All night Monster tossed and turned restlessly on the floor, unable to sleep properly, for even in his dreams the hallucinations would not leave him in peace.
He saw himself as many different things: as an animal, as a monster that killed innocents, as a criminal, as a lazy person who finally killed himself out of boredom.
The next day, Monster woke up frightened because the dreams had seemed so real and he thought he had actually done all those things.
He looked around and his gaze fell upon the sleeping Janine.
He stood up and moved closer to her.
He didn’t know much about her yet, but he knew that eating her shadow could help him a lot.
He grasped her shadow, pulled it from the ground, ate it, and thus gained her memories.
He could see that Janine was bullied because of her obesity and the insecurity that came with it.
Her parents were always kind and protected her from the bullies.
She had a pet, but at Lumenia Academy, her bullies had kidnapped her dog and mercilessly killed it.
Afterward, she fell into a deep depression until she became an adventurer with her group of five.
And then Monster saw himself.
They met in a dark forest, where Janine had gone to look for her group after they had been separated.
Monster also saw how the first and second phases had unfolded with his other self, who also suffered from amnesia.
After witnessing Janine’s entire life, her body had vanished, and no one but Monster could remember that she had ever existed.
Monster was forced to turn back time using save state; he couldn’t let her die because he needed her to get away from here.
Only two more phases, then he could separate from Janine; until then, he needs her to keep his sanity.
He woke up again and then waited for Janine to wake up so they could both begin the fourth phase.
Janine woke up after an hour and found Monster lying upside down against the wall, looking bored; he had to wait a whole hour until she woke up.
“Finally awake?
That took long enough.” He sat up straight.
Then someone spoke up: “Should we continue with the fourth phase?”
Janine got scared, jumped up and ran straight towards Monster, hugged him and used him as a shield against whatever was there.
The person who had spoken came closer; it was just the Hollow Quill.
The Hollow Quill led them to the fourth stage.
Since they needed to rest, they found themselves in the black room, which had originally been set up for discussions.
The heat of the black room fades into a suffocating, damp humidity.
They enter a gargantuan subterranean jungle where towering trees block all light from above, creating massive, pitch-black shadows.
The Hollow Quill suddenly hangs upside down from a thick, calcified vine.
“The boy has grown strong on the scraps of lesser beasts.
But the Gauntlet is tired of your endurance.
It wishes to see you break.”
“Hear the parameters of Phase IV: The Eclipse Canopy.
You walk the hunting grounds of the ancient Titan Beasts.
Their scale is divine.
Your combat abilities are nothing but the buzzing of an insect against their hide.
They do not fight; they step, and you shatter.”
“To pass, you must cast aside your human form.
The canopy offers endless shadows—the heaviest, most violent darkness in the tower.
Feast upon them if you dare.
But remember…
when you swallow the mind of a monster, you invite the beast to steer your hands.
Let us see if your little companion survives your transformation.”
Janine was quite confused.
Why does the Hollow Quill constantly focus so much on Monster?
She believes Monster is its favorite person, although the Hollow Quill has other reasons for telling Monster these things.
Monster had nothing to say; he just wanted to finish this stage and move on as quickly as possible, but he had no idea how long that might take if they made too many more mistakes.
Monster went into the jungle first, where Janine followed him.
Monster first studied the structure of the jungle.
The canopy is so thick it blocks the sky, creating a dim, twilight atmosphere with massive, deep shadows stretching across the forest floor.
Janine nervously followed Monster, who was completely focused on his surroundings.
He didn’t want to die again and was prepared to use his save state ability if necessary, because all this pain was simply unbearable.
A few minutes pass, and Janine shouts loudly: “Oh no!
Where is it?!”
Monster flinched, as he hadn’t expected her to suddenly become so loud.
Seeing that nothing unusual was amiss, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you wasting my time on?”
Janine frantically searched her pockets; her skin became paler.
“I don’t know where my necklace is!” she said to Monster; she is really worried now.
Monster rolled his eyes: “That stupid, worn-out necklace with the little lucky charm pendant that you always wear around your neck?
Just leave it, it’s just a necklace.”
“No, I can’t leave it behind!
We have to go back and find it now, or I’ll go back alone!” She’s not letting up now.
Monster just sighs and says, “Okay.”
They both set off on their way back to look for the necklace, which could be anywhere since they had been wandering around aimlessly.
After a few minutes, the ground begins to crack, there’s an earthquake, and then a titan beast appears, followed by others.
They both look up to see the titans
Titan beasts – colossal – are multi-legged monsters made of ancient wood and stone.
They are so large that even a single step away from them causes earthquakes.
Both Monster and Janine were frozen in place.
These titan beasts were larger than anything they had ever seen; they were terrifying.
Monster then recovered from his frozen state and dragged Janine to safety.
They both ran for several minutes, but they couldn’t shake off the titan beasts – the situation now looked truly perilous.
They tried everything: they hid, ran away, searched for the exit, went their separate ways, but the titan beasts relentlessly pursued them.
Finally, they found the perfect hiding place near the starting point from which they had come when the Hollow Quill explained phase four to them.
They both had to hide in a small bush, so small that the titan beasts and colossal ones couldn’t see them, but that also meant they had to get uncomfortably close and find a good position to fit together in the bush.
The earthquake didn’t stop because the titans were very close.
