-Greetings, Master.-
The white knight standing before my eyes. A machine that, until just moments ago, had only been able to move materials had transformed into a humanoid form.
Blue light poured from the V-shaped eye slit in its white helmet.
The knight, which had spoken in a masculine voice, stood still as if awaiting my command.
“……Eosollujeun? Is this right?”
I mean, I knew it was an enhancement module. But I hadn’t expected such a drastic change.
To the question I asked in that sense, Eosollujeun answered as if it were nothing special.
“It’s just about First-grade level.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
When I turned my head slightly to look at Eosollujeun beside me, I caught a faint hint of discomfort on her face.
I had a feeling that if I asked more, the mood would turn bad.
‘Does she hate robots?’
But if that were the case, she hadn’t reacted at all when it was a mass-produced robot.
That thought passed through my mind, but I shook my head slightly and brushed away the idle thoughts.
What mattered was the performance of this mechanical knight.
The fastest way to find out was….
ㄴTruth Scholar: How about making it fight? It should at least be able to beat a Cyclops!
ㄴTreatmentIsViolence: …Even a Cyclops can’t be beaten by ordinary people, you know.
ㄴKkukku: I couldn’t beat a Cyclops when I was little either.
Pit it against the Cyclops, which was now being treated completely like a sandbag.
If it could defeat a Cyclops, that would prove it was usable.
I immediately spoke to the mechanical knight.
“Can you take down that Cyclops?”
-I will carry out the order to eliminate the entity designated Cyclops.-
With a masculine mechanical sound, the knight moved, its armor clanking.
It passed us and crossed the submersible’s hatch.
Chrrrrk—
Liquid-like metal moved from the white armor, and a greatsword formed in the knight’s hand.
It moved like the nanomachines I’d seen in movies.
The white sword, emitting blue light from the center of its blade, moved in search of the Cyclops.
Looking at the mana flowing through the blade, it had angular movements befitting a machine.
ㄴTruth Scholar: …If used well, that function could be put to good use.
ㄴKkukku: Aurora said she won’t trade unless it’s something like minerals, so give up on that dream.
My gaze was drawn to the pointless chat for a moment before I turned my eyes back to the mechanical knight.
I kept a distance of about seven steps from the mechanical knight.
As I followed it like that—
Chirik.
We encountered the Cyclops, rolling its giant single eye.
There was still a bit of distance between them, so if it approached quickly, it could land the first strike.
However, the knight walked forward without the slightest hesitation.
At that confident stride, the Cyclops’s eye rolled and stopped on the knight.
“At this rate, it’s going to get hit first….”
Comparing the speed of its steps and the Cyclops’s attack, the Cyclops was clearly faster.
My instinctive judgment proved correct.
The Cyclops’s hand rose, and a slash immediately flew out.
Chajajak!!
The slash tore through the air toward the knight.
Even I would be in quite a bit of pain if I took that head-on right now, but—
Chrrrrk—
The knight raised its left arm as if guarding, and white metal shifted to create a shield.
The slash and shield collided.
Taaang!!
Despite the violent impact, the shield did not break at all, and the knight advanced.
Holding the greatsword in only one hand, the knight raised it to the sky.
The white greatsword glittered in the green glow of the veil.
Like the blade of a guillotine, it fell without the slightest tremor.
Kwaaaang!!
Kwaduduk—
It cut down the Cyclops standing in front of it… no, rather than cut it down—
ㄴTruth Scholar: It turned it into minced meat….
ㄴAlcoholIsLife: Would that taste good as meat pancakes?
ㄴKkukku: As if.
…There was a strange comment, but the important point was that it had minced the Cyclops.
Even an attack it took head-on hadn’t worked properly, and its offensive power was also decent.
It was beyond usable; it was a fighting force that could be deployed well enough.
“Not bad. At this level, we should move on to the next city.”
The performance test was over, so now it was time to put it to use.
But before that, there was something I had to do.
“I’ll turn it back on tomorrow.”
ㄴTruth Scholar: What about a 24-hour stream—
Click.
…It felt like Truth Scholar had been about to say something horrifying, but it didn’t matter.
In any case, I went into the submersible to rest and relieve today’s fatigue.
When I closed my eyes and opened them, it was already morning. Even in the deep sea where there was no sun, my body was getting used to the approximate time.
“Are you awake?”
“Haaam…. Yeah.”
Maybe because I’d woken up earlier than expected, a yawn came out on its own.
I went outside and somehow chased away my drowsiness with water from the Bluetooth showerhead, and Jui had woken up as well.
Jui floated around inside the submersible, even showing off the trick of doing a full turn in midair.
