Chapter 307: Seventy-Sixth Floor, Maze of Choices (2)

[Escape the maze. Time remaining: 4 hours 57 minutes.]

“

Huh?

” I grunted unconsciously, rather surprised.

This wasn’t anything like I had anticipated. I quickly reined in my reaction and began thinking things through.

My assumption had been rather presumptuous, and honestly, flawed. Based on my previous experiences with door-related trials, I had assumed every room after the first would lead me down a straightforward, linear path. The tower’s message hinted that there would be more rooms, but I hadn’t expected each to contain another pair of doors.

Moreover, I had assumed that I would have to spend the fifteen seconds fighting, a time meant for swift combat, before pressing on.

So the trial isn’t about advancing through continuous battles after all.

In hindsight, perhaps my memories had overly colored my perception.

Back on the eleventh floor, the tower had presented me with two doors—two options—for the boss room. I chose the black one over the red and ended up fighting in pitch darkness. That eventually led me to encounter a black dragon.

Unconsciously, I likened this floor to that experience. The doors may not have had any distinguishing traits this time, but still.

There had been one line from the tower’s message that had trapped my thought process.

[Select one of the two doors to proceed.]

It led me to misinterpret the structure of the trial, especially the phrase “to proceed,” which I took a bit too literally.

Still, since this was just the beginning, it wasn’t a catastrophic misunderstanding. Most likely, the tower meant the message literally: continue choosing between two doors at each step.

While I hadn’t confirmed it yet, chances were, each time I passed through a door, I would be presented with two more.

So the number of possible combinations continues to double.

This could become dangerous if I wasn’t careful.

I had no way of knowing how many exits there were. The floor’s name made more sense to me now, however. The fifteen-second limit, then, wasn’t for clearing combat encounters but for making a decision.

Hmm.

It was a plausible theory, but still unconfirmed. I hadn’t seen enough. There could still be enemies waiting ahead.

At times like this, it was best to verify what could be verified. It was a process of elimination, in a sense.

Before that, though, there was one more thing I had to check. “Yoonie and Ryun. Do either of you get a sense for which path is correct? Even if it’s not clear, is there anything, no matter how minor, that stands out?”

“Can’t... say I do...”

“I’m sorry! I don’t feel anything!”

Their responses didn’t come as a surprise. If they had sensed anything, they would have spoken up already, but better to check than be sorry later.

“I see.” Inclining my head slightly, I turned toward the door on the right.

Clack—

The door opened quietly, and just like the left room, two doors awaited inside. So far, both rooms mirrored each other perfectly.

I should check what lies beyond this one, too.

Moving unhesitatingly, I stepped inside the right-side room. As I did, a notification appeared.

[Time remaining in this room: 14 seconds.]

So that is what the countdown looks like.

I had briefly wondered whether I would have to keep track internally, but at least the tower made this aspect convenient.

I quickened my pace. The room wasn’t particularly large, and I reached the other end in moments. I opened both the left and right doors in sequence.

Just as I expected.

Two more doors waited beyond each, identical to what I had encountered so far. At this point, I didn’t feel the need to go back and check the other rooms.

To be honest, I found the situation somewhat troubling. Mental trials like this one had never been my strong suit.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

I would rather rely on my brawn than my brain.

Clicking my tongue, I returned to the first room. I paused for a moment.

Maybe there is a hidden door behind me?

The message said to choose one of the two doors, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other options. There could even be a hidden mission embedded in the trial.

With that thought in mind, I scanned the room thoroughly but found nothing unusual.

So much for that idea.

I dropped the notion that there could be a backdoor.

For now, two things were clear. The number of doors would increase exponentially by powers of two, and I would always have the same set amount of time to figure out the right door. To do that, I would have to identify some kind of clue within that short timeframe.

If there were consistent differences between the doors, then the trial would be manageable. However, the fifteen-second constraint suggested there was no guarantee the clues would be obvious or even present in every room.

What matters most is that there isn’t s time limit in the first room.

The beginning had to be crucial. Whatever the solution was, I had to find it here.

If I could identify some distinguishing feature between the two doors in the first room, I could use that to navigate the maze correctly. Perhaps I would find additional hints in subsequent rooms.

I had already examined the back of the room and found nothing noteworthy.

I should focus on the doors themselves.

I stepped closer to the pair, narrowing my eyes.

Hmph.

I stifled a sigh rising in my throat. If these doors turned out to be indistinguishable, this was going to get complicated fast.

No, there was no point in entertaining worst-case scenarios just yet.

Shaking my head, I sharpened my focus.

First, I had to find anything that could point the way.

***

[Escape the maze. Time remaining: 4 hours 51 minutes.]

“

Phew

—”

My chest expanded as I slowly inhaled, then contracted as the breath poured out from deep within my lungs, low and steady.

In the end, my efforts proved fruitless.

Despite spending a few minutes thoroughly inspecting both doors, I couldn’t even find the smallest difference. The outcome I had dreaded most had come to pass.

All of them were plain wooden doors with iron handles. There wasn’t a single variation between them.

Even after probing them with mana or using my divine energy to scan them, they didn’t react.

Stay calm.

Frustration was creeping in, but thanks to one of my skills, my thoughts quickly steadied.

Although the current situation wasn’t ideal, I didn’t have the luxury of despair. That had always been one of the principles I followed while climbing the tower.

