It was finally time… to put on my most difficult and most painful performance ever.

With those thoughts, I stepped through the door, my cloak fluttering behind me. Which, by the way, was fake too. There was no way in hell my trusted ally would have stayed this quiet while I was slowly being gulped in like this.

I even blamed myself for not noticing it in the previous loops.

Seriously… what the fuck was I even doing?

The moment I stepped in, an intense smell greeted me.

Tsk… why did it have to make everything so damn realistic?

But I didn’t bother worrying about it because I had far more horrifying things to deal with than standing here and gawking at the atmosphere.

The hall was far too vast for even thousands of people to gather comfortably and yet, it felt even more massive because of the space compression technology.

People were dancing to the melody of classical music in the center, while tables were arranged along one side for those who wanted to sit and maybe eat something of their choice.

…But my destination wasn’t any of that. It was a solitary bar tucked away in one corner of the hall, stocked with all kinds of drinks and run by a baldy bartender.

Just the thought of drinking something from there made me nauseous. Not because the bar was bad or anything but because now I knew the truth. It was also a disgusting part of this disgusting monster… and I had been drinking weird stuff from it all this time.

There was no difference in taste or smell from what I drank when I was here in the real world. Everything was still perfect but that didn’t change the fact that it came from some grotesque eldritch abomination and this time, I knew it but still had to gulp it down.

Just my luck.

“Hey guys, I will be at the bar trying to get some information.” I glanced at my group once. “Keep an eye out for the thief we came to find but don’t forget to enjoy yourselves.”

It was the exact same line I had said in every previous loop.

Viola nodded. “Okay, let’s spread out. That way we can gather more information.”

Everyone agreed.

Arthur and Sylvie headed toward the center.

Viola and Noah moved to the food stands, with Alya quickly joining them, claiming she was hungry but I knew she was going after Noah.

I sent Sera with Arza, asking them to keep an eye on the entrance and exit.

Arza nodded as she didn’t care much but Sera resisted a bit with her umbra persona being in charge but I have already gotten used to this through all previous loops and responded just like how I did before.

And then, I turned and started walking toward my destination, a smirk creeping onto my lips beneath the half mask.

Even that smirk was exactly the same as the one I had worn that night. If I didn’t have my Trickster abilities, which let me act so flawlessly on top of my natural talent, there was no way I could pull off something this deep and convincing.

The reason I took a drink from this particular bar back then was because it was the entrance to the secret gambling den hidden right beneath this banquet hall.

Naturally, I never got to actually play. Those fucking elves had attacked before I even got the chance.

…but that didn’t matter.

I still had to put on my act for now. The space would only collapse once my memory of this place ended and that would be when that one particular elf knocked me out cold.

I had to time my entrance into the Domain exactly as the elf attacked. Only then would the eldritch beast fail to notice something was wrong and even if it did I was sure it would focus on natural collapse rather than doing it early by a few seconds because of its greed to feed on more memories.

And that chance will give me enough time to slip inside my domain, reclaim my memories, and wait for it to restructure itself back to the start of the loop.

By then, I would have already gathered enough information to either put this thing to rest… or, at the very least, escape from this bastard.

I still didn’t know where my real teammates were.

But I didn’t let myself think about that now. I needed to get out first before I could even begin searching for them. For now I just hoped they were safe.

“One classic, please.” I sat down on the chair in front of the bartender.

“Right away, sir.”

The baldy smiled, but the scar on his face only made him look uglier, like the kind of guy who would slit your throat with that same friendly expression and to some extent, that wasn’t even wrong. This bastard was one of the humans working for the elves and he was going to kill quite a few people once the attack started.

But for now… he was just a bartender.

He placed a cup in front of me. It was filled with a red-colored drink, shining with a suspicious bluish glow.

My stomach twisted as my mind instantly imagined countless horrifying ways this drink could have been created by that monster. But I forced those thoughts down, grabbed the glass and gulped it in one go.

My eyes stayed glued to the watch behind the counter, silently waiting for the elves to make their move so this whole thing could finally end.

But I didn’t forget my role.

“One more, please.”

This was the code. When a customer ordered three classics in a row and said a specific phrase after finishing the third glass, they were granted entry to the gambling den below.

The baldy smiled and brought me another glass.

I gulped it down the same way, suppressing the nausea but just as I was about to order the third… Someone grabbed me from behind.

I didn’t flinch or panic because this was supposed to happen. I turned with an annoyed look, only to find Viola standing there, her expression unusually serious. “What happened?”

“Come with me.” She pulled me toward a corner and I barely managed to keep my smirk in check because it was finally time.

Just as she revealed she had found the thief, the elves would initiate their attack.

“We found Eugene…”

And right on cue—

BOOM!!!

The windows of the hall shattered into countless pieces, and through the chaos, multiple figures poured in. They wore suspicious hooded outfits, their bodies hunched and movements twisted, like beasts finally unleashed.

“HAND US OVER YOUR BALLS.”

The one leading them roared, his voice echoing through the hall as the rest charged in immediately, launching their attack.

And if that wasn’t enough, the human staff who had been smiling so politely just moments ago suddenly moved, blocking every exit and cutting down anyone who tried to escape.

I barely managed to hide my smile as I lifted my head and asked,

“Are you okay, Viola?”

But the moment I saw her face…

…I almost broke my act for a few seconds.

Because her face had…

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