End of the Magic Era

‘What is going on?’ Lin Yun was surprised and crouched to examine that destroyed puppet.

The result of his inspection showed that the puppet had been severely damaged and the mana source had been exhausted for a very long time. The mechanisms had also been seriously damaged and 80% of the puppet’s arrays were non-operational. Based on common sense, such a puppet shouldn’t be able to move, let alone sneak attack someone…

This discovery made Lin Yun frown.

‘What…?’

‘How could a trashed puppet perform a sneak attack? Could it be… Possession?’

“Merlin! Watch out!” Solomon yelled at Lin Yun, who was lost in thought.

A sharp sound echoed suddenly. Lin Yun didn’t even turn his head before a new Flame Spear was thrown out and nailed the creepily laughing puppet on the wall.

Lin Yun didn’t relax after dealing with the sneak attack of the puppet, because just as the puppet was nailed to the wall, cracking sounds echoed from every corner of the warehouse…

“Fuck…” Lin Yun cursed.

This was indeed possession.

And it was mass possession!

Under the magical light, he could clearly see several dozen of scraped puppets swaying over from various corners of the room.

These puppets had all been thrown away due to mana source exhaustion, major malfunctions, or array damage. They shouldn’t be able to work under normal circumstances. But under the possession, their arrays were filled with radiance and their mechanisms were set in motion just like normal puppets.

“It’s really a fucking ghost…” At this time, Lin Yun couldn’t deal with it and directly turned into raging flames before pouncing towards the closest batch of puppets.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

Lin Yun let out three Flame Bursts and the closest puppet didn’t even have time to react before it was turned into pieces by the onslaught of spells.

To be honest, this wasn’t the most efficient way…

Any mage with some understanding of puppets would know that the most efficient way was to attack the mana source. Just like the Flame Spear Lin Yun had cast earlier. One simple hit could thoroughly destroy the mana source, turning even the most powerful puppet into a pile of scraps.

But Lin Yun knew that these puppets simply couldn’t be judged by common sense. They could move with damaged mechanisms, they could cast with damaged arrays, and exhausted mana sources meant nothing to them.

There was only one way to deal with these possessed puppets, completely destroy them.

After the first puppet was destroyed by the three Flame Bursts, Lin Yun didn’t even take the time to breathe before ferociously piercing through the area with the most puppets. Lin Yun then displayed a casting style that was entirely different from his usual self.

Usually, Lin Yun’s casting style was all about efficiency, if he could make do with one Wind Blade to cut an enemy throat, he wouldn’t use two.

But Lin Yun had now given up on this kind of efficient casting style, at the present moment he was using a bursting style. It felt as if he was trying to Flame Burst the entire stone tower.

This kind of casting style was very burdening. Even Lin Yun had to keep his Magic Arrays working at full speed to make every spell burst with the greatest might.

Fortunately, there was still Solomon.

Although Solomon couldn’t guarantee that each of his spell burst out with their greatest might like Lin Yun, he still displayed the power of a 9th Rank High Mage. Although 6th Tier spells couldn’t be described as heaven defying, they were still quite powerful.

With Lin Yun under Elemental Incarnation holding down several dozen puppets, Solomon could comfortably cast spells. He was just like a fort, raining down spell after spell on these puppets.

The battle lasted for no less than ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, Solomon used a Flame Dragon Blast and destroyed the last two puppets. No puppets remained intact in the entire warehouse after the fight, everything had turned into true scraps. Several dozen puppets had been torn into pieces under the joint efforts of the duo.

“I’m exhausted…” After confirming that the last puppet had been destroyed, Solomon sat down, gasping for air.

But Lin Yun didn’t plan to rest.

After Solomon’s final Flame Dragon Blast, Lin Yun cast a few Mage Eyes to check every corner of the warehouse.

“Merlin, what are you looking for?”

“The mastermind…” Lin Yun bluntly answered.

“What mastermind…”

“You didn’t feel the strangeness of these puppets? They were clearly damaged and deformed, yet they suddenly became active and their fighting power was even a bit stronger than intact puppets…” Lin Yun controlled the Mage Eyes while explaining to Solomon.

“Eh?”

As he explained, Lin Yun suddenly felt the connection to a Mage Eye being severed.

‘What happened?’ Lin Yun was doubtful as he sent another Mage Eye over. But this time Lin Yun had meticulously added a thin Mana Shield around the Mage Eye to make it survive longer.

It was unknown whether it was due to the Mana Shield, but that Mage Eye did make it further than the previous one.

But what Lin Yun saw made him freeze.

In the corner was an intact puppet…

Of course, it was “intact” when compared to the other puppets.

To be more precise, it wasn’t torn to pieces…

At the moment, this still “intact” puppet quietly laid in a corner of the warehouse. Lin Yun suspiciously looked over, and it only took one glance for him to become deathly pale.

It wasn’t that the puppet was frightening.

In fact, there was nothing special about the puppet, there was some evident damage rendering the mana source to be unusable, and the mechanisms were completely torn open. The frame was apparently cast from Magic Iron, and the color of that framework seemed deeper than the usual Magic Iron, possibly due to having been out of service for so long.

The only difference was that the previous puppets had ended up here due to an issue during their manufacture, while this one had clearly went through a fierce battle. The frame was riddled with scars and the mana source was melted. Lin Yun could imagine how desperate that final fight must have been.

Originally, that puppet had seven arrays carved onto it, but they had already been destroyed by some horrifying magic power. Only a third of one of the array’s mana patterns remained on the puppet’s body.

But this third was enough to make Lin Yun pale.

Because Lin Yun discovered that he couldn’t understand that array!

What kind of concept was that?

Although Lin Yun was only a Master Alchemist, when it came to judgement and knowledge in the field of arrays, even Artisans like Osul and Nolan were far inferior to him.

Lin Yun came from 30,000 years in the future, a time when alchemy had already advanced to an unimaginable degree, to the point of creating a wonder like the Shelter Tower. Although Lin Yun didn’t regard himself as someone at the peak of the alchemy field, he was far superior to the alchemists of this era.

But Lin Yun had now found an array that even he couldn’t understand!

And the most frightening part was that although the array had stopped functioning, he could still feel a huge power brewing within. That kind of power even made Lin Yun feel as if he wasn’t able to resist.

This was a first for Lin Yun.

Even when he was confronted with that True Spirit array in the depths of the Four Seasons Canyon, Lin Yun didn’t get that feeling.

“Heaven Rank…” The pale Lin Yun stood there for a few minutes, before finally saying, “Heaven Rank puppet…”

Unfortunately, that Heaven Rank puppet was already destroyed, and only a damaged Heaven Rank array remained, as well as a seriously damaged magic system. Even if it could be restored, the power it would display would only be on par with the Crystal Scales.

‘Hold on, puppet?’ Just as he was feeling regretful, a thought flashed in Lin Yun’s mind, ‘Puppet? The Dark Sage’s puppet?’