Vengeful Spirit — Loathsome Evil
In front of Leylin and the rest of the exploration team.
A passage made of jet-black metal had opened up to three pathways, each leading to a different direction.
At each of the entrances, there were no obvious signs at all, causing a wave of foreboding to go through the four of them.
“Since it’s a laboratory, how can there not be a sign for it?”
Brass Ring took the initiative and asked.
“There might have been one that had been destroyed by someone, or the Magi here had another method of communication that we’re unaware of!”
The old witch shot a glance at Brass Ring. “What’s wrong? We’ve come all the way here, are you thinking of backing out of our deal?”
“Of course not!” Brass Ring shook his head like it was the most obvious thing to do.
Not only were the rewards that the old witch offered extremely generous, there was a large possibility of there being large amounts of profit from within the secret plane. Neither of these were things that Brass Ring was willing to give up on.
“In that case, should we split up into teams and search, or do it by ourselves?” Leylin asked a very practical question.
“Of course, we’re going to go in as a group! This is the ruins left behind by ancient Magi! Traps and other defense mechanisms are not easy for us to dismantle even as a group! It’s much too dangerous for us to act alone!”
As the initiator of this operation, the old witch was resolute and made the decision for them.
“We’ve set up everything in the town already, and in the next ten days, there will certainly not be any people compelled to enter. This is enough time for us to clear up everything in the laboratory!”
After hearing her words, Jaye quickly agreed. Leylin thought it through for a while and also nodded.
“Alright then!”
Hearing Leylin’s agreement, Brass Ring had no choice but to curl his lip and approve of this suggestion.
The four of them chose the path that was on the far right and entered.
*Step step!*
Black leather shoes and the metal flooring met, the friction causing a very piercing sound.
“Be careful. The methods of the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect are much more difficult to deal with than Spirit Devouring Moths…” Leylin reminded as he glanced at the surrounding walls.
A bright sound was constantly travelling through the passage, and there were also some echoes.
Leylin suddenly paused.
Only his figure was left in the entire passage. The old witch, Brass Ring, and Jaye had all disappeared!
“What happened?” Leylin fixed his attention on the red reflection on the metal wall.
“Did I unconsciously activate some trap? Even the A.I. Chip didn’t detect it!”
A hint of a smile appeared on his lips. “Looks like this expedition isn’t going to be so simple…”
*Ding!*
Leylin’s sudden stop seemed to have triggered some sort of mechanism, and behind him, the metallic walls seemed to have lives of their own as they converged, thus blocking his retreat.
“Crimson Palm!”
Both of Leylin’s palms turn blood red once again, crimson flames burning from the claws as he pressed them directly on the converging walls.
*Sssii!*
As if cold ice had been directly thrown onto a blazing inferno, a sizzling sound of evaporating water was heard.
Under Leylin’s hands, the unknown black metal turned completely red and constantly melted, forming puddles of liquid metal that stained the floor.
Over ten seconds later, the metallic walls that had suddenly emerged had a hole that was about one metre deep, and yet there was no sign of the end.
It seemed that in that moment, Leylin’s path of retreat had been completely blocked by the black metallic wall.
[Based on the data taken so far, estimated thickness of metal wall: 45-47 metres. There is also a huge amount of the Manker Alloy found in the middle. Estimated time required for Host to entirely break through: 30 Minutes 56 Seconds!]
The A.I. Chip projected blue lines of data in front of Leylin.
“Half an hour. That’s much too long!”
Leylin wasn’t so naive to think that the Magus who had designed the trap would be so kind as to give him time to escape.
Sure enough, the longer amount of time Leylin stayed in there, the black metal in front of him also started to distort and gather in the centre as if it had a life of its own.
The passage became increasingly narrow, to the point that only one person would be able to pass through.
“I can’t let this go on any longer. Otherwise, I’ll be stuck in the middle of a huge metal sphere. It’ll take too much magic power and spiritual force to get out!”
Leylin glanced at the wall that had a large hole in it and rushed forward.
*Zoom!*
With the help of his burly physique and his magic, Leylin’s speed was already past the limits of a regular human. All that was left of him were a few long after images.
The passage ahead seemed to sense Leylin’s approach and converged at an even quicker rate!
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