Chapter 432

Realizing that it had reached the end of its rope, all defenses were stripped layer by layer, and even the "truth" it relied on to hide was coldly dissected.

The will aggregated within the sphere erupted with the final, and most pure, malice in desperate madness.

It no longer maintained that grand and cold appearance, nor did it make weak pleas.

A violent intent mixed with endless resentment, fear, and self-destructive tendencies, like the final bite of a dying poisonous snake, fiercely "stared" at Jie Ming, who had just obtained the highest authority and was preparing for further operations:

"Die together!!!"

"Hearing" this declaration that exploded directly in the depths of his soul, Jie Ming's heart alarm rang wildly!

Almost the moment the opponent's will changed, he smelled the crazy aura of perishing together.

Without any hesitation, he interrupted all operation commands, his figure retreated violently, his mental power sprayed out instantly, and various protective means he had prepared long ago were superimposed several more layers.

However, these protective means were still of no use in front of the opponent.

For the core of a time paradox generator, when it disregards everything, even abandoning all other functions, the "final means" it can mobilize are faster than conventional reactions.

Jie Ming only felt that the surrounding world underwent violent distortion.

The temple, light, air, and even the texture of space itself appeared to bend like a spiral, which meant that the "existence logic" at a more fundamental level was forcibly rewritten.

His retreat movement had not yet been completed, and his whole person was captured by a "shearing" force originating from the time rules themselves, and then was fiercely "thrown" out by this force that could be called irresistible!

Almost at the same moment Jie Ming was forcibly thrown into an unknown time branch, the core time branch world where the sphere was located.

Space seemed to be cut open by a sharp blade, and a pitch-black crack with rich starlight flowing on the edges tore open again.

The Star-Caster Artelius stepped out of the crack, his gray robe fluttering, and the usual peace on his face was replaced by a trace of rare solemnity.

His gaze swept across the huge mechanical sphere before him instantly.

At this time, the energy wires on the surface of this sphere were dim and the flow was sluggish.

Most importantly, just now, the macroscopic "system defense mechanism" and "active defense will" that had been wrestling with him and resisting stubbornly actually retreated actively at that moment.

The opponent not only retracted all power back to the sphere core at that moment, but even abandoned control over other areas, which also allowed him to break free.

Combined with the abnormally violent time rule disturbance that had just subsided on the surface of the sphere, as well as Jie Ming's still-existing aura and completely disappeared figure...

Artelius's eyes froze, realizing what had happened.

"Damn it!"

He whispered, his figure blurred instantly, and the next moment he appeared in front of the mechanical sphere that had lifted all firewalls.

His powerful mental power poured into the interior of the sphere like a domineering torrent!

The sphere at this moment, after losing its autonomous defense system and firewall, was like a giant stripped of all armor and weapons.

It had a huge shell and energy, but lost the most critical "combat will" and "defense commands."

The mental power of the Tier 8 wizard Artelius drove straight in almost without obstruction, quickly took over the highest authority, and began to violently search and analyze massive data flows.

His goal was quite clear: prioritize finding the logs and operation records of that "final defense protocol" or "emergency disposal procedure."

"Hope it's in time..." Artelius muttered in his heart, but his movements were as fast as a phantom, countless silver runes flowed at his fingertips, submerged into the sphere, accelerating the extraction and cracking of information.

He knew very well the trouble of time-type abilities.

For existences trapped in branch lines with different time flow rates, one instant in the main world might have passed days, months, or even longer inside.

Every second of delay might mean huge risks for Jie Ming inside.

Soon, he locked and extracted information related to that "final protocol" that had just been triggered from the complex data sea of the sphere.

When he saw the name of the protocol, the mechanism of action, and the preset parameters of the target branch world, Artelius's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and he even breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately..." he whispered to himself, a trace of realization flashing in his eyes, "If it's this... that little guy might suffer some hardships, but with the ability he has shown... he shouldn't die."

He also realized at this moment why this "defense protocol" could be successfully triggered under his containment.

Because although the defense means stimulated by this defense protocol were very special, its own threat and aggressiveness were not rated the highest among the sphere's many defense means.

Artelius had subconsciously relaxed the constraints on such "non-lethal" trap protocols slightly when he was fully suppressing its aggressive defenses before.

Unexpectedly, this gave the desperate sphere will the opportunity to launch this final "perish together" move.

