Chapter 88: Bypassing the Restrictions

"What?!"

Lin Yu's pupils contracted sharply; in the next instant, his form flashed, and he teleported beside Old Wol.

Old Wol curiously stroked the barrier: "What is this?"

"A barrier set by my lord?"

As he spoke, he turned his head, intending to look at Lin Yu, only to discover that Lin Yu had somehow appeared beside him without his notice, staring unblinkingly at the hand Old Wol was extending toward the barrier.

Old Wol was startled and hastily withdrew his hand.

"My lord, you..."

"Don't move; maintain the posture you just had and see if you can walk out."

Hearing Lin Yu's slightly excited words, Old Wol paused for a moment, then obediently continued reaching forward.

Soon, Old Wol's entire arm passed through the barrier, followed by his shoulder, chest, and finally his whole body.

"He's out, he's really out!"

Lin Yu gazed intently at Old Wol outside the barrier and couldn't help but ask: "Describe how you feel right now."

Old Wol moved his body slowly and spoke with difficulty: "My body feels heavy, very heavy, as if I've sunk into a quagmire; every inch of me is constrained by some kind of force..."

Hearing this, Lin Yu couldn't help but laugh.

As expected, the Primordial Universe's lock on Old Wol remained, but its intensity was not on the same level as the one on him.

In fact, Old Wol's sensation was the true nature of this lock; the reason it manifested as a barrier on him was simply because the Primordial Universe's lock on him was far too intense!

For Old Wol as a Level Seven vassal, this restriction and lock instantly weakened, turning the world beyond the ten-li radius from an impregnable solid into a quagmire he could barely move through.

... What if Old Wol were reduced to a Level Eight vassal?

A thought stirred in Lin Yu's mind; he immediately withdrew his authority and demoted Old Wol to Level Eight.

Old Wol sensed the blessings and vassal status on his body rapidly vanishing; panic seized his heart, and he looked at Lin Yu with a face full of terror.

"My lord, did your subordinate do something wrong?"

"Don't be nervous!"

Lin Yu reassured him: "Not only did you do nothing wrong, you have actually achieved a Da Gong; I merely temporarily withdrew your authority so you could assist me in an experiment!"

"Once the experiment concludes, what belongs to you, I will naturally return."

Receiving Lin Yu's promise, Old Wol finally breathed a sigh of relief, no longer as panicked as before.

After calming down, he suddenly realized his body felt much lighter; the invisible force exerted on every part of him had weakened accordingly, allowing him to move faster.

"My lord, the constraint has weakened!"

While swaying his body, Old Wol exclaimed joyfully: "It's as if I'm swimming in a quagmire now; though still somewhat difficult, at least I can move normally!"

"..."

Lin Yu, with black lines covering his forehead, said: "Why is it still a quagmire? Don't you have a more precise adjective?"

Old Wol hurriedly replied: "My lord, this time it's a real quagmire!"

Lin Yu asked: "And just now?"

Old Wol answered honestly: "Your subordinate merely used 'quagmire' to describe that sensation of whole-body pressure; to be precise, it should have been an incredibly fine sea of sand, far more uncomfortable than now!"

The difference between solid and liquid?

... Then what about Level Nine?

Lin Yu once again withdrew his authority, reducing Old Wol to the lowest rank, a Level Nine vassal.

This time, Old Wol was mentally prepared and felt no panic; instead, he immediately took steps and began walking around the oak tree marked with a sign.

Seeing this scene, Lin Yu's eyes lit up:

"Can you break free from the constraint already?"

"..."

Old Wol stopped, shook his head, and said: "I still feel it, but it's much lighter than before; it's like swapping the quagmire for water..."

Lin Yu asked eagerly: "At this level of constraint, you should be able to move freely, right?"

Old Wol nodded: "Yes, my lord; as long as the enemy isn't too troublesome, even fighting is no problem!"

That is truly... excellent!

A smile born from the heart inevitably appeared on Lin Yu's face.

As his vassal, Old Wol was an extension of his body and will.

Within the Primordial Universe and this ten-li radius, he needed only a thought to instantly take control of all his vassals' bodies and feel everything they felt.

Beyond the ten-li radius, this connection weakened but still existed.

Just as now, although Lin Yu could not possess Old Wol to experience the sensation of swimming in water, he could, based on the connection between himself and his vassal, use Old Wol as his eyes to perceive everything around him.

To some extent, he had already broken through the Primordial Universe's lock, extending his tentacles beyond the ten-li radius!

"No, don't get happy too soon; let's test the activity range of a Level Nine vassal first..."

Thinking this, Lin Yu spoke aloud: "Are the vassal's abilities still present?"

Old Wol closed his eyes; moments later, his feet slowly lifted off the ground, actually hovering in mid-air.

"Replying to my lord, your blessing remains!"

