Close Combat Mage
chapter-187

Chapter 187 – Super Magic Automatons Pt. 1

Suo Jia left the capital with the deed of his land ownership, and began to head towards the Angelic Phoenixes’ location. One week later, Suo Jia finally returned back to the worn-down ancient castle, safe and sound. However…after two weeks, the place could really no longer count as an ancient castle.

Due to the Angelic Phoenixes’ efforts, the place had already become ruins. All the buildings, as well as the surrounding walls, had been completely torn down. If he hadn’t seen the Angelic Phoenixes’ figures, Suo Jia might have even suspected that he had come to the wrong place.

Seeing Suo Jia return, all the girls happily welcomed him back. Sweeping a glance around, Suo Jia found Duo Mei and smiled, “How is it, Duo Mei? Did you girls unearth any profits?”

“Mhm…” Vigorously nodding, Duo Mei excitedly replied, “The ground has already been completely excavated. All the discovered articles have already been gathered together. Come and look!”

Suo Jia excitedly rushed over to the place the articles were being kept. When he pulled open the tent…..a large pile of lustrous, metal articles filled his vision.

Suo Jia hurriedly squeezed into the tent to examine the pile closely. Originally, it had looked great, but the more he looked, the colder Suo Jia’s heart felt. What were these? There were just some chandeliers, and things like wall lamps. What kind of stupid use would those be? Did this even count as finding articles?

After patiently looking through the pile, Suo Jia blankly raised his head and asked Duo Mei, “Are these all the discovered articles? Don’t tell me that there are no magic equipment related items?”

Duo Mei helplessly shook her head and bitterly smiled, “There’s nothing else. This place has been excavated by people too many times. Aside from these broken lamps, everything else has been collected away by others already.”

“That can’t be? In that case, how could the silver-armored knight and his group gain so much profit here?” Suo Jia asked in disbelief.

Duo Mei replied, “Actually, they discovered a secret room. Those items are definitely from within there. Unfortunately, no matter how large the secret room is, all of its contents have been found and taken by them. So…”

Suo Jia furrowed his brows, then abruptly waved his hand, “Fine. Bring me to that secret room. I want to see whether I can find any new things there.”

Duo Mei didn’t dare waste any time, and immediately led Suo Jia to a corner of the ruins. There was a pitch-black entrance not too far away there.

Turning on a magic lantern, they entered the underground passage. After a bit, they walked into a narrow underground secret room. Surveying his surroundings, Suo Jia guessed that the small room was only about 20 pings. He began to closely examine the area.

Aside from a few simple, wooden shelves, there was only a table and a chair. Aside from these, everything inside had already been moved away. It was just as Duo Mei had said; there was absolutely nothing left.

Suo Jia slowly straightened his back and waved his hand, firmly declaring, “Whatever. Since we came here, we definitely cannot return empty-handed. Right now, I want everyone to immediately dig the area around this secret room! Even if there aren’t any treasures, I will dig some out!”

Nobody refused his commands. Soon…everyone had a shovel in hand, and began to excavate the area. To prevent the area from collapsing, Suo Jia didn’t idle around, and continuously released an ice stream to support the secret room.

Some people dug, some people moved things around, and everyone was extremely busy. With the Angelic Phoenixes’ strength, the walls were soon forcibly smashed and tossed aside. At the same time, a dark passage appeared in front of them.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but get excited at the site of the dark passageway. As expected….this place wasn’t simply a cramped secret room. They had managed to excavate out this long tunnel; how could the tiny room have been the only thing constructed? Suo Jia believed that the room was more like a lounge, or a watchroom! He turned on the magic lantern and led the group of girls through the tunnel.

The tunnel was man-made; it was both wide and orderly. Not long after they had started walking, the sound of wind rushed in from the opposite end. A torrent of ‘Ding Dong’ sounds came from the Angelic Phoenixes’ bodies. When they raised the lantern to inspect the source, they discovered that the floor was densely covered with arrows!

Suo Jia wiped away his cold sweat, secretly glad that he hadn’t walked in front. Otherwise, the dense storm of arrows, although couldn’t pierce through his body’s Monarch Armor, would probably have bored holes through his unprotected head like a sieve!

Suo Jia hurriedly fell behind by a few steps, letting a few of the Angelic Phoenixes lead the way. The group slowly advanced, but before they had gotten far, Suo Jia felt the ground around them tremble. Then…the 10 meter long tunnel unexpectedly began to collapse.

