Chapter 453: The Colossal Golem

Chapter 453: The Colossal Golem

Ren smiled faintly and took a step forward.

However, after barely two steps, Ren felt as if he had entered a faint sensing field of some sort of detection sorcery array. Immediately after, he heard the sound of a mechanism being activated within the two Fury Fist War Golems.

"Unknown intruder detected! (Arcadian)"

"Initiate elimination protocol! (Arcadian)"

Two cold, deep, and mechanical male voices rang out, speaking in the ancient language of Arcadian, which was commonly used by ancient wizards. Ren, of course, understood it.

Despite having been forewarned by Moriah, the sect leader, Ren was still somewhat amazed by the wonders of sorcery constructs.

The craftsmanship displayed by the golems before him was already close to the robot-making standards of his previous life and even surpassed it in certain aspects.

What's more, this was merely the research product of an ancient wizard academy from thousands of years ago.

Standing beside Ren, his thoughts raced, but his hands moved swiftly without hesitation.

"First Rank Sorcery: Metal Transformation!"

"Second Rank Sorcery: Cutting Net!"

"Third Rank Sorcery: Sawtooth Ring!"

"Crystalized Kill Move: Jagged Cut Net!"

As Ren chanted the spells rapidly, three silver metal rings appeared out of thin air in front of each of his hands, emitting a buzzing sound and spinning at high speed.

A total of six silver metal rings flashed forward in an instant. 'Shh! Shh! Shh!'

The two Fury Fist War Golems had just been activated and hadn't even taken a step when they were each pierced through by three silver metal rings in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, the two towering golems, each over eight meters tall, froze in place. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that both golems had been cut in half at the waist.

In total, they were divided into four sections, cut at the neck, the chest where the energy device was located, and the waist. Additionally, due to the precise timing of the cuts, the golems remained in their original posture, leaning against the wall without having activated.

With the wall providing balance, they did not disintegrate.

This sight caused Moriah, standing behind Ren, to pause in surprise.

Apparently, the result was a bit beyond his expectations.

He had just been thinking that Ren was about to transform using his Draconic Bloodline again and was about to remind him.

While the bloodline transformation was incredibly powerful, it was also extremely exhausting for one's physical and mental strength. With a long period of exploration ahead of them, it was crucial to conserve their energy as much as possible.

However, to his surprise, Ren had used a metal-type crystalized kill move that he had never seen before, and its power was abnormally strong, comparable to a fourth-rank Dawn Sorcery.

Such power was extremely rare, even among the crystalized kill moves of other elements that Ren was familiar with.

Defeating a highly defensive Fury Fist War Golem in one move was a bit excessive, even with the enhancement of the Steel Heart Advanced Meditation Technique that Ren possessed.

The only reasonable explanation was that Ren's aptitude for metal-type sorcery might be even higher than Moriah had anticipated.

At that moment, Ren turned around and walked back, smiling as he said, "Sect Leader, I just cut off their energy devices and critical parts. The main structure remains mostly intact, so when the masters of the school's Earth element come next time, they should be able to study it thoroughly."

"Perhaps, even without the blueprints, they can reverse-engineer it from the finished product."

Hearing this, Moriah couldn't help but laugh.

"Ren, you've surprised me once again. I never imagined you could achieve such a level."

"By the way, was that a metal-type crystalized kill move just now?"

"Yes, Sect Leader," Ren replied, noticing Moriah's intense gaze upon him. Suddenly, he remembered that Moriah was also a rare metal-type wizard, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Moriah's thick eyebrows and large eyes didn't give off the impression of someone who would make such a request.

Upon hearing Ren's response, Moriah furrowed his thick eyebrows, deep in thought, as if making a crucial decision. This made Ren feel a bit nervous.

After all, Moriah was the leader of a sect, and if he were to make that request, it would be difficult for Ren to refuse.

"Ren, your talent is like none I've ever seen in my life," Moriah said. "Have you ever considered becoming the sect leader one day in the future?"

