Perhaps because the Monolith had already been damaged, signaling the team’s failure, all the Hilichurl Archers vanished from the field...
Everyone could feel it clearly — the Monolith’s energy was becoming more and more unstable.
It looked like it could explode at any moment...
"Th-this challenge to protect the Ley Line Monolith... can we even clear it?"
Paimon asked despairingly:
"We’ve fought for so long, defeated wave after wave of monsters... and still haven’t reached the completion time."
"And the Monolith—just one tiny arrow destroyed it completely? Doesn’t that mean we have zero margin for error?"
"If it had been a normal Hilichurl’s arrow, it shouldn’t have caused that much damage..."
Su Yuan spoke thoughtfully:
"But the Spiral Abyss isn’t the same anymore. The monsters inside have all been tainted and controlled by eerie force. Their attacks carry that power — maybe that’s why one shot was enough to shatter the Monolith."
The group fell silent.
Watching the Monolith shake more violently with each passing second, they knew the challenge had failed. It would explode soon — and everyone would die here.
"If we die here and never reach the twelfth floor, then wouldn’t everyone’s sacrifices up to now have been for nothing?" Eula said bitterly, her brow furrowed.
"No! It’s not over yet!!!"
Aether suddenly shouted — and without hesitation, he leapt toward the Monolith, pressing his body against it!
"Traveler, what are you doing?" Clorinde asked in confusion.
"We all know if the Monolith explodes, no one will survive. You can’t possibly stop the blast with your body!"
"I know..." Aether nodded — and then, to everyone’s shock, he gathered elemental power in his hand and struck the unstable Monolith with all his strength!
"But this way, I can make sure I die before all of you!!!"
Everyone stared in disbelief — and before they could even process what he meant, the Monolith erupted.
A blinding flash and searing heat swallowed everything.
Su Yuan’s eyes snapped open.
That same familiar, heart-stopping sensation again...
His left palm felt no pain — but he knew he had died, once again.
And now, his right eyelid wouldn’t stop twitching — violently, uncontrollably — pounding as if it were making its final protest or warning...
Seeing him covering his eye, Paimon tilted her head.
"Su Yuan, what are you doing? Trying to imitate Fischl?"
"No... I don’t know why, but my right eyelid just keeps twitching," Su Yuan replied truthfully.
After a while, it finally calmed down.
"Everyone," Aether said gravely, "this challenge to defend the Ley Line Monolith on Floor 11 may be far more difficult than we imagined."
He looked around at the team:
"First, the monsters come in endless waves."
"Second, we have no idea how long we need to hold out to clear it."
"Finally, the Monolith is extremely fragile — even a single attack imbued with eerie power can shatter it instantly, ending the challenge."
"And near the end, we’ll face a massive wave — hundreds of Hilichurl Archers firing all at once. It’s nearly impossible to defend against."
"With that many arrows, even keeping ourselves alive is hard enough — let alone protecting the Monolith."
"What?! If it’s really like that, then isn’t this challenge just another path of death? There’s no hope of winning!" Paimon said in shock.
Su Yuan listened in silence, deep in thought...
Even the so-called "path of death" had a sliver of hope — hadn’t they already broken through before?
If everything Aether said was true, then perhaps brute strength wasn’t the key to clearing this floor...
"This is really troublesome..." Sayu sighed.
"If it were just fighting monsters, we could handle it — but why does this challenge have to be about enduring instead?"
"I really hate this kind of uncertain time condition," Sayu complained.
"It totally messes up my sleep schedule... If I’m sleeping soundly and someone suddenly wakes me up, it’s the worst..."
"Wait—!!! Time???"
Hearing Sayu’s words, Su Yuan suddenly froze — as if a realization had struck him!
In his original world, the Spiral Abyss had a time limit — you had to clear each floor within the allotted time to earn full stars.
But here, Aji had clearly said that the condition to pass was to endure for a certain period of time.
And more importantly — the monsters spawned in waves.
If one wave wasn’t completely defeated, the next wave wouldn’t appear!
Su Yuan smacked his forehead.
Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!
"Everyone!!! I’ve figured out how to clear the eleventh floor!!!"
Su Yuan spoke excitedly:
"We don’t need to fight through countless waves of monsters at all. When the first wave appears, we just need to hold back — leave one monster alive!"
"If we do that, the next wave won’t spawn!!!"
"Then, all we have to do is stall for time against that single weak monster! That way, we’re in no real danger, and the Ley Line Monolith won’t be easily destroyed either!"
"When the required time finally passes — we’ll clear the challenge!!!"
Hearing Su Yuan’s words, everyone was momentarily stunned...
Then, they all began to think about it — and realized it made perfect sense!
"Su Yuan!!! You’re a genius!!!"
Everyone gave him a thumbs-up and praised:
"We’ve been fighting to the death against wave after wave of monsters, and it turns out the real solution is to show mercy and just waste time instead!!!"
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