Old Wol landed on the ground and said respectfully: "However, compared to the Level Seven divine gift, energy absorption has weakened; it can barely offset the effect of gravity on your subordinate."

"Very good!"

Lin Yu, wearing a smile, waved his hand, produced a scroll, and tossed it to Old Wol.

"Fly north now; when I tell you to stop, tear the scroll to teleport back."

"Yes, my lord."

A thought stirred in Old Wol's mind; he immediately neutralized gravity, hovered up, and flew toward the north.

Since at this moment he could barely counteract gravity and could not achieve reverse acceleration, after taking off he deliberately adjusted his altitude, stepping on the towering trees beside him to use the recoil force to continuously increase his speed.

Thus, deafening explosions kept echoing from the forest ahead.

Only after leaving the territory of Ridge Peak Domain did Old Walter finally let loose, channeling the magic of heaven and earth with incantations, using wind magic and explosion magic to continuously accelerate.

Lin Yu stood quietly in place, his consciousness following the connection to attach itself to Old Walter, watching him head north the whole way.

Even after crossing the entire central region of the Unified Empire, this connection had not weakened in the slightest.

Noticing this, Lin Yu verified another of his guesses—

That this ten-li range was not merely a simple area of activity, but also the part where his original universe overlapped with this world after he entered the Frieren world back then.

Therefore, on both sides of the barrier, there was only an inside and an outside, with no restriction of distance.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu could not help but smile, sending a voice transmission along the connection: "That's enough, come back!"

……

……

Meanwhile, Old Walter had already flown to a certain city in the northern part of the Unified Empire.

The talent for energy absorption allowed him to fear no resistance, always maintaining maximum speed.

Such a showy and conspicuous way of flying naturally drew the attention of many winged monsters.

In this current era, flight magic had not yet been researched, and the sky remained the territory of winged monsters.

When these monsters discovered someone invading their domain, the malice originating from the depths of their souls made them instinctively chase after him, trying to catch and tear apart that flying human.

Thus, the humans in the northern empire were fortunate enough to witness such a strange sight.

Old Walter, protected by a shield that absorbed resistance, flew ahead as if no one else existed, while a huge flock of bird and dragon-type monsters flapped their wings, chasing desperately behind.

Only when Lin Yu sent a voice transmission along the connection did he finally remove that thin film, his figure rapidly slowing in the air.

But by then, he had already led this group of flying monsters to this city.

Continuous exclamations rose from below.

Old Walter hovered in the air, looking down at the city beneath his feet along the sound of the exclamations.

He saw that on the city walls, hundreds of soldiers clad in armor had been urgently assembled, holding spears and greatswords, staring in shock at the figure hovering in the sky and the dark mass of monsters behind him.

Behind them, countless citizens ran in panic through the streets, scrambling to rush toward the churches protected by the goddess.

On the highest tower in the city, a middle-aged man suspected to be the city lord, accompanied by seven or eight fully armored personal guards, hurriedly climbed to the summit. With a solemn expression, he took a necklace from his neck and placed it on the stone pillar at the tower's peak, seemingly activating some kind of defensive measure.

Seeing this scene, Old Walter could not help but frown.

Without a doubt, if he left directly, these monsters behind him, finding no target, would surely launch an attack on this city, venting their anger on the lives of these innocent humans...

After hesitating for a moment, he still took out that scroll from his chest, choosing to prioritize Lin Yu's command.

Just then, Lin Yu's voice rang in his mind again.

"What are you staring at? Kill those annoying monsters, then hurry back!"

Old Walter was slightly stunned, then a smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, my lord!"

Old Walter bowed respectfully toward the south: "I obey your will!"

Before his words had even faded, a burst of gold-red flames suddenly exploded beside him, and his two-meter-tall body instantly transformed into a streak of light, crashing straight into the dark mass of monsters behind him.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a deafening sonic boom, Old Walter, in the most brutal manner, forcibly smashed through the group of monsters.

In an instant, the flying monsters that had once dominated the sky and acted arrogantly let out wails; blood and severed limbs scattered across the sky, falling like raindrops.

The surviving monsters, filled with shock and rage, stared at that flying human, either opening their blood-filled maws bristling with sharp teeth or swinging their claws carrying magical fluctuations, all launching attacks against Old Walter.

But alas, before this indestructible body of a subordinate, the monsters' sharp teeth and claws were utterly useless.

Even the magic they released with all their might could only become supplements for Old Walter, providing him with more energy.

Thus, at a speed the people below could not capture, Old Shuttle continuously shuttled back and forth in the sky.

In just over ten seconds, the red streak of light had pierced through the bodies of all the monsters, sweeping the entire monster group clean.

Countless flesh and corpses fell; before they even hit the ground, they turned into magical particles in mid-air and scattered with the wind...

(End of this chapter)