Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Bug (3)

TL: DDTL

‘You, what are you? How does a mere Lesser Being wield power like this?’

After thrashing about for a while, the creature finally turned the question on me.

I didn’t really have an answer.

If he asked how something I’d just been able to do since birth worked, how would I know.

So I turned it back on him.

‘And you? What are you?’

What was the identity of this being that had hijacked my body?

Looking back at what had happened just moments ago, trying to figure out how this had even occurred…

It seemed pretty clear that touching that ice gem, the item called the Heart of the Frigid Demon King, was what had triggered all this.

So was this guy the Frigid Demon King, then?

It was a natural enough guess.

The creature spoke with obvious irritation.

– Set time flowing again at once. Then I shall permit thy questions.

As if I’d undo it.

‘I told you to give my body back first.’

– Thy flesh is already mine, I told thee.

‘Then I’ll just stay like this, I told you.’

– Insolent wretch!

Was this some kind of monster too?

With a special ability to steal bodies?

…Or was this another stunt the Tower was pulling?

I had no idea why the item description had glitched out the way it had, either…

Nothing but unknowns.

– Very well. We shall see.

The creature said.

– I know not what trick thou hast pulled, but a power this far outside the natural order cannot be sustained forever. When time flows again, thou shalt regret this.

‘And what’ll you do?’

– I shall freeze thy world entire. The land, the mountains, the seas, humans and beasts alike. Every living thing shall perish in an endless winter.

Whew… terrifying.

Definitely couldn’t let time start up again.

– If thou wouldst not regret it, undo it now. This is the last mercy I shall grant.

I shot back at the gall of it.

‘You hijack someone’s body and then come at me with threats like that? Frigid Demon King, huh? You’ve got the personality of a real demon king, alright.’

– What didst thou say? How dare thee.

‘Okay, let’s go ahead and try it. Sorry, but I can keep this up forever, you know.’

The Demon King scoffed.

– Bluster. Thou shalt regret this.

Time passed.

I didn’t particularly try to make conversation with him. He wasn’t the kind of being a normal conversation worked on anyway.

He didn’t speak to me either, so there was nothing but silence.

How much time had gone by?

By my reckoning, it felt like several days.

– …Thou.

The Demon King’s voice came again at last.

He sounded a little fed up.

– Cease this stubbornness. Thy limit must be approaching.

I asked.

‘Decided to give my body back?’

– Speak no nonsense.

‘Then don’t talk to me. I told you we can do this forever.’

– Ha…! Art thou claiming to be a god? Such a thing is impossible.

‘Yeah, it’s possible.’

The Demon King kept babbling on, but I didn’t bother answering, just ignored him.

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Another long stretch of time passed.

– Let us be reasonable. How long dost thou intend to keep this up?

The Demon King addressed me again.

I didn’t answer.

– Dost thou truly mean to remain like this for eternity?

It felt like maybe a month had gone by…

I was sick of it, but he had to be just as sick of it.

I couldn’t show any weakness until the other side cracked.

‘Khh…’

– What is it?

‘I… I can’t take it any… more…’

I let time resume.

The world, frozen for so long, began to move.

Of course, control of my body was still in the Demon King’s hands.

“…Bwahahaha!”

In the newly flowing time, the Demon King burst into laughter.

“That’s right, I knew it! Thou hast finally reached thy limit!”

Whoooosh!

My body shot across the sky at tremendous speed.

Grinning so I’d be sure to hear him, he said,

“Did I not tell thee thou wouldst regret this? From this moment, I shall make thee feel thy helplessness down to the very bone…”

Stopped again.

Halted mid-flight.

– …What?

He’d gotten so excited it was almost embarrassing to watch.

‘Did your heart skip a beat or something?’

I’d just been bored and wanted to mess with him for a second.

‘I told you I can keep this up forever. Why can’t you take a guy at his word?’

– Thou Lesser Being…!

The Demon King flew into a fit upon realizing he’d been duped.

Letting his “I shall kill thee” tirades wash over me, I slipped back into my blank, empty state.

Time kept passing.

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– …I shall retract my vow to freeze thy world. So cease this now.

The Demon King was finally starting to get it.

That my Time Stop Ability really could last forever.

But he still hadn’t fully come to his senses.

‘Yeah, obviously. I told you to give me my body back.’

– Did I not say I cannot?

‘Can’t, or won’t?’

– …I cannot. Thy body has already become mine, and it is impossible to return it to thee.

If that was true, this was a real problem.

But why does this sound like bullshit to me? Of all times, now?

‘Then nothing for it. Let’s stay like this forever.’

– Madman…! I truly cannot return it!

Ignoring the Demon King, I dimmed my consciousness again. Like a bear going into hibernation.

It wasn’t actually possible to sleep while time was stopped…

But it was possible to enter something halfway similar.

It was a trick I’d picked up by accident once, back when the Sub-Tower appeared and I was charging the Warp Device.

Doing this made enduring the brutal stretches of time at least a little easier.

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– Very well. I shall make a concession. Let us split possession of the flesh between us.

After another long stretch of time.

The Demon King came back with a new offer.

‘The hell are you talking about.’

– I shall allow thee control of the flesh for half of every day. A great concession on my part.

‘Thought you said you couldn’t give it back?’

– Thou believed that? It was a lie.

The Demon King brazenly admitted to the lie. Not that I’d believed him in the first place.

And he was still spouting absolutely worthless nonsense.

‘Demon King, you wanna die?’

– …What didst thou say?

‘It’s my body to begin with, and you’re calling that a concession? You don’t get to set any terms. Just put it back.’

There’s no negotiating with terrorists.

