Chapter 385: Battle of the Sandbox (5)

The vortex of the blizzard, carrying fragments of snow as hard as rock, smashed head-on into the Progenitor Mage. She hurriedly reinforced her Shield, blocking this wave of attacks from an unknown source.

Thick clouds pressed low upon this land, as if they too had been dragged into the vortex of this blizzard; the mist was pulled even lower, churning within the fog of snow chunks, and the sky and earth blurred into one. She suspected that the place where she stood was more like a mountain peak.

But none of that mattered anymore. The clouds churned and were torn open, revealing a mountain canyon covered in snow, and at that very moment, a massive shadow flashed through the gap.

She shivered, startled by the size of that shadow, which also gave her a vague realization of how Du Zhengyi had launched an attack without leaving any traces of Magic.

It was too late to escape now. A massive head poked out from the vortex of the blizzard. She saw clearly the armor-like scales covering the top of its head, and the pair of enormous ice-blue eyes beneath the helmet were abnormally turbid, as if a thin layer of skin covered the eyeballs, looking filthy and evil. At first, she did not realize she was looking at the thing's mouth, but when it roared, she finally discovered that the row of jagged bones were its teeth, and that purple-black limb as thick as an arm was actually its tongue.

The blizzard, spinning once more, obscured the shadow of this monster, but the attack was already close at hand. Instinctively, she reinforced the Shield raised by her spell. In the span of a single breath, the monster whistled out of the ice and snow vortex, heading straight for her. It extended a massive claw, resembling an eagle's talon, and struck at her, slamming into her transparent Shield at a distance of half a meter in front of her.

The Magic Energy on the Shield surged, delivering a basic electric shock to the monster. The deformed creature let out a roar like thunder, twisted its bloated body, and flapped its enormous wings, stirring up the red clouds and the blizzard beneath them. Its size was like a train; it twisted its body and whistled back behind the clouds on the high mountain. However, this was merely a feint of retreat; before she could even catch her breath, the monster appeared again. This time it attacked from behind her, trying to sneak up on her back.

It seemed its intelligence was not very high, but for an animal, it was cunning enough, especially with its physical advantages as a supplement. After being shocked again, it "drove the train" back behind the blizzard, but she knew it was nearby, lurking in the clouds around her like a nightmare that would not go away.

She now fully remembered what it was; it was also a creature manufactured and collected by the Progenitor Mage. It should be said that it was one of many creatures; she had seen it, but had never paid it any mind, and now she could not recall its serial number, nor did she know much about its physiological habits. As for the whereabouts of these things back then, she would not know in such detail after she was imprisoned. This thing was too large in size and was not among the Seal Beasts she had collected. If someone behind her had collected this kind of monster, stuffed it into a Sandbox, allowed it to survive in the form of a Seal, and then passed the Sandbox down through the generations, this could be considered normal behavior. Perhaps this Sandbox had passed through several hands in the Qionglin, finally belonging to an outstanding Battle Mage, a Gushan Guard; then she had no choice but to accept her bad luck. Seal Beasts were, after all, overused by these Mages. Beyond her resentment, she tasted a hint of bitterness; it was she who had insisted on keeping the Seal Beasts for use back then. She never expected that she would have to face the karma she had planted herself just after gaining her freedom. She also had some ominous premonitions, as if everything would not be as certain as she had hoped. The era had changed; she was like a product left over from an old era.

She recalled the biological data she still remembered. Judging from the appearance of the creature before her, it was suited for living in extremely cold regions. She vaguely remembered that this type of creature hibernated underground during the coldest time of the year. This also explained why she had experienced several earthquakes after arriving here; it must have been awakened and was restless, preparing to break out of its shell.

And also, why Du Zhengyi had let her leave without pursuing her, and even why he himself had disappeared. She could guess how this insect-like creature survived and hunted in freezing places; it likely relied on detecting heat sources in the ice and snow to find its targets. Du Zhengyi had dumped her in the range of this creature's activity; when she turned to flee, he might have simply Teleported further away, making her a large target. And she had stupidly added heat to her surroundings; just as she was keeping herself warm, the second earthquake must have come even more severely.

She certainly wanted to Teleport away like Du Zhengyi, but the part of Luo Qi's brain structure that governed movement was not well-developed compared to a Mage's. His brain put most of its advantages into things like Telepathy, sacrificing a portion of his movement ability. Although Luo Qi might have the best brain she could find in this world today, she had to sacrifice a portion of her own abilities, completely limited by Luo Qi's hardware.

That thing that looked like a train charged down from above again, madly ramming her once, and then a second time... Although her Shield was still maintained, the visual impact of being run over head-on by a train was quite astonishing.

She was furious, wishing she could find Du Zhengyi right now, take his brain, and make him spend the rest of his life drooling.

She watched angrily as that thing "drove the train" and rammed her again. As it kept ramming, her Magic Shield began to suffer wear and tear. Any Magic involved the conversion of energy, and the protective effect of the Magic Shield also required the consumption of her energy. She thought resentfully that not all Mages could be like Du Zhengyi, who had adapted to long periods without using Magic and could still fight under the lowest energy consumption.

Now she also understood why her Dispel Spell could not capture any traces of Magic, because that thing "driving the train" was a biological entity. A biological entity, of course, would not make her Dispel Spell of any use. It was like she was scanning for a high-level form of attack, but Du Zhengyi had sent a mad dog to bite her; until she was bitten, she had never thought that what she would have to deal with was a mad dog. She herself had been calculated by Du Zhengyi and, in turn, had consumed a large amount of energy. She finally understood how Du Zhengyi could still move around as a Battle Mage after his Magic Energy was almost restricted. To Du Zhengyi, he was like someone who had always been fighting a battle against overwhelming odds, but he was a strategic master, dealing with things with ease even under such insufficient conditions.

That irritable creature was still constantly ramming her Shield, and the energy she could use was constantly decreasing. She guessed that Du Zhengyi also had some clever way to monitor this place; he was very good at solving problems in a roundabout way. Once her energy Shield developed a crack, Du Zhengyi would inevitably seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on her. Therefore, she had only one choice: she could only use more energy to deal with this crazy creature and kill it first. But she was also equally worried that this choice was exactly the only choice Du Zhengyi had left for her, and everything was still within his Calculation. If she took this step, she might still be following Du Zhengyi's trap.