Chapter 560
Somehow, they made it out.
It had been hard, but after experiencing the Tower of Time, there was a strange sense of enjoyment.
He had seen with his own eyes the very moment in history when the Communication Crystal was created, and it almost felt like he had been part of that moment.
If an expert or scholar in the field had witnessed such a historic event, they would have surely shed hot tears of emotion.
The Tower of Time was filled with countless such historical scenes in the form of “anomalies”. Now Simon finally understood why people were willing to risk their lives to enter, even with dangerous murderers like Girdon lurking inside.
“Merida. Over here.”
She followed along, half-asleep, stumbling after him.
So it really was true, people could still understand speech even while dozing.
Before long—
‘Found it.’
They had discovered their target.
One section of the tower’s wall was black, as if smeared with paint, glowing like the pitch-dark night sky. From a distance, it looked like a hole had been punched through the tower.
And in the middle of that starless night sky…
Something red and fleshy pulsed, writhing like a living heart.
That tumor-like growth protruding from the tower wall was called a Core. Destroying it would block the flow of monsters spilling out of the dungeon. The Ivory Tower referred to this as “cleaning”.
“Merida, are you ready?”
Simon pulled an axe out from subspace.
The bluish-glowing axe was an artifact, provided by the Ivory Tower, specifically designed to destroy cores.
“Mm.”
Merida opened her eyes properly now, raising Darkness around herself.
They divided their roles.
Simon would destroy the core with the Artifact Axe. Merida would block the dungeon monsters rushing in.
Because once they attacked the core, every monster in the vicinity would come swarming.
“Here goes.”
Simon tilted his body back, drawing the axe behind his head, then stepped forward in one powerful swing and brought it crashing down on the core.
Crack!
It was tougher than he expected.
The outer shell split, but the blow didn’t go in deeply.
Simon raised the axe again when—
Chzzzzzz!
Szzzzzzt!
Dungeon monsters came rushing toward them. Glancing sideways, Simon’s face twisted.
“...What is that?”
Normally, monsters were shaped by the continent’s environment, flora, and fauna. At least they looked somewhat familiar.
But these didn’t.
Six sharp legs. No face, no features—just a glowing violet orb embedded in the center of its torso.
It didn’t feel like a monster. It was more like looking at an alien lifeform that didn’t belong in this world.
‘So that’s a Tower of Time monster…’
“Keep hitting it, Simon!”
Merida raised her hand. Magic circles she had prepared overhead burst open, releasing a bombardment of curses like artillery fire.
The colorful downpour of curses looked dazzling. The monsters staggered under the impact.
“Huh?”
Merida blinked.
The Tower of Time monsters only faltered for a moment before charging in as if nothing had happened.
“My curses aren’t working.”
She looked rattled. Simon, swinging the axe at the core again, shouted,
“High curse resistance?”
“No, the effects do apply. It’s just… even cursed, they can still move around like nothing’s wrong.”
Fatigue Curse Exhaust.
Nausea Curse Sickness.
Blindness Curse Blind.
Petrification Curse Paralyze.
Curses that worked on almost any monster were useless against these alien-like creatures.
Skrrrk!
A monster descended above Simon as he struck the core. He sidestepped and slammed his shoulder into it, hurling it away.
“Then what about curses that apply to objects? Like the one you used against Girdon!”
“...That’s easier said than done.”
Curses were designed to target living beings like humans or monsters.
There were curses that worked on objects, but they were far less efficient—shorter duration, weaker effect, and worst of all, they consumed an absurd amount of Darkness.
Merida tried applying a gravity curse. A few monsters floated into the air—but that wasn’t nearly enough.
There were just too many of them.
“Then we switch roles!”
Wham!
Simon drove his Darkness-clad fist into the violet orb in one monster’s torso.
Thud!
Blue blood gushed out, reeking like oil mixed with vinegar.
“I’ll handle the monsters! Merida, you destroy the core with the axe!”
