Chapter 112 – The Trial of Time
The staircase continued upward.
Step after step.
The higher they climbed, the quieter the Tower became.
There were no System messages.
No monsters.
No traps.
Only the sound of their footsteps.
After several minutes, Lyanna finally broke the silence.
"Does anyone else feel that?"
Seraphina looked at her.
"Feel what?"
"Time."
Azrael stopped.
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, everything around him became clearer.
The air wasn’t moving normally.
The footsteps behind them seemed delayed by a fraction of a second.
Even their breathing felt slightly out of rhythm.
Azrael opened his eyes.
"She’s right."
Caelan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Before Azrael could answer—
The staircase ended.
They stepped onto Floor 31.
The moment they entered...
Everything stopped.
Or so it seemed.
A single drop of water hung motionless in the air.
Caelan’s cloak stopped moving.
Orin’s hair remained frozen in place.
Even Seraphina’s golden aura, which was normally constantly shifting, became completely still.
Then—
Tick.
A sound echoed through the floor.
One second passed.
Tick.
Another.
Azrael looked around.
The entire floor was an enormous circular chamber.
At its center stood a gigantic hourglass.
Its upper chamber was filled with silver sand.
The sand wasn’t falling downward.
It was rising.
Seraphina walked toward it.
"What is this?"
The Tower System appeared.
[Tower System]
Floor: 31
Trial Type: Time
Objective: Reach the other side.
Restriction: Time cannot be manipulated.
Additional Rule: Every action has a consequence.
Orin scratched his head.
"That’s it?"
Lyanna shook her head.
"No."
She pointed toward the far side of the chamber.
There was a door.
It looked incredibly close.
Perhaps fifty meters away.
But between them and the door...
Were hundreds of floating spheres.
Each sphere contained a different scene.
A warrior swinging a sword.
A child crying.
A city collapsing.
A flower blooming.
A person growing old.
A mountain breaking apart.
A star exploding.
Caelan approached one.
The moment his finger touched it—
The scene changed.
He saw himself standing on the same floor.
But older.
Much older.
His hair was white.
His face was covered in scars.
And he was holding a broken spear.
Caelan immediately pulled his hand away.
"What was that?"
Azrael stared at the sphere.
"A possible future."
The Tower System appeared again.
[Clarification]
The spheres contain possible outcomes.
They are not guaranteed futures.
Observation does not alter the result.
Interference will.
Seraphina looked at the door.
"So we have to cross the room without changing anything?"
"Maybe," Azrael said.
"Or perhaps..."
He looked at the silver sand.
"...we have to understand what the Tower means by consequence."
The hourglass suddenly turned.
The silver sand began falling.
Tick.
The entire chamber moved.
Caelan’s cloak shifted.
Orin blinked.
Lyanna took a breath.
Time had resumed.
Then the floor changed.
A wall of stone appeared directly between them and the door.
Orin stepped forward.
"I’ll break it."
He raised his fist.
Azrael immediately stopped him.
"Wait."
Orin looked back.
"What?"
"Look."
The wall wasn’t solid.
It was changing.
Cracks appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Azrael narrowed his eyes.
"It’s moving through time."
Seraphina understood.
"The wall exists at different moments."
Azrael nodded.
"If we attack it at the wrong moment..."
"We might make it stronger."
A smile appeared on Seraphina’s face.
"So brute force won’t work."
Orin sighed.
"Of course."
They continued forward.
The first obstacle was a collapsing bridge.
At first glance, it looked impossible to cross.
But Seraphina noticed something.
"The bridge isn’t actually collapsing."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the broken section.
"It’s reversing."
The shattered stones were slowly returning to their original positions.
Azrael watched carefully.
"Then we cross while it’s rebuilding."
They waited.
A stone flew backward into place.
Then another.
Another.
The bridge gradually reconstructed itself.
"Now."
They ran.
One by one, they crossed.
The final stone locked into place behind them.
Perfectly intact.
The second obstacle was a field of flowers.
Beautiful golden flowers stretched across the floor.
Lyanna stepped toward them.
"These don’t look dangerous."
Azrael stopped her.
"Don’t touch them."
She froze.
"Why?"
"Because they’re growing too quickly."
Seraphina studied them.
The flowers bloomed.
Wilted.
Disappeared.
Then returned as seeds.
Everything happened within seconds.
Seraphina crouched.
"They’re experiencing an entire life cycle."
Azrael nodded.
"If we step inside..."
"We’ll experience it too."
Caelan looked at the field.
"So what do we do?"
Seraphina smiled.
"We wait."
They waited.
The flowers bloomed.
Wilted.
Died.
Then the field became empty.
A path appeared.
They walked across.
The third obstacle was different.
A child stood in the middle of the chamber.
Crying.
Seraphina immediately moved toward her.
"Are you okay?"
The child looked up.
"Please help me."
Seraphina reached out.
Azrael caught her wrist.
"Wait."
Seraphina looked at him.
"Azrael..."
He pointed at the child’s shadow.
It didn’t move.
The child wasn’t real.
It was an echo.
A moment preserved in time.
