Chapter 183

"As for the final Northern Territory, the one most worth noting is Ku Ku Zimo. He is a trainee from the same cohort as us." Mentioning Ku Ku Zimo, a trace of gravity flashed across Dai Dai Lingyang's face: "According to the intelligence we've gathered, Ku Ku Zimo has likely already stepped into the High-Rank King realm."

"He is still a bit inferior compared to Lady Mentor Meng Fei back then. After all, when Lady Mentor Meng Fei graduated, she already possessed the strength of a Peak King realm, only one step away from ascending to the Emperor realm. While Ku Ku Zimo has undergone further training since graduation, and although he is still a hair's breadth away from a Peak King, he cannot be underestimated either," Ou Ou Hanxiang's face also carried a hint of wariness: "If our information is correct, then Ku Ku Zimo is likely the highest-level participant in this Academy War."

Even though Dai Dai Lingyang and Ou Ou Hanxiang's strength was not inferior, they were still hovering at the Mid-Rank King level, while participants at the level of Si Si Xuanang and Xu Xu Xu Zhiyun were even lower, merely at the Early-Rank King level.

As for Ku Ku Zimo, he was a High-Rank King; his strength would inevitably be significantly greater than the average participant.

Of course, someone as special as Lu Li could be considered an additional exception.

"It seems none of them are ordinary characters. I just wonder who I'll run into first." After listening to the introduction from Dai Dai Lingyang and the others, a trace of excitement rose in Lu Li's heart.

Especially regarding Ku Ku Zimo and Yan Yuexin, Lu Li's interest was even heavier.

……

"So you were all here?" Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue arrived beside them carrying food: "It's a coincidence, I was looking for you. The rules for this Academy War have been released."

Hearing Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue's words, everyone subconsciously quieted down.

"You should already know that these ruins are the venue for the Academy War," seeing everyone's gaze turn toward her, Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue began to explain: "The existence of these ruins itself is a special man-made secret realm, and there are many areas within it that have yet to be fully explored."

"However, you don't need to worry. The location for the official Academy War has been set within the Minotaur Labyrinth, which is also one of the few areas in the ruins that has been completely explored."

A labyrinth! Hearing Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue's explanation, everyone showed an interested expression. They really hadn't expected the Academy War to take place inside a labyrinth.

348. The Best Reconnaissance Tool

"Although it bears the name of a labyrinth, the scale of the Minotaur Labyrinth is enough to be described as an underground world," seeing the interest on their faces, Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue continued: "And the entrance to the Minotaur Labyrinth is deep in the southwest of these ruins where we are currently located."

"Within the Minotaur Labyrinth, there exists the Minos clan; they are the guardians and trial-takers living in the Minotaur Labyrinth."

"In other words, this Finish Finish Time we not only have to guard against participants from the other three academies, but also guard against the Minos?" Dai Dai Lingyang couldn't help but click his tongue. It seemed the situation for this year's Academy War was going to be even more complicated.

"That's right!" Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue nodded: "In the upcoming Academy War, what you need to do is reach the final level of the Minotaur Labyrinth, which is the third level, and find the final mission item placed there by Hall Master Changsun."

"However, finding the mission item is only the beginning. Only by successfully bringing the mission item out of the labyrinth can you be considered the winner of the Academy War."

"Once the mission item is intercepted, everything done previously will be in vain."

"At the same Finish Finish Time, there is one most important point in this Academy War: once someone obtains this item, all other participants still in the labyrinth will receive the coordinates of the item holder."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but shudder, as this meant the participant who obtained the item would face a siege from the other three academies!

It was somewhat similar to the youth training tournament held by the Cangdu Magic Card Association back then; Lu Li experienced a sense of déjà vu.

However, compared to the youth training tournament, the battle between the four major academies was undoubtedly of a higher level, and it would certainly be more complex than the youth training tournament.

Finally, Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue reminded them: "Remember, after entering the Minotaur Labyrinth, you will receive a labyrinth mark."

"The labyrinth mark can exempt you from one fatal injury. However, once the effect of the labyrinth mark is triggered, regardless of whether you can still continue fighting, you will be teleported out of the Minotaur Labyrinth."

"And this also means you will lose your qualification to continue participating in the Academy War."

