Chapter 322 Interception and Execution

After a rapid burst of incantation, a pale blue cage slowly materialized in the air, trapping the massive stone golem that had been battling the warriors. The golem couldn't break free from the cage in a short time. Seizing this opportunity, the warriors furiously unleashed their Aura to attack the giant.

Under the Elder Mage's command, Shaoke and the others had to stay far behind the warriors, unable to launch any attacks. According to the information Shaoke had gathered from books, this type of Spell puppet was immune to most Spell attacks. Of course, if a powerful mage took action, it could still be quite effective.

The Eighth-Tier Female Mage's cage was quickly destroyed by the giant puppet. However, it wasn't through brute force but through a method similar to ancient puppet techniques of dispelling magic. Although the blue cage disappeared, the warriors' Aura had struck the giant puppet multiple times during that period, leaving visible wounds on it.

After being hit more than a dozen times on one foot, the giant puppet suddenly went berserk. It swatted away several nearby warriors with a single slap, then charged madly toward Shaoke's group like a warrior's assault, completely ignoring the warriors' Aura attacks.

The stone giant's charge caused many casualties among the warriors. A Seventh-Tier Warrior erupted with Aura and, along with several nearby Sixth-Tier Warriors, intercepted the stone giant's path. Shaoke clearly sensed the Seventh-Tier Warrior's life fluctuations vanish.

After crashing through the warriors, the stone giant charged wildly toward Shaoke's group. It covered the several hundred meters in mere breaths. At that moment, the Elder Mage, whom Shaoke hadn't noticed, suddenly waved his staff. An arm-thick beam of gray light struck the stone giant's head. To Shaoke's astonishment, the stone giant's glowing red head vanished entirely. Its body, even as it ran, rapidly turned to ash and scattered in the air.

After casting that Spell, the Elder Mage immediately sat down, took some medication, and began Meditating to recover.

The Eighth-Tier Female Mage cast a brief glance at Shaoke's group, then instructed them to burn the corpses and search the area where the Spell puppet had vanished. Amid the ashes, there was a special energy crystal needed for making high-tier puppets. In the Blue Feather Empire, this crystal was quite precious, as only a few empires produced it.

A mage quickly found a sky-blue crystal the size of a human head from the pile of black ash. This rhomboid crystal was quite beautiful. Shaoke only noticed the Eighth-Tier Female Mage storing it in her ring before focusing on the task of burning the dead bodies.

Nearly forty warriors had died at the hands of the stone giant and the earlier Giant Beast. Some had their heads bitten off; others were killed by the giant's innate Spells; most, however, were crushed during the giant's violent charge. The first warrior to intercept the stone giant's charge had been pulverized into flesh paste. The scattered chunks of flesh were gathered by the mages and burned with Arcane Fire.

About half a magic hour later, the Elder Mage rose slowly. He adjusted his robe and said, "Let's move on. There won't be any more puppets blocking our way this time." Without caring about the frightened warriors, he floated forward again.

"We were lucky this time," Shaoke whispered to another Ruler who stood nearby in a daze. "These puppets aren't very intelligent. They're usually controlled by the master of this place. Under control, they could quickly cast some Seventh-Tier Spells. If that were the case, I doubt we'd survive." Shaoke then signaled for the mages to follow the Eighth-order beings ahead, as they hadn't reached their destination yet. It wasn't time to retreat.

Shaoke had only given a brief introduction to such puppets, having read about them in books without ever truly understanding their combat capabilities.

After a brief disturbance, the warriors, under the Ruler's control, re-formed their formation and ran ahead of the mages to serve as protection. This time, the path was a dark passageway revealed after the stone door disappeared.

This passage clearly led downward. Compared to the earlier channels, it was much narrower—only three meters high and four meters wide. It was covered with countless magic scripts and arrays. Shaoke didn't recognize any of the magic scripts, and he dared not look at the arrays for long, as they would cause violent disturbances in his Meditation space.

"Hurry up, everyone. The Defensive Magic Array here hasn't been activated. We're safe," the Blue-robed Female Mage urged some mages who had slowed down. But as soon as she finished, the Elder Mage suddenly proposed a new suggestion that greatly displeased Shaoke and everyone else.

"We two should go ahead and let them walk slowly here," the Elder Mage said to the Eighth-Tier Blue-robed Female Mage. "There's no danger on this path. During the war, all the high-ranking beings here had already left." The Elder Mage then turned his gaze to his companion.

"They are in danger here," the Female Mage said, rubbing her head. No matter how she rubbed, the small crown on her head stayed perfectly in place, as if glued. "Besides, those who came here back then didn't thoroughly explore that place." She added, "I have a strange, bad premonition."

"You can continue walking slowly here, but I must go down first," the Elder Mage said, quickly leaving the group and flying swiftly down the passage. Only after the light of his Defensive Spell had completely faded in the passage did the Eighth-Tier Female Mage turn and signal Shaoke's group to proceed.

"Honorable Mage," the warrior Ruler said, glancing at Shaoke. He had heard the two Eighth-order beings' conversation. "Do you not fully understand the situation below?"

"That's none of your concern," the Eighth-Tier Female Mage replied, somewhat annoyed by the Ruler's question, perhaps because of her companion's departure. She quickened her pace. Shaoke sympathetically glanced at the Ruler, then cast an Illumination spell, a Zero-Tier Spell, to add some brightness to their journey. Under the effects of numerous light spells, the entire passage looked quite bright. Under the leadership of the Blue-robed Female Mage, the group's pace gradually increased.

After nearly a magic hour of travel, the passage still hadn't reached its end. This made Shaoke wonder where it led to. By his estimate, they were now about ten thousand meters underground, yet he felt no discomfort.

"We're almost there," the Blue-robed Female Mage suddenly slowed down and quietly told Shaoke's group. "According to old records, the landmark building is here. We must split up to search. As for what that landmark is, I don't know, but according to what the military provided, it has some inscriptions on it. Quite large, at least three meters tall."

Having said that, the Blue-robed Female Mage led them onward without giving Shaoke time to ask questions. This time, after about half a magic hour, a red glow appeared in the dark passage, accompanied by waves of heat.

"This is it." The group soon reached the red light. Due to the narrow passage, Shaoke couldn't see ahead, and the heavy Spell fluctuations prevented his psychic senses from reaching far. He only sensed an enormous space beyond.

The Eighth-Tier Mage stood at the passage's exit and reiterated the important points for Shaoke's group. He then divided the warriors and mages into search teams to find the landmark left by the major empires there and bring it back here. The Blue-robed Female Mage also distributed some special magical signal items, then sent Shaoke and the others out of the passage to explore.

"If you sense something wrong here, come back immediately and flee," the Blue-robed Female Mage's voice whispered in Shaoke's ear as he was about to leave with the team. This stunned Shaoke, but he didn't show it. He just nodded slightly to the Eighth-Tier Female Mage while adjusting his cloak, then followed the team out of the passage. The Eighth-Tier Female Mage flew out first and quickly disappeared from sight.

The scene outside amazed the mages. Here was another vast space, but Shaoke couldn't perceive its size. Countless pillars, tens of meters thick, stood everywhere, glowing red with flames that occasionally fell onto the lava below or onto other pillars.

The ground consisted of countless stone paths, tens of meters wide, with huge lava flows beneath. Sometimes, magma erupted from below, crashing hard against the stone paths, but causing no damage to them.