Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 174

"I absolutely have to go," Feng Zhanbinghua made up her mind.

I'm going to protect my most important friend.

-

"That's a good eye."

The projection in front of Pendragon was divided into several parts: the protagonist, the supporting characters, and the time traveler.

Among them, the transmigrator was clearly playing a different version of the game than Jing Shen and the others; she was too strong.

He was so strong that he seemed capable of defeating any opponent with a single blow, and coupled with his bald head, he always gave Pendragon the illusion of being Saitama.

Saitama should go run laps; their relationship is waiting to be nurtured.

Pendragon snapped his fingers, and the space he occupied instantly folded into a huge ring, almost like a high-end version of a maze.

Before she even realized it, that should have been enough time for them to solve the problem.

Since there haven't been any big events lately, it's nice to occasionally see a pure male friendship.

On the other side of the Forbidden Book Index, the calico cat tried to escape, and he chased after it with all his might.

The calico cat, darting into the shadows behind the convenience store, saw the menacing face of the Catalogue of Forbidden Books chasing after it and continued its frantic escape. It crept under parked cars, leaped over wire fences, and fled from one alley to another. Finally, the calico cat ran into a forgotten concrete ruin.

"caught you!"

Just then, Index of Forbidden Books grabbed the calico cat by the neck.

Faced with the panting and roaring boy before it, perhaps driven by animal instinct, the calico cat struggled and writhed desperately in Catalogue of Forbidden Books' arms, trying to escape again. In truth, if Catalogue of Forbidden Books hadn't chased after it with its loud shouts, it probably wouldn't have gotten so far.

The calico cat meowed indignantly in Index Books' arms, as if saying, "It's so hot, please don't hug me so tightly." Index Books, still holding the calico cat, began to look around.

This is a true ruin.

Location-wise, this place is somewhere like an alleyway, surrounded by many low-rise commercial rental buildings. However, these buildings all seem to be facing demolition; the signs have long been removed, and the glass windows are gone. Even the entrance doors are gone, leaving only empty holes. Looking into the holes, the interior decorations have been completely stripped away, revealing exposed concrete pillars.

It seems the landowner here might be planning to demolish all the nearby buildings and construct some kind of large-scale facility.

Undeterred, the calico cat continued to flailing its short, chubby legs, trying to escape into the ruins. The angry Catalogue of Forbidden Books pouted and said:

"Hmph, if you don't behave, I'll really teach you a lesson!"

The author blew a breath into the calico cat's ear. The calico cat seemed to really hate the feeling and began to howl and tremble. For a moment, it even reflexively extended sharp claws from its short, fat front paws, but perhaps realizing that this creature was its long-term meal ticket, the calico cat retracted its claws.

Chapter 302 Magic Hacker

Chapter 302

"Let's go back and find that short-haired boy. Got it?"

The Forbidden Books Index said. The calico cat meowed reluctantly.

Just then, the calico cat suddenly raised its head.

Then, it began to struggle desperately again, trying to escape Index's grasp. This time, the struggle was much stronger than before, and Index panicked, wondering if she was holding it too tightly. But no matter what she tried, the calico cat remained completely unsettled.

Suddenly, the Catalogue of Forbidden Books felt as if something had fallen on its head.

"?"

He raised his hand and touched his head; it was concrete powder. Looking up, he saw the powder had crumbled from the wall of an abandoned building next to him.

Then, the manhole cover next to my feet started to vibrate and make a clicking sound.

"...My feet feel wobbly?"

The Forbidden Book Index was filled with suspicion, then it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps the London-style magician was hiding underground, right at his feet.

The ground beneath our feet began to stir instantly, as if it were a living creature.

"!?"

Index Books jumped back hastily, and in that instant, the spot where he had just been standing exploded. A monstrous arm made of stone extended upwards from the epicenter of the explosion, reaching a height of nearly two meters. It looked like a dinosaur with a very long neck, blocking Index Books' view.

A large amount of debris from the road surface was thrown into the air.

A chunk of tar, larger than the head of the Index Books, grazed past his face. He quickly bent down and cradled the calico cat against his stomach. Countless shards flew past his head at near range, like a swarm of bees.

Bang bang bang!

Debris crashed against the building's walls like a torrential downpour, creating a terrifying sound.

