plumnovel Chapter 52 : Pursuit
Chapter 52 : Pursuit
Pursuit==========================
"Lyle, how's the golem?"
Jiang Cheng, lying on Lyle's back, leaned close to his ear and asked.
Perhaps carrying her with one arm had been inconvenient, so Lyle had just set Jiang Cheng on his back.
Now fully conscious and gradually recovering, Jiang Cheng had the strength to hold on and not fall off.
In fact, Jiang Cheng was entirely capable of walking on her own by now, but Lyle was still too worried about her and did not agree to her suggestion.
On his back, Jiang Cheng was very close, her grayish-white hair dangling onto Lyle's chest and neck, making him feel itchy.
Jiang Cheng's faint breath brushed against Lyle, warm and slightly damp, making him momentarily dazed.
"Hey, has our valiant hero turned into an idiot?"
Jiang Cheng tilted her head quizzically.
"I'm asking about that golem—what's its condition now?"
"I don't know either,"
Lyle snapped out of it and shook his head with a confused look.
"After triggering the effect of the Sword in the Stone, I got anxious and just teleported over—I haven't checked what state the golem is in."
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng's heart went cold. This was bad!
Being something of an experimental model, Jiang Cheng had thought it fun to add every possible effect she could—like magic suppression and a protective ki barrier.
And as for the absurdly overpowered enemy-seeking mechanism, Jiang Cheng of course hadn't forgotten to include such an entertaining feature.
When designing the targeting system, she used a cutting-edge advancement in magic research.
It was a target seeking based on the connection between the field of mysticism and the spiritual world, or as it would be called in eastern idiom—a link at the level of cause and effect.
So, after all this explanation, what Jiang Cheng meant was: anyone who ever attacked the golem or its master, no matter how far they fled, no matter how they hid, or even if they possessed someone else's body, the golem would hunt them down across any distance, by any means necessary.
With its unprecedented mechanism and targeting range, even if it was only supposed to be a teaching tool with rather low aggression, Jiang Cheng was very confident in saying this thing was nothing less than a top-tier, nearly unbeatable machine.
And right now... Lyle was clearly still within the golem's enemy-seeking range.
Jiang Cheng glanced at Lyle's condition, anxiety gripping her heart.
Sure enough, because of the fight with the golem earlier, Lyle was actually already injured.
And after urgently teleporting here, relying on nothing but his physical strength to shatter magic metal, he was even more exhausted.
Looking closely, not only was his aura unsteady, but Lyle's sword hand was trembling a little.
Not to mention... he still had to carry her on his back. Though she could now move, she was in no shape to run, and without being able to use divine arts she probably couldn't even escape.
If the golem caught up, the two of them really might be killed by the very thing she had created.
Gritting her teeth, Jiang Cheng leaned closer to Lyle's ear and said,
"That golem will probably track its enemies—it should be catching up already. Turn around, run faster!"
"How do you know that?"
Lyle paused, obediently turning to run toward the lab.
Though he did as he was told, Lyle still asked seriously—
After all, this was his teacher's creation. How could Jiang Cheng know something even he didn't?
"Shut up, we're short on time, don't use your pathetic grasp of magic theory to question me,"
"Anyone who's received a basic magical education should be able to read this circuit. Reference: 'Magic' journal, issue 261, page 32."
"From now on, do not question any of my decisions."
Jiang Cheng blurted out irritably.
There simply wasn't enough time, and besides, she wanted to avoid any involvement with the things tied to her previous persona—she honestly didn't want to give Lyle any explanations at all.
If it weren't for the fact that Lyle's injuries were partially her fault and that he had just helped to patch up some of her trauma, she wouldn't have spoken up to help him at this moment.
"Boom!"
As they spoke, a massive crash rang out from behind them, like something smashing through stone slabs.
No need to think—it was obviously the golem catching up. Damn it, they'd wasted too much time earlier.
"Faster! Faster! The thing controlling the golem should be somewhere near that lab."
Jiang Cheng urged the pacing Lyle along.
Lyle didn't reply, but he noticeably sped up—
Jiang Cheng only felt a rush of wind in her ears as the walls and windows on both sides flashed backward at high speed.
"Boom!"
But evidently, the golem's body of enchanted iron was even faster.
And that's not to mention it also had its movement arts enhanced by martial technique; even slicing its way through layers of walls, it was still gaining on Lyle.
The ever-nearing pounding sounds were the best proof—like a death knell, already bearing down on them.
"Faster—the lab is right ahead. Sprint!"
Jiang Cheng pressed him.
She had no choice but to hurry—the sounds were so near, it felt as if they were right at her ears.
Lyle gritted his teeth and pushed off the ground, hurtling himself forward at top speed.
At last, just before the ominous noise was right upon them, they burst back into the burning laboratory.
Jiang Cheng bit her lip and forced herself to channel divine power, snapping her fingers.
Her mind hadn't recovered, and using divine arts now was extremely risky, but she had no other choice.
With the snap, an invisible wave swept over the area.
"Poof—cough, dammit."
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Jiang Cheng cursed.
It had been a long time since she'd felt such agony—she thought by now she'd be used to it.
"Over there!"
Jiang Cheng pointed in a direction inside the lab.
"Underground! Smash it, break through the floor!" she said quickly.
The roaring in her ears was already so close it felt as if, in the next instant, the wall before them would burst open and the golem would appear.
Lyle didn't waste time. He raised his foot, gathered a brilliant holy light of magic, and stomped where Jiang Cheng indicated.
The floor shattered, revealing a hidden chamber below—Lyle scooped up Jiang Cheng and jumped down.
A second later—"Boom!"—the lab wall burst apart and the golem appeared.
The wall, called the 'crystallization of their wisdom' by the supervisor, was constructed from powerful magicked metal—yet the golem smashed through it with ease, as though it were no barrier at all.
The golem glanced around, spotted the large hole in the floor, and jumped down after them.
Inside the hidden room, several brains, connected to various wires, floated in culture tanks.
"Fuck,"
Jiang Cheng couldn't help cursing aloud. She hated this kind of evil more than murder.
"Smash them."
No need to think—it was these things the golem was using for control.
Jiang Cheng didn't know the specific principle, but it was just brain-machine neurons and the like—she hadn't even finished basic education in her previous life and didn't know much more than Lyle.
Lyle as well didn't hesitate; he was no pedant. He swung his sword at a culture tank.
Meanwhile, the golem, which had just landed, was charging at them.
As the tanks were destroyed, the golem halted, buzzing a few times, and just as they both breathed a sigh of relief—
Suddenly, the golem charged at them again!
No, that's not it! Jiang Cheng's heart turned cold—the golem's pursuit of Lyle had nothing to do with control. It was simply because Lyle had attacked it and was still within its targeting mechanism.