Chapter 358: First Clash with Cicero (22)

Silver Sand City Dungeon, the lord's main hall.

After knocking the two unconscious, Luosen finally saw their appearances.

One was a tall, bearded, muscular man; the other a skinny tall gentleman with a pale face and no beard.

Both had a red lump on their brows, scars from being struck by a broken spell sphere.

That was because Luosen held back; otherwise he could have smashed those two unlucky fools to death.

Luosen immediately stripped them naked to ensure they had no weapons for resistance.

After that, he gave the bearded man three hard slaps.

The bearded man woke up.

"Name?"

"Who are you?" the man retorted.

"Name?" Luosen again brandished a broken spell dagger, pressing it against the man's lower throat.

"Bariel."

"Who is that guy beside you?"

"Count Laso Sangluo."

"Why are you both here together?"

"We were ordered by the higher-ups to capture people."

"Capture whom?"

"We didn't know the exact target before, only that it was an unidentified outsider. Now it should be you."

"Where are the higher-ups?"

"Don't know."

"Who knows?"

"The Count might know. But I must say, kid, you're finished, you…"

He was cut off as Luosen punched him unconscious again.

Luosen then slapped the pale, beardless skinny tall man awake with a big hand.

"Count Laso Sangluo, long time no see."

The skinny tall man's face showed a mix of fear and confusion.

"Who are you?"

"Who are the higher-ups?" Luosen replied with a counterquestion.

At that moment, Tilalilin also entered the hall.

Seeing Count Laso Sangluo, she immediately cried out, "Count, you're still alive!"

Laso, however, did not recognize the disguised Tilalilin: "Do you know me?"

"Snap!"

Luosen slapped him to bring him to his senses: "Answer my question."

"The higher-ups are His Majesty Safinos."

Luosen first raised his hand to signal Tilalilin to stay silent, then asked.

"His Majesty Safinos has long been dead; there is no such Majesty."

The Count hurriedly corrected: "It is the newly appointed His Majesty Cicero Safinos."

Tilalilin could no longer hold back and shouted: "He is not a Majesty; he is a despicable usurper!"

The Count immediately retorted: "No, he isn't!"

"He is the born emperor; Oletus is an incompetent waste, unfit to be emperor!"

Luosen had no time to listen to their ancient grudges and first asked Tilalilin: "Is this the Count himself or a substitute?"

Tilalilin examined closely and said, "It's him himself."

Luosen continued: "Where is Cicero now?"

"Of course, in the Dawnbreak Imperial Palace."

"Snap!"

Luosen didn't hesitate and delivered another slap.

"Stop circling me and wasting time. I'll count to three; if you don't speak after three, I'll thrust this dagger down your urethra!"

The broken spell dagger slid down, aimed at the spot.

The Count's face instantly showed great terror, and his body began to visibly tremble.

He is a noble of the last imperial dynasty, and such nobles are often the most spineless, with the lowest resistance to torture.

Because they have been crawling in the Gentleland Soul‑Selling Cavern for far too long and wield enormous social resources, any problem can be solved by trading resources.

"His Majesty is indeed in the palace, but he sent a magical puppet."

"Where is the puppet?"

"In a secret chamber somewhere in the Silver Sand Dungeon. But I don't know the exact location."

After saying that, he almost began to cry, hastily emphasizing again: "Hero, I truly don't know where it is!"

Luosen sneered: "You may not know the exact spot, but you surely have a rough idea in your mind."

"I'll count to three."

"I speak! I speak!"

The Count pointed to a corner of the hall: "There's a secret passage there; go in and head down, and you'll find a secret chamber."

"His Majesty's magical puppet is in the secret chamber."

Luosen looked toward the corner of the hall and indeed saw a very concealed small door.

He sheathed the spell-breaking dagger, casually flicked a blade flash, and the bright blade light made Count Sangluo shudder all over.

"Get up, lead the way ahead."

