Chapter 669: Alchemy puppets
The dazzling reflection of the blades flashed around everyone like lightning, catching them off guard. Although the speed of the shadows did slow down due to the minor effects of the Dreamy Mageweath, their attacking speed was not affected. It was just like the fact that while running was faster than walking, it had nothing to do with landing strikes.
What gave everyone a headache apart from the speed that seemed to be as fast as lightning was the unpredictable angle of attacks. Even if the direction of the enemy’s general movement was known, one might not be able to know which body part the enemy would be attacking. After all, the human body was still too fragile, and almost every part of it was a weak point. The enemy obviously did not have a penchant for slitting throats; as long as it was a fatal spot, anywhere could be their target for attack.
More importantly, the attacks of the shadows seemed to have been launched with complete disregard for their own safety. Each attack was launched as if they were ready to die together with Lin Li and the rest. However, no one wanted to be so selfless as to give up for the benefit of others. Hence, any attack instead of defense would be nonsense at this juncture. The most effective course of action would be to continuously defend.
Lin Li did not give up on speculating on the origin of the two shadows, because there seemed to be no other way for them to get out of their current predicament apart from finding out where the shadows came from. Although the power of the debris of the stars was infinite, it still had to accurately hit the target in order to work. The movement of the two shadows seemed elusive, as if they were just teleporting. The Legendary Archers had already shot plenty of arrows, let alone Lin Li the mage.
Just when everyone was feeling puzzled, Ujfalusi, who had just escaped the attack, seemed to have discovered something. He turned to look at Lin Li, who was not too far away, and said, “Master, I seem to feel some traces of Necromagic on the enemy.”
“Necromagic?” Lin Li could not help but frown. The two shadows clearly were not Undead creatures; since they were not, what did they have to do with Necromagic?
As the blades struck again, a sudden guess popped up in Lin Li’s mind. Given the previous doubts and the conditions required for Necromagic to be used, Lin Li could not help but wonder if the two shadow-like enemies were the ultimate alchemy product mentioned in alchemical legends: alchemy puppets.
Lin Li had once compared the Alchemy Colossus to the two shadows, but he unfortunately could not find a way to explain the unique shape despite the fact that the other conditions had been met. However, if they were alchemy puppets, there would be a good explanation for their physique because controlling the alchemy puppets were souls that did not need a medium.
If the two shadow-like monsters were really Legendary alchemy puppets, they would undoubtedly be from the Immortal King. At such a level of alchemy, even Lin Li had no choice but to be in awe and think to himself, It’s no wonder that the Immortal King is termed as invincible and omnipotent.
After making several observations, Lin Li affirmed his speculations. Whether the two shadows were moving or attacking, there was no lag or pa.s.siveness in their actions at all. From the perspective of others, they were no different from Legendary Bandits. If it were others, Lin Li probably wouldn’t a.s.sociate them with alchemical products at all. However, Lin Li was well aware that that was a very remarkable feature of the Alchemy puppets. It also concerned the Necromagic that Ujfalusi was talking about.
An Alchemy Colossus had to be controlled and manipulated by someone, for it would just be a pile of sc.r.a.p iron without any controller. The alchemy puppets were naturally no exception, except that they were controlled by the souls sealed in bodies using Necromagic. It could be said that alchemy puppets were the product of the combination of Alchemy and Necromagic.
Lin Li also researched quite a bit about alchemy, and was well aware that alchemy puppets were not just a reduced and smaller version of the Alchemy Colossus. The enlargement and reduction of each Alchemy Array was not a simple change in size of the image, because it involved all aspects of alchemy as well. One could imagine what would happen to a giant Alchemy Colossus that was tens of meters tall if it were to be reduced to the size of ordinary humans.
However, the alchemy puppet was not a reduced version of the Alchemy Colossus, because the knowledge required to create it was much greater than what was needed to create the Alchemy Colossus. The internal structure of the alchemy puppet was so complicated that even if the Alchemy Colossus could be shrunk, it would not be comparable.
Compared to the Alchemy Colossus, the Alchemy Array used by the alchemy puppets was far from being just elaborate. It was not because of its small size, but because it was required to give the alchemy puppets more power. Not only did the number of Alchemy Arrays not decrease because of the size of the alchemy puppet, it actually increased. Most of the Alchemy Arrays could not be completed even by an Alchemy Guru.
