A Trap from the Past

“Looking” at the scene before her, Freya's brain stalled for a moment. She maintained her Heart Perception at all times, and in her perception, they had crossed almost the entire distance of the city in the blink of an eye, going from the Mind Research Association in the south to the entrance of this desolate warehouse in the north.

“Is this some kind of extraordinary ability with a teleportation effect?” But remembering what Luna had just said about “falling into the past with him,” and seeing how the current time had shifted from morning to afternoon, she couldn't help but wonder, “Is this... for real?”

Joan also spoke up at this moment. “A Memory Thief indeed possesses an ability called 【Dive into the Past】 at Rank Five, which allows them to briefly return to a 【false past】. However, this ability should only work on oneself. It shouldn't be able to drag others into the past as well!”

Luna smiled. “Didn't I just say so? This is a new ability obtained when both the Mind Reader and Memory Thief classes reach Rank Five. So... welcome to the 【Trap in the Past】 that I set up half a month ago!”

Along with Luna's words, rustling footsteps echoed from all directions. Then, physically deformed “humans”—or perhaps “monsters” would be a more fitting term now—appeared. These creatures either had goat heads or fish heads.

Even more bizarrely, one of them had eight compound eyes on its face and spider legs growing out of its neck. At least twenty to thirty of these monsters surrounded them, trapping them in a tight circle. Freya swept her gaze over them, and not a single one looked remotely human.

Luna said, “Earlier, you outnumbered me. Now that the tables are turned, you won't call me unfair, will you?”

Logically, the secrets of the Society of Truth that Luna had revealed earlier should never have been leaked. But since he had spilled everything just to stall for time, he now had no choice but to kill everyone here who knew those secrets.

Joan instantly recognized these deformed monsters as the out-of-control Devil Pathway extraordinaries who had been causing trouble in the city earlier. She said, “Everyone, be careful! These Devil Pathway extraordinaries are very troublesome!”

Luna pointed at Freya and the others, commanding, “Go, kill them!”

Devil Pathway extraordinaries were already quite simple-minded to begin with, and now that they had lost control, their intelligence had plummeted to practically zero, leaving only their most primal beastly instincts. Such creatures were perfect targets for mind control.

This was the sound of the monsters' feet crushing the ground as they charged. They moved at extreme speed, each step landing with a heavy, muffled thud.

Meanwhile, the seven people on Freya's side made their move at the same time. During the previous conversation, the two pink-haired teammates who had been half-frozen and smashed into the wall by Euphy had already been healed by Freya.

All four pink-haired teammates, including Joan, brandished their “invisible weapons” and rushed forward to meet the charging Devil Pathway extraordinaries.

In just the first clash, several Devil Pathway extraordinaries were dismembered. Yet, absurdly, even with their limbs and heads chopped off, these monsters refused to die. Some opened their mouths to spit dark green venom, while others bristled their fur like steel needles, shooting them in all directions.

The spider-headed monster mentioned earlier was even able to move perfectly after being decapitated. The eight legs on its neck scurried rapidly, spitting spider silk as it ran.

Victor kicked away a severed arm crawling toward him from some unknown corner, pulling out his gun to aim and fire. “Bang—!”

With just one shot, the struck Devil Pathway extraordinary erupted into blue flames, turning into a pile of ash in a matter of seconds. This was the first kill secured by Freya's side since the battle began.

Euphemia did not charge into the frontlines but stood beside Freya to defend her. As for Freya, spheres of white light manifested around her, quietly gathering energy.

“Roar!!!”

Right then, they couldn't forget the heavyweight enemy—the completely out-of-control Thorne. Opening his mouth full of sharp teeth, he roared. The piercing sound waves sent a shiver down everyone's spine, as the roar itself carried a mental attack. Then, Thorne took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of white mist glittering with starlight.

Though she didn't know what it was, Freya immediately changed her target. She aimed all her light spheres at Thorne and the mist in front of him, unleashing a barrage of white light beams.

Seeing this, Joan warned, “Careful! That's the Dragon Warrior's Mind Breath! It has no physical offensive power, but it can dissolve minds and memories!”

In other words, if an ordinary person were submerged in this mist, their memories would slowly fade until they became a blank slate, remembering absolutely nothing, just like a newborn baby.

In fact, even the mist itself was purely a visual effect. Freya's light beams passed straight through it, neither affecting the other.

Of course, those light beams naturally bombarded Thorne with absolute precision.

With the power of multiple beams stacked together, Thorne, who was only halfway through his breath, looked as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding train. His massive three-meter frame was blasted backward, sliding for at least thirty meters and leaving a deep, visible trench in the ground.

It was no exaggeration to say that the spirituality consumed by this single strike was nearly equivalent to the total spirituality of a Rank Four Mind Pathway extraordinary.

Thorne's Mind Breath was naturally cut short, but the mist he had already exhaled did not dissipate. It continued to drift toward Freya and the others. Left with no choice, Freya, Euphemia, and Victor had to fall back to distance themselves from the mist while simultaneously dealing with the surrounding Devil Pathway extraordinaries.

As for Joan and her three teammates, they had already broken through the encirclement of the Devil Pathway extraordinaries and charged straight at Luna. They were assassins, after all; clearing mobs was not their forte, so they bypassed the minions to strike directly at Luna.

While this made it look like they were abandoning Freya's trio, if Joan's group stayed behind, Luna wouldn't just stand by and watch. He would definitely keep interfering with his abilities. For instance, if he unleashed a few Mind Piercings, no one except Euphemia would be able to withstand them, and the situation would only worsen. Thus, this was the best choice under the circumstances.

