Star Forge Titan

In Palladio, magic that can interfere with the thoughts and spirits of others is either the part of necromancy that affects the soul, or mental magic that causes hallucinations.

However, these two types of magic are not common magic and are not easy to cast. If you want to easily trap people in them, you must cast the spells regularly and continuously for a long time.

Therefore, they inferred that Rimore must have had contact with the mastermind in the past.

The specific method was difficult to determine, but the word "image" reminded Ivan of hypnosis in past life psychology, which used various images and sounds.

He had no doubt that in the world of Palladia, which already had magic, someone would invent a similar spell.

At this moment, there happened to be a wizard who was good at creating images next to them - Joseph Kerr, a formal researcher in the Image Department.

The reason why Alvin revealed some information in the conversation just now was actually to alert the enemy.

However, there was nothing suspicious about Joseph's attitude at all, which made Alvin unsure of his impromptu guess. After all, the young wizard gave him a good first impression.

A person who is willing to protect others in times of crisis is not a bad person in any way.

However, Alvin also knew that even the most treacherous people could appear loyal.

"Thank you for your testimony. I will continue to work hard to investigate this matter." Alvin did not mention the existence of other people. At first glance, it seemed that only Rimore and he were working on this matter.

"I also hope to provide help to the best of my ability. Please don't refuse. This is my duty as a mentor, even though it is only a temporary mentor." Joseph smiled with a gentle expression on his face.

At this moment, a loud explosion suddenly came from outside.

Then came screams from other people.

"Demon! Someone summoned a demon!"

Chapter 44: The Smell of Home

"Hurry up and take shelter with the others!" Joseph shouted to Ivan immediately after hearing the explosion and screams:

His expression was very serious, and one could vaguely see a look of surprise and doubt in his eyes behind the lenses. Even the hand holding the teacup was trembling slightly.

After standing there for a few seconds, breathing rapidly, Joseph, trying to remain calm, took a long staff that could amplify spellcasting ability from the walnut hanger beside his desk. Then, seeing Ivan still standing there in a daze, he spoke again in an anxious tone:

"From the sound of it, the explosion must be nearby. You go ahead, and the other instructors and I will handle it."

“…” Upon hearing this, Alvin’s expression became strange.

Then, he stood up and shook his head. Even with the transformation of the diplomat's ring, Ge's height of 1.85 meters was still taller than most people. Joseph, looking down at him, subconsciously held his breath.

It was a bit too coincidental, but Ivan had no proof. After all, coincidences were unpredictable, and the other party's behavior from just now to now seemed consistent with the impression he usually gave people. Furthermore, the explosion was probably no more than a hundred meters away, so if there was any incident involving demons, it had to be dealt with quickly.

then……

"Don't underestimate me, Mr. Joseph." The black-haired boy clenched his fists with a confident smile on his face.

"As an alchemist, I'm actually quite good at exorcism."

There was no time to continue arguing. When the two rushed out the door, they saw that the outside was in chaos.

The flames were clearly visible, but for some reason the automatic fire extinguishing equipment installed in the underground headquarters building of Zhenli Rock did not work.

At the moment, fleeing crowds can be seen everywhere, and the continuously spreading flames and thick smoke make the entire area look extremely chaotic.

Fortunately, the staff in the underground cave of Zhenli Rock had all been trained to deal with emergencies, so the chaos was quickly stopped. People lowered their heads to avoid the escaping smoke and began to evacuate to a safe area in an orderly manner under the guidance of individual personnel who stood up to take charge.

Seeing Joseph Kerr, who was choked by smoke and coughing non-stop but still standing upright and trying his best to direct everyone to seek shelter in an orderly manner, Ivan's brows furrowed even more.

It was really hard for him to judge whether there was anything wrong with this person, just like it was difficult for an ordinary person to quickly find a druid who was good at disguise in a dense forest with complex environment.

Unless, he sets the forest on fire.