Time was finite. Regardless of what I did, I could only push to overcome the trial in front of me.

I pushed away the lingering doubt clouding my mind.

Maybe the first room doesn’t offer any clues at all.

The rooms multiplied exponentially—two, four, eight, and so on.

I had five hours. If the maze were short, someone could brute-force their way through it. However, that would have made things too easy, and the tower was never that generous.

Assuming the doors continued multiplying with no clear differences, the very idea of finding an exit would become impossible.

There is also the possibility that multiple exits exist.

Even just one on each side would mean at least two. Perhaps differences would begin to appear in rooms further.

Maybe there were simply fewer traps than exits, and only the doors leading down the wrong path bore distinguishing features.

Then again, it could be the opposite. The path leading toward the exit could be one of the marked doors.

If that were the case, then failing to find any differences in the first room wouldn’t be all that surprising. I could have missed something, sure, but I had already tried every method I could think of. So for now, I was ruling that out.

Ultimately, the challenge in front of me boiled down to one thing.

Only fifteen seconds per room.

I had no way of knowing when or where a door would show some kind of difference. Regardless, within that tight time window, I had to choose one path.

Fifteen seconds.

For some, that would be more than enough. In my current situation, however, it felt impossibly brief. There was no way a trial this far in the tower would hand out obvious clues.

I will have to squeeze every ounce of value from those fifteen seconds.

If I failed, I would be sent back to the first room.

Technically, I could use the portal to return to my last position, but relying on that too often wouldn’t be sustainable.

Wait.

I remembered that time didn’t begin ticking down the moment I opened a door. It only started once I entered the next room.

Meaning, unless I physically stepped inside, the countdown wouldn’t activate.

The rooms weren’t large. With my eyesight—capable of accurately spotting fine details hundreds of meters away—it would be easy to inspect further doors.

Of course, this trick only worked in the first room, but that alone opened up several possibilities. For instance, I could travel back and forth between rooms to reset the timer.

The time required for me to travel between rooms was negligible. With Flash Strike, I wouldn’t even need a full second. I could spend fourteen seconds scanning the next series of rooms, return to the previous one, then repeat the process indefinitely.

Effectively, I would gain unlimited time to observe each door.

Before that could happen, however, I had to test whether the timer would actually reset when returning to a previous room.

I stepped through the left door and approached one of the next two.

[Time remaining in this room: 14 seconds.]

[13 seconds.]

[12 seconds.]

[11 seconds.]

Then, the moment I crossed into the next room, the window flashed again.

[Time remaining in this room: 14 seconds.]

[13 seconds.]

The timer had refreshed, just like expected. I confirmed the countdown was functioning properly and turned back.

Unfortunately, upon reentering the previous room, the timer didn’t reset.

[12 seconds.]

Damn it.

Now that I thought about it, that was probably why the tower had included “proceed” in the floor’s description. The timer only restarted after entering a new room.

Hmm.

At this point, my best approach would be to follow a single path, quickly inspecting for any differences in the final room I opened, and if I didn’t or ran low on time, randomly choose the next one.

Rinse and repeat, and that would give me roughly thirty seconds—not including travel time—to search a new room after running out of time, which was negligible.

That strategy will still only give me fifteen seconds during the other rooms, though.

If it came down to it, I could just return to the first room and use the portal to jump ahead.

Once I spotted a single difference, things would likely get easier.

No need to overthink it now.

The countdown was ticking down. Even if I turned around, I would end up back in the first room anyway. So I waited quietly for the time to run out.

[1 second.]

Then,

pop.

Unlike before, there was no flash of light or weightless sensation. I simply found myself standing in the starting room again. The teleportation process was different than usual, but didn’t seem significant.

Just to be safe, I focused, trying to sense whether anything had changed.

Nothing. No hidden cue or lingering trace.

“

Eugh.

”

Some time had passed, but overall, this wasn’t the worst outcome. I had managed to grasp the structure of the trial relatively quickly, and that was worth something.

“Su-Yeok! Is it that tough?” Doppy asked cautiously, glancing at me with concern.

I quickly shook my head. Even if I felt a bit stuck, there was no point in showing it.

Besides, the situation wasn’t hopeless. If I kept pushing forward, something would eventually reveal itself. Once that happened, I could retrace my steps and blaze through the correct path with Flash Strike.

“Not really. I’ll figure it out as I go. I’ve got a decent handle on how this thing works now.”

I turned toward the door in front of me.

There was still one more thing I had to confirm—how deep this maze went. It likely wasn’t short, but if the distance was manageable, I could check each door with Flash Strike.

If it is longer than expected, though... that could get tricky.

Still, it was worth checking.

Since I had already taken the left door once, I decided to continue in that direction. I would keep choosing the left path. If it turned out to be the wrong one, that would make it easy to eliminate half the options going forward.

“Doppy, stay here with Yoonie for a bit.”

“

Huh?

Why?”

“I’m going to follow the left door for a while to see how far the doors go.”

“Got it! I’ll study the doors while I wait!”

“Good. Stay alert. If anything happens, use the signal to call me right away.”

Doppy nodded firmly. “I’ll do my best to find something!”

“Yeah. Good luck.”

Hoping that Doppy and Yoonie would notice something that I had missed, I kicked off the ground. The moment I passed through the next door, a familiar message appeared before me.

[Time remaining in this room: 14 seconds.]