To ensure the success of his plan, Anbaixiu specifically went to the edge of the swamp to run some tests.
The two of them couldn't fly out of this landmass using the Fly spell, yet other landmasses could exchange matter by hurling objects across. Anbaixiu suspected it had something to do with speed.
The speed of Fly was simply too slow to break through the restriction.
Picking up a loose stone, Anbaixiu hurled it toward the distant chaos.
The dual-core drive of the mana power reactor and dark mana granted this mechanical body astonishing strength, launching the stone with an air-splitting shriek.
Four to five hundred meters beyond the swamp, the stone suddenly decelerated, yet it ultimately broke free and flew out.
"Just as I thought. Given enough speed, you can break away from the landmass's gravity, but that speed far exceeds the limits of the Fly spell."
Anbaixiu's mechanical body could rely on a cannon barrel for acceleration, but Catherine couldn't be handled that way. Stuffed into a cannon barrel and blasted out, she would end up as Catherine puree.
Even so, the plan was viable.
Right there on the spot, Anbaixiu began modifying the iron golem. Cobbled together from scrap, the thing could barely walk. Even as a prop, it needed to look convincing. He applied a coat of paint so it looked like mithral, sculpted an approximate humanoid puppet to serve as Catherine's dummy, and then layered illusion magic over both to fine-tune the details.
Flawless. Even if the slaadi attacked the two decoys, they wouldn't easily spot the ruse.
Anbaixiu said to Catherine, "Alright, that should do it. Now we need to go lure the slaadi over."
The biggest flaw of illusion magic was that it couldn't replicate Catherine's absurd charm. That was why Catherine had to act out the opening scene; by the time they made their final 'escape,' they would swap in the puppet, which should leave no seams in the deception.
Anbaixiu thought through every detail, going over where to begin baiting them, where to open up distance, and at what spot along the swamp's border to make the swap, making sure nothing unexpected would go wrong during the con.
Catherine listened intently while taking notes in a little booklet.
This was far more elaborate than the childish make-believe personas she had concocted. Anbaixiu had even anticipated the slaadi's emotional shifts, predicting at what point in the pursuit their attacks would turn more frenzied.
"You really are remarkably good at deceiving people," Catherine remarked with feeling. "No wonder the Lady of Mists said you were destined to help her."
Anbaixiu replied, "Good at it? I haven't an ounce of talent for this—it's all accumulated experience. Anyone who spent hundreds of years scraping by as a low-level adventurer like me would develop the same knack."
A truly great con artist was someone naturally smooth-tongued, with eyes so sharp it was as if they had a passive Detect Thoughts running at all times.
Anbaixiu had simply seen enough people over the years to piece together practical lessons.
"That's still incredible," Catherine said enviously. "When will I ever be like you?"
"Simple. Make a few close, dear friends, and then watch them die accidentally one after another. That'll pretty much teach you. I could tell you ten thousand times, but nothing sears the lesson into memory like watching your own friends die."
Anbaixiu's casual, breezy words sent a deep chill through Catherine. If that was what it took to learn, she figured it was better that she never learned at all.
"Alright, preparations are mostly complete. Remember your part. We'll now—" Anbaixiu broke off mid-sentence, abruptly looking up at the sky.
Catherine followed his gaze in confusion.
In the turbid, murky sky, a bizarre mass of black clouds appeared. As the dark fog churned incessantly, a ruined city drifted out from within it.
Catherine gasped in surprise. "Another new floating plane? Is that how all these floating planes get here?"
Anbaixiu stared at the city, remaining silent for a long time until Catherine remarked, "Uh, this city is hideous. Look at those towers in the center. They're so conspicuously, abstractly ugly, and their aesthetic doesn't match the surrounding buildings at all."
Anbaixiu nodded. "Yeah. My teacher's aesthetic taste was indeed terrible."
"Teacher? You mean the God of Alchemy? Wait... this city, it can't be the City of Alchemy, can it?!"
Catherine had never seen the City of Alchemy. She was a shut-in who had rarely set foot outside, and by the time she left the Silvermoon High Court, the City of Alchemy had long ceased to exist. Yet Catherine had read descriptions of it in books: to punish those mad alchemists, the God of Alchemy had erected seven hideous towers within their city.
