Chapter 26: Ten Loads

"Did you really...?"

Of course, everyone was doubtful at first. They’d been roaming around almost like headless chickens just trying to figure out where the exit was.

And now, all of a sudden, he was claiming he’d figured it all out.

It was hard not to doubt him with this kind of timing.

"I really did! We were simply ignoring the obvious hints right in front of us this whole time!" He continued.

With excitement, he began explaining the "rule" he’d discovered. It all came down to two things.

One was the grid of "zones," each split into 100-meter squares.

And two—the position of the flower bed monsters.

"See this? Here, and here? Whenever we go in the opposite direction of where the flower bed monster is relative to the center, we get sent back to the beginning immediately!"

To summarize: if they were standing in the middle of a zone, and the flower bed was up ahead, the correct path would be to go straight forward. Going backward would lead them right back to the start, while left or right would simply connect them to a "random" new tile.

In other words, the correct path was...

"The direction where the flower bed lies!"

"This... sounds plausible." Even Hazel, who’d been starting to doubt him again, nodded in agreement.

At least based on their data, the rule seemed to explain their situation completely. But for now, it was just an observation. They still had to prove it was actually correct.

"Well then, follow me! I’ll lead the way!"

With newfound excitement and a bit of a high from his "victory" over the puzzle, Raive ran forward. They moved exactly 100 meters, reaching the middle of the next section before choosing the next correct direction.

That way, they could make sure they weren’t veering off-path or wandering into the wrong zones.

As for how they measured the distance—Raive felt almost as if he had an internal ruler, since he hadn’t veered off even a millimeter from the path so far.

All the others had to do was follow behind him.

"Hmm?"

But after reaching the fifth tile, he came to a stop.

The reason was a "flower bed" still sitting right in front of them. Its colors looked different from the ones before, though—more vivid, somehow.

"Be careful, everyone." He warned. "This might be a stronger version of the monsters we’ve seen."

Before he could say anything else, Khamish had already handed him a pickaxe. Their plan stayed the same, despite the flower’s different appearance.

Raive and Khamish rushed forward and struck the middle of the flower bed with their pickaxes. It should’ve gone the same as always—but the next moment...

BOOM!

Roots exploded right in front of them.

Khamish, who hadn’t gone in at full strength, easily twisted his body and dodged. But Raive, who’d gone all in, faltered for a few seconds.

"Ah..."

He barely registered the root going straight through his face and out the back.

It happened so fast that he only understood what had occurred a moment too late.

[User’s Heart had Stopped Beating.]

[Please select which save slot to load.]

[Confirmed selection: Second Slot.]

[Auto-Load activating...]

[Success.]

"..."

And then he was back outside the dungeon, standing at its entrance.

The sensation of the jagged roots plunging through his face was still vivid, leaving his legs feeling like jelly. He dropped to his knees, panting hard.

"Brother!"

Hershey rushed to his side, pressing her glowing hands over his body.

She was desperately trying to heal him, which made Raive wonder why—until he understood.

"Raive, what happened?! Why are you suddenly bleeding?!"

"Is this the price of your foresight? Did you push yourself too hard?"

"This bleeding... isn’t ordinary."

Even the others rushed to his side in worry. Their concern was genuine, confusing him even further, until his senses finally caught up.

"Ugh...!"

His back throbbed with pain, as if it had been slashed by something sharp—and not just once, but several times over.

He could feel something warm trickling down his back. Looking down, he saw crimson blood soaking into his combat clothes and dripping onto the ground.

’I’m injured?’ He paused, thinking. ’When? How? At this point, I shouldn’t be injured at all...’

While he stood there confused, Khamish moved.

He stored Raive’s clothes in his inventory to quickly strip them off, letting them get a proper look at the wound. But as soon as they saw it, their faces went pale.

"T-This is... cruel..." Therese whispered, her voice shaking.

Across Raive’s back, two shapes had been carved—one with three strokes, one with four. Together, they formed a single number: ten.

"Ten..."

Raive paused, turning the number over in his mind.

Then, quickly enough, he understood what it meant.

’Right. This is my tenth auto-load.’ He muttered in wonder. ’Does that mean I’ll get hit with this kind of backlash every ten loads?’

Compared to the pain of dying, this was nothing. And it wasn’t a wound beyond Hershey’s ability to heal, either. In under a minute, the injury on his back had vanished without a trace.

Still, everyone was waiting for an answer—where had that injury come from?

After a moment’s thought, he settled on the closest explanation he could give.

"What Shymine said was right. This is the price of using my skill. I can’t explain much more than that, but please think of it that way." He said.

"The deeper I look into the future, the stronger the backlash. Looks like I pushed past my limit, and that’s what caused it just now. Sorry for worrying you all."

After that, he stood up and began explaining what he’d seen through his "precognition"—the solution to the puzzle, the monsters ahead, how to deal with them, and the unknown dangers still waiting for them.

Once everyone had heard him out and adjusted to the new formation he proposed...

"Alright!" Raive smiled, brimming with confidence. "Time to head in!"

And just like that, they all entered at once.

The moment they stepped inside, no one wasted time gawking—they moved straight to action.

The first order of business was "uprooting" the enemy.

For that, instead of pickaxes like before, Raive switched up their approach.

"Hazel, do it!"

Hazel didn’t really say much about her skill, but she could control earth, so making it surge and force the enemy above ground was simple enough for her.

"Mmm."

With a curt nod, she flicked a finger, and the dirt where the flower bed sat suddenly rose.

It looked almost like a geyser bursting forth—except a monster came flying out instead of steaming water. The root monster, caught off guard, went rigid the instant it realized it was airborne.

"Freezing Wave!"

Next up was Shymine.

She froze the root monster instantly, encasing it in a giant block of ice before it even started to fall.

And finally, the finishing blow.

"Go! Sword Wheel!"

Therese sent her mana swords flying forward like a spinning saw, slicing the ice into hundreds of pieces.

The monster scattered and died in an instant under their combined attack.

Raive smiled, pleased that things had gone much better than he’d expected.

"Alright! Let’s keep going just like this!"

But their exploration had only just begun.