Return at 3:39

  "He did it!"

  A momentary tremor, the several souls floating outside the laboratory in the ether interface felt a strong suction force, followed by a long consciousness dizziness, and then woke up again to find themselves back in their own bodies. Cela and Anel looked at each other, with crazy joy in their eyes.

  "All he could do was keep repeating: 'He did it! He really did it!'"

  A small apprentice of a law master overturned an almost legendary monster that had lived for nearly four thousand years!

  "No more time, leave here quickly." The laboratory door was knocked open and a forty or fifty-year-old brown-haired middle-aged man walked in and said.

  "Are you Okuru-san?" Sera asked: "Where is Mr. Xi'en?"

  "We're going to the top floor to find him." Eurukrus had a stronger control over his soul, and was able to slightly delay returning to his body. He saw Panni stumbling out of the laboratory in the end, and made a brief exchange: "He's gone to the main core to activate the self-destruct system."

  "Let's hurry up and go too."

  Several people quickly left this small room and ran upstairs.

  ……

  Tearing pain, accompanied by a shock that completely disrupts thinking.

  This suffering, Sagarba Pasaka had forgotten for nearly four thousand years!

  The mouse's paws easily pierced through the layers of magical barriers, tearing apart the connection symbol of his soul. This attack almost split his soul into several pieces, causing a strong shock to the magic web link. Most of the spell positions and maintained magic effects were immediately interrupted, and this pain accompanied him from dizziness to wakefulness, unconsciously drifting back to his long-lost physical body thousands of years ago. When he woke up again, he felt that both his connection with the physical body and the magic web had been cut off by a strange yet familiar consciousness.

  "It's you! The emotional trash I discarded! Get out of the way!" Sagaba Pasqua shouted at the spirit, his heart filled with uncontrollable rage: "I'm going to kill that little brat!"

  "What a pity..." The spirit sighed: "Emotional trash, you still don't understand what you've lost..."

  "What have I lost? You should thank me. Otherwise, you wretched trash would never have appeared and now you're just getting in the way?"

  "Trash? Tragedy... whatever... " The spirit sighed again: "Then what are you existing for?"

  "He..." The mechanic's words trailed off, this question having just thrown his emotions into turmoil.

  "Look, you're more pitiful than me, you don't even know why you're alive." The spirit sighed for the third time: "I remember philosophers calling this kind of existence 'a walking corpse', oh no, you've abandoned even your flesh and blood, what a tragedy."

  "Shut up! Shut up!" The Mechanic Soul's soul jumped a few times, and he roared in anger: "Nuisance thing, don't ask these messy questions!"

  He frantically charged at the spiritual body that was suppressing him, but his severely injured soul was extremely weak, and after several charges, he returned in vain, only to hear the other party's slightly sarcastic voice:

  "Discussing the meaning of existence has become a messy problem? It seems you still haven't woken up......" The spirit gradually dispersed and approached the suppressed soul: "What you've been constantly abandoning all along is yourself..."

  A multitude of past memories flooded into Sagaba Pasaka's soul, and in an instant, all sorts of familiar scenes and bygone times.

  Youthful town, imperial capital, magnificent halls, burning sky, final dispersion and silence...

  Scene after scene flashed through the consciousness of the mechanical master, and all obstacles in front of his soul dissipated. He opened his slightly dazed eyes, and two lines of turbid tears flowed down his dry cheeks.

  The ground's vibration is getting stronger and stronger, chaotic energy bursts out of the constantly appearing spatial fissures, and the collapse of the half-plane has begun.

  ……

  Panny's fingers left the center of the self-destruct device, he stood up and walked to the teleportation array on the other side, where the Holy Warrior, Witch, Elder, and Minstrel were all ready. He stepped inside, triggering the hidden magical power, and another burst of intense light engulfed the view. They appeared in the ruins of the Elder's residence, which had become a dilapidated wasteland. Reflecting on the thrilling events of the past three days, they looked at each other's disheveled state, and a sense of relief and gratitude for having survived the ordeal arose spontaneously.