Looking in the direction where the fire and smoke came from, Alvin walked against the flow of people. He heard Joseph calling out several times behind him. The other party seemed to insist that he go to take shelter with others. Considering that most of the students were only apprentice (first-level) level extraordinary people, this was understandable.

But Alvin noticed that the place where the chaos first broke out in the distance was the area that Khayang and Limore had been assigned to investigate.

Could it be that those two guys accidentally ran into the mastermind behind this?

Shocked thoughts popped up in his mind, which made him speed up his pace. Ignoring Joseph's shouts behind him, he forced his way through the crowded crowd and rushed to the scene of the incident.

The closer he got to the area where the smoke was coming out, the more Alvin felt that the free magic in the surrounding environment became particularly active.

Those imperceptible, fundamental magical factors—mana—became incredibly active, like water boiling rapidly after being doused with sodium metal. Even with the naked eye, one could see wisps of distorted, oscillating light resembling the aurora borealis.

This scene was definitely not normal, because among the many magics that Alvin knew, only the powerful magic of the third level, which was classified as forbidden, could cause such a phenomenon after being released.

However, judging from the perceived intensity of the magical pressure, there is no extraordinary individual nearby who can release that kind of magic.

Moreover, compared to the radiation that can spread into hundreds or thousands of layers after the forbidden magic is released, the scale of the radiation that can be seen in front of us is also very small, just like a few traces left on the wall by a paintbrush that is accidentally passed by.

This shows that the situation should not have become that bad.

If it really involves the forbidden magic of the Supreme Third Order, he would definitely turn around and run away now, and would not stop until he ran out of the Linde border.

Moreover, according to the strict security system of the underground headquarters of the Rock of Truth, even if there are cultists who have infiltrated it, it is impossible for them to cause exaggerated incidents close to the level of forbidden spells in a short period of time.

As a result, the only things they can do are the old three things: summoning small demons, creating hell rifts, performing low-level blasphemous rituals, etc., and other small things like that.

The most troublesome thing is to summon the soul of a powerful demon, but such a ritual is extremely costly for the cultists themselves and is usually not performed voluntarily.

As Alvin thought this, he summoned the soul-forged weapon that was integrated into his body - the annihilation battle axe Nerukigate.

However, he seemed to have intentionally or unintentionally overlooked that for someone like him who had experienced many major events in the future, it might just be a trivial matter that was not worth mentioning.

But in this period of time, in the new calendar year of 1886 when nations were rising and technological innovation had just begun, the belief in evil gods still lurked in the shadows. Demons often only existed in the poems sung by wandering poets and were horror legends that played the role of villains behind the scenes in popular novels.

Therefore, the above situations are serious vicious incidents that may not occur once in more than ten years!

This also explains why many professionally trained staff members at the underground headquarters of the Rock of Truth felt fear and panic because of the cry related to "summoning the devil."

The fact that these people were able to follow orders and evacuate in an orderly manner after the incident broke out can be considered a testament to their excellent psychological qualities and thorough training. If they were ordinary civilians, who knows what chaos would have occurred by now.

So, with a naturally relaxed and good mentality, Alvin calmly followed the direction of the radiation, swung his axe to break through various obstacles, and walked forward all the way.

At the same time, he was also communicating relevant information with Karlbant who was living in the axe.

"Karl, do you sense anything?" Ivan raised his right hand towards the flames in front of him and asked in a low voice:

Relying on his strong physical strength, the black-haired boy swung his hand downwards with force, and the strong wind he created blew away the burning flames.

Hearing Ivan's words, Karlbant, who was sitting on his shoulder in the form of a physical projection, sniffed hesitantly. Then, the expression on his furry lamb face gradually became strange.

"Something familiar? Well, I do smell something, but..."

"Just what?" Alvin stopped, then picked up the lamb-shaped demon soul beside him and stretched it towards the direction of the wind and smoke.

