Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

High speed, rapidity, the body rushed out at such a fast speed, but the mind seemed to be the opposite, slowing down. The whistling sound of the wind was dragging in the ears in an incredible way, and the sound of ice breaking could be heard clearly from here. Perhaps due to the excessive speed, the body did not roll in the air this time. Because of this, if you want to observe something, you only need to turn your sight in this world that seems to have been slowed down at the same slow speed.

Ashlee still had that expression on her face that seemed completely calm.

Ella had a look of… I don’t know whether to call it surprise or horror. Of course, it shouldn’t be that something strange had happened, but she was just stunned by the dangerous action she was taking.

He didn't even have the time to warn her out loud, but instead warned Ashlee in a very decisive way—hitting her stomach hard with the dangling scabbard. Was it really necessary to do this?

Ashlee seemed to understand immediately, even though they hadn't verbally communicated what they were going to do.

No, that's not right, that's not the point now.

His eyes moved away from his travel companion and moved downwards little by little.

Down below, not far ahead, the mist brought by distance was rapidly dissipating, just as distance itself was dissolving in the sunlight. The obstacles that blocked the sight became fragmented, and the scene there, which seemed to be the destination but was not, could be presented in the paladin's brown eyes.

--town?

No—it looked somewhat different from the town.

It's not that the scale of this place seems too huge or too small, out of the scope of what can be described as a town, nor is it because it looks more like a ruin than a town - it's just because the "focus" here is so prominent that people can only see the existence of the "core" at a glance, and completely ignore the so-called town below, which is composed of "small houses".

Does it mean that the houses that make up the town are too small to be inhabited by humans? As mentioned above, this is not the case.

It's just that the "core" is too eye-catching.

That’s right, rather than saying that this is a town built for people to live together, it’s better to say that it was just a casual decoration so that the too-tall spire located in the center would not appear too lonely and abrupt. They are just a foil for this tall tower and cannot overstep the boundaries in the slightest.

And now, Lunisia was gliding in the air, constantly trying to adjust her posture to avoid a head-on collision with the tall tower.

I was flying towards the tall tower, and the tall tower seemed to be "walking" towards me.

Chapter 18: Medieval Welcome

tower.

Giant tower.

It has a translucent blue luster, as if it is a giant tower carved entirely from solid ice.

Of course, it couldn't be something born naturally, it could only be a wonder built by humans - extraordinary people. Rather than saying that this place is a town, it is better to say that from this mid-air, the buildings that are too "small" in comparison are only there to set off the height and grandeur of this spire, just like a colony of ants guarding a giant, which inevitably makes people feel funny.

In this case, compared to the conventional approach of starting from the surroundings and then gradually approaching here, this core, would it be more effective to go straight into the tower?

Because of this, Lunicia did not slow down in mid-air, but simply repositioned the shield on her wrist, curled up her body like a real cannonball, pointed her shoulders forward, and let her palm rest on the hilt of the long sword at her waist.

Obviously, she was going to try to break through the outer wall of the tower and then rush into the tower!

Although windowsills and terraces can be seen on the outer wall of the tower, they are at least out of reach of Lunicia. If the building itself is made of ordinary building materials - even if it is a strange sight made of ice as it looks from the outside - Lunicia's full-strength collision, with her current acceleration, can cause a force no weaker than her full-strength attack.

If it was a wall made of bricks and cement like the common buildings in the wilderness, it would probably collapse under the aftermath of the collision. Even if it was reinforced with steel bars, Lunicia was fully confident that it could be knocked into shape and broken. Such an impact would probably not cause any damage to the giant tower of this size, nor would it cause any collapse. But for Lunicia, as long as an entrance could be created, it would be fine.

however--

"Get out of the way, Lady Luna!"

From the nearby side, Ella Hepper's voice whistled in the winter wind.

Was it because she was too anxious? The journey through the ice field during this period was not a pleasant one. The cramped and cold living environment, the changing climate and the monotonous diet made her eager to reach her destination as soon as possible more and more urgent. As a result, her judgment declined as the "destination" was approaching. Of course, it could also be said that she was not proficient in magic and architecture, and had not looked at the tower in front of her from all angles, so she had some misunderstandings about the building's load-bearing capacity...

After all, compared to the changes in building materials, the great wizards of the Nasaran Magic Kingdom seem to prefer using common materials, plus some small magic tricks, to create some wonderful effects that have little to do with the materials themselves, such as castles flying in the sky and wooden sailboats sailing in magma. The bricks themselves do not need to be able to float in the air, they just need the great wizards to command them to float in the air.

