From his spatial ring, he retrieved a giant silver wolf head, causing everyone in the guild to gape in awe. Soon, cheers rang throughout the guild as the party basked in the glory.
"How did you do it?!"
"Amazing!"
"Hahaha! Congrats, lad! This calls for a drink!"
Jayce chuckled at the last comment and agreed, "Of course! In fact, it's on me! Everyone, drink to your heart's content!"
Even though it was still early in the day, it was too good of a reason to drink, and the adventurers gladly joined in. It didn't take long for all of them to have a drink in their hands as they went into full celebration for the party's success in defeating the powerful beast.
The guild employees weren't able to partake in the drinking, but they still enjoyed the happy atmosphere nonetheless, at least, everyone except one person.
'They killed the Thunder Wolf King? But didn't it almost kill me?'
His mind struggled to understand, as he could remember the way the silver wolf stared him down, even while his sword was lodged in its jaw. He thought his life was over at that moment, but on the contrary, it was the day everything began.
He held onto his head as these conflicting thoughts caused a massive headache. Jayce then came over and placed the decapitated wolf head on the counter.
"What do ya think, Sol? It was thanks to you that we could kill it!"
He was still on the job, so he tried to ignore the pounding headache and asked, "I helped?"
"Of course! Remember how you told us how to track direwolves? We followed them for a few days and eventually found their den! After that, we just lay in wait and attacked them while they were resting. And thank goodness we did, because even with a surprise attack, it almost managed to overpower us. You honestly saved our lives this time."
Jayce patted his back with a big smile, but Sol found all of this impossible to believe. He looked at Jayce's party members. The two swordsmen were drinking alongside other adventurers, while the huntress was doing a few party tricks, and the wizard watched silently, enjoying the atmosphere.
'Save? No, they died, all of them… except Jayce… and I only noticed he was alive because I was going to… take his skills. Take them? How would I…?'
He didn't know where he got the idea of taking others' skills, as the notion seemed absurd. But when he was about to face Jayce, his eyes met the dead eyes of the Thunder Wolf King. Even as just a head, its eyes looked fierce, as if it were still alive. It stared him down in such a way that it made him feel that if he took even one step, he would perish.
Faint cracking could be heard.
'This happened… They did die… I killed it… I got a talent…'
More cracking sounds emerged as his mind pushed away the lies and finally arrived at the truth.
"I got [Siphon]."
His memories surged like a tidal wave, recovering all at once, and even though it was painful, he endured them. He clutched onto the counter, which creaked under the pressure of his grip.
"Sol?" Jayce was worried and leaned closer to check his condition.
Sol pushed him back and raised his head. His previous kind eyes had been completely replaced with a deadly glare that looked straight at Jayce.
Jayce took a step back and placed his hand on his shield instinctively. He had felt this kind of glare before, it was eerily similar to the hateful stare of the Thunder Wolf King when they invaded its den. "Are… you okay?"
"No, I'm not. I'm about to be eaten while I'm stuck in this damn hallucination."
With his clarity restored, he was absolutely livid, not only because he had fallen into such a simple trap but also because he knew he could be eaten at any moment.
Sol walked away from the counter, leaving a very confused Jayce behind.
He made his way out of the Adventurer's Guild and looked at the sky. It was clear as far as the eye could see. Moving his gaze down, he saw the town's streets, with people walking by or chatting happily.
After the initial shock of realizing what happened, he calmed down a bit and began to think practically.
'I'm still hallucinating even though I know it's fake. Am I in some kind of slumber, or am I walking aimlessly in the pit?'
Thinking back to how he started his day in Annabel's house and ran to the Guild, it was clear that escaping wasn't as simple as walking in one direction until he left the pit.
He opened his status page and saw the same stats from the morning. Seeing it was of no use, he began trying to use his abilities from memory.
"[Revealing Light]!"
"[Grim Flames]!"
"[Tail Wind]!"
Casting magic had no effect, besides making the people nearby give him weird looks. Though he knew none of them were real, the gazes made him feel awkward, so he walked back into the guild and went into one of the empty rooms where he knew no one would disturb him.
From there, he continued trying everything: [Create Magic Hands], [Phase Step], [Terra Manipulation], [Basic Psychic Mastery], [True Sight (Variant)], [Polychromatism], [Umbral Domain], [Close Combat]. But nothing worked. It wasn't that easy breaking through such a powerful ability.
After constant trial and error, he was getting desperate as he didn't know how much time he really had. From when he woke up in Annabel's bed until now, it had been more than four hours. He doubted the spider was marinating his body for such a long time; it was more likely that his sense of time had been distorted.
Not knowing when his end would come, he was getting desperate. This was definitely not how he wanted to die, especially because his death would be followed by the deaths of everyone else who came with him to the ancient city.
'I hope everyone is okay…'
Sol tried even more skills, even those that wouldn't be useful in this scenario, in hopes that something, anything, would work.
It was then that he saw it.
'Tethers? Here?'