Chapter 401 - Ten
Lin Yun’s alchemy knowledge transcended this era. Just by looking at it for a moment, Lin Yun had been able to discover a flaw in the array and confirmed it with the Magic Array’s calculations.
That array existed only to scare people.
A peak Master Alchemist like Karon might be able to find the flaw in the array pretty fast, but he would need at least a few days to come to this conclusion.
“No way…”
Delson looked at Lin Yun with shock, he didn’t dare believe that the array that had been stumping them for a few days would be described as a smokescreen by the young mage.
He knew of the young mage’s power, but that was something completely unrelated to alchemy knowledge. After all, alchemy knowledge was something that needed to be accumulated overtime, and the youth in front of him was in his early twenties.
‘Even if he had some understanding of alchemy, he should at most be a Great Alchemist…’
In their group, Olaro was a Master Alchemist, and even he could not understand the array. So how could Mafa Merlin?
Naturally, Delson wasn’t foolish enough to directly question Lin Yun’s words.
After hesitating, Delson said, “How about we keep studying the array?”
“Studying? Hey, Sir Delson, did you not hear what my cousin said? That array is fake, it’s used to fool people…”
William rolled his eyes, feeling disinclined to look at Delson. He felt before that Vice Leader Delson was a decent person and had taken good care of them over the last two months. But for some reason, the more William looked at him, the more he felt that Vice Leader Delson wasn’t very pleasing to the eye.
‘To keep studying the array means that he didn’t believe Cousin Mafa’s words…’
‘How could Cousin Mafa be wrong…’
‘If even Cousin Mafa is wrong, then you guys would have to spend a hundred years researching this array!’
‘Moreover, has Cousin Mafa ever been wrong?’
William didn’t hesitate and rushed towards the door, his magic staff flickering with a bright light as he Insta-cast a Frost Spike towards the array. Nothing happened to the array after a few seconds and William immediately said with a laugh, “Sir Delson, Cousin Mafa was ri…”
But, before William could finish his sentence, a small change appeared. The originally still entrance suddenly shook. At the same time, low cracking sounds could be heard.
These sounds came from the entrance!
Everyone was startled, holding their breath while attentively watching the entrance, afraid of some powerful existence coming out.
“Cousin Mafa, what, what… What’s going on?” William was also startled, he looked at Lin Yun in disbelief, ‘Did Cousin Mafa really make a mistake? This is clearly impossible…’
“It had nothing to do with the array…” Lin Yun knew what he was thinking and shook his head. Just as he finished speaking, the tightly shut entrance was opened with great power. They all looked at what was on the other side of the door, there were ten paths!
But the most important part was the group of puppets coming from the other side of the door.
A total of ten puppets, all Battlemage Models. They were all wearing plate armor and holding a spear, but the power of these puppets was uneven. The strongest two were comparable to 5th Rank Archmages! And four others weren’t much weaker, comparable to 2nd and 3rd Rank Archmages. As for the remaining few, their power was below the Archmage realm.
It took an instant for the ten puppets to reach them and start attacking.
There was no probing, they instantly launched a fierce offensive. These Battlemage Model Puppets were waving their crystalline spears while releasing the spells enchanted on their bodies. The hall sank into chaos in an instant, and the elements were roused to their peak.
Battlemage Model Puppets were hard to handle, their frames were built out of Gold Essence and was incredibly hard. Moreover, they had ten or more defensive buffs enchanted on their bodies. Tier 1 and Tier 2 spells simply had no effect on their bodies.
Solan Monchi was currently fighting one of the puppets, it was actually one of the two most powerful puppets whose might was even comparable to a 5th Rank Archmage. He was facing its fierce body, accurate and powerful spear attacks, as well as the spells that kept appearing one after the other. Under such circumstances, Solan was strangely able to cast at ease.
He had already became a 5th Rank Archmage a while ago…
At the start of the battle, Solan had been struggling because he was unfamiliar with his power. Even if he went all-out, he couldn’t injure a puppet.
But, as the battle continued, his control over his power became more and more refined.
