Chapter 185: Locus

Descending a staircase backwards proved a unique exercise in frustration, particularly given the constraints involved. Each step required Emma to adjust for curvature, in a way that brought her precisely the optimal distance down a step. Even the slightest deviation, and she’d fail to advance, brought back to the step she just departed, by whatever fiendish artifice Paradox left buried here. Individually, it was the work of seconds to reorient herself and try again, but every miss added up in the end, and time was running out.

Thankfully, Emma’s training with Sectmaster Horizon came in clutch, here, as even a single hour of exchanging pointers with the old master had significantly advanced her awareness of her body. Even the most minute adjustments in posture could be accounted for, allowing her to make it past most steps in as few as five tries each.

[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 1 hour, 1 minutes.]

Eventually, after the most aggravating flight of stairs she’d ever encountered, Emma finally reached flat ground once more, allowing her to turn back around with a sigh of relief. That relief didn’t last long at all, because as it turned out, that single staircase was the final descent, down to the secret basement keeping both mortal staff and tourists out of Palace’s true heart. Here, built upon the site of an ancient leyline, was a massive chamber that could fit a three storey house inside it, with plenty of room to spare.

A colossal ring, wide enough at its base to accept three of Emma standing shoulder to shoulder, and tall enough for a double decker bus to pass through with no trouble at all. That would’ve been fine, expected even, given the stated strategic importance of this location, for nation and Empire alike. What wasn’t fine, was that the portal was moving.

[Time Eater - Level 40]

Somehow, the portal had gotten the idea to grow a pair of stubby stone legs and a matching set of arms, only missing a head in its bizarre quest for anthropomorphism. The still-active portal appeared to serve that function, however, right down to the supplementary organs, judging by how a chunk of stone ripped itself free of the floor, flying upwards along a current of artificial gravity until it vanished into the portal, heading to infinity and beyond. Experimentally, Emma summoned Epitaph in bow form and fired an arrow at the construct’s legs. Halfway towards the target, her shot’s trajectory warped, turning inexorably from Emma’s chosen path and vanishing into the portal, to no visible effect.

“Leech King, you’re up.”

Undeterred, Emma called her first summon to the field, one that had been somewhat neglected recently. If it felt any jealousy for the fact, none of it was apparent, as it readily began to inhale, charging up the attack that had given Emma such trouble, back on that early floor of Scholomance. A blast of compressed air followed, large enough by dint of its massive maw to target an arm and a leg simultaneously, but just as before, the lethal shot warped, and instead headed into the gateway, seemingly accomplishing nothing.

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[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 59 minutes.]

“Any ideas?” Emma prompting, dismissing the rather mocking timer that had followed up on her efforts.

[Keep shooting it. Something’s not quite right here.]

That was true, albeit perhaps not the advice Emma was looking for, but she duly obeyed, adding her own arrows to the Leech King’s exhalations. Three volleys in, she remembered that she could have two summons out at the same time, and added her duplicate to the fray, firing arrows of its own to add to the barrage. None of it struck home, but they continued nonetheless, as there weren’t any better options, not when giving up meant death.

[I see now. This is an extension of the same magic as the staircase, a trap that marries perception with the laws of spacetime. Your actions don’t matter, but they do. Any attack you throw at the portal will vanish, except it won’t vanish, because energy cannot be destroyed, not by anything this monster is capable of. It’s all being redirected, seemingly at random, except, no. Feed your Duplicate to the portal.]

Emma raised an eyebrow at the order, but nodded her assent after a moment’s thought: it wasn’t as if the duplicate’s arrows were doing anything useful. Her mirrored copy obeyed, walking fearlessly forward until it too was picked up, swallowed by the ravenous gateway.

[Good. The pieces are set. Now, for the next step, I’m going to require your permission to act. With less than an hour to go, before a nation-ending cataclysm, we now meet the criteria to temporarily remove one layer of the System’s safeguards. This will enable me to give you additional information and assistance that would ordinarily be locked away, at your current level. Of course, as a safeguard against administrator abuse, only you can initiate this.

Engage Crisis Core? Y/n]

“Accept or die, is it?” Emma laughed mirthlessly. “You’re not giving me much of a choice here.”

[The outcomes are unequal, yes, but that’s life for you. Even if the vast majority in this situation accept, people can and have said no in the past, meeting victory or death alike on their own terms. The choice is yours alone, and that matters, I think.]

“I can accept that,” Emma replied, after thinking it over. “But personally, I’d rather win.]

[Y]

There was no sudden rush of power announcing the deployment of the Crisis Core, no out-of-context power up or sudden bodyguard to rush to her rescue. Instead, she heard only faint laughter from her distant ancestor, before Edith seemingly pulled herself back together.

[Sorry about that, it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to really stretch my knowledge. Now, first thing’s first, you’re gonna need that portable crafting table. Those two traits above it might be eye-catching, but they can be replicated with a single magical item each, not even very expensive ones. A fully stocked crafting table that grows with your Chandler class, on the other hand? That’s worth more than your weight in gold.]

“Got it,” Emma acknowledged, selecting that option.

[Portable Crafting Bench stored.

Good. Now, switch over to the homunculus, and let’s get dangerous.]