Chapter 95: Nightmare, 7th Floor (2)

After I passed through the doorway into the next area—

Boom!

The stone door slammed shut behind me.

I stopped time.

The chamber was almost identical to the one before it.

Arrow holes riddled every wall, and another door stood at the far end.

But there was no chance this was simply a repeat of the previous stage.

The difficulty had undoubtedly increased.

Yet at a glance, I couldn’t tell what had changed.

I allowed time to resume and walked toward the center of the chamber.

Then—

Whoosh.

Every torch in the cavern went out at once.

Absolute darkness descended around me, so complete that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

‘Ah...’

So that was the trick.

I immediately understood the concept of this stage.

It was meant to deprive me of my sight.

But that wasn’t much of a problem.

‘Diul.’

I activated Dark Vision.

Sixth Sense sounded its warning, and an arrow shot toward me from directly ahead.

I stepped aside, avoiding the projectile I could now see as clearly as if the chamber were still lit.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The arrows were roughly the same size and speed as before.

In other words, I had plenty of room to dodge them.

Even without my sight, Sixth Sense alone would probably have been enough.

With Dark Vision on top of it, there was virtually no chance of an arrow hitting me.

The intervals between shots grew steadily shorter.

Then, just as the barrage seemed to be drawing to an end, Sixth Sense warned me of danger from above.

Not one arrow.

Several.

I looked up.

The instant I saw them launch, I stopped time.

A rain of arrows hung in the air above me, covering a wide area as they descended toward the floor.

Let’s see...

‘There’s a gap over there.’

Dozens of arrows were falling at once, but there was still enough space between them.

I took my time locating a gap wide enough to slip through, then released the time stop and lunged toward it.

Kaboom!

The floor was obliterated behind me.

That appeared to have been the final attack.

Once I evaded it, no more arrows came.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

The torches flared back to life, and the stone door leading to the next stage slowly opened.

Stage 2 had been cleared without much trouble.

I headed toward the door.

Bang!

This time, the surprise arrow came from behind instead of ahead.

Naturally, I had anticipated it and dodged.

‘So far, this is a little underwhelming...’

Stage 1 had been ordinary dodging.

Stage 2 had been dodging in darkness.

Expecting someone to deal with complete blindness on their first attempt was already fairly shameless, but...

Everything was relative.

By Nightmare standards, this was still rather tame.

I started toward the door, then paused.

...Should I investigate the chamber before moving on?

Each stage would obviously be harder than the last.

Still, the memory of Floor 4 surfaced in my mind, bringing that old unease with it.

There might be a hidden mechanic that would punish me later if I failed to notice it now.

I decided to search the cavern thoroughly before proceeding.

I spent quite some time examining the chamber, but found nothing unusual.

Then I returned to the door through which I had entered from Stage 1.

Going back appeared to be impossible.

The tightly sealed door showed no response whatsoever.

I fired a fully charged Destruction Ray at it.

The beam struck the stone door directly.

When the light faded, however, the door remained completely intact.

Not even a scratch.

“Hm.”

So the door had been designated indestructible as well.

That made sense.

If I could destroy it, I could simply smash my way through the stages and bypass the trial entirely.

In the end, I had no choice but to continue.

Thud.

The door slammed shut behind me.

Stage 3 was once again set in an identical cavern.

This time, however, one feature was different.

A huge symbol had been carved into the floor.

It depicted two arrows chasing each other’s tails in a clockwise circle.

What did that mean?

It obviously hadn’t been placed there without purpose.

I stopped time and considered it.

...Did it mean I had to move in a circle?

Or perhaps something would be exchanged?

I wasn’t Detective Conan.

There was a limit to how much I could deduce from a single symbol.

‘Any idea what this means, Demon King?’

I tried asking him.

—Figure it out yourself.

The Demon King scoffed, though from his tone, he didn’t seem to know either.

Apparently, I would have to discover the answer firsthand.

I released the time stop.

For the moment, I stayed clear of the symbol and stood near one side of the cavern.

Then—

Flash.

The pattern began glowing like a magic circle.

“...?!”

What?

I tried to move, immediately lost my balance, and collapsed to the floor.

Confused, I stopped time again.

