Adam Bennett tossed him a smile, and before turning to face the charging Luke Thompson and three Royal Guards, he thrust his sword through the unlucky fellow’s throat.

“One to four! Sir Luke Thompson, can you guess who will win?”

Chapter Four: Beam Magic Sword

Adam Bennett gently stretched his limbs. Although the recent skirmish, swift as lightning, had decided life and death in an instant, it had still drained him considerably. This conversation was a good chance to loosen up and catch his breath.

Although Luke Thompson was foolish, he immediately realized the mistake he had made. The seven Royal Guards, whose limbs were still numb from the cold, had lost three men to this cunning youth in a single exchange. With their numbers nearly halved, they had almost no chance of victory.

“Captain Luke Thompson, we’d better retreat for now!” Owen Foster said as he backed to the rear, then turned and ran. At this point, the situation was clear: whoever outran their companions might survive. Competing in swordsmanship with the now fully recovered Adam Bennett was certain death.

Luke Thompson cursed Owen Foster for deserting, but he too made a snap decision, ordering his last two subordinates to attack before following Owen Foster’s lead. The Royal Guards were a unit that valued honor and orders, but Luke Thompson’s treachery bought him a slim chance at survival.

Adam Bennett struck out immediately, but it was too late to stop the Royal Guard captain from abandoning his comrades and fleeing for his life. Luke Thompson had barely run twenty steps when he heard the dying screams of his former comrades behind him, which only confirmed the wisdom of his choice.

The maze’s paths were incredibly complex; even with a map, one had to proceed with great caution. Fleeing in such haste, Luke Thompson had no time to recognize the way. Hearing the pursuing footsteps gradually fade, he finally slowed down. At this point, the Royal Guard captain was completely lost. However, the ancient architectural style soon made him realize the value of this snowy mountain labyrinth—it far surpassed the worth of a fugitive youth.

Luke Thompson stopped, elated, and thought to himself, “I never expected this to be a relic of the Great Stone Dynasty! If I can make it back alive and report this to my superiors, I’ll surely be promoted! Even if Adam Bennett, that rebel, escapes, it’s a trivial matter. If I can find some magical treasures from the Great Stone Dynasty, that achievement would far outweigh hunting down the Lundak family traitors.”

With this thought, Luke Thompson was not discouraged; in fact, he felt a bit like the old man who benefited from a loss. Looking at the web-like maze before him, Luke Thompson picked a path at random and walked in. But this time, he hadn’t gone far when he heard a crisp metallic click, and then saw a figure that could only belong to the legendary mechanical warrior appear before him.

“Damn it! Bastard!”

The elegance of Captain Luke Thompson of the Royal Guards vanished, and he actually cursed out loud.

At this moment, Luke Thompson didn’t even know who to curse. With his strength, he had no hope of defeating a mechanical warrior. Back when he was a student at the Imperial Military Academy, he’d heard the teachers talk about the combat power of mechanical warriors. It was said that during an excavation of a Great Stone Dynasty ruin, over a hundred skilled adventurers died before the local garrison was alerted and dispatched over a thousand regular troops to finally reduce the guardian mechanical knight to scrap.

The mechanical warrior before him was clad head to toe in black armor, with only a few mysterious white magical symbols drawn on certain parts—no other decoration. When the eyes of the mechanical warrior glowed with a sinister red light, Luke Thompson knew this was the legendary sensory magic eye. It could function like a human eye, perceiving light and even detecting mysterious energy lines invisible to the human eye.

Whoosh!

Jets of air burst from the mechanical warrior’s calves, and its speed suddenly surpassed human limits. A black cylinder in its hand suddenly emitted a blazing white flame. A beam of light slashed down.

“It’s a magic lightsaber!”

Luke Thompson was terrified, unable to react in time, and could only throw himself flat on the ground as fast as possible. A blazing white beam swept over his head, the wind it stirred roaring like waves. After all, the mechanical warrior was a machine, lacking human intelligence. It couldn’t tell whether Luke Thompson had been struck down or had fallen on his own. By the time it calculated the effect of its last strike, the Royal Guard captain lying on the ground had already swung his sword upward, slashing at the jet on the mechanical warrior’s calf.