Chapter 47: The Synchronized Spell and the Breaking Array

“So, Senior, were you linked by that person’s spell?”

“Precisely.”

Once Qing Lan had been transferred from her cell, her anomalous energy at last began to slowly recover, allowing her to explain the entire situation to Lin Xi.

Immediately after losing consciousness during her battle with Qing Na, she had been brought to this cell, designed to continuously drain her anomalous energy and prevent her recovery, where a peculiar spell was inscribed upon her.

From what Qing Lan had gathered during her prolonged pursuit of Qing Na, this particular spell possessed the ability to synchronize the states of two individuals upon whose bodies corresponding incantations were drawn.

Unlike typical anomalous abilities, spells were fundamentally a unique form of script; one could utilize them simply by knowing how to write them, making them far more versatile than general anomalous abilities.

Alternatively, it could be considered a form of engraved enchantment.

“But why would that person do such a thing? Could it be that they intend to hold Senior as a hostage?”

From the effects of the synchronized state, it was not difficult to deduce that if one party were to be killed, the other might also perish in tandem. Consequently, both sides would be compelled to hold back, refraining from lethal attacks.

Qing Lan, however, dismissed this possibility.

“No, just as injuries synchronize, so too does recovery. Just now, I felt the agonizing sensation of being bisected several times, only to immediately recover. Given this, there’s no real need for her to use me as a hostage.”

From the sensations she had just experienced through the synchronization spell, Qing Lan judged that Qing Na’s resilience far surpassed her own; Qing Lan would certainly have perished long before Qing Na did. Thus, using her safety to deter attacks on Qing Na herself held little practical purpose.

“Speaking of which, how many others came besides you?”

“Essentially, everyone D-rank mid-tier and above arrived, including the branch chief.”

“So that’s how it is…”

Upon hearing Lin Xi’s words, Qing Lan grasped the gravity of their current predicament.

“It seems she already knows how to dismantle the array. No wonder I couldn’t feel its strengthening effects.”

“Dismantle the array?”

“Precisely. She likely used the synchronization of our states to counteract the array’s suppression. She might even have already conceived a plan to destroy the array entirely. If that happens, not even the Weichangzhe will be her match.”

Having battled Qing Na and witnessed the creations she was capable of, Qing Lan was certain that, given equal conditions, Qing Na’s faction currently possessed combat power potentially superior to that of the Weichangzhe branch in Tiangong City.

“In any case, let’s remove these spells first.”

With these words, Qing Lan summoned her sword and, with a decisive motion, sliced away the entire section of skin upon which the spell had been drawn.

Some anomalous items possess a degree of self-awareness, colloquially known as sentience, and can bond with their users. This allows them to perform feats such as automatically flying to their wielder or merging with them according to their will. Qing Lan’s sword was one such item, which was why it had not been confiscated.

“This way, it should at least…”

Boom!!

Mid-sentence, Qing Lan was cut off as the entire underground structure abruptly began to tremble.

As the tremors intensified, the strengthening effects Lin Xi had felt from the array abruptly ceased.

“What in the world…”

“It’s likely too late; the array has already been destroyed.”

In a mere few seconds, Qing Lan deduced that the array jointly constructed by Yu Menghua and the other ability users had been annihilated. The timing was eerily precise, occurring just as she severed the synchronized state between herself and Qing Na, making it difficult not to suspect that every detail had been meticulously calculated.

However, the developments of the next moment left them no time for such contemplation.

The ceiling and floor, already scarred by the preceding tremors, began to shake once more. Yet, this was no continuous earthquake; it felt more like something colossal was striving to burst forth from beneath the earth’s surface.

“…This… is quite the predicament.”

Accompanying the tremors, a deluge of monsters began to emerge. Their bodies, crisscrossed with intricate stitching marks, revealed them all to be synthetic chimeras.

Among those Lin Xi recognized were cobra-tailed creatures with potent venom, whose tails branched endlessly into tentacles like a hydra’s; fungal crabs symbiotic with fungi, their bodies burgeoning with growths; and shelled stone tigers capable of hardening their fur—all fused with countless other unknown organisms or even human parts.

Though their anomalous energy levels were low, in terms of sheer physical strength and unique abilities, each monster’s prowess was still comparable to a D-rank lower-tier operative.

Had Qing Lan been in her prime, she might have stood a chance in battle, but now they were merely a D-rank mid-tier student and a severely weakened casualty.

“…There’s no other way. Senior, please look after yourself first.”

Watching the synthetic monsters closing in, Lin Xi first shielded Qing Lan behind her, then retrieved the guns she had meticulously crafted in advance and stored within her magical space.

Unlike her usual armaments, these two guns and their accompanying bullets had been forged with intense focus and a considerable expenditure of her magical energy, their performance far exceeding that of ordinary magical firearms in every conceivable aspect.

Their most formidable attribute, however, lay in their area-of-effect capability.

Lin Xi’s magic automatically loaded the bullets, and with a swift motion, she pulled the trigger and fired.

Projectiles, emanating an ethereal blue glow, shot forth, flying directly towards the foreheads of the two nearest monsters. They pierced through them effortlessly, trailing streams of electric-blue light.

The next instant, the magic within the bullets fully triggered, unleashing a burst of blue plasma that illuminated the entire room. The surrounding monsters were engulfed, vaporized instantly.

While Lin Xi had yet to craft more advanced firearms like anti-material sniper rifles or energy weapons, the same could not be said for her ammunition. Indeed, by leveraging magic, she could bypass many of the inherent physical impossibilities in firearms and ballistics. For instance, firing bullets with the destructive power of a shotgun blast would normally be impossible, yet by reinforcing their durability with magic, she had achieved it.

However, this immense power came with an equally immense magical cost, a truth that held even after her extensive preparations.

“But if not now, then when?”

Lin Xi fully utilized her automatic reload magic, continuously firing the advanced bullets. Even monsters whose strength was comparable to or even surpassed her own were rapidly decimated by the immensely powerful plasma-orb bullets.

“Not bad at all. If you’re so active, it wouldn’t do for me not to perk up a bit.”

Witnessing Lin Xi’s prowess, Qing Lan forced herself to stand, grabbing her sword to cleave apart a monster attempting to approach from their blind spot.

She was, after all, a senior. If she were not only rescued by a junior but then continued to be protected by them, where would she put her face?

Soon, through their combined efforts, almost all of the attacking monsters were cleared away, and the underground gradually returned to a state of calm.

“Phew… Where do we go now?”

“We need to find Xiao Bai. She covered our retreat earlier, and some monsters might have gone after her.”

“Understood. Then let’s resolve this quickly and get to the surface for support…”

Just then, the underground, which should have settled into quietude, began to tremble once more.