Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-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.

I couldn’t be sure yet. The solution could still be strength-based instead of a well-thought-out plan.

Regardless, it means I have more chances.

Additionally, I couldn’t take the trial lightly. There was no way I had infinite retries. A swamp would drag an individual underground slowly, but surely, so the floor’s name could be an analogy for that. If I squandered all of my opportunities without conquering the trial, I would die.

The problem was that I had no way of knowing how many respawns remained, because the description offered no hint. Who knew whether I had a hundred, fifty, thirty, or ten respawn? Perhaps I only had two.

To be honest, worrying about just two was excessive. No matter how I thought about it, it made zero sense. Based on the name, I guessed there would certainly be ten, perhaps twenty chances at least.

Still, it wasn’t guaranteed. I had to treat every attempt as valuable.

Not that I ever intended to waste them.

Whether it was for better or for worse that the number stayed hidden, I couldn’t tell. There were merits and drawbacks either way.

If the number of respawns had been displayed, it could have made me more uneasy. If I were to see just three remaining at this very moment, it would have impeded my ability to think and stay composed.

Even with skills that boosted mental fortitude, if my life were to be at stake, I would understandably be anxious. That panic could destroy everything at the decisive moment. On the other hand, if I couldn’t see the number, I could potentially overthink and fail unexpectedly—or grow nervous precisely because it was hidden.

Even with a hundred chances, unnecessary impatience could cause me to miss the solution.

If I have to choose, I suppose I would rather it remain hidden.

I wasn’t entirely certain, though. Even now, a faint edge of tension pressed on my mind. Still, seeing the counter tick down would have been far worse. I cut the thought short. It was simply useless speculation. It wasn’t my choice to make. The tower had already decided, and I had no choice but to accept it.

Roughly a fifth of my two seconds has passed.

Before the timer went under a second, I couldn’t see the decimals, but that estimation felt about right. Unlike before, I had triggered Flash Strike immediately as the trial began, which had given me a sliver of breathing room.

Anyway, I intended to use my second chance entirely to organize my thoughts. I surely had more than one respawn, and I judged it wiser to sort things out once rather than recklessly acting on the first idea that came to mind.

I was cautious by nature, after all.

That was why I had started this line of thinking—at least, now that I had some leeway. I accelerated my thoughts again.

How am I supposed to escape this world?

***

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 1 second.]

Even after the timer shifted to one second, a sliver of time still remained.

In that fleeting instant, I quickly organized the thoughts that had come to me. They had been formed in haste, so they weren’t perfect, but they weren’t completely half-baked either. Several of them even led to potential solutions. Not many, just enough to count on one hand.

The first was to create distance.

If I can escape the range of the explosion, maybe I can survive.

I had attempted this on my first try, though I had already wasted a second by the time I had started fleeing. Who knew, perhaps two seconds was enough?

Another idea, tied to the first, was the existence of checkpoints.

Time loops are common enough in comics and novels.

Not with spans as short as two seconds, of course. However, sometimes, when the protagonist reached a particular location, the respawn point of the next loop would change.

Perhaps the same rule applied here. If I moved in a specific direction, the checkpoint could update, providing a clue to escape this world. Like wandering a fog-filled labyrinth, finding the right path could be the condition for breaking free.

My third idea is that there is some hidden key.

The wasteland around me looked empty, but something could be deceiving my senses. A portal leading outside this world could be concealed somewhere. sBack on the twenty-third floor, Comet had traveled to Azure Dawn Breeze’s trial from a barren desert with nothing in sight. This trial could work similarly.

Moreover, the prohibition on spatial travel skills potentially existed precisely to force me to find such a portal. It could be right under my feet, hidden in plain sight, or somewhere farther out across the wilderness.

Maybe those stone pillars are connected as well.

At first glance, they seemed entirely random, but from a higher vantage point, they could look different. They could even form a magic circle. Perhaps simply destroying them would allow me to pass the trial.

It sounded absurd, but who could say?

Or perhaps it isn’t hiding a portal at all, but a living being.