‘...What the hell?’

Something felt profoundly wrong with my body.

What had just happened?

I had clearly intended to move my right leg.

Instead, my left leg had moved.

Then, when I tried to correct my balance, my limbs went in entirely different directions and sent me crashing down.

I released time.

I attempted to move my right hand.

My left hand moved instead.

‘No way...’

I understood at once.

The left and right sides of my body had been reversed.

When I tried to move the right side, the left moved.

When I tried to move the left, the right moved.

It was as though the signals between the two halves of my brain had been switched.

So that was what the circular arrow symbol meant.

...It was fine.

There was no reason to panic.

I simply had to move in the opposite direction from the one I intended.

I planted both hands against the floor and unsteadily pushed myself up.

Sixth Sense sounded the alarm.

An arrow was coming from the left.

I stopped time again.

First, I carefully planned how I needed to move.

Then I released time and acted.

I tried to throw myself diagonally to the left.

My body moved diagonally to the right instead.

I avoided the arrow, but once again lost my balance and fell.

‘Goddammit.’

I could manage one deliberate movement at a time.

But the moment I tried to link several movements together, my body tangled itself into knots.

Understanding the inversion intellectually was one thing.

Adapting to it instantly in the middle of combat was another.

This time, an arrow came from behind.

I stopped time again.

Adapting immediately might have been impossible, but...

I possessed Time Stop.

Whenever my body became tangled, I could stop time, think through the movement, and then act.

I released time and threw myself to the left, evading the second arrow.

I didn’t bother standing.

Instead, I remained on all fours.

That was far more stable than trying to balance on two feet.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dodge.

Stop time.

Dodge.

Stop time.

I bounded around the cavern on all fours like a frog, evading arrow after arrow.

‘This is manageable.’

It might have looked undignified, but that hardly mattered.

This method was far more efficient.

There was no need to waste a skill.

Using one would certainly make the stage easier, but there was no telling what awaited me later.

I couldn’t afford to lower my guard.

Avoid what I could avoid.

Save my skills for when I truly needed them.

That was the correct approach.

Kaboom!

The final barrage arrived.

I stopped time.

A mass of arrows was flying toward me at once, covering the entire space ahead.

There was a gap I could pass through.

However...

My body wasn’t capable of precise movement in its current state.

I didn’t trust myself to squeeze through such a narrow opening.

There was no reason to take an unnecessary risk.

I completed the required Mental Concentration and activated the Teleportation I had been saving.

The arrows tore through the empty space where I had been and slammed into the far wall with a deafening crash.

No more projectiles followed.

The light radiating from the pattern on the floor faded.

I rose to my feet.

Only then did the inversion disappear, and my body returned to normal.

“Phew.”

Stage 3 cleared.

It had been a little troublesome.

Without Time Stop, I wouldn’t have been able to control my body properly.

I might have ended up in serious danger.

Either way, the trial was finally beginning to resemble a true Nightmare.

The bullshit was becoming more elaborate.

How many stages did this place have?

I took a moment to recover the small amount of stamina I had lost, then headed toward the next door.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

No surprise arrow came this time.

I entered Stage 4.

“...?”

Once again, the stage was set in the same cavern.

And once again, a large symbol had been carved into the floor.

This one depicted a human foot with an arrow pointing downward beside it.

What was that supposed to mean?

The most obvious interpretation was that it would slow my movement.

Beyond the symbol, however, there was something else.

Several swords had been driven into the floor at the center of the chamber.

‘A rainbow?’

Red.

Orange.

Yellow.

Green.

Blue.

Indigo.

Violet.

Seven swords in seven different colors.

I approached them.

Sixth Sense gave me no warning.

I pulled one of the swords from the ground.

It was an ordinary longsword, aside from its unusual color.

Why was the Tower suddenly giving me weapons?

And why seven identical swords in different colors?

They clearly had some purpose.

Bang!

I dodged.

An arrow plunged down from above and shattered the ground.

The resulting shock wave sent the swords clattering across the cavern.

Then the barrage began.

The arrows were no different from those in the previous stages.

I evaded them easily.

But then—

“...?”

One of the arrows among the barrage was different.

