"Help you? You know... the two of us don't exactly like liars very much," Evangeline replied with a frown. "But let's get back to the real question now. What's the reason you weren't able to reach the temple even after all this ti?"
Jane stared at her for a few monts before letting out an exhausted sigh.
"You see... every ti we arrive at the temple, we're thrown back out. It's almost as if there's a key we're missing... I just could never find it, you know?" Jane said plainly. "But maybe with you two... I'd be able to do it?"
"What do you an by 'thrown out'?" Neraxis asked. "Were you teleported out, or could you just not enter the temple because of so barrier?"
Of course, he was a bit puzzled that he didn't catch onto her lie earlier. But that was likely because his truth-detecting eyes only worked every now and again.
But this is a bit dangerous...
"There's a barrier, and we don't know what awaits us once we cross it," Jane replied. "There's a powerful presence inside. However, no matter what type of magic I brought, or what kind of skills the other expeditioners used, we always ca out empty."
"So you're just basically unprepared. And how many tis did you say this has happened? Over 80,000?" Evangeline comnted, facepalming. "I don't know what you expected, doing the sa thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Jane looked down and clenched her fists. "I know... but there's nothing I can do about it. I tried a different approach thousands of tis, but it never seed to work. Even the forest earlier—I once took the path forward instead of backward. The outco was even more disastrous than the previous tis."
She cleared her throat and continued. "I think it was expedition 66,539 or 66,538. I forgot. But they were the ones with the highest number of people participating. So we went into the forest, and I had them take the forward path."
She fell silent, but Evangeline broke it a mont later.
"And then what? They all died?"
"Mhm." Jane slowly nodded. "I couldn't find them. We were all separated in that path, and even after searching for weeks, I wasn't able to find them. Basically... that was the only path I thought could make a difference, but it only brought despair."
"So you were only able to escape because of your teleportation, right?" Neraxis asked.
"Yes. I developed this power during that expedition," Jane replied. "I escaped using it. A few weeks later, I ca back by myself and tried clearing the Chasm. But I was a bit too weak... I might look strong, but my mana pool is very poor. In fact, the stronger I get, the less mana I can wield. By now... one revival spell is enough to take out, and three teleportation spells are enough to put in a coma."
Hearing that, Neraxis could only let out an exhausted sigh. But just as he was about to speak up, Evangeline interjected.
"We'll help you for the sole purpose of surviving. After all, we did get pretty far already. It would be a sha to stop here."
Really?
[Nope. I just want to see what kind of barrier she's talking about since she's clearly doing the question,] Evangeline replied inside his mind. [Plus, I have a feeling whatever's at the temple is not going to welco us.]
Neraxis rolled his eyes. Yeah. It would be strange if the Sovereign of Pride welcod us.
Despite that, Neraxis stepped up and patted Jane on the shoulder.
"We'll help. Take us to the next part," Neraxis stated before slightly furrowing his brows. "And be transparent with us next ti, okay? Especially the part about us eting nearly two centuries ago. In my world, only a bit over a year has passed."
"I see... my bad," Jane replied and walked past them. "Let's go now. We don't have much ti to waste."
[So now we're wasting ti, huh?] Evangeline remarked. [She really is a bundle of bad luck. For all we know, we're about to walk into so masochist camp filled with monsters.]
Why'd you add the masochist?
[No reason. Just thought it'd tell you how much more pissed off I am,] Evangeline replied with a giggle.
Neraxis let out a sigh, and with that, began trailing Jane.
The path across the mountain range wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be. After all, aside from the three dire wolves they killed at the start, no one else ca after them. It seed fair, but at the sa ti, oddly ominous.
But he knew better than anyone that there was probably so sort of monster waiting for them near the end of this area.
And, after several hours of travel, they finally halted.
In front of them was a giant red yeti monster who was riddled with scars. It was currently feasting on so sort of animal. Yet after just a few more monts, it turned around, eting Neraxis's eyes.
He didn't waste even a second and inspected the giant thing.
—Abyss Yeti (Level 175) [Boss]
Yet again, he was t with an annoying situation. The monster in front of him was strong—nearly twice his level. And it even gave off this slight feeling of dread that Neraxis was only used to seeing in the most powerful of enemies.
I haven't felt this feeling since my last life... huh... I guess this might be a worthwhile opponent.
"Oi, Yeti!" Evangeline yelled, startling Neraxis. "What do you say to becoming a blood bag? Eh? What about you, Bubub? Do you wanna feast?"
The demon king sli on Neraxis's forehead suddenly began jumping up and down, almost as if it was excited.
"Great!" Evangeline let out a hearty laugh before turning back to the yeti. "Now then... I guess now's as good of a ti as any to find out if Yeti at is edible."
With those words, she dashed forward, leaving the stunned Neraxis behind.
She's... a bit hungry, isn't she?
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