End of the Magic Era

In the absence of Sharp Mind, unless they had the willpower to shake off those negative emotions, they wouldn’t be able to struggle free on their own.

It was even possible to struggle to death in the endless illusion.

But as long as one had enough willpower and wasn’t affected by the negative emotions, they would be able to use their willpower or Sharp Mind spells to break free.

It took the angry Enderfa only a minute to exterminate these dozen Shrieking Ghosts.

Apart from Lin Yun, the others weren’t aware that the monster’s tentacle had appeared.

When Lin Yun talked about it, Enderfa’s expression turned heavy.

“Merlin, don’t you feel that this is too much of a coincidence? The moment you cracked that array gate, the ten Shrieking Ghosts hiding behind let out their Soul Shriek, and a tentacle attacked while we sank into the illusions…”

They all were brooding over the matter. Xiuban and Reina seemed particularly down, as they had sunk in the illusions for so long, and from the pain and anger on Reina’s face, it could be guessed that the illusion was related to her father.

As for Xiuban…

If Lin Yun hadn’t saved him, he would have stayed in that illusion forever.

The appearance of that monster’s tentacle made Lin Yun frown.

And while the tentacle appeared, the monster was nowhere to be seen.

The other side was clearly aware of their whereabouts using some unknown methods, considering that they could prepare an ambush just behind a door.

Lin Yun thought of the previous ambush and felt that the monster must have been behind that one too.

The next time he cracked an array, he would have to take some precautions and prepare all kinds of defenses.

As expected, there was another sneak attack when he cracked the 12th array gate.

A level 37 Skeleton Lord wearing a dilapidated cloak sliced at him with a grim reaper’s scythe.

And there were also two tentacles attacking along with it, with several more thick, pitch-black tentacles attacking from the sides and his back.

The moment they got ambushed, everyone immediately unleashed the counterattack they had prepared.

Enderfa controlled the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel to cleanse the left side of the hallway with flames, Reina used her ice magic to take care of the right side, while the puppet used a large storm of instant spells to bombard the room on the other side.

In front, Xiuban swung Carnage and clashed with the Skeleton Lord directly. Lin Yun raised his Draconic Staff and a large amount of single-target fire spells rushed out.

A steady stream of Flame Spears pierced through the air. Flame Spears were the most effective tools for controlling these tentacles. Once they were pinned down, Lin Yun immediately used Bursting Flames. The formidable explosive impact and fire damage destroyed two tentacles after a mere three spells.

The tentacle immediately turned to smoke after being blown up.

Having lost the support of the tentacles, the level 37 Skeleton Lord’s power couldn’t last at all, and it was quickly dispatched by Xiuban and Lin Yun without much problem. After its left hip had been broken by Lin Yun’s Bursting Flames, Xiuban swung Carnage and smashed it to pieces.

As for the others, the first to finish their battle was the puppet. With all the instant fire spells flooding them, the three pitch-black tentacles were completely burnt up.

It was more or less the same for Enderfa. The Ten Thousand Spell Wheel rotated rapidly and several dozen Flame Spears rushed out. The five pitch-black tentacles had been unable to even wiggle forwards before thoroughly exploding.

As for Reina, she alternated between Frost Rays and Frost Lances. When the pitch-black tentacles were frozen by the Frost Rays, she used Frost Lances to shatter them into fragments of ice, not giving the tentacles the opportunity to turn into smoke and flee.

Although they weren’t forced into a passive state this time, their expressions weren’t good at all.

This time, even Xiuban dared to swear upon Syudos that the monster definitely knew their whereabouts and could easily ambush them.

“That monster recovered too fast, a lot faster than before. And it is getting even more powerful! We destroyed half of the tentacles not long ago, yet it already recovered to this degree and snuck up on us from who knows where…”

Enderfa seemed quite distressed.

Before, that monster could only pursue them like a mad dog, but now, it was already setting up traps with these tentacles.

Lin Yun frowned, looking in the darkness.

The monster’s tentacles could go through the small cracks of the holds, meaning that it could mount a sneak attack on them at any time.

This was the Intrepid! Even the Void Ghosts, who were experts at going through walls, wouldn’t be able to go through any area. The small cracks between cabins and holds could be disregarded because those areas could be said to be nonexistent on the Intrepid.

Yet, this monster could actually go through. To a certain degree, this could already be considered resisting the power of the Intrepid itself.