Unlike the enormous, missile-like projectiles, this one was the size of a normal arrow.

It was also blue.

For the moment, I dodged it.

The missed blue arrow embedded itself in the floor.

At that instant, the pattern carved into the ground began to glow.

“...!”

Something else was coming.

Bang!

The next arrow gave me no time to rest.

The instant I avoided it, I noticed something strange about my body.

‘My movements...’

Were they slightly slower?

I stopped time.

I needed a moment to think.

First, the floor symbol meant exactly what I had expected.

It inflicted some kind of slowing effect.

There were seven swords in the colors of the rainbow.

A colored arrow that differed from all the others.

And the pattern activated when that arrow struck the ground.

As I assembled the pieces, an answer came to me.

‘Am I supposed to deflect the arrows with the swords?’

Colored swords.

Colored arrows.

The connection was obvious.

It also explained why the colored arrows were normal-sized, unlike the absurdly massive projectiles around them.

Perhaps I had to deflect each colored arrow using a sword of the corresponding color.

If I failed, the slowing effect would activate.

And if I continued to fail, my movements would become progressively slower.

I needed to collect the swords.

The moment I released time, I sprinted across the chamber, gathering the scattered weapons.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I dodged the arrows while picking up the swords one by one.

Then a violet arrow came flying toward me.

‘Shit.’

It wasn’t moving too quickly to deflect.

However, I hadn’t collected the violet sword yet.

I parried it with the blue sword already in my hand.

Fwoosh.

The pattern’s glow intensified.

My body grew slightly more sluggish.

Just as I thought.

The colors had to match.

Before long, I had gathered all seven swords.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I had now accumulated two stacks of the slowing effect.

It still wasn’t enough to hinder me seriously.

Exaltation was compensating for part of the debuff as well.

But if the effect continued to accumulate, it would become dangerous.

If my body slowed to the point where I could no longer dodge, I would be forced to endure every attack.

I had to deflect the next colored arrow.

However...

‘...This is awkward.’

Seven swords.

Two hands.

At the moment, I had them all bundled against my waist.

Trying to select the correct color and swing it at exactly the right moment was impractical.

...Wait.

Couldn’t I simply use Subspace?

[Skill: Subspace (Epic)]

Creates a subspace in which objects may be stored and retrieved. Objects must be touched directly before they can be stored and may be retrieved within a one-meter radius. Living beings and spirits cannot be stored. Maximum storage capacity: 100 kilograms. Activation requires three minutes of Mental Concentration.

Type: Magic

Willpower Cost: 300

Cooldown: None

Stopping time whenever necessary, I stored all seven swords inside Subspace.

Subspace had no cooldown for storing or retrieving objects.

Whenever a colored arrow appeared, I could simply draw the corresponding sword and deflect it.

That was entirely feasible.

I continued avoiding the arrows despite my slightly slowed body.

Then—

‘Red.’

Another colored arrow appeared among the barrage.

A red one.

I stopped time, drew the red sword from Subspace, and parried.

Clang!

This time, the glow of the floor pattern did not intensify.

So that was the correct solution.

I dodged the giant arrows and deflected each colored arrow with a matching sword drawn from Subspace.

Dodge.

Deflect.

Dodge.

Deflect.

The intervals between attacks continued to shrink, and the pace became increasingly frantic.

Whenever things grew too chaotic, however, I stopped time and gave myself a moment to breathe.

In that way, aside from the first two arrows I had failed to counter, I successfully deflected every colored arrow.

After several minutes, the barrage ceased.

Stage 4 was over.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

The door to the next stage opened.

I rested for a moment, tilting my head.

‘Something feels...’

Slightly wrong.

Were there truly no hidden mechanics?

No concealed traps?

Floor 7 felt almost like a straightforward test of skill.

Of course, there had been the left-right inversion and the requirement to match the colored arrows with the correct swords.

Either of those would have been nearly impossible for another Climber to overcome without prior knowledge.

Still...

I couldn’t allow myself to relax.

There was no telling what kind of madness would appear before I reached the end.

“Let’s go.”

I decided not to discard the colored swords.

Keeping them stored in Subspace might prove useful later.

Then I stepped into Stage 5.