For two more days, no one disturbed them as they stayed in their hideout. Biyakis still didn't come.

The other day, Juwaira was arguing with Abdin about Biyakis. She thought that the empire had already come and had been repelled by the army of ghouls inside the castle.

Abdin told her it was not possible. His spiritual sense was insanely vast whenever he was inside the castle. Such movements of the army wouldn't escape him.

It was either the empire was intentionally keeping quiet about it, or they were inside the castle already and together with the army of ghouls. They could even be preventing any information about the castle from spreading, which would explain the lack of visitors.

On the third day, there was a knock on the door.

Abdin went to check. Juwaira and Denyanu tagging behind.

"Say your name and what you want," Abdin said without opening the door.

There was silence, then: "My name is Kininura from Biyakis. I am here to speak with your leader."

Kininura? Commander Kininura? Abdin's brows furrowed. "What brings the 1st division commander of Biyakis here? Does the emperor send you?"

"I am always on the orders of the emperor," the voice said. It resumed after a short pause, "I shall assume you are the leader of your team. Why don't you explain yourself to me? Start with your name, where you come from, and what brings you here."

"I am Ilu Sanka. A native of Shurein. I came here as an immigrant."

"Ilu Sanka?" The voice sounded skeptical.

Abdin cleared his throat. "I have answered your questions, and now it's your turn to answer mine."

"What reason does Biyakis have for forming such an army and hiding them underground? I saw people from Nànata, and others using dark magic to control the dead. What would the level six empire on Muna'wan island have to say when they find out that a level one empire under their watch is using dark magic? Or do you want to tell me that Nànata is now allied with the people of Muna'wan?"

Abdin knew he had him there. It remained quiet for a long time. Kininura, or whoever it was, obviously didn't expect Abdin to know so much.

"Won't you open the door so we can talk?" Asked the voice.

Abdin laughed. "Your tone suggests you want me to open the door so you can attack me."

As he spoke, Abdin could imagine the man frowning with his gray, ugly brows. He had once met the man at the capital of Biyakis. Right now, there was no way to tell if he was talking to the real man or someone else. He wouldn't be surprised if they sent him a clone.

A while later, Kininura's footsteps receded as he left. Abdin sighed and returned upstairs.

An hour later, about two thousand squads moved closer and surrounded the hideout.

For two days, they had kept closing in and slowly spreading out. Now, they had surrounded them.

A man on the front row of the army, riding an unfamiliar demon beast, raised his hand. Silence instantly fell upon the soldiers. He spoke in a tongue foreign to Abdin.

In response, a series of spells rained down from every angle upon the hideout.

"Was that the tongue Laluri sends messages with?" Abdin asked loudly, but no one answered him. They were all focused on the spells coming their way, as they tried to defend themselves and the hideout.

Abdin merely shut his eyes and waited for the spells to come. He had given up on this loop long ago.

At the last moment, he could hear Juwaira calling his name, but couldn't reply because he was the first to die among them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

[You have chosen to reset the last expansion. Cost: 60 years.]

***

The next time he opened his eyes, Abdin was standing in a forest.

[You died at the hands of the enemies, losing six months' worth of pol.]

Abdin sighed. This was his route to cultivation: progressing and then retrogressing.

He planned to always make the progress higher. He had 186 Years in his core at the moment. And right now, all the dead were back to life. Except for the ones whose souls were used by him and the carnivorous castle. He had no way of knowing their number unless he went to the towns and checked.

Juwaira and her team had also returned to life. Just as the Nánata and their army of ghouls, all back and waiting underground...

At the thought of that, he jerked his foot away and quickly scanned the ground with his spiritual sense. He felt as though he would be attacked at any time from under the ground.

He pushed the thought away.

Many things had happened in the previous loop, but the encounter with Nànata was certainly the most troublesome.

He debated for a while before he went east. A few hour's walk later, he halted.

He dug a sizeable hole. Using the essence of lightning, he was able to dig very deep in just half an hour.

But he uncovered nothing. He went on for another half hour.

Now the hole was almost half a kilometer deep. But he saw nothing, and even his spiritual sense could find nothing unusual. Didn't the army come through the underground?

He kept on digging until he reached a kilometer depth. He still couldn't find anything. He came out of the hole and walked west. After some distance, he stopped and dug again. He still couldn't find a thing.

He searched five spots without any success.

It was on this path that the castle expanded in the previous loop. The castle managed to consume both ghouls and demon beasts.

After weighing every option, Abdin believed that the ghouls and demon beasts were hiding underground.

But upon searching now, he could find nothing. The size of the army contradicted any thoughts of it coming after he summoned the castle. It was an army that had been there for some time.

After some thought, he resumed his walk through the thick of the jungle.

He found a spot and dug again, but all to no avail. He was finally forced to give up. The sun had almost set by then, and he hadn't even summoned the castle yet.

He might have already lost the chance to intercept Juwaira's team.

He checked the small map in his bag. The princess' party would pass through the western mountain range in a few hours, that was if they didn't change their route.

The night would catch them there. The beasts of the mountain range liked to eat at night. They would be forced to seek shelter to spend the night.

That was when he would intercept them.

Abdin turned and changed his route. A day's walk later, he heard the neighing of horses, and he walked forward to the back of the mountain where the sound was coming from.

From there, he could see a small party of nine and a cart full of slaves at their back. There was also a man among the riders, wearing armor that covered his chest and a veil covering his face.

Abdin laughed. His destiny was intertwined with these people.

He came out of hiding and stood on their path where he would be noticed. The party arrived not long after that.

"Hey, you! Get out of the way!" Denyanu barked at him. It seemed the old man was their spokesperson.

Abdin raised his hands in surrender and said, "If you are going to the next town, I shall pay you to take me with you."

Denyanu frowned. What could bring a man to the middle of the mountain range at such an hour? He pushed his spiritual sense to check the man and suddenly frowned. A man with as much pol as Abdin didn't need an escort to town.

Abdin smiled. "I have my specialties, and could certainly be of help to you."

Denyanu looked suspiciously at him, wondering if Abdin was just a jungle man out to rob them.

Abdin understood the look so he moved aside and bowed lightly. "I won't press if you don't agree. I shall wish you a happy journey on your way."

There was some silence and Juwaira raised a hand to stop him.

Denyanu moved closer to her and bowed. She whispered something to him and the elderly man paused with a strange expression before turning to Abdin.

"Can you follow us on foot?"

Abdin nodded.

The old man hesitated before saying, "Alright. You can come with us. You'll be walking on foot and standing at the front to intercept any low-level beasts. And don't do anything stupid. Don't even think about it."

Abdin nodded and led the way after bowing lightly at Juwaira.

The party started again and Abdin was debating on how he could get the most out of this loop, then: "Who gave you the permission to take him?" A voice came from the carriage.

It was Laluri's voice, warning the princess.

Juwaira turned and glared at the carriage, and without a word, galloped forward. Denyanu and the others followed along with the carriage. It seemed none of them had time to answer the slave.

"What is your name?" Denyanu asked him.

Abdin was about to answer when all the horses neighed and stopped as if blocked by an invisible wall. They were all forced to halt.

"I said, who gave you the permission to take him?" Laluri asked. She hadn't shown her face yet, so Abdin was wondering if she was still bound in chains. After all, what could a slave in chains do?