The Mage of Primordial Chaos

Chapter 520 – Trial By Flames

The next challenge in my way was a swinging pendulum of fire, dangling side to side. It was extremely big, so each time it reached the maximum distance on either side, there was only a small gap to jump through on the opposite end, just barely enough to fit through a human without getting incinerated.

Compared to the previous one, which required multiple jumps, I had to say this one was easier—although someone else's opinion could differ. This one was just one singular, extremely precise jump—something that I was confident I could do after last time's slip-up.

Furrowing my brows, I observed the pendulum and tried to memorize the timing of it. At first glance, that seemed easy—but upon further, closer inspection, I noticed that each time the pendulum swung, there was a marginal difference in its timings and the location it reached.

That was troublesome, to say the least.

It meant there was a factor of luck involved—which, by the way, I was not very good at. Fortune was never really on my side, and although I would've preferred that to not be the case, there was little I could do to help that.

As much as I tried to spot a pattern in the pendulum's movements, I could not. Each time, it was slightly different, as if purposely frustrating me. For a moment, I wondered if the test here was actually the ability to stay calm, not bravery… though I guess the two are somewhat similar.

Realizing that just sitting around here wasn't going to yield any further results, I took a deep breath and leaped for it.

At first, it seemed like I was going to crash into the pendulum face-first, but a freak gust of wind suddenly swung it out of the way right as I made it past, and my hands grabbed the ledge of the next platform before pulling myself upwards.

"… Whew. For the first time ever, fortune is on my side."

Three more obstacles to go. The first was a series of rolling spiked logs, both horizontal and vertical, blockading the path ahead. Thankfully, there was no lava below, so I didn't have to worry about falling to my death for this section, but the flames on the spikes were still no joke. In fact, it made their hitboxes slightly larger, meaning I had less of an angle to maneuver.

Still, with some careful timing and hyper-awareness of my surroundings, I made it past this section after about a minute or so that felt like a year. Next up, however… had no obstacles.

Well, at least, not directly in my way.

They hung above on the ceiling of the corridor, like gates of death ready to drop down on anyone who dared tried to go past them. They seemed… quite ominous, to say the least. Demon eye-like shapes and designs were located on top of the gates, and the bottom side was simply row upon row of sharp spikes. If this thing fell on me, my vampiric and angelic regeneration abilities weren't going to help.

But that was if it fell on me. First, I had to test how fast this thing would drop, and how sensitive it was.

Pulling out a single bill from my Space Locket, I gently set it down on the ground. Then, lightly, I pushed it forward, sliding it across the ground past the first metal gate.

Immediately, it triggered, as soon as the bill entered its vicinity.

DOOM!

With a loud noise that ominously sounded like the word 'doom', the metal gate slammed down with enough force to shake the entire corridor. I struggled to keep my balance, and finally, when the shaking was over, I crept closer to the gate and inspected the dollar bill I had slid through.

It did not even make it past.

The very edge of the bill was completely punctured by the sharp metal gate, and the poor bill now had a hole in it. I gulped.

"… This is going to be a problem."

Deciding to test the speed again, this time recording the exact time it took for the gates to slam down, I chose a bigger object—my Chaos katanas. These ones wouldn't break, no matter how much force was applied to them.

Aiming carefully, I slid my Chaos katanas through across the ground as the gates reset. Instantly, they slammed down once more, but… I couldn't help but notice a slight delay.

Of course, this delay was so tiny that it could've simply been a trick of the light or a lapse in judgment on my end. I had counted about half a second there, and crawled closer to retrieve my katana carefully.

As expected, it was not broken at all, without a scratch, but I did notice something interesting—just as with the dollar bill, the very end of the katana was hit. Nothing more. Since the katana was far longer than the bill, this made no sense. Unless…

… The time the gates fell was dependent on the size of the object?

That would match with the delay I felt as well. But I couldn't be sure just yet—I needed to further experiment. 

This time, I chose something even bigger: Mei Gui's spear. Yes, I Shapeshifted into her and summoned it. This transformation would not last forever, however, as last time I tried this I automatically turned back after about five minutes. According to Aerim, the more I used this, the longer I would be able to transform for, and eventually, I should be able to control when I want to turn back. But for now, I had a different problem ahead of me.

Just like before, as soon as I retrieved the katana by pulling it out from beneath the gates, they reset. Then, I slid Mei Gui's spear across, which was about double the length of my katanas. This time, an even larger delay could be felt compared to before—too large to be considered a lapse in judgement. I was certain now—these gates purposely activated at the very end, so that they would strike whatever object was going through at the very tip.

When I went closer to retrieve the spear, that was further confirmed. The very end of it was stuck underneath the gates, whereas the rest of its body made it through no problem.

Now… the only question was, how the hell was I supposed to get through?

Then, I realized something.

If I was holding onto something in my hand as I slid through… would that count as the end, and the gate would slam down on the object instead of me?

Deciding to test it out, I waited until I turned back to myself, then summoned both of my Chaos katanas and placed them one behind the other, handles touching. Surprisingly, however, a suddenly streak of light emitted from the two blades blinded me, and I had to cover my eyes.

When I opened them again, I found myself no longer staring at two katanas, but… a bow.

I blinked.

"… What is this…?"

Sadly, Mei Gui was not here to tell me, and the mouth of the volcano was too far away to reach with our telepathy. But just judging from what I could tell at basic glance, it would seem my two katanas had fused together into this bow. It was made of a hard black mineral of some sort, and emitted ominous black and red energy. Attached to its bowstring was a single arrow with a glowing red tip, shining brightly amidst the darkness.

For a moment, I let curiosity overtake me and forgot about the situation I was in. Picking up my bow, I observed it briefly, then pulled the bowstring back like I've seen archers do in shows. It was surprisingly easy, but then again, my physical strength was… pretty damn incredible, if I do say so myself.

Aiming at the gates, I let the arrow fly. Surprisingly enough, however, my arrow did not trigger the gates, and instead passed through all solid objects, disappearing from view. I blinked in surprise, and when I looked down, another arrow was notched and ready to fire. I did, however, feel as if my mana pool had been drained a little… so these arrows were made using my mana. So long as I had mana, I had infinite ammunition.

Deciding not to worry about that for now, though, I attempted to take my bow apart, and they reverted to their katana forms, thankfully. This time, I put their blade tips together carefully so that they were touching, and slid the two katanas across.

As expected… the gate came slamming down on the second one, meaning the first one made it past unscathed.

So that was the secret of this puzzle… I see.

With that figured out, getting through was easy. I simply held a Chaos katana in one hand while I slid through, so every time, the gate slammed down on the katana and not me. Of course, it was still scary, but a simple test of courage was nothing to me.. Now that that was over with… there was one final obstacle in my way—and it would prove to be the hardest one yet.

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