  "Wow, this is literally an epic legendary story." Anel's expression changed for a moment, and he suddenly burst out laughing: "If I were to turn it into a poem and spread it around, I'd become famous overnight! You know? A low-ranking young wizard, battling wits with an ancient monster, and emerging victorious in the end! Those old tales of heroes fighting dragons and rescuing princesses that have been passed down for thousands of years are nothing compared to this!"

  "You can actually compose poetry?" Panni gazed at Anel with suspicion.

  "Don't forget that I'm a traveling poet, this is my profession." The traveling poet smiled proudly: "I can recite great poems with one mouthful."

  "Oh, oh, sorry, sorry." Penny nodded her head without any respect: "I always thought your profession was just a pimp and a thief."

  "You're actually this kind of attitude!" The poet glared at the nonchalant mage: "You should know you're the protagonist of the story! I'm helping to make your name known!"

  "I never thought of myself as the main character." Panni rolled his eyes, but saw Sera glance at him a few times, seemingly wanting to say something, so he winked at the Holy Warrior.

  "Mr. Xiān, I want to thank you, it was you who saved my life." Sèlā said with a red face.

  "I'm just trying to save my own life."

  "It's not like that, you have a completely different choice." Cera said: "It is us who let you bear more danger, especially my recklessness..."

  "This has nothing to do with you." Penny smiled: "No one is born to take risks."

  "It's true, I'm still far from being a qualified Hand of Tir, and I need to continue learning." Seraphina said seriously: "Mr. Xi'en is our role model and example."

  "Me?" Panni's face twitched strangely.

  "Of course, your wisdom, courage and noble character."

  "Don't mention it..." With such praise, Penny felt a high temperature under her facial skin and hurriedly waved her hand in embarrassment.

  "In short, I will never forget this experience." Sela's expression turned serious as she promised: "I will definitely repay you."

  "The witches will remember your kindness, Mr. Penn." Witch Sally Fen bowed to Penn and said, the elder Oakley stroked his beard with a smile, Penn had the leisure to take a closer look at this elder who was always heard but not seen - a simple gray robe, brown hair and beard tangled around his neck like vines, looking like a common forest savage, but a pair of bright blue eyes were very wise, it seemed that he hadn't lived many years in vain, he looked kindly at Penn:

  "Young man, thank you for saving my life and allowing me to continue contributing to the spirit of Laissez-faire."

  "We'll talk about that later." Parni felt the awkwardness of these people was trending towards a gradual decline, and hurriedly coughed: "We still have important things to do, don't forget that the villagers in the outpost are still under attack by the ogre."

  "Not bad, elder." The witch Sallyfen's face changed color, and suddenly a loud roar came from all around, and a large number of ogres appeared around the few people.

  Panni, Serra and Anel suddenly changed color. At this time, they were unexpectedly surrounded by a giant demon!

  The elder stepped forward, pulled out a staff with a dirty green gemstone embedded in it, raised it and waved it around. The group of ogres immediately stopped howling and became silent. Only the sound of Ogrus shouting something in the giant language could be heard. These ogres immediately bowed to the staff and then dispersed.

  A group of people were stunned, especially Penny, seeing that the elder could actually make the giant demon worship, and suddenly thought of a certain breed of turtle's magical aura.

  "A soul of a forest giant's ancestor is sealed within this." Eurcrus wiped the green gemstone at the tip of his staff and furrowed his brow: "They are not highly intelligent, but they have an innate fear of this gemstone from birth. However, it's strange, I remember there weren't that many giants around here."

  "Your wisdom is unparalleled, but let's think about this later." Witch Sally Fen said with a flattering tone, but the next sentence revealed her anxiety: "Let's hurry back to the outpost anyway."

