Bang!
A gigantic bone hammer ruthlessly smashed into the discarded golem’s right side.
The discarded golem could not withstand it, and its cracked upper body disintegrated. However, its lower body still remained, every breath, each of its iron made legs twitched and sparked.
“Finally defeated it!” Zong Ge spat out, a moment after verifying the golem no longer possessed a threat.
“It was just a transportation golem, why was it so powerful?”
“It's mainly because we cannot use battle qi. If we had it, just Lord Zong Ge alone would be enough to deal with it.”
“Next time pay attention to how many explosive arrowheads are used; I could barely breathe in this narrow space.
Everyone discussed profusely as they grimly stared at the remains.
Jia Sha was just a priest; he was not good at close quarters combat.
Despite him providing shielding to the fighters, it was inferior to battle qi.
The five iron level templar guardian knights worked together, yet they couldn’t stop the discarded golem’s charge.
In the end, Zhen Jin and Zong Ge stopped the golem by force, because their strength was greater.
Although it was a victory, a haze shrouded everyone’s heart.
They understood the tower spirit’s words, this was only a transportation golem, a discarded one at that. Yet with its strength, it forced everyone to use the weapons in the storehouse.
If it were a guardian golem or another common defensive measure, how would the fight have gone?
“Continue forward!”
“Besides going forward, we have nowhere else to go.”
“The enemy does not dispatch standard golems; this proves this place is extremely empty.”
“The tower spirit also seems to be heavily damaged; its mind is in disorder. When we came in, and even when we were opening all the alchemy munitions, it didn’t react.”
“Its voluntary announcement made us aware of the fact that there are no guardian golems, and that this golem is a maintained discarded golem.”
“I can already see the dawn of victory! My master is the god of light and victory, he shall guide us towards victory!”
Jia Sha shouted loudly.
Everyone’s morale stabilized and no longer dropped.
Without the discarded golem obstructing them, the next passageway didn’t have any hindrances.
Based on Tripleblade’s method, everyone entered a wooden box. The boxes were comparatively light as they were pushed by the giant, Zong Ge, and some others through the passageway,
Each of the boxes had someone inside, enabling them to cleverly avoid the mechanisms.
“The alchemy factory’s tower spirit shouldn’t have let us exploit this loophole.”
“Speed up a little, we need to snatch time!”
“Father, don’t abandon me.” With pain, worry, and fear on his face, the giant approached Zhen Jin as he watched the number of people around him grow smaller.
The passageway’s height was suitable for an ordinary person, but for the giant, he was forced to lower his head and bend his waist.
Zhen Jin patted the giant’s thigh: “Be at ease, I will never abandon you. We will leave together!”
The giant was still a little worried and remained close to Zhen Jin.
In the end, the alchemy cannon was dragged out, allowing Zhen Jin and the giant to enter its box together.
From the opposite side, Zong Ge, the five templar guardian knights, and everyone else pulled on hemp rope with all of their strength, gradually dragging the box with Zhen Jin and the giant through the passage.
In this part of the passage, there were three junctions.
“Don’t worry, let me investigate.” Jia Sha began to use the extreme eye spell.
With the five guardian templar knights, he picked the leftmost passage first and casted the extreme eye spell, producing blood red light.
“Going this way will severely injure me.” Jia Sha’s heart immediately flashed.
He and the guardian templar knights walked to the middle passage, under the extreme eye spell, their field of view turned dull grey, then completely dark.
Jia Sha’s heart shook: “If I walk along this path, I will die!”
Following the set pattern, Jia Sha examined the third passage.
“It seems there will be a fierce battle here, however it isn’t an issue for me and the templar guardian knights.”
Without hesitation, Jia Sha selected the third passage.
Even if War Merchant had a situation, the tower spirit was a problem. This legend level alchemy factory was still a dragon’s den or a tiger cave. The extreme eye spell became exceedingly crucial, without Jia Sha showing the way, Zhen Jin and the others would have rushed in confused, with a complete wipeout likely to occur.
And so, everyone gradually made their way through the alchemy factory.
Occasionally there was a fierce battle, trap, or machine that would kill two to three people.
As the survivors got closer to the alchemy factory’s center, the greater the battles and problems.
All of the guardian templar knights were wounded, while Zhen Jin’s group lost more than a dozen people.
If Jia Sha didn’t possess a divine spell that could heal, because of their injuries, only half of the wounded would have survived. In addition, the wounded would greatly encumber their comrades.
Two days, three days……
Although there was no daylight, Jia Sha had a divine spell that could calculate time.
Zhen Jin’s worry continued to grow stronger.
During the last several fights, the intensity of the battle nearly forced him to transform and use the bloodcore.
Zhen Jin sank into hesitation.
Perhaps he could hide his transformations from everyone else, but not from Jia Sha.
“If there is an occasion for confession, should I be forthcoming? Thus, during a fight, I no longer need to bind my limbs.”
