Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 1004 Poseidon?
Ke Lan had never expected that there would be a core brain hidden underground in Zeus's private residence.
Moreover, judging from the current state of this core brain, it has already "lost control"... If it is given enough time, it may develop into the level of the "prototype" in the collapsed ring city underground space. Now it can only temporarily control the human mind within a few hundred meters. When that program is completed, I am afraid that all creatures within a radius of more than ten kilometers will be permanently affected.
This thing cannot be allowed to grow freely, it must be removed before it becomes strong enough.
Without hesitation, Ke Lan raised his gun and shot at the "artificial heart" - although the core brain cannot be considered an independent biological individual, it still needs nutrients and oxygen to survive. As long as the pump that serves as a substitute for the heart is destroyed, it won't be long before the core brain dies of malnutrition.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Ke Lan fired three shots in succession. The bullets from the large-caliber hunting pistol directly tore open the brain tissue that was like tofu pudding and penetrated into the pump machine.
Accompanied by a sharp mechanical noise, the value of the pressure gauge outside the pump first soared instantly, and then suddenly returned to zero... This means that the airtightness of the pump has been completely destroyed and the entire machine has stopped working.
"The pulsation has disappeared," Ze Luo said, "its vital signs are rapidly weakening."
"It seems that this thing has no physical attack methods, only mental control." Ke Lan said.
From the time the two entered the castle basement until Ke Lan opened fire on the pump machine, the replica of the core brain did not take any countermeasures, which made Ke Lan feel that everything was going too smoothly... Logically speaking, Zeus should not be undefended in such an important place where the core brain is hidden... But apart from the core brain itself, there are no defensive measures in the castle, not even the alarms and surveillance cameras that are installed in most wealthy mansions.
The lack of surveillance cameras may be due to the fear that the network might be hacked, leading to the exposure of the existence of the core mastermind replica, but the lack of even the most basic sensor alarms and sentry machine guns is a bit difficult to understand.
Although there are several heavy mechanical airtight doors on the passage leading to the room where the core brain is located, these airtight doors are not so much a measure to prevent outsiders from entering the basement, but rather a means to prevent the out-of-control core brain from spreading to the outside - to open these airtight doors, you don't even need heavy weapons, just a welding gun and enough gas.
Could it be that this replica of the core brain was a discarded failure? This thought occurred to Ke Lan.
But regardless of whether this thing was a failure or not, Ke Lan had no intention of keeping it - he took out several crystal energy bombs from his backpack, tied them together, set the explosion time, and threw them directly into the cultivation tank of the core brain, then returned along the original route and exited the basement.
However, the accident still happened - after the countdown of the crystal energy bomb ended, there was no explosion or any other noise coming from the basement. It was so quiet as if nothing had happened.
"A dud? That shouldn't be the case... the detonator has three backup fuses... and the core brain has neither limbs nor tentacles. It can't even stop me from shooting, let alone dismantling the bomb?" Ke Lan was about to return to the basement to check the situation, but Ze Luo grabbed him.
"There are abnormal spatial fluctuations in the basement." Ze Luo said, "A transmission channel has been opened."
"Teleportation channel?!" Ke Lan immediately understood why there was no movement. It was not that the crystal energy bomb failed to explode successfully, but that the energy generated by the explosion was absorbed by a hidden transmission device. Not only did these energies fail to destroy the replica of the core brain and the castle basement, but they also became the energy to open the transmission channel.
"The exit of this transmission channel is hidden inside that thing. It has the characteristic of being 'undetectable', so I couldn't find it..." There was a hint of self-blame in Ze Luo's tone, which made Ke Lan look at her more, then reached out and rubbed her little head hard.
"I don't blame you. This is probably a trap specially prepared for me." Ke Lan sighed, "The Undead Crew is really very well-planned... They probably have prepared a lot of traps like this, just waiting for me to run into them."
As soon as Ke Lan finished speaking, a creepy friction sound came from the basement passage, as if a heavy, rusty iron object was dragged out by some force.
"Retreat." Ke Lan and Ze Luo immediately retreated outside the castle. The next second, the entire castle collapsed.