I watched for a moment, then remembered that I needed to turn on the stream.
I immediately opened the gallery and started the broadcast.
[Deep-Sea Escape Log, Day 43. Entering the central zone.]
As soon as I turned on the stream, viewers poured in instantly. The chatter sounded as if they had been waiting for my broadcast to start.
Naturally, the regulars were among them, and the chat immediately began scrolling.
ㄴTruth Scholar: You’re going to the center?
ㄴTreatmentIsViolence: No, I came as soon as the alert popped up. Does this guy do nothing but stay on the gallery?
ㄴQuickdraw Sword Saint: I finally had enough free time to come in.
This broadcast also had Quickdraw Sword Saint, who hadn’t been able to come in last time.
I liked the fact that if a fight broke out, I could get feedback right away.
After briefly reading through the flood of comments, I spoke.
“I’m going into the center. Preparations are already done, so I’ll head out immediately.”
“Follow me, Jui.”
“Piii!”
I crossed the hatch and walked toward the submersible Sphere. Eosollujeun and Jui followed behind me.
When I boarded the Sphere, what I saw at once was the mechanical knight from before.
However, the blue light that had come from its helmet was off. The knight lay collapsed like a corpse.
“……Eosollujeun, is that thing really okay?”
“Yes, it’s fine. It’s simply in power-saving mode to reduce mana consumption.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t dead. It was in power-saving mode.
No longer paying attention to the collapsed mechanical knight, I immediately grabbed the Sphere’s controls.
With a humming engine sound, the Sphere set off.
Not too much time passed before we arrived at the next city.
[The direction of the “Quarantine Force Field” is changing.]
Along with the words that appeared on the screen, the Sphere entered the next city.
With a slight impact transmitted as we touched the ground, I could see a devastated city beyond the screen installed in place of windows.
I put on all the equipment I could use and woke the newly made mechanical knight.
‘They said it would wake up if I infused it with mana….’
I placed my hand on the cold white helmet and poured mana toward the machine.
Then—
Woooong—
Blue light poured out from the helmet, and the knight, which had been sitting like a drunk person, straightened up stiffly.
-Greetings, Master.-
“Yeah, good to see you….”
Now all preparations were complete.
According to what the head admin had said, each creature’s danger level was higher than in the previous city, but that didn’t mean I could keep putting it off forever.
I had to clash with the center at least once.
With the mechanical knight here now, I should at least be able to make it back alive.
With that thought, I turned my steps.
“Phew…….”
I stepped into the devastated city and took a deep breath.
A sand-like smell vibrated into my lungs.
At that smell and scenery, the instinct that had been asleep until now awakened.
My instinct rose around me like thorns and began sensing threats.
“…Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Pii!”
The mechanical knight and I took the lead, while Eosollujeun and Jui followed behind.
A formation divided between close-range and long-range.
As we continued walking toward the center, it appeared.
Beep. Beep.
That three-legged, machine-like thing. A Companion.
I was about to shoot down the self-destructing creature from range immediately, but….
ㄴTruth Scholar: Wait a second! That’s a little different from the usual individual, isn’t it?
ㄴTreatmentIsViolence: …You’re right. There’s something attached under its legs.
I stopped at the dissuading chat messages appearing at the edge of my vision.
As the chat said, when I looked closely, there was something like a flower attached under its legs.
A situation with insufficient information. At times like this, I had to act as carefully as possible.
I immediately took out the scanner and activated it while staying far away.
Then the results soon appeared.
-Blooming Connector
-A plant that spreads outward and attaches to creatures in the form of flowers. It comes off easily when washed with water, but after a certain amount of time, it fully attaches and cannot be removed.
Fortunately, the information appearing on the scanner wasn’t disadvantageous to my situation.
If anything, this was less of a threat than a Cyclops.
“We’ll hit it from range.”
If we got close, there was every chance it would explode, so I decided to shoot it down from range.
Jui inhaled, and I took out the mana rifle slung across my back.
Mana spread around us, and when it reached its peak—
Two lights burst forth.
Kwaaaang!!
Then the Companion disappeared without a trace.
I slung the mana rifle, its muzzle slightly melted, back onto my back and advanced again.
“We’re definitely making it to the center this time.”
How much time had passed since I made that declaration?
After killing Companions from afar and avoiding Defenders that were troublesome to deal with—
We finally reached the center.
But there, I saw despair.
ㄴTruth Scholar: What… is this?
ㄴQuickdraw Sword Saint: Hah, this is insane. Is this the product of evolution?
What I saw before my eyes was—
A scene of Companions packed tightly together on top of a Defender’s shell, attached using Connectors.