Chapter 2720: Clockmaker

Under the effect of the magic eye, the soil and stones that appeared out of thin air completely filled the secret chamber in an instant, and the woman activated the "Speed Magic Curse" and turned to flee toward the top of the stairs. Behind her, the stairs of the secret chamber were also rapidly returning to how they were ten minutes ago.

And after escaping the secret chamber, this twelve-ring president of the "Tree Hole Association" did not stop at all, her figure fleeing rapidly toward the entrance of the steam engine room.

The wall where the secret chamber had originally been had returned to its normal appearance, but soon the wall showed ripples like flowing water, and Xia De, holding 【Calamity Card: Gravel Worm】 in his left hand to use "Sand Swimming," walked out from the wall.

Taking a step forward, he crossed the pipes and condensation pools lying on the ground and arrived behind the woman. The brilliant moonlight was slashed out by his left hand, but it only passed through the woman's phantom.

Xia De closed his eyes to sense for a moment, then risked continuously using "Lagley's Leap" to take another step forward, appearing directly on the square outside the golden music hall building; the location of the basement was actually at the edge of the building.

Turning to look back, the "Clockmaker," who had just appeared from the entrance and was standing above the tall steps of the music hall, also stopped. She squinted at the handsome young man below, and Xia De also looked up at her.

"Give the item back to me."

"God-Caller, is it you?"

Because the concert was still ongoing, there was no one at the entrance of the music hall, though there were some citizens walking in the square outside the music hall in the distance.

The lights of the music hall itself and the street lamps in the square illuminated the two of them. Xia De reached toward his chest, and the black long staff appeared in his hand after flashing over the ritual base array at his feet.

The black-haired woman, who looked to be in her forties, re-tied the fallen brass clock hand to the hair Xia De had just severed. As the thirteen clock hands connected to her hair pointed to the night sky simultaneously, the night sky *cracked* with a sound, and then a translucent, ferocious, twisted dragon beast squeezed out from the crack in time and space, having been forced from the past into the present.

As its body appeared in the current time and space, its transparent body was gradually gaining color, but it looked like it would take a few dozen seconds to arrive completely.

The "Clockmaker" then stood on the high steps and asked Xia De:

"Do you want to stop it from destroying the city, or do you want to stop me from escaping?"

Xia De raised his hands and crossed them in front of his chest:

"Of course, it's to stop you; I'm not a member of the church."

His whole body glowed and in the next second turned into a crossed moonlight great cross, rushing straight to the top of the steps. Even though the "Clockmaker" was twelve-ring, she dared not take that cross moonlight head-on. Borrowing the power of the magic eye, her figure disappeared again.

But when she appeared at the bottom of the steps, with the sound of wings flapping in the air, the Owl Lady's wings glowed with black light, and black feathers possessing the death curse were already floating above her head.

And when Xia De, whose attack had missed, rose from the moonlight, three Ringed Shushi dressed in waiter uniforms in the music hall's foyer launched an attack on him at the door simultaneously; the president of the 【Tree Hole Society】 clearly did not have the habit of executing missions alone.

With a *thud*, the long staff struck the ground, and as the phantom of a lush green tree appeared, the three people who had just entered the "Speed Magic Curse" state returned to normal speed. The moonlight swept across, and the three, who had summoned a shield together, retreated in unison after the shield shattered with a *crack*, and were then entangled by the police rushing out of the music hall.

They were, of course, Ringed Shushi of the church; not only were Xia De and the 【Tree Hole Society】 paying attention to this place, but the Zhengshen Sect also knew that this music hall hid secrets.

At this time, above the square at the bottom of the steps, the owl was still flying in the air. Although her level had not yet recovered, the death-type ability still made the twelve-ring "Clockmaker" full of concerns.

The battle between the two was basically one flying and one dodging, without any technical content. Xia De, who jumped down the steps with his long staff, just glanced at the dragon that had completely arrived in this time, as well as the thirteen-ring "Construct Master" flying from the distant Creation Church and the mechanical dragon being assembled by the dense brass machinery behind him, and then turned into moonlight again to slash at the woman dodging the black feathers.

The gorgeous moonlight great cross was about to arrive in front of her in the blink of an eye. This time, the "Clockmaker," who was stared at by the owl, did not dodge or use the magic eye's ability to delete this second, but raised her hand to meet the attack head-on.

The thirteen clock hands collided with each other in front of her with a *ding-ding-dang-dang* sound, and the phantom of the brass clock face was hit head-on by the moonlight great cross amidst the sparks.

At the moment of impact, the three hands on the clock face rotated counter-clockwise simultaneously, but the moonlight great cross, which should have returned to its original position due to time reversal, not only did not retreat but instead left dense spider-web-like cracks on the clock face with a *crack*—the point of this defensive miracle was to avoid attacks through time reversal; its actual defensive nature was not strong.

