Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

The squirrels' furiosity even caught Cal, however briefly, by surprise. They surged forward as one enraged mass toward the creatures who had destroyed their homes, killed their friends, and tried to steal their lands from them, and Cal was right there with them. They pushed forward through the Gryalth, who had managed to slow them with abandon.

For every squirrel that fell, five now Gryalth fell as well. Cal did his best to stop any spells before they hit the squirrels, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once, and he needed to conserve his mana for anything unexpected. He wished he could stop every squirrel's death, but he knew that just wasn’t possible currently, and even if they didn’t place any of the blame on him, he still felt guilty anytime one fell. His only consolation at the moment was that they would be alive again in the next loop. They just had to make it there before the shadow Gryalth had the chance to join them in the loops.

Three new Gryalth stepped into view, and everything in front of them froze. Some sort of magic effect had locked all the squirrels in place, and even Cal found his movements sluggish. It reminded him of the runic trap he had blundered into before, but this effect wasn’t coming from runes. The three Gryalth in front of Cal were radiating mana in a way he hadn’t ever really seen before. There were blankets of mana surrounding them and pushing against the space between them. Considering the fight Ralth had once demonstrated, he wasn’t overly surprised to find stronger Gryalth. He had just been hoping against it.

This was the exact reason he had conserved his mana. Friction flowed freely from his core. Every drop that reached his limbs made his movements that much easier. Within seconds, he was moving again at his full speed. He couldn’t free the squirrels so easily, though, so this fight was entirely on his shoulders. Luckily for him, the Gryalth hadn’t spotted his freedom yet, and that gave him a few more seconds to charge a ball of void mana.

Just as he was about to launch it, one of the Gryalth fired several blasts of fire in his direction. He had been spotted. He leaped off the ground with more of his limited supply of friction mana being lost through his feet, but it was enough to dodge the incoming blasts. He saw the faces of the other two perk up the same as the one who had just attacked. It was too late for them, though, as he launched the void ball directly at them.

The two who had noticed him milliseconds too late disappeared into a purple mass, accompanied by a loud sucking sound as the ball imploded in front of all three of them. The third Gryalth had managed to get a barrier up in time, and while it was enough to survive Cal’s void attack. It was not enough to survive the once again freed mass of squirrels. The last Gryalth vanished underneath their forms, its screams only lasting a few brief moments.

A screech of a voice cut across the remaining sounds of battle. “Cal, there’s a room coming up that Albert says it’s important to investigate it and possibly destroy it!” It belonged to a small green mushroom with legs. The second the last word finished coming from its mouth, it shriveled away, leaving only dust behind. That was a neat trick, and Cal appreciated just how Albert had managed to apply his strange affinity.

“You heard the shroom soldiers. Let’s get through these doors and find out just what Albert was talking about!” Cal barked out the orders. The squirrels jumped back into action without question. Cal stifled a laugh, thinking of how much Ethel wished Cal would often do the same. He pushed aside the thought and instead joined in the search.

After several minutes of nothing but random supplies and what Cal thought may have been Gryalth food supplies, he heard a squirrel shout, “Over here!” The yell was nearly music to his ears as the last door had just been a closet full of a disgusting meat-like substance with a smell that had caused several squirrels to vomit. From the chattering of the others, this was not the first such discovery.

“What is it, sir?” The squirrel that had called him over asked as soon as he was in the room. Cal looked it over and had no idea how to answer that question. There were several glass tubes with what looked to be mana pulsating in them and wires leading to a giant metal rod in the center of the room that extended up through the ceiling.

“Uh, I’m not really sure. Their tech is still pretty new to us, but if these were humans, I’d guess this is some kind of antenna. What it does, I have no idea,” Cal answered as he continued looking over the room, debating what to do.

“Should we smash the tubes?” Another squirrel asked. Cal had no idea what would happen if they broke open something containing mana like this, but he also didn’t have a better idea.

“No, you shouldn’t, but I will. I want everyone out of the room when I do it, as well. I have no idea what will happen, but I’m the most likely one to be able to survive any kind of mana blast,” Cal explained to the squirrels, unsure if they would listen or not. He was sure they’d never have let his father try this, but whether that extended to him or not, he didn’t know.

“You heard him, everyone out of the room, go find some cover. I’ll watch the door,” Cal recognized the voice of the new squirrel who entered the room.

“Thanks, TS, I appreciate it,” Cal was glad to see that Third Smasher had made it through the fight so far.

“I believe you were going to smash something,” replied the squirrel.

Cal smiled as he grabbed part of the door and took a swing at the nearest tank. It was good to know that some things never changed.