Count Sangluo's body trembled violently again: "No no no, the secret passage hides terrifying magical traps; I dare not enter!"

Luosen hehehed: "Precisely because it's terrifying, I need you to help lead the way; hurry up and get up!"

Count Sangluo, however, lay limp like mud on the ground, utterly unable to rise.

Luosen simply grabbed him from the side, lifted him up, opened the secret door, and threw him straight in.

Ah~ ah~~

Count Sangluo's scream sounded, but his voice was very strange.

At first it was a sharp scream, but it quickly turned into a low moan, and then it could no longer be heard.

Tilalin immediately said: "Inside the passage is a time-delay trap; Xisailuo's substitute is very likely truly hidden inside."

As she spoke, she immediately said: "The trap has been triggered; Xisailuo will surely be startled, the trap's range may expand at any moment, we must hurry"

Without her saying it, Luosen already felt the terrible danger; he hesitated not at all and summoned the Dawn Guard.

Hum~

The Dawn Guard arrived via teleport.

At the same time, Luosen took a step forward, embraced Tilalin from behind who was still chattering, and leapt backward.

"Guard mode, activate the protection pod."

The Dawn Guard, over four meters tall, quickly split its chest open a gap, revealing a somewhat narrow cabin.

The backward-leaping Luosen landed exactly inside, while Tilalin sat on his legs.

The two were a bit cramped, but the space was barely sufficient.

The protection pod swiftly closed, and Luosen simultaneously issued a new command: "Activate 12-ring strength."

"Switch from automatic combat mode to manual control mode."

Click~

At the moment the pod closed, the Dawn Guard activated the 12-ring high-energy combat mode in an ordinary magical environment.

The entire process was very fast; less than two seconds had passed.

When the 12-ring strength was activated, the base consumption rate of solar essence directly surged by as much as five hundred times.

At the same time, the Dawn Guard's per-second attack power ceiling rose from 1 million Luosen to 20 million Luosen.

With the current power reserve of one kilogram of solar essence, it can only sustain full-force combat for ten hours.

If observed from outside at this moment, one would see the Dawn Guard's surface enveloped in a layer of deep violet light mist that feels substantive, with an outer layer of fine electric clouds.

Within the electric clouds, thick bolts of lightning sporadically sputter into the surrounding air, accompanied by continuous rumbling thunder.

This is the leakage of high-ring power into low-level magical realms, accounting for over eighty percent of total energy consumption.

Just like a superheated white-hot iron chunk appearing in room-temperature air, causing scorching heat waves all around.

Precisely because this power-leakage phenomenon exists, the energy consumption rate becomes so terrifying.

Just then, the enemy counterattacked.

First to arrive were the black Dawn Guards sent via teleport.

At this moment, the Dawn Guard was controlled by Luosen, who had also become familiar with its control and combat methods over these days.

Simply put, the two are linked by soul power.

After the link is completed, the Dawn Guard becomes his super combat armor.

The black Dawn Guards tore through space and arrived, five of them in total.

Taking advantage of their unsteady footing, Luosen launched the first attack.

With a thought, he released the 12th-rank Dawn Guard's exclusive skill, the magical ring shockwave.

Hum~

A layer of substantive spiraling light ripples spread outward in all directions, instantly sweeping over the black Dawn Guards' bodies.

The five black Dawn Guards' power was inherently limited; they could not resist at all and collapsed on the spot.

Immediately afterward, the time-delay trap in the secret chamber indeed began to spread.

Luosen felt a faint yet cohesive magical undulation, and simultaneously saw a dim halo extend toward his position at great speed.

Wherever the halo passed, everything nearly came to a standstill; even light could not escape.

At this point, Luosen had two options.

First, immediately phase-shift and flee.

Second, confront the magic head-on.

The first route is naturally safe, but the surprise plan also failed.

In an instant of decision, Luosen chose the second route.

Time magic is also magic, merely a highly skilled type of magic.

And in any magical duel, both skill and power matter.

