Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Soul-Startling Mage

Wang Xi and Lin Xin’Er looked ahead.

On the other side of the chain-link fence was another theater-style stage.

But this stage’s area was smaller. Besides a crudely constructed stage and backdrop, there was only a tier of audience seats directly facing it.

The old leather seats were completely empty.

Only scattered trash like liquor bottles and newspapers remained.

The vacant area was extremely dim, lit only by a few stage lights hanging from the steel-frame, black-cloth canopy, which cast a flickering, sinister glow.

The four men and women who had been traveling with the minor streamer Liu Wenjie were scattered throughout the theater, lying in pools of their own blood in thick armor, their status unknown.

On the stage, a man in a blue tailcoat and a tall top hat stood ramrod straight in the spotlight, his hands clasped behind his back, a smile on his face as he looked over.

「Maze Demon King · Soul-Startling Mage · Hawke (Nemesis/Four Stars/Hero)」

Another Demon King...

According to their intel, the "Circus" area within the Black Spade A "Boot Cat" Maze was unique in that three Demon Kings could exist there simultaneously.

Generally speaking, their power levels were all very similar.

But for some reason, this Magician, Hawke, seemed stronger than the Firearms Captain, Boos.

A Silver-Frame Demon King! A Four-Star Hero!

"Miss Xin’Er, I’ll go hold back the Demon King. You take care of the wounded."

Wang Xi flicked his wrist, tossing out two White Cards.

They were the "Medical Nebulizers" he had purchased at the "Hat Cave" but had never used.

Lin Xin’Er’s reflexes were sharp; she raised her hand and caught the Cards.

"Okay," she agreed with a nod. "Be careful."

Wang Xi nodded, then charged toward the stage alone, Beheading Sword in hand.

But he had only taken a few steps when he saw the Magician on stage crack a bizarre smile. He made a finger gun at Wang Xi, his lips parting:

"BANG!"

The piercing sound of something slicing through the air rushed toward him.

Wang Xi’s brow twitched.

’Tricks becoming real? Vocal skills manifesting physically?’

He lifted his Beheading Sword and swung, executing a Parry in mid-air.

CLANG!!

Bright sparks flew from the silver-gray spine of the blade.

Air bullets!

"BANG! BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!"

The Magician kept opening his mouth to mimic gunshots, firing with both hands as his finger guns trembled back and forth.

Invisible bullets whizzed past.

It was as if a hail of bullets was raining down inside the theater.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!

Wang Xi brandished his Beheading Sword, swinging it like a silver-gray Round Shield as sparks flew in all directions.

His expression remained unchanged, his steps unfaltering.

In just a few seconds, he had darted to the foot of the stage.

Gauging the distance, he drew his hand and fired a shot.

PEW—

He knew his marksmanship was poor, but the close distance could make up for it. A red laser burst forth, shooting toward the Magician’s chest.

However, Hawke anticipated the move, pulling out a Round Mirror from a cloth as if by magic.

The instant the crimson tracer hit the mirror’s surface, it was reflected. Startled, Wang Xi quickly raised a Jellyfish Crystal Shield.

CRACK!!

Fortunately, he was fast enough. The sapphire-blue, spherical barrier blocked the shot just in time.

’Vocal skills manifesting physically, mirror deflections...’

The thoughts flashed through Wang Xi’s mind.

This Magician was certainly not simple. In just a few dozen seconds, he had already revealed two Extraordinary Abilities.

WHOOSH.

As he lowered the Saccharified Barrier, he saw the Magician raise a hand and snap his fingers.

With a SNAP, a burst of fire suddenly erupted at Hawke’s feet, engulfing him.

The instant the flames dissipated, his figure vanished along with them. He had disappeared from the stage.

A flicker of fire appeared in his peripheral vision.

Wang Xi whipped his head around.

In a dark corner at the edge of the theater, dozens of meters away, a ball of fire ignited out of thin air, and the Magician emerged from within.

