End of the Magic Era

‘The Abbot said that I’m reading too little and that my knowledge being limited is not good. See, even that bookworm is stunned, it doesn’t matter how much one reads…’

A proud expression could be seen on Laibo’s face. The Secret Monastery rarely came in contact with the outside world, most of the things they knew came from the books. But Laibo liked battles, he kept fighting and his talent was pretty good, thus he has been making huge progress until he reached the Heaven Rank.

He didn’t know what that technique of dismantling a puppet in one second represented, but these young Sword Saint weren’t so inexperienced that they didn’t know what that meant.

They passed through another level and reached the third level. But it was no longer as easy. There was no platform acting as a buffer and five puppets took the initiative to attack when they arrived. The five melee puppets flew over like rays of light.

There was still a ray of light sweeping down from the sky, as well as some runes that kept pulsating. Lin Yun confirmed with a single glance that it was a rune probing everyone’s strength.

Laibo’s power didn’t burst out, all of his power had been restrained within. Moreover, the way deathless aura burst out was completely different from other auras. As a result, Laibo appeared weaker than his junior apprentice brothers and there was no need for another puppet.

As for Lin Yun, he was standing there, not a single wisp of mana fluctuation was emitted from his body. Even his lifeforce appeared very weak. The array’s probe simply disregarded Lin Yun.

These five puppets came out after Constantine and his four apprentice brothers were detected.

Seeing these five puppets rushing over, Lin Yun swept a glance at Laibo, who was about to make a move.

“Sir Laibo, you’d best curb all of your power or we won’t just be facing five level 39 melee puppets…”

Laibo immediately released his grip on his sword when he heard those words. Lin Yun took out the crystal pen and Mana Ink while pointing at Constantine and the other four.

“You can take action. Resisting against these few puppets is enough, I just need some time.”

After saying this, Lin Yun dipped the crystal pen into the Mana Ink and started writing in the air. Mana-condensed runes floated in the air and kept merging with those probing runes.

As for Constantine’s group, they swung their thin swords and used deathless aura to tangle with the puppets. Both sides were equally matched, but the swordsmen weren’t using their full strength, their attacks were very light.

Thirty seconds later, the probing runes had been paralyzed and tricked into thinking that there was only one Sword Saint by Lin Yun. Then, only one level 39 melee puppet was dispatched.

A few seconds later, this melee puppet was dismantled into a pile of components by Lin Yun.

As they crossed six checkpoints in a row, they were welcomed by five Sword Saint puppets almost immediately while the number of casting puppets appearing kept increasing.

On the 6th checkpoint, they faced five sword puppets and five casting puppets, making it a bit hard on the five swordsmen. After all, these five casting puppets were coordinating extremely well, raising their strength exponentially. The more varied and numerous the puppets, the more power they could display.

It took Lin Yun a minute to paralyze the detection runes and the ten puppets were instantly reduced to one casting puppet.

After reaching the end of this checkpoint, Laibo’s gaze fell on the side of the door and noticed a spot with some dim runes.

“Mariana is really alive! This is the mark she left behind!”

Laibo was excited. He had always been worried that his junior apprentice sister had fallen here. Lin Yun told him that this trial ground had only seven levels. With his junior apprentice sister being a 9th Rank Sword Saint, passing through should have been very challenging. The consecutive fights were a test of perseverance and strength.

Not having found her in the past six levels, the only hope left was that she was on the last level, and now that he saw the mark she left behind, Laibo was overjoyed.

Lin Yun looked at the darkened runes on the ground and couldn’t see what had been left there, he could only feel that the ground’s defensive runes had been weakened. It should have been from the corrosion of deathless aura.

Laibo’s deathless aura poured into that spot before slowly scattering into a mist. Then, the mark on the ground slowly split apart to form some text.

[Stupid senior apprentice brother, the formidable Mariana has already broken through to the last level. If you see this, it proves that you didn’t die in the previous checkpoints. Don’t die in the last one, the powerful Mariana will be waiting for you outside.]

Seeing these words, Laibo appeared somewhat embarrassed. Constantine and the others seemed to think of something and awkwardly chuckled.

“Let’s go. This is the last level. We can leave the trial ground if we go through it.”

Lin Yun said those words before entering the light door before his eyes.

After a single step, a voice echoed in his ears like a tsunami. A swordswoman could be seen wearing a mauve battledress. Her long hair was extending to her waist and was covered in deathless aura as she fought.

“Stupid iron cans! Accept your death! The powerful Mariana has killed a Pseudo Heaven Rank Magic Beast before! I am bound to become a Heaven Rank existence, just drop dead!”

The fair-skinned girl with bright eyes seemed to be only twenty years old. She kept shouting as if she had already won.

Unfortunately, the situation was completely different. Three dual-wielding sword puppets kept flickering at Mariana’s sides and cold rays of light flashed in her surroundings. Moreover, the casting puppet in the distance had raised its arms and its scarlet crystal eyes kept flashing. That was due to the huge amount of data flowing while it searched for the best opportunity to kill her.

The puppet’s left arm with eight small cannons was shooting out Firebolts while white light had gathered in the right arm’s cannon, ready to shoot at any time.

Mariana seemed to be in imminent danger as she could be torn apart by those puppets at any time. Many tears already appeared on her mauve battledress and nicks could already be seen on the thin sword she wielded.

With enough Aura, this would hardly appear on a weapon. This meant that her Aura was already running out and she had to use her weapon to clash with the dual-wielding puppets.