The Demon King hurled curses at me, raged loudly for a long stretch, and then quieted down again.

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– I shall grant thee dominion over the world. The masses shall worship thee, and thou shalt know every wealth and glory. Any wretches thou wishest dead, I shall kill for thee.

‘…’

– Have I not said I shall hand the body over to thee for half of each day? Just for that, I shall make the world thine.

‘Huaaaam.’

– Listen to me! Thou Lesser Being!

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– I shall kill thee. Thy family, thy lover, thy friends, all of them, I shall make thee slay with thine own hands.

‘Time isn’t moving. How are you gonna kill anyone?’

– …I shall kill them! I shall most certainly kill them!

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‘Demon King.’

– …

‘I’m bored. Want to play Word Chain Game?’

– …Silence.

‘Ramyeon.’ [TL: 닥쳐라 (dakchyeora, “silence”) ends in the syllable 라 (ra); 라면 (ramyeon, instant noodles) begins with 라. The protagonist is pretending the Demon King’s curse was an opening move in the Word Chain Game.]

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How much time had passed by now…

At least a year, surely?

I was approaching something close to nirvana at this point.

Honestly, even I was surprised. I hadn’t realized my mental fortitude was this strong.

Maybe knowing the crazed Demon King would destroy the world the moment I released time was what kept me going.

– Stubborn wretch…

The Demon King sounded thoroughly worn out.

– Dost thou truly think thou canst endure for an eternity? Thy mind shall collapse first.

Maybe so.

But for now, I could still hold out.

I was determined to see this through, whichever of us broke first.

‘Attic.’

The Demon King let out a deep sigh.

– …I shall return it. Release time.

At that, I snapped to full alertness.

Was this finally his surrender?

‘Really? What’re you trying to pull?’

– Release it, release it! I said I shall return it!

Even if he tried something, I could just stop time again immediately, so…

I let time flow.

Whooosh!

Wind hit my face.

For the first time in what felt like ages, feeling the sensation of cold, I landed on the ground.

“…Whoa.”

I marveled quietly, opening and closing my hand.

My body moved at my will.

The Demon King had actually handed it back.

So what had happened to the Demon King? Had he left my body?

– Not a chance, thou Lesser Being.

Apparently not.

His voice rang inside my head.

– I have returned it for now, but forget not that I may take it again whensoever I wish.

Ah… so that’s how it is.

I clicked my tongue, irritated.

I’d succeeded in getting my body back for the moment, but the fundamental problem hadn’t been solved.

‘Couldn’t you just leave? I’m just going to stop time again if you take over again.’

The Demon King scoffed.

– I have no intention of leaving, and even if I wished to, I cannot.

‘Cut the lies already.’

The Demon King didn’t respond to that.

…Damn it. Is this for real?

I was looking up at the sky, mind unsettled, when it happened.

[Error detected.]

“…?”

A message from the Tower hovered before my eyes.

[Correcting error.]

– …!

My body shuddered violently.

A sense of dread and revulsion I’d never felt before in my life.

I can’t put it into words. I can’t move.

It was as if some massive… transcendent being was looking down at me, reaching out a hand.

The Tower. I could feel it instinctively.

The Tower is about to do something.

– …Time! Stop time!

The Demon King, ashen, cried out in panic.

I stopped time at once.

The moment time froze, the overwhelming pressure crushing me down evaporated as if it had never been there.

…What the hell was that just now?

I was barely pulling myself together when,

‘…!’

This time I felt the Demon King doing something.

It was like his soul was thrashing to bury itself somewhere deeper inside me…

‘…What are you doing?’

I asked.

The Demon King didn’t answer.

The Tower’s message about correcting an error.

There was no way it wasn’t tied to the Demon King.

…What now?

I’d panicked and stopped time for the moment.

It seemed like the Tower was trying to remove the Demon King.

So should I let time flow again? Was that the right call?

But I really didn’t want to just hand the Tower what it wanted, either…

While I deliberated, I felt the Demon King hide himself completely.

I tried releasing time.

The crushing pressure bore down on me again.

I could feel the Tower fixing its gaze on me.

It almost felt like being glared at. Either way, the sensation was so unpleasant it made my skin crawl.

“…”

Then all of that pressure vanished.

I’d been holding my breath without realizing it, and now I exhaled with a sharp “hahh.”

Whoa… fuck.

What is this?

I’m reeling. I couldn’t begin to grasp what was going on.

– Damn it all.

Then the voice came into my head.

The Demon King, having ultimately escaped erasure, was still intact.

‘What did you do?’

I asked the Demon King.

The sensation I felt now was strange.

How to put it… it felt like the Demon King’s soul had burrowed inside my own soul…

One thing I could feel instinctively.

That the Demon King had clung tight to my soul.

Just as it was with Diul, the Demon King’s soul and mine were now partially linked.

I couldn’t be sure exactly… but had he done this to escape the Tower’s reach?

I could feel that control of my body had fully returned to me, too.

In this state, unless I handed control back over, it seemed the Demon King couldn’t just take the body whenever he liked.

‘Hey? Why are you so quiet?’

Even when I called out, the Demon King didn’t answer.

But I could feel he was in a deeply foul mood.

I figured he was sulking because he’d had to hand control back to me.

Well, anyway… did this count as resolved, somehow?

This way there was no risk of having my body stolen again, though it was annoying that he’d taken up residence inside me.

“Phew.”

Then something occurred to me, and I went back to where the pit had been.

The item that had been the Demon King’s Heart or whatever was gone.

‘Did the Tower get rid of it?’

…I don’t know. My head was exhausted.

For now, I should head back.