Alice's face dropped. She immediately attempted to retreat into the distance without hesitation.
However, her feet wouldn't move despite struggling several times.
Alice looked down, and her expression became even more solemn.
She didn't know when, but her red deer hide boots were once again covered in ice and frost.
Just then, a blazing stream of crimson fire blasted from above her head, forcefully deflecting the whistling blades of ice.
Ice and snow clashed right above Alice's head. The waves of heat and cold surged all over her body, causing her tremendous agony. One moment she felt like she had been thrown into a furnace, and the next her body shivered from the cold.
However, the Infernal Tyrant's ability was more than enough to dominate a newly advanced adept like Snowlotus. Soon, the contact point of the flames and the ice started to push back towards Snowlotus.
The Dancer of Ice and Frost went pale as she continued to channel her powers. She glared at Alice. Her prey was right in front of her, yet she could do nothing about it. Snowlotus turned to leave, giving up on this pointless battle!
The Infernal Tyrant's stream of fire immediately gained the advantage. It vaporized the ice crystals in the air and crashed against the Ice Wall that Snowlotus had set up in her retreat. When the fire finally melted the ice and spread to the wooden door behind it, Snowlotus was nowhere to be found.
"Dammit, I can't let her escape! After her!" Alice had the Tyrant melt the ice on her feet and hastily gave an order to the Tyrant.
With the Tyrant in front and Alice behind the golem, the two of them chased after Snowlotus by tracing the cold aura in the air.
However, just as the three were engaged in the pursuit and ravaging the arcane halls of the ground floor, something happened. The Tower trembled as if some subtle change had occurred.
At this moment, it wasn't just Alice and Snowlotus that stopped their fighting. All the candidates at the bottom of the Tower had finished as well. They examined and looked for any changes around them with caution written all over their faces.
The ones that managed to survive until now were either strong people or lucky ones. All of them were extremely perceptive to any changes in fate that could affect their futures. Right now, a dense aura of destiny filled the entire Tower. Their prided intuition and fate senses were frantically warning them.
It was as if... there was some terrifying, unknown danger slowly marching towards them!
"What happened? Why can't I sense my future anymore?"
"Yeah, my divination spells seem to no longer work."
"Something's wrong. It's like someone is manipulating us from behind."
"What should we do?"
The fierce enemies that had just been tearing into each other a moment earlier all hesitated. Without fate's guidance, none of them knew what to do next or where to go.
A blinding white light appeared beneath the candidates' feet during their flash of panic. A semi-translucent runic array appeared and engulfed everyone within its radius.
The weaker candidates didn't even have a chance to struggle. They all disappeared into the white light. Only five or six of the witches managed to break free of the array and were not teleported away.
"Short-distance teleportation arrays?" Alice mumbled to herself after breaking free of the runic array with the Tyrant's help.
The energy aura surging through the array was very familiar to Alice. It was the unique frequency of spatial teleportation.
Someone had initiated spatial teleportation within the Tower. That meant that someone had obtained part of the authority over the Tower's controls. This news was not a good thing from any perspective!
Perhaps it was indeed time to have a truce with the other two and do away with this mysterious competitor first.
Alice started to contemplate this possibility as she led the Tyrant toward the next floor of the Tower.
She sensed it very clearly. All the candidates that had been teleported away had gathered somewhere upstairs. The mysterious candidate was scheming something in doing this; she did not mean well. Most likely, the girl wanted to interrupt Alice, Sofia, and Snowlotus' hunt.
It could not be allowed! It didn't matter what the mysterious girl's intentions or plans were. They could not be allowed to come to fruition. Otherwise…
The other witches that hadn't been transported believed the same as Alice. They paused for a second before following different paths and making their way toward the second level.
…………
Everyone that had been teleported felt their vision go black.
However, they quickly regained sight before they could panic.
The silence in the air broke. A tide of clamoring noise came from all around the group.
That was the sound of cheering, loud as crashing waves. The noise ferociously dug into their ears. When everyone finally got used to the blinding light and the deafening cheers, they lifted their heads and saw where they were.
It was a large plaza!
No, more accurately, this was a filled arena. And the candidates were like pigs and lambs to be slaughtered for the entertainment of the audience.
The light from above was far too intense. The glare made it impossible for them to see the faces of the audience. Still, all the candidates already knew that those weren't actual people, but images projected through the use of magic!
Although no one knew what was going to happen next, the intense feeling of danger in their hearts sent a clear signal to them: death was inevitable if they stayed here!
"I am not going to wait around in this place!" A witch took out a flying broom from her storage tool and took to the skies as she shouted.
Not all adepts knew flying or teleportation spells. If there was no such spell in their innate elementium talent, flying brooms and magic carpets were the next best alternative.