Time magic's skill is nearly at its peak, but this advantage can be offset by a huge power advantage.

The Dawn Guard carries one kilogram of solar essence and is still at 12-ring strength, whereas Xisailuo's enhancement is only the power of a legendary 19.

Even if he could draw power from a distant power core, due to his inherent strength level, such drawing is also limited.

Luosen thus bets that his magic cannot imprison a Dawn Guard outputting full power at 12-ring strength.

With a thought, the Dawn Guard's output power is raised to the extreme.

Per-second output of twenty million Luosen, the 12-ring strength's power erupts violently!

The 12-ring wall shield activated, wrapping around the Dawn Guard's body.

The Dawn Guard, legs merging, transformed into a Breaking Law Spear, using its body as a weapon, full speed forward, charging head-on into the Time Stagnation Trap.

In an instant, the Guard brought Luosen and Tiralilin rushing into the trap.

This process was quite peculiar; aside from the light dimming slightly, there was no other abnormality.

But the dimmed light lasted only about two seconds before brightening again.

Luosen knew he had guessed correctly; the Time Stagnation Trap had already been broken by him.

Thus, without pause, using the Dawn Guard's superb tracking ability, following the magical fluctuations of the Time Stagnation Trap, he tracked all the way to the opponent hiding in the dark who controlled the trap.

Once the position was fixed, Luosen immediately activated phase transfer.

Hum—

The image outside the protective cabin blurred slightly, then instantly cleared, and they were inside a somewhat narrow underground secret chamber.

According to the transmission parameters displayed by the Dawn Guard, the distance from the previous city lord's hall was as great as 3 kilometers.

That is to say, the small door of the secret chamber beside the hall is fundamentally a trap.

But the opponent obviously didn't expect Luosen to have such a formidable Dawn Guard, nor did they expect Luosen to be so decisive.

In this split-second decision real-time combat duel, he made a misstep, and Luosen successfully trapped him inside the secret chamber.

Luosen felt: "His combat ability is much stronger than Tiralilin's, but ultimately he is still a scholar, not a warrior."

Swish—

The huge Breaking Law Blade pointed diagonally downward forward, pressing against the cheek of a black-robed person, while the latter was about to teleport to escape.

"Don't move, otherwise I'll split your head open!"

Luosen saw at a glance that this was a flesh-and-blood magic puppet.

The black-robed person sneered, continuing to teleport to escape: "Hehe, the Dawn Guard can't hurt me!"

Luosen naturally knew this; threatening with the Breaking Law Blade was merely to distract its attention.

Crack—

When the protective seat cabin opened, but not fully open, just a gap, Luosen inside forcefully swung his hand and threw a Breaking Law Sphere.

Pfft—

The black-robed person, off guard, was hit in the forehead by the sphere, and the teleportation was forcibly interrupted.

But as a magic puppet, it had strong resistance to dizziness, so it didn't become dazed; it was merely jolted, its head slightly recoiling backward.

He was about to restart the teleportation.

Taking this opportunity, Luosen quickly leapt from the seat cabin, grabbed the Breaking Law Nail Hammer, and delivered a fierce hammer strike straight to the face.

Crack—

Cracking sounds rang out densely, its facial bones severely shattered, the brain suffering a violent impact.

This injury was too severe; even the flesh-and-blood puppet couldn't withstand it, instinctively letting out a muffled groan, its right hand covering its face as it repeatedly retreated, while its left hand remained motionless, always covering whatever was in its chest.

Luosen immediately struck its left shoulder with a hammer, instantly disabling its left arm.

Crack—

A wooden box fell from its body, landed on the ground, the lid opened, and out dropped a fist-sized, irregular, blue-green stone.

Tiralilin immediately shouted: "My memory stone!"

Luosen immediately picked up the stone and put it in his pocket, without further entangling with the magic puppet, and quickly jumped back into the Dawn Guard's seat cabin.

Hum—

He directly phase-transferred away.

(End of chapter)