"Huh?" Ren's eyes widened in surprise.

Was that what Moriah was thinking about when he looked at him just now?

"Me, a sect leader? But I..."

Moriah waved his hand, saying, "Nothing else matters but strength."

"In the foreseeable future, the empire's situation will become even more turbulent. At that time, a powerful pillar of strength will be especially crucial for the Byss Armory Academy."

"If you agree, the academy's resources, including the proceeds from this exploration, can be directly allocated to you."

"In principle, as long as the school has it, you can directly learn or use it."

Seeing that Ren seemed a bit stunned, Moria patted his shoulder and smiled, saying, "Of course, now is not the time to discuss this. But, Ren, I think you should seriously consider it."

Before Ren could respond, Moria took the lead and walked forward.

Ren also smiled bitterly, shook his head, and followed.

As Moria had said, now was not the time for such a discussion.

Moria first observed the entrance for a while, then began searching around.

It was clear that Moria was very experienced in exploring ruins like this. In less than two minutes, he found a device behind two Fury Fist War Golems, and with a click, the stone door slowly opened a crack.

"Sizzle—"

The stone door slowly revealed a small gap.

"Be careful!"

Suddenly, a radiation ten times stronger than the outer perimeter burst out from the gap, causing the pale green defensive membrane driven by the Ancient Tree Core on both of them to vibrate violently and quickly reach a certain limit.

Fortunately, when the green defensive membrane was less than ten centimeters from their skin, it stabilized.

This startled Ren. Such intense radiation!

No wonder a place like the Valzich Ruins, with the heritage of an ancient grand wizard academy, had no effective solution and could only abandon this academy that had consumed a lot of time and energy.

"Fortunately, Ren, you brought two Ancient Tree Cores. Otherwise, if there was only one, the high-intensity radiation inside would have wasted a lot of our energy."

The scene beyond the door, seen through the gap, shocked both of them, and it took a while for them to recover.

Straight ahead, what should have been a relatively spacious experimental area, once bustling with wizards, now looked like a ruin forgotten by time.

From the entrance, the underground hall extended inward, its floor covered in thick dust.

On the walls, there were traces of scorching, radiating heat from some kind of hot metal flow explosion.

Near the entrance, one could still vaguely see over ten damaged experiment tables and a pile of deformed experimental utensils, destroyed by the explosion.

Deeper inside, within Ren's line of sight, most of the area resembled fragments or powder, completely unrecognizable.

On the left and right sides of the door were two deep corridors leading to unknown areas.

However, based on the typical layout of wizard academies, these areas were likely to be the warehouse, library, and living quarters.

"The explosion must have occurred in the experimental area right in front of us. Its power exceeded my imagination, and I doubt anything in this area could have survived."

"Then, let's go to the warehouse on the left first." Moria decided after a moment's thought.

"Mhm," Ren agreed without objection.

From Moria's tone, it seemed he had already gained some preliminary knowledge of the Valzich academy's layout from the wizards' remains.

Additionally, if there were any findings, the most likely places would be the data room or warehouse outside the explosion's core area.

Thus, the two stepped into the dusty, radiation-filled area, one after the other.

Please...collect...book...6...9...!

However, as they entered, the sight of explosion marks and shattered ruins, creating an atmosphere that could suffocate and drive ordinary people to madness, made Ren feel a bit depressed.

"It should be right ahead."

"Huh? The dust removal sorcery array here seems to still be functioning." There was surprise in Moria's voice.

Ren looked down, and indeed, the marble floor in this corridor was spotless, in stark contrast to the dusty ground they had just walked on, which felt like stepping on cotton.

"But the dust removal sorcery array is simple to draw and requires minimal energy to operate. It's normal for it to still be functioning." Moria pondered aloud.

"Ren, from now on, we need to be more careful. Perhaps, even in the core area, some defense or alert sorcery arrays might still be active."

"Okay, Master," Ren nodded in agreement.

Caution rarely goes wrong.

