novelraw Chapter 422: The Sickle-Skull Clan’s Response
Chapter 422: The Sickle-Skull Clan’s Response
Only one month had passed since Jie Ming and the others returned to the main camp with their crucial discoveries.
Jie Ming stood on the core observation platform of the wizard legion, gazing at the black tide once again gathering and rising on the distant horizon, and let out a helpless sigh.
This time, the Sickle-Skull Clan’s reaction speed far exceeded any previous record.
The sixth loop had barely begun for over a month, yet the enemy could no longer hold back. They had already assembled an unimaginably vast military force, assuming the posture of an all-out decisive battle.
They seemed no longer content with passive trial-and-error learning—they had become extremely impatient.
Lord Frost’s figure appeared at the edge of the platform, his gaze equally grave as he looked into the distance.
“Advisor Jie Ming, how is progress on each research project? Any substantial breakthroughs in verifying the ‘paradox’ or probing the possible existence of a ‘higher will’?”
Jie Ming withdrew his gaze, turning to the commander with a trace of bitterness on his face: “Most projects have only just used data from the previous loop to establish theoretical models and experimental plans. They are now entering the stage of deep deduction and verification design. Many key hypotheses—such as the mechanism by which the ‘paradox’ takes effect, whether individuals above eighth-tier possess ‘anti-correction’ resistance—require far more precise experiments and much longer observation periods to confirm. Our manpower and time… are still too tight.”
In other words, while knowledge had been passed down through the recording crystals, the process of wizards digesting, understanding, and innovating upon that foundation could not be accelerated.
Frost’s brows knit tightly. He understood the rigor of research, but the battlefield waited for no one.
“I see. I will do everything possible to drag this battle into a war of attrition and buy you time. But the enemy’s determination this time is different from before. The limit of how long I can delay… probably won’t be very long.”
“That will be sufficient, Commander.” Jie Ming nodded, then made a request: “Additionally, during combat, I hope all operational units can capture and transmit back real-time visual imagery of every Sickle-Skull individual they encounter—especially detailed images of the Honor Carapace on their chests and any unique surface markings.”
“To further verify your hypothesis? To confirm whether individuals that underwent ‘partial collection’ truly ‘perfectly recovered,’ and whether those that were ‘fully erased’ have completely vanished?” Frost immediately understood.
“Yes. Although the verification at the forward outpost supported our inference, the sample size and environment were limited. I need massive data from large-scale, high-intensity frontal battlefields for cross-validation and statistical analysis. This will help us assess the coverage, precision, and possible blind spots of that potential ‘behind-the-scenes will’ and its ‘editing’ capabilities.” Jie Ming explained.
“Approved. I will issue this as a tactical directive.” Frost agreed, then turned to begin issuing detailed defensive and delay orders through the Netherweb.
Not long after, four terrifying pressures that could dim heaven and earth crushed in from the horizon, like four moving mountains of law.
The eighth-tier Sickle-Skull leaders had once again personally arrived on the battlefield—and much earlier than in any previous total assault.
Jie Ming raised his head to gaze at those four enormous dark-golden figures, yet his heart remained perfectly calm—even the corners of his mouth lifted in a faint, non-mocking curve.
He thought of the intact eighth-tier leader corpse from the previous loop stored in his Inner Cave Heaven.
He recalled how, upon returning to camp and releasing the corpse, it had been instantly erased by the paradox.
This proved that even eighth-tier existences—at least those of the Sickle-Skull—could not escape this total deletion based on spacetime continuity.
And now, with one fewer eighth-tier leader present, it also served as verification of his inference.
“The cleanest and most efficient solution would be to simply store them directly in the Cave Heaven…” The thought flashed through his mind, but Jie Ming immediately suppressed it.
For wizards, killing was never the ultimate goal. Understanding and mastering the mysteries behind it was.
These eighth-tier leaders were themselves the most precious living samples for studying the loop and that possible “behind-the-scenes will.”
The reason he had immediately released the eighth-tier leader corpses upon returning to camp was precisely to observe whether they would be restored in the next loop.
The peak confrontation in the sky unfolded once more.
Frost faced four opponents alone. His silver-gray figure flickered through the violent chaos of law flows, drawing the battlefield high into the sky.
On the ground and at low altitude, the battle proceeded strictly according to the script of “delay and attrition.”
The wizards did not commit their full main force. Instead, they relied primarily on the updated and iterated bio-beast swarms to resist the assault.
These silver-gray killing machines collided repeatedly with the black insect tide like living tidal waves—devouring, splitting, holding the front line tenaciously while refusing to push forward too aggressively.
At the same time, Jie Ming and several wizards specially seconded for their exceptional high-speed information processing abilities had set up a temporary “imagery processing hub” in one corner of the observation platform.
Massive streams of real-time footage from every corner of the front line poured into the rune arrays before them like waterfalls of light.
Each frame was rapidly analyzed and features extracted.