And indeed, seeing the four pink-haired girls rushing toward him—especially Joan, who looked like a legal loli but clearly wanted nothing more than to skin him alive—Luna had to prioritize the enemies in front of him, leaving him unable to spare any attention for Freya's trio in the distance.

“Mind Piercing!” It was still that signature ability of the Mind Pathway—formless, invisible, and completely unavoidable. The three pink-haired teammates were instantly hit. Their forward charges ground to a halt as they clutched their heads in agony. One of them, having rushed too fast, lost her balance and fell flat on the ground.

This would normally be the perfect opportunity to finish them off. Frost materialized around Luna, but he did not attack blindly. Instead, he kept a close eye on his surroundings because... Joan had vanished at some point.

This was one of the extraordinary abilities of a Moon Shadow. It wasn't mere invisibility, but a literal “disappearance” from existence. Even an attack like Mind Piercing, which theoretically could not miss, lost its target at this moment.

Luna stood on high alert, forced to concentrate all his focus to prepare for the impending sneak attack, not daring to let his guard down for even a second.

Back on Freya's side, Victor was taking down the Devil Pathway extraordinaries with terrifying efficiency—one shot, one kill. Seeing this, Freya played a supporting role, causing a dense thicket of plants to burst from the ground in an attempt to entangle the monsters' feet and hold them in place.

However, these creatures possessed staggering strength. Freya could only hold them for a few seconds before they ripped her plants apart and resumed their assault.

Freya couldn't help but ask, “Are these guys really Devil Pathway extraordinaries? How are they so different from the ones we encountered in the Kingdom of Tarapaca?”

Euphemia replied, “They are, and they aren't.”

Victor, having fired his six shots, ducked under a swipe from a Devil Pathway extraordinary while reloading. “Come on, sister, what on earth does that mean? Can you be a bit more specific?!”

Euphemia explained, “To put it simply, there is a high probability that the Devil potion these guys drank has a different recipe from the one Jerome distributed in the Kingdom of Tarapaca.”

Freya was taken aback. “They're both the Devil Pathway, but the recipes can be different?”

Euphemia said, “Of course. After all, the Devil Pathway is an unexplored pathway. In any case, after drinking it, they get stronger, their bodies harden, and they grow claws and tails. Aren't those all characteristics of the Devil Pathway?”

Thus, no matter how one looked at it, both potions were indeed Devil potions. The only difference was that the consumers of Jerome's batch could still maintain some degree of sanity, whereas Luna's potion was far too potent. It likely caused them to lose control the very instant they drank it, though they became significantly stronger as a result.

The battle raged on. Thorne scrambled back to his feet and charged toward them once more, panting heavily, only to be met with another barrage of light beams.

Although the attack was spectacular, Life Freya's light beam attacks dealt purely physical damage. Since Thorne's body was now entirely covered in scales, his physical defense was incredibly high, meaning Freya couldn't deal any significant damage.

After blasting him back another dozen meters and seeing that he was still largely unharmed, she couldn't help but look at Victor. “Is there any way to take this big guy down?”

Having just finished reloading, Victor fired another volley. He didn't even seem to be aiming, just blindly firing a few shots, yet every single bullet hit a Devil Pathway extraordinary with perfect accuracy. He said, “Leave him to me. Let me see if I can deal with him!”

Thirty Devil Pathway extraordinaries sounded like a lot, and they would indeed pose a massive threat if let loose in the city. However, if Victor could take one down with every single shot, it would only take him five rounds of firing at most.

Not to mention that Joan's group had already dismembered a batch at the start, and Freya and Euphemia had been fighting continuously, so the field was already mostly cleared. Victor looked at Thorne, who was charging for the third time. Taking a deep breath, he dialed his luck up to the absolute maximum and took a slow step forward toward his opponent.

He had no idea what would happen next, but he trusted his luck. Who knew? Maybe a bolt of lightning would suddenly strike from a clear sky in the next second and fry Thorne on the spot.

Just then, Victor felt a green vine wrap around his ankle. Looking back, he saw that the other end was tied around Freya's wrist. Freya said, “If you get swatted away, I'll pull you back. As long as you don't die on the spot, I can save you.”

Victor's lips twitched slightly. “Your guarantee does give me some peace of mind, but I still hope I don't get swatted away in the first place.”

Then, Victor began to mutter under his breath, “Come on, come on, my good luck!”

Accompanied by heavy footsteps, Thorne arrived before Victor. His massive body completely blocked out the sunlight, casting Victor entirely in his shadow. It had to be said that the sheer pressure of this sight was incredibly intense.

Thorne opened his bloody, cavernous maw and lunged to bite Victor. If this landed, it would probably bite him clean in half—the kind of injury even Life Freya wouldn't be able to save him from.

Yet, in the face of this, Victor still didn't dodge or flinch, standing silently in place. If nothing else, the sheer courage required for this was something very few people possessed.

Even if one were absolutely certain they wouldn't die, this scene was terrifying enough. What's more, Victor couldn't even guarantee his own survival, given how incredibly unstable luck could be.

Watching from the side, Freya and Euphemia felt their hearts leap into their throats. Then, with a loud boom, Freya felt the ground beneath her feet tremble as a cloud of dust billowed up.

Euphemia couldn't help but ask, “Is he... alright?”

Thanks to her Heart Perception, Freya knew what had happened immediately. She said, “He's fine...”

The reason the ground had trembled and dust had flown was because Thorne's strike had completely missed Victor, biting into the ground right beside him instead.

As the dust slowly settled, Thorne, who had just taken a mouthful of dirt, stood back up. However, the madness in his eyes was gone, replaced by a faint glimmer of sanity.

Victor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “What just happened?”

Clearly, he had no idea what was going on either.

......