Chapter 1394: 152. Timepiece

Within the sea of stars, faint sounds of friction replaced the absolute silence left behind by the annihilation.

But the atmosphere... had suddenly become rather awkward.

Of course, it was not awkward because their attack had failed.

In fact, even before launching that smooth little pincer combo, Muen had already had a feeling that their opponent would not be defeated so easily. After all, anyone who dared sneak into a place like this to conduct an investigation could hardly be an ordinary person, even setting aside the fact that their identity seemed to have something to do with a certain "Tower Master."

At the absolute minimum, they had to be the kind of ruthless monster capable of taking on ten men in a single night.

But what Muen had not expected was...

"No way, sir. I was only saying that. You're not actually some ancient monster, are you?"

Looking at the black-robed figure in front of him, who had just caught bare blades with empty hands—not one, but two of them at once—cold sweat immediately broke out across Muen's body.

Were these blades something you could casually catch barehanded?

What was Ariel using?

An ancient Heavenfire greatsword. Three Divine Favors erupting simultaneously. A destined strike from a power-fantasy heroine! Even the final villain would have to lose a layer of skin beneath the power of her friendship and bonds!

And what about Muen?

A Crowned-class body, enhancement upon enhancement, his strongest slash under Time Slow, combined with Elizabeth's absolute sharpness, which remained effective even at this level...

Even if your palm never actually touched the blade when you caught it, could you at least show some basic respect and cough up some blood or something?

Fine, no blood.

But your hands—surely they could at least tremble a little!

...Nope.

Nothing.

Those excessively pale hands remained completely steady after stopping both attacks, as stable as a surgeon's hands in the middle of an operation.

For a moment, Muen felt as though he had returned to those miserable days when the Witch of Repentance had chased him around like a dog...

Maybe he should run?

Fighting ancient monsters was not his specialty, but when it came to running away, even if an Evil God's projection descended, he could still—

"Calm down."

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang simultaneously inside Muen's mind and Ariel's, who had likewise fallen into shock.

"Look carefully. Those aren't 'bare hands.'"

"Hm?"

Muen realized something and focused his gaze.

Sure enough, at first glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the black-robed figure's hands.

But upon closer inspection...

A faint blue glow could be seen flowing beneath that excessively pale skin.

Even though Muen's accomplishments in magic were somewhat inferior to his accomplishments as a warrior, he immediately realized...

That was not how magical power circulated through a human body.

That was...

"A magical device?"

Click.

Something seemed to have been triggered.

The skin covering those pale hands, which had been capable of holding off both Muen and Ariel simultaneously, suddenly began to crack.

But what appeared beneath those pitch-black cracks was not flesh and blood.

It was cold metal casing.

The faint blue glow pulsed at a frequency Muen could not understand. Almost the instant he realized that those hands were actually a powerful magical device, the metal shell split apart.

Magical power strong enough to make even Muen feel threatened erupted from within, while arrays that had long since been engraved into the device unfolded at the same time.

A blinding radiance flooded Muen's vision.

"Shit! It's disposable too!"

Muen cursed inwardly.

For a magical device to temporarily withstand the combined attack of both him and Ariel, it had to be the painstaking work of a Truth-Rank Grand Mage.

But that was not all.

It was also a consumable.

There was no need to worry about damaging the materials or exceeding the magical power limit, allowing it to unleash, during its brief moment of use, terrifying power far beyond its normal specifications!

That characteristic felt somewhat familiar to Muen.

He immediately remembered the dagger from Saint Blancfazesiya, forged from the raw material of a holy sword embryo and capable of effortlessly killing a Crowned one.

Of course, the magical device before him had not reached that level.

But at such close range, it was already more than enough to cause Muen trouble...

More importantly, the other person had not even used it as a means of attack.

They had casually sacrificed such a precious disposable magical device for one purpose alone—

To buy a brief moment of time.

Since they were willing to spend that much, the result was naturally effective.

Muen felt his body stiffen for an instant.

That was the final effect imposed by the disposable magical device as it entered the last stage of its destruction.

At the same time, the black-robed figure moved with extraordinary grace, actually separating directly from those two hands and attempting to merge into the dim sea of stars, using the opportunity to escape Muen and Ariel's pincer attack!

But...

"At this distance, you really think I'll give you a chance to escape?"

Muen sneered.

The moment he discovered that what the other person had used was merely a magical device, an inexplicable mixture of embarrassment and irritation surged through him.

Since they had prioritized using a tool, that meant the black-robed figure might be an ancient monster...

But the chances were probably not that high.

Maybe Muen could not deal with a real ancient monster.

But did this fake, pretentious "ancient monster" really think he could not deal with them?

So what if you have items?

You think I don't have a way to deal with that?

Bring on the cheat!

"Time Stagnation!"

Behind him, the alchemical core instantly began operating at maximum output.

The faint sound of an ancient bell echoed beside Muen's ears.

Dong—

At that moment, Artificial Authority descended with a roar.

Power no weaker than that of a god was directly imposed upon the black-robed figure under Muen's control.

The figure instantly froze.

It was as though they had been sealed inside an old photograph. Every trace of color drained away from their body, leaving only silent, lifeless gray and white.

They looked completely out of place even against the surrounding dim sea of stars.

"Haa..."

Muen exhaled softly, slightly surprised.

"The consumption is actually lower than I expected. Is it because mages have weaker bodies, so they're easier to freeze?"

There was no time to think about that now.

Muen stretched out his hand and reached directly toward the black-robed figure.

Their identity, whatever hidden cards they still possessed—none of that mattered right now.

The most urgent priority was to use these few seconds of Time Stagnation to restrain them—

"Hm?"

But just as Muen's hand was about to touch the robe, the corner of his eye suddenly twitched.