An invisible entity, like the Skill-Thief Gremlin I had faced on the eighth floor, or the fairy, Rotace, on the twenty-seventh. If so, I would have to expose and cut down whatever was hiding it to escape the Swamp of Time.

I also had to consider that the swamp itself could be an illusion. I did have Illusion Resistance, but there was no guarantee my skill would be sufficient. After all, a goddess who controlled dreams had ensnared me, even with the skill.

I eventually snapped out of the illusion, but I needed a clue for that. I still haven’t found an inkling of one here.

Simply realizing it was an illusion didn’t mean I could break free.

In summary, though, these were the ideas I had come up with. There were surely possibilities I hadn’t thought of, but that didn’t matter. This much was enough.

Dwelling on it further is a waste of time.

Better to test them all, and if none worked, I could find a new path then. There was no need to agonize over what refused to come to mind. Clearer solutions would likely present themselves after I pressed onward.

Of course, if worst came to worst, the method of escape could change as the attempts went on. If that truly happened, my fate would fall to luck. Better to exhaust all methods first and face that problem later.

Hmm.

I had already consumed most of my second chance, and only milliseconds remained—that didn’t mean I would waste it.

I lowered my head and focused my awareness beneath the ground. For now, I felt nothing. Still, I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility. At the very least, I could treat this as preparation for later. Next time, I could try digging deeper.

Once the third loop began, I would try out my strategies based on the order I had laid them out, so I would flee first. Though my attempt counter wasn’t visible, I would check each method one by one, calmly, rather than rushing. I firmly held to my belief that the tower created conquerable trials.

I repeatedly reassured myself by reciting my plans and steadied my mind. Although I would eventually feel pressed for time as I respawned more and more, right now, I could remain calm and deliberate.

Thud—

A tremor ran beneath me, and flames burst upward, engulfing me.

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 2 seconds.]

My surroundings reset, and I instinctively activated Flash Strike. After placing Soulbound into Mung-chi, I kicked off the ground. At least, when the trial restarted, so did my stamina and mana. In a way, it was no different from a brief regression.

First, stack Flash Strike four times, then activate my Lightning Transformation.

I poured in every fragment of divinity and causality I had. My thigh muscles pulsed, expanding and contracting, while my arms brushed past my sides at frightening speed. In an instant, I tore past the stone pillars, never stopping. If someone blinked, they would miss me.

I had already far surpassed my previous escape attempt. I didn’t stop there, though, and accelerated ever further.

How long have I run for?

Thud.

I had already lost track of time when a tremor sounded in the distance. The pillar of fire erupted, and the world burned crimson. The inferno was still far behind me.

Did I succeed?

My answer came within seconds. Though it took longer this time, the flames easily caught up to me.

The inferno consumed me, marking another failure.

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 2 seconds.]

During my fourth attempt, I immediately triggered Flash Strike and sprinted to the left. I had already proven that running forward resulted in my death.

Still, I intended to check the four cardinal directions.

Those weren’t the only possible routes, but testing all of them would be impractical. If I had time left after confirming the basics, I could branch out.

The left failed me.

To the right, I died a fiery death again.

Turning around, no different.

The approaching inferno caught me as naturally as breathing. Before I could even register the heat, the world reset. Greeted by the two-second timer, I activated Flash Strike out of habit.

I decided to eliminate the first option—running. Even if checkpoints existed, I couldn’t just sprint to them. Perhaps only by finding a hidden clue would things change.

Preparing for this loop, I drew on my divinity and mana. This time, I would search for a concealed enemy. Rather than trying to locate a hidden portal in the earth or sky, it would be faster to test for a living being.

A sweep of lightning should suffice. Even if something eluded my senses, it couldn’t evade a tangible attack.

Rumble— Boom!

A massive bolt of lightning tore the heavens apart. It split into countless currents and skimmed the ground before branching outward into the air. Within a radius of several hundred meters from me, torrents of lightning blazed. My vision swam from the blue-gold glare.

My wind spirit darted through the storm as I held my focus, scouring every direction. Yet no matter how carefully I observed, the lightning didn’t catch anything.

So... not a living being either?

Thud!

The ground shuddered.

I couldn’t help but sigh unconsciously, “Ugh.”