After twenty minutes of fighting, Solan had gained the upper hand and one powerful spell after the other exploded on the puppet’s body, “rumbling” sounds constantly echoing. A large part of the puppet’s Gold Essence’s frame had been dented around the chest, and every other part of its body had suffered some damage.
All in all, Solan Monchi’s robe had barely been touched by dust, there was no trace of him being injured. It had to be said, Solan Monchi truly had the power of a 5th Rank Archmage.
Another high tier spell accurately exploded on the body of the puppet followed by some Gold Essence being broken off. The body of the puppet was a bit sluggish, but the spear it waved and the enchanted spells it cast towards Solan were still as fierce.
In ten minutes, at most, Solan should able to finish his battle.
Solan took the time to glance around and checked Lin Yun’s location. He discovered that the puppet the other side was fighting was still intact, which made Solan squint.
At the start of the battle, everyone knew which puppet they should handle, Solan and Lin Yun chose the two most powerful, while the higher-ups of the three mercenary groups, Dean, Delson, Olaro, and Rolf, chose to battle the other four Archmage-rank puppets. As for the remaining four, they were divided between the three Merlin Cousins and Xiuban. Was it a coincidence that ten puppets came out to face ten people?
After glancing at Lin Yun a few times, Solan secretly shook his head. He suddenly regretted cooperating with Lin Yun, Lin Yun didn’t seem as strong as he imagined.
‘He can’t even handle a puppet…’
He saw Mafa Merlin display power comparable to a 4th Rank Archmage, but that was all, he wasn’t comparable to himself. Solan already planned on killing Lin Yun after leaving this place.
Lin Yun who was focused on disassembling the puppet’s components naturally hadn’t noticed Solan’s strange gaze. Battlemage Model Puppets were very strong puppets. Instantly dismantling, or severing the mana source or mana circuits became extremely hard when faced with this puppet comparable to a 5th Rank Archmage.
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the structure of the Battlemage Model Puppet, but rather, that puppet had four or five Haste enchantments on his body, making this puppet extraordinarily fast. Even when Lin Yun raised his speed to his limits, even with his disassembling speed, it was very hard to sever the mana circuits.
Thus, this deadlock lasted twenty minutes
If he used his power on that puppet, he wouldn’t be able to avoid damaging its structure. In this era, Battlemage Model Puppets weren’t easy to find…
In these twenty minutes, Lin Yun dismantled many parts, which had great use to him. The puppet he had found in the Bone Plane had already been restored and wasn’t weak, it could walk unhindered in the Bone Plane. After getting parts, he could use them to upgrade that puppet. Lin Yun was certain that the power of that puppet would reach a whole new level.
After disassembling one component after the other, the outer layer of the mana source was soon revealed and the puppet’s speed was clearly a few times slower. Lin Yun cast Haste on himself and raised his speed to his limits before instantly arriving behind the puppet. He softly moved his hand and the puppet remained rooted on the spot, motionless.
The puppet then collapsed into a pile of components.
Solan’s battle also reached its end, a High Tier Spell exploded on the puppet and sent it flying. It stood up, but what awaited it was a flood of spells. But Solan also noticed the end of Lin Yun’s battle. He was looking at Lin Yun as if he was a monster.
Lin Yun crouched down and took out a specific thing. This was the most useful part of the puppet, the mechanical system which supported the puppet’s fighting. It could also be said to be the core of the puppet. He intended to use this mechanical system to remodel the Bone Plane’s puppet. If nothing unexpected happened, after being remodeled, he would have an obedient level 30 puppet.
The speed at which he would amass Soul Fires would be raised four to five times.
After Lin Yun and Solan finished their battles, they went to help the others and quickly put an end to this fight. Then, everyone’s eyes fell onto those paths, suspicious expressions on their faces.
‘Strange, too strange…’
‘This definitely isn’t a coincidence…’
‘The mercenary groups’ side amounts to four people, the Merlin Family side plus one Beastman amounts to five, when Solan is added on top, we just happen to have ten people…’
‘Ten people, ten puppets, ten paths…’
‘This…’
Lin Yun tightly stared at the paths, but didn’t say anything. He had a strange feeling earlier, as if a mysterious force, or existence, had discovered them and arranged everything. But, this was too inconceivable…