This thing used most of its remaining power and authority to activate and strengthen this "defense protocol," intending to trap or exhaust Jie Ming, this "key breaker," to death inside.

"Really troublesome, this thing actually gave up control of that world directly... there is no way to pull people back directly from this..." Artelius cast his gaze toward the depths of the sphere, as if he could penetrate the metal shell and see the time branch that had been activated.

The silver runes at his fingertips flowed faster, starting to look for clues related to that time branch world.

As long as there were clues, he could pull people out directly.

"Little guy, hold on." he thought silently, "With your strength, you should be able to hold on in the face of such a test..."

Jie Ming only felt a dizzying spin, and when his vision refocused, he was already in a completely different "place."

It was still the background of the temple, but dilapidated, rough, and primitive.

The stone walls were bare, not only without those precise energy wires, but also without any weird rune marks, only natural cracks left by time erosion.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and decay, as if it had been forgotten for millions of years.

"This is..." Jie Ming's heart sank, and he immediately understood that he had been tricked.

He had been forcibly sent into another completely unfamiliar time branch world by the sphere will at the last moment!

This was likely one of the final traps it preset to imprison or eliminate invaders.

Thoughts turned, but the body's reaction was faster.

Because of the previous stress reaction, almost the same moment he landed and saw the environment clearly, he deployed all the multi-layered protective means he had been preparing!

Multi-element resistance energy shield, distortion deflection force field, soul protection barrier...

The combined protective system was superimposed layer by layer, protecting him tightly.

And just the moment he landed and appeared—the attack came.

A dark golden beam of light shot out from the shadows in the depths of the temple without warning, shooting straight at Jie Ming's brow!

The speed was extreme, almost the moment it appeared, it had arrived in front of Jie Ming!

The next moment, the multi-layered defense system he had carefully constructed, capable of withstanding the bombardment of ordinary Tier 5 wizards, was like fragile glass in front of that dark golden beam of light condensed to the extreme!

Pfft, pfft, pfft, crack—!

The shield shattered, the force field annihilated, and the soul barrier trembled and cracked!

All defenses only blocked that beam of light for an insignificant moment before collapsing completely!

The fatal sense of crisis made Jie Ming's hair stand on end.

At the critical moment of life and death, Jie Ming squeezed out all his potential.

Relying on the moment of delay by the defense system, just the moment the dark golden beam of light was about to touch his body, the light of the Five-Aggregates Transformation Rainbow Mirror in his dantian flourished!

Light transformation!

His figure suddenly became illusory, and his whole person turned directly into a pure and hazy light.

At the same time, the dark golden destructive beam of light intersected with his body after "light transformation."

With the help of the characteristics of light itself, Jie Ming's body after light transformation did not suffer heavy damage after being passed through by the light.

But the terrifying power contained in the dark golden light still made him feel uncomfortable.

Jie Ming felt as if he were in the center of a violent energy furnace, and every inch of his "light-transformed" body was bearing unimaginable pressure and burning.

He gritted his teeth, relying on the primordial spirit of the Soul Transformation Stage to control his own state, and forcibly stabilized the "light transformation" form.

At the same time, he also "anchored" himself at the current position tightly, without escaping as he had done in the past.

Not only because the true range of this time branch world was not large, and acting randomly might likely lead to new traps, but also because this attack was too weird and too familiar, he had to see the source clearly!

The energy of the dark golden beam finally dissipated slowly.

As the light converged, Jie Ming staggered and lifted the light transformation state, and his re-condensed figure fell back to the ground.

His face was slightly pale, obviously the confrontation just now consumed a lot.

But he couldn't care about adjusting his breath, and immediately raised his head, instantly locking onto the direction from which the attack came—the depths of the temple, that thickest shadow.

There, a figure was slowly putting down the raised finger.

A slender and well-proportioned figure, a simple gray wizard robe, and that handsome face...

Jie Ming's pupils contracted violently at this moment, his heart seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, and he subconsciously licked his lips: "Hey, hey, hey... this joke is a bit too big..."

When he felt that move just now, Jie Ming actually had expectations in his heart, but he was still shocked when he truly saw it.

That face was incomparably familiar and incomparably strange to him.

Those brows, those contours, the mental fluctuations faintly emitted, and the energy characteristics emitted by that move just now...

No matter from which angle, using what kind of perception to probe...

Standing in the shadow, having just launched a fatal blow at him, was actually...

Another Jie Ming!

(End of chapter)