"Aso's definitely a lunatic!"
"I agree!"
"I agree!"
My companions agreed with my words, and behind us was indeed a rolling metal ball …
"What an old-fashioned trap. He's definitely an ancient artifact from the previous century."
We ran as fast as we could while insulting each other. Finally, we found a corner in the wall where we hid and allowed the metal ball to pass.
Why didn't we shatter it? Damn it, it was actually made out of adamantite! Not to mention shattering it, just being grazed by it would be the same as being hit by a train … What was a train? Alright then, to describe it in a magical fantasy world, it would be like being hit in the head by a + 12 battering ram. Even if you were as lucky as a cockroach, you would only be left with cockroaches or cockroaches.
"He's definitely a pervert with a dark heart. That's why he would set up such damned traps. That mage would transform his own residence into a trap."
I did my best to drag down the silly cat that was still biting on my head while being chased by the metal ball as I cursed him.
"Serves him right that nobody loves him. How is this a mage tower? This is obviously a pranking competition."
When we first arrived, the first three floors were quite smooth. But the further we went, the stranger things became.
"Please decipher the formula written in draconic within 20 seconds and obtain the correct number. If you exceed the time limit, the trap will be activated … "
It was nothing more than a six-digit mathematical formula and password deciphering. Mages had high requirements for logical thinking and knowledge, so it was easy to understand. Moreover, we had the demon professor Harloys with us. Such a high-level problem wouldn't be difficult for us!
"… After you obtain the correct number, please sing it in the same tone as the climax of the third act of the 'Oh, Beautiful Sun' opera. Repeat it three times. No more than three trills are allowed, and no more than two mistakes are allowed."
"Damn, Aso's an opera lover? Can you not be so ridiculous!? "
"… 17, 16 …"
From a certain standpoint, the mage tower spirits were also clones of the mages. This voice that was filled with malice made it seem as if someone was waiting to watch a show, which made me feel quite displeased.
"… 34294204242, hurry up and sing! Didn't you obtain his inheritance? "
Harloys quickly dismissed the answer, but when she hurriedly urged me to sing, I could tell that her anxiousness was all fake. Her eyes were filled with delight, as if she was waiting to watch a good show.
"… A magical inheritance isn't a musical inheritance, right? You expect me to sing opera? Screw you! "
"How do you know my sister is a famous singer?"
We didn't even get to say a few words when the host tower spirit arrived.
"… 13, 1, 0!"
"What about the middle count? Can you not be so deceitful? "
Before the silly cat and I could finish retorting at the same time, the malicious-filled tower spirit appeared again.
"Are you complaining about the middle count? At present, the shortest successful time is five minutes and thirty seconds. Even if I give you two minutes, you won't be able to sing it! "
Alright then, at the very least, the game's creator knew that this question would be far too difficult. Or, perhaps I should say that he had no intention of answering it at all. Before we could even finish our idle chatter, the only thing that poured down upon us after the mechanism was activated was an unbearable icy water. But what came after that was even more frightening.
"… A ballet for two people? And we have to jump on a bamboo pole? Does tying a cat to a boot count? "
"… Three shameful past events that can make one cry out of sympathy? Not to mention three, I can even find thirty! What? You want me to perform it in a small theater? Dream on! Go ahead and activate the mechanism. "
"… A crossdressing competition? Only men are allowed to participate? Don't even think about it. Come, what's the mechanism this time? "
"… A tongue twister mixed with multiple languages? Let me do it! No matter if it's the ancient elven language, dragon language, or dwarf language, I have no problem with it! What? A tongue twister mixed with 32 different dialects? Cui Hua, serve the pickled cabbage? F * ck! "
As we walked down this path without any sense of shame, we resolved ourselves to destroy this tower spirit no matter what!
"By the way, is it really that difficult to enter a mage tower in a normal situation?"
"No, in a normal situation, it's either an invader's annihilation mode, or a friend's visit mode. It's obvious that we've activated some strange mechanism."
Everyone looked towards me as they seemed to recall the keyword that I had read out when we first entered.
"Oh, so that string of words is to activate the mage tower's inheritance test … Silly cat, don't bite me!!"
Alright then, my act of pretending didn't work. Everyone looked at me with an expression that said "it's all your fault". The silly cat was becoming more and more skilled at biting me.
"Well, this is a rare opportunity. Since there's a password, it would be great if we could obtain the complete tower."
At first, I thought that it would only be a test on magic knowledge and techniques, or at most a test on one's personality. Since we had Harloys and I on our side, there shouldn't be much difficulty. However, nobody expected that the test would be so "difficult."
