The Burning Tavern

The mass death incident had happened early...

She had been careless before; Winster could also use his own blood to trigger this incident.

But Solana didn't really care, because her original intention was to either team up with Theresa or take out Winster by herself.

After all, she had fought members of the Blood Order before. Aside from being quite resilient and cunning, their direct combat capabilities weren't that strong. She should be able to handle it alone.

As for taking down the Devourer, as long as she could hold off Winster, Theresa should have her own means of dealing with them.

But Winster wasn't even here right now. Had he left early? Was there a problem with the divination?

Suddenly, Solana's eyes narrowed.

Could he have turned into a bat and hidden somewhere?

At this sudden realization, she immediately looked around.

There weren't many people in the tavern this time. The one-eyed man had died in front of a wooden table, likely dropping dead suddenly while talking to someone. The long-haired man was still lying on the floor, just like last time.

But there were no bats on the walls or the ceiling...

So it wasn't a bat transformation. What else could it be...

As she pondered, Solana noticed the corpses lying on the floor again.

Wait, could it be a corpse? Was he pretending to be one of the corpses here?

That was the only possibility. If so, the mass death incident from the previous loop would make sense—Winster had been in the tavern all along, eavesdropping on their conversation!

Which one was he?

If I check them one by one now, will he take the opportunity to escape...

Right, directly checking them won't work...

Last time at the underground exchange, the Knight Guard failed to capture the main body because they were distracted by me.

But what should I do to ensure someone absolutely cannot escape?

I was never a righteous person anyway, and as the Witch of Flame, I'm already target number one for their crusade. There's no need for me to be as bound by morals as those people...

Suddenly, she thought of a great idea.

“In that case... what if I use the Crafter's Sigils to seal all the doors and windows, and then burn this entire tavern to the ground...?”

A red light flashed in Solana's eyes, and her lips curled into a strange, eerie smile once more.

...

*Boom! Bang!

The tavern instantly erupted into towering flames!

Winster was startled awake by a series of roaring explosions.

Opening his eyes, what greeted him was a massive sea of black fire.

Countless burning wooden beams and debris crashed down, as if accompanying this grand carnival. Thick smoke filled the air like stage fog.

However, seeing this, Winster was in no mood to appreciate it. He spat fiercely at the sea of fire in front of him!

Just moments ago, he had sensed a Beyonder of the Demon pathway arriving through his blood perception. Thus, he had continued to disguise himself as the long-haired man, planning to wait until that Beyonder left.

When a loud bang echoed from the door, he knew the other party had left. Just as he was about to drop his disguise, he suddenly smelled something burning.

Upon opening his eyes, he found himself trapped in a sea of fire!

Sensing danger, he tried to rush toward the entrance, only to find a Crafter's Sigil pasted on the door!

He tried turning into a bat and flew to the windows, but they were all sealed with the exact same Crafter's Sigils!

“A demon... this is a literal demon!”

In utter despair, the man could only watch helplessly as the flames slowly climbed up his body.

Just then, he saw a black-haired girl walking toward him.

Her crimson eyes seemed exceptionally bright at this moment.

The girl smiled and said, “Last time, you almost killed me. But this time, you're the one who dies.”

Last time? What last time?

When did I ever try to kill her?

Wasn't she the one constantly ruining my plans?!

Winster grew increasingly confused, but he no longer had the strength to ponder this absurd situation. He could only watch in despair as his body was slowly reduced to ashes by the flames.

The ground was scorched black, and countless corpses had been carbonized and shriveled, emitting a sickening, burnt odor.

But Solana walked forward without a care, as if taking a leisurely stroll.

Eventually, she arrived in front of Winster's corpse.

The corpse was burned beyond recognition, but on his right hand, a silver ring gleamed brightly.

Solana squatted down, picked up the ring, and examined it with interest for a moment.

She immediately slipped the ring onto her finger.

With a flash of silver light, the black-haired girl vanished. In her place stood a long-haired man, his body covered in strange, dark-patterned scales.

So Winster really had been in the tavern since the previous loop, disguised as the long-haired man...

No wonder that long-haired man had always been peeping at the Sister, and no wonder the Sister couldn't find any trace of him in the last loop... Everything made sense now.

With a thought, Solana willed the ring, and she quickly transformed into Camilla.

However, she didn't feel any ability to perform divination, nor did she feel any sudden mastery of cold weapons or firearms entering her mind.

So she couldn't use the skills of the person she disguised herself as...

This ring only replicated their physical appearance.

At this point, Solana realized that if she disguised herself as Camilla, she might be able to directly take her main body away...

She had sensed before that someone might be constantly watching her. Otherwise, those perfectly timed attacks would be extremely difficult to explain.

If she faked her main body being kidnapped by the Witch of Flame, she could fade into the background. That way, she wouldn't be exposed in the open, and she could better investigate the mastermind behind the scenes.

Thinking this, she walked out of the burning tavern.

Looking up slightly, she suddenly saw...

In the sky above, countless plumes of black smoke were spreading. Like wildly unfurling tentacles, they gradually blanketed the entirety of Leytin City, just like last time!

The Apostle of Calamity...

That Rank Two Devourer had successfully advanced to a Rank Three Apostle of Calamity...

Just then, she noticed that her main body was showing faint signs of waking up.