“I’m not good at Magical Combat.”
She put her hands on her hips with pride.
“I dropped out after the first semester.”
‘That’s not something to brag about!’
Even though she was ranked 4th overall, she had surprising weaknesses.
Her brother Phantasus had been such a musclehead he could flatten everything with pure Magical Combat alone.
Szzzzzt!
Now, monsters were closing in from the opposite direction too. If they didn’t cut their numbers fast, it would get dangerous.
“Hup!”
Crack!
Even so, Simon’s Magical Combat was superb. He crushed a monster’s face with his instep, leapt into the air, and kicked two monsters trying to pounce on Merida.
They smashed against the wall with a splat, spraying blue blood.
Landing, Simon immediately opened subspace.
“Come forth! Skeleton Knight!”
He chose the Skeleton Knight.
It emerged spinning wildly the moment it stepped out.
“No, no! That’s not what I meant! Stop!”
Obeying Simon’s command, it froze. Now it just stood awkwardly, creaking in frustration, sending him a disgruntled mental complaint.
“Pick up that axe!”
The Skeleton Knight grabbed it.
“Destroy the red thing!”
It swung.
Crack!
It struck the core with a full swing—yet spun around three times in the process.
At this point, it looked addicted to spinning.
‘What’s with everyone today?’
Both partner and summon were acting weird. Simon wanted to cry as he struggled alone.
Meanwhile, Merida, discouraged by the monsters’ curse immunity, shifted to what she did best: Darkness Dynamics. She conjured elemental magic.
“Neither fire burns them, nor water wets them...”
Like Phantasus, she used a Darkness-water spell to summon a great wave, pushing the monsters back. But her voice drooped.
And sure enough, pushing them back only caused more to flood in.
“Merida! Have you tried Sleep?”
She scowled.
“You really think things that shrug off the Seven-Curse Set and anti-gravity curses are just gonna fall asleep?”
Still, she pressed her palm against one of the monsters nearby and cast Sleep.
“!”
Something unbelievable happened.
The monster froze, utterly still—as if time itself had stopped, or its power had simply shut down.
“It’s… really asleep?”
Simon kicked it and shouted,
“No! I don’t think it’s sleeping!”
Ordinary Sleep used the Rune of Slumber to induce actual sleep.
But Phantasus, Merida, and Simon’s version used the Rune of Calm.
Apparently, these monsters’ resistance to hostile interference didn’t treat this as an “attack”. Instead, they seemed to interpret it as a command, returning to a kind of dormant state—like being put on standby.
“Nice.”
Merida suddenly lit up. She darted around like a fish in water, slapping her palm onto monsters one after another. Slap! Slap! Slap! Each froze in place.
The front lines stalled as monsters at the front stopped, creating a traffic jam with the ones behind.
“You’re doing great!”
This was why Merida had been dispatched here.
Simon guarded the flank, mixing Magical Combat with Sleep. Back to back against the starless wall, the boy and girl raced across the battlefield—wherever they passed, monsters froze in time.
“Haaap!”
Simon kicked off the ground, leaping straight into the churning mass of monsters. At the same time, his palm flickered with a gray light.
<Bahil Remade – Sleepers>
Shhhhhh—
Gray smoke spread outward, and the monsters around him froze all at once.
Merida, who had been fighting fiercely, turned toward Simon in shock.
‘What? A wide-area Sleep using the Rune of Calm? How did he do that?’
Surprised at first, she quickly raised both arms, unwilling to be outdone.
Shoooosh!
Her sleeves fluttered. From them, long sheets extended, binding the surrounding monsters and hoisting them into the air like laundry hanging from a line.
At once, she twisted her palm and triggered a curse.
<Sleep Link>
The monsters writhing in the sheets all went limp. Every single one had succumbed to Sleep.
This time it was Simon’s turn to be impressed.
‘She can even apply it like that? As expected of a curse major!’