Since there was a possibility that we could obtain this tower, I didn't want to use the method of destroying everything in the tower, so I could only slowly play along.
"It's probably a test of adaptability. But since it's a successor test, it shouldn't be something so annoying. After the test of 'intelligence,' there should be a test of 'strength' … "
Before I even finished speaking, the door to the room in front of me opened up. Two three-meter-tall metal golems appeared, buzzing and vibrating. Behind them, the fire elemental pool was also activated, and numerous fire elemental creatures walked out.
Judging from my companions' "passionate" expressions, fine then, I decided to shut up.
"… In order to test your concentration, please sing 'My Sun' as you fight. Otherwise, you'll be infinitely spawning fire elemental creatures."
"Are you done yet? I'm definitely going to tear you apart."
"… Threatening the examiners and increasing the difficulty of the test. Also, I have a name. My previous master gave me the name 'Meteor.' "
Judging from the two other doors that suddenly opened up and the fire elemental creatures behind them, it seemed that this mage tower spirit Meteor wasn't satisfied with our answers.
Mage tower spirits were the result of mages' research on artificial souls. They were typically the mages' most trusted creatures in their own mage towers. They would act as caretakers, research assistants, and even support souls for casting large-scale magic spells. Some mages would even raise their mage tower spirits as their own children or disciples. The quality of a mage tower spirit would directly affect the mage tower's effectiveness.
Judging from my past experience, the great majority of mage tower spirits were just like mechanical answering machines. They would only know a single command and a single action. The higher level a mage tower spirit was, the more human-like it would be. And if a mage tower spirit had its own will and personality, then it would definitely be a top-level mage tower spirit.
This mage tower spirit named Meteor was obviously an extremely top-level mage tower spirit. It seemed that it had a rather lively personality … fine, I should say that it was full of mischief. It actually started cheering us on as it watched us fight.
"… You must reset it."
Suddenly, I seemed to understand why it was becoming more and more difficult for us to advance. Since it was a top-level mage tower spirit with its own will and personality, if we kept cursing its "biological father" as we advanced, it would naturally want to kill us.
"It would seem that I've accidentally caused trouble again."
I took a deep breath and casually pulled the silly cat off my head. I shook my right hand, and a pitch-black magic sword appeared in my right hand.
"For the Lich King!"
I casually shouted the most appropriate battle cry. The pitch-black magic sword gave off a dim shadow, and the sword's blade seemed as transparent as thin ice. This magic sword had already been activated.
Countless shadows appeared on the ground, transforming the entire room into a ghostly realm. Countless shadows took form on the walls, and even elemental creatures that didn't fear instinctively retreated. This wasn't any magic at all. It was merely the sound of a magic sword being unsheathed. This was the power of a top-level weapon … But why did this scene make me feel like I was the antagonist?
"Damn it, Harloys, you leveled up again? Could it be that you changed your job class to Frostmourne? "
"… What's Frostmourne? Isn't my alias Ice Calamity? Did you find another sword behind my back? "
The greatest tragedy in life was that no one would understand one's complaints. Not only that, Harloys sounded just like a heartbroken wife who discovered that her husband was having an affair after hearing her husband divulge his lover's name in his sleep. Just what was the meaning of Harloys' tone and words? After awakening to the consciousness of a pet cat, did Harloys really intend to awaken to the consciousness of a weapon?
"It's all because of you! Stop wasting time. I'm coming. "
If elemental creatures still had the ability to judge their opponent's strength, then these two gigantic metal magic statues would be pure killing machines. Their intelligence wasn't high, and they only had one command and one action. However, this represented their unstoppable will to fight until they were completely reduced to spare parts.
* Clang! *
My magic sword viciously clashed with my iron fists. However, my expectation of being able to slice through metal like it was mud didn't happen. On the contrary, a tremendous force directly sent me flying, and a powerful rebound spread from my right hand to my entire body. I hurriedly took two steps back and stomped on the ground to barely stabilize myself. I almost ended up rolling on the ground like a gourd or a rookie's signature sword.
"How is this possible? My current strength isn't any weaker than a dragon's? "
"… Look at that arm! You're so damn rich!"
Beneath the surface of my magic sword was a dark gold color unique to adamantine. This was actually an unprecedented metal magic statue. This time, even Harloys wanted to call me a wastrel and a damn rich person.
Magic statues were the mages' most commonly used personal guards. It wasn't difficult to create low-level magic statues. All one had to do was assemble some "spare parts" into a body, and then use magical power to activate it so that the low-level artificial soul within it could move. However, whether or not a magic statue would be difficult to deal with would depend on the materials of its "spare parts."
