Chapter 184

"As for the final Northern Territory, the most noteworthy is Kou Zimo, who is a returning student from our same grade." Mentioning the final Kou Zimo, a trace of gravity flashed on Dai Lingyang's face. "According to the intelligence we gathered, Kou Zimo has probably stepped into the High-Tier King Realm."

"He is still a bit worse than Hall Master Meng Fei back then. After all, when Hall Master Meng Fei graduated, she possessed the strength of the Peak King Realm, only one step away from promoting to Emperor." Ou Hanxiang's face also carried a hint of wariness. "If our information is correct, then Kou Zimo is probably the contestant with the highest level in this Academy Battle."

Even though Dai Lingyang and Ou Hanxiang's strength was not bad, they were still only hovering in the Mid-Tier King Realm, while contestants at the level of Si Xuanang and Xu Zhiyun had an even lower level, only being Low-Tier Kings.

And Kou Zimo was a High-Tier King; his strength was bound to be much stronger than the average contestant.

Of course, someone as special as Lu Li counted as an extra example.

"It seems none of them are ordinary characters. I just don't know who we will encounter first." After listening to the introduction from Dai Lingyang and the other, a hint of excitement also rose in Lu Li's heart.

Especially toward Kou Zimo and Yan Yuexin, Lu Li's interest was a bit heavier.

"So you were all here?" Zhan Tai Mingyue also came to the side of the group with food. "It just so happens I was looking for you. The rules for this Academy Battle have already been released."

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

"You should already know that this ruin is the location where the Academy Battle is held." Seeing the gazes of the group look over, Zhan Tai Mingyue introduced: "The existence of this ruin itself is a special artificial secret realm, and there are quite a few places within it that have not yet been explored."

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

A labyrinth! Hearing Zhan Tai Mingyue's explanation, everyone showed an interested expression. They really didn't expect the Academy Battle to be held 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 the faces of the group, Zhan Tai Mingyue continued: "And the entrance to the Minotaur Labyrinth is deep in the southwest of this ruin where we are located."

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

"In other words, this time we not only have to guard against contestants from the other three great academies, but also guard against the Minos?" Dai Lingyang couldn't help but smack his lips. It seemed the situation for this Academy Battle was even more complicated.

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

"However, finding the quest item is only the beginning. Only by successfully bringing the quest item out of the labyrinth can it be considered a victory in the Academy Battle."

"Once the quest item is intercepted, everything done before will be in vain."

"At the same time, there is one most important point in this Academy Battle: once someone gets this item, all other contestants still in the labyrinth will receive the coordinates of the item holder."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but tense up. After all, this meant that the contestant who obtained the item would face the siege of the other three great academies!

It was somewhat similar to the Youth Training Tournament held by the Cangdou Magic Card Association back then; Lu Li had a sense of déjà vu.

However, compared to the Youth Training Tournament, the competition between the four great academies was undoubtedly of a higher level, and it would certainly be more complicated than the Youth Training Tournament.

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

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

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

The original intention of the Academy Battle was just a competition between the four great academies. Even if the fighting became intense, human casualties would not be allowed. After all, these were the elite of the elite of the future of the four great academies, and even the four great territories of the Ancient Kingdom.

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

The next day, Lu Li woke up very early. After tidying up, he went with Si Xuanang and the others, following behind the team-leading mentors like Zhan Tai Mingyue, to the assembly point.

However, he did not see Wen Xiuyuan's figure.

Along the way, the teams from the other three great academies also appeared one after another, also led by Sovereign Realm mentors. There was not much gap between the four great academies in terms of the qualifications and strength of the mentors.

During this 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 this, and although they had chatted a few words, the situation at that time was awkward enough.

Besides that, Lu Li also noticed the young man walking at the very front of the Northern Territory team. An aura that surpassed everyone else radiated from his body.

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

"Correct!" Ou Hanxiang, who happened to be standing next to Lu Li, nodded, a hint of gravity appearing on her face. This was also her first time seeing Kou Zimo in person, but with just one glance, she could be certain that the information she had obtained back then was not wrong.

Kou Zimo had probably stepped into the High-Tier King Realm, but even so, it didn't mean that they were not Kou Zimo's opponents. After all, their strength did not form a disjointed gap with the other party.

Besides, the rules for this Academy Battle were not a head-on confrontation. If they could reasonably utilize the resources of the labyrinth, they might not necessarily be unable to achieve the final victory.