  Hurriedly returned to the Madil outpost, where it was already in a state of disrepair, with thick smoke lingering, apparently having just gone through an intense battle, the giant demons seemed to have just withdrawn, and some soldiers on the city wall were sitting on the ground resting.

  However, on the city wall, there were some familiar faces. These people were equipped with silver armor and long swords, unlike the casual appearance of the Berserkers. Although they were exhausted and covered in blood, their resting posture was serious and upright. When they saw the people coming from under the city wall, their eyes lit up one after another.

  Panny's eyes narrowed as he recognized Thiel, the Saint Warrior who had come with Cera. It seemed they had finally found their way here after all.

  Cayla saw them and slowed down her pace a bit hesitantly.

  Kamajyo descended from the city wall, sternly rebuking: "Sera novice warrior, you disobeyed orders and acted on your own, causing us to search for you for three whole days."

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll accept the punishment." Sela stepped forward, bowing repeatedly.

  "I'll be lenient with you, but first tell me what exactly did you do?" Camajo said, his expression softening: "It's great that you're safe and sound."

  "Captain..." Seeing several Saint Warriors who came together with this comforting expression, Sera's eyes turned red with emotion.

  "Elder, Witch, you've finally returned." A group of worn-out warriors let out a sigh of relief as they saw their leaders return, then anxiously asked: "Have you found a way?"

  The villagers in the village also came out, all looking at the returning people with eager eyes.

  Facing such gazes, Sally let out a sigh of relief and raised her hands loudly:

  "Everyone can rest assured now, we've solved the problem and the ogre won't come to disturb us again!"

  The warriors in the sentry post, residents flocked to cheer excitedly, their voices shaking the trees outside the sentry post, and a few cold-belted birds flew out.

  ……

  Although the great disaster has just passed, the guard post is heavily damaged and wounded, and there are still many remaining problems. However, the northerners have tempered their character in the icy world, solved the problem of the giant demons, and it's a matter worth celebrating in their hearts. They can't help but light bonfires, drink and make merry for a while. During this time, everyone can't help but ask about the ins and outs of the story. Pan Ni and others are very taciturn and hide most of the process, because the information about the ancient mechanical masters is too sensational. For this reason, they even persuaded the female holy warrior to conceal this matter. After all, in the precepts of the sequence, although one should avoid lying, one can also choose not to speak.

  However, in the midst of celebration, a group of people subtly shifted the credit to Penny. The fierce warriors looked at Penny's frail physique and it wasn't hard to notice that he was actually the weakest one among them. Seeing the others' confident faces, they all harbored doubts as they toasted Penny with gratitude, including Saint Warrior Kamajo who held up his cup in a toast of thanks to Penny:

  "Thanks, I originally thought that a friend of a bard would also be an unreliable guy, but it's said that you desperately protected Sera's safety."

  "She overestimates me." Panni smiled humbly, not quite used to being the center of attention. He wasn't much of a drinker either, and after having had several cups of the strong liquor from the North, he was already feeling somewhat dizzy and lightheaded.

  A group of fierce warriors got drunk and suddenly remembered the several companions who had died in the past few days, sadly complaining to the witch and the elder.

  "Your Excellency the Witch! We must ask Mushtaq to give an explanation, why? We sent so many messengers, why can't we get even a bit of reinforcements? Even if they send some people over, it's possible to protect the villagers and move them to a safe place!"

  "Yes! The two masters! We must discuss a way to deal with this!" A group of fierce warriors recalled the predicament from half a month ago and shouted in unison.

  The witch and the elder sighed at each other, this was indeed a pressing matter, as it involved the reputation of the Letheman witches among the northern people. This time, Mushteril, there was no way to avoid it.

  "There's something strange about the number of ogres around here, and my staff might not be able to handle it. Why don't we move all the villagers to Muusheitil in a few days? We can also go check on the situation with the Sixth Othello." The elder suggested this, and the witch nodded her head, settling the matter.

  Night falls quickly in the north.