Once again, entering that world, I gave it a bit of a thought. While I didn't have any concrete information about the situation, I now had the broken pieces of the puzzle that would form the foundation of me solving this whole situation.
"Well. Let's make a straight line to repeat," I decided it would be better to form a singular turn of events to keep in check than doing random things and try to find something. That way, we can make proper decisions in successive returns.
"First stop should be saving Evelyn and Oriel," I decided as I looked in the direction where they should be right now.
[Frenzy!]
Since I already knew how far they were, it should take a dozen seconds to reach there even without [One Way Out!].
-Whoosh!
-Whoosh!
I also thought about whether to go as Adam or as 'Phantom' but in the end, I wondered if there is real meaning to it. I mean, Mira and the others already know my face. Even though I asked Rivas not to tell anyone about it, why was I sure that he wouldn't?
'It would be only a few more days or perhaps weeks before people would know Adam is Phantom,' I understood that much. But I guess it will stop at that… Not like anyone knows about Adam either.
-Slash!
Reaching there, I saw the same scene once again. Oriel was slashing through the wraiths with all his might, trying to protect Evelyn.
I moved towards Evelyn before approaching in front of her. Even though she was extremely weak right now, I could see the shock in her suddenly widened eyes.
"A.. dam?" she mumbled with her weak voice while I put my hand on her head,
"It's fine. I am here now," I smiled at her
[True Heal!]
Using [Purify] would be too much of a power show, so at least try to keep things hidden as much as we could. We will show it if we need to, but until then, let's keep it to myself.
The healing process began and almost immediately, the wounds on Evelyn's body began vanishing. Her health, which seemed to be on the brink, was now much better than before.
"Brother I know you want to get lovey dovey with your girl there but a little help would be appreciated," Oriel spoke out as he pushed a few more wraiths away. His eyes seemed a bit happy, a bit more relaxed than before.
Leaving Evelyn for a moment, as I saw her standing on her two feet, I moved towards Oriel and then pressing my hand against his back
[True Heal!]
His body, just like Evelyn's got healed up pretty quick. After that, it was only a matter of time before he started slashing the rest of the wraiths down one by one without any pause. Only after all the wraiths were down, he stopped and turned down with a bright smile.
"I owe you one brother," he said as he looked at me, making me smile while I recalled how he behaved the last time I approached him with Gray.
'Makes me sigh honestly. And since it's a deep-rooted prejudice, I can't even blame them,' I moved towards Evelyn, wondering if I should change her views on that, but on a second thought, it's a pain, so no.
"Adam," Evelyn spoke out with a shy but joyous expression. I patted her head and then looking around the dark area before turning at her again.
"Are you okay?" I asked with a concerned look, making her put on a small smile as she nodded,"I am now."
"Done with your flirting?" Oriel, who was getting irritated by this, interrupted us immediately.
'I was wondering how should I begin the real conversation without making it too unnatural….. Thanks Oriel,' I turned at him while scratching the back of my head.
"So… what's going on here?" I asked as I looked at Oriel before continuing," and what exactly is the place? I was in the bandit's hideout just a moment ago."
The atmosphere became tense as we finally started the main topic.
"So you came the same way as us, huh? I was hoping it would be otherwise but… though why were you in the bandit's hideout? Did your rank raised to that much in the last 5 days?" Evelyn spoke out, a bit surprised as she looked at me.
'5, huh?' I thought as I looked at her. If I say yes to that, then they won't ask anything further believing me. They might even accept my growth in power a bit more naturally.
Though if they end up knowing everything in the middle, this could go the wrong way.
"5?" I made a surprised expression. Then I looked at Evelyn as I continued," What do you mean by that?"
"Adam. What date is it today? And what is the time outside?" Oriel seemed to understand the situation with just this. I almost gave him a thumbs up before, I moved the finger to my chin.
"Isn't it still 16th of 14th? 0192. Morning around 5?" I gave them the exact date along with time, making them shocked with their eyes bulging. They looked at me, trying to see if I was joking, but reading my face, they glanced at each other for a moment.
"Time dilation," Evelyn mumbled first,
"To think something like that even exists," Oriel added to it before looking at me as he asked me another question," Adam. May I know why were you there in the bandit's hideout? I don't think you have the power to go so deep into their layer."
Seems like he is suspicious of me, but he was still trying to clear them by asking simple questions.
"I was there for a quest related to the bandits. Though I saw most of the bandits dead, using a bunch of skills, I went deeper into the layer without encountering anything until a strange mana appeared out of nowhere.
Well… it's embarrassing but my curiosity got the best of me and I touched that mana and well… Here I was on this strange dead place," I made up a story on the spot making both of them look at me with a silent look for a few seconds…
"Adam…" Oriel, who looked more serious, began speaking first…