Chapter 513: Chapter 459: Countermeasures

“Leave the monster to me.”

With a grave expression, Mobius waved a rapier-like staff, slicing open a teleportation gate and stepping through it, appearing out of thin air amidst storm clouds, facing off against a massive mechanical opponent.

Curse Magic, specializing in summoning Otherworld creatures, creating objects, long-range teleportation, and medical healing.

In terms of pure destructive power, it was actually inferior to the more direct energy manipulation of Shaping Magic.

However, in this place and time, he was the only one who could handle it.

Five Rings, Curse Magic, [Steel Wind Slash]!

No need to chant a spell, Mobius gripped the sword’s hilt and slashed downward, merging himself into the wind and flickering instantly behind the massive opponent.

The blade, enveloped in force field energy, slashed toward the biological electromagnetic cannon barrel on the opponent’s back.

Clang—

The blade was steadily blocked by a semi-mechanical long tail.

The massive opponent, having just absorbed a full charge of electrical energy from the Revenscott Park power station, had spines on its back glowing an eerie blue, channeling massive electricity to the tip of its long tail.

Crackle!

The raging current directly melted the rapier-like staff in mid-air.

A series of gemstone shattering sounds emanated from Mobius, each shatter signifying the absorption of some external damage.

Unfazed, he saw the fearsome long tail speeding towards his chest in his retina’s reflection and suddenly accelerated his left arm to block it.

Six Rings, Curse Magic, [Secret Magic Gate]

Two circular teleportation arrays formed in the blink of an eye, one blocking in front of Mobius, the other appearing at the opponent’s vulnerable back neck.

The effect of the Secret Magic Gate was to open two teleportation gates, connecting two spatial ends.

Similar to the teleportation gun in the classic game “Portal.”

The mechanical opponent’s long tail, unstoppable, pierced into its own relatively weak back neck.

Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Mobius extended his right hand into the teleportation gate, releasing Five Rings Curse Magic, [Disease Insect Swarm]

Shhhhh—

A vast number of hideous insects, combining features of locusts and scarabs, flapped their wings, appearing in the spherical space below Mobius’s hand.

These insects, smelling the scent of blood, became extremely excited and frenzied, burrowing into the opponent’s back neck wound.

While they couldn’t chew through the opponent’s battle-hardened body, they could infiltrate every crevice, clogging its ventilation ducts.

And then… chain combustion!

These insects are a special breed, from a script world with an Ancient Egypt mythological background, usually fed high-calorie tars.

At this moment, they self-ignited, burning fiercely as oil seeped into the opponent’s ventilation slots.

[Detected respiratory system temperature exceeding safety threshold by 37%, classified as Class A threat, initiating emergency response]

The mechanical opponent abruptly jerked its body, sweeping its giant scythe-like forelimbs to fend off Mobius.

[Initiating internal cooling program, switching core processor to redundant cooling mode]

Inside the opponent, an industrial-grade air conditioner with Madam Dong’s portrait printed on it operated at full power, blowing out icy wind to extinguish the burning oil completely.

[Starting damage assessment subroutine, recording battle style into Mobius’s file. Combining with curse magic mage database on player forums, updating combat tactics, optimizing battle plans]

The opponent’s thought pattern was already like a biological machine, and after being resurrected and mechanically fused by Li Cheng, it became even more like an AI program.

With a highly-developed brain filled with computation units, it improved its combat strategy in the blink of an eye.

Upper limbs, giant scythes, long tail, shoulder-mounted machine guns, back electromagnetic cannon, every available part launched a concentrated rainstorm of attacks at Mobius, leaving no chance to distance himself again.

Meanwhile, the mechanical opponent’s mechanical eyes flickered, projecting a 3D image.

The content shows… Mobius intimately embracing the elderly British queen on the roof of Buckingham Palace, romantically stargazing together.

??? What the heck is this?

Mobius’s hand trembled, and the newly reforged rapier-like staff was once again cleft apart by the giant scythe, cutting him in half.

Crunch.

Underneath his coat, another magic tool shattered, taking the lethal hit for him.

Mobius flickered a kilometer away, his injuries healing in an instant, yet the opponent was already closing in at high speed, projecting another image with its mechanical eye.

[Mobius holding flowers proposing to a potbellied prince]

The absurdity of such high-intensity combat left the mage with a feeling known as “laughing in disbelief.”

Undoubtedly, the opponent, through data on player forums, learned that Mobius valued his reputation and held a sense of national identity with the UK, and it used AI-generated images to disrupt his mind.

Uh… it seems not just images.

The projected image started moving, becoming a vivid, audio-included video projected in the storm clouds over London City.

Even a fraction of a percent, even a fraction of a fraction of a percent of interference could determine victory or defeat.

To the civilians of London City, awakened by the explosions, the huge projections in the night sky were undoubtedly baffling.

Had it not been for the earlier EMP pulse knocking out electronic devices, they would have taken out their phones by now to capture the scene and post it online.

——————

Have you ever been elbowed at light speed?

Most players would likely say no.

The people of the Bell Tower were the same, surrounded by the glow of various passive magic tools.

Some could create multiple illusions of themselves, moving in sync to confuse Pifu;

Some could passively defend, teleporting the user a kilometer away upon detecting a fierce external attack.

Even so, the Bell Tower mages remained highly tense—the physical destructive effect of the curvature engine was too violent, and they were quite dubious if the magic tools could activate as fast as light speed.

Except for Mobius, the rest were scattered in alleys and on rooftops, releasing spells in concert.

[Silent Spellcasting]—slightly increasing spiritual power consumption to cast spells without chanting.

[Arcane Acceleration]—accelerating all spell casting speed.

[Alliance of Allies]—sharing personal buffs with teammates as a percentage.

[Arcane Link]—connecting mage teammates, reducing casting difficulty.

…

The group coordinated seamlessly, seemingly connected by an invisible network, collectively channeling arcane energy to form a large-scale spell called “Space-Time Stasis.”

Buzz!

The air within a thirty-meter radius around Li Cheng instantly became dense and heavy, exhibiting a texture similar to gel.

Time seemed… no, it was slowed down.

Raindrops slowly fell through the gel, and music coming from the nightclub, affected by the Doppler effect, became low-pitched and sluggish.

“Whew.”

Nikola let out a sigh of relief; if he had the choice, he really wouldn’t want to fight Pifu, but being in the guild, his choices were constrained.

He thrust his staff into his abdomen, self-mutilating to overdraw future spiritual power values, guiding the release of the [Plane Exile Technique] skill.

The other mages of the Bell Tower, leaving three to maintain the large-scale [Space-Time Stasis] spell,

while the others either cast green beams of the Dissociation Technique, hurled fireballs, or shot lightning from their fingers.

All types of attacks, once entering the space-time gel, were slowed down as well, with the fireballs moving as slowly as snails.

And once the [Space-Time Stasis] was lifted, these attacks would resume their original speed, all striking Pifu…