Flesh and blood magic statues were notoriously weak. However, the materials used to create them were easy to obtain, and they were one of the favorites of undead mages. They would be able to create a pile of flesh and blood magic statues. If they were weak individually, they could make up for it with numbers. If they wanted quality, they could even consider combining flesh and blood magic statues together to create a gigantic magic statue.
Stone magic statues were slightly stronger, but clay magic statues had the advantage of not being afraid of physical damage. Sand magic statues were also the natural enemies of physical attack job classes like warriors.
Stone magic statues and flesh and blood magic statues were cannon fodder that could be easily mass-produced. Metal magic statues were the main warriors. Since magic statues had bodies that could be activated, that was to say, the materials used were their flesh and blood. If the flesh and blood were strong and dense, then the magic statues would naturally have powerful bodies.
Iron magic statues were the perfect warriors that were incredibly difficult to deal with. They had tremendous strength, quick reflexes, iron bones, and were immune to mind magic. Mages would often add some small tricks to their magic statues, such as lightning, fireballs, hidden weapons, oil sprays, poisonous mist, and so on.
Even without those fatal traps, the bodies of metal magic statues would become even stronger and their power level would increase exponentially. Of course, the cost of creating metal magic statues would increase as well.
Metal golems required blacksmiths to use the best materials to create their parts. Enchanting the weakest magic-conducting metal could drain a top-level archmage dry, so it would take at least several months to polish. An ordinary metal golem would cost more than ten thousand gold coins, and high-level golems were not for sale.
It was said that back in the immemorial Elven Empire, the Gold Elf royalty used to have mithril magic statues as their guards. Mithril magic statues were existences that were basically immune to magic. They were the natural enemies of mages, and they were also viewed as the symbol of "rich people". But right now, the one before us was even more ridiculous. Even the Gold Elf Princess wanted to call it "rich people" …
"Damn, adamantite! That's an adamantite magic statue! He's really rich! "
Coating a weapon with adamantite would increase the price of that weapon by more than a hundred times. But at the same time, its weight would increase by at least three times. Adamantite didn't have any special properties other than its hardness. Of course, in the eyes of most people, this adamantite's hardness was already at the level of being indestructible.
Adamantite was incredibly expensive, so expensive that it was worth at least a hundred times its weight in gold. When I thought about how the two magic statues before me were actually made out of adamantite, I couldn't help but sigh at the fact that the building's quality wasn't bad at all. I couldn't help but curse in my heart.
"Ptui, how rich! If I sold these two magic statues, I'd be able to build an entire mage tower."
But while I could sigh, the emotionless magic statues wouldn't stop. The higher the quality of the magic statue, the stronger it would be. This three-meter-tall adamantite magic statue could only be considered a small one in the magic statue family, but its brute strength was capable of sending a dragon flying. Its "small size" also gave it high agility and speed. The magic runes on its feet even gave it the ability to increase its speed twice. Although its outer appearance was pitch-black and inconspicuous, it was definitely the deadliest weapon of all.
"Hmph, Avatar One and Avatar Two were the previous tower master's proudest creations. If you don't defeat them, don't even think about obtaining our recognition."
The mage tower spirit Meteor would take advantage of this opportunity to strike me while I was down. But, I was indeed in a bad situation as I was surrounded on both sides by these two magic statues. I once again regretted destroying my tower (or at least my future tower!) because I was worried about the brat Adam. I didn't invite the gold-medal meatshield to help me.
* Clang clang clang! *
Four arms, four legs, and iron fists rained down upon me like a storm. I was beaten so badly that I could only crouch on the ground and defend. Large cracks had already appeared on the Ice Calamity magic sword that Harloys had transformed into, and the recoil from the sword's attacks caused my feet to sink into the ground.
The magic statues' attacks were just that simple and violent. They were purely based on strength and speed. Their punches and kicks were like children fighting, lacking any beauty. However, the adamantite magic statues' punches and kicks made me feel like the entire world was shaking.
"I'm about to shatter! Use the Ice Calamity! The Hibernation Chill is taking too long to take effect! "
Indeed, it didn't matter if the enemy had high physical resistance or magic resistance, as long as they were a product of this world, they would be able to enter a state of absolute zero and be eternally frozen.
"No!"
"Don't worry about keeping it a secret at a time like this. We need to use our trump cards when they're needed!"
"Absolutely not!"
"… Why?"
"If I'm frozen by the Hibernation Chill, I won't be able to unfreeze them. That means I won't be able to sell these two gold mountains for any money!"
"… You bastard who values money more than your life! If you want to die, go ahead! Don't drag me down with you! "
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