All the way up
"Ximu!"
Ruixia's shout came from behind, and Ximu retreated immediately without stopping, passing by her very naturally.
An energy barrier quickly opened up, blocking all the unexpected attacks from the opposite side. After the smoke and dust cleared, only Ruisha and Morina, who were on full alert, were left there. The silver-haired girl who had retreated at the beginning had disappeared at some point.
The magician made of chaos seemed confused for a moment, but then raised his staff, muttered something completely incomprehensible, and was about to launch the next wave of attacks.
And at this moment, a cold wind suddenly blew from behind!
The magician finally reacted, but the danger was so close that he had no time to cast a spell. He could only use his staff as a stick and sweep it behind him!
Unfortunately - it missed.
An illusory figure turned into smoke and dissipated the moment it was hit by the staff. The next moment, a ghostly and illusory knife shadow appeared behind him again, flashed by like a crescent moon, and cut off his head immediately!
No blood gushed out.
The magician, whose head and body were separated, showed no pain on his face. His two wild eyes were searching for the target blankly, but until his whole body turned into ashes, he seemed unable to find the answer to the question.
Phew... not bad.
At first, she was worried that this thing was unreasonable and that attacking ordinary vital points might not be fatal to him. Now, seeing that he would collapse and disappear because of the fatal injuries to ordinary people, she felt relieved.
Ximu turned around and was about to tell them that everything was fine, but was suddenly met with two stunned faces.
What's going on?
In fact, Ruixia and Morina have always known that Ximu is very skilled, but his performance has been restricted due to hidden injuries. However, Ximu obviously did not think about the problem in terms of "I am so strong that I shocked my friends." He thought that he was too reckless and scared these two normal people who usually choose to communicate first when encountering problems.
"He...he is not alive."
Ximu quickly thought of the words in her mind, not knowing why she suddenly became nervous: "He is different from the old man before. He has no heartbeat and no temperature. What's more, what he said is very strange. Maybe there is no way to communicate..."
Ruixia looked at her, who seemed a little overwhelmed but trying to remain calm. For some reason, a sense of joy welled up in her heart, and she couldn't help but want to smile.
But fearing that Xi Mu would think he was making fun of her, he quickly suppressed his emotions and just smiled normally:
"It's okay. You're right. The fact that this man died without a body proves he's not a normal being... In such a small space, if he were to use magic to create a battle line, the consequences would be disastrous. You were right to deal with him immediately. Thank you."
Ruixia's approval visibly calmed Ximu's uneasiness. She nodded, no longer dwelling on this little episode, and waved her hand to signal them to follow her upstairs.
And where she couldn't see, Morina quietly approached Ruisha with a wicked smile between her eyebrows.
"'My Ximu is so adorable'... Hey, tell me the truth, were you secretly muttering that in your heart just now?"
"What are you talking about..."
Realizing that his voice was too high, when Ximu turned around and gave him a questioning look, the black-haired boy could only give her an awkward but polite smile.
He turned around and was about to argue with Morina, but the little girl easily walked around him and squeezed into the middle of the team, and took the opportunity to make a face at him.
It seemed that she originally wanted to harass Ximu, but before Ruixia could stop her, Ximu, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and made a gesture to them to keep quiet.
Molina quickly put away her playful intentions, stood up, and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"
"There's a noise outside."
At this time, they had reached the stairs. If the map provided by the old man was correct, after going out, they should be directly on the first floor of the dormitory area.
After listening carefully for a while, Ximu and Ruixia raised their heads at the same time and looked towards the higher position outside.
"If I heard correctly, it sounded like something crawling."
Ruixia nodded, acknowledging Ximu's assessment. "I remember that among the scrolls given by that senior, there was one that recorded the security situation within the academy. It stated that in addition to patrols by the Kingdom's knights, a certain number of combat puppets would also be deployed in times of war."
"That should be it."
The sound crawling above the ceiling did not sound like a human voice, but more like the sound of some kind of metal friction.
"So we...are like before?"
Obviously knowing what Morina was talking about, Ruixia immediately took out something from her arms - the little spider that had been dormant for a long time stretched out its eight legs with a click, turned over and stood up, and even stretched out a leg to greet Ximu.
Ruixia asked, "Do you want my help?"
Ximu shook his head, took the little spider, and walked out of the corridor with a dagger in his hand.
The moment she appeared, the regular crawling sound above her head suddenly stopped.
Immediately afterwards, the enemy, who was originally some distance away from her, quickly changed direction, increased his speed, and rushed straight towards her position!
One, two, three... There are actually three?
He looked up at the approaching enemies. When they were falling one by one and before they could even fully unfold their bodies, Ximu had already approached the one that landed first and slapped the little spider directly on it!
Then, she bent down, dodging the two long swords that were coming straight at her face, then supported herself with her hands, changed her posture, passed through the gap between the attacks, and kicked her opponent directly in the head!
