The smell of horse manure was no longer a shock to Kaelen’s system; it was a biological clock.

  "Kaelen! Wake up, you—"

  "I’m awake, Valen," Kaelen snapped, rolling out of the hay before the Prince’s boot could even make contact with his ribs. He stood up, shaking off the straw with a series of practiced, robotic movements. He didn't look at the Prince. He didn't need to. He knew Valen was wearing the blue silk tunic, the one with the loose thread on the left cuff that he’d spend the next three hours picking at.

  Valen froze, his foot still hanging in the air. "Oh. Well. Good! The Oracle is coming, and I—"

  "—feel your destiny calling. I know. Grab the wooden sword. Let’s do the 'Radiant Flourish.' You’re going to trip on the third step if you don't adjust your weight to the left heel. Move."

  Kaelen didn't wait for a response. He walked toward the armory, his mind a flickering HUD of timers and death-zones. In the last hundred loops, he had learned the hard way that the world didn't just accidentally kill Valen. The world was actively trying to delete him. If it wasn't a bridge, it was a stray branch. If it wasn't a branch, it was a sudden allergic reaction to a bee sting.

  The "System" windows had become his only friends.

  [ATTEMPT #114] [USER STATUS: CHRONIC INSOMNIA / MENTAL FATIGUE - 22%] [SKILL UPDATED: 'SENSE AMBUSH' (RANK D)] [NEW TRAIT: 'CYNIC’S CLARITY' — Your lack of hope increases your reaction time by 10%.]

  "Kaelen, you’re acting very... efficient today," Valen remarked, scurrying behind him. "Are you sure you’re alright? You didn't even laugh at my joke about the barmaid and the dragon."

  "I’ve heard it one hundred and thirteen times, Highness. It doesn't get funnier."

  "One hundred and—? Never mind. To the procession!"

  Kaelen didn't just lead the procession this time; he orchestrated it like a battlefield. He moved the scouts two hundred yards further out. He swapped the Prince’s horse for a draft mare—ugly, slow, but virtually impossible to spook. He didn't take the Bridge of Sighs. He didn't take the Low Road. He took the "Scrub-Brush Path," a route so miserable and thorny that no assassin in their right mind would hide there.

  "Ouch! Kaelen, these brambles are ruining my cape!" Valen whined, picking a thorn from his thumb.

  "Better a ruined cape than a ruined jugular, Highness. Keep moving. In three seconds, a hawk is going to drop a snake. Don't look up."

  "A hawk is going to drop a—?"

  Thud.

  A fat, confused adder landed exactly where Valen’s horse would have been if Kaelen hadn't pulled the reins a second earlier. Valen stared at the writhing reptile, his face turning a shade of pale that Kaelen had seen many times before—usually right before the "Reset."

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  "How did you...?"

  "Lucky guess," Kaelen muttered. "Now, we’re approaching the Blackroot Marsh. This is where things get 'crunchy.'"

  In the previous loop—Loop 113—they had made it to the edge of the marsh before a group of Level 40 Shadow-Stalkers had turned the entire caravan into a pincushion. Kaelen had managed to kill four of them before a blade found Valen’s throat.

  This time, Kaelen wasn't going to fight them. He was going to "speedrun" them.

  "Highness, give me your holy pendant. The one you use for 'Inner Light.'"

  "But this is a royal heirloom! I’m supposed to save it for the Void King!"

  "Give. It. Here." Kaelen’s eyes were cold. Valen handed it over, trembling slightly.

  Kaelen took the pendant and tied it to a heavy rock. As they reached the entrance to the marsh, he felt the familiar prickle of "Sense Ambush" at the base of his skull. The Shadow-Stalkers were there, hidden in the grey mist, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

  Kaelen didn't wait. He wound his arm back and hurled the rock-pendant deep into the thickest part of the bog, a hundred yards to their left.

  "HEY!" Kaelen roared at the top of his lungs. "THE PRINCE IS ESCAPING THROUGH THE MUD!"

  "Kaelen, what are you—?"

  "Shut up and gallop!" Kaelen kicked Valen’s horse.

  The Shadow-Stalkers, conditioned by the "System" to follow the highest mana signature, saw the glowing holy pendant flying through the air and heard the shouting. They surged toward the sound, their black blades cutting through the mist toward an empty rock.

  Meanwhile, Kaelen and the Prince bolted down the main path, clear and unopposed.

  [BONUS XP GRANTED: 'CLEVER DISTRACTION'] [AGILITY +1] [PERCEPTION +1]

  "We made it!" Valen shouted, his joy returning as they cleared the treeline. "Kaelen, you’re a genius! We’ve reached the halfway point in record time! Surely, the rest of the journey will be—"

  "Don't say it," Kaelen hissed. "If you say 'easy' or 'safe,' I will personally throw you into that ravine."

  They stopped at a small wayside shrine to rest. Kaelen sat on a stone bench, his eyes never leaving the horizon. His mind was calculating the next three hours. There was a rockslide at the four-hour mark. A poisoned well at the five-hour mark. And then, the first "Mini-Boss"—the Corrupted Centurion.

  Kaelen felt a strange sensation in his chest. A warmth. He opened his status window.

  [SOUL-BURNING GAUGE: 1%] Note: A fragment of the 'Future' is leaking back. Use with caution.

  He looked at Valen, who was currently trying to feed his expensive trail rations to a stray squirrel. The Prince looked so innocent. So fragile.

  In a hundred more loops, Kaelen thought, I’ll be able to kill that Centurion in my sleep. In a thousand, I’ll be able to walk him to the Temple with my eyes closed. But how many times can I watch him die before there’s nothing left of me?

  "Kaelen!" Valen called out, waving him over. "Look! This squirrel has a little white spot on its head! I think it’s a sign of good luck!"

  Kaelen stood up, drawing his sword. He didn't look at the squirrel. He looked at the shadows moving behind the shrine.

  "It’s not a sign of luck, Valen," Kaelen said, his voice dropping into that familiar, weary tone. "It’s a distraction."

  Behind the shrine, the air rippled. A figure in jagged, black plate armor stepped out. It wasn't supposed to be here. Not for another three hours. Not until the mountain pass.

  [WARNING: ANOMALY DETECTED.] [THE VOID KING HAS NOTICED THE TEMPORAL INSTABILITY.][ENCOUNTER: THE HERALD OF THE END (LEVEL ???)]

  Kaelen’s heart skipped a beat. This was new. The "Speedrun" had been too fast. He had broken the sequence, and the world was sending a "Patch" to fix the error.

  "Highness," Kaelen said, stepping in front of the Prince. "Run."

  "Run? But Kaelen, my 'Hero’s Intuition'—"

  "RUN, YOU IDIOT!"

  Kaelen lunged forward, not with the hope of winning, but with the grim knowledge that he was about to learn exactly how this new monster killed people. After all, he’d have another chance to try again in about five minutes.

  The Herald raised a massive, smoke-shrouded mace. Kaelen smiled, a dark, jagged thing.

  "Come on then," Kaelen whispered. "Show me something I haven't seen before."