I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 580: Floor 5 - Phase-Winder Part I

The detonation sent chunks of stone scattering into the void as the platform beneath their feet disappeared.

Jack’s enhanced reflexes activated automatically, his body moving before conscious thought could process the destruction.

He grabbed Father Caelen with his left hand. At the same time, his right extended toward the nearest visible island, a building-sized platform perhaps fifty feet away, and repeatedly activated Lightning Steps to cover the distance before gravity could claim them both.

They landed hard on the new island’s surface, Jack’s boots absorbed the impact that would have shattered normal bones.

He released Father Caelen and immediately scanned their surroundings, using tactical awareness to identify what had just destroyed their previous position.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

A green streak that crossed the void faster than his enhanced perception could properly track, accompanied by sound that made his enhanced hearing flinch despite considerable noise tolerance.

CRACK.

A sudden and intense sonic boom generated a physical pressure wave, causing a momentary solidification of the surrounding air.

The green streak was already gone by the time Jack’s eyes tracked toward where it had been, leaving only a dissipating trail of something moving at velocities that shouldn’t be possible for a living creature.

Then another island detonated, a car-sized platform a hundred feet in the distance, exploding into fragments that scattered across the void like shrapnel from artillery impact.

The green streak was visible for a fraction of a second as it passed through the destruction zone, moving too fast for Jack to identify any details about shape or size.

Father Caelen was already channeling divine energy, golden light gathering around his weathered hands as he prepared supportive techniques. "Can you track it?"

"Not yet," Jack admitted, his yellow and orange eyes sweeping across the void as he tried to identify a pattern in the destruction. "It’s moving too fast for normal perception. I see afterimages and hear sonic booms, but can’t lock onto the actual position."

Another CRACK split the air, closer this time. The island they were standing on shuddered as something passed within feet of its surface, the pressure wave from supersonic movement creating turbulence that made maintaining balance require conscious effort.

Jack’s right hand moved instinctively, gathering lightning as he prepared to strike at... what?

He couldn’t see the target, couldn’t track its movement, couldn’t predict its trajectory when it was moving faster than his enhanced reflexes could process.

A third sonic boom coincided with their current island beginning to crack, structural integrity failing as whatever destructive force the monster employed set to work on the platform beneath their feet.

"Move!" Jack grabbed Father Caelen again, activating Lightning Steps to carry them toward another visible platform.

This one is roughly forty feet across, closer to the location where they started.

They landed as their previous island exploded behind them, chunks of stone scattering into the void with force beyond simple structural failure.

The monster was actively destroying platforms in a random pattern.

Jack released Father Caelen and immediately reassessed the situation with growing understanding that normal combat tactics wouldn’t work here.

He couldn’t see the enemy, couldn’t track its movement, couldn’t predict where it would strike next, beyond recognizing it targeted platforms he was occupying or attempting to reach.

"Light of Caelora," Father Caelen stated calmly, golden radiance washing across Jack’s form as the blessing enhanced his stats by fifty points across all categories.

"I can maintain supportive techniques and healing, but you’ll need to handle actual combat when you figure out how to engage something moving faster than perception allows."

Jack nodded in acknowledgment, his mind racing through options as another green streak blazed across the void, accompanied by its characteristic sonic boom.

This time, he was watching for it; enhanced perception pushed to its absolute limits as he tried to gather any useful data about the creature’s appearance or movement patterns.

Moving with an undulating motion that somehow achieved velocities exceeding sound despite air resistance that should have made such speed impossible for any biological entity.

Then it was gone again, already too far away for his vision to track as it circled back for another pass.

CRACK.

Another platform detonated, this one between Jack’s current position and the exit archway he’d identified.

The tactical situation was clear: the monster was cutting off his route to progression, destroying platforms in patterns that would eventually leave him stranded on an isolated island with nowhere to move when it finally decided to eliminate his current position.

He needed a different approach.

Something that didn’t rely on tracking a creature moving faster than his enhanced perception could process during normal observation.

Jack’s consciousness reached inward, considering which techniques or strategies he could use.

But he’d used it before, brief flickers of transition when desperate circumstances had forced innovation over understanding.

What if he could see the monster from that adjacent dimension?

What if the creature’s impossible speed only applied to physical space, and viewing it while time slowed would reveal movement patterns his normal perception couldn’t track?

It was worth trying.

Better than standing still and waiting for the inevitable platform destruction.

Jack activated Abyssal Step.

Reality fractured.

Time itself seemed to stretch like taffy being pulled, the world around him transitioning from normal speed into something approaching complete stillness.

The sensation was disorienting; his consciousness operated at normal speed while everything else moved through molasses.

The green streak, which had been an invisible blur, became visible for the first time.

There, crossing the void thirty feet from his position, the Phase-Winder serpent.

The creature was massive, easily forty feet long, with scales that shifted between green and silver depending on how the light from the distant stellar background caught them.

Its body twisted through space in a serpentine motion, but with time slowed to a fraction of normal speed, Jack could finally track the movement patterns his enhanced perception had been unable to process.

The Phase-Winder’s head was angled toward the island Jack stood on, multiple crystalline eyes focused with intelligence that revealed this wasn’t a mindless monster.

It was hunting him with a strategy in mind, destroying platforms to eliminate options until he had nowhere left to retreat.

Then the Abyssal Step ended.

Time snapped back to normal speed, which made Jack’s perception stumble as it tried to readjust.

The Phase-Winder was gone again, already too far away to track as it completed its supersonic pass and began circling for another approach.

But Jack had seen it for the first time, not just afterimage or dissipating trail but an actual creature moving through space.

And more importantly, he’d identified the technique that let him perceive what should have been invisible.

Abyssal Step’s time-slowing effect created a window where the serpent’s impossible speed became trackable.

The skill’s limitation was clear: ten meters of movement while time was slowed, then reality snapped back.

Those brief windows of slowed perception were enough to gather tactical data his normal senses couldn’t process.

Another crack split the air as the Phase-Winder made another pass, this time destroying the island directly adjacent to Jack’s current position.

Chunks of stone were scattered into the void, and the creature systematically eliminated platforms in a pattern that was driving him toward an isolated position with no escape routes.

Jack waited, enhanced perception tracking the sonic booms as the serpent circled back for what would probably be a direct attack.

The creature had recognized he wasn’t panicking or making mistakes that would let it pick him off easily.

Time to switch from systematic elimination to active engagement.

There, the telltale green streak was accelerating directly toward his position, crystalline fangs probably already opening to strike.

Jack activated Abyssal Step again.

Time slowed.

The Phase-Winder became visible, its massive form crossing the distance between them at a speed that, though slowed, still exceeded what most creatures could achieve.

But Jack could see it now, he could track the trajectory and predict where it would be when time resumed normal flow.

He gathered lightning in his right hand, channeling Thunder Mantle’s enhancement as he prepared a strike that would need to land the instant Abyssal Step ended and time snapped back to normal speed.

The electrical discharge built between his fingers, power accumulating while the world remained frozen in the slowed perception.

The Phase-Winder’s jaws were opening, crystalline fangs catching light from distant stars as the creature closed to within fifteen feet of Jack’s position.

Abyssal Step ended.