It was not until then that she finally saw the appearance of the fighting doll in front of her.
It is roughly made to look like a human, but the face is not realistic, and the protruding position of the eyes reminds people of some kind of fish that likes to blow bubbles, which even looks a little funny.
But compared to a normal person, the four long arms it was waving at this moment were more dangerous - if they could attack at the same time and cooperate with each other, it would be very difficult to rush into the encirclement without getting hurt.
Four arms, two long and two short cold weapons respectively...
While engaging in close combat with this tireless enemy, the last puppet to arrive at the scene may have discovered that the way forward was blocked by its companions, so it immediately jumped up, ready to kill Xi Mu from above while she was unable to do anything else!
Ximu glanced at the enemy who had suddenly appeared, but ignored him completely, concentrating on finding the weakness of the enemy in front of him.
Putting aside her ability to create clones, dealing with multiple enemies is not a difficult task for her.
And—at this moment, she is not fighting alone.
In the blink of an eye, before the enemy in the air could bring down the knife in his hand, a bombardment came whistling from behind, directly blasting it away from Ximu's head!
"Goodness! It disintegrated right in the air..."
Morina raised her hands and looked into the distance, unable to help but sigh.
At this time, Ximu just seized the opportunity, using himself as bait, and smoothly made the two arms of the puppet entangled with each other inadvertently, and then he broke the joint of the other side holding the short knife with a knife, and turned around and kicked away the last long knife that was approaching him!
Taking advantage of this brief gap, the little spider in the back, which had completed its mission, was shot out by its master with a crossbow, hitting the puppet in the face. In an instant, the ferocious enemy's power was drained away, causing it to quickly join the ranks of the collapsed and obedient ones.
"Ximu, are you okay?"
Although he didn't know why Ruixia always liked to ask these obvious questions tirelessly, Ximu sheathed his sword and nodded as usual: "Yes."
"These battle dolls are very old-fashioned."
This was not the first time Ruixia had expressed such sentiments, so Ximu and Molina were not surprised.
Seeing that he might be about to plunge into the ocean of research again, the impatient priestess jumped out to remind him, "Brother Ruixia, I know these antiques may be of great research value to you, but can we not finish the task at hand first? Besides, the commotion you just made was quite a noise. What if a strange creature like before follows the noise and comes here?"
“…That’s right.”
The young mechanic reluctantly swept around the mechanical parts on the floor, temporarily suppressed his professional impulse, opened the scroll, and began to compare the nameplates and prohibition patterns on the doors in the corridor.
In fact, the scroll given by the old man did not reveal his own name. He only drew a separate and slightly smaller scroll for unsealing, saying that as long as you see a similar seal on the door, you have found the right place.
But maybe he forgot or what, the scroll didn't mention which floor his room was on, so they could only climb up from the bottom floor one floor at a time, constantly dealing with the inarticulate puzzle magician and those combat puppets who particularly liked to perform the Leap of Faith.
"If we sell all this junk, won't we be able to get rich?"
After stepping over another sword-wielding puppet that had been turned off on the road, Morina patted her robe and caught up with the two teammates in front of her.
Knowing that she was just complaining, Ruixia smiled and said nothing, but unfolded the scroll and looked at it again.
Their current location was already very high, basically close to the top floor - if they still couldn't find the corresponding door on this floor, they would probably have to go back and question the old man.
Along the way, they have more or less figured out some patterns.
The people living downstairs were probably ordinary apprentices. Their doors were simple, and usually used ordinary locks to prevent theft. Some rooms didn't even have locks at all. If they weren't afraid of complications, Ruixia and the others would really like to take this opportunity to go in and explore.
The decoration and style of the corridors in rooms higher up are much more refined. Not only are the patterns on each door different, but there are also more or less restrictions attached to them.
Moreover, some floors even have bridges leading directly to other buildings, which may be a privilege for these magicians of higher status.
I didn't expect that the old man really had some status...
He can live in such a high place and has special seals to protect the various materials and manuscripts in his room. He said that he is the person in charge of a department alone, and it seems that his words are really true.
"Ah, look, isn't that the door?"
Although Morina had fallen to the end of the team because she could not walk, she was also the most active in searching - Ximu and Ruixia looked where she pointed and found that the sealing magic circle that appeared on the door at the end of the corridor was indeed almost the same as the one on the scroll.
“…Finally found it.”
Ruixia also breathed a sigh of relief. After taking out the unsealed scroll, she turned around and looked at Ximu. The latter nodded, and after Ruixia used the scroll, he consciously exchanged places with her.
After the seal on the door was lifted, she turned the doorknob and gently pushed the door open. Behind her, Morina used magic to lift the lantern and carefully carried it in.
When the situation suddenly came into their sight, Ximu and Ruixia both let down their guard, and seemed to not know what to say for a moment.
And Morina is much more direct than them——
"Oh my Gods...Isn't this too chaotic?!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