But Xia De ultimately failed to pierce the defensive miracle of the 12th-tier Ringed Shushi with a single strike; as the Moonlight Great Cross dimmed, his figure appeared before that translucent clock face, and immediately, his left hand, faintly emitting black light, pressed forward:

"Black Moon Mark!"

"You really are immune to time-type effects."

The clockmaker's expression changed drastically, and he retreated rapidly even at the cost of ignoring the black feathers falling on his head. Thus, the brass clock face finally vanished under the power of destruction, and the 12th-tier Ringed Shushi hit by the black feathers passed a death check with very normal luck:

"God-Caller, are you also a candidate this time?"

"Also?"

Xia De said while continuing to move forward, and the woman, who was manipulating the thirteen clock hands to rotate around her body to draw a ritual base array, had no intention of fighting him anymore. Her greatest ability as a time-gifted person was almost entirely time-type power, but the God-Caller in front of her had astonishingly high time resistance.

The glass-like magic eye seemed to want to see through his soul. The rotating thirteen hair tips were constantly colliding with the feathers in the air on one hand, and on the other hand, she opened a ritual. At least half of the thirteen clock hands connected to her hair tips were relics:

"When the Chosen One ritual opens, it won't just be our war. Time Return!"

The magic eye emitted a faint light again. Even though the 【Stability Principle of Ancient Elves】 was still in effect, she still disappeared from where she was. She hadn't felt much at a distance just now, but at this moment Xia De finally understood her high-risk magic eye; the power it possessed seemed to be peeking into the past, deleting time, and reproducing the past.

All the dodging she did in the short battle just now relied on deleting time, and her disappearance at this moment was to return her own state to the past, that is, before entering the city. This was not time travel, but recording a certain state and then reproducing it.

But because of this, when the "Clockmaker" disappeared, Xia De reached out and grabbed the time key that was about to fall to the ground. This key was immune to time effects, so it would not disappear with her:

"This key doesn't seem to lead to the Fifth..."

With a *fluttering* sound approaching, Xia De looked up at the sky, and the owl landed directly on his shoulder.

And in the higher night sky, the summon "Mechanical Great Dragon" constructed from dense brass mechanical structures behind the 13th-tier Ringed Shushi had already collided with the dragon beast. The triggered city defense ritual had already shielded the images and sounds of this scene from the senses of ordinary people.

With a *boom*, dense brass parts kept splashing during the collision, but the mist from the Time Rift on the dragon beast failed to make the machinery rot immediately.

Mechanical creations were not immortal, but at least they were more reliable than flesh and blood at this moment.

And the woman who had just disappeared also appeared on the head of the dragon beast while the dragon beast was gradually being suppressed by "Construct Master" Mr. Gerald DeLong.

Although the twelve-ring life ring that appeared behind her was not as gorgeous as the thirteen-ring one, as the life ring rotated, the dragon beast expanded and grew larger with a loud roar, and the spikes originally protruding on its back continued to deform and increase until they turned into two human hands, which grabbed the mechanical dragon at once.

While Mr. Gerald DeLong dodged the dragon beast's tail flick, the dragon opened its mouth and sprayed pitch-black flames at the mechanical dragon, breaking it in half, and then the dragon beast lowered its head and sprayed black flames at Xia De in the square below.

"A dragon, huh? Since the defense ritual has already been opened—stand firm!"

Xia De warned the owl on his shoulder, and while it was confused, he made a big jump into the air. After entering the aerial illusion camouflage area, the owl only felt that she was constantly bumping because of Xia De's movements, but at a certain moment, the man's body beneath her suddenly expanded.

The feeling of claws contacting clothes and flesh became unfamiliar, and then silver light shone brilliantly under the claws.

The whistling wind represented high-speed movement. Even without looking down, she felt the suffocation brought by the suppression of the essence of life; this was the suppression of high-level creatures against ordinary owls.

And as the silver light wave beneath her sprayed out and intertwined with the black flames, the owl finally realized her situation at this moment.

The little owl seemed to be squatting on the head of a silver dragon, and under the moonlight, the bright moonlight was constantly compressing the power of the black flames as the moonlight dragon flapped its wings. Every scale of the brand-new dragon seemed to be shining with silver light; the giant creature brought the owl not only shock but also wonder at the beauty of this magnificent life.

Of course, Xia De had no time to guess Flora's thoughts at this moment. Since this dragon beast from the past had appeared again, as long as he could use "Time Return" on it once, he could determine the specific time it belonged to, and then investigate the story it had experienced. ===== CHAPTER 2721 =====