Calbant, who had become accustomed to being used as a portable prop, hung in mid-air with a helpless look on his face and continued:

"I seem to smell the sulfur barbecue of my hometown."

Upon hearing this answer, the expression on Ivan's face suddenly froze.

"You mean... Deep Hell - Killing Heaven?"

Chapter 45 Demon's Soul

Things are getting serious.

Why is it so big?

That was of course because of the hometown that Karlbant mentioned - Deep Hell, Killing Heaven.

The so-called hell is actually not a complete world, but a chaotic realm composed of many fragmented and incomplete spaces of different sizes.

These spaces of unknown origin are generally referred to as "hell" or "bottomless abyss".

The Abyss is filled with various extreme environments, such as the Howling Wind Cave, where winds exceeding 221 kilometers per hour and level 18 gale force winds blow all year round. The wind there is almost like a sharp blade, which can blow flesh and blood away from bones.

Or maybe it's the Ice Courtyard where the temperature drops below minus 120 degrees Celsius at night, freezing even steel into powder.

Or perhaps it is a twilight forest where the sun never rises and the endless night is filled with the howling of various twisted predators.

The common feature of these extreme environments is that it is difficult to survive, as if the world itself is filled with intense malice emanating from within.

But even in this chaotic realm composed of these horrific areas, there is still an extremely evil place named Deep Hell, which is more terrifying than ordinary hell.

Those are the four deep hells that are feared by other hell spaces and were transformed into nests by the four evil gods using their own great power.

The Lord of Blood and Skull, the Bloody Fighting God - Kongruiel, rules over the Deep Hell and the Killing Heaven.

Narvus, the lord of decay and disease, the sore of eternal life, rules over the deep hell, the heaven of stagnation.

The Lord of Joy and Beauty, Prince of Feast - Serane, rules over the Deep Hell and Paradise.

The lord of conspiracy and lies, the secret code under his wing - Xin Liezhi, rules the deep hell and changes the sky.

The natural environments of these deep hells may not be as exaggerated as those of ordinary hells, and some places even display beautiful scenery beyond the mundane, but their essence is a malicious entity formed by the thoughts and divine power of evil gods.

The deep hell is inhabited by various demons under the command of the evil god, and the demon prince, who is like the evil god's incarnation, is like a wandering shepherd, whipping and torturing the eternally wailing souls in the god's garden, palace or arena.

Even if ordinary fallen beings believed in the hell filled with chaotic power, or directly placed their faith in the four evil gods, it would be difficult for these ant-like beings to establish a connection with the distant deep hell.

Even if they opened a spatial rift to Hell through ritual, they could often only establish a connection with the shallow Hell outside the Chaos Realm. Furthermore, the barriers built by the upper planes also firmly protected the safety of the material world.

At present, when this line of defense has not been broken, these space cracks with extremely limited throughput cannot even be called a channel. At best, they are just an extremely narrow gap, just as the name suggests.

Big demons like the Demon Prince simply cannot pass through a gap of this size, and even slightly stronger high-level demons can't get through.

If anyone is so daring as to try to force their way through, it will be like the filth clogging a toilet, stuck in the gap between hell and the material world, unable to move at all.

Because these gaps are so small, the demons cannot even manually expand them from the hell side.

Therefore, for most powerful demons, this situation was like chicken ribs, a nuisance that was neither worth eating nor worth throwing away. There were also many demons who took their anger out on the Fallen and the cultists.

Normally, the gaps that the Fallen can barely open through blasphemous rituals or sacrifices can at most summon some low-level demons or evil beasts living in hell. To deal with such a situation, it is estimated that a group of fully armed soldiers can properly resolve it.

But the spatial rift connecting to the deep hell is another matter.

Demons that are directly subordinate to the evil god often possess many evil spells that ordinary demons do not understand, so they will use this spatial rift to create another possibility, which is also the most troublesome situation mentioned by Alvin before.