The other witches also had similar tricks up their sleeves. However, most of them were extremely cautious. Now that someone was testing the waters, the witches suppressed their desire to escape and watched the reckless witch that flew further and further into the sky.
There was no chance the enemy would let them escape so easily after transporting them here.
Everyone was smart enough to know this. However, only a few were able to bear the intense pressure and act according to logic in this moment of danger! Most witches would act like this witch, controlled by their fear and moving without hesitation.
As expected, a blinding electrical blast came from the skies under everyone's watchful gaze. The witch fell like a stone, smashing a tiny crater into the ground.
Her body had been thoroughly charred black. Even her robe had shredded into ribbons under the force of the electric currents.
"Let's drag her back and treat her! We might need her help later." A witch with a sinister appearance gave out an order like that.
Most of the people gathered here were apprentices. Two of them immediately went out and grabbed the witch. They then had her drink potions and healed her with plant-attribute healing spells. In the end, they managed to save the witch.
As the apprentices were busy doing this, the eleven other witches had gathered together and silently looked at the stands. They were not sure, but they all had a feeling. The wicked person behind all this was hiding within these projections, quietly enjoying everyone's struggle and agony.
"I have tried. We can't teleport out of here." A witch said resentfully.
"We can't leave through the ground either!" Another witch added.
"It seems the only way out is through force," The witch with the sinister appearance grit her teeth and spoke, "But before we act, all of us here must swear with the cruelest of curses! We are not to fight among ourselves until we get out of this goddamned place!"
"Naturally!"
"I agree!"
"Agreed!"
The gates of the arena in the distance suddenly opened as they discussed the issue at hand
.
Metallic clanging rang out throughout the field, and row after row of metal animated statues marched out of the gates with uniform steps. They pressed on like a wall composed of metal.
Ten steel statues stood in a row. There were ten rows in total. That meant that their enemies were a total of a hundred steel statues.
All of the witches and apprentices paled with fear!
Chapter 364 Gruesome Battle
Steel statues.
As the name implied, these were humanoid constructs of steel.
These steel statues were often three and a half meters tall and around 2,200 kilograms in weight.
They had humanoid forms forged from steel. The surface of their bodies was smooth and reflected the lights from above. Complex runic circuits and patterns were engraved on their metallic shells. The chest of the statues appeared to be extremely wide, a design feature to better protect the control and energy cores within their bodies.
Their attack and defense relied upon the giant tower shield in their left hand and the giant sword in their right hand. That said, these monsters were still shocking fighters with their bare fists.
Creating a statue golem was unquestionably a difficult task. The cost of the materials was expensive. The process was strict and required high precision. It took a lengthy period of time, money, and resources. Sometimes it would even take several dozen adepts and apprentices working together to create these steel statues. Moreover, the final stage of animating these golems also required the existence of a high-grade adept to awaken the constructs.
These strict conditions caused the steel statues to be expensive products that only large adept organizations could afford. An army of steel statues like this one could not come into being without the support of a massive energy pool reserve as well as plenty of money.
Today, this ragtag group of witches and apprentices would have to fight this frightening army. They were falling apart at the very thought of it!
The weak magical attacks of the apprentices were not even going to be able to pierce through the golem's thick, magic resistant shells. Moreover, their fragile bodies would not be able to endure the opponent's heavy blades, regardless of the defensive spells they cast on themselves.
This… how was a battle like this supposed to go on?!
The witches and apprentices had lost all confidence even before the fight!
However, there was no surrender or escape in this fight. The group forcefully gathered together and prepared for a cooperative battle to the death.
They could see that none of the three favored ones were amongst them. It meant that there were still reinforcements outside of this unique battlefield. Those people might not want to save them, but if they tried to stop the person behind this, they would have to interfere with her plan to slaughter all these witches.
This thought was the only thing keeping the party together!
The entire arena was two hundred meters wide and five hundred meters long. It had more than enough space for the statues and the witches. However, the wall of steel that pressed towards them greatly restricted the witches' space. They could only move around one-third of the arena's space.
Moreover, this space gradually shrank as the army of steel continued to march forward.
"Hold them back. Hold the army back. We cannot let them continue to walk forward," A witch shouted, "Everyone who knows Swamp and Quicksand, throw it at their feet now."
The chaotic and scattered group finally organized when someone took command.
Intense elementium flux radiated in the air. One after another, the spells and halos landed in front of the steel statues.
The ground of the arena was rough and hard black dirt. That said, it wasn't enhanced with any magical protection. The first wave of attacks from the witches immediately took effect. The black soil spontaneously turned into soft quicksand and dirty swamps filled with mud and acid.
The first row of steel statues was still attempting to walk forward, but their thick metal legs had stuck into the swamps. In fact, their weight also forced them to sink deeper and deeper into the ground.