Honor Carapace color distribution, unique carapace patterns, old scars on limbs…
Countless details were encoded and subjected to high-speed comparison against the feature database of “partially collected” samples from the previous loop stored in Jie Ming’s Inner Cave Heaven.
This was an extremely taxing task. Jie Ming’s mental power operated at full capacity, simultaneously managing hundreds of comparison threads. The other specially selected wizards expert in data analysis each handled their own sections, constantly screening and making preliminary judgments.
Within the flood of data, conclusions gradually emerged:
“Sector K-7712 imagery match confirmed. Target is fourth-tier ‘Piercer’ variant. Right forewing root special bone spur arrangement matches ‘partial collection—right forewing sample.’ Current individual has intact wings, bone spur arrangement continuous.”
“Sector S-3098 cluster match detected… sixth-tier ‘Commander’ variant. Left head crest third groove depth matches ‘partial collection—partial head crest carapace.’ Current individual head crest intact, grooves continuous.”
“No instances found of ‘partially collected’ sample corresponding to reality individual showing tissue absence or abnormal healing.”
“No imagery records retrieved of any ‘fully stored and vanished’ sample corresponding to reality individual existence.”
The results once again confirmed previous findings.
The power of time reversal, when dealing with organisms that had undergone partial “severance,” tended to “repair” or “overwrite” them into a complete state.
For individuals fully removed from the timeline, it simply and cleanly “deleted” their existence, correcting associated logic chains.
Time passed amid the flood of data and the consumption of flesh and blood—half a month.
Though the wizards did everything possible to control the tempo, the Sickle-Skull’s madness and disregard for cost in this offensive were unprecedented.
The attrition rate of the bio-beast swarms began to outpace replenishment. Pressure on the defensive line grew daily.
When monitoring data showed the Sickle-Skull total population once again approaching the critical threshold for triggering the loop, Frost knew the limit of delay had been reached.
“Execute final cleanup protocol! All research units, immediately seal data!” His command was decisive and clear.
On the platform, Jie Ming and the others had already prepared.
Instruments powered down, crystals sealed, notes archived… everything proceeded in orderly fashion.
Jie Ming expanded his mental power like an invisible net, sweeping up all key research materials on the platform and forcing them toward the Inner Cave Heaven.
In the final instant before the last crystal vanished into the Cave Heaven, that irresistible pulling sensation originating from the root of the world descended once more.
This time, Jie Ming “felt” it with exceptional clarity.
He could even “sense” a certain anchoring feeling produced in his consciousness and body during the reversal of time—the resistance brought by the evolution of his Body Forging Technique was taking effect.
Darkness swallowed his vision.
But this time, the darkness was not utter void.
Countless clear images, sounds, data, and insights… the complete memories of the sixth loop, preserved like perfectly intact archives, were distinctly imprinted into the depths of his soul in the final moment before consciousness sank.
The moment he crossed the spatial rift, Jie Ming’s figure remained completely still.
No dizziness. No daze. Only the calm of stepping into a familiar scene.
He opened his eyes. Behind him stood three thousand wizards with slightly bewildered expressions. Ahead lay the vigilant allied guard troops, and in the distance, the horizon began to stir once more.
The seventh loop.
He remembered everything that had happened in the sixth loop completely.
Frost’s tactical arrangements, the Sickle-Skull’s frenzied total assault, every detail of the imagery comparison, and his own methodical “data rescue” just before time reversal.
“Captain?” A voice inquired from behind.
Jie Ming turned around, sweeping his gaze across these comrades who would soon fight side by side with him once again. His voice was steady and certain:
“I’m fine. Prepare yourselves—we have work to do again.”
He raised his head, looking toward Frost, who was approaching from the direction of the command platform.
…
…
After completing the routine opening procedures of each loop, Jie Ming’s first concern was not the war situation, but the continuous monitoring of those “constant” data points.
He mobilized logistics wizards, combining the detailed data from several previous loops stored in his Inner Cave Heaven, to perform high-precision re-verification of the current plane’s fundamental elemental abundance, energy tide baselines, spatial curvature parameters, and other metrics.
The results came quickly: everything normal.
There was none of that systematic 0.3% degradation, no faint loosening at the law level.
The plane’s foundational “constants” stood firm as bedrock, perfectly matching the baseline data from the fourth loop.
“As expected…” Jie Ming stood before the rune light screen in the laboratory, watching the comparison results, and understanding dawned in his heart. “The energy degradation we observed in the previous loop was not inherent ‘wear’ caused by time reversal itself. It was the ‘cost’ incurred by our experiments.”
With data to support it, the conclusion was obvious:
When time reversal occurred, in order to “repair” those Sickle-Skull individuals that had undergone “partial collection” and restore them to wholeness, the plane had to expend additional energy and “information,” drawing data from earlier timelines or some kind of “backup” to fill in the parts Jie Ming had excised.
This “repair” operation was the source of that 0.3% degradation.
Meanwhile, for individuals stored entirely in the Cave Heaven, since their existence was completely “deleted,” the repair logic did not apply—and thus they likely incurred none of this cost.