The vanishing-in-fire trick! A teleport!

Another magic trick!

’A teleport that covers dozens of meters, always keeping a safe distance from me. Is he trying to kite me to death?’

Wang Xi inwardly cursed at how troublesome this was.

A long-range Mage with a teleport ability could be summed up in three words:

An OP monster.

Standing ramrod straight in the distance, the Magician once again cracked a bizarre smile. He clasped his hands together, interlacing his fingers, and opened his mouth to emit the heavy, piercing shriek of grinding rebar.

It was a metallic scraping sound, like something you’d hear at a construction site.

Extremely unsettling.

The Magician assumed a golf swing stance. With an elegant, fluid motion, he swung at Wang Xi from afar through empty air.

KRR-BOOM—

Wang Xi suddenly felt a rush of air behind his head.

An instinctive sense of mortal danger washed over him.

Without looking back, he decisively dodged to the side.

BOOOOOM!!

A massive, three-meter-diameter ball of air, like a wrecking ball, swept past from behind, pulverizing everything in its path.

The frontmost row of audience seats toppled like dominoes, exploding into countless fragments that flew everywhere with a series of sharp CRACKS.

The entire theater trembled. The flimsy steel-frame roof groaned as if about to collapse, a rain of dust fell from the ceiling, and the dim lights swayed back and forth.

’This is also a vocal skill? Are you kidding me?!’

Wang Xi gripped his sword, his pupils contracting as he stared at the deep trench carved into the ground.

He felt that something was wrong.

This intuition stemmed from the Magician’s power, which was clearly a huge step above the Demon King Cat’s.

It was a serious departure from their intel.

"Wang Xi! I’m here!"

Just then, a girlish, robotic voice called out from the distance. Without even looking, he knew it was Bai Qimeng, her transformation complete, arriving to help.

Her lasers arrived before she did.

PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW—

A volley of crimson lasers, like twinkling starlight, shot across the entire theater toward the Magician in his dark corner.

However, before Wang Xi could shout a warning, the Magician gave a vicious sneer and flipped out the half-man-high Round Mirror.

The rain of lasers struck the mirror’s surface, buzzing as every single shot was deflected back.

Bai Qimeng was startled as well.

At that critical moment, she suddenly saw a translucent jellyfish appear before her. It abruptly bloomed, forming a hardened, sapphire-blue barrier.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!

Even after taking a direct hit from the series of crimson lasers, the Saccharified Barrier didn’t break, a testament to its defensive strength.

"Whoa!"

Bai Qimeng couldn’t help but gasp.

It was unclear whether she was shocked because the Magician could deflect her lasers, or because the sapphire-blue barrier Wang Xi had created was just that tough.

"Thanks—" Bai Qimeng snapped out of it, putting two fingers together in a cool salute toward Wang Xi before shouting excitedly, "I didn’t expect this Demon King to be even more awesome!"

"Come on! This is a good fight!"

She put away her pink twin pistols and, from who knows where, pulled out a Deep Green Card, inserting it cleanly into the mechanical device on her waist.

DING!

The device flashed with crimson light, and a serious, androgynous, mechanical voice rang out:

"Knight Armor, loading complete!"

"—TEMPEST! RABBIT! FORMATION!"

With a WHIRR.

Countless pink particles suddenly materialized beside Bai Qimeng, converging and contracting to form an incredibly cool motorcycle in the blink of an eye.

The motorcycle had a high-tech feel, with a pink-and-black color scheme. It was streamlined, yet had sharp lines along its sides. It featured a heart-shaped headlight, a three-lobed exhaust pipe resembling a rabbit’s lip, and carrot-patterned tire treads.

"Here I go!"

Bai Qimeng swung herself onto the bike, gripped the rabbit-ear-shaped handlebars, stomped her foot down, and gunned the throttle.

VROOOM!!

