Ignoring her classic choice of words, Greg noticed that Nightmare seemed to know something and quickly asked, “You know this thing?”
Nightmare shook her head. “I can only say I have a slight impression of it. It seems to be able to control time in certain areas to some extent.”
“And its weakness?” Greg asked.
“It is quite obvious—the gears on its body that control time,” Nightmare added. “But that is only if you can actually hit them. Otherwise, it can hardly be called a weakness.”
...
Greg had no time to reply to Nightmare's words, as the Perpetual Visceral Clock had already begun its attack.
Leaning forward slightly, the cluster of gears in its chest suddenly spun faster, emitting a piercing screech of grinding metal.
Immediately after, the ground beneath Greg and Allie's feet began to warp in an irregular pattern. In some areas, the stone slabs became pristine and brand new, while in others, they instantly weathered and crumbled into dust.
Greg immediately realized that the Perpetual Visceral Clock was manipulating the flow of time in localized areas.
“Watch out! It can control time!” Greg shouted to Allie. At the same time, he activated Shadow-Step, his figure instantly blurring into several afterimages as he dodged to the side.
A split second after he left his spot, the ground he had just been standing on rapidly cracked and collapsed entirely, revealing a bottomless pit.
Allie reacted quickly as well. Tapping her toe against the floor, she leaped back several meters, avoiding the area beneath her feet that had suddenly become rugged and broken.
Upon landing, she immediately swung her sword backhanded, unleashing a fierce wave of sword aura aimed straight at the head of the Perpetual Visceral Clock.
However, the Perpetual Visceral Clock merely gave the gears on its chest a light turn. As the sword aura reached its front, its speed abruptly plummeted, as if sinking into thick mire, allowing the monster to easily dodge it.
Allie's pupils contracted slightly. “It can even slow down sword aura?”
Greg's mind rapidly analyzed the situation.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock's ability was obvious—it could control the flow of time in localized areas by turning the gears on its body. It could decelerate or even reverse time within specific zones.
Just moments ago, it had reversed time in an area to hide itself, and now it was using time deceleration to neutralize Allie's attack. This meant that any ordinary attack would be affected by time distortion as it approached the monster.
Although he had gathered some information, it wasn't enough to defeat it, so Greg decided to continue testing its limits.
He raised his right hand and used Earth Pierce LV3. With a surge of mana within his body, several sharp stone spikes instantly erupted from the ground, thrusting toward the Perpetual Visceral Clock from various directions.
However, as the stone spikes contacted the time-distorted zone around the Perpetual Visceral Clock, their growth rate slowed to a crawl, looking like a scene in slow motion.
With a simple swing of its chain arm, the Perpetual Visceral Clock shattered all of the slowly growing stone spikes.
Undeterred, Greg immediately activated Earthfire Blast LV3.
The ground beneath the Perpetual Visceral Clock suddenly split open, and scorching flames erupted from the fissures. But just as the fire was about to engulf its lower body, the monster turned its gears, and the exploding flames vanished into air.
It seemed to have used the same trick it used to dodge Allie's sword aura, but with a slight twist. Previously, it had sent itself back to a past space-time, but this time, it had sent the explosion itself back into the past.
“Damn it, dungeons really are full of bullshit monsters!”
With all his attacks missing, Greg gritted his teeth and activated Insubstantiality, turning his body translucent in an instant.
A split second after he turned insubstantial, one of the Perpetual Visceral Clock's chain arms swept through the space where he had just been standing. If he had been a second slower in activating Insubstantiality, those five razor-sharp metal claw blades would have sliced him in half.
Just as Greg was struggling to find a way, a detail suddenly crossed his mind.
When he had previously used World-Devouring Black Flame to save Allie, the black flames had not been affected by the time distortion at all, instantly killing the three monsters.
A flash of inspiration struck Greg's mind.
Since World-Devouring Black Flame could not be distorted or eroded by the Perpetual Visceral Clock's time abilities, the monster would have to rely on sending itself back to the past to dodge it... Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.
Greg's gaze fell upon the constantly turning gears on the Perpetual Visceral Clock's chest.
Those gears were its weakness, and they were likely the core of its time-control abilities. If he could temporarily stop those gears from turning, it wouldn't be able to use its time abilities anymore.
A plan began to form in his mind.
“Allie!” Greg shouted. “I have a plan! Follow my lead in a moment!”
Allie didn't ask any questions, nor did she even look back. She simply nodded slightly, holding her longsword steadily in front of her, her gaze locked tightly on the Perpetual Visceral Clock ahead.
Her trust was absolute—since Greg said he had a plan, all she needed to do was perform her role and wait for his command.
Greg took a deep breath and began to channel the mana in his body.
He didn't unleash World-Devouring Black Flame right away. Instead, he first cast a skill he had obtained after killing an elite Frost Lizard to save Vivian—Freezing Ice Mist LV1.
A white, freezing mist drifted from his palm, rapidly spreading throughout the entire hall and causing the surrounding temperature to plummet by more than ten degrees.
A thin layer of white frost crystallized on the floor, and the moisture in the air turned into tiny ice crystals, glittering under the glow of the ghostly blue candlelight.
Enveloped by the freezing mist, the Perpetual Visceral Clock's movements visibly stiffened. A thin layer of frost had formed over its gears, slightly slowing their rotation.
Realizing the impact of the freezing mist, the gears on its chest began to spin in reverse. The surrounding mist instantly receded like a video playing backward, sent back into a past point in time.
And this was exactly the effect Greg wanted.
“Allie, charge to the front-left and feint an attack on its right arm!”
Without a single moment of hesitation, Allie's body blurred into afterimages as she dashed toward the front-left. Her sword flashed like a silver ribbon, slashing straight toward the Perpetual Visceral Clock's right arm.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock immediately swung its chain arm, while driving its time-deceleration zone to envelop Allie.
But just as Allie's blade was about to touch the edge of the time-deceleration zone, Greg used Tentacle Entanglement, pulling her back in the nick of time and causing the Perpetual Visceral Clock's defense to hit nothing but air.
At the same time, Greg did not let the opportunity slip while the Perpetual Visceral Clock's attention was fully focused on Allie. He seized the moment to cast Wave Current LV2.
However, he did not target the Perpetual Visceral Clock itself. Knowing full well that an attack of this caliber would never hit it directly, his target was simply an empty patch of ground right next to the monster.
A torrent of water shot from his palm, striking the area beside the Perpetual Visceral Clock. Though it did no damage to the monster, it successfully splashed some water onto its gears.
The Perpetual Visceral Clock looked down at the wet spots on its chest, seemingly bewildered as to why this human's attack had missed by such a wide margin.
But the smile on Greg's face was only growing wider.
Rate on N.U.