But the Index of Forbidden Books didn't look back; it stared straight ahead. Before it, a colossal stone statue slowly rose from the ground, like a corpse emerging from its grave. The caster was nowhere to be seen; perhaps it was being manipulated from afar.

The eyes of the Forbidden Books Index quietly narrowed to a slit.

The vast knowledge of the forbidden book catalog of the Church of Necessary Evil, the Zeroth Parish of the Anglican Church, surfaced from the depths of her consciousness. In an instant, the intelligence was compiled. She had seen the truth of the enemy before her.

"The basic theory is Kabbalah. Its main purpose is defense and the elimination of enemies. It was extracted in the 16th century. According to Goshum Schulem, its essence is formless and indeterminate."

When people think of stone giants, they often picture slow-moving monsters made of stone or mud. But that's not actually the case.

In Kabbalah, humanity was created by God from clay. The stone giants, created by humans in imitation of God's methods, are essentially "unsuccessful replicas," perhaps more like the puppets in fairy tales.

"The ritual has been modified, combining the original ritual with the Anglican ritual, and the language system has changed from Hebrew to English. The various parts of the human body correspond to the cross. Rather than replicating humans, it is more like constructing angels."

However, this stone giant is not simply humanoid.

The caster seems to be trying to construct something superior to humans: angels that closely resemble them in appearance. Their heads, right hands, left hands, and feet are modeled after the front of a cross, each imbued with the power of the four archangels. Perhaps the caster intended to create a more powerful clay angel.

The only saving grace is that human power is limited. Humans cannot create perfect angels. For example, constructing an entire, perfect water archangel is an impossible feat for humanity.

But even imperfect angels are quite dangerous.

"boom!"

The sound of the stone statue's footsteps shook the ground.

The Forbidden Book Index hugged the calico cat tightly and took a step back.

Using direct attacks would offer absolutely no chance of victory.

Generally speaking, these stone giants have a safety device called a "secret text" on their bodies. With just a light touch of a fingertip, all the functions of the stone giant can be stopped, thus preventing the stone giant from falling into an uncontrollable berserk state.

But the enemy is no novice either; they would surely place this weakness in a place inaccessible to others. Presumably, the core "secret text" is located inside the body, encased in stone armor.

The Index of Forbidden Books has no magic or superpowers. It lacks all incredible strength, and its arm strength is even weaker than that of an average person. Faced with this boy whose mind is filled only with vast amounts of "knowledge," the giant stone statue mercilessly raised its arm.

"Boom!" A fist that could crush not only air, but even space itself came crashing down. The boy took a deep breath.

"Twist to the left."

Then he said this.

In an instant, the fist, which had been swinging straight out, suddenly twisted to the left like a snake. The stone statue's fist swept across a completely empty space. Index Books, glancing at this out of the corner of its eye, took a step forward and stood beside the stone giant.

The stone statue quickly turned around and swung its fist horizontally.

"Change upwards."

But the attack still changed course, passing over the boy's head. Just as the statue was about to throw another punch...

"Move your left foot back."

The statue's foot suddenly stomped backward, ignoring its balance. The stone giant, who was raising its fist, lost its balance and fell heavily backward.

The Catalogue of Banned Books took two or three steps back with a light step.

The language he spoke was Kabbalah speed reading, a unique pronunciation method that only pronounces the first letter, in order to achieve both coded and high-speed reading.

Although the Index of Forbidden Books possesses vast magical knowledge, it lacks the ability to generate magical power and therefore cannot use magic. However, to others, this scene might seem no different from that of a true magician.

The statue stood up, took a running start to close the distance with the Catalogue of Forbidden Books, and threw its fist out like a cannonball.

The boy muttered to himself.

And so, the stone giant's fist once again changed course unnaturally, sweeping in a completely different direction.

It was as if a command from the Index series had been implanted into the stone giant's actions. In other words, it interfered with the caster's commands to the stone giant, forcibly seizing control.

Forced chanting.

The principle is simple. The caster mentally prepares the commands for the spell, so by confusing the caster's mind, their control over the magic can be disrupted. It's like how someone who is mentally counting will be disturbed if someone whispers random numbers in their ear.

The Index of Forbidden Books cannot use magic.

Chapter 303 Binghua

Chapter 303

However, one can try to make the enemy mage self-destruct.

