The clock had determined the rate at which time flowed forward or backward. Since our small hourglasses sped up time, we needed the natural flow to move backward to give us more flexibility.
The upper part of the large hourglass had almost filled and we had progressed to about three quarters.
It was worrying as the hourglass would turn while we were still progressing. Kicking that 4th arm to the 1 position might not have been the right choice, it had however helped a lot as we could use our small hourglasses whenever and wherever. The longest test of patience had cost us 10 minutes.
I was tired from galling up and down. The constant attack of puzzles had us walking around with headaches and our focus was almost drained.
Who would have thought that focus is a resource? I would have preferred endless waves of monsters.
I was holding [Acedia] back with potions. We nearly reached the bottom which hopefully would be the end of this experience.
We turned our hourglasses and went into freefall. W landed on the roof of a building made out of green stems.
“The wood has reverted too much. We need to go for our rollercoaster strategy again.”
I wanted to object but our footholds were all regressing into green stems and would eventually become too weak to support our weight.
Our rollercoaster strategy would involve us finding a space with a floor and roof and continuously flipping the hourglasses to have time progress on the wood on this giant hourglass.
The large hourglass rumbled as we had turned the building into aged wood.
Everything started to tilt as the hourglass was turning us around. We got turned upside down again, stopped our rollercoaster strategy and waited until everything settled.
Muqu sat down and sighed. “We just continue right? Going back would be too much...”
“Let’s just continue. I don’t feel like going back...”
-
“We made it...”
We crawled to the top of the hourglass completely exhausted.
There was only the wooden floor and a massive wooden peg sticking into the floor with an even more massive wooden hammer next to it.
“What is it this time...a strength contest? This is brutal...” Muqu sad as she fanned herself with a fan made out of ice.
“I miss the monsters...I’d rather beat up some creature than another stupid puzzle... Come on Muqu, the longer we wait the softer that peg and hammer will become and the intended goal might become impossible.”
The ceiling of this space wasn’t far from us. We could possibly flip our hourglasses to have the wood harden.
I stopped as I walked over to get a closer look.
Can’t we just let gravity do the heavy lifting? We could use our rollercoaster stunt to hammer this peg down. It will hurt like crazy though... but what are our options?
The ancients might had a laugh designing this and having the challengers use themselves as a tool to hammer this peg down... I wonder if there are ancients that aren’t sadists.
I sighed and explained my plan to Muqu.
“What? But I already have a headache... I might what this dimension calls a concussion...”
“I’m sorry Muqu, but I don’t think either of us has the strength to hammer that peg...”
We walked up to the hammer and put our strength to the test. Me and my pride would have hoped that the hammer would at least budge but nothing happened...
The mallet was larger than a traditional house and the type of wood used seemed hard and dense.
“To think that a wooden peg would be more of a formidable foe than a 5 headed singing creature... come Muqu, time is of essence.”
We touched the hammer, turned our hourglasses and grabbed on to it.
There was a bit resistance but the hammer started falling with us.
Muqu and I put our mana to work to attempt to orientate the hammer so it would hit the peg after flipping our hourglass.
The ceiling of the space was approaching rapidly. We either go through the crash or flip the hourglasses again.
“Azu...I think this crash is going to hurt...let’s flip our hourglasses!”
The direction of our freefall flipped and we continued to orient the hammer. Progress was slow and we stayed airborne by continuously flipping the hourglasses.
In retrospect, it may have been the right decision to set the halfway clock to maximum time reversal.
The large hourglass had tested our patience, focus, and durability. It finally came to a point where the use of mana would come in useful.
The hammer was oriented. It was time for gravity to do the heavy lifting. We let go before flipping our hourglass and the hammer slammed into the peg.
A shockwave travelled through the tp of the hourglass and a sound of cracking glass escaped.
Is the goal to shatter the hourglass? Why would anyone go through the trouble of building this to have it be destroyed?