The headlight flashed on and the engine roared.

Crimson flames shot from the exhaust pipes as the Rabbit-Faced Knight streaked toward the Magician in a brilliant flash of light.

Bai Qimeng pressed a button on the side of her mask, smoothly brushing her bangs aside with the back of her fingers. With a BEEP, the cool, mechanical voice from her waist rang out again:

"Target locked. All weapons free!"

KLANG!

The rear of the motorcycle rotated and opened up, revealing nine dark, circular openings. Immediately, carrot-painted, high-explosive missiles launched from within. Trailing long tails of white smoke, they all turned in mid-air and flew in unison toward the Magician—

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!!

"She has new gear?" Wang Xi was astonished.

It made sense.

What kind of Knight would she be if she didn’t have a mount...

Perhaps this was the Rabbit-Faced Knight in her complete form.

BOOOOOOM!!

The missile barrage landed with a thunderous explosion.

Smoke, debris, and fire erupted all at once.

The entire theater shook violently as if in an earthquake, the cacophony even more astounding than the one caused by the ball of air earlier.

Compared to this, the missile swarm used by the Gear Conglomerate’s seed, Carl Lee, during the third round of the Professional Warrior practical exam was nothing but child’s play.

"Wang Xi!"

Just then, he heard Lin Xin’Er call out to him.

He turned to see that she had already moved Liu Wenjie and the other four to the relatively safe area by the opening and was waving him over.

Wang Xi glanced at the smoke-filled theater, from which he could faintly hear Bai Qimeng’s excited cheers. Seeing this, he flashed over, returning to the edge of the opening.

As soon as he got close, he saw that the four heavily injured young men and women were still breathing. Two of them were on the brink of death, their lives sustained by the "Medical Nebulizers." Liu Wenjie’s injuries had stabilized, but he sat to the side, ashen-faced and dazed.

"I just asked him what happened. I made a strange discovery..."

Lin Xin’Er began.

After her brief summary, Wang Xi’s face grew pensive.

He learned that although Liu Wenjie was a Maze Streamer who had made ample preparations before daring to explore, he was ultimately not a high-level Professional Warrior. Nor did he have access to Bai Qimeng’s intelligence channels, leaving him completely unaware of the "Circus" area’s rule that prevented escape.

This fatal oversight had led them into a desperate situation.

At first, the five of them had managed to barely withstand the Magician’s attacks thanks to their armor. The bullet comments in the livestream chat reminded them to ask the trio of Wang Xi, Lin Xin’Er, and Bai Qimeng for help, which became their last hope.

However, for some unknown reason, the Magician’s power suddenly surged. His card-throwing knives abruptly transformed into vocal-skill pistols, which instantly inflicted heavy casualties on them.

The sole survivor, Liu Wenjie, fled in a panic to the edge of the theater, where he was blasted through the wall by a vocal-skill wrecking ball, creating a large hole—which was how he encountered Wang Xi and Lin Xin’Er.

"I have a theory." Wang Xi calculated the time, seeming to have thought of something, and said to Lin Xin’Er, "Could it be that the Magician suddenly grew stronger because we killed the Demon King Cat?"

Hearing this, the girl froze.

"It’s very likely!" She nodded. "This is a classic ’Maze Rampage’ event..."

A Maze Rampage—just like a "Maze Treasure Chest" or a "Mysterious Merchant"—was a type of Maze event.

But unlike the low-probability, random nature of the other two, a "Maze Rampage" often followed a set pattern.

Once a certain condition was triggered, a "Maze Rampage" would occur, and the difficulty would skyrocket.

But on the other hand...

If you could still successfully clear the Maze after a "Maze Rampage" event began, you would most likely receive a hidden reward!

Wang Xi thought it over, then suddenly looked toward the large hole.

He raised an eyebrow and said:

"I think I know what the pattern of the ’Maze Rampage’ is, and how to clear this stage..."

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