Chapter 131: Lost Grea - Killing Machines
The best doesn"t always mean the most appropriate.
The type of dimension crossing device plays a role in deciding the level of defense. Usually, players used a small device that allowed only a single user to cross dimensions, hence, the level of defense was set up for defending the kingdom against a single player. A small unit of the army would be sent to defend the territory.
However, not only was Sila"s device the highest grade available on the market, but it was also an invasion type that allowed a large number of players to forcefully enter another dimension. Factoring this ability in, the level of defense of Lost Grea City was set at the highest, preparing the kingdom for a