A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 132 The Bell of Order and the Alchemy Department's Test

"The heartbeats are getting louder! Something's happening in the cellar!" There was no fighting on the second floor. The bartenders and the rotten-nosed drug seller had all been "packed up" and sent away. The captain hurriedly led the others to the cellar.

Two of the extremely tall mages actually managed to break through the second-floor wooden floor and fall to the first floor. Their bodies collided with the ground, producing a metallic hum.

"You even have heavy armor?" The gray-robed knights were somewhat surprised. These two were already two heads taller than the others, and their bodies were also very large. Under their cloaks and robes, they looked like two mobile wardrobes.

"Is it not okay?" The mages leaped down from the breach they had created, and the two silent "giants" each took out a greatsword from their robes, burrowed into the ground, and blasted apart the space between the first floor and the cellar, including the stone vaulted ceiling of the cellar.

Boom! If even one piece of the vaulted ceiling were missing, it would collapse in a chain reaction, with bricks and clods of earth crashing down, the shattered glass filling the air with a peculiar aromatic scent.

"Are you trying to crush us?" The squad in the cellar was nearly crushed by a collapse caused by their own men before they could even attack their target. After everyone regrouped, the thing at the wellhead finally crawled out, pushing aside the dust and letting out an angry roar.

"You wine cellars! My bar building must die!"

"They all have to die!"

If Rorschach had been involved in this operation, he would have thought that the boss's opening line and appearance were absolutely classic. The arms that the team had seen before, which belonged to men and women, children, young people and old people, had all melted and kneaded together, forming a monster called the "Rat King".

The wet mass of flesh crawled out of the well, the still recognizable human body writhing. It had no clear support, lying half-prostrate in the pile of rubble, the flesh beneath it groaning in pain. The parts that had been soaked in the liquid for a long time were pale and swollen, with large patches of pinkish granulation tissue and rotting sores.

The aroma of the wine now carries a slightly sour and pungent smell.

Old Red, the dominant consciousness, sits atop the monster. Having been redeemed by Mother Earth, he not only regained his feet that fed fish at sea, but now sits on a throne made of "rats." He is a king who looks down upon his traitors with angry and contemptuous gaze in his shattered "palace."

"What a blasphemous creature!" The church members were the first to act. A gray-robed man brandished a sword covered in ointment and charged at the monster, causing his companions to frown.

"The Odysseus brothers are still as reckless as ever." The leader of the grey-robed knights criticized, but still led the remaining two monks as the vanguard to "bless" the monster. As they chanted, Odysseus's grey robes shone with holy golden light, and the blessed oil on his sword began to burn fiercely. He slashed at the flesh of the "Rat King," producing burnt wounds and the monster's screams of pain.

The mages' attacks followed in quick succession, and this time the target could no longer dodge. Flames, ice, and invisible cuts were indiscriminately applied to the molten flesh.

"How dare you!" Red, enduring the pain, began to retaliate, spewing out thick green mist from all the heads that had not yet completely melted into chunks of flesh.

Odysseus was the first to be affected; the golden light protecting him dimmed, and his movements became sluggish. Rays and projectiles seemed to have no effect within the thick fog.

Thick, foul-smelling pus began to gush from the ground where the wine had flowed.

The mages retreated instinctively, coughing in the thick green fog as they quickly activated their amulets or protective spells to try and dispel their abnormal status. The grey-robed knights began chanting again, golden light attempting to disperse the fog, at least preventing it from spreading further, giving their temporary allies a sense of warmth and reassurance.

"Odysseus!" Suddenly, the Rat King's thick arm grabbed the harpoon and thrust it towards him. At this moment, the greatsword in Odysseus's hand had burned out of holy oil, and his thoughts were rising. He saw many scenes, as if guided by the gods, and his consciousness was drifting.

"This dense fog has both disease-causing and hallucinogenic effects." The mage attempted to purify it with fire. Two burly men, who had broken through the floor, rushed towards the monster. One swung his greatsword upwards, knocking away the harpoon, while the other grabbed the collar of the dazed Odysseus and flung him back to his teammate.

Now, in the thick fog, two tall warriors confront the monster. The blades of their greatswords glow with blue light, allowing others to see the trajectory of their swords as they relentlessly slice through chunks of flesh.

"We must prevent the poisonous fog from spreading!" The flames burned the green fog, but it still spread. So a new spell was added, and a swirling wind rose up, carrying the flames and poisonous fog, confining the fog and the battlefield to the eye of the wind.

The monster continued to regenerate rapidly, its rotting flesh growing ever more grotesque. The sacred object was finally ready to join the battle; it was a broken spearhead, fixed upright on a tray. The monk removed the cloth and poured the four cups of holy water from the four corners of the tray onto the spearhead in a counter-clockwise order, each pour intensifying the golden light.

After finishing, the cultivator remotely levitated the spearhead and locked onto the Rat King. At this time, Old Red had already been cut off on one side. After regenerating, he lost the ability to speak and could only groan in pain. When he was hit by the rushing golden light, he let out an even more heart-wrenching wail.

It finally stopped spewing poisonous mist, its golden wounds unable to heal, and it staggered backward onto the well's edge, collapsing limply into the bottom.