Lin Yun frowned and ignored Mariana. He instead rapidly turned towards that light door and spat out a few law runes.

The law runes slowed down the speed at which the light door revolved, while Laibo and Constantine already came out of the light door.

“I delayed the time it would take for the light door to close, this would delay the appearance of the puppets. I’ll first paralyze the probing runes here…”

After walking over, the few of them immediately saw Mariana in the middle of a fierce battle and saw how she was forced into a passive state. That casting puppet’s ray of light would shoot out at any time, and it would set off as long as Mariana exposed just the slightest weakness.

They saw Mariana’s precarious situation, but they couldn’t help. They were all anxious, but they knew that as long as they left the range of the door of light, their power would be immediately taken into account by the trial ground’s probing runes and the danger they would face definitely wouldn’t be just four puppets.

The newly appearing puppets might instantly submerge Mariana.

Constantine’s eyes rapidly turned red and Laibo rapidly kept his power under control. As for Lin Yun, he was still holding his crystal pen and calmly wrote mana runes in midair.

This was the last level. They had crashed their way through every previous level to open the light door leading to the next level. It was the same for the last one, they only needed to paralyze the probing setup to make the alchemy portal appear and leave this trial ground.

As for that young girl, there was no need to worry. She had been chosen as a direct inheritor of the Secret Monastery and was one of the few 9th Rank Sword Saint taken out to get some experience. She could at least hold her ground when faced with four puppets and wouldn’t lose until her Aura was completely depleted.

Even if she suffered a small injury, it wouldn’t matter much to the inheritors of the Secret Monastery. Someone overflowing with vitality like Laibo wouldn’t die unless their head was crushed in an instant or their heart was shattered.

Lin Yun calculated the array’s plan schematic, he was paralyzing the probing runes while using the entire array to break open the closed door. That way they could leave without fighting.

Unfortunately, Lin Yun did plan well, but some people had different thoughts.

“Mariana! I’ll help you!” Constantine couldn’t help shouting.

At that instant, Laibo’s expression suddenly changed. Distracting someone in the middle of a battle was a taboo, and that casting puppet was ready to shoot at any time. As long as Mariana showed a weakness, that casting puppet would immediately release that ray of light.

Mariana swung that thin sword and it looked like a dozen swords were slashing. The surrounding three dual-wielding puppets’ attacks and those Firebolts were all blocked. She looked like a graceful butterfly that kept dodging the surrounding attacks.

Mariana’s sword still swung at a perfect angle even after hearing Constantine’s sudden shout, she also didn’t turn her head as she roared, “Constantine! And idiot senior apprentice brother, don’t come in. I can defeat these hateful iron cans by myself. Whoever dares to help me will have to face my revenge!”

Laibo bitterly smiled and stood there without moving. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, he simply couldn’t help. A Heaven Puppet would instantly appear the moment he stepped out. At that time, if he failed to help, Mariana might die instantly.

Having previously fought with Heaven Puppets, Laibo had a clear understanding of them. The Heaven Puppets here had awakened wisdom and even obtained special abilities. Who knows what special abilities those puppets would have.

If another puppet with Lightning Speed appeared, as long as it wasn’t an idiot, it would definitely target Mariana first.

Laibo was shocked as he looked at Lin Yun holding an ink bottle in one hand and a crystal pen in the other while not a single puppet paid attention to him.

‘Truly a terrifying guy, he can actually completely control his mana so that not a single fluctuation appeared. He even decreased all signs of his lifeforce to such a faint degree. This is even weaker than an ordinary person.

‘This kind of power is completely disregarded by the array’s probing.

‘Sir Mafa being so powerful must have a lot to do with his control. That kind of fierce void storm-like attack is something that even Heaven Rank powerhouses can’t summon without that kind of control.

‘Since Sir Mafa didn’t speak, it means that there is no danger. Moreover, Mariana isn’t weak. Although it’s a little bit hard, it’s a good way of tempering herself.

‘If Mariana is in danger, I believed that Sir Mafa, the closest to her, wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it…’

Laibo actually felt relieved, but Constantine’s expression wasn’t good. His expression flickered as he saw Lin Yun walking back and forth within the array, without being attacked by a puppet.

‘This Mafa Merlin is terrifyingly powerful. A 9th Rank Archmage can actually tear apart a puppet with a single hand… This isn’t something the average alchemist could do.

‘Only Saint Alchemists could do something like that, and he is only an Archmage, how could he be a Saint Alchemist? The weakest Saint Alchemist is a Heaven Mage, and a 5th Rank Heaven Mage.

‘And how could his mana control be so formidable as a mage? There isn’t even a single mana fluctuation leaking out while his vitality has been reduced to such a pitiful degree.

‘Moreover, these puppets aren’t attacking him at all. This proves one thing: There is something wrong with this Mafa Merlin. He said he came from the Andlusa Kingdom? What a joke. The Andlusa Kingdom is apparently a rural country, how could it have this kind of powerhouse?

‘His identity is fake, his mage identity is fake. He hasn’t released a single spell so far… He is a puppet in disguise!

‘That’s it! Only a puppet could curb all of its mana fluctuations, only a puppet could have such a low vitality. That guy might be a special Heaven Puppet whose power is below the Heaven Rank, but with extremely high wisdom.

‘Right, only a puppet could have such a deep understanding of puppets!

‘This guy definitely schemed against us and led us here to kill us all. He is the guardian of these ruins!’