Chapter 281: Assembling the Pieces

As we fought our way through the castle, we quickly came to realize that there was something terribly wrong about the monsters in the Sand Castle dungeon. No matter what manner of attack we used against them, whether it was Bella’s bullets, Diane’s ninja techniques, or even washing them away with Water King, they were completely immortal. Any damage done was healed almost instantly. At most, we could temporarily restrain them, but there was nothing that we could do to keep them down.

The one and only exception was the Timeless Traces skill, which was able to completely destroy the sand knights the moment that it was used on them. This reinforced the idea that this was meant to be a dungeon designed to train the Timeless Traces skill. And as we discovered after fighting our way through a few more packs in the lower halls, these monsters did not reappear after the normal duration of Timeless Traces expired.

We had been in the dungeon for over forty-five minutes, making our way slowly down towards the library, but the monsters that we first encountered on the surface had not recovered. When I reported this to Diane, she said that it was likely because they were considered killed as soon as the skill was applied to them. Since the end of the skill maintains all injuries applied during its duration, their death was unchanged.

Once we realized that, the pressure that we felt lessened considerably. All I had to do was teleport around and use this skill once on each monster that appeared, causing them to collapse as we continued forward.

 As for why we didn’t simply teleport down to the library, that was surprisingly Bella’s idea. Given the size of the castle, it stood to reason that this was not meant to be the base of the world boss. If it was, that implied that there was some mechanism involved where either the castle would grow, or the boss monster would shrink.

Regardless, even in the event that this was the boss’s lair, it would take time to reach here. First, it needed to fully wake up from its slumber, so I occasionally glanced at that area with Beyond Horizons to check on it. Once it did wake up, it had to manually walk the intervening distance, unless it had some kind of teleportation ability. If it did, it didn’t matter how long we took, it would be here as soon as it wanted.

Thus, we were conducting a thorough investigation of the castle as we moved towards the library, looking for any suspicious rooms or mechanisms that could lead to some hint regarding the ‘main story’.

Any time we saw anything that looked even remotely out of place, I would step forward and activate Timeless Traces, waiting to see if the target would turn into a vital clue or just a pile of loose sand. Thus far, the results had unanimously been ‘loose sand’.

Still, we had no reason to give up, pressing onwards and descending another floor. By now, the passageways were only lit by the floating orbs of energy that I maintained, with the occasional sand knight striking us from the shadows.

“It’s just up ahead,” I said, reporting the information of the library. At the same time, I reached out habitually, grabbing another sand knight that had crept up in the darkness to try and ambush us. I was certain that the other two saw it as well with their own skills, but there was no longer any sense of danger when it came to these monsters.

I held that thought firmly in my mind, activating Timeless Traces and continuing to take a step forward towards the library. However, a soft thud echoed through the hallway, causing all three of us to freeze in our tracks. As one, we turned to look at the body that had just fallen. Or rather, the pile of sand.

Next to the pile of sand was a black spear with golden decorations and a golden tip. This was the first time that anything ‘restored’ by Timeless Traces in this dungeon hadn’t just entirely dissolved. This one had left behind its weapon, a spear.

“...Does this mean that we need to hunt down all of the knights?” Bella asked, looking between the spear and the nearby library.

“I don’t know,” Diane grimaced beneath her face mask. “We can only act down either path with Drake. If we go to the library, we need him to restore the books so we can read them. If we hunt down the knights, we can’t kill them without that skill, and won’t know which ones would drop special items.”

“Why don’t we go to the library first?” I suggested. “I’ll quickly go around and use Timeless Traces on any books I can. If any of them survive the process, you two can read them while I go hunting for knights.”

Diane pursed her lips at this idea. “That could work, but you’ll need to watch for any messages from us. If a knight slips into the library while we’re reading, we won’t have any ways of dealing with it unless we call for you.”

With that plan in mind, we quickly advanced. Inside the library, I could see that there were ten sand knights scattered about, and quickly dealt with them as soon as we entered. Now that we had a goal, it was time to kick things up a notch.

I ran through the library, gathering up all of the books that I could and moving them to the ground in a wide-open reading area. Since I had gathered every book in the library, the result was a mountain of books taller than myself, haphazardly stacked in a sandy hill.

Aiming my hand at the pile, I focused on Timeless Traces. I had already learned that this skill could not be channeled, much like it could not be taught. The only way to use it was through its basic application, which meant that I was limited to one item at a time.

However, by piling all of the books together, I could rapidly activate the skill over and over again. The books destined to dissolve would fall away, while those meant to be restored would find themselves revealed.

So, that is what I did, rapidly triggering Timeless Traces as fast as I could. A storm of sand rose from the pile of books, the cloud blown away to the far corner off the walls. The other two had to shield their eyes to avoid getting sand in them, until they heard a series of soft thuds from the pile.