It was precisely because of the demanding conditions that alchemy puppets seemed to exist only in legends. In fact, it was a far-fetched idea. Almost no one could imagine who could create it. It was also the reason Lin Li had not a.s.sociated the alchemy puppet with the two shadows at the beginning.
Indeed, the Immortal King was omnipotent. However, there couldn’t really be an omnipotent, almighty existence in this world, for even the deities could not be invincible. Still, Lin Li now knew that the Immortal King was indeed learned in Alchemy.
However, Lin Li knew even more clearly that what he needed to do now was not to marvel over how formidable the Immortal King was. Since he knew that they were facing alchemy puppets, the most important thing to do next would be to figure out how to deal with the two puppets.
The alchemy puppets might be small, but their combat power was definitely above that of the Alchemy Colossuses. In particular, it was said that Legendary spirits were sealed in the strong alchemy puppets, thus making them even more horrifying.
However, just like how an Alchemy Colossus needed a controller, the most crucial part of the alchemy puppets was not the magical crystal that provided ma.s.sive power, nor the complicated Alchemy Array. Instead, it was the soul that was sealed within.
Countless rays of light from the reflections of the blades surrounded the crowd. Although there were only two attackers, everyone felt that they were facing several enemies at the same time. When they were faced with the siege of hundreds of wind elementals, they were worried about their depletion of magic apart from continuously putting up the magical defense. However, whenever the blades flashed, it would cause them to be so terrified that they’d break out in a cold sweat. It made them feel like they were dancing on a tightrope all tensed up. They could not afford to be careless at all.
Although the crystal ball slowed down the speed of the alchemy puppets and showed the opponent’s trail of attack, the movement of the alchemy puppets was still not visible to the human eye. Retaliating was still a problem that could not be solved. Lin Li had once tried to continuously cast dozens of Thousand Miles of Ice in a row, but the slowing effects that came with the ice element magic did not have much of an effect on the alchemy puppets. Even if there were a real Master of Curses with them, it would be difficult to make all kinds of spells work on alchemy puppets.
Anxiety was written all over the group’s faces, and their worries could not be hidden at all. They were all thinking hard about how to deal with the two difficult enemies. However, when faced with the two top-cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sins that were coming and going without a trace, it would be a far-fetched idea not to pay any price for retaliating against the full-blown attacks.
All of a sudden, everyone realized that the environment around them had become a world with only two colors—black and white—without them even realizing. It was the young mage Lin Li’s Light and Darkness Domain!
Everyone could not help but be astonished when they finally realized what was going on. Although it was also because they were distracted by the elusive enemies, they still found Lin Li’s knowledge in Magical Domains to be incredible because he could activate his domain without alarming anyone.
Was Lin Li trying to take advantage of his control over the Magical Domain to capture the trails of those two enemies? Although they were surprised by Lin Li’s mastery of the Laws of Light and Darkness, they could not understand why he decided to activate his Magical Domain at this moment.
Mages indeed had great control and power over the Magical Domains that they created. However, the problem now was that the enemy was not invisible, but was just moving too quickly. Hence, using the Magical Domain to capture the trail of their movements would probably be less effective than using the giant crystal ball.
However, Lin Li did not explain anything to them, and instead proceeded to activate the Light and Darkness Domain, after which the Angels of Light and Dark began to condense quickly and hover in the air. There were no violent mana waves or fluctuations, and everything seemed as natural as breathing. It was as if the Angels of Light and Dark naturally existed in the first place. It did not seem to contradict with the surrounding environment at all.
Everyone only started making gains during exploration of the Central Tower of the Sky Castle when they entered and obtained the crystal ball and magical equipment. No one would have imagined that Lin Li had already started collecting some gains right from the moment he stepped into the Orderly Maze.
Everyone knew what the magic of the Seven-Realm Spiral meant to the mages. The Domain magic that was cast by the powerhouses of the Sanctuary-realm could be said to be the holy grail of all mages, who yearned for it as the ultimate form of their Magical Domain. The application of the nomological power in the Seven-Realm Spiral as well as the changes and creation of Laws had almost reached the level of Creation.
However, despite knowing this, no one dared to peep at it and try to learn some tricks when they were in an ultimate Magical Domain. The mystery of magic of the Sanctuary-realm could not be peeped at easily. Without the major mental strength support of the Sanctuary-realm, even souls would be immediately destroyed by the formidable nomological power.