97 Gaugass Battlemage

T/N: Fixed Gaugass, it's a group of mages and not one person.

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'Plate armor, lance… Gaugass Battlemage!' Lin Yun was startled and subconsciously raised the Spiritual Magic Staff with Flame Burst's flames flickering at its tip.

But he immediately realized that something was off.

Lin Yun noticed that this the armored silhouette holding the lance was actually motionless. It really was a legendary Gaugass Battlemage, and he wasn't moving at all in front of Lin Yun's Flame Burst. What did that mean?

'Could it be… Another skeleton?'

Lin Yun interrupted the cast of his Flame Burst while feeling a bit doubtful, but he didn't dare to be careless. He held the Sage Chapter in his hand tightly. If anything went amiss, the Fire Arrows within would be activated. Those were genuine Ultimate Spells, and their might would far surpass that of his Flame Burst.

This wasn't Lin Yun being overly careful.

These Gaugass Battlemages could be considered quite unconventional among the entire magic civilization. They never learnt any magic knowledge or did any magic research. They didn't even have their own written language, a group of true barbarians. Their societal system was still at the tribal stage.

But it was this group of barbarians that was blessed with innate magic skill. Almost every Gaugass Battlemage was born with Mage level mana accumulation. Once they reached adulthood, that mana accumulation would reach Great Mage level. It had to be mentioned that this would occur without meditation or training, it was all innate mana. This was enough to make ordinary mages envious.

The most frightening part was that Gaugass Battlemages were born with extremely tyrannical physical strength. They could use all kinds of weapons and all heavy armors. When they joined a battlefield, it was as if armored beasts had joined the fray, and in addition, those armored beasts could fire all kinds of spells!

Facing such an abnormal existence, Lin Yun felt that no matter how careful he was, it couldn't be considered excessive.

Lin Yun remained alert as he cast Detect Magic.

'No mana fluctuations, no signs of life…'

Lin Yun let out a sigh of relief. Whether that silhouette was a Gaugass Battlemage or not, there was no danger.

Lin Yun finally relaxed the hand holding the Sage Chapter and moved past.

The Bone Devil's footsteps were already drawing closer.

That sinister roar echoed once again in Lin Yun's ears. But the more terrifying thing was that after expanding out, the passage didn't continue any farther.

The path had come to an end.

Lin Yun's only course of action now was waiting.

Waiting for the Bone Devil to give up on tracking him, or for it to find him.

Time ticked by, second after second. The cave began shaking even more violently, and rocks fell from the ceiling, making Lin Yun feel depressed. But Lin Yun couldn't worry about this right now. After discovering that there was no way out, Lin Yun cast a Mage Eye. Without the interference of the magic staff, the Mage eye smoothly retraced his way back.

The Mage Eye found the Bone Devil at the middle of the slope. Compared to his first trip to the Bone Plane, where Lin Yun barely had the time to look at the Bone Devil, this time he was able to pay closer attention.

He saw a huge, several-meter-tall body entirely made up of thick bones, its sharp bones flickering with a faint radiance in the dark. There were several dozen phosphorous lights on its body, each one scattering a berserk mana fluctuation. The Soul Fire within the skull was the size of a fist, emitting an enormous death aura. Even Lin Yun, who was on the other side of the slope, felt stifled.

Two lights were crazily pulsating in the eye sockets, moving back and forth in the dark cave, seemingly searching for the origin of the living aura.

'Damn ghost…' Lin Yun knew that he wouldn't be able to escape this time. The Bone Devil didn't look like it would give up.

After giving up on his hopes of being lucky, Lin Yun actually calmed down.

He looked around, his brain working at a crazy speed. 'If I fight the Bone Devil here, I might have some chances.'

Honestly, he wasn't too confident.

Although the passage was advantageous to him, it would only be good for a sneak attack.

Two Fire Arrows upgraded to Ultimate Spells, along with the damage from a prepared Flame Barrier, might be all he could cast before being noticed. Afterwards, he would have to suffer from the bombardment of several dozens of Dark Fire Bullets. Chanting spells at that point might be complicated, and he might really have to remain in the Bone Plane for all eternity.

It would have been great if the Gaugass Battlemage next to him was still alive. With his tyrannical physical strength, stalling the Bone Devil might not be an issue. And maybe with the power of the two of them together, they might have had the strength to get rid of the Bone Devil.

With his attention drawn back to the battlemage, Lin Yun was suddenly startled, shock plastered all over his face.

'Strange, this Gaugass Battlemage's body doesn't have the slightest scent of rot. Could it be that the bodies of the favorites of the wilderness don't even rot after years? That can't be, this is the Bone Plane filled with death energy. Anything would corrode ten times faster here. Let alone the Gaugass Battlemage, even the corpse of a Dragon would turn into another Bone Dragon after three hundred years.

Lin Yun's eyes suddenly shone.

He finally understood why this Spiritual Magic Staff would have such a powerful mana strengthening effect, why his path looked man-made, and why that Gaugass Battlemage's body hadn't become rotten after so many years.

His doubts were suddenly cleared up.

This was all because the Gaugass Battlemage next to him wasn't a living person!

When Lin Yun's thoughts reached this point, he rushed to lift the plate armor of the Gaugass Battlemage.

'Sure enough…' Lin Yun nearly took a step back subconsciously. What appeared before him was an astonishing skeleton built out of Gold Essence. Numerous alchemy arrays were carved onto the skeleton, each of them being at least Master Alchemist level. If such a Gold Essence construct appeared in the outside world, it would create a huge stir. This was enough to make all alchemists spend a crazy amount of money.

But Lin Yun didn't have time to care about that at the moment. His eyes only swept through the arrays and he quickly found the location of that alchemy puppet's mana source.

Just as Lin Yun expected, the mana source was completely empty.