It might seem easy to simply run away from them, since they can’t fight with their fists but can only stomp on people, but they have enormous stamina, allowing them to walk for years without tiring.
Therefore, the risk of death is high.
Monster was furious with Janine: “It’s all your fault we’re stuck here.
I told you to just leave it alone, but you absolutely had to look for that stupid necklace!” he whispered to her.
Janine cries, adjusts her clothes and armor, and then whispers back: “I’m sorry…
I-I didn’t mean to drag you into this too, but I can’t leave my necklace here…”
Monster frowned, but he knew that if he yelled at her or made a scene, they could be caught by the titans.
They only stayed there for a few seconds, but it already felt unbearable because Janine had used too much perfume and Monster didn’t like the smell.
While the two were watching the titans, Janine spotted her necklace just a few meters away from one of the titan colossals.
Without hesitation, she ran, grabbed her necklace, and was nearly crushed by the titan colossal, but Monster immediately turned back time when he realized she wouldn’t make it.
Then he positioned himself and Janine in the bushes so that she couldn’t see the necklace.
Janine noticed it anyway because the necklace is tied to her; she has a spell so she can feel when her necklace breaks, because she needs it to play with when she is embarrassed, scared, or nervous.
As soon as the titan colossal stepped on her necklace, her soul felt crushed.
Her magic told her that almost nothing remained of the necklace.
She looked around to try and figure out the source of the sensation that her necklace was broken, and then noticed the titan colossal’s feet rising after he had stepped on it.
She rushed over to retrieve her necklace.
Monster held her tight, but she pushed him out of the bushes as well…
exposing them both to the titans.
A titan beast noticed Monster and approached him.
Monster then had to rewind time by a few seconds to hold Janine more firmly, preventing her from breaking free and running for her necklace.
This time he could not resist her resistance and hit her while whispering: “Shut your mouth and be quiet, like you always were.” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
This made Janine furious; she began to cry loudly.
If she couldn’t reach her necklace by running towards it, she would use Monster as bait – that’s how precious it was to her.
She would simply abandon Monster because something else seemed more important to her.
This time, many titans drew closer due to the sound, and Monster no longer had the energy to use save state again to rewind time.
He can only use it now if he dies, but he doesn’t want to die, so he lets go of Janine and runs off in a different direction, their paths diverging.
As he runs and runs, he has no idea if Janine is still alive, but in the end he himself ends up in a dead end in a corner of the jungle.
“Damn great, now this crap is blocking my way too,” He began to mutter curses under his breath.
The titans began to gather before him, and then he realized something: he couldn’t constantly use save state.
He didn’t know if he would survive if he died again.
He had eaten enough and rested sufficiently, so his mana should have been enough to survive, but the mental strain had still exhausted him.
He changed direction and then found the exit.
The exit gate is a massive root wall controlled by the alpha Titan Beast.
To open the wall, the alpha Titan Beast must be slain.
The other titans didn’t even attempt to attack him in the alpha Titan Beast’s area; they feared the alpha Titan Beast because it is practically invincible as long as its weakness remains undiscovered.
Monster felt defeated.
How could a human ever defeat this being?
All hope was gone; it was impossible for him to get close enough to the alpha Titan Beast without being fatally struck.
Then Monster heard screams.
It was Janine.
She had somehow survived it all, even though Monster thought she must be dead.
In the distance, Monster could make out the words, “MONSTER, where are you?!
I’ll do anything as long as you let me stay with you!
I’ll never disobey you again, so please say something!” This was most likely from Janine, who probably had her necklace back and wanted to return to Monster because she believed he could do anything.
Monster took a deep breath and got ready to shout to her: “I’M RIGHT HERE!
FOLLOW MY VOICE!”
Janine arrived breathing heavily, her eyes still red and swollen from crying.
“I don’t even want to know what happened to your face, but okay…” Monster now looked at the alpha Titan Beast.
The alpha Titan Beast noticed the two, but remained standing at the exit gate and challenged them to try to get through.
Monster asked Janine to come closer and whispered his plan in her ear.
Janine looked at him and thought about it before asking, “And what if it fails?”
“It will not fail,” Monster said, seemingly convinced of his plan.
When Janine saw his self-confidence, she nodded and took her position.
Monster tapped her on the back to start, then Janine charged forward, a 1-on-1 against the alpha Titan Beast.
She used all her powers, employing ice magic to capture the alpha Titan Beast and using poison potions.
While Monster remained hidden, after the alpha Titan Beast killed Janine, he used the time he had left to devour the alpha Titan Beast’s shadow.
He believed he had won, but the alpha Titan Beast’s body didn’t disappear.
Does his ability shadow-eating also have a limit or a hidden secret?
Monster still doesn’t know much about his own abilities.
A screen appeared in front of him with the inscription: [Save State: Time is being rewound].
He didn’t understand why this was happening; His abilities seemed to glitch as soon as the whole thing was turned into a system.
He let it load and was then sent back a few minutes before they discussed a plan.
Now he knows the weakness of the alpha Titan Beast.
He instructed Janine to distract the alpha Titan Beast while he attacked him, before he could step on her.
She did what they had planned, so Monster flashed out from under the beast with perfect foresight and shattered the core with his ki-infused fist.
The alpha Titan Beast’s weakness is a luminous core beneath its chest armor.
The gate to the next stage opened and they both entered.