And it seems that for the wizards of Hyperborean, the study of the materials themselves and the combination with nature are themselves an indispensable part.

Let’s put it another way.

Something was approaching Lunicia at high speed. It looked like ice and felt as cold as ice. It was indeed made of water. Like ice, it appeared blue due to the tiny bubbles inside. But this did not mean that these "ice cubes" would melt when exposed to high temperatures like normal ice. They could be broken off and split into two pieces - who has a problem in their brains to use this kind of thing as large-scale building material?

Let’s take a look at the overall structure of this tower——

This is a giant tower that is over hundreds of meters high. However, it does not follow the general principle of being narrow at the top and wide at the bottom like a "normal" building - at least the general principle that a building of this height should follow - on the contrary, this tower is like a straight line from the ground to the sky.

Straight line... no...

The forked ends, the branches made of blue ice crystals, the tips that exist for unknown reasons, the scratches and lines all over the outer wall, make this man-made "tower" look like a giant tree grown from blue ice standing on the white snow field.

It's just that trees in nature need strong roots as their foundation, and they ensure their solidity and standing firm by eroding soil and rocks. However, the giant tower in front of us doesn't seem to need such unnecessary actions at all. It seems to simply stay there and exist there. Whether it is the materials or the way of construction, it is expressing respect for nature... or mocking nature.

In a "magical" way.

If one tried to destroy these "building materials" in front of him with the power and methods that destroyed normal ice, the result would naturally not be ideal, and might even be devastating - otherwise, there would be no need for Lunicia to take action, and there would be no need to wait until this moment. Those who could do so would certainly not miss any opportunity to take action. Under the glory of the End North Empire were countless long and deep shadows, and Lunicia ignored this point.

It can also be said that she still lacks knowledge of this country...

Of course, that's not the point, at least not right now.

Even if she couldn't break through the wall in front of her and rush in as originally planned, so what? Maybe the reaction force would immediately hit Lunicia hard, but her reflexes, coupled with her supernatural regeneration ability, would also allow her to seize the opportunity immediately and avoid falling hard to the ground from this height. If it really didn't work, she could take a step back, even if she really couldn't control herself and was bounced back and fell hard to the ground...

So what? It would be somewhat difficult to kill her by throwing her to death from this distance.

Of course Ella would care about such things. The most precious savior in her mind had a hard landing from a height of 100 meters. Even if he just accidentally cut his finger, it would be quite sad and frustrating for her. It was a situation worthy of blaming herself. After all, "willpower training may be important, but injury is absolutely unacceptable." But in this situation, she would only worry and panic. At least it was an easy to solve and acceptable situation.

But we will never be as "panic-stricken" as we are now, which goes beyond the problem of "degree" that may arise when facing ordinary problems.

It seemed that when the building in front of her really appeared in her sight, she realized what might happen and what exactly was in front of her.

Rather, don’t you think it’s strange?

The height of this tower is definitely not low, especially compared to the west coast of Mu Continent, which is not used to building high-rise buildings. A giant tower hundreds of meters high is undoubtedly quite eye-catching. And here, there is no natural structure around that can cover it. Although the hills in front are not short, they are also incomparable with it. It was not until Lunicia and her party reached the top of the hill and the distance to the building complex was shortened to this time that they truly confirmed the existence of this tall tower for the first time.

This is unnatural, isn't it? The sky itself isn't even blue, and the tower shouldn't be so hidden against that gray background. So, can we assume that some factor obscured the perception of the group, and only when they got close to this location did they finally break through the limitations brought by this obstruction?

In that case—

In this case, isn't it obvious what the true identity of the tower is?

——That was an ancient "Mage Tower".

It belongs to a wizard who is unknown to the travelers from the distant south shore, but who must have left his name in the history of this tundra, perhaps glorious, perhaps legendary, perhaps evil, perhaps amazing, but now has sunk into the dark abyss with this land, this country, this continent, and his own tower, becoming an invisible and unknown thing, the ancient building where he, she, or it once lived.

And, as anyone would expect, yes, there must be something here to "keep away the birds."

Buzz————

With a slight, melodious sound like a song, a faint blue light appeared on the outer wall of the giant tower.

hum - hum - hum -

Not just one or two paths——

In just a blink of an eye, Lunicia's vision was filled with the rapidly expanding blue!

"------!"

Those patterns that are darker than ice and shine with a cold luster are not decorative patterns without practical use. They look simple, but in the arrangement and combination, they construct countless exquisite geometric patterns. The objects that are coiled into circles are the solidified magic circles.

As Lunisia realized this and raised her shield, the wind—

No.