A giant nearly four meters tall, wearing a set of rusty medieval knight armor, crawled out of the underground passage.
The giant's right hand was tightly grasping a round-headed giant sword as thick as a door panel, and one end of the sword was dragging on the ground - the friction sound just coming from the passage was made by this thing.
The style of this sword is very rare, but Ke Lan happens to know that this giant sword is called an "execution sword", which is generally a "tool" used by executioners who are responsible for beheading death row prisoners, rather than a conventional weapon. Later, with the emergence of the guillotine, the execution sword gradually faded out of the historical stage, and only a very small number of strong men would use this sword on the battlefield.
To wield the execution sword, both superhuman weapon talent and strength are indispensable. In order to be able to cut the prisoner's neck cleanly during execution, the execution sword is incredibly heavy, and has the attributes of both a sharp weapon and a blunt weapon. When wielded on the battlefield, it is like a human meat grinder, which can easily destroy any person or weapon that approaches, and even a heavily armored warhorse can be cut off with one sword... But its biggest disadvantage is that it has poor mobility and is extremely afraid of long-range attacks such as crossbows or catapults.
The executioner sword in the giant's hand had its size and thickness increased by at least twice to match its body size. Adding the luster of the "heavy alloy (Note 1)", the weight of the sword must have been several tons...
When Ke Lan's sight shifted to the equally huge kite-shaped shield held in the giant's other hand, his pupils couldn't help but shrink - in addition to the flag, the most important thing that medieval knights used to identify themselves was the family emblem on the shield, but the shield in the giant's hand was painted with the face of a tarot card.
The sixteenth card of the Major Arcana represents the "Tower" which symbolizes "destruction".
This reminded Ke Lan of the sixteenth seat of the Undead Crew - "Tower" Poseidon.
Could it be that the giant in front of me is the real body of Poseidon?
"Bo...Seton?" Ke Lan called tentatively.
The giant knight in heavy armor lowered his head, and a deep gaze shot out from the gap in his helmet and locked onto Ke Lan.
"Are you Poseidon? The sixteenth seat of the Undead Crew, 'Tower'?" Ke Lan asked again.
The giant knight did not answer, but swung the executioner sword and smashed it towards Ke Lan!
The executioner sword flew out of his hand, making a sharp whistling sound as it swirled. At the same time, Ke Lan activated the "time stop" function, calculated the flight trajectory of the executioner sword, and dodged it with Ze Luo at the critical moment.
With Ke Lan's physical strength and self-healing ability, even if he took the sword head-on... or in other words, even if the sword smashed him into a pulp, he would be able to recover in just a few seconds. But for some reason, his subconscious mind was frantically sounding an alarm, telling him not to be hit by the sword.
"Is there something strange about this sword? Is it a relic of the Alpha civilization?" Just as Ke Lan was about to approach the executioner sword with most of the blade inserted into the ground for observation, the ground suddenly shook - no, it was not the ground that shook, but the sword - the executioner sword seemed to come alive, pulled itself out, swung itself in a big spin in mid-air, forced Ke Lan back, and then flew back into the hands of the giant knight who was suspected to be Poseidon.
"This guy can also fly a sword? Is it similar to Sanjusan's ability to manipulate certain types of matter... or is it like Asano Akira's ability to materialize his thoughts?"
Ke Lan quickly retreated and put some distance between himself and the other party.
"If it's these two abilities, then it's entirely possible to change the trajectory of the executioner sword after it leaves my hand... Then my time stop won't be able to predict and dodge at all. Did the opponent overlook this, or is its ability not what I thought?"
The giant knight did not give Ke Lan much time to catch his breath. After retracting the execution sword in the air, he strode towards Ke Lan. Although he was wearing heavy armor, he accelerated very quickly. It took him less than three seconds to go from a standstill to a speed of 100 kilometers per hour... This was already at the level of an F1 car.
Ke Lan activated the time stop again, but this time, before he could calculate the best evasive route, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, and the still black and white picture around him was torn apart by a touch of color!
His time-stop state was forcibly terminated!