Seraphina slowly lowered her hand.
The child continued crying.
Then—
She disappeared.
Seraphina looked troubled.
"It felt real."
"I know."
Azrael released her wrist.
"But the rule says every action has a consequence."
Seraphina nodded.
"I understand."
She looked at the empty space.
"Not everything we see is asking to be saved."
Azrael smiled faintly.
"That’s another lesson."
They continued.
Each obstacle tested something different.
Patience.
Observation.
Restraint.
Decision-making.
Understanding.
Eventually, they reached the final section.
Only twenty meters remained.
The door stood directly ahead.
But something was waiting there.
A massive creature.
It looked like a knight made entirely of silver.
No face.
No eyes.
No weapons.
Only armor.
The Tower System appeared.
[Final Obstacle]
Temporal Guardian
Level: 31
Special Property: Temporal Reflection
The guardian cannot be defeated through direct combat.
Condition for Passage: Reach the door.
Caelan tightened his grip on his spear.
"So we can’t fight it."
Azrael shook his head.
"Not normally."
The guardian moved.
BOOM!
Its fist struck the floor.
A shockwave spread across the chamber.
Everyone jumped backward.
Seraphina raised her staff.
"Golden Sanctuary!"
Nothing happened.
Her magic worked.
But the sanctuary vanished almost instantly.
Time itself had reversed the spell.
Seraphina’s eyes widened.
"It reversed my ability."
Azrael drew Astraeus.
He swung.
CLANG!
The blade struck the guardian.
For one second, a cut appeared.
Then the wound closed.
Not regeneration.
Time reversal.
Azrael understood immediately.
"Attacks won’t work."
Caelan attacked.
Same result.
Orin struck it.
The same.
Lyanna tried to distract it.
Nothing changed.
The guardian simply returned every injury to the state before it happened.
Seraphina watched.
Then she noticed something.
"Azrael."
He looked toward her.
"The guardian doesn’t move randomly."
She pointed.
"Every time it attacks..."
She watched carefully.
"...it returns to exactly where it was before."
Azrael’s eyes narrowed.
He understood.
"It’s repeating."
Seraphina nodded.
"It’s trapped in a cycle."
Azrael looked toward the hourglass.
The silver sand continued falling.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Then he smiled.
"We don’t need to defeat it."
Caelan understood.
"We only need to leave."
Azrael nodded.
"Exactly."
He lowered Astraeus.
"Everyone, stop attacking."
The others looked confused.
The guardian charged.
Azrael stepped aside.
Caelan followed.
Seraphina moved with them.
The guardian turned.
They moved again.
Every time it attacked, they avoided it.
They weren’t fighting.
They were learning its rhythm.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Strike.
Return.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Strike.
Return.
Seraphina suddenly moved.
"Now!"
She ran.
The guardian turned toward her.
Azrael moved in the opposite direction.
The guardian followed him.
Caelan, Orin, and Lyanna crossed behind it.
Seraphina reached the door.
She touched it.
Nothing happened.
She looked back.
"Why isn’t it opening?"
Azrael’s eyes widened.
"The trial requires everyone."
The guardian turned.
It charged toward Seraphina.
Azrael immediately ran.
Seraphina didn’t move.
She waited.
The guardian’s fist came down.
At the final moment—
Azrael stepped between them.
BOOM!
The impact threw him backward.
Seraphina caught him.
"Aza!"
"I’m fine."
The guardian returned to its starting position.
Azrael stood.
He looked at the others.
"We cross together."
They nodded.
This time, they moved as one.
Five people.
One rhythm.
The guardian attacked.
They moved.
It attacked again.
They moved again.
Nobody rushed.
Nobody fell behind.
And when the guardian returned to its starting position...
All five were standing before the door.
Seraphina placed her hand against it.
The door opened.
[Condition Satisfied.]
[Temporal Guardian Bypassed.]
[Trial Complete.]
[Floor 31 Complete.]
The hourglass shattered.
Silver sand scattered across the chamber.
Then disappeared.
Seraphina’s System appeared.
[Seraphina’s System]
Genesis Bloom Understanding: 71% → 74%
Life Resonance: Lv. 7 → Lv. 8
New Understanding Acquired
[Temporal Patience]
Azrael’s System followed.
[Azrael’s System]
Aetherion Resonance: 30% → 32%
Combat Insight: Lv. 13 → Lv. 14
Instinctive Combat: Lv. 5 → Lv. 6
New Understanding Acquired
[Rhythm Recognition]
Caelan looked at them.
"Another floor."
Orin sighed.
"How many more lessons does this Tower have?"
Lyanna laughed.
"Probably a lot."
The staircase appeared.
But before anyone stepped onto it, Seraphina looked back at the broken hourglass.
She smiled.
"I think I understand something now."
Azrael looked at her.
"What?"
"Growing stronger isn’t always about moving forward."
She glanced at the empty chamber.
"Sometimes..."
"You have to know when to wait."
Azrael nodded.
"That’s true."
Together, they stepped onto the staircase.
And this time, they didn’t rush upward.
They simply walked.