Summoned with an SSS-Rank Portal Skill-Chapter 252: Clones and More Clones

The situation was just too strange for him. It reminded him of his own power — the SSS-rank portal skill — which, for some reason, was currently unavailable to him.

William stood there for a while, watching and listening to the drops of water, feeling them on his body. Rena called out to him. "Are you alright?"

He didn't answer. The thoughts in his head were making it hard for him to focus on anything outside. Eventually, he did.

"I'm okay," he said, turning around to face Rena and smiling at her. "Did you find anything?"

Rena had a serious look. She called him inside the cabin to show him something. It was the blanket William had used to sleep on the other night.

They stood there, looking at the blanket. William shrugged his shoulders. "What's wrong with it? It looks like a normal blanket to me."

She rolled her eyes. "I know it looks like a normal blanket. The thing is, it wasn't supposed to be here. I rolled it up and placed it somewhere else before we left."

What she meant was that time had probably rewound or something — which was something William already suspected. But he still acted surprised.

"Really? So does this mean…"

"We're not just back here — we actually went back in time! How is this possible? I've never seen anything like this before."

Rena just couldn't believe it. Burt felt the same. He'd noticed a few other things that indicated they had, indeed, returned to an earlier point in time, so he wasn't skeptical. He believed it was the truth.

"How are we going to find out what's causing this?" William asked.

They stood there in the cabin and discussed a few things. Their plan was for each of them to move in a different direction and see if all the paths around the cabin would lead back to the same place.

There was only one road to follow — the one they had taken before — which meant they had to carve their way through the forest. It wasn't an easy task.

William had Asura, his sharp blade, and his body was incredibly strong, so cutting through the trees and vegetation wasn't that hard for him. But Rena and Burt struggled more. It took them a lot longer to do the same things William had done with ease.

So he was the first of them to activate whatever was sending them back to the cabin. It was almost funny, because even though he was the one who triggered it, all of them ended up back on the muddy road just the same.

Rena and Burt looked puzzled. "What happened? I was just cutting a tree."

"I think I activated the magic," William said. "So that means everyone returns at the same time, all together. It doesn't matter which direction we go."

"So, how are we supposed to leave this place?" Burt asked, feeling discouraged by the whole situation. "No matter which direction we go, we all end up back together."

William didn't know what to do either. He was trying to think of something, yet nothing came to mind. He asked Asura again to see if he had felt anything.

"Nothing at all," Asura said. "It's like there isn't even magic at play here. Whoever created this possesses a power beyond my comprehension."

Things weren't looking good. William wanted to try something.

"You two stay in the cabin, and let me go alone," he said. "Let's see if that works."

William wanted to see if they would all return together to the mud road even if two of them stayed in the cabin. Rena and Burt nodded and walked over to the cabin, staying inside.

He walked and walked and eventually found himself back at the same mud road, but Rena and Burt weren't there. That was a good sign! With quick steps, he walked over to the cabin, but then he heard someone calling him from behind.

It was Rena and Burt. They were back at the road again. It had just been a delay.

William sighed. "I thought it worked… Damn it," he said.

But when William walked over to the cabin and looked through the window, he saw Rena and Burt inside. He blinked a few times, thinking his mind was playing tricks on him.

He turned around and saw Rena and Burt approaching. Were they fake? Who should he trust?

To avoid any confusion, he gestured with his hands for Rena and Burt to stay in the same place.

They looked confused, not quite understanding the reason behind it, but they obviously did what William said. Rena and Burt didn't move an inch.

William walked over to where they were, trying his best not to make any sounds, and then said, "There are two of you inside. Like, one Rena and one Burt."

Rena shook her head. "This is impossible. How could we be there? We are here!"

Burt chimed in, "We stayed inside the cabin like you asked, and then you went alone down the road, and we all ended up there just the same."

They weren't believing him, but the truth was right there for them to see. So, William suggested they could look through the window to see for themselves, but they had to keep quiet.

"I have no idea what will happen if they see us, so please, don't make a sound," William advised them.

Rena and Burt walked over and looked through the same window that William had looked through a few moments ago, and just like him, they saw themselves there.

Their faces were full of disbelief. William couldn't even imagine what they were feeling at that moment.

"This is so freaking weird," Rena said. "How? I mean, are they like us? Are they fake?"

William then voiced something that had been bugging his mind. "What if they are the real ones and you two are the fake ones? How can I know?"

He was the one in a tough spot. He was the one who had to figure out who was real.

And more importantly, could they all be the real ones? What the hell was going on in that dungeon floor?

The atmosphere grew tense after William said that. They started to suspect everything. Maybe even William wasn't the real one.

"What if you're the fake one? I mean, what if you walked and kept going, and another version of you came back?" Burt said.

Rena agreed. "Yeah, really. You can't suspect us like that, because you seem pretty suspicious yourself. So now, what are we going to do?"

No one had any idea what to do in that situation. William wasn't liking how things were unfolding.

Now a tense atmosphere of suspicion and intrigue had settled among the three, which was not good at all. William sighed, thinking how much better it would have been if that situation hadn't happened.

And then he snapped back to the present. The situation had happened, and there was nothing he could do about it; that is, he had to move forward with the cards he had in his hand.

"I am indeed the real William, and when I walked over there, I thought you would teleport instantly, but it took a while, right? Did you notice that I was already far ahead?"

"Yes… you're right…" Rena said, "when we appeared there, you weren't with us. Why?"

William shrugged. "I have no idea. Could it be that it took a few seconds for you to appear precisely because this place was cloning you in some way?"

"Yeah, I can see that being the case," Rena said. "So what do we do now? Like, do we talk to them or not?"

William didn't like that idea. "Let's avoid talking to them. This wouldn't be good."

"Avoid talking to who?"

When they turned around, it was Rena and Burt—from the cabin—who were standing there. They had only seen William at first, so they didn't look shocked or anything like that, but when they saw themselves, well, that was problematic.

"Who are you? Why do you look like us?" Rena said.

The two Renas were staring at each other. "We are still trying to figure this out. Are you the real one or not?"

"Of course, I am the real one. We stayed in the cabin like William said!"

William sighed. The situation was complicated.

"Calm down, all of you," he said. "Let's talk and find a way out of this place together, alright?"

"It's easy for you, William," the Rena from the cabin said, "you don't have a clone of you."

That was indeed a good thing for William. But then, someone walked over from the forest. It was someone who looked like William…

When he saw himself coming from the forest, William wanted to find a place to dig a hole and hide. The situation just got a lot worse because of that.

The William from the forest saw everyone near the cabin, and he froze. "What the fuck is this?"