The defensive sorcery arrays of ancient wizard academies might have strange countermeasures against enemies. It's best to be cautious, even with the advantage of bloodline transformation.

There were only a few doors on both sides of this corridor.

Soon, Moria and Ren reached the first door, located on the right side of the corridor, half-open, with a sign in Arcadian that read 'Library Reading Room'.

Ren's heart leaped with joy at the thought that had crossed his mind before arriving. He had wondered where the fourth layer of the Iron Heart Advanced Meditation Technique was most likely to be preserved, and the most probable location was the library reading room.

However, as Ren peered through the door crack, his joy turned to disappointment in an instant. The sight before him extinguished the joy that had just surged within him, lasting less than a second.

The room was filled with densely packed bookshelves, but at this moment, they were all neatly toppled to the left.

Apparently, due to its proximity to the blast zone, a large section of the right wall had been completely penetrated, almost connecting the room to the testing area.

On the ground were scattered various ancient scrolls, hardback books, and metal-bound tomes.

With a somber expression, Ren quickly approached and tried to pick up a scroll, but to his surprise, the parchment crumbled like flour between his fingers without him applying any force.

Moriah also bent down to retrieve a metal-bound ancient book, but to her astonishment, it too disintegrated into powder, leaving only a few rusted metal fragments that hadn't completely shattered.

"Alas, what a pity," Moriah sighed with disappointment. "These ancient texts have been exposed to high-intensity radiation for thousands of years, causing the material to dry out and deteriorate completely."

Unwilling to give up, Ren ventured deeper into the room.

Typically, wizard academies would use magical tools like memory crystals to preserve more important information.

Logically, there was still a slim chance that some records could have survived such intense radiation.

As Ren reached the back of the room, he found that the farthest cabinets had also toppled over, and the floor was littered with shattered crystals, indicating that they had been damaged.

"Let's move on to the adjacent room," Moriah suggested with regret in her voice.

Ren shared her disappointment, not only for the Iron Heart Advanced Meditation Technique but also for the ancient wizardry knowledge before them.

It was evident that if these scrolls and books were intact, the 'old scholars' from the wizard academy would surely find great value in them.

After all, the saying 'technology is the primary productive force' from his previous life could be adapted to this world as 'sorcery experiments are the primary productive force.'

So, the two continued down the corridor, and on the left side, they encountered a door.

This door brought a glimmer of hope to both Ren and Moriah.

It was located further away from the blast zone compared to the previous room, and the door was closed, suggesting that the contents inside might still be relatively intact. The sign on the door, written in Arcadian, read 'Warehouse.'

If the library was the most likely place for the Advanced Meditation Technique, then this was the second most probable location.

Moriah first inspected the door and then retrieved an antique brass key from her bag. She inserted it into the lock, and as a faint mechanical sound echoed, the key seemed to undergo a rapid transformation to fit the current lock.

"Click!"

The door opened.

Moriah slowly pushed it open, but the next moment, she froze in her tracks!

Ren followed her gaze through the open door. Although the room was dimly lit, almost pitch-black, his dark vision allowed him to see the scene behind the door clearly.

Before them was a spacious hall, several dozen meters high, with two levels connected by a stone spiral staircase. They were currently on the upper level and needed to descend to reach the lower one.

But what shocked Ren the most was not the hall itself.

In the front area of the hall stood an enormous golem, towering over thirty meters tall. Unlike the stone bodies of the two Fury Fist War Golems they had encountered earlier, this golem seemed to be made entirely of a dark-colored metal, emitting a faint metallic luster. Behind it were four massive pipes resembling train whistles.

For a moment, Ren thought he had stumbled upon a Transformer Golem.

Moriah, upon entering the hall, couldn't take her eyes off the colossal golem.

"This... This is incredible!" Moriah, the leader of a sect, was so overwhelmed that her words came out incoherent.

Before she could finish her sentence, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out.

"Intruders detected!" it announced in Arcadian.

The next moment, two human-sized red lights flashed on the head of the golem, which stood over thirty meters tall in front of them.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end