“However, will Jia Sha understand me? Will I be forgiven?”
“Should I trust him?”
“But if this continues, it will be a real danger.”
“If I am overly cautious and decide not to use the core, causing damage to myself, it will be excessively pedantic and stupid.”
Several times, Zhen Jin wanted to confess to Jia Sha and explain the causes and effects of the core.
But in the end, he gave up.
He didn’t even have the courage to tell Zi Di.
“So, I still have fear and cowardice in my heart.” Zhen Jin laughed bitterly.
Another fork in the road, but this time there were five passages.
After using the extreme eye spell eight times, Jia Sha gritted his teeth and pointed to the most central passage: “This way!”
These days, he was becoming increasingly haggard.
The closer they got to the alchemy factory’s center, the heavier the monolith pressure pressed down on Jia Sha’s heart.
He could sense that the extreme eye spell’s effects were being suppressed. The closer to the control hub they got, the more obvious the suppression. This greatly increased the burden on him, forcing him to rest more frequently.
“Perhaps, my decision was wrong.”
“No matter what War Merchant’s situation is, a person like me can’t handle him.”
Jia Sha felt he was walking on a precipice, if he was even a little careless, he would die in the abyss.
But in a flash, the perplexion in his eyes quickly disappeared, and filled with fire again.
“No!”
“This opportunity only happens once in a blue moon, if I give up and cower, I will regret it for my entire life!”
“Riches and honor……are stored inside infinite risks.”
“If I capture War Merchant, my contribution will promote me to a bishop, no, maybe even a cardinal!”
“At that time, I will be imbued with divine power and reach the gold level or even the saint level. I will master stronger divine spells; I will return to that bishop and watch him salute me at his own accord. Then I will smile and ask him: ‘Who do you think was right, me or you?’”
“My Lords, I have an astonishing discovery!” Tripleblade returned from his reconnaissance, interrupting Jia Sha’s thoughts.
Because the extreme eye spell was restricted, the survivors began to dispatch elites to scout and find a path.
After a short period of time, everyone traveled through a passage and arrived at a destroyed door.
“Someone destroyed this already!”
“It requires fierce battle qi to break through by force!”
“But this place prohibits battle qi and magic.”
“At most it prohibits the low levels. Look at the marks, this is at least gold level battle qi.”
“It's the saint level!” Jia Sha's eyes opened, he had used a divine spell to obtain the answer, “At least three saints forcibly broke through here.”
It was very clear these saints were War Merchant’s enemy.
Who were they? Which power were they from? Why were they War Merchant’s enemy?
The answers to these questions were unknown.
Behind the gate was a production workshop.
“This should be the area where alchemy arrows are produced.” Tripleblade guessed, “Be careful, there are still defensive measures here.”
Standing next to the destroyed door, everyone looked at where Tripleblade was pointing, and saw in the corner, several ballistae moving in the corner. These ballistae were on rotating platforms and seemed capable of spinning at high speeds.
The production workshop was severely damaged, much of the alchemy machinery was destroyed, along with many worker and guardian golems. Everything was broken and disorderly.
In the battlefield ruins, if one carefully examined it, one could see the minute fragments of alchemy arrows.
Everyone’s heart immediately had a deduction.
At least three saint level enemies broke through the door. In the production workshop, large quantities of guardian and worker golems fought them fiercely while the ballistaeconstantly shot.
But ultimately, the small squadron of saints destroyed nearly everything here and swaggered off. They left behind the ballistae because they didn’t care about them.
“Have you been inside?” Jia Sha asked Tripleblade.
Tripleblade immediately shook his head: “Not yet. Without battle qi protecting my body, facing those alchemy arrows is too dangerous!”
“A safe choice.” Jia Sha nodded, “I will shield you……”
“I refuse.” Before Jia Sha finished, Tripleblade interrupted him.
Jia Sha stared blankly.
“I refuse.” Tripleblade lifted his jacket and exposed his wounded abdomen, “This wound hasn’t recovered yet, it will encumber my speed. Perhaps these ballistae cannot handle saint level characters, but I am not certain if I can escape unscathed.”
Jia Sha smiled slightly: “I was negligent, I shall heal you at once. Alas, I am only a priest, not a bishop, I consume divine power too fiercely, while the divine spells I use every day are limited.”
Tripleblade also smiled: “I completely understand you Lord Priest. Therefore, you can see that the five guardian templar knights have always been doing fine. They are also iron level cultivators, make them go, they are the most suitable.”
“I agree.” Zong Ge added on.
The smile on Jia Sha’s face gradually vanished.
Notes
Due to the fact that the alchemy factory hadn’t been looted yet by these intruders, it seems there is either a deadlock or something else stalling all parties currently. It also seems a human-centric bias is seeping back in with Jia Sha in charge, a stark change from the equality promoted before he entered the story. If Jia Sha isn’t careful, Zong Ge might crush him and his entourage for treating some of them as their lessers.