We returned to the surface of the hourglass, grabbed the hammer, and went at it again. Less adjustments were needed and the second hammer slam made the peg almost disappear into the ground. One more and we might get freed from this spire.
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It suddenly dawned on me. We had come here for that Cockroach! I almost forgot!
[Search: Imposter] revealed that the BS clone that would revive into the next Cockroach was slightly past the halfway mark.
Destroying this hourglass will cause her trouble, won’t it?
“Muqu, let’s make this last one a good one!”
“That’s cool and all Azu but how are you planning on doing that?”
“That ehh...”
I turned my head away embarrassed. I didn’t have any plans. The best I could do is shoot some magic at the Cockroach as the hourglass collapses.
The hammer slammed down a third time and the sound of cracking glass mixed with the sound of rushing sound became louder and louder.
“Uh oh... I know this sound.”
The sound of glass cracking shouldn’t be abnormal. The hourglass was made out of glass, however, the hourglass was made with extremely thick glass, why would a wooden peg crack it?
The sound of cracking glass reminded me of an element which is considered related to spatiotemporal magic as a race known for spatiotemporal magic uses it too; illusions.
It was not the hourglass that was cracking, reality was cracking.
Spatiotemporal magic and illusion magic are quite different, their only similarities are mind and reality-bending effects and a tendency to not make any sense.
Space cracked and shattered, as did the ceiling and the hourglass.
Shards of reality, wood, glass, and other materials slowly fell down as the sand escaped from the hourglass and rose into the now-revealed sky; the real sky.
The jungle could be seen in the distance as the walls of the spire broke down as if made out of brittle glass.
The spatiotemporal spire had been a huge lie, it had been an illusion spire disguised as a spatiotemporal spire. I couldn’t help but be impressed and clapped.
Whoever weaved these illusions was a true master. I always had a great admiration for skilful executions of magic.
“Oh Azu1 I completely forgot about our objective! Look!” Muqu pointed at 3 BS clones trying to evade falling shards midair.
“Alright, thank you Muqu!”
I readied my fan for [Dimensional Sword]. She would die just like she had died the first time; by a dimensional cut.
All my frustrations about this spire went into the vertical slash. The BS clones disappeared. Any remainder of the spire blocked it easily but the jungle and mountain in the distance weren’t so lucky.
It wasn’t my intention to cut those but I had to get rid of these pent-up feelings.
“Ahh, closure. Muqu, would you mind bringing me back to the lair? I think [Acedia] is acting up.”
I drank the last energy drink I had on me. Leaving my supply behind at the lair might not have been the best decision.
I got lifted and flown to our lair. The glittering hourglass sand rose up into the sky and I wondered if that would cause problems.
The entire spire was collapsing as if it had been made out of glass and shards floated down as everything pointing to the existence of the spire was turning into shards resembling colored glass.
The Misha had been extremely clear during my student years. The moment you discover that you’re fighting a user of illusion magic, you run.
The same applies to spatiotemporal magic users. Its nature ignores distance and time so running might be an impossible feat.
Everything has been continuously pointing to legendary and mythical beings lately. Whether it be intentional or by coincidence.
“Muqu, do you know anything about why the spirit foxes are going extinct? They use both spatiotemporal and illusion magic. How could anything win against that?”
“The only information I can access is that they don’t use it often in combat.”
“I can understand spatiotemporal magic. Maybe they do and that’s why they’re going extinct... what about illusion magic? It’s an enigma in Witchaven and under the Misha.”
Muqu spread her wings to gather information causing us to fall.
“Hey hey! We’ve fallen enough for today!”
Muqu recovered and pulled up. “Sorry. The explanation I could find was short and simple.”
Short and simple? The Misha got stumped by short and simple? Did we overthink?
“Tell me!”
“Well the key to illusion magic seems to be; humor and imagination.”
“So suitable for pranksters? No wonder the Misha can’t figure it out... anything involving humor is foreign to them... I’m also not sure if they have a lot of imagination either, we’re terrible artists...”
