Chương 33: Found Sophia

If I had known that simply asking the Goddess would reveal Sophia's location, I wouldn't have used myself as bait and wound up in this predicament. Instead, I could have tried to approach from the outside - a method that seems much safer. Should I start over from the very beginning? Go back to the first day and prioritize rescuing Rachel's sister first? That was an option, but I felt reluctant about that idea.

If I reset to day one only to discover that an outside approach is impossible, then the dozens of times I've endured this pain would have been for nothing. No, I would try every possible way to break us both out from the inside first. If that fails, then I'll reconsider the plan later. The biggest issue at that moment was that once I was escorted to the mana extraction room, death was almost a certainty. The Church saw my ability to siphon mana back as "heresy."

Since I was not only useless to them but also a threat to their mana supply, their safest choice was naturally to eliminate me. Furthermore, there were no openings to escape during the trek from the cells to the extraction room. I also lacked any effective combat abilities to break through their perimeter. Still, there were a few more things I could try. In my next attempt, the moment I woke up in the cell, I began screaming to draw attention.

"Do you have any idea who you've imprisoned?! I am an emissary of the Goddess Halunar! I demand to see the Pope!" My ruckus successfully drew them in. I held up my left hand, displaying my holy mark.

"Are you blind? Can't you see? I bear the Hero's Mark, chosen by the Goddess herself! She has commanded me to assist the other Heroes!" The men exchanged glances, then promptly unlocked the cell and gagged me. I was dragged to the mana extraction room much earlier than scheduled, while the previous batch of slaves had yet to leave. They tossed an exhausted slave aside and shoved me into his place. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

After that, everything played out exactly like the first time. I drained every drop of mana from the blood basin, and they declared the mark on my hand a forgery. Because I was gagged and couldn't recite the reset keyword, I was stabbed to death once again. It appeared that masquerading as an emissary of the Goddess was a fruitless endeavor. The fundamental issues were the restricted space and the ticking clock.

If only I could just avoid being executed immediately after the first mana extraction, I would have the breathing room to strategize. I tried again. This time, I focused every fiber of my being on resisting the hypnosis. Hypnosis was the key to forcing slaves into a state of self-defense, which in turn triggered their unconscious mana flow. If I could remain lucid, I wouldn't activate my mana-siphoning skill.

The blindfolds served a dual purpose: they prevented slaves from mapping an escape route and ensured that the moment the cloth was ripped away, their eyes would instinctively lock onto the hypnotic orb, maximizing its effect. Even without a blindfold, the eerie light from the orb easily snared one's attention and induced hallucinations. In my previous attempts, I had tried looking away, but I always failed. Even if I squeezed my eyes shut, the captors standing over me would simply pry them open.

But this time, I would gaze into that orb through the eye of a god. As the orb began to glow, I immediately activated my left eye to peer through it. My normal right eye still began to glaze over, so I instinctively shut it for a moment. That split second was enough to prevent me from sinking into the trance. When I opened my right eye again, I was able to detach my focus from the illusory sphere.

The Clerics began to drive the transfusion needles into my hands, jeering at the "forged" mark on my left hand and mocking me just as they had in every other loop. My blood flowed out, but it carried no mana. Since the blood of all the slaves drained into a single communal basin, they didn't realize one person wasn't contributing. I wasn't sure why they didn't harvest from each person individually, but they clearly found this collective method more efficient.

However, the more blood I lost, the more my lucidity flickered, making me vulnerable to the hypnosis. I had to seize this moment to verify Sophia's exact location. Fortunately, my seat faced the entrance. I gazed toward the area Halunar had described as Sophia's cell, pushing my X-ray and long-range vision to their absolute limits. It felt as though my brain were literally about to combust. But I wagered it wouldn't actually explode, so I pushed through the agony. There, I saw a dark, cramped communal ward.

About ten bunk beds were crammed together into a tiny space. Three people were currently in the room: two young women in tattered rags, and a red-haired girl of about ten years old. Found her. Almost immediately after, I blacked out - whether from the extreme blood loss or the overexertion of Halunar's eye, I couldn't be sure.