Chapter 342: Breaking Through Piece by Piece (2/2)

“What is this guy doing? Why is he coming back?! Did he bump his head too many times?” Stingham shouted as he dumbfoundedly watched Moss charge right back into the chamber.

“Brave warrior Moss is trying to attract as many streams of flames as possible to lessen our burden,” Ayrin exclaimed as he quickly understood Moss’ intentions.

Ayrin looked around and quickly saw Belo and Chris becoming increasingly pressured by the golden flames behind him. As a result, he slowed down and let them approach him so that he could help receive some of the burden.

As flames cut towards him, Ayrin cried out, “Dragon Scale Absorption!”

Several flames occasionally struck Ayrin’s body, causing wisps of smoke to appear. However, they were only able to leave a faint mark on his skin.

“If this is it, then we should be able to comfortably pass through this area!” Ayrin thought to himself as his eyes flashed with excitement.

By this point, Rinloran had also reached the exit.

Meanwhile, his group of three was progressing towards the exit without any issues.

Although the metal floor of the chamber was steadily turning red, they fast enough so that their feet were only in contact with the floor for a short moment before they could be burned.

“Moss, did you come back to make fun of me…” Stingham cried as he burst into tears.

By this time, Moss had already exited and re-entered through the initial gate and passed Stingham once more.

“Boom!”

Moss closely followed Ayrin, Belo and Chris through the exit.

“Thankfully this chamber is only a couple dozen meters long. I have almost made it!”

Stingham frustratedly combed through his hair.

But in the next moment, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

Now that everyone else had exited, and also because he had slowed down to comb his hair, all of the metal puppets in the chamber had focused their attacks towards him. Flames swarmed towards him from all directions and completely enveloped him.

Ayrin, Rinloran and the others stood outside the exit dumbfounded.

Stingham had been a mere step or two away from exiting, and so they had not expected for something like this to occur.

“He wouldn’t have been directly turned into a roasted turkey right?” Moss muttered with difficulty. A feeling of unease spread though his body.

“Ack!” Stingham let out a cry of misery.

“Ding!”

In the next moment, Stingham’s body flew out of the chamber and crashed onto the ground before them.

“He’s not a roasted turkey, but a roasted lobster,” Ayrin and Rinloran joked. Indeed, although he was still smoking, Stingham looked just fine, except for the fact that his skin had been turned a bright red from the heat, making him look like a lobster.

“Stingham, you need to work some more on your speed!” Moss gloated as he pat Stingham on the shoulder.

“You!” Stingham despaired. He wanted to cry but no tears would come out.

“If you aren’t dead, then stop lying on the ground. Don’t waste this grandfather’s time,” Belo sneered.

“They actually managed to break through the first layer of defenses so quickly! And not a single one of them suffered any serious injuries!”

Looking down from one of the many bronze walls were several black robed referees and a team of medicinal masters. Their faces were all plastered with looks of shock and disbelief.

The light before them was strangely distorted. It was apparent that they had created a small breach in the Mirroring Refraction Barrier, creating a one-way viewing frame for them to observe Ayrin and the others.

“What kind of defense is it this time?”

As the six youths continued further into the labyrinth of walls, they quickly arrived before another one of temple-like buildings with an unlocked gate.

The only difference was the pillar above the gate. The puppet no longer had the head of a silver faced girl with golden hair, but the head of a golden faced male.

“Please don’t test our speed again. It would be best if it tested our defense,” Stingham muttered to himself.

“Ding!”

This time, Belo acted even more arrogantly and kicked the gate open.

An ominous and chilly wind blew out from within.

“There is only a single metal puppet this time?”

Ayrin’s eyes widened.

There was only a single metal puppet within the entire chamber. It was a little male puppet which looked just like a child and it stood exactly in the center of the chamber.

Its face seemed to be full of suffering and sorrow, and its face, eyes and hair were all golden. Embedded in the ceiling above its head were countless glittering phosphophyllite crystals, making it seem as if there were countless stars falling onto the floor and the metal puppet.[1]

[1] It's a kind of greenish crystal. Wikipedia has an article on it.