Chapter 1:

Library Book

The Strongest Skill Is "Pause!"

'He dodged then lunged towards the grotesque figure. 'Pause' he thought inwardly. Then, everything stopped. The Time Hero then ran behind it. Time continued. The Gravefang Minotaur was momentarily confused.'

Takumi Tokida flipped the page.

For the last few pages of the book, he was getting more furious. After watching too much movies and anime for his own good, none of which seemed to entertain him anymore. Hence, he decided to pay a visit to this library and find a light novel.

He walked amongst the shelves for a while then he found a book with a good cover on it:

"The Eight Skill Heroes"

It read.

It was a fun little concept, there wasn't anything that particularly made the story fun.

No.

It was the opposite, the author framed one of the Heroes as the weakest, which made Takumi frustrated, because in his perspective, that hero wasn't weak at all.

"This author. No way everyone thinks the Time Hero is useless. Sure, maybe it's stopping time for five seconds but still." He muttered.

'The Time Hero lunged again, the Minotaur was fast, it turned and dealt a devastating blow into the Hero's torso. The hero flew backwards and crashed into the dungeon wall.'

"Hmm, he's used the skil, the minute cooldown begins."

'The Time Hero struggled to his feet, barely able to hold his sword. Before he could recover, another Gravefang Minotaur emerged from the darkness. He barely dodged its first swing, stumbling as the blade tore through the wall behind him. The two Minotaurs advanced together, forcing him to fight desperately just to stay alive. He parried one attack, ducked another, and narrowly escaped a third, his movements growing slower with every passing second.'

Takumi shook his head. He was displead how the Time Hero was portrayed by the author.

Takumi had reached part of the novel where the Time Hero was abandoned by the other heroes. It was during a dungeon raid. As they moved towards the heart of the dungeon, the Time Hero somehow fell for the pit trap.

He barely hung on, the other Heroes were suddenly surrounded, they decided to retreat and said it wasn't worth the risk to rescue the Time Hero.

"And just like that, he fell into the pit and facing off these Minotaurs. How sad. Is this Skill really the weakest though?" Takumi thought.

'The Time Hero stumbled backward until his back struck the dungeon wall. The two Minotaurs closed in from either side, leaving him nowhere to run. He raised his trembling hand. "Pause!" Nothing happened. His eyes widened as he realized the cooldown had not yet ended. One of the Minotaurs swung its greatsword, and the Time Hero desperately tried to dodge, but the second monster blocked his escape. The blade struck him, and his body fell motionless to the dungeon floor.'

"You've got to be kidding me."

Takumi flipped several pages, but indeed, the Time Hero died.

"Now that's some high quality ragebait. And he dies too early i haven't even reached an eighth of the book."

He stared at the cover.

The Eight Skill Heroes.

Then he looked back at the page.

He suddenly stood.

"This author completely messed up!"

The librarian looked up. "Excuse me?"

Takumi slammed the book onto the table. "He can stop time!"

Several people turned toward him.

"Five seconds! That's five seconds where everyone else is completely helpless!"