Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong hadn’t had time to warn Xiangzi to watch out for a Combat Artisan before the latter was already charging at that Construct.

Xiangzi lowered his body, eyes fixed, sword flashing into his hand, trying to seize the opening after the Construct fired, when its close and ranged Attack Modes couldn’t be switched seamlessly. But to his surprise, the Construct’s movements were far more agile than he’d imagined.

Its long, copper arm drew the gun-hand back with its right claw, while its left hand had already ripped the long blade from its sheath and brought the back of the blade up to block. With sparks spraying as metal clashed, the slightly curved, narrow blade was already bracing Xiangzi’s Rapier.

Beneath the pointed hat, a dark red Light rotated, as if thinking and observing, like a real eye.

Xiangzi’s first strike failed; he instantly drew his sword back and retreated, letting go of the Short Staff with his left hand. The Short Staff spun and floated in the air. Then his left hand clawed forward in a push.

A Force Field surged out like an invisible ripple, slamming into the Construct. The Construct suddenly lost Balance and staggered back, arms spread as it crashed into the wall, blasting a hole open with a roar.

So this thing wasn’t immune to Magic, just had very high magic resistance. Normally, with him pushing at full strength like that, a Construct of this weight class should’ve been sent flying straight out, but right now it had only barely been knocked to the ground.

However, those bullets that had pierced through his Spells earlier were genuinely carrying a counter-magic Attribute, clearly because there was something strange about the gun in the opponent’s hand; it didn’t seem to be a simple Empire Type XI.

Luo Yu, watching from the side, also saw the key point now. If even a Force Field Spell was like this, then what about Elemental Spells that were even more afraid of magic resistance?

He couldn’t help growing a bit grim, raising the Magic Wand in his hand, readying himself for casting.

On this side the Construct had just hit the floor when Xiangzi snatched the Short Staff back out of the air, lunged forward, and whipped his right-hand Rapier up in a Thrust aimed straight at the Construct’s chest—where its Core Crystal would normally be.

But before the blade could land, two points of Silver Star suddenly flashed in the darkness—two short spears identical to the ones from before, shooting in, one from front and one from behind.

Xiangzi immediately flicked his sword; blade met spear with a clang, drawing a golden streak in the gloom as the short spear was knocked aside and disappeared into the wall.

Even so, the huge impact sent pins and needles lancing through his palm; the Rapier’s blade vibrated wildly, nearly flying from his hand.

He could already see he wouldn’t be able to block the second short spear, but a ring of hazy Silverlight appeared at the head of his Short Staff, the nine Talia Ticks that represented time in this world, different Ariqi characters blooming one after another.

In that instant, time stopped flowing; everything relative to Xiangzi seemed frozen. The short spear hung still in mid-air as he twisted his body to the side and slipped past it.

Then an unseen hand in the Nether nudged the pointer, and time resumed its flow.

To everyone else, it only looked as if Xiangzi’s figure had suddenly blurred, a shaft of Silverlight lancing through the afterimages he left behind and burying itself in the ceiling.

But although Xiangzi dodged both short spears, the Construct also seized the chance to roll backward, flipping to its feet. The red Light flickered once, its long arms lifting the Magic Guided Gun in its hands.

A gunshot cracked; an ember of dark red flared in the gloom. Xiangzi dove forward, letting the bullet blast a large hole in the wall instead.

Fang Hong stood rooted in place, realizing he couldn’t help at all. Without a Flexible Construct, a Combat Artisan was really as helpless as a chick.

He saw the Construct fire and opened his mouth, wanting to tell Xiangzi that the Empire Type XI was a six-shot revolver—in other words, there were still four rounds in the gun.

But the Construct was already tracking with its mechanical sights, pulling the trigger in rapid succession. Four streaks of golden Light crossed in the darkness, firing straight at Xiangzi.

Xiangzi rolled and dived, dodging the first three. Bullets blasted the room into a billowing cloud of dust, but he simply couldn’t evade the fourth and had no choice but to raise his Short Staff to block.

The golden Light slammed into a semi-arc Shield set into the Short Staff, throwing off a spray of sparks and deflecting to the side, blowing a huge hole in a painting on the wall.

After four misses, the Construct drew back the Magic Guided Gun and set it upright, yanking down the lever. With a click, the cylinder swung out and six still-smoking shells bounced and clinked onto the floor.

Its slender right arm moved so fast his handwork blurred, and with a smooth swish it had reloaded the gun.

Fang Hong stared, dumbstruck—showy reload, a Gunslinger’s ability. He suddenly had some idea what that Magic Guided Reactor on the Construct’s back really was.

Xiangzi was getting anxious too. He’d bragged that he alone could handle this thing, but so far he’d just been taking hits, burning through three of the four Runes in his staff, and that full-power shove earlier had also eaten a fifth of his Mana. Keep this up and he’d have to swap Mana Storage Crystals and dig into his reserves.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t fight a war of attrition, but winning like that would look far too pathetic.

Watching the Construct about to chamber another round, how could he possibly give it that chance? Was this going to drag on forever?

He clenched the Short Staff with his left hand; silver light flared in his right as his figure vanished in an instant, reappearing in the next heartbeat right in front of the Construct.

The Construct had just finished reloading and was about to pull the lever back up when a wheel of silver radiance split the air before its eyes. The red Light in its gaze shifted slightly; it dropped the Magic Guided Gun and once more drew the long blade in a reverse grip.

Sparks flared in the dark as the Construct once again caught Xiangzi’s Attack.

After several exchanges with the Construct, Xiangzi had already been driven into the Captain’s cabin. He glanced up and slashed downward with his Short Staff in his left hand.

Above the two of them hung another chandelier, and while the Construct’s magic resistance was high, the chandelier’s was not.

The chandelier came crashing down with a clang, and Xiangzi had already rolled aside in advance, letting the iron frame drop neatly over the Construct.