Powerful demons of the Deep Hell can send parts of their souls through rifts into the material plane.

After that, they will occupy the body of the person performing the ritual, use it as a vessel, and then use the magic power contained in their soul to transform this flesh and blood vessel into an even more terrifying killing machine, thereby achieving all kinds of evil purposes.

The contract ensured that Kalban could not lie to Alvin, so when it claimed that it could smell the scent of its hometown, the expression on the black-haired boy's face immediately froze.

"I hope things won't get to the worst, although I already have a bad feeling." Alvin took a deep breath. The respiratory system strengthened by the Death Angel Ritual allowed him to move freely even in a smoky environment.

Just like this, for him, even the worst-case scenario is still within the technical adjustment range.

"Honestly, I don't want to see...anyone I know in this state."

The excitement on Karlbant's face gradually changed. Affected by the low pressure emitted by Ivan, he also thought of some bad situations.

At this moment, a shout came from behind. Alvin turned his head and found that it was the awakened tower spirit Xiao Q who had just been left in the office by him.

It operates a structure composed of magical machinery and devices. It does not need to breathe fresh air like living things, nor is it afraid of the high temperature generated by flames, so it can of course move freely in a fire.

"Why are you here, Xiao Q? Didn't I ask you to observe Joseph secretly?" Alvin asked hurriedly.

"Answer: There was a disturbance in the crowd, and a man named Joseph was caught in a stampede. After coordinating with others to transport him to the medical department, it was confirmed that he was unconscious. We decided to fulfill the high-priority order and continue to follow the current administrator, a person named Ivan Elian... Individual, over."

As if recalling the scene recorded by the mechanical eye on the training ground, Xiao Q's originally smooth electronic voice suddenly paused for a moment, and then continued to finish his speech as if nothing had happened.

"...Were you hesitating on the word 'human' just now?" Alvin's face darkened.

"Answer: Wrong understanding, over." Little Q refuted without hesitation:

"Forget it. Now is not the time to dwell on this kind of thing. Now that we're here, let's go together." The black-haired boy's voice gradually became louder, and his pace became faster and faster.

A man and a dog, with six legs moving quickly, broke through the barrier of flames and thick smoke and crashed into the laboratory at the end of the corridor where knocking sounds continued to be heard.

The moment he broke into the room, Ivan saw Khayon holding two dueling wands, crossing them in an X shape in front of his chest, and trying hard to open a protective barrier that he was not good at, covering the other half of the laboratory space.

Since the surface of the hemispherical barrier was covered with fine cracks, it was impossible to see through the barrier to see what was trapped inside. This sign also meant that the barrier opened by Khayon was on the verge of collapse.

Limor D. Maupassant, who had been working with the Necromancer, was now standing behind him.

One of the noble young man's arms was aimed at the small magic engine that was still in operation in the laboratory, while the other was pressing on the surface of the protective barrier released by Khayon.

As the superior class to the Steel Soldier and the equivalent class to the Mage, the Armored Trooper also has the ability to synchronize magic with the Magic Engine.

At this moment, the magic power generated by the consumption of alchemical fuel inside the magic engine was like a leaping electric arc, one end of which was connected to the engine output terminal, and the other end continued to flow into his body along Limore's open right hand, and then immediately transmitted from his left hand to the protective barrier opened by Khayon, serving the purpose of sharing the consumption of spell casting.

However, the necromancer only had some knowledge of the protective barrier, and the armored cavalry were not pure spellcasters. The two sides, who had not received similar training, could not achieve tacit cooperation.

Limore, who had overused his magical abilities, was already bleeding from his nose, and bloodshot was all over Khayang's eyes.

So, almost at the moment when Alvin rushed in, the two people who were subconsciously distracted by the unexpected noise were directly blown back by the impact force, and the protective barrier that was already full of cracks completely collapsed and shattered in an instant.

It was not until this moment that Alvin finally saw what was covered by the barrier.