NOVEL NEXT Chapter 237 Impossible
Chapter 237 Impossible
After making his spear do a few loops around and various combos in the air, Kairos stopped and put the spear back into his body. From there, he opened the status panels of the two objects.
[ID: 1/10]
[Energy: 1499/1500]
[ID: 2/10]
[Energy: 1498/1500]
He raised an eyebrow, before falling into thought. It seemed that the second prism was responsible for increasing his control and giving him the ability to move them around telekinetically.
However, after only using it for a couple of seconds, he had already lost two energy. It seemed that he shouldn't be using such an ability willy nilly if it disappeared that fast. Especially when there wasn't an easy way to recharge the energy.
As for Sara, she wasn't taking notice of what Kairos was doing at all. Instead, she was looking rather mesmerized by what she was looking at. After a little while, Kairos looked over in curiosity.
While he was contemplating speaking, Sara ended up doing so first.
"It looks like we weren't the first ones to clear this level, even though I was so sure we did."
Kairos raised an eyebrow, scratching the side of his head.
"What are you talking about?"
Sara slowly turned around, revealing a strange mirror in her hand. The surface itself was not completely smooth, instead rippling as though it were a fluid, and the frame itself was a messy black that seemed to be leaking, almost like the mirror was actually bleeding.
She then pointed it at the center of the room.
"Come over here and have a look."
Kairos did as told, walking over and looking at the mirror from over her shoulder. The fluid-like surface of the mirror rippled, revealing a scene with two other people. They appeared to be saying something, but there was no sound that came from the mirror. Regardless, despite passing such a difficult test, they weren't particularly excited at all.
Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw that.
"You're saying this was in the past? How do you even know that? It could also be the future."
Sara blinked a few times, staring at the mirror in a trance.
"I... don't know. But I just feel like it has to be the past."
Kairos was a bit speechless by that logic, but considering she was supposed to be an oracle of some kind, he didn't doubt her. Sara muttered to herself in a daze.
"I can... see their futures."
She remained still for a long while, with her eyes wide and unblinking. Kairos looked between her and the mirror a few times before confirming that he couldn't see whatever magical or mystical thing she was.
Kairos took a deep breath before sitting down on the couch, patiently waiting for whatever she was doing to be finished.
After a little while, Sara slowly put down the mirror. However, she was breathing rather quickly, nearing hyperventilation. To put it simply, she was quite excited.
Kairos didn't understand it exactly, but he guessed that being able to see other people through the mirror and read their futures was particularly convenient or powerful in some way.
In that same vein, he was also very pleased with the reward that he got.
Eventually, Sara got over the excitement, though there was still a bright smile on her face.
"Are you ready for the next test?"
Kairos blinked a few times, wondering to himself.
"Shouldn't we rest before we tackle it like the last one?"
Sara tilted her head to the side.
"Well, we have no idea what the test is going to be, unless your foresight is strong enough to predict even that. And since it's going to be even harder than the previous test... resting would just be a waste of time. We've already been making the others wait for so long, so it would be best to go now."
It was a very logical argument that hit many different points. Kairos simply nodded.
"Alright then, let's do that."
With that, they went past the doors into the next test area. As they walked in, they were greeted by a rather strange sight.
They were greeted with a rather giant room, but instead of taking on the normal black theme, it was all white. And within this giant Once again, she saw those same two people who were taking the test. However, it didn't provide much information. They were room, was a tiny white table in the middle, with two simple chairs facing each other on either side.
Sara took out her mirror and looked through it.
Once again, she saw those same two people who were taking the test. However, it didn't provide much information. They were simply sitting across from each other, staring for a while.
Then a moment later, the entire floor underneath them turned black and they fell in.
Sara's eyelid twitched when she saw that.
"...I thought I would at least get to understand the rules somewhat with this mirror."
Kairos blinked a few times.
"Say, is there any indication of what the rules these tests have beforehand?"
Sara shook her head as a bitter smile formed on her face.
"No, nothing like that. The only way to find out is by the experience of others, or trial and error on your own."
Kairos' eyes widened slightly. It seemed they put a lot more work into clearing the dungeon than he thought.
"That's fairly impressive, all things considered."
Sara let out an awkward laugh.
"Well... I was hoping that there wouldn't be as much trial and error so long as I had this mirror, but it turns out I was wrong."
She let out a long sigh before gesturing towards the chairs.
"I guess that there's not much else to do other than sit down. I would say to not repeat their mistakes, but it's a bit hard when there doesn't seem to be any mistakes..."
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
"We can only do our best."
Sara sat in one of the chairs, and Kairos went to sit down as well. Though he stopped right before doing so. Because he saw in the future that right when he would sit down, the ground underneath them would suddenly disappear immediately.
It was a new record of failing compared to the attempt they saw in Sara's mirror.
Naturally, he stopped himself just before sitting. After a moment of thought, he tried to sit on the chair at a different angle, but once again he only saw the floor underneath caving in.
He tried several other things, such as sitting down at different speeds, holding his arms out in different positions, or even closing his eyes and sitting down with as much calm as possible.
But no matter what, the result always ended up being the floor underneath them disappearing.
Seeing the strange act Kairos was doing, Sara couldn't help but speak up.
"What's wrong? Do you foresee disaster?"
In response, he let out a distressed sigh.
"I... simply see the futures of us failing the test with the floor underneath us disappearing. In none do I see us lasting even a second, unlike the people we saw in our vision."
Sara let out an awkward laugh.
"Well, maybe you're supposed to fall?"
Kairos blinked a few times.
"But isn't the failing condition for most of the others falling down?"
Sara shrugged her shoulders a bit helplessly.
"I was just trying to be optimistic. It's our best shot at this rate, no?"
Kairos opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything back. Although he could continue trying, it didn't seem like it was going to get anywhere anytime soon. Kairos took a deep breath.
"Do you know what kind of punishment we will face for failing?"
Sara put a finger on her chin and pursed her lips.
"I've never experienced the punishment for this test, but following the pattern of the rest, it should be some sort of mental attack. There won't be a risk for death, though most people would consider this a worse punishment than just a risk of death..."
Kairos didn't think much of what she said until he heard the last part.
"It's that bad?"
Sara let a chuckle escape her.
"Well, we are always fighting to retain our sanity down here. If you succumb to the corruption, then your consciousness will be overridden by the avatar. Or perhaps to be more accurate, that will be the only thing left. While you are essentially dead, you will then roam this place as a monster."
Kairos' eyelid twitched.
"...That does sound pretty bad."
Sara smiled like it wasn't a big deal.
"Just make sure your resolve is strong. The moment you start to feel like you no longer want to live, things will go bad quickly."
Kairos gave a small nod. After casting a gaze at the chair, he took a deep breath, preparing for what was essentially the inevitable. He resolved himself and sat down in the chair, despite knowing full well what would happen.
As he saw in his future vision, the floor underneath them caved in, revealing an endless expanse of darkness. Kairos found himself swallowed within rather quickly.
He then braced for the so-called mental attack.