Ke Lan raised his head and met the giant knight's eyes - although the other party's eyes did not change from beginning to end, Ke Lan was sure that the power that just interrupted the time stop came from these eyes!
After the fusion of the crystal and the "shell", Ke Lan's "time stop" skill had a very high priority. Even when Ze Luo was trapped in static time, he could not break free by himself. Ke Lan always felt that on this planet, the only one who could use "brute force" to forcibly tear apart the stagnant time and space was probably "Subject No. 1197" under the bottomless tiankeng.
But the giant dressed as a medieval knight in heavy armor could not only sense that Ke Lan had used time stop, but could also break it. This made Ke Lan's inner alarm soar to the highest level. He no longer cared about hiding his identity and said directly to Ze Luo: "Use your spatial ability to block its action!"
"I tried it, but it didn't work." Ze Luo replied immediately, "The power that can block all perception does not come from the things in the basement, but from this. And this ability blocks not only perception, but even my spatial power will be instantly eliminated when it comes into contact with it..."
As Ze Luo spoke, he condensed an invisible giant hand and pulled the two men out from under the blade of the execution sword.
"I don't know how to accurately describe this ability in human language, but there is a term commonly used in fantasy works that is very appropriate." Ze Luo continued, "Forbidden Magic."
"Forbidden magic" is a very common concept in the fantasy world. Compared with "silence" which means that magic cannot be used, "forbidden magic" covers a wider range, which means that all magical powers can be eliminated or sealed: in a place with forbidden magic power, a great magician who can use forbidden spells is just an ordinary person, a priceless enchanted weapon is just a piece of iron with a slightly gorgeous shape and beautiful gems on the surface, and a magic shield that can cover the entire city will quickly melt and disappear like a piece of ice exposed to the scorching sun...
The "forbidden magic" in the fantasy world is aimed at magical power, while the "forbidden magic" on the giant knight in front of him is aimed at the special abilities of Ke Lan and Ze Luo that can change space and time.
And it goes beyond that.
Ke Lan could almost guess why he was so afraid of the executioner sword thrown at him just now in his subconscious mind - this sword probably also had the ability to "ban magic". If hit by it, even Ke Lan's self-recovery ability would be sealed. Once the body's recovery speed could not keep up with the speed of destruction, that would be the moment when death would truly come.
A cold sweat suddenly broke out on Ke Lan's back.
"What should I do? What should I do now?"
Ze Luo's spatial power cannot be directly applied to the opponent. At most, it can only be used as an auxiliary ability to help him force displacement or manipulate some physical objects - such as lifting some concrete blocks and throwing them. This kind of attack is fatal to ordinary people, but for the giant in front of him, it probably does not pose any threat.
As for Ke Lan, it is still uncertain whether the power of the body can break through the restrictions of "Forbidden Magic", but he will not use that power unless it is absolutely necessary - once used, it will not be a question of whether his identity will be exposed in front of the undead crew. Once it attracts the attention of that existence, all creatures on Alpha will be doomed.
Without the ability to use "time stop", Ke Lan was not very confident in engaging in close combat with the giant. He was far inferior to the giant in both strength and agility, not to mention that Ke Lan did not have a weapon that could go head-on with the executioner sword with the "magic-forbidden" ability.
Perhaps he should choose to retreat and avoid the attack temporarily... Use Ze Luo's spatial ability to change the terrain, hinder the opponent's pursuit, and then find a way to escape from this area... But in this way, not only will he be completely exposed, but this combat operation will also be a complete failure, and a large number of lives will be sacrificed in vain, and a lot of time will be wasted.
If they fail this time, Ke Lan has no idea whether they will have a chance to break into the Ark next time.
[Note 1 "Heavy alloy": one of the various artificial alloys that are mixed with Nino alloy to improve physical properties. In addition to the Nino alloy that accounts for 46.5%, the main components are high-density tungsten and iridium metal elements. It is the highest-density alloy in the Nino alloy derivative spectrum, without a doubt. It is generally used to manufacture forging hammers for forging presses and crucibles used in metal smelting. ]