Although the caster manipulating the statue was not present, Index deduced from the spell's structure that the stone giant was not controlled automatically, but rather remotely. In other words, the caster was using the stone giant's five senses to observe Index deduced's every move in detail. Therefore, an opportunity arose.

"Change to the right, cross your feet, and rotate your head and waist in opposite directions!"

The stone statue kept throwing punches, and the Catalogue of Forbidden Books chanted faster and faster. The stone giant was like a blindfolded drunkard, his fists always hitting completely unrelated places.

"Simply dodging attacks... isn't enough!"

The Catalogue of Forbidden Books removed all the safety pins from the monastic robe's skirt. The monastic robe, which already resembled women's clothing, had become a high-slit cheongsam, exposing the entire thigh, but there was no time to care about that now.

He held the safety pin in his hand, staring at the stone giant before him.

Such weapons are far too inadequate to deal with the enormous stone statue.

"The self-repair technique takes about three seconds to reverse. If you want to use this in reverse... now's the time!"

Without hesitation, Index threw the safety pin at the stone giant's foot. The safety pin was extremely slow; it probably wouldn't even hurt human skin, let alone the stone armor. The safety pin drew a curved arc, bounced off the stone giant's foot, and then, as if attracted by a magnet, was sucked into the stone giant's body.

In an instant, as if a wedge had been driven into a joint, the stone giant's right ankle movement was impaired.

This is similar to the method of forced chanting. This statue possesses the ability to automatically assemble its body structure and repair wounds using its surroundings. Conversely, if something unnecessary for assembling the body structure, or even something harmful, is thrown at it, its automatic repair function can malfunction. To give an analogy, it's like leaving a broken wrist unattended, causing it to heal into a strange shape.

The Forbidden Book Index has 103,000 books of demonic arts memorized in its mind.

But simply accumulating knowledge is meaningless. The most important thing is whether you can apply it and find the most appropriate solution in the shortest amount of time.

Perhaps he could win. Index of Forbidden Books thought to himself, and began to retreat gradually. His forced incantation wasn't omnipotent; against completely unknown spells like the alchemist's Golden Evolution Technique, or against situations where the performance of a tool like a bow or crossbow significantly replaced the need for incantation, it was utterly useless. However, this wasn't a problem against this stone giant. Forced incantation could indeed interfere with the stone giant's movements, and with clever use of safety pins, it could also inflict damage. Index of Forbidden Books calculated in his mind that if he continued to hinder it, he might have a chance to destroy the entire spell's structure and cause the stone giant to disintegrate.

"Boom!"

The stone giant stomped his foot on the ground.

"oops……!"

The violent tremor caused Index of Forbidden Books to stumble and fall to the ground. He couldn't help but click his tongue. Even if he could interfere with the opponent's movements, there was no way to avoid this kind of attack that shook the entire ground.

The stone statue dragged its right foot and slowly walked from the front towards the Index of Forbidden Books lying on the ground.

"right……!"

Halfway through the reading of the Forbidden Books Index, the Stone Giant preemptively raised his two fists and clashed them together.

"boom!"

The immense impact pierced Index's eardrums. His words were cut short. The calico cat in Index's arms howled in pain from the piercing sound.

The stone statue raised its fist high once more.

The author, holding the calico cat, rolled on the ground, trying to create as much distance as possible, and shouted:

"Having your feet parallel causes you to lose your balance!"

Upon hearing the voice of Index Prohibited Books, the stone giant merely shook its head slightly, then, as if switching on a toggle, ceased to accept Index Prohibited Books' commands.

"Oh no...! It seems like it's switched from remote control to automatic control...!"

Without a caster, the forced incantation of the Index can't work. Her commands can only affect humans, not mindless inorganic matter.

The stone giant shook his head.

The "mandatory chanting" rule in the Catalogue of Banned Books has been invalidated.

The enormous stone statue raised its fist and hurtled through the air.

The Index of Banned Books could no longer stop its offensive.

The dull thud of flesh slamming into concrete echoed—

The horrific sound of flesh being smashed echoed among the ruins. But this wasn't the sound of flesh being smashed in Index: Forbidden Books, and the tricolor cat was unharmed. Nor was it the sound of a stone giant being smashed; monsters made of stone wouldn't make that kind of sound.

It is the wind that cuts through the ice.