Lowering his gaze, he saw something hanging from the black-robed figure's body.

It was...

A jade pendant?

The pendant was exquisitely crafted, a magnificent dark green in color.

Two lifelike serpentine totems had been carved into its surface, coiling around one another. Their pitch-black eyes gleamed faintly. Though they had no pupils, Muen still had the strange illusion that they were staring directly at him.

The jade pendant hung from the hem of the black robe and continued swaying.

Strangely, although the black-robed figure had already been caught in Time Stagnation, the pendant seemed entirely unaffected.

"Is this another hidden card? But I don't sense any danger, and my death warning hasn't been triggered either..."

Muen's heart sank.

Without caring what it was, he immediately activated the black flames and reached for the jade pendant—

Muen suddenly blanked out.

The sensation was extremely slight.

Like suddenly zoning out on a lazy afternoon.

Like abruptly losing focus during class.

But when his consciousness cleared again, although his hand was still extended in a grasping motion, what his palm felt was definitely not the touch of a jade pendant.

In fact, he felt nothing at all.

But...

"Oh my. I don't dislike men who take the initiative, but being this impatient in broad daylight... don't you think it might look a little inappropriate?"

Muen raised his eyes in confusion and found himself staring at a face formed from mist, yet one that was clearly tinged with a faint blush.

"Staaare—"

"..."

Muen swallowed.

His gaze slowly moved downward.

His outstretched hand had gone straight through Peles's chest...

Wait.

What the hell was going on?

"Aha! I knew you had improper intentions toward my teacher!"

Ariel charged over and immediately began throwing Turtle-fist punches.

"You scumbag... scumbag... scumbag! You won't even spare my teacher!"

"Wait... wait! Wait, wait, wait!"

Muen frantically blocked the furious Ariel and hurriedly asked Peles,

"Forget all that for now. What time is it? What just happened??"

"What happened?"

Peles pouted coquettishly.

"The enemy was at eleven o'clock... I told you that, but instead of attacking the enemy, you suddenly reached out and assaulted my chest... Oh my, I understand that young people are full of vigor, but isn't this a little too bold?"

"..."

Eleven o'clock?

This was...

One minute ago?

Time had gone backward by one minute?

Muen stared in disbelief.

Yet everything happening before his eyes continuously told him that none of it was an illusion.

But was that even reasonable?

That was completely unreasonable!

Under normal circumstances, using some special method to reverse time would not have been that shocking. It was not as though Muen had never seen even more outrageous time magic before.

It was only one minute.

But...

Someone had reversed time right in front of the owner of the Eternal Clock.

And Muen had been completely unable to stop it.

He had not even noticed it happening.

That...

Was a little too ridiculous.

Could it be that the other person's Authority of Time...

Was above his?

"Did something happen?"

Peles finally realized that something was wrong with Muen's expression and immediately put away her teasing smile.

Muen quickly explained everything that had just happened.

"I see... I think I understand what happened."

Peles rested her chin on one hand.

"Hm?"

"You misunderstood. That wasn't time reversal. It was... a regional reset within a defined area."

"A reset?"

Muen was stunned.

"You can even do that?"

"Ancient Relic · Twin-Serpent Timepiece. Its effect is to reset everything within its area of influence to a previously recorded point in time. The maximum interval is ten minutes, and it can only be used once every twenty-four hours," Peles explained.

"So Muen wasn't molesting you?"

Ariel finally stopped throwing punches, only to immediately look puzzled again.

"But if everything was reset, why was Muen the only one unaffected?"

"Most likely... because some power surrounding him at the time was strong enough to counteract the Ancient Relic's rule-based power. So he alone remained unaffected, while the rest of us were reset to our state from one minute ago."

Peles gave Muen a meaningful look.

Muen fell silent.

Just now...

He really had activated the Eternal Clock.

"Senior Peles, you seem to know a lot about that Twin-Serpent Timepiece."

"Yes. Because in my memories, the owner of the Twin-Serpent Timepiece was the third Tower Master of the Origin Tower."

"What?"

Muen's eyes widened.

What the hell?

The third?

How long ago had that person existed?

If he remembered correctly, Douglas was already somewhere dozens of generations down the line!

Wasn't an ancient monster of that level...

A little too ancient?

Were old grandpas living inside rings no longer worth anything these days?

"Don't worry. That third Tower Master is already dead. I saw it with my own eyes. There is absolutely no possibility of resurrection."

"So..."

Peles's expression dimmed slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

She turned toward eleven o'clock.

"Who exactly are you?"

"..."

The vast and dim sea of stars remained silent.

Countless secrets had sunk into its depths, only to become worthless garbage like the drifting scraps of metal scattered throughout it.

The black-robed figure slowly emerged once more.

This time, they made no attempt to launch another surprise attack or approach them.

And faced with Peles's question, the figure still said nothing.

The black robe shifted.

One hand emerged from within.

In that hand was a strange weapon.

The entire weapon was pitch-black.

At first glance, it resembled a longsword.

But upon closer inspection, Muen realized that it was actually a mace.

No.

It merely resembled the kind of mace Muen remembered.

Above the handle was a segmented structure shaped like an enormously miniaturized tower.

One level stacked atop another.

Nine levels in total.

Every single level was densely engraved with all kinds of complex patterns that made Muen's heart pound with alarm, along with...

An indescribably vast amount of magical power flowing through them.

The instant the weapon appeared, Muen immediately felt the surrounding environment change.

The entire sea of stars seemed to be disturbed by its presence.

"Be careful."

Peles's expression also became grave.

"Looks like he suffered a setback last time, so this time he's changing tactics..."

Her gaze fixed on the black-robed figure.

"He's going to break through from the front."