Chapter 64. Inevitable Fate - 2
Chapter 64. Inevitable Fate - 2
"Haah….haah….what was that?"
Orion thought as he found himself standing in the boat. His back drenched with sweat as he took deep breaths.
'Am I not dead? I saw my own headless body with my own eyes.'
He vividly remembered hearing the boss say something when he saw his headless body, and then everything turned dark for him.
'Did I daydream about it because of all the stress I am having due to Isis's divination?'
He didn't know if he would believe that. As far as he could remember, everything felt so real to him, like it had just happened a while ago; therefore, he had a feeling that everything that happened must be true.
He died. He truly died without even knowing how. He didn't even see the boss move before his head rolled down to the ground.
'If I am dead, then how am I alive, and what am I doing here?'
He found himself back in the boat, and as he looked around, he saw a very strange scene.
Everyone looked normal, going about their own tasks. But what caught Orion off guard was that everyone seemed to be preparing for battle. They cleaned their weapons and armor, and he saw Runo planning something with his team while others prepared themselves by resting, getting ready for the battle ahead.
This was the exact scene he had seen previously when he went to the middle of the boat to ask Jarth to stay here and have a lookout for Famir and the other two before going to battle.
'Did I come back in time?'
This was the only thought that came to his mind when he saw the situation; otherwise, he couldn't explain how he, who had just died a while ago, came here.
'But how?... Did Isis help me?'
At this moment, he could only think of Isis—the Goddess of Immortality—who could have the power to reverse time. But he didn't feel very sure about that.
However, as Orion observed him carefully, he noticed that the guy had become somewhat thinner compared to the last time he had talked to him when he underwent the same transformation.
Isis had been trapped by the tree demon on the other side of the pond, and what he saw in the temple of souls could very well be just a soul of hers. So, he thought that if she couldn't help herself out of there, how would she have the strength to help him?
As Orion pondered deeply about this, he suddenly caught sight of the fat guy he had seen previously before going into battle.
What caught his attention this time was that after the transformation was over, unlike last time, the guy stopped doing anything and sat down on the boat, deep in contemplation with furrowed brows.
However, as Orion observed him carefully, he noticed that the guy had become somewhat thinner compared to the last time he had talked to him when he underwent the same transformation.
He remembered that the previously fat guy said the transformation was related to his curse, but Orion had his suspicions about that last time.
'Could it be related to this guy?'
Suddenly, this thought came to Orion's mind, and as it did, he couldn't help but feel that everything that happened to him, from dying to coming back in time, must be somehow related to this guy.
'I came back in time at the exact moment when this guy was going through his transformation. What are the odds of that? I could randomly be back any moment in the time I have spent in this dungeon, but why the exact time when he was going through his transformation?'
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his assumptions were more or less true.
Also, as he looked at the gloomy expression on the guy's face, Orion felt sure that it must definitely be related to him.
'Let's go and ask him directly.'
Now, there was one thing for him to do, and that was to confront him to see if all of his assumptions were true or not.
As he thought of that, he started walking towards the fat guy, and a moment later he arrived in front of him.
The fat guy, who had his head down all this time, turned to look at him with his barely visible eyes when he noticed someone had arrived in front of him.
"Could you join me for a moment?" Orion asked casually. "I'd like to discuss something regarding the boss monster we're about to face."
As Orion mentioned his purpose, the fat guy narrowed his eyes, which made his barely visible eyes practically vanish amidst his chubby cheeks.
The fat guy nodded at him after much contemplation.
"Alright, follow me," Orion said, leading him to the only cabin on the newly constructed boat that the pirates had assembled. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
A moment later, they arrived in the cabin, where only two of them stood looking at each other.
Sensing the increasing tension in the air, Orion directly asked what he wanted.
"It was you, right?"
The fat guy shook his head at him.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he said in confusion.
Orion frowned at his answer.
"It was you who used time-related talent to help me, right?" He asked again. "Otherwise, I would have been dead by now."
"How did you…?" The fat guy couldn't complete his sentence, for he felt shocked at Orion's ability to know about him and his time-related talent.
When he used his talent, only he remembered what had happened last time. There had never been any situation where anyone other than him remembered what had happened.
But now, seeing Orion standing in front of him and asking him about it made him wonder if he still hadn't come to his senses after he used his talent earlier.
Meanwhile, Orion felt sure of his assumptions as he looked at the shock expression on the fat guy's face.
"So, what happened that time?" he further asked about the situation at that time. He knew he had died, but what about others? Did they also die, or was only he the unfortunate one?
"As far as I can tell, everyone died there," he said, his face turning aghast. "I was in the last position, equipping my shield, when everyone died, including me and you."
Orion was confused for a moment as he heard him.
"You said everyone died that time, right?" He asked, puzzled. "Then why don't they seem to remember anything at all?"
"About that," the fat guy appeared puzzled as he said. "Actually, my talent erased the memories of everyone before reversing the time so they wouldn't know anything about it. So them not remembering anything is normal. But it's you who are the problem here. You appeared to have remembered everything."
Orion pondered the words of the fat guy and could only think about one reason why he didn't forget anything like others.
'The memory erase thing must be done with mana, and since mana doesn't have any effect on my body, it couldn't erase my memories.'
Now that he understood everything about what happened, his face became solemn as he asked the most important question he had in his mind.
"So, how many times can you do what you did previously?"
He understood that such a god-level power must have its limitations; consequently, the curse related to it would also be fatal, if not life-threatening.