The original intention of the Academy War was merely a competition between the four major academies. Even if the fighting became intense, no loss of life would be allowed, as these were the elites among the elites of the four major academies and even the four major territories of the Ancient Kingdom.

On this point, no matter how much the four major academies were at odds with each other, they had reached a consensus.

……

The next day, Lu Li woke up very early. After tidying up, he followed Si Si Xuanang and the others, trailing behind the leading mentors like Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue, toward the assembly point.

However, he did not see the figure of Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan.

Along the way, the teams from the other three major academies also appeared one after another, also led by Dominator-realm mentors. There was no significant gap between the four major academies in terms of the qualifications and strength of their mentors.

During this Finish Finish Time, Yan Yuexin and Lu Li accidentally made eye contact and nodded to each other, which counted as a greeting.

After all, the two had only met once before, and although they had chatted a couple of times, the situation at that Finish Finish Time had been awkward enough.

Besides that, Lu Li also noticed the young man walking at the very front of the Northern Territory team; the aura radiating from him was a cut above everyone else's.

"If I'm not mistaken, that person should be Ku Ku Zimo…" Lu Li murmured.

"Correct!" Ou Ou Hanxiang, who happened to be standing next to Lu Li, nodded, a trace of caution appearing on her face. This was also her first Finish Finish Time seeing Ku Ku Zimo in person, but with just one glance, she could confirm that the information they had obtained was not wrong.

Ku Ku Zimo had likely already stepped into the High-Rank King realm. However, even so, it didn't mean that they were no match for Ku Ku Zimo; after all, their strength did not form a cliff-like gap compared to his.

Besides, the rules of this Academy War were not about head-on confrontation. If they could reasonably utilize the resources of the labyrinth, they might not necessarily fail to achieve final victory.

The assembly point was in front of a massive stone gate, where the four academy heads, including Changsun Changsun Changsun Xuanjing and Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan, had already arrived a step ahead.

Although there were only five of them, the aura radiated by the five Immortal-realm powerhouses still gave everyone the illusion of facing a thousand troops and horses.

And this was merely the aura they were inadvertently radiating!

This made everyone unable to help but feel a sense of longing; if only they could one day ascend to the Immortal realm, how wonderful that would be.

"Are you all here?" Scanning the participant teams from the four major academies arriving one after another, Changsun Changsun Changsun Xuanjing, Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan, and the others exchanged glances, then stepped forward, their figures appearing at the very front of the teams, slowly floating upward.

Seeing this scene, everyone held their breath.

"Everyone, I believe that after yesterday, you all know that the upcoming Academy War between the four major academies will be held in the Minotaur Labyrinth, and the entrance to the Minotaur Labyrinth is behind this stone gate in front of you." As he spoke, Changsun Changsun Changsun Xuanjing reached out and pointed to the stone gate behind him.

"I won't say any superfluous words. I hope you can have a good performance in the upcoming Academy War." Without any long-winded speech, Changsun Changsun Changsun Xuanjing simply gave an opening statement and then gently gripped the stone gate.

The next moment, a heavy sound came, and the massive stone gate slowly opened under the power of the Immortal realm. An ancient aura rushed toward them, making everyone's spirits stir.

Exchanging glances, everyone entered the world behind the stone gate one after another.

……

"No wonder Mentor Mentor Zhan Tai Mingyue used the term 'underground world' to describe the Minotaur Labyrinth. Although I knew it wasn't simple from the outside, after entering, this space is indeed ridiculously large." Looking around, there were stone walls hundreds of meters high on all sides, engraved with patterns similar to those in the ruins, emitting a faint glow.

And the gap between the stone walls on both sides was even enough to accommodate the hull combat of Glorious and Brest.

Tapping on the stone wall, a heavy echo returned, reverberating in the slightly wide space. Lu Li couldn't help but click his tongue: "…However, I didn't expect the teleportation array at the entrance to be random in nature."

Raising his hand, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon was summoned. Under Lu Li's instruction, the massive black dragon soared into the sky, reaching a height of a hundred meters in an instant. However, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon did not stop, continuing to climb higher.

But no matter how the Red-Eyes Black Dragon climbed, the stone walls of the Minotaur Labyrinth seemed to have a life of their own, also continuously extending upward, always staying a small distance higher than the height the Red-Eyes Black Dragon climbed, giving one a strange sense of space.

Black Flame Bullet!