The spire could be seen as a prank, a highly sadistic prank but there’s no doubt. A lot of imagination must have been needed to realize that.
I woke up in the lair. I couldn’t remember when I fell asleep.
It was night time and Muqu was sleeping. I crawled to a barrel, extracted some energy drink, and chugged it down.
What a rough day that had been.
[Search: imposter] revealed no suspicious activity nearby. Only several BS clones but the fairies would take care of that.
Have I finally been released from this duty? I would like to believe so but as long as there are BS clones, I have to worry about the Cockroach reviving.
There is a reason these skills are taboo...whoever has to deal with it will be greatly inconvenienced.
Can I create a skill to block the revival? How would I even go about it? I would have to research life or souls. Or black magic or curses. There are too many options and in the worst-case scenario, I might need all of them which could cost me a century at minimum...
If they all were connected somehow, I could create something to wipe them out but she had ensured that this was impossible.
I would have to find someone who does know how to deal with this but who? I don’t know anyone here on Nesher, everyone skilled at magic that I know lives on Kaledon.
Kaledon...what if she revives in Kaledon...
The idea had popped up before but there’s nothing I can do if she revies there or any other continent. I’m not going to stalk her to another continent besides Kaledon. I would put up the longest complaint in Misha history and drop a [Meteor] on Witchaven if they don’t address this problem.
I should have done that in the first place...why did I act arrogantly and set out alone...
I had been in a good mood after defeating the Cockroach and experienced that masterful application of magic, even though it had been quite obnoxious, those feelings had faded.
I went over my life experiences. Not everything was someone else's fault.
I had continued to delve into magic circles and mana runes despite knowing that it was a touchy subject. It was and is my passion but it had caused me a lot of grief.
I don’t consider it a mistake as sacrifices need to be made in favor of progress but that is what started everything.
I might have been a normal Misha with a decent position in Witchaven had I researched something else. My research wouldn’t have been rejected and I would have lead a happy life.
I could have also faked my death after I failed to catch Cockroach for the first time. That would have also been preferable. Take Paul and Paula and just hide.
The moment the gods involved, Witchaven was the least of my problems. Should I have accepted that creep? Absolutely not! But... he would pursue me until I died or I accepted.
Why are gods allowed to do this...
The rest was relatively unavoidable. It would have been to flee or be killed. Boshi town was brutal especially the method on how to break out. I will have to get the full story of my saviours one day.
Then I got freedom and what did I do with it? I threw it away to honor a duty to those who were never on my side. Why did I do that? Why did I pursue Cockroach? I was free I should have enjoyed it. I didn’t even relax for a year.
My head dropped into my hands. “I’m such an idiot...”
Actions have consequences. Here i am in a lair of a Tlaca with a friendly fairy. sure I have experienced a lot but was it worth it? Would I rather have this over an easy life? Relaxing at the spa all day. Maybe go to the beach. Make some non Misha friends.
I have decided! I will abandon this wild goose chase. I will eliminate some fairies to feel better and research a method to return to Kaledon that doesn’t involve flying for months and taking the Hurricane Path.
These spires are not my problem. I hate to say it but something specialized needs to destroy these. Destroying the spires from the inside is not recommended. But... if I ever had to create a trap, I would use these spires as an inspiration. But first, relax!
Days of relaxing turned into weeks which turned into months.
Muqu and i had made a routine to hunt down fairies and materials for my energy drink. There were days where Muqu went out alone to interrogate some fairies about sightings of her sister and I would work on my skills.
Speed had never been my strength, neither was keeping time.
I happened to be able to determine the date when I gazed up at the night sky one day and discovered that over two years had elapsed since the Great Calamity.
“Ugh, I’ve done it again... why does time continuously slip through my fingers...”
At least the area had been made fairy free. The fairies had noticed that Muqu and I lived in this area and wouldn’t dare to come near. Life had become boring because of that. It might be tie to move...