"Your sacred relic is gone."

"They're disposable; the church still has plenty in stock." The monk remained remarkably calm.

"Amazing, amazing!"

Two tall, star-robed warriors, carrying greatswords, stepped forward to examine the monster that had retreated to the well's edge. Suddenly, a gigantic fleshy worm rushed forward, its countless arms reaching out to drag the two warriors into its body. The warriors' cloth robes were completely corroded by the slime, revealing their full plate armor, its silver surface reflecting the moonlight.

The two burly men, completely encased in plate armor, swung their swords again, but this time the blades were heavily covered in chunks of flesh.

"Attack again!" The flesh worm kept crawling out of the well, and a dark green glow began to shine in the folds of its body, forming blasphemous patterns. The golden wound was shrinking, and the golden light was gradually turning into a dull green.

"It is defiling the Lord's glory!" The monk was truly alarmed now. He directly opened the scripture and spread out the runes composed of holy light, but they were shattered by the roar of the flesh worm. This roar was accompanied by a mental shock that pierced through everyone's brains, making them dizzy for a moment. Only the big guy on the front line resisting the worm's actions was still trying to swing his sword.

The security team members who were watching the towering fire tornado were chatting when suddenly the tornado disappeared, and a strange roar was heard.

"God, what a commotion!" The security team members exclaimed, marveling at how soundly the citizens were sleeping, forgetting that the magic had sealed off the area. However, the roar seemed to penetrate the barrier, actually waking people up.

"What the hell is that!" A emaciated man pounced on a security guard, attempting to devour him. Outside the encirclement, a large number of mentally unstable individuals stormed the blockade, grappling with the security team. "Fire!" Unaware of the bullets from the pistols hitting them, they dragged their mangled bodies back towards the original location of the bar, unless their heads were blown off.

Others joined the street protests, some even jumping out of windows, only to writhe and rise again after landing. They had all inhaled rat poison. The same was true of Old Red's captured henchmen; Rotten Nose struggled the most fiercely.

A dark green mist rose from the street.

Suddenly, the distant tolling of bells rang out, dong—dong—dong—.

As the majestic bells tolled, everything came to a standstill. The rising mist was dispelled, and the "rat" retinue summoned by the monster returned to its listless state. Those who were seriously injured collapsed on the spot, while others panicked. Some vomited uncontrollably, while others scratched their skin until it festered and bled.

"May the God of Light protect us!" The team members, who had survived the ordeal, breathed a sigh of relief.

The battle inside the bar also progressed; the tolling bells seemed to be a deadly poison to the monsters, causing the divine runes on their bodies to shatter and loosening their grip on the fully armored warriors. The two swords swung simultaneously, slicing through most of the monsters' flesh as they collided.

They raised their greatswords high, and under the moonlight, a white light thicker than the mouth of a well descended from the sky, piercing the monster vertically and completely engulfing its flesh amidst its roar, giving it no chance to regenerate.

"You guys are pretty impressive too." The cultivator who activated the sacred artifact now looked at the pillar of light and commented with amusement.

On the spire, "Grey Cardinal" Joseph stopped the wooden striking pin and held the bell of order, which shone with golden light, to stop its aftershocks. His eyes, too, emitted a holy and sublime light, which was gradually fading and dying out.

"It's over. There's no need to disturb Lord Deplesie's rest."

"Yes." The monk beside him helped the priest down the tower.

The base of the Starlight Torch Tower is a large hall, with a central metal rod that extends all the way to the top of the tower, serving both as the support for the entire tower and as an antenna-like structure.

In the hall, Snow drank bottle after bottle of concentrated energy potion. He saw a mage wearing a headband covered in wires wake up in a recliner and hurriedly asked, "How are you?" The other alchemists present also looked nervously at the awakened mage.

The lobby also features a huge crystal ball, inside which is a scene of the Old Red Bar burning.

The mage, who had been the center of attention, ripped off his metal headband and excitedly jumped up, mimicking a sword-wielding motion—exactly the same as the fully armored warriors participating in the operation: "Awesome! Almost no delay!"

Everyone cheered, and there were shouts like "It's my turn to play next time."

"How's Unit 2, piloted by the Tower Spirit?"

"Perfect teamwork, the best teammates!"

"Good, good, good!" Snow said three times, then announced to everyone, "Contact the Star Robe Force to retrieve Units One and Two. Next time, we'll test the Magic Cavalry version of Unit Three!"

An even louder cheer erupted. In the hall, there was a knight in plate armor holding a lance, with the alchemical horse that Rorschach had tried out beside him.

Thank you to reader "Red Cell 2002" for the generous donation!

感谢书友「HNO3」「书友20190923215716709」「书友20230130081125787」「沉默小少」「佳bai」「书友20210118233042510」「书友20171219183604992」「脑袋空空」「泓沐」的月票支持！

Thanks to the following readers for their recommendation votes: "Regularity Observer", "Red Cell 2002", "0 Book Friends Mobile Number", "Chef's Night Words", "Little Fat Bee", and "Night Wind and Rain Sounds - Listening to the Rain".

For this final update, I wanted to finish the small plot points. I ended up writing 3 words, so does that count as an extra chapter? (/▽＼)

(End of this chapter)