novelraw Chapter 405: The Third Time
Chapter 405: The Third Time
The moment he crossed through the spatial rift, Jie Ming felt a sudden, violent dizziness—as if someone had struck the back of his head with a blunt instrument.
But he steadied himself almost instantly, clarity returning in the blink of an eye.
“Captain?” A voice called from behind, full of concern.
“I’m fine.” Jie Ming raised a hand to signal, though his gaze had already swept forward.
Having passed through the pitch-black spatial rift, their force of one thousand appeared high in the sky behind the battlefield.
Ahead lay the tightly arrayed wizard army—millions of wizards standing in formation, rune turrets rising like forests, energy shields shimmering faintly in the air.
Farther out, on the horizon, was the dense black mass of the enemy.
At this moment, the rear guard units of the wizard army had already turned their weapons toward them.
“Reinforcements?” A sixth-ring wizard flew out from the formation, his voice thick with caution. “At this point in time?”
Jie Ming said nothing. He simply raised his Netherweb Terminal. A beam of light projected into the air, displaying the command document signed by Starforger Altreus. At the end, the blazing mental imprint of an eighth-tier wizard shone like the sun.
The sixth-ring wizard’s pupils contracted slightly. He immediately saluted. “Verification confirmed.”
He turned and gave a hand signal to the rear. Only then did the guard units lower their weapons.
Yet the atmosphere remained tense—these wizards’ eyes were filled with confusion, clearly puzzled as to why reinforcements had suddenly appeared.
“Thankfully Lord Altreus made preparations in advance,” Jie Ming thought inwardly.
If the eighth-tier wizard hadn’t withdrawn all forces from the plane after discovering the truth of the time loop to explain the situation, Jie Ming would still be wasting breath trying to convince them now.
As it was, a single order sufficed.
Soon, the leading seventh-ring wizard flew over from the command platform.
He was a stern-faced middle-aged man wearing a silver-gray law robe, a silver seven-star medal pinned to his chest.
He carefully inspected the command document, his expression growing darker with each passing second.
“So…” The seventh-ring wizard looked up, realization flashing in his eyes. “We’ve been trapped in this loop for a very long time, haven’t we?”
“Yes, Lord Frost.” Jie Ming nodded. “According to command center observations, one hundred thirty-eight cycles have already passed.”
Frost was silent for two seconds before letting out a cold laugh. “No wonder the forward scouts reported the enemy formations suddenly changing completely. I thought it was just delayed intelligence…”
He turned his gaze to the one thousand behind Jie Ming. “You are the new variables. Lord Altreus hopes you can break the deadlock?”
“We are the first combat battalion,” Jie Ming replied calmly. “Our mission is to gather intelligence within the loops and probe the limits of the enemy’s response.”
“Very well.” Frost nodded. “Then let’s not waste time. Take your position in the central army, command sectors 203 through 207. Remember—observe carefully. Don’t rush in recklessly. I need to know how the enemy changes.”
“Understood.”
Jie Ming led his team toward the designated position.
The central army was located slightly to the rear of the battlefield center—wide open sightlines, offering a clear view of the entire situation while remaining relatively safe.
Nearby were other wizard squads. They exchanged nods of greeting before each took their stations.
Jie Ming landed on the command platform. His team members quickly dispersed behind him, beginning inspections of the rune turrets and energy nodes.
All standard equipment, present on every command platform.
“Captain, the cannon-fodder formations are connected,” the adjutant reported. “Should we deploy them now?”
“Deploy them.” As Jie Ming spoke, his divine sense sank into his Inner Cave Heaven.
Under normal circumstances, he would immediately release the black giant legion to join the forward lines.
But as his mental will swept rapidly through the Inner Cave Heaven, he froze.
The originally neatly arrayed force of five thousand black giants was now only half. Two thousand five hundred pitch-black figures stood silently, while the other two thousand five hundred positions… were empty.
In front of the vacant area, two white metal plaques lay on the ground.
One read “1.”
The other read “2.”
Jie Ming’s pupils contracted sharply.
From long familiarity with his own habits, he immediately understood.
The numbered plaques… this was the marking system he used to leave reminders for himself.
1 and 2… he had already experienced two loops?
He jerked his gaze toward the charging station—three Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light staffs were inserted there, their energy readouts showing 47%, 63%, and 22% respectively.
I’ve used them.
In the previous loop, I already played my trump card.
Good news: the Inner Cave Heaven appeared unaffected by the time reversal.
Bad news: once something was taken out, it would not reset with the loop.
“Time paradox…” Jie Ming whispered the term.
His Inner Cave Heaven was essentially an independent small plane. Though tethered to him, its time flow and rules were not fully synchronized with the Reincarnation Plane.
When the Reincarnation Plane reversed time, the timeline inside the Cave Heaven might continue uninterrupted—or at the very least, events that had already occurred would not reverse.
Those vanished black giants had been “canceled” by the time paradox.
They no longer existed in this loop’s timeline, nor had they returned to the Cave Heaven. They had simply… disappeared.
A chill crawled up Jie Ming’s spine.
This kind of silent, traceless loss was the most terrifying.
If he hadn’t seen it himself, he wouldn’t have realized he had already lost half his black giant legion—and that he had already fought through at least two bitter battles.
“Captain?” The adjutant’s voice pulled him back. “The enemy has begun advancing.”
Jie Ming forced himself to refocus. Out of habit, he searched the Inner Cave Heaven for more intelligence.
Fortunately, he found it quickly—behind the metal plaque marked “2” lay a small pile of recording crystals.
The previous version of himself had left behind intelligence.
But the distant enemy was already closing in. There was no time to examine them now.
Jie Ming took a deep breath and pulled his consciousness back to reality.
With a wave of his hand, a rift opened in the Inner Cave Heaven. After a brief hesitation, he selected one thousand from the remaining two thousand five hundred black giants and sent them into the forward cannon-fodder formations.
His gaze passed over his own lines and fixed on the distance.
On the horizon, a black tide surged.
That was the insect army.
Hundreds of millions of mantis-headed, cockroach-bodied creatures clad in chitin carapace—some crawling, some flying, most even mounted with what appeared to be sophisticated energy weapons.
Their movement produced a dense, continuous “click-clack” sound, like an unending rainstorm.
Behind the black tide, dozens of enormous shadows loomed faintly—seventh-tier evolved creatures, each the size of a mountain.
Farther still, in the sky, five suffocating auras hung.
Eighth-tier.
“Truly… an extravagant lineup,” Jie Ming murmured.
Lord Frost’s voice transmitted across the entire army through the Netherweb: “All units, prepare to engage—remember, this time we change the rhythm! After the first volley, left wing presses forward, right wing falls back to reorganize!”
The order given, the wizard army began adjusting its formation.
But at that very moment…
Jie Ming suddenly sensed it—the Sickle-Skull Clan’s main army array… was also making subtle adjustments.
Their aerial units began concentrating toward the left wing, while ground forces visibly strengthened defenses on the right.
As if… they had known in advance how the wizards would shift.
“As expected,” Jie Ming tightened his grip on the staff. “They remember. Every loop, they remember.”
The black tide suddenly accelerated.
All the wizards immediately raised their alertness, focusing their minds to meet the assault.
The enemy had begun their charge.