Simon and Merida’s efforts were dazzling. Even while fighting, both of them kept stealing glances at each other’s use of Sleep, studying intently.
Meanwhile, Simon’s Skeleton Knight, tasked with destroying the fleshy tumor, was finally getting the hang of it.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The knight gripped the axe with both hands, spinning like a top. Each rotation slammed the axe into the core again and again, striking as it circled back.
The core was shredded in no time.
“Nice! You’re doing great!”
Sure, the spinning obsession was still there… but results were results.
With both partner and summon hitting their stride, only moments later—
BANG!
The Skeleton Knight hammered the axe down in a flurry, finally shattering the core.
The instant it broke apart, the swarming alien monsters crumbled like crackers, disintegrating on the spot. The wall and floor, once dark as night, peeled away and reverted slowly to ordinary stone.
“We did it!”
Simon bent over, hands on his knees, gasping but smiling.
Merida clapped the dust off her hands and approached with her usual blank expression.
“Good work.”
“You too.”
The two slapped their palms together in a high-five.
Then—
Stumble—
Exhaustion crashed over Simon, and he almost collapsed. He turned back and shouted,
“Merida!”
“Ah, sorry.”
She snapped her fingers.
“Force of habit.”
The first “cleaning” had been a struggle, but by the second, they had found their rhythm.
Simon and Merida swept through the 50th floor, destroying both of their assigned cores.
The 50th floor was now completely cleansed. No more cores could be found.
After finishing the job, the two returned to the safe zone’s lodging. The moment Merida opened the door, she sprinted in and dove straight onto the bed. Curling up like a cat kneading bread, she immediately began nodding off.
“...Merida, you should wash up before bed.”
Sighing, Simon slipped off his uniform jacket.
“I’m going first.”
At once, her uniform came flying through the air.
Simon flinched and spun around quickly, glimpsing her stockings smack against the wall with a thwack!
“You should really be more caref—”
She ignored him and bolted into the bathroom. After a quick wash, she returned in pajamas, crawled onto the bed, and settled comfortably.
Pajamas, sleep socks, a sleep cap, even a cuddle pillow—she was fully armed for slumber. She clearly had a strong personal philosophy about sleep.
“Ah.”
Still lying down, she glanced at Simon.
“I have a sleep habit.”
Simon nodded. It wasn’t like she could help it.
“Snoring? Grinding your teeth?”
“No, more like sleep-talking.”
That’s all? Simon waved it off with a smile.
“Got it. Just go to sleep already.”
He really just wanted to change clothes.
Merida nodded, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and shut her eyes.
Within moments, she was out.
“You’ve been sleeping all day anyway...”
And so, Simon would pay the price for underestimating her “sleep habit”.
Simon had never actually seen Merida truly asleep before.
The times she nodded off on benches or in banquet halls weren’t genuine rest.
Her default state was always half-dozing.
But when she finally lay in a bed at night for proper sleep.
BOOOOM!
BOOM!
Her sleep habits were monstrous.
“Mnya mnya... Phantasus, brother...”
Clutching her pillow, she rolled all over the bed, flailing her arms and mumbling.
Each time, curses shot out wildly, blasting against the floor and exploding on the walls.
‘
‘Haaaaaaah...
Simon dragged the blanket over his head irritably. He knew he wouldn’t be getting any rest tonight.
‘Like brother, like sister…’
Both siblings had awful sleep habits.
Granted, compared to Phantasus—who leveled everything around him whenever he slept—Merida was downright cute. But for Simon, who had to endure it up close, it was torture.
‘Well, whatever. I had to take care of my mission anyway.’
Three hours later, Simon got up, hair disheveled, scratching his head.
Merida, after firing off a few stray curses, had gone back to sleeping soundly on her stomach.
Simon pulled the blanket back over her and checked several times to make sure she was really asleep. Then he quietly stepped outside.
‘Better get moving before sunrise.’
Simon’s true mission was only beginning now.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters