End of the Magic Era

In any case, most of the Secret Monastery’s members were swordsmen, they didn’t care too much about alchemy. The weapons they needed had nothing to do with alchemists, they were forged by blacksmiths and didn’t need to be enchanted. Their Deathless Aura naturally conflicted with elemental power so pure weapons were better.

Laibo led the way, backtracking to where he came from and tearing apart any puppet appearing on the way into piles of scrap metal. Lin Yun’s smile froze as he saw that, but he didn’t say anything, he had obtained enough materials this time.

The mana reactors and battle systems he had obtained before were more than enough. There was enough of these things to study the secrets they contained. After cracking them, reverse engineering them wouldn’t be an issue, there was no need to spend more effort in collecting them.

Lin Yun had been somewhat indifferent to the ordinary puppets since he found out that this place seemed to have a connection to the puppet base found in the Raging Flame Plane. This place must be hiding some secrets, and the puppet technology might be secondary.

Laibo violently re-opened an array and was obstructed by a group of puppets.

The map showed that the area ahead of them was the end of the assembly line. Lin Yun had guessed that there might be puppets that could still move there. After all, there hadn’t many active puppets in the battle system and the energy system areas.

Every area was in charge of a sole component, while the end of the assembly line was where one could find all the parts needed to build puppets. Who knew if the puppets started crafting more puppets after so many years.

Lin Yun got his answer the moment the array was torn apart.

At least a hundred puppets of various kinds stood in front of a building. There was even two 4-meter-tall huge puppets at the entrance.

Just as the defensive array was torn open, the scarlet crystal eyes of the two puppets standing in front of that huge building shone with bright rays of light and the aura of the Heaven Rank surged from their bodies. Clear twinkles of wisdom could be seen as those eyes locked onto them. These two Heaven Puppets had developed wisdom.

Laibo was suddenly startled when he saw these puppets and then remembered that there was an alchemist next to him. Why had been shattering the puppets so violently? It was because he had fought these puppets before and knew how troublesome they were.

Now, over a hundred puppets suddenly appeared, including two Heaven Puppets. This made cold sweat drip down Laibo’s back.

“Sir Mafa, please be careful. These puppets are very strange, their strength will skyrocket as their numbers increase, and their cooperation is terrifying…”

Laibo had yet to finish his sentence that Lin Yun already rushed out. When he was thirty meters away from the puppets, he spat out a large amount of law runes and created Mana Hands emitting thick mana fluctuations. They didn’t look like Low Tier support spells, the mana fluctuations they emitted was comparable to 8th Tier Spells.

Those level 39 puppets didn’t awaken as fast as the two Heaven Puppets. After the two Heaven Puppets awakened, they started rousing these level 39 puppets.

How could Lin Yun let go of such a good opportunity. These level 39 puppets would be defenseless for three seconds, waiting to be torn apart.

Several dozen Mana Hands sweeping with powerful mana rapidly rushed towards the puppets and rapidly came in contact with some relatively special energy nodes. The Mana Hands’ large amounts of mana instantly poured in these spots as the several dozen Mana Hands turned into shadows that rapidly circled the puppets’ bodies.

At least forty level 39 puppets burst open, and every single component was intact, aside from those carrying some traces of rust. The small components repelled each other, as if they had the same magnetic poles.

The silent explosion was shocking. The components fell onto the ground with clanking sounds and formed piles.

Behind Lin Yun, Laibo was thoroughly stunned as he held his black sword. His mouth was wide open as he watched over forty puppets being torn apart, his world view distorted.

‘Hell, heavens, what did I just witness? A bunch of Mana Hands instantly tore apart those powerful puppets… What happened? Why did these puppets suddenly explode into parts?

‘Sh*t, Sir Abbot was right, even if we live in seclusion, we have to come out and gain experience from time to time or we would be left behind by the times. It’s best to confirm that we have enough strength to safeguard the monastery’s inheritance.

‘Alchemists of the outside world are already that powerful? So terrifying… I would need to burst with a lot of power to deal with forty of these. That Mafa Merlin is only an alchemist of the desolate Andlusa Kingdom, yet he was able to disable forty at once!

‘So terrifying… How much does he know about these puppets? I heard the monastery’s alchemist jokingly say that dismantle with a touch was an extremely formidable technical ability. That guy is definitely an outstanding puppeteer!

‘If he could craft over a thousand puppets like this…’

Laibo couldn’t help shivering as he thought of this. He imagined a thousand puppets swarming him and over a thousand sharp blades cutting him into pieces.

He then imagined countless glaring beams vaporizing him in a few seconds before Song of Sacrifice ultimately fell onto the ground.

‘The mages outside are really becoming even more frightening. No good, I must report to the Abbot after we return. They are already leaving us in the dust because of their planar conquests, if we don’t change, we might thoroughly disappear within a few centuries.

‘The Abbot said that a new era was about to begin and that we should get in touch with the outside word. He was right… No, it’s happening even faster than the Abbot expected…

‘I believe Sir Abbot wouldn’t believe that a 9th Rank Archmage could have the power to get rid of me. This world is really going crazy…’

Laibo’s eyes were lifeless and he looked at Lin Yun’s back with a complicated expression, his mind in chaos.

As for Lin Yun, dismantling forty puppets at once was already his limits. Dismantling the puppets in an instant required more than just technique and a detailed understanding of the puppets, it also needed a huge amount of mana. The more powerful a puppet, the more mana needed.

He consumed all his mana in one breath, but he was only able to dismantle forty puppets.

In one second, Lin Yun recovered all his mana, but the rest of the puppets already awakened and attacked alongside the two Heaven Puppets.

One of the Heaven Puppets wielded long sharp blades, but the blades weren’t embedded in its arms, the puppet was actually holding them like a swordsman would. This added even more variation to its attack patterns. The blades also had several enchantments such as Sharpness, Haste, Magic Penetration, Sturdiness…

That puppet’ scarlet eyes flickered a few times before it instantly disappeared, reappearing in front of Lin Yun the next moment, slashing its two 2-meter-long blades at Lin Yun’s body. As it slashed, Lin Yun saw the enchantments on the blades being activated, including that Magic Penetration.

Strength, Sturdiness, Friction Removal, and Haste were all activated. A law rune even shone on the puppet’s forehead.

That was the special ability that a puppet obtained after advancing to the Heaven Rank. The ability obtained by every puppet was different and it was difficult to figure it out before they used it.

Lin Yun raised his Law Runic Shield and his Four Element Shield while the mana in his surroundings surged forth. It looked like his body was pushed by mana as he flickered sideway twice, reappearing a dozen meters away.

But then, the rune on the puppet’s forehead shone brightly and Lin Yun could no longer sense it. A feeling of crisis rose in his mind.

The Four Element Shield rapidly flickered until the four elemental lights collapsed. The Four Elemental Shield was torn apart and even the Law Runic Shield was like a bubble changing shape.

As the sharp blade landed on the Law Runic Shield, seven thousand law runes rapidly crowded to a fist-sized spot and resisted the sharp impact.

There were still several thousand law runes throbbing around that fist-sized spot. The number of runes gathered together had already reached the limit. In other words, if the other side’s power was just a tiny bit stronger, it could pierce through the shield before the law runes could react!

After sending three consecutive Mana Bursts and three Elemental Burst towards the incoming attacks, that sharp puppet once again disappeared.

It then changed its stance and held one longsword straight while holding the other one in a reverse grip.

Shock flashed in Lin Yun’s eyes. He hadn’t expected this puppet’s ability to be one of the ten best abilities for melee puppets.

Lightning Speed!

Many Heaven Puppets had the ability to accelerate, but those abilities were very diverse. Some could speed up some part of their bodies, some could accelerate the frequency of their movements, some strengthened their sidestepping speed.

But the most powerful among these abilities was Lightning Speed. This was a pure speed buff, an all-around buff. The only difference was how much of the buff could one get.

After all, this puppet was frighteningly fast. After using Lightning Speed, its speed was already faster than what Lin Yun’s mana could react to. The moment he sensed it, the other side might already be hundreds of meters away.

If not for the Law Runic Shield’s might, he might have been cut apart earlier, he would have only been able to react once the blade pierced through his head.

This was one of the most important reasons why Lin Yun had yet to go to the Puppet Plane. If he met this kind of puppet, even if it was only at the 2nd Rank of the Heaven realm, it was very likely that he would end up dead.

If he was unlucky enough to meet an assassin type puppet in the Puppet Plane, he would end up killed in an instant since he couldn’t rely on Extraordinary Power.

Extreme bursting power, terrifying speed. That kind of power exceeding the automatic reaction time of the Law Runic Shield would instantly tear apart his shield.

Seeing Lin Yun suffering an attack, the stunned Laibo finally reacted. He raised his black sword and dashed towards that sword puppet with Lightning Speed ability.

With Laibo joining the fray, the Heaven Rank casting puppet raised its arms. A glaring white ray of light converged in that thick right arm and aimed at Laibo who was fiercely fighting the sword puppet.

And on its other hand, the somewhat smaller eight cannons aimed at Lin Yun and Firebolts burst out.

Lin Yun kept dodging, avoiding those raging chaotic flaming rays while pondering on how he should dismantle this Heaven Puppet. After thinking deeply, he gave up on those thoughts. The Heaven Puppets already awakened wisdom, the power they contained also changed. It wasn’t just a special ability, their magic resistance had already greatly improved.

