AZI Volume 4 Chapter 1

"No time to waste."

Steering the Machina Frame towards the blade-shaped building, Long Hua has it make a run towards it.

As soon as the Machina Frame's right foot lands onto the building's doorway, Long Hua withdraws the frame into his storage pouch.

Together with Tian Cheng, he heads inside the building.

The interior of the building consists of a long staircase that leads upwards.

To the sides of the staircase is a flat floor that Long Hua casts a glance at—via his divine senses, prior to returning his attention to the top of the staircase.

(The teleportation magic array had better be up there.)

Just as Long Hua is thinking of this—

"Tch."

Seeing both Sinners and practitioners—who were all brought into this area, through the magic array, continuing to linger here, Long Hua clicks his tongue, as he draws Bai Zhe.

"…"

Following Long Hua's lead, Tian Cheng draws out Kun and together, they cut down everything that got in their way.

*Klang!* any time Tian Cheng runs out of sword Qi, Long Hua would lean Bai Zhe towards her direction to replenish it.

Gradually, the two make it to the half-way point of the staircase, where—

"Uh?"

*Boom!* a scythe-like limb stabs down in front of their path, and to the side, Long Hua sees a fully Apotheosized Sinner—in the form of a black spider, attempting to climb up to their level.

"Screw this place for real! I'm nearly out of spirit Qi…"

Unlike the wolf-type Apotheosized Sinner, this spider-type Apotheosized Sinner is many times larger.

"Shall we ignore it, master?"

"After we cut off the tip of a few legs."

Exploiting the last few minutes of the physical strength talisman's buff, Long Hua approaches the leg of the spider that is in their way, and severs it with a single slash.

*Bak!* as electric energy spews from her body, Tian Cheng dashes to the side, and severs another leg.

Leaping into the air, Tian Cheng dismisses Kun's scabbard, and swings her left arm—throwing five knives outwards.

As these knives shoot forth, they puncture another one of the spider's legs.

Leaping into the air as well, Long Hua takes aim at another one of the spider's legs, and swings Bai Zhe—to draw out a serpent formed of flower petals.

Compared to when he had first used this form of "Flowers within the Mist," the one that he had just drawn out is much smaller in scale, but it nevertheless gets the job—of severing another one of the spider's legs, done.

Having lost four of its six limbs, the spider—that is latching onto the side of the staircase, immediately begins to show signs of losing its balance, as its body begins to lean backwards.

Simultaneously, Long Hua and Tian Cheng lands directly onto the spider's face, and without any hesitation, they stab two of its six eyes out with their swords!

*Kraaaakk!!!* as the Apotheosized Sinner raises a miserable cry, its body continues to tilt backwards, and using its face as their footing, Long Hua and Tian Cheng leap onto the staircase—prior to continuing onwards.

The rest of the way upwards wasn't as rage-inducing for Long Hua, as it only involved cutting down a few Sinners and practitioners.

Eventually reaching the top, the two find a tall entrance way, and without any hesitation, they enter.

...…

A few moments after Long Hua and Tian Cheng had entered the tall entrance way—

"Ai…"

Falling onto his butt, Ye Chen heaves a heavy sigh.

Right now, all the remaining survivors are gathered at the base floor of the blade-like building.

Any enemy Sinners and practitioners—that were originally here, had vanished the moment the magic array expired.

"I say… Was that Immortal in black some sort of dungeon boss? That MAU that he brought out, does it serve as the second phase of his boss fight, or something?"

Throwing out a few game terms, Ye Chen looks to Shao Tianming—who is just as fatigued as he is, while asking this question.

Glancing back at Ye Chen, Shao Tianming replies—

"How the hell should I know? Everything about this ruin is completely out of the ordinary."

"…"

Off to the side, Wang Yongning—who is recalling the battle, can't help but place a hand to his neck, with a deep frown. The sensation of having his own head ripped off—in such a forceful manner, can only be described as traumatizing.

"Li Xue…"

Dodging a spear that came from behind his head, Ye Chen turns to the side, and asks—

"Can't you at least let me catch my breath?"

Looking at Ye Chen with an expression of concern, Li Xue replies—

"If I don't kill you myself first, I'm afraid of someone else doing you in. This feeling of hatred will forever go unquenched then."

"Piss off for real!"

Heaving out another sigh, Ye Chen looks to Qing Yue and Yu Ji, and asks—

"Where's that surnamed Long?"

"We got separated after meeting surnamed Shao's group."

Receiving this answer from Yu Ji, Ye Chen turns back to Shao Tianming, who says—

"That surnamed Long is a real piece of work. He realized that the floor we were standing on was about to flip, and yet, he didn't say a single word about it…"

Thinking back to this, a begrudging expression appears on Shao Tianming's face, while Yu Ji says—

"Ah, we did manage to acquire some information that might be valuable from Chen Lan before that separation happened."

"Hm? Tell me about it."