However, the statues appeared to be controlled by someone.
The second row of statues stopped at the edge of the swamps and quicksand. They sheathed their metal swords and took out short metal spears from their backs.
"Prepare to dodge."
"Be careful of their thrown spears."
The witches began shouting when they saw what was coming.
Their voices were overwhelmed by the ear-piercing whistle of the spears as they sailed through the air.
Phew, phew, phew.
Ten long, metal throwing spears, a meter long and thick as an egg, whizzed through the air. They pierced into the witches' formation with piercing dynamic force.
Their battle plan was crude, and their attack was simple. However, it was very effective.
The metal spears pierced two apprentices that hadn't managed to dodge in time and pinned them to the ground. Although they missed the vitals and didn't cause instant death, the apprentices were still immobilized when the spears pierced through their legs or shoulders.
They endured the intense pain and called for help, but the reinforcing apprentices were unable to remove the deeply embedded spears even with all their strength.
The scream of yet another apprentice caused everyone's heart to wither, even as panic and chaos still engulfed them.
"Be careful. The statues are still throwing spears."
This time, it wasn't just the statues in the second row.
The third row of steel statues had arrived. They too switched to their metal throwing spears, and twenty fearsome projectiles launched at the witches.
Phew, phew, phew.
The slightly panicked formation ultimately fell into chaos after this wave of attacks.
The powers of the witches meant that their defensive spells were unlikely to be breached by such simple physical attacks. However, the apprentices didn't have such power. They became the most significant victims in this storm of steel and metal.
Aside from one unfortunate apprentice who was hit directly in the head, seven apprentices had been pinned to the ground.
The arena swelled with their pleading and agonizing cries for help!
This scene was a massive, torturous blow for the apprentices that had yet to be hurt. They ran around, not knowing what to do as they took out all sorts of magical tools. They took out everything and anything they had and used them in hopes of increasing their defense. They cast every single spell they knew of that could protect them from physical attacks.
"We can't just be sitting targets like this," The sinister-looking witch shouted, "Attack. Quick, attack; use every means at your disposal. Counterattack now…"
The witches and apprentice seem to have broken out of their panic with her yelling. They immediately started chanting spells or taking out seeds, bones, and other casting materials from their storage tools.
The witches' counterattack landed on the steel statues after a few seconds.
Several seeds dug into the ground once they landed. A short moment later, the earth split apart, and dust was sent flying into the sky. Vines as thick as a child's arm reached out from underground and lashed at the statues like giant serpents.
Hiss.
The rapidly growing buds on the roots of the plants quickly amassed together amid a weird hissing sound. The roots and vines turned into odd mouths that started biting and gnawing away at the bodies of the steel statues. Pungent acid dripped out of their green mouths as they bit the figures. Smoke rose to the skies when the acid landed on the metallic shells of the golems.
A dense rain of bone spikes fell upon the statues as the plant creatures entangled them.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
The sharp bone spikes exploded on the sturdy bodies of the statues and splintered into pieces of bone. Sadly, they did no visible damage to the figures, other than leaving white spots on their armor.
However, the witches had none of these!
That said, the twisting vines did indeed successfully throw the army's formation into disarray. The intensity of the fight between the plant monsters and the metallic golems was breathtaking.
Three steel statues had already fallen in a shroud of black smoke with the harassment of the vines and the combined attacks of several witches.
The emboldened witches immediately summoned more elementium creatures to fight against the statues. It didn't matter if they couldn't hurt their enemies; they could still cause chaos to the enemy ranks.
While the first three rows of statues were dragged into a chaotic fight, the two rows of figures behind them had been smart enough to flank to the left and right. It appeared they intended to wrap around the swamp and continue their assault. Metal spears continued to shower down against the witches.
The two parties fought with all they had with a small swamp of twenty meters to keep them apart.
The witches ran around and panted as they chanted their spells with trembling voices. They hurled acid balls at the joints of the statues and tried their very best to dodge the thrown spears.
Fifty witches dodged spears and counterattacked within a small space of less than a hundred and thirty square meters. Everyone was busy fighting. At the same time, the apprentices fell all around them, pinned to the ground by the thick, heavy spears.
A frail and mysterious girl wrapped in a black cloak walked through the bloody battlefield amidst the chaos.
It was strange. Extremely strange!
The chaos of the battle was a stark contrast to her calmness. It felt so out of place. However, she still walked at her own pace, passing by the frantic apprentices one by one.
All of a sudden, she stopped and squatted beside an apprentice that had been pinned to the ground by a spear in her right shoulder. The apprentice's voice had gone entirely hoarse from crying in agony. Blood stained her entire body. She no longer had the strength to call for help.
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