Whistling like the wind, and omnipresent like the wind, countless sharp objects woven with the dark blue light that echoed with the magic circle, including darts, arrows, spikes and light bullets, have swept towards where she is.

That is the magic wind, a sharp wind that turns "unwelcome approachers" into food for the north wind!

"Automatic countermeasures?!"

Dang! Dangdangdangdangdangdangdang!

The first few magic missiles that came towards her hit the shield she was holding heavily, making a sound like that of real metal collisions. The impact force made her frown - it was too heavy! "Magic missiles" were not some advanced magic, and could even be said to be an inevitable part of the magic practice of mages. However, the blue barrages that hit her shield and her arms, although they were automatically fired, were much more powerful than what the magic apprentices in her memory could perform!

Imagine a high-pound longbow - a magic missile in the hands of a beginner may not be able to break someone's wrist, but an arrow from a longbow archer can tear off a person's arm! If those barrages were not naturally decomposed in the air after being deflected by the shield, turning into blue magic threads that constituted them, and then being reabsorbed by the tower, Lunicia would really doubt whether the things hitting her shield were magic missiles or real physical objects.

And this density is like one person facing an entire army of mages. This seems to be enough to make the "magic missiles" fall like raindrops!

Relying on the direction of the shield to resist the first wave of attacks, the silver shield disassembled by the "Avenger" was undoubtedly resistant to magic, and it was absolutely impossible to be penetrated by these sparse and ordinary magic tricks. But even so, Lunicia's arm was slightly raised upwards with the sweep of the second wave of blue light rain - just like being washed by a high-pressure water column. The huge impact force could not only try to break the defense line directly and break the bones, but of course it could also try to make the force point shift under the impact, making the defense line that it thought was airtight become full of loopholes.

Just like now! When the position of the arm deviates from the optimal position, and also deviates from the position where Lunicia can exert the greatest strength, the "angle" will appear, and the defense line will be exposed. The third wave of attack will be able to expand the "angle", making the gap even more difficult to fill!

when------!!!

Finally, when the fourth wave of light rain swept over, not only did Lunicia's body fly backwards under the impact, but her arms were also raised upwards, along with the shield, turning into a useless iron wall.

However, the attack of the magic circle is far from over - and all this happened in just the blink of an eye!

"Tsk——"

Thoughts are faster than words, and there are many factors that determine the speed of reality. In fact, for Lunicia, she was able to anticipate this from the impact on her arm before her defensive posture completely collapsed for the first time.

Actual combat is stronger than theory, and fighting is stronger than exploration and research, just as the speed of muscle reaction is faster than the summary of past knowledge in the paladin's head.

Magician... no, it should be said that most people should have a legitimate obsession with "protecting their own belongings", from treasures to homes, and even to graves and corpses, so various corresponding means were born, from password boxes and protective solidification magic, to killing mechanisms and intercepting magic circles. Not only children have to face such difficulties when facing their father's safe, but adventurers naturally have to face even more difficulties when facing such things in the ruins. It is difficult to imagine what kind of monster the emperors of the Fifth Calendar would hide in their tombs, and how the greatest magician of the Fifth Calendar would "meticulously carve" the floor of his laboratory.

Textbooks always have content about this aspect, teaching you how to discover and deal with those mechanisms and traps, but readers should also try to think about how many corpses that were blown to pieces or burned to charcoal are behind each case. Obviously, even if you exhaust all the adventurer textbooks on the market, it is impossible to summarize every problem you may encounter in the dungeon. Maybe you can find a new mechanism in the ancient tomb at your doorstep, right?

Moreover, the one in front of him——

It's not some common ancient tomb, with some traps that would spit fire or use spiked doors to knock people away, and a few zombies with particularly loud voices... This is a wizard tower, a wizard tower that belongs to the Hyperborean wizard and looks intact! Now standing on the horizon, in front of Lunixia - whether it is an adventurer who loves the unknown and exploration, or a bounty hunter who simply pursues treasures and knowledge, they will undoubtedly regard this place as a holy place, but for Lunixia, what she wants to do now is to forget any stereotypes about dungeon exploration in her mind.

Then just let it all come down to muscle memory and intuition.

call--

A blue flying knife flew past Lunicia's cheek.

The skin near the cheekbone was cut, blood spurted out, and then was immediately frozen by the cold wind. In the next moment, the cut skin healed again, and the long sword in Lunicia's hand, using the impact force that caused the shield to be lifted up, drew a counterclockwise arc and slashed upwards.

when!

