’Are we missing something?’ Rohan frowned as he thought inwardly.

Rohan furrowed his brow, tossing aside the idea that the beast was the anchor. If killing it was the only way to restart the cycle, then the monster was nothing more than a tool used by the cave to reset the board whenever they progressed too far.

The hunger and the initial panic had started the exact moment the entrance collapsed, long before they ever set foot near that marble room. If anything, such mind hexes or illusions dealt with proximity.

And while fighting the beast, they had fought with their full might, using all the essence they could muster without any mind hex or hunger illusion affecting them.

However, knowing the beast wasn’t the source didn’t actually help them find the real one. The entire cavern was completely saturated with the anomaly’s energy, making the air heavy and distorting their senses.

Without a distinct magical signature to track, and with their systems constantly glitching from the essence drain, they were essentially blind, searching for an invisible needle in a shifting stone haystack.

Of course, they might be wrong. The beast might also be the source.

The uncertainty weighed heavily on Rohan. If the beast truly was the source, then trapping it was only a temporary delay... eventually, they would have to face it again with their depleted essence. But if the cave itself was the anchor, running back to the entrance might just be walking deeper into another layer of the trap.

Then again, Rohan had time to study a few of the beast’s traits. They included sharp senses, an obscured figure—or rather, concealment—and a highly coordinated movement style that suggested high-rank intelligence.

What made him suspicious of the beast was its concealment, but that suspicion was interrupted when he was able to identify a clue about what type of creature it might be—a snake or some other type of reptile.

Could it be the original mind hexer had birthed the beast? Or blessed it with its powers?

Rohan suddenly frowned.

’Where are these thoughts coming from? Is Zul’Kharath playing with my mind again?’

Unfortunately—and fortunately—no. Zul’Kharath wasn’t the cause behind his bizarre analysis. The positive side was that his bizarre train of thought might actually prove to be true.

But did such mechanics even exist?

He had lived a whopping thirty years in the Frontier Realm, exploring half of its landscape, and had never come across such a mechanism.

’What sort of creatures is this era of the Frontier Realm birthing?’

After a while, they arrived back at the invisible barrier that locked them inside the cave.

They had come to the conclusion that if it truly dealt with proximity, then it should be stronger near its source. Thus, they were gambling by risking another mind hex.

They stopped running and took deep breaths. Rohan, on the other hand, walked toward the barrier, the rocks from the cave-in scattered across the ground around it.

He stared at it for a few seconds before trying to step toward it, but he was immediately halted by Priscilla.

Priscilla caught his shoulder, her grip tight and unyielding.

"Don’t just walk into it blindly, Rohan. If the proximity theory is real, crossing that line with our essence this low might fry your mind permanently. Then again, you can’t cross it. You’ll just get sent crashing into the cave walls and waste your essence."

Rohan forced his body to relax while keeping his gaze locked on the shimmering distortion.

"I know... but look at the rocks beneath the barrier, Priscilla. The hunger illusion hit us the exact second the cave-in happened. It didn’t start because we were near a monster... it started because we were immediately trapped."

Eric let out a ragged groan, leaning his head against a boulder.

"What are you talking about? A rock slide is just a rock slide."

"No, he might be onto something," Priscilla muttered, her eyes narrowing as she studied the warped space where the cave walls met the barrier. "When we fought the beast, the mental pressure completely vanished. We were only dealing with raw physical attacks. If the beast was the source of the mind hex, the psychic weight should have crushed us when we got closer to it, not when we ran away."

"Exactly," Rohan said, stepping back just an inch to appease her. "The hex isn’t an attack meant to kill us. It’s an anchor meant to keep us compliant. The boundary itself feeds on our perception of being locked in. The second we accept that there is no exit, the loop locks into place."

Priscilla looked down at her flickering sword, the frost around her boots pulsing unevenly.

"A perception-based domain anchor. If the illusion relies on our own awareness of confinement to maintain the space, then searching for a physical artifact or hidden rune stone is entirely useless."

Rohan nodded.

