Chapter 445: Ninety-Third Floor, The Swamp of Time (1)
[Escape the world. Time remaining: 2 seconds.]
I instinctively triggered Flash Strike. It wasn’t a deliberate decision, simply a reflex. Stunned, I blinked once. The inferno had unquestionably swallowed me whole, but I had returned to the beginning of the trial.
I quickly surveyed my surroundings. Only seconds had passed since my last attempt, so I vividly remembered it. Everything was identical, from the positions of the stone pillars to the absence of any detectable entities.
Soon, I grasped the situation.
Of course! It wouldn’t make sense for me to only get two seconds.
By the time I had registered the message during the previous attempt, one second had already passed. That had left me only a single second to find a solution, which was utterly impossible. Even with all of my experience and skills, I had only managed to activate Flash Strike in a panic. Although I couldn’t claim to be the fastest, even others wouldn’t have discovered a method in time unless they relied purely on chance.
The tower always left a solution, but two seconds was too short for anyone to arrive at it.
Naturally, I should have realized that.
However, the sheer shock of the moment had shaken me, and I had lost control. Regretting that was pointless. Thinking differently wouldn’t have changed anything. It was time to focus on the future.
The floor was named The Swamp of Time, and I felt like it explained things straightforwardly. Instead of only having a single chance to clear the floor, I had to use the time loop to gather information and escape the floor.
I had suspected this floor would test my intellect, and to some extent, I was right.
Or perhaps not.