Dismantling them in an instant with bare hands was impossible, this could only be done if he advanced to the Heaven Rank.

The remaining level 39 puppets joined the battlefield. The melee and casters split in half to deal with Lin Yun and Laibo, pressuring in close range and from a distance.

In an instant, the two people sunk into a passive situation, especially since they were dealing with two Heaven Puppets, they couldn’t divide enough attention to get rid of those level 39 puppets.

The two of them had encountered that kind of casting puppet’s beams before, and the powerful ones exceeded their ranks, getting hit by them would be absolutely unpleasant.

Lin Yun held the Book of Death in his left hand while raising the Draconic Staff in his right hand, and the huge wheel shadow slowly rose behind him. Enderfa controlled the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel to release an elemental storm to attack these level 39 puppets while Syudos controlled the Book of Mantras to release a powerful flood of flames.

Aside from continuously dodging, Lin Yun’s attention was completely focused on the Heaven Rank casting puppet. That puppet’s right arm was already emitting rays of light and its spell could be released at any time.

No one could predict how powerful that ray of light would be. Moreover, they still didn’t know what that casting puppet’s special ability was, so Lin Yun didn’t dare to lower his guard.

Due to its coordination with that Heaven Rank sword puppet possessing the Lightning Speed ability, one wrong move would be enough for them to suffer terrible losses. Puppets that had advanced to the Heaven Rank were a completely different species.

The level 39 puppets kept being destroyed one after another. The temperature of the flames Syudos released were reaching a terrifying heat. The Corrosive Fire was corroding these puppets’ defenses while the Hellfire and the Bone-corroding Black Flames, with excellent penetrating ability, infiltrated the puppets’ insides and burnt their components.

And with the addition of Enderfa’s elemental storm, it took half a minute to make a melee puppet unable to raise its arms. The components within were too damaged and torn apart by the elemental storm. Most of the components were burnt until out of shape and the most important battle system and energy system were completely burnt down.

Lin Yun had previously wanted the components, but he was more specifically looking to temper himself, that was the reason he had let the fights last longer. Now that he simply wanted to get rid of the puppets, it would be an easy matter.

On the other side, Laibo was swinging his black sword. Although his speed couldn’t compare to that dual-wielding puppet with Lightning Speed, he still had Deathless Aura and had yet to fall. Similarly, most of his energy was placed on that puppet ready to cast that ray of light at any time.

His Deathless Aura blossomed. When his Heaven Rank Deathless Aura hit those level 39 puppets, some of their parts became deathly still. As long as they were hit by two Aura Slashes, they would thoroughly fall into deathly stillness. Their mana would be at a standstill and their bodies torn apart.

Laibo used the black sword to block the dual-wielding Heaven Puppet’s attack, but the puppet’s body suddenly twisted and the other hand holding a long sword slashed towards Laibo.

Laibo’s expression changed and his wrist softly shook. His Deathless Aura burst out as he twisted his hand to block that attack.

But just as the two weapons collided, the other arm of the dual-wielding puppet suddenly moved backward. Its wrist rotated and suddenly lunged at him!

Laibo was surprised and Deathless Aura burst out. The Deathless Aura and that huge amount of lifeforce converged together to form a gray armguard that clashed against that attack.

After a few minutes of battle, he had almost forgotten that he was fighting an experienced puppet whose body was completely different from humans’. Puppets’ limbs could make complete circles while humans’ couldn’t. Their back suddenly becoming their front shouldn’t be a surprise.

But it had just become a fatal factor. As he blocked the attack, the scarlet eyes of the casting puppet, that had yet to let go of its beam, suddenly flickered. It raised its right arm and a one-meter-thick glaring white light suddenly shot out.

At the same time, a rune shone on the casting puppet’s right arm and the thick white beam seemed to contain fine runes. These runes were moving on the surface of the light and instantly shrunk the thick white beam to half its size… But it became even more glaring.

Just as that light beam burst out, a Law Runic Bomb silently appeared before that casting puppet and exploded.

The huge impact forced the casting puppet a dozen meters back. Its raised arms were also deflected by the explosion.

That several-hundred-meter-long blazing white beam swept like a several-hundred-meter-long laser. A dozen puppets, that were resisting Syudos’ flames, ended up cut like cheese slices, instantly separated into halves.

Even the places hit by the ray of light completely evaporated, and the parts that didn’t evaporate instead melted into drops of metal.

The puppets’ defenses were like bubbles being poked by a needle. As the light flickered, they were torn apart by the beam one after another.

A building over thirty-meter-high loudly collapsed after being swept by the beam, as if it had been cut in two by a giant blade.