Seeing this, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon roared, and black flames capable of burning space were sprayed onto the stone walls of the labyrinth, burning continuously.

Like a defensive mechanism, the patterns engraved on the stone walls lit up at this moment, forming a thin, pale white film covering them.

That Black Flame Bullet, capable of annihilating a Seven-Star-level fierce beast, slammed into the film covering the stone wall. No matter how it burned, it had no effect, showing super-strong defensive power.

"Come back, Red-Eyes." Seeing this through the circuit link, Lu Li decisively recalled the Red-Eyes Black Dragon: "A labyrinth is a labyrinth. It seems there are no other shortcuts. I imagine it's the same beneath the earth."

Stomping on the ground beneath his feet, a similarly heavy sound came. Lu Li felt that the material composing this ground was likely not much different from the stone walls.

"If this continues, how much Finish Finish Time will it take to reach the third level of the Minotaur Labyrinth? It really all depends on luck." Thinking of this, Lu Li raised his hand and summoned Glorious.

The ship-girl wearing a white dress appeared from the summoning, bringing a trace of the ocean's moisture to this dry place.

"Glorious, release the carrier-based aircraft. The exploration within the Minotaur Labyrinth from now on will be left to you." Lu Li commanded, looking at the white-haired, blue-eyed ship-girl in front of him.

If it were in the past, before he had created ship-girl magic cards, Lu Li would probably have let Tianlan carry out the exploration. But now that he had ship-girl magic cards, especially an aircraft carrier ship-girl, this was much more convenient.

Carrier-based aircraft were undoubtedly the best reconnaissance tools.

349. Yan Yuexin: Why am I taking the blame?

"Understood, Commander." Facing Lu Li's order, Glorious faithfully executed it.

With a wave of her hand, a large number of carrier-based aircraft circled up under the white-haired ship-girl's summoning. However, unlike usual, this Finish Finish Time the carrier-based aircraft did not enter a combat state, but maintained a small form, like lifelike models.

Then, in Lu Li's gaze, these small carrier-based aircraft flew toward the high sky while gradually fading their figures, and even the noise during flight was reduced significantly.

If one didn't listen carefully, one wouldn't even hear the sound of these carrier-based aircraft flying past. Coupled with the height of hundreds of meters, even a magic card master with relatively strong perception would likely not be able to easily find the location of these carrier-based aircraft.

"Commander, these children can adapt to different environments and switch freely between different aircraft types," noticing Lu Li's gaze, Glorious explained gently: "Because this is a purely reconnaissance operation, this batch of children has all transformed into reconnaissance aircraft forms. Although their combat power is average, their reconnaissance and search range have been maximized."

"Not bad. It seems the choice to leave this reconnaissance task to you was correct." Hearing Glorious's explanation, Lu Li nodded in realization.

In fact, having seen Glorious's previous battles, he had noticed this point, but at that Finish Finish Time the carrier-based aircraft were only switching between bombers and torpedo bombers. This was the first Finish Finish Time Lu Li had seen the reconnaissance form of these carrier-based aircraft.

A series of footsteps sounded, interrupting their conversation, and then several minotaurs holding various weapons appeared in front of the two.

【Minos Warrior】

Race: Beast

Quality: Perfect

Level: Six-Star

Skills: Omitted

There wasn't much difference in appearance from the minotaurs in his memory. The Minos warriors appearing before Lu Li and Glorious were also bull-headed and human-bodied, but these Minos warriors were all wearing armor, and the weapons they held also radiated a biting cold light, all of which indicated that they were not to be trifled with.

Moo!

Seeing Lu Li and Glorious, the Minos warriors roared and brandished their weapons, launching a charge. For the intruders of the Minotaur Labyrinth, these Minos warriors clearly had no intention of communicating.

Stepping forward past Lu Li, on the flight deck held by Glorious, one small carrier-based aircraft after another took off again, then transformed into massive bombers and attacked the Minos warriors.

Boom, boom, boom!

Violent explosions sounded, echoing throughout the labyrinth. Even many participants who had been teleported and scattered far away vaguely heard the bursts of explosions, their eyes showing expressions of astonishment.

Clearly, they hadn't expected that someone would create such a big commotion just after entering the labyrinth. One had to know that the space of the Minotaur Labyrinth was not small. And some participants from the Southern Territory's You Palace couldn't help but suspect whether this commotion was caused by Yan Yuexin.