Forcing a Way Through

Having gained a powerful meat shield and enforcer, Zuo Si's escape plan had finally acquired its last crucial piece.

Now, all he had to do was reach the upper levels of the tower before the Undead Creatures outside exhausted the Mage Tower's energy reserves, find the Teleportation Gate, and force it open.

Although the entire Floating City was currently shrouded by a powerful confinement spell, making ordinary teleportation magic completely ineffective.

The power of the Planeswalker Spark, combined with the energy the Teleportation Gate could gather, should be enough to tear open a tiny rift.

That rift might be somewhat unstable, and there was no telling where on the Faerun Continent it would send them, but it was still far better than staying behind to await death.

Besides, Zuo Si had a dragon now!

Even if they ended up in some remote mountain range, deserted island, or open sea, they could still ride the dragon and use Quick Movement to reach a town.

Driven by his desire to survive, the starving boy made a desperate gamble and ate the last few pieces of candy from the paper packet, leaving himself absolutely no way back.

One human and one dragon swiftly passed through corridors and staircases, arriving at the only entrance between the tower's middle and upper levels.

Like most Mage Towers in this world.

When the Archlich—Astar—had first designed it, he had designated the underground levels as storage, the Necromancy Laboratory, and living quarters for slaves and servants.

The middle levels contained the library, workrooms, divination chambers, and other specialized functional rooms, as well as common areas where apprentices attended lessons, rested, and conducted magical experiments.

As for the upper levels, they were his own private domain.

Without permission, no one was allowed to approach or Burst In.

Otherwise, even if he was absent, the guards, traps, and summoned creatures scattered throughout the passageways could easily kill the Invaders.

Zuo Si had once personally witnessed an ambitious apprentice with a fairly high Mage level try to sneak in while Astar was away, hoping to find knowledge or magic that could grant him greater power.

He had barely used a spell to turn himself into a spirit invisible to the Naked Eye and slipped past two golems when a Negative Energy Ray Emerged from the smooth wall and struck him.

The result, naturally, was an untimely death.

His corpse lay there for several weeks, until it rotted and gave off a pungent stench. Only then did Astar permit the other apprentices to clean it up.

Looking at the two Flesh Golems standing at the entrance, each over three meters tall and nearly a meter wide, Vermes, still in human form, immediately revealed a wary expression and asked without turning her head, "How many more things like these are inside?"

Although Flesh Golems and Corpse Constructs did not look all that different, both being pieced and stitched together from the corpses of various creatures.

And the more corpses used, the larger the body, and the stronger and harder to kill the resulting Corpse Construct or Flesh Golem became.

In terms of craftsmanship and difficulty, however, they were worlds apart.

The latter was merely a crude combination of parts and could be harmed by any form of energy or physical attack.

The former, however, was a powerful guardian created through necromancy. Its skin, muscles, and even the bones that served as its supporting frame had all been reinforced by magical power.

Not only did it possess all the traits of a construct, such as immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, instant death, charm, control, and a whole host of other spells and effects, it also had powerful regenerative abilities much like a troll's.

Most importantly, a Flesh Golem was a "golem."

And the defining feature of golems was that they possessed at least one kind of Spell Immunity or resistance.

Many powerful mages would rather face a dragon than fight a golem that countered them.

"There are two at the entrance. After passing through the corridor and stairs into the upper levels, there are two more, making four in total.

"Besides that, we must watch out for hidden magical traps in the walls and floors of the passageway, eight Metal Constructs made of steel, and a group of gargoyles in the room where the Teleportation Gate is located.

"As for what type of Metal Constructs they are, I'm not entirely sure.

"But they're all carrying various weapons.

"Of course, if our luck is bad enough, we might even run into Astar himself—or the lich he has become—when we pass his bedroom."

Zuo Si did not hide anything and bluntly laid out everything he knew.

Without the red dragon's help, he would not necessarily be able to make it through such a formidable defense force even if he had dozens of lives.

"Damn it! There are too many! Can't we climb up to the upper levels from outside and then smash through the wall?"

Faced with such a terrifying lineup, even Vermes could not help feeling intimidated. She wanted to find another route and avoid an unnecessary brutal battle.

In a more open area outside, she might have been able to use her flight and jumping abilities to maneuver around, then find opportunities to pick them off one by one.

But this was inside a Mage Tower!

By human standards, every room was spacious in both height and area, with none of the cramped or oppressive feeling one might expect.

But for a dragon measuring seventeen meters long including her tail, it was still far too confined for her to move freely.

Moreover, in such a narrow space, there was nowhere to dodge or leap. She would have to clash head-on with multiple enemies capable of threatening her, and one mistake could easily turn the situation around.

Zuo Si lightly shook his head and decisively cut off this unrealistic fantasy. "Don't dream.

"You think I didn't consider that kind of shortcut?

"The entire Mage Tower is a single integrated structure.

"The moment it detects an unknown or unauthorized creature approaching, whether from the ground or the air, it will immediately unleash offensive spells.

"More importantly, activating the Teleportation Gate requires consuming part of the tower's energy reserves.

"If those reserves are exhausted, we'll have to wait at least ten days for it to recharge."

"Since there's no other choice, then we can only force our way through."

With that, Vermes instantly returned to her dragon form, opened her fang-filled maw, and drew in a deep breath.

The next second...

BOOM!!!!!!!

Scorching Fiery Breath instantly engulfed everything within the cone ahead.

The suffocating heat wave could be felt clearly even from several meters away.

Tables, chairs, statues, lamps, and the like were reduced to ash almost instantly.

Though the two Flesh Golems were caught within the blast and suffered severe burns, they rapidly repaired themselves through regeneration and charged toward the enormous beast that had attacked them.

"Get lost! Filthy trash!"

After ending her breath attack, the red dragon roared, spread her wings, and launched a Dragon Wing Slam at one of the Flesh Golems.

It was the signature move nearly all dragons used in close-quarters combat.

Before it could even reach out with its pus-covered hands to grab anything, its entire body was hurled into the air and slammed into the wall with a bang.

Vermes then swung a foreclaw and, in an almost frenzied manner, knocked the other Flesh Golem to the ground before pouncing on it and pressing down with all her weight.

Bang!

The impact made the entire tower seem to tremble faintly from top to bottom.

Seeing the red dragon's terrifying frontal combat power for the first time, Zuo Si was utterly stunned.

He suddenly realized just how fortunate he had been to gain control over her.

If she had not been trapped inside the Binding Array, then even awakening that Wondrous Item made from Mind Flayer brain tissue would never have had the slightest chance of succeeding.

It seemed the Archlich—Astar—had been right all along.

When dealing with a terrifying beast at the top of the food chain like a dragon, one could not afford to talk about honor.

Nor could one rashly confront it head-on.

Lower Magic Resistance!

Blindness!

Curse of Weakness!

Powerful Bind!

Before the dragon noticed the danger, take it down in one complete sequence and give it no chance to fight back.