Weren't there exactly seven towers right there?!
"But how could the City of Alchemy be here?" Catherine didn't know the inside details of how the City of Alchemy had vanished; she could only guess that the alchemists' experiments had suffered a catastrophic disaster.
Anbaixiu sighed inwardly; his Dice of Fate still hadn't pinpointed the exact moment in time he had aimed for. He had pretty much deduced what this place was. This chaos was likely where the gods conducted their exiles—whenever something resembling a cancer upon the world appeared, the deities would excise that region and cast it into this chaotic void.
The slaadi were just such a cancer, while the City of Alchemy housed a mad alchemist delusional enough to pursue godhood. The other landmasses were likely similar, undoubtedly harboring things capable of bringing about world ruin.
This was the gods' dumping ground, specifically reserved for hazardous waste.
"Change of plans!" Anbaixiu told Catherine.
"Huh? We're not doing the act?" Catherine was a bit disappointed; she had taken such meticulous notes just now.
Anbaixiu said firmly, "Plans can't keep up with changes. We don't need to go through the trouble of waiting for an unreliable spatial connection ritual anymore. Inside that city above, there's something far more suitable."
Although the man inside the City of Alchemy was a lunatic, he was also a half-baked deity. If they wanted to leave this place, securing the guildmaster's help would be much more dependable.
"But we can't fly out. The Fly spell can't break through this landmass's restriction," Catherine said.
"Doesn't matter. I have a way to fly across. You can hide in my private space, and once I get inside, I'll let you out," Anbaixiu said.
"Oh, you really do have a solution for everything..." Catherine trailed off, suddenly pausing. She asked in bewilderment, "Wait, if I could hide in your private space, why did we go through all the trouble of sneaking deep into the swamp together earlier? Couldn't you have just gone alone?"
Anbaixiu said in feigned shock, "Ha? What are you talking about? Catherine, you're working for me. How could you bear to let me, the boss, take the risk all by myself while you lounge around waiting inside my private space? Those are slaadi! How could I possibly go in alone? In a pinch, I might not even get the chance to let you out to help. Of course I had to drag you along with me!"
Catherine was speechless.
This lich truly refused to suffer even the slightest loss.
Though her teeth itched with frustration, Catherine put herself back into the mindset of an employee and decided not to ask another word from here on out.
Anbaixiu sent Catherine into his private space, then pieced together a magitech cannon from the remaining spare materials.
Following the usual routine, he visually estimated the distance, adjusted the barrel's angle, crawled inside a special shell crafted from mithral, and fired toward the City of Alchemy in the sky.
With a tremendous blast, the mithral shell spun into the sky.
After flying several hundred meters, the mithral shell encountered noticeable resistance, but it only slowed slightly before cleanly breaking through the swamp's restriction and flying into the chaos.
This chaotic void resembled deep space, devoid of air resistance, allowing the shell to coast by momentum toward the City of Alchemy.
As it neared the City of Alchemy, however, the shell met resistance once again.
Every landmass appeared to have a special barrier; entering or leaving, there was always an impediment.
Fortunately, Anbaixiu had anticipated this scenario, so the cannon's firing power had been reinforced this time. The mithral shell had enough force to pierce the barrier twice.
Though after breaching the barrier, the shell had slowed nearly to a halt.
Yet once past that barrier, the mithral shell fell under the sway of the City of Alchemy's gravity, plunging toward the ground in free fall.
Anbaixiu climbed out of the shell, his mechanical body completely unharmed.
Anbaixiu opened his private space, but instead of releasing Catherine, he switched back to his lich body.
At this point in time, Anbaixiu had only just finished bamboozling the guildmaster; he couldn't let him discover that he had traveled back from the future.
Catherine was even less suited to show her face. The guildmaster was a brilliant man, not some naive sweet thing who had hidden at home for centuries. If he caught sight of the Elven Queen, he would deduce countless things.
Satisfied with his preparations, Anbaixiu walked toward the sewers where the guildmaster had once ascended to godhood.
This time, however, the guildmaster probably wouldn't be so easy to fool.
Chapter 210