"So what should we do?"

Priscilla didn’t reply immediately, contemplating. Then she suddenly groaned and walked away, slumping against the cave wall.

"I have absolutely no idea. I can’t think straight. If you have any plans, please kindly share."

Rohan grinned inwardly, but the smile disappeared almost immediately. The plan he had was mostly going to affect him, which he hated, but he had no other choice. He wanted to uncover the details of the cave and the beast himself.

Well, it might inflict him with pain, but it wasn’t going to kill him. That much he was sure of.

Nothing was going to kill him until he achieved his aims.

Without saying a word, he immediately jumped toward the barrier, which sent him flying backward like a ragdoll, crashing into Eric, who wore a stunned expression before they both fell to the ground.

"What the fuck?" Eric groaned, pushing Rohan away. "Why did you do that?"

Rohan groaned, feeling immense pain throughout his body.

’Goddammit. It didn’t work.’

"You could have killed yourself! Do you have any brains at all?" Eric lamented.

Rohan forced an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry. I’m just desperate."

"More like desperate to die. Don’t do that again. You scared me."

Rohan nodded.

Suddenly, Priscilla burst into uncontrollable laughter.

The two young men turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"What is so funny?" Eric asked.

Priscilla shook her head and paused her laughter, a bright smile playing on her face despite the mental and physical fatigue.

"You two just look cute and funny together," she said. "More like brothers."

"Oh, please don’t start," Eric groaned, his face flushing slightly as he scrambled to his feet. "We don’t look like brothers. He almost broke my ribs!"

Priscilla wiped a tear of laughter from her eye, her shoulders finally dropping from their rigid posture.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just... we’ve been dying in horrible ways for who knows how many hours, and watching the two of you tangle up like a pair of clumsy pups over a rock slide was exactly the break my brain needed."

"And what do you mean you don’t look like brothers? You were scared out of your mind about him when he collided with the barrier, not yourself. You were worried his Common-Class soul couldn’t withstand it, right?" Priscilla teased.

Eric didn’t reply, his cheeks turning red.

Rohan wanted to smile but instead jokingly frowned and stepped aside.

"Gay."

Eric turned toward him.

"Gay? For caring about your life?"

Rohan nodded.

"Yes... gay."

Eric wanted to speak but instead just yelled, causing Priscilla to laugh even louder.

She sighed, the genuine amusement helping clear some of the heavy fog from her expression. Even the oppressive weight of the cave seemed a fraction lighter now that the grim tension had been broken.

Even Eric finally broke into laughter.

Unexpectedly, Rohan’s lips slowly twitched as he watched them laugh.

Suddenly, he joined them.

Xuirong laughed.

---

"What if we eventually die this time?" Eric asked nervously as they traveled back to the tunnel.

"No, we can’t. We’re all still at twenty to thirty percent Essence Power. That should keep us alive for another loop. Even the plan seems wayward to me, but I heard Common Classes are the smartest, so I’ll trust Rohan on this one," Priscilla reassured.

She and Eric exchanged glances once more before turning their attention to Rohan, who walked at the front.

From Priscilla’s point of view, even as a Common Class, Rohan really had no fear. Or was he simply acting fearless?

There were a lot of reasons she wanted to doubt him, but...

’Argh, he looks like a good kid, Dad.’

Finally, they arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.

The ice and stone blockage at the other end had almost been destroyed, its center shattered, revealing one large, obscured eye and the creature’s scales.

The creature continued to ram against the ice barrier relentlessly, and the sight of its prey seemed to motivate it to push even harder.

Instead of assuming a defensive stance and preparing for battle, the three of them waited as Rohan slowly raised his hand, counting down with his fingers.

The moment his hand formed a fist, they immediately charged forward.

Simultaneously, the beast broke through and forced its massive body through the tight tunnel with surprising ease.

The three suddenly stopped. The beast’s fangs reached them in no time, extinguishing their lives. Blood sprayed.

The world shattered back into darkness.

Priscilla died.

Eric died.

Rohan died...