The assembly point was in front of a huge stone gate. The four Prefects, including Changsun Xuanjing and Wen Xiuyuan, had already arrived a step earlier.

Although there were only five people, the aura radiated by the five Undying Realm powerhouses still gave everyone the illusion of facing an army of thousands.

And this was merely the aura unintentionally radiated by a few people!

This also made everyone couldn't help but have a longing. If they could also promote to the Undying Realm one day, how good would that be.

"Are you all here?" Scanning the participating teams from the four great academies that were arriving one after another, Changsun Xuanjing, Wen Xiuyuan, and the others looked at each other, then stepped out, their figures appearing at the very front of the team, slowly floating up.

Seeing this scene, everyone held their breath.

"Everyone, I believe that after yesterday, you all already know that the upcoming Academy Battle between the four great 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 she spoke, Changsun Xuanjing pointed to the stone gate behind her.

"I won't say any superfluous words. I hope you can have a good performance in the upcoming Academy Battle." Without any long-winded speech, Changsun Xuanjing only gave a simple opening remark before gently gripping the stone gate.

The next moment, a heavy sound came. Under the power of the Undying Realm, the huge stone gate slowly opened, and an ancient aura rushed toward them, making everyone's spirit shake.

Looking at each other, everyone entered the world behind the stone gate one after another.

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

And the interval between the stone walls on both sides was even enough to accommodate Glorious and Brest to unfold their hulls for battle.

Knocking on the stone wall, a heavy echo came, and echoes reverberated in the somewhat spacious space. Lu Li couldn't help but smack his lips: "... However, I didn't expect that the teleportation array at the entrance was random in nature."

Raising his hand, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon was summoned. Under Lu Li's instruction, the huge 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.

Only, 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 continuing to extend upward, always a small bit higher than the height the Red-Eyes Black Dragon climbed, giving people a strange sense of space.

Black Flame Bullet!

Seeing this, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon roared, and the black flames capable of burning space 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.

The Black Flame Bullet capable of annihilating seven-star fierce beasts bombarded the film covering the stone walls. 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 withdrew 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 earth beneath his feet, a similarly heavy sound came. Lu Li felt that the material composition of this earth was probably not much different from the stone walls.

"If this continues, how long will it take to reach the third floor of the Minotaur Labyrinth? It really depends on luck." Thinking of this, Lu Li raised his hand to summon Glorious.

The ship girl wearing a white dress appeared from the summoning, bringing a moistness of the sea 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 looked at the white-haired, blue-eyed ship girl in front of him and commanded.

If it were in the past before he had produced ship girl Magic Cards, Lu Li would probably have let Tianlan conduct the exploration mission. However, now that he had ship girl Magic Cards, especially an aircraft carrier ship girl, it would be much more convenient.

Carrier-based aircraft were undoubtedly the best reconnaissance tools.

349. Yan Yuexin: Why did I take 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 in the past, this time the carrier-based aircraft did not enter combat mode, but maintained a small form, like lifelike models.

Subsequently, in Lu Li's gaze, these small carrier-based aircraft flew toward the high sky while gradually disappearing, and even the noise during flight was reduced quite a bit.

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 probably 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 types of aircraft." Noticing Lu Li's gaze, Glorious explained gently: "Because this is a purely reconnaissance mission, this batch of children has transformed into reconnaissance aircraft form. Although their combat power is average, their reconnaissance and search range have been maximized."

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

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

A series of stomping sounds rang out, interrupting the conversation between the two. Immediately after, several Minotaurs holding various weapons appeared in front of them.

【Minos Warrior】

Race: Beast Race

Quality: Perfect

Level: Six-star

Skills: Omitted

There was not much difference from the appearance of the Minotaurs in his memory. The Minos warriors appearing in front of 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 emitted a biting cold light, all of which showed that they were not to be trifled with.

Moo!

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

Stepping forward to pass Lu Li, on the flight deck held by Glorious, one small carrier-based aircraft after another took off again, subsequently turning into huge bombers to attack the Minos warriors.

Boom, boom, boom!

Violent explosions rang out, echoing throughout the entire labyrinth. Even many contestants who were teleported and scattered far away heard the faint sounds of explosions, and expressions of astonishment appeared in their eyes.

Clearly, they didn't expect that just after entering the labyrinth, someone would create such a big sensation. One had to know that the space of the Minotaur Labyrinth was not small. And some contestants from the Southern Territory's Yougong couldn't help but suspect whether this commotion was caused by Yan Yuexin. ===== CHAPTER 185 =====