Seeing the ground beneath him begin to crumble, Suo Jia didn’t dare tarry, and activated Unrivaled Wave Walking to fly up into the air. The Angelic Phoenixes wasted no time either, and opened the cloaks behind them to float over to the opposite side.

When everyone finally reached the opposite end of the tunnel safely, they turned around to look back. The 10 meter long passage had already become a bottomless abyss. If one fell down there, they wouldn’t possibly survive!

Suo Jia was inwardly glad that he hadn’t let Aimi and Aila tag along. Otherwise, nobody could’ve saved them. Both the Angelic Phoenixes and Suo Jia could only keep themselves in the air. If they dragged two people along with them, they’d definitely drop down at high speeds like rocks.

“Gulu…gulu…” Just as everyone had sighed in relief, the passage walls once again began to tremble. Everyone looked downward in horror. Just as they thought the walls would collapse as well, a strange ‘gulu’ sound rose from the depths.

When they looked towards the source of the sound, no one could see any strange changes in the long passage. Just as everyone had raised their guards…an enormous shadow instantly turned around the corner in front of them, rumbling as it rushed towards the group.

Everyone watched as a gigantic boulder that blocked the entire passage heavily rolled down the passage. It had an imposing, unstoppable air as it wildly steamrolled its way towards the group.

“Not good! Quickly leave the passage!” Suo Jia urgently shouted.

Hearing Suo Jia’s shout, the girls all extended their cloaks to the fullest, fleeing towards the passage behind them. Afterwards…the giant boulder dropped into the bottomless abyss. Even after a long time had passed, they were not able to hear any echo of it hitting the ground.

Suo Jia nervously wiped away his sweat. However, Suo Jia didn’t cower; rather, he instead grew more excited. Although these traps were formidable, they indicated that there must be some kind of precious treasure hidden here. Most importantly, nobody had ever come here before!

With a wave of his hand, Suo Jia commanded everyone to head out once more to continue searching. For the next half an hour, Suo Jia and the others encountered six more rolling boulders in succession. As for other traps, there were too many to count. However…although Suo Jia and Angelic Phoenixes didn’t dare boast about their strength, they were quite powerful. One after another, they broke through the traps.

Finally, they reached the end of the narrow passage. Within the spacious hole, two great doors appeared in front of them. When they looked around, they saw that the two dazzling doors were tightly shut. They exuded an imposing presence that filled the entire cave.

Suo Jia and the girls walked up to the great doors, closely examining them. However, after a long period of inspection, they couldn’t find any mechanisms to open the doors aside from six keyholes. In a bout of anger, Suo Jia fiercely commanded that if they couldn’t open the doors, they’d dig around the cave walls and clear a passage through to the other side!

Heeding Suo Jia’s orders, the girls quickly spurred into action. They brandished picks, and their fire wind battle qi helped them smash slabs of rock and move it into the passage behind them. Because there were so many people, they were able to simultaneously excavate the left, right, and top areas around the doors. Half an hour later, the entire area around the doors had been cleared, and the doors stood there alone. Although they hadn’t been opened, they could no longer obstruct anyone.

Circling around the grand doors in satisfaction, Suo Jia followed the opened up, narrow path and entered the area behind the doors to arrive at a huge hall over 1000 pings large. Suo Jia observed that the entire floor here was flat and smooth, like a mirror. The absolute emptiness of the area was like an empty case; there was nothing present. At the same time, the Angelic Phoenixes came over from behind him, suspiciously looking around the spacious room.

“Creak…creak…” An ear-piercing rumble rang out, and the hall’s surrounding walls all flipped around, exposing dozens of wide, pitch-dark holes.

“Not good! Be careful, raise your guards!” Seeing this scene, Suo Jia, who had already been completely frightened by all the traps in this place, urgently commanded. At the same time, all the Angelic Phoenixes unsheathed their war blades, focusing all their attentions warily.

Everyone watched as copper, humanoid figures walked out from the hundreds of holes. One by one, they entered from both sides, approaching the inside of the hall.

Everyone watched as 900 total–in the formation of 30 rows x 30 columns–metal people made of bronze lined up in a neat formation. The large hall was completely sealed off, blocking Suo Jia and the others from leaving.

“This…this is!” Suo Jia couldn’t help but watch the strange scene unfold in front of him with wide eyes. If he hadn’t seen wrongly, these were the alchemist’s most representative tools that had been lost for thousands of years: Magic Automatons!