This strike, Luke Thompson had used all his strength. Although the thruster was sturdy, it was still knocked askew by the blow. With the thruster damaged, the mechanical warrior’s movements immediately became uncoordinated. The mechanical warrior was made entirely of metal, and without the thruster, its movements became extremely clumsy. Luke Thompson had no idea about this weakness of the mechanical warrior; it was pure luck that allowed him to escape disaster. He didn’t even dare to glance at the result of his attack—Luke Thompson hurriedly leapt up and sprinted away. If that mechanical warrior managed to repair itself, he would be in serious trouble.

Boom! Crack!

Because he had killed two royal guards, the slightly late Adam Bennett heard the noise, looked up in the midst of his busyness, and couldn’t help but smile.

A mechanical warrior with malfunctioning controls was like a fly with broken wings, repeatedly crashing into the walls of the maze. One particularly hard collision caused something to fall off and roll in his direction. Adam Bennett wasn’t in the mood to mock the lifeless mechanical warrior. He was about to turn away and continue searching for Luke Thompson, but on a sudden impulse, he stopped, nudged the object with his foot, and casually picked it up. This time, he was overjoyed at what he saw.

“Good luck! It’s actually that thing!”

Adam Bennett felt the item in his palm—it was a short rod-like object, somewhat warm, but not at all hot to the touch. It was covered in extremely intricate magical symbols. When Adam Bennett pressed a button with his thumb, a blue-and-white beam of light shot out from his palm.

“That’s right!” Adam Bennett exclaimed in delight to himself. “This is the mechanical warrior’s beam magic sword.”

Adam Bennett had heard of this wondrous item before, said to be able to cut through any material. And because of different magical properties, besides the searing cutting type, there were also freezing beam types, petrification beam types, radiation corrosion types, and so on. Unless faced with another magical beam weapon, over ninety percent of weapons on the continent would be sliced apart by a single strike from a magic beam. With this sword in hand, one’s strength would increase severalfold, making it easy to defeat opponents much stronger than oneself.

Chapter Five: Mechanical Warrior Warehouse

Across the entire Ice Continent, there were fewer than two hundred magic beam swords that had been excavated and were still usable. Moreover, these secret treasures of the Great Stone Dynasty were either in the hands of the most formidable warriors or stored in royal treasuries somewhere on the continent. Ordinary wealthy families and typical nobles had no right to possess such precious weapons.

Although Adam Bennett was born into the Lendak family, a century-old noble house of the Golden Moon Dynasty, he had only ever seen the crown prince of the Golden Moon Dynasty wear the Silver Dragon, the magic light sword symbolizing royal authority, at an imperial spring ceremony.

“Hey! Even if I run into Luke Thompson again, I don’t have to fear him. It’s time to vent some of the frustration from being hunted.”

Silently comparing his surroundings to the map in his memory, Adam Bennett finally determined his approximate location after traversing seven or eight passageways. This skill was something he had honed during his time with the thieves’ guild. Although Adam Bennett was extremely cautious, the maze was full of dangers. While crossing a rather large hall, he accidentally triggered a mechanism. An iron door opened, and a group of staggering, howling undead burst out.

“Damn! There are undead guardian spells in the maze!” Adam Bennett had heard of these mysterious spells—usually set up by members of the royal family who didn’t want to be disturbed after death. When intruders were killed by the tomb’s traps, the guardian spell would activate, turning the dead into undead sentinels of the maze.

These zombies had once been members of adventuring parties, so their weapons varied widely, and their combat abilities ranged from strong to weak.

Facing such disgusting enemies, Adam Bennett mustered his courage, long sword in his left hand, magic beam sword in his right, and charged into the ranks of the zombies. Although this young man prided himself on his bravery, he still felt some dread toward these corpses that should have long since returned to dust, so he adopted a strategy of swift and decisive combat.

The power of the beam magic sword was indeed extraordinary. With every swing, it sliced through the long-decayed bodies with almost no resistance. The undead’s combat ability wasn’t high; most people simply loathed these beings that should have slept forever but instead rose again, filling their hearts with fear. This fear affected their fighting ability.

“Whew! These annoying things are really tough! Luckily, I picked up this magic beam sword, or the fight wouldn’t have been so easy.” After slaying the last zombie, Adam Bennett gasped for breath. Only now did he realize that this underground lair was far from simple.

“The weapons these zombified adventurers are using have only appeared in the last twenty years, which means I’m not the first to come here. This treasure map probably isn’t the only copy out there!” Cursing under his breath, Adam Bennett used the magic beam sword to illuminate his surroundings, looking for a path. He had originally prepared a torch, but now, of course, he used the most convenient tool.

Since these adventurers had managed to trigger the undead guardian spell, they must have already found the core of the snow mountain maze. Comparing the map in his memory, Adam Bennett realized he had already explored most of the first floor of the maze.