Chapter 179: Spoils of War (1)
Once the wizard tower's restrictions were shattered and its tightly shut doors opened, Lynn didn't rush inside. Instead, he sent an Alchemical Puppet in first.
Oblivious to the danger, the Alchemical Puppet strode into the wizard tower.
Bang!
A crimson beam shattered the Alchemical Puppet's head, instantly melting a massive hole through its specially forged metal body.
But this didn't stop the construct. As long as its core remained intact, the Alchemical Puppet could keep moving.
Then a slanted scarlet beam shot in from an angle, piercing the Alchemical Puppet's chest right where its core was located.
The Alchemical Puppet shuddered. A faintly glowing metal block was exposed in its chest, though a large portion of it had already melted away.
Its movements grew sluggish, yet the magic runes across its many joints continued to flash.
Another red beam struck, utterly shattering the metal block. The light in the Alchemical Puppet's eyes flickered, and then it stopped moving.
"Seems the locals aren't happy to see me," Lynn muttered.
Although the master of this wizard tower was dead, his followers were still inside.
They were still perfectly alive and well inside.
Judging from that brief test, it was unclear whether the followers inside knew about the situation outside, but they clearly harbored extreme hostility toward intruders.
Lynn suspected they already knew who he was.
However, these followers likely lacked the necessary permissions for the wizard tower; otherwise, they would have manipulated its various modules to counterattack.
Based on their attacks, they possessed spellcasting abilities. Since the beams had come from multiple directions, there had to be more than one magic user inside.
Lynn looked back at his own wizard tower. Which of his followers could resolve this problem?
Many names flashed through his mind.
The Fallen Titan might be able to handle it, but the wizard tower's door was too small. Without a wizard actively controlling it, the entrance wouldn't widen.
Therefore, the Fallen Titan couldn't fit inside.
But just because these followers couldn't do it didn't mean others couldn't.
"Maesys?"
Lynn called out to his dear comrade, Maesys.
"..." Maesys remained silent.
'I'm not your follower! Why the hell are you calling me? We just have a cooperative relationship!'
"What do you want, wizard? Have you prepared the payment you promised me?" Maesys's voice sounded rather muffled.
Lynn cut straight to the chase. "Do me a favor."
"I am a god," Maesys said, suppressing his anger.
"I know. God, please do me a favor."
"Our relationship is purely cooperative," Maesys stressed. He felt it was completely necessary to remind this human wizard of the pecking order between them.
"Yes, and this favor will be incredibly easy for you."
"...What is it?"
"I'm giving you some followers."
"You mean you want me to go subdue these followers myself," Maesys said sarcastically.
"Where are these followers you're giving me?"
"Right in front of you." Lynn pointed at the wizard tower before them.
"Old Mae?" Seeing Maesys fall back into silence, Lynn called out to him again.
"I'm just wondering how you manage to say that with a straight face," Maesys said, his tone turning sour.
"Friends shouldn't sweat the small stuff." Lynn gave a light cough.
Maesys was silent for a long time. "Put me inside."
Lynn placed the divine statue through the entrance of the wizard tower.
A crimson beam shot out from within the wizard tower, aiming straight at Lynn through the open doors. But before it could reach him, the space around his body distorted. The beam was continuously twisted by a transparent layer of his Fiendgod Force Field until it completely dissipated into nothingness.
After placing the statue inside, Lynn retreated several dozen steps.
Inside, a dense barrage of crimson beams fired at the statue.
But in the next moment, the seemingly ordinary statue suddenly erupted with a brilliant blue light.
The faint crashing of ocean waves and the roars of sea monsters echoed in the air.
The incoming beams instantly vanished in midair.
Sometime later, massive eyes floated out from the wizard tower's main doors, hovering in the air.
Eighty percent of these creatures' entire physical structure consisted of a single giant eye.
Long, tadpole-like tails trailed behind them. The sclera surrounding their pupils was densely webbed with blackish-red blood vessels, giving them a particularly hideous appearance.
A faint scarlet aura radiated from their bodies.
Lynn instantly recognized what they were—Abyss Eye Demons.
Abyss Eye Demons were a naturally spellcasting monster species. Though their physical bodies were quite frail, they were born with an innate mastery of various ray-type spells.
Some also possessed a certain mastery over illusion spells. Wizards had studied and dissected them in the past.
The final conclusion of that research was that Abyss Eye Demons were powerful creatures.
Despite their innate talent for magic, these demons suffered tremendous, unceasing pain throughout their growth cycle.
Because their bodies were mostly composed of that giant eye, many mistakenly believed it was their only primary organ.
But that assumption was completely wrong.
They possessed other internal organs besides the eye.
It was just that compared to the massive eye, the space allotted for organs like the brain was extremely small.
Furthermore, due to certain special reasons, their anatomical structure was rather unique—their brains actually coiled inward toward the center of their bodies.
The eye itself was packed with complex neural structures and numerous magical conduits. These magical conduits were the primary reason they could innately cast spells.
Consequently, as their brains shrank inward, they constantly compressed the nerves and blood vessels within the eye. This unyielding pressure was the source of their endless agony.
Living in this constant state of torment naturally warped their temperaments, making them vicious and incredibly short-tempered. The slightest provocation could send them into a blind rage.
They would then fire deadly beams from their giant eyes, completely obliterating any living creature unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Yet at this moment, these Abyss Eye Demons displayed none of that inherent violence. Instead, they bobbed obediently behind the divine statue, as docile as a flock of sheep.
They hovered in midair. Their internal physiology contained a constant Levitation Spell rune structure, allowing them to fly effortlessly at low altitudes over long distances.
A moment later, there was another disturbance from within the wizard tower. The tower's doors began to melt like wax, rapidly expanding until they formed a massive ten-meter-tall gateway.
This was an automatic response from the wizard tower, reacting to a creature inside trying to exit.
It was a base instinct, much like a knee-jerk reflex.
The ground trembled slightly as towering creatures, each nearly ten meters tall, trudged out through the doors.
Looking at the row of Cyclopes lining up in front of him, Lynn couldn't help but wonder if this wizard had some bizarre obsession with collecting one-eyed creatures.
The moment the Cyclopes planted their feet on the earth, the flesh of their soles and ankles gradually shifted, taking on a hardened, stone-like texture.