Gorgeous Jewel
Chapter V Chapter 178

When the fire had devoured almost the entire room, Alice saw a wooden door that was camouflaged like a stone.

Alice pushed the door and found the stairs down. The hallway was quite dark and there was only a small amount of illumination from the torch light stuck to the wall.

Alice walked down the stairs to the bottom.

When he got to the bottom, he saw another door. The door was made of real stone. Alice touched it and felt a Mana vibration on the door.

"They set up a magic formation here. It seems a little more complicated. There's a trigger hole that needs something to open it." He muttered as he continued to observe the magic circle that appeared on the door.

Although she could indeed break the door by force, Alice felt that she would use a lot of force and would definitely cause more commotion.

Before long he stood there, two sword blades flew towards him from his left and right sides.

Alice brushed them off easily. But, soon a humanoid puppet emerged from the hole that suddenly opened above his head.

Alice jumped back avoiding the doll's sudden attack.

Its attack power was strong enough to make the ground around them tremble.

Although his body was not entirely human, but the puppet clearly had a pair of large hands and a head, it was just that he did not have any legs that made him appear to be floating in the air.

As the puppet extended both of its hands to the side, the two swords stuck on the ground moved and shot towards it.

"What'sthis? Magnetic Function?" The sword returned to his grasp.

Alice observed the movements and body structure and the flow of Mana of the doll closely. "This design has a more complex structure. I even had trouble seeing the Mana energy flowing within it." He did not find the same gap as the previous snake puppet.

The Mana energy within the puppet was flowing steadily.

Alice frowned. "It will be difficult to find the weak spot. There is no other way but to destroy it" he continued.

However, when she saw a small glowing orb on the doll's right chest, Alice understood that it was something she needed to open the stone door in front of her. In short that little ball is probably the key.

Alice unsheathed her Moonlight sword. The sword trembled with a loud little shrill voice. Alice could feel that her sword was already impatient to slash at her opponent. The bright luster of the blade looks shining even in the dark though.

"Beautiful." Alice's words were spontaneous. This was the first time he had used the sword. Alice thought that the sword would be a perfect match if it were combined with her frozen Qi technique.

But this time Alice wanted to try something.

Ever since she already possessed magic power comparable to a level 4 mage, Alice was curious and wanted to try it on the puppet before her.

The doll started moving, she made a sound of metal friction.

The puppet raised both of its arms up and crossed its sword in front of its body. Then he flew towards Alice quickly.

Alice held him with her sword. The puppet's thrust was really strong. However it was not enough to shift Alice's legs from her position. "Unfortunately I never underestimated my opponent. But, let me see the extent of my magic power by fighting you." Said Alice.

The puppet aggressively swung his sword alternately to the left and to the right. But Alice shrewdly dodged.

"Lumayan fast. Although it's made of metal, but it's pretty flexible."

Alice narrowed her eyes. With a quick movement of his hand, he repelled the puppet's sword, then he placed his other palm on the puppet's body.

Alice ran over quickly and slashed the puppet's arm.

Both of his eyebrows shot up when he saw his sword fail to sever the puppet's arm. "Not only fast but also strong. I didn't think that my sword couldn't even break his arm."

Alice's attack just ripped the doll's skin off.

As he sensed the threat as his body had been injured, the puppet let out a loud cry like he was going berserk.it was like he was changing fighting mode.

His attacks became more intense and powerful. Even he changed his attack pattern and became increasingly brutal. But with Alice's current cultivation level, the puppet was really nothing more than a pile of metal in her eyes. As Alice increased her senses, the puppet's movements would become slower in her eyes. The hotness of the metal lining his body would not even be able to survive his blow.

The doll repeatedly attacked Alice in various ways. But every time Alice took the initiative and held back her attack, Alice launched her attack. With his sword and magic, the puppet became a mess on each side.

Their fight went a bit long because Alice only used simple sword movements and her fire magic. There was actually a reason why Alice wanted to hide her true abilities.

"I knew there was someone controlling this doll at that door. He must be looking at me. He's trying to measure my strength with his dolls. Heh." Alice snorted coldly.

He quite praised the man's tactics as well as his man-made dolls.

The doll's body had been torn here and there. In some parts it looks charred because of Alice's fire magic.

"I've tried to use Aura but it seems like my abilities aren't enough." Mumbled.

Alice wished she could cover her sword with Mana and then turn it into a fiery sword that she had seen fighting Kyrant. Unfortunately the Sword Aura technique required a deeper concentration of Mana. Although Alice understood the concept, her body could not keep up.

"Yes already is. We'd better end this fight." Alice felt that she had enough of her training. He was satisfied.

Just like when he used Qi. Alice drained Mana from her heart into her palm. With a great imagination, Alice managed to create a dense blaze in her hands.

His eyes were locked at only one point.

Alice used Shadow Step to move quickly behind the puppet.

[Bursting Blow]

One great blow he infused into the body of the doll.

His fist produced a huge explosion and pierced through the thick protective metal of the puppet. With that, Alice made a huge hole in the doll.

The magic circle on the doll disappeared. It also lost its Mana energy supply and stopped functioning.

"Hm....It's still lacking when compared to Echidna's punch back then." It turned out that Alice was imagining Echidna's fiery punch when the little girl first defeated an arachne.

"Uniting magic and martial arts turns out not bad either." Alice smiled with satisfaction. He really wanted to try it for a long time.

But his smile became stiff and slowly vanished as he remembered his goal.

"ah! The key...!" Alice panicked, she immediately saw the front of the doll. "Aiya. fortunately this thing is okay. It's almost." He breathed his leg.

Alice took the small ball and carried it to the hole in the stone door.