No one dared to delay after the end of the battle, and they found the teleportation door in that room.

He summoned three Rock Puppets and gave them the command to go through the teleportation door. After going through the door, he immediately looked around.

Twenty seconds had passed without losing contact with the Rock Puppets, so Lin Yun led everyone through the teleportation door.

After going through, he could faintly hear the sound of the monster shouting in the distance.

As Xiuban, the puppet, Reina were on guard, Lin Yun once again took out the map of the Intrepid.

Because of that monster’s appearance, his original itinerary might not be very safe. Those areas had too many places where the monster could sneak attack from, and besides Xiuban, if anyone was caught, they would have to pay a high price.

Alongside Enderfa, they drew up a new plan.

“To go from here to there, besides the original path, this is the only path left, crossing past the side of the Intrepid’s important crew members. The defenses will definitely be tighter, and there should be fewer areas for the monster to infiltrate…” Enderfa pointed at the map and expressed his opinion with a grave expression.

Lin Yun looked at it and nodded.

Taking that new path was indeed a lot safer. Although they heard the monster’s angry roars, they couldn’t see its tentacles.

This floor was very close to the Captain’s Cabin, and the spacious hallway was covered in alchemy runes, most of which reinforced defense. The doors on both sides were comparable to the First Mate’s door, and not only were they fancy entrances, but a large amount of spells were also enchanted on the doors, as well as high-rank array gates.

With these things, regardless of what was in the rooms, as long as they weren’t opened, they couldn’t threaten them.

Even that monster wouldn’t be able to infiltrate the room unless the door was destroyed.

Lin Yun walked at the forefront, carefully looking at the runes on the floor, ceiling, and walls, afraid of touching them in case it would activate a trap or an offensive array.

Although this place was also dangerous, there was no tentacle ambushing them. Those were clearly the arrays added on the Intrepid after it was built, and most of them only had the effect of increasing power and defense, so they didn’t constitute any threat.

After walking three hundred meters, a rune suddenly lit up on the floor between them. A dozen Flame Rays rushed out like fireworks, shooting all around.

Reina reacted the quickest and cast five Ice Walls on the ground like a lid over the array, forcibly suppressing the Flame Rays.

Lin Yun turned back and his expression sank when he saw that scene.

The burst of Flame Rays came from the rune next to Xiuban.

Xiuban’s face was pale white from fear, as more than a dozen Flame Rays had burst not far from him. Even with his powerful body, he would have been burnt pretty badly.

“Merlin… Sir Merlin, it really wasn’t me, I really didn’t touch that thing! I don’t… I don’t know what happened…”

Lin Yun had said before that they had to follow his footsteps exactly, stepping exactly where he did. Since there weren’t many traps and offensive arrays, no one knew what kind of people were the owners of those rooms.

It wasn’t as if it was incomprehensible for someone to arrange malicious traps outside of their door.

They had just walked past a huge doorway over twenty meters wide with countless alarm arrays.

But alarm arrays wouldn’t harm them directly, and who knew how many years it had been since the owner of that room died? It wouldn’t matter if these were touched.

Lin Yun stared at the weeping Xiuban.

“Sir Merlin… I really stepped on your footprint, I didn’t touch anything else…”

Lin Yun frowned, saying in a low voice, “Everyone, be careful.”

As soon as he said that, two arrays started shining on both walls.

One of the offensive counter-attacking arrays was directly activated, and in a split second, over a hundred small rockets flew out at them.

Lin Yun recoiled as he began to cast.

He used Runic Shield to its fullest while also casting three Fire Shields.

The Runic Shield blocked in front of Lin Yun, while the three Fire Shields kept moving in the air, blocking the path of those rockets.

He ended up using twelve Fire Shields to block this attack.

“Merlin, are… Are these arrays activating on their own?” Enderfa asked with a trembling voice.

He wouldn’t doubt that Xiuban might carelessly activate some trap, but Lin Yun triggering a trap?

Absolutely impossible!

Enderfa knew how proficient Lin Yun was in the field of alchemy, how could he, while being very conscientious, activate a trap, not to mention an offensive counter-attacking array.

That had to be a joke.

That was the only explanation…

Lin Yun stopped and looked at the two arrays on the walls. His brows furrowed before he lightly sighed, “Annoying…”

Enderfa looked at the hallway, especially at the runes covering both walls. “Merlin… You are saying… Someone…”

Lin Yun nodded as he said with a heavy voice, “Yes, this counter-attacking array was triggered by someone, but no one touched it. The trap earlier might have been the same.”