The silver sword blade picked up the azure arrow and cut the sharp object that was piercing his forehead in half, restoring it to its original magic power. The sword wind swept away the magic missiles behind, blowing away the approaching barrage and making them collide head-on with the magic missiles behind. Amid the chaotic sound of metal collision, it defeated the next wave of rain of light.

The body of the holy warrior also fell down.

Chapter 19 Welcome is not limited to Zhongbei

A slight but pleasant sound cut through the air in waves.

And each wave of ensemble of notes corresponds to a wave of blue rain of sharp objects and a magical wind blowing in the face.

Ding, ding, ding—!

Then, another wave of barrage was cut off by the sword of the "Avenger".

Not every missile follows a straight trajectory; some fly in curves, arcs, or even suddenly turn around halfway. Rather than attacking specific invaders, it is better to say that they are just using themselves as paintbrushes to paint blue patterns in the air that express the beauty of geometry.

However, these attacks from the front would eventually tear people's flesh and blood, and would be used for killing. In the end, they were blocked and cut off by the sword in Lunicia's hand, and shattered into the original magic power that constituted them, which was dispersed in the east wind.

There was no vague voice in her ears, and no more confusing words in her mind. Maybe the contradictory woman was sleeping like she usually was, or maybe it was hard for her to be interested in such a dead thing? Lunicia didn't think too much about this kind of thing during the battle. Her attention was now immersed in everything around her, from the light to the sound, to the feeling from the tip of the sword - and the next wave of magic missiles.

The magic missiles themselves made no special sound, just a slight "whoosh" or "whoosh" sound, just like the sound any object with mass would make when thrown. These sounds were not made by the missiles themselves that were launched, but by the geometric patterns that created them, recycled them, and weaved them, flashing in the air like decorative patterns.

Although I have told readers before that this is a thing used to "drive away flying birds", for Lunicia, she has just figured this out. After all, from the first time she saw this scene to now withstanding several waves of attacks, it was only a blink of an eye.

This seemingly redundant sound is impossible to pass through the icy outer wall and reach the ears of someone in the tower. Even if it wants to reach the ground, it would be difficult. But if you think about it the other way around, this rhythmic tune cannot be a simple "coincidence", but a product of a clear purpose. Only in the pursuit of details can such a meaningless design be produced.

There is really no need to listen, and it may not even be heard by anyone, but compared to the noisy noise, this way is better... Are you thinking in this mode?

Just like the ballistic trajectories of those magic missiles, if you want to ensure lethality, you only need to shoot them in a straight line in a sufficiently dense formation, instead of letting those azure barrages drag out trajectories of the same color and use those trajectories to draw in the air as they do now. This kind of behavior is not something a pragmatist would consider.

And, most importantly.

If this is a measure used to snipe intruders, it is a bit too petty.

Wrapping the entire outer wall of the Mage Tower with magical automatic interception facilities is indeed a luxury for such a giant building that is over hundreds of meters high. Even if the basic spell "Magic Missile" is engraved on it, it will be activated when there is still a considerable distance from the tower, and then it will continuously fire these barrages that cannot be ignored, but are not enough to "decisive"...

Only then did Lunicia breathe a sigh of relief - it seemed that these things were indeed only used to shoot down flying birds.

Although she was not willing to think about why there would be birds flying in such a place and why birds would approach such a building, there was no doubt that if a seagull unconsciously approached the same distance as her, it would definitely be smashed into powder with a pleasant sound in the first moment, without even leaving bones and feathers, and even a drop of splashing blood would be crushed to the point of being invisible.

It's just right this way. Since it's just something used for this purpose, it won't become more outrageous than it is now.

Ella Hepper was worrying too much after all.

……perhaps?

Within seconds of coming into contact with this "anti-bird defense line", Lunicia was already flying backwards in the direction she came from under the reaction force of the magic missile. The thrust of the magic missile was stronger than she expected, so that it seemed that she was not charging from the top of the mountain towards the tower, but the other way around, sliding from the tower towards the hills - this way, although she would not fall headfirst into the hilly area again, she would definitely have to approach the building complex again from the surrounding snowfields.

After preparing for such a long time, I finally had to follow the conventional method - just as Lunicia was thinking this, she suddenly found that her vision was filled with a blue color.

"what----"

Buzz-buzz-buzz-buzz-buzz-buzz

One after another, azure lines were weaving around Lunicia at a speed that was invisible to the naked eye, forming the elegant geometric pattern she had just seen. It looked like words, but also like simple decorations. It did not have the characteristics of pictograms, but it was enough to make people feel the mystery. That's right, that's right, this is the magic circle, woven around Lunicia, one magic circle after another.

Their arrangement is very interesting, and the overall shape looks like a sphere made up of polygons.