It took about three minutes to convert the entirety of the pile into their original form. During that time, the vast majority of books within the library were destroyed, reduced to sand and scattered into the distance. There were only three books that survived the transformation, now sticking out of the sand at odd angles.

“Let me know if a sand knight shows up, or if you need me to reapply the skill,” I told them before leaving the library to begin my hunt. I swept my senses throughout the castle, identifying the densest clusters of knights being in the throne room as well as the barracks behind the castle. Those would be my first stops.

As I teleported to the barracks, I found myself immensely relieved that Timeless Traces had not been a magic skill. Given its purpose, it would have made total sense for it to be one, in which case the skill would have been completely wasted on me. However, perhaps because the GMs had anticipated that someone with skill restrictions might be the one to get it, Timeless Traces was, in fact, a utility skill like Corpse Collector.

Regardless of the circumstances behind the skill, I immediately set to work destroying all of the sand knights within the barracks. Probably due to the restrictions behind them, but they had very simple attack patterns. None of them showed any ability to use ranged attacks or control skills, and instead they just charged forward with their weapons. At most, one might try to circle around to attack from behind.

If I stood still and took their attacks, given their levels, I expected that they would be able to break through my defenses and actually hurt me. Which was exactly why I wasn’t going to do that. Instead, I constantly teleported around the room, targeting random sand knights to prevent them from locking onto my position.

Five minutes later, and all of the sand knights in the room were dead. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the barracks was a single pair of black, armored boots with golden trim. I updated the other two on my progress while moving to collect the boots with open suspicion. After the spear dropped previously, it seemed like the dungeon was asking me to complete an item set.

However, when I tried to appraise either the spear or the boots, there was nothing special about them. No equipment bonuses or skills that would make them seem worth collecting. Were they part of some puzzle that was inherent to this dungeon?

I shared my thoughts with the other two, who agreed that it was likely. Diane told me to let her know when I found the headgear, since that would be the best indicator as to what we were looking at. With that in mind, I went to the throne room next to continue my sandy slaughter.

As I fought through the throne room, destroying one sand knight after another, something else began to prod at the back of my mind. A strange sense of incongruity that only grew stronger every time that I destroyed one of the monsters. It wasn’t until I cleared out the entire throne room that I understood what it was, scanning the entire dungeon again before sending Diane a message.

Monsters aren’t respawning. We had been in this dungeon for over an hour at this point. Realistically, we should have seen at least a few monsters start to respawn by now, whether they were at the core of the dungeon or at its periphery. Yet, not a single new monster had appeared ever since we set foot here.

Are you sure? Diane’s message came back only moments later, and I confirmed it to be true. Then, this dungeon might be designed to have just enough monsters to level the Timeless Traces skill up to the level needed for the next leg of the quest line. Did you get any new equipment from the throne room?

I looked down at the full plate chest armor and gauntlets, and reported about them. Got it. There should still be pants, the headgear, and maybe a shield and accessories.

The next location with densely packed monsters was close enough that I simply walked there, leaving the throne room behind. Have the two of you found anything in those books? Anything that might indicate what dungeon we have to go to next, or what we do with this gear?

I had to wait for about ten minutes before I got my answer, by which point the next group of monsters had been dealt with and I had acquired the armored leggings. We have a possible lead on the next dungeon. As for this one… did you try to use Timeless Traces on the throne while you were there?

Blinking, I recalled that I hadn’t done so, being too absorbed in the battle. I quickly teleported back to correct this mistake.I placed my hand on the throne and activated the skill, watching as the sand seemed to peel away to reveal black stone inlaid with golden decorations. 

It wasn’t  just the throne, either, as the power of Timeless Traces rippled throughout the floor, revealing black stone stairs and a raised platform. The entire floor of the throne room seemed to be real, though the spread of the power stopped when it hit the entryway.

The throne room is real, I reported, growing more and more concerned.

Check the world boss again. Diane’s urging caused my eyes to widen, and I used Beyond Horizons to gaze at the north pole. What I saw was a deep crater rapidly filling in with the surrounding sands. In the distance, a massive black shadow was walking away. Unfortunately, without the Mountain Crown to serve as a compass, I could not tell exactly where the monster was moving towards.

It’s up and moving.

Got it. Deal with the rest as quickly as you can. Make sure you eliminate every monster in the dungeon. We were supposed to deal with this dungeon before the boss woke up, so we’ve got to make sure to solve any puzzles before it gets here, or they might be completely cut off. Worse, if the gear that you’re collecting is meant for the boss, something really bad might happen if we don’t have it all by the time he arrives.