CHAPTER 115: I KNOW THE WAY TO LEAVE, I WILL STAY BACK

I spoke slowly. "The smaller the number, the stronger the mutation. You look physically normal, so the experiment must not have affected your body.

"That means your current state—your soul being out here—is probably the result of the experiment done to you."

He went silent.

Of course, the experiment wasn’t actually done on us.

But the narrative said it was, which led to our bodies being altered.

’This being his soul state would explain why I got the weird feeling when I looked at him with Hollow Eyes,’ I thought.

"I picked this up. Mira was writing something before everything went to hell." Zephan opened his bag and pulled out a small notebook.

I frowned.

The children hadn’t mentioned him helping Mira.

That meant he probably left her there.

But I didn’t say anything about it yet.

I took the notebook and flipped through the pages.

The writing was shaky and scattered, some parts smudged or covered with strange marks.

It seemed as if trying to copy the original clue Mira had seen.

[It’s impossible to escape this place! It’s impossible! All of us failed!]

[The $%@ Institution was built on @#’s support.]

[The Institution is impossible to !$@!$ from.]

[I wish I never knew about this place. Maybe then we could escape.]

[When @14@ were #41231 on us we were dream$^^%.]

Zephan looked at the notes for a long time, then finally spoke.

"I understand it now. The way to escape this domain," he said. "But..."

He looked at all of us.

"If we want to bring the captured teammates with us, we’ll have to rescue them from the lab first."

He didn’t explain how to escape.

None of us asked either.

In a Cursed Spirit’s domain, if you revealed the method of escape, there was a risk.

Normally, there was an eighty percent chance the Spirit wouldn’t react.

But if you were unlucky and fell into the twenty percent, it would become violent.

We had fallen into that twenty percent.

Right now, we were trapped inside a domain where we were nothing more than test subjects trying to escape.

The Cursed Spirit’s goal was to catch us.

If Zephan said the method out loud, the Cursed Spirit would detect it and go berserk, trying to capture us regardless of time limit.

It wasn’t guaranteed to happen, but based on all the domain exploration records we’d experienced, we knew it was likely to happen.

Calliope took a breath. "Th-Then we will rescue the others first. We can’t just leave them there."

Zephan gave a small nod.

"I agree."

He turned to me. "What about you? You want to leave first or go for the rescue?"

"I’ll go with the rescue," I said simply.

I didn’t tell him why.

My goal wasn’t just to escape.

I wanted to gather more data about the Cursed Spirit Area 51. Escaping was secondary. I was here to exorcise the Cursed Spirit itself.

For that, I needed to stay here and collect more clues.

"So, for the rescue, I’ll hold off the Cursed Spirit," I added. "You guys rescue them from the lab."

Zephan frowned. "...How do you plan to do that?"

"I can stop its teleportation. Don’t forget I’m a space mage," I said.

I didn’t explain further.

In my previous life, when I fought against angels with the Allied Kingdoms, a legendary space mage had developed a high-level barrier spell to counter them.

I couldn’t use the full version now, but I could create a weakened one.

It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would do what I needed: it would block the Cursed Spirit’s teleportation.

The problem was, the spell took time to prepare.

I needed to stay in one place while casting it, which was why I hadn’t used it before.

Back then, we were always moving, thinking we would work around the Cursed Spirit’s teleportation by dividing equal teams.

Now, that wasn’t an option.

And since I would be alone, I wouldn’t need to use Hollow Eyes to protect the others.

That meant I wouldn’t see the Cursed Spirit in its eldritch form.

I would only see its comparatively normal Cursed Spirit, which, while still stronger than me, was something that could be physically fought against.

Zephan gave me a look. "If you had something like that, why didn’t you use it earlier?"

"Because it takes too long and it drains me, and I didn’t think we’d need it."

"I’ll stay with you. I can help," Calliope spoke up.

I shook my head. "No. You need to go. Lars’s condition is unstable, and you won’t be able to use healing magic much longer. You’ll just get in danger here."

Zephan opened his mouth, probably to argue, but I cut him off.

"You need to guide Calliope to the lab. Or do you want to have the kids do that?" I said firmly.

He stared at me for a few moments, then sighed. "Fine."

He knelt down in front of the children.

"We’ll stay together for a while," he told them gently. "You’ll all escape soon. We’ll protect you until then."

I didn’t say anything.

Lars was unconscious. Calliope had melted her almost entire mana core.

Zephan was in a soul form, and I doubted he could fight in that state.

If the Cursed Spirit attacked them, they wouldn’t be able to protect the kids.

But I didn’t tell them that.

My goal was already clear.

"I’ll teleport you to another room. I need some time to prepare something. Don’t ask what I’m doing. Focus on your own task.

"Once you’re in the room where I’ll teleport you, wait for four minutes before heading to the lab," I said.

"What are you planning?" Zephan asked.

"I’ll create a portal inside the lab. The Cursed Spirit will sense it and come after me. All of you can then enter the lab. But remember to wait four minutes first," I said, already have been told the coordinates by Zephan.

I expected them to protest, thinking I was using them as bait.

After all, as a larger group, the Cursed Spirit would go after them, instead of me unless I actually did what I said I could.