Before setting off, Brand took a glance at Andreg’s status. He found that this Vampire Girl was far more powerful than he imagined. Andreg was a rare dual element possessor. In addition to the common Soul Element of the undead, she also had an element called Blood. Dual elements were extremely rare in the Amber Sword, with less than one in ten thousand people having it. Brand had never seen it before; players certainly couldn’t possess dual elements.

Most vampires fought relying on the instincts of their bloodline, but Andreg had a Mage Level, an unusual Magic Array Magician, and she also had a Warrior Level as a dual-wielding swordsman. Brand was stunned at such an oddity, never having seen a vampire with a Professional Level before.

Below appeared Andreg’s card ability, ’Pay 5 dark, place a small squad of black derivatives (bloodline) onto the field’.

Meanwhile, the Clockwork Man and its Clockwork Swordsmen were getting closer. Oddly, it seemed to have noticed Brand but only ordered the Clockwork Swordsmen to spread into a fan shape and slowly surround him, while it remained motionless, its thoughts unknown. Brand, however, didn’t care what it was thinking. He signaled to Andreg and then leapt and rolled out from behind a pillar.

As he rolled and got up, the Charge Skill naturally activated, his movements suddenly accelerating several times. The distance to the leftmost Clockwork Swordsman seemed to suddenly shrink. That puppet hadn’t reacted yet, clumsily attempting to raise its sword to block, but Brand had already deflected its sword with one quick swing. Simultaneously stepping forward, forming a phantom. His body had already circled behind the Clockwork Swordsman, stabbing his sword through its slender neck from behind.

It seemed like two Brands attacking from front and back, instantly killing a puppet.

Brand, having struck successfully, dared not linger, turned around and ran, aiming to dart behind another pillar. But the expressionless Clockwork Man had anticipated his move, tapping the ground heavily with its bronze cane, shouting: "He’s trying to escape. Number seven, eight, nine, advance ten steps. Number three, four, bypass number one’s corpse, block his retreat!"

The Clockwork Man was like a precise chess player, and under its string of commands, the Clockwork Swordsmen actually blocked Brand’s escape route ahead of him.

Brand cursed internally, damn it, since when did the Clockwork Man have such brutal capabilities. The Clockwork Man was a lower-tier guardian of the Tower of Heaven, with high attack, high defense, and thick blood. Its characteristics were magic immunity, and within a ten-foot range, it could use time freeze, time rewind, and time vortex skills. Many melee professions and elemental mages had been beaten badly by it. However, this monster moved slowly, and archers could counter it perfectly.

But this one was clearly not the same as the one Brand knew.

However, while Brand was cursing his bad luck, the girl Andreg quietly watched him lure the enemy out. Then she turned back to draw a Four Ring Array on a pillar. Just as Brand killed the first enemy, she finished drawing. At this moment, the Clockwork Man ordered the Clockwork Swordsmen to change formation and turn to one side, inadvertently exposing itself to Andreg’s attack sight.

But Andreg didn’t remember Brand commanding her to attack the big guy. She glanced, picked her target, and pointed at the seventh Clockwork Swordsman. A pitch-black lightning shot out from the array on the pillar, striking that puppet’s head with a ’crack’ sound. Although a transparent array appeared above the Clockwork Swordsman’s head to block the attack, it was still knocked askew.

A major feature of Magic Puppets was high magic resistance, but Andreg didn’t care. A primary feature of a Magic Array Magician was astonishing spell power. Her finger hadn’t dropped yet; the first lightning was just a guide—leaving a Magic Imprint on the seventh. Then, the array suddenly emitted an even brighter black light, shooting out over a dozen lightnings, all without exception hitting the seventh’s head.

For a moment, the transparent array on seventh’s head shone nearly solid but was ultimately shattered with a crack, like a walnut being cracked open, uniquely still sizzling with smoke coming out.

The spell was called ’Queen of Pain’s Nine-tailed Whip’, a classic black magic.

With the seventh dead, a sliver of hope opened in Brand’s blockade ahead. But before he could rejoice, the Clockwork Man threw out another card, "Guardian of Defeat!" it coldly said. A few Light Doors opened behind it, and out came soldiers in black spiked armor, resembling humans.