Activated by someone…

Reina and Xiuban couldn’t make sense of what they were hearing, but how could Enderfa not understand?

Where was this place?

The Intrepid!

Without anyone in range or touching it, there was only one possibility for how the counter-attacking array activated on its own. Someone was controlling these arrays!

And besides the one who set up these arrays, only the Captain of the Intrepid could control these arrays.

From the map of the Intrepid, there were only two paths that led from the lower floor to the Captain’s Cabin. The one they chose at first was the fastest, while the one they were choosing now was the safest.

In addition, it was a path that went through the crew’s quarters.

That monster had kept ambushing them, and on this floor, the power of the monster had gotten stronger, meaning that the monster was even closer now, which made the original path more dangerous.

And this relatively troublesome path, in turn, became safer and quicker.

But now, the arrays on this path were being controlled… Wouldn’t that make this the more dangerous path again?

Enderfa thought of a possibility.

That one that drove them onto this path and triggered the array might have been that monster!

Fear appeared on Enderfa’s three faces as he glanced at Lin Yun.

“Merlin, you mean that the monster might be able to control some part of the Intrepid?”

Lin Yun remained calm and silent. After a while, he softly said, “Follow me, we have to get through this hallway quickly…”

A flaming Fire Shield appeared alongside a cold Ice Shield, slowly revolving around Lin Yun’s body.

Enderfa already flew to Lin Yun’s shoulder. This was the only spot where he felt at ease.

Reina also cast Ice Armor on herself and Xiuban, closely following behind Lin Yun.

For ten meters, with no one touching anything, an ice elemental trap array activated on its own, and no less than ten level 30 Frost Elementals were summoned.

These began casting a flurry of Frost Spheres, and each ball exploding spread frost in a five-meter area.

Lin Yun’s Ice Fire Shield kept spinning, blocking attacks simultaneously. He raised his Draconic Staff and countless Flame Spears flew out, accurately hitting these slow-moving Frost Elementals.

Each Flame Spear pierced the body of a Frost Elemental and didn’t spread to other areas. In this place, Lin Yun wouldn’t dare to use any spells that could spread to the arrays and trigger them.

It would be like poking a wasp’s nest if he activated another counter-attacking array. Under the chain reaction, as well as the mastermind behind the random activations, the entire hallway would turn into hell.

None of them dared to make a move, and it was even worse for Xiuban.

They didn’t have Lin Yun’s terrifying control and couldn’t manage their power as precisely as he could. Furthermore, they didn’t know any details about those arrays.

They couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t just cause something else to appear if they did something.

Suddenly, the unpleasant yet memorable roar of that monster echoed from the distance.

Xiuban’s face turned green as he asked, “Sir Merlin, what… What should we do?”

Xiuban glanced around but didn’t find any places where he would dare to step. Thus he could only walk on Lin Yun’s footprints. Every time they stopped, he would only stay in Lin Yun’s footsteps.

But the monster’s roar was heard again. He really didn’t know what to do if the monster came.

Enderfa’s three faces kept flickering, looking fretful and worried. From the volume of the roar, that monster shouldn’t be too far from them.

They had been chased and ambushed time and time again by that monster, and it had even sent a lot of the Undead to harass them.

Lin Yun’s anger had reached its boiling point and he very much wanted to vent.

Bursting Flames spells exploded against the Frost Elementals one after another. At the same time, two Ice Walls blocked the sides of the Frost Elementals, keeping the collateral impact of the Bursting Flames to a minimum.

When the Frost Elementals were sent flying by the impact, an Ice Wall appeared behind them, while another Ice Wall fell from above.

In one second, four Ice Walls had appeared around them, trapping the Frost Elementals in some sort of cage, combined with a Low Tier Freeze spell on the sides of the Ice Walls.

These Frost Elementals were struggling as five blue Bursting Flames that were instantly cast with Lin Yun’s Magic Conducting Rune landed on their bodies. Moreover, just as the Bursting Flames were about to explode, another Ice Wall appeared out of nowhere and suppressed the explosions within that Ice Wall box.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”

Several fierce explosions echoed one after another within the Ice Walls, covering them in cracks. As for the Frost Elementals within, they had been blown to smithereens.