange phenomena in terms of my writing. The more I pan out the world and the stronger Braun gets, the bigger brain the plans and schemes get. Like, literally, he is scheming against the God of the world right now considering his bold acts. Not only that, Lute is also nearing godhood in a couple of chapters and will shake the entire world.

Writing is an act of defying the heavens and creating a new world, and power stones are the source of heavenly energy that help create those worlds, so stop being a leech and give me your fucking power stones!

(July 19, 2022 – 237th day of writing)