77: Chapter 77 Entering the Tower

Seeing that the bomb did not react, Jinbao's entire round face turned bright red in an instant, the flush spreading from his neck all the way to his hairline, his goggles nearly popping off his forehead.

"Impossible! I have checked it countless times!"

"It must be the timing mechanism... I might have installed a gear backwards when I repaired the mainspring last time."

"No, that's not right. The transmission ratio of the mainspring is one to three, one minute should be exactly..."

——Boom, boom, boom!!!

A massive explosion sounded, the sound waves hitting the stone wall and bouncing back, only to hit the next wall.

The sound of the explosion refracted dozens of times among the buildings around the plaza, filling the air with a deafening roar that made one's ears ring.

As the shockwave rolled over the cover, it ripped several loose roof tiles several meters away, and gravel and iron filings rained down on everyone like raindrops.

The ground seemed to tremble violently, and the floor tiles around the tower were lifted up and shattered in large sections by the force of the blast.

A small "mushroom cloud" exploded in front of the black high tower's door!

Thick smoke and flames gushed out from the door frame, only to be blown away by the sea breeze within seconds.

After the ringing in his ears subsided a little, Jinbao was the first to poke his head out from behind the cover.

The flush on his face had not yet completely faded, but now it was not due to embarrassment, but pure excitement.

The main entrance of the black high tower had completely vanished.

That massive metal door, which had remained unmoved despite all efforts, now had a huge, irregular gap blasted into it.

The door panel itself was completely shattered, its twisted metal edges curled outward, with the dark red residual heat of high-temperature burning still lingering on the edges.

Inside the gap was a deep, dark corridor; looking inside from the gap, there was only pitch blackness.

Richard stood up from behind the cover, brushing the gravel dust and iron filings off his helmet and steel breastplate.

He walked over to Jinbao, smiled, and tapped Jinbao's goggles lightly with his finger:

"The power of this bomb is truly amazing; make a few more of these next time."

Richard felt that he had underestimated the manufacturing talent of this Gnome teammate; such a powerful bomb would probably blow some sub-dragons to death!

Jinbao swallowed hard and nodded vigorously.

The group waited until the smoke had completely dispersed before walking into the tower.

The air inside the black tower was like a tomb sealed for a thousand years, every breath filled with dust and the scent of decay.

Discarded magic lamps were embedded in the walls on both sides of the corridor, the crystals in the lamp shades shattered into dregs, and every step produced a crisp crunching sound underfoot.

The group held torches, the light of the flames swaying with their steps, casting constantly deforming shadows on the walls.

Walking at the very front were the Silver Leaf Sentinels.

Selan and Vera's footsteps remained light, but their hands were always pressed on their sword hilts, not letting go for a single moment.

Evelyn's treant had been voluntarily unsummoned upon entering the tower.

The treant was too large; it would have been impossible to maneuver in the narrow corridor of the tower.

The Warlock herself followed behind the half-elf siblings, her dark green cloak hood covering most of her face, but Richard noticed that her hands were constantly moving, as if she were sensing something.

Gray's temporary team followed behind the Silver Leaf Sentinels, with the Dwarf Durin carrying his Warhammer on the outermost side, ready to use the hammer head to block any sudden threats for the scholars at any time.

Richard's squad walked at the very back.

Cecilia held her kite shield, guarding his left front, her blood-red pupils shining faintly in the darkness through the gaps in her helmet.

Morpheus walked beside Richard, the amethyst on his staff illuminating his profile.

His expression looked very calm, but Richard noticed that he was looking around.

Richard thought to himself: "Morpheus, this guy is really good at acting calm; if he finds any well-preserved ancient books, this kid will definitely scream with excitement, haha."

Selina's eye of the storm holy emblem hovered above her palm, rotating slowly, with silver-blue static electricity flashing from time to time as it constantly scanned the surroundings.

The black cat had already entered stealth mode, its figure almost completely blended into the shadows of the corridor.

The first hall at the end of the corridor suddenly opened up before them.

This hall was about two stories high, and the magic crystals remaining on the dome were still emitting an extremely faint dark red light, illuminating the entire space as if it were soaked in blood.

In the center of the hall, the remains of rotten wooden bookshelves were piled up, and the books on the shelves began to disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye the moment they touched the outside air.

The paper turned yellow, curled up, shattered completely, and finally turned into a pile of gray-white powder, leaving not even a trace of content behind.

"Oh my, it's a real shame about these..." Morpheus and several other scholars sighed in unison.

But the next second, these powders began to move slowly.

It was not moved by the wind, because there were no windows in the hall at all.

Dozens of piles of gray-white powder floated up from the ground simultaneously, rotating and condensing in the air.

Finally, they pieced together into a huge, blanket-like object floating slowly in the air.

The surface of that "blanket" was covered with the outlines of human faces, each one squeezed into shape from the powder, their features distorted and painful, mouths wide open, as if they were letting out silent screams.

Dozens of mouths opened simultaneously, emitting a shrill and painful wail: "Save me... save me... let me out... it hurts so much... let me die..."

Selina's eye of the storm holy emblem suddenly burst into a blinding silver-blue electric light; she almost instinctively aimed the holy emblem at the human-face blanket, preparing to cast a Dispel divine spell.

But the human-face blanket did not give her time to complete the spell; it suddenly split apart!

Dozens of human faces peeled off the blanket simultaneously, each turning into an independent clone, their features twisted into a blurry, flesh-colored vortex, dragging long, gray-white trails as they lunged toward the group.

"These are evil spirit clones! Do not make contact with them!"

The half-elf Selan's longsword was already unsheathed, the silver sword light flowing on the blade slashing a simple horizontal cut in the air, splitting the three human-face clones closest to him in half simultaneously.

The split faces let out a short scream in mid-air, turning back into gray-white powder and scattering on the ground.

But after landing, those powders began to squirm slightly, as if they were re-gathering.

Vera's arrows followed closely behind her brother's sword light, three arrows hitting three clones in different directions simultaneously, the arrowheads piercing precisely through the center of the human faces' foreheads.

The five Archers of the Silver Leaf Sentinels fired continuously behind her, the rain of arrows dense and precise, with every arrow accurately pinning into a vital point of a clone.

Evelyn extended her hands from under her cloak, her ten fingers drawing a circle of light purple runes in the air.

A cone of fire gushed out from her palm, engulfing a large area of clones directly in front that were re-gathering.

The temperature of the flames was extremely high, and the gray-white powder was burned directly into charred black particles in the flames, unable to re-aggregate ever again.

Richard drew his weapon, observing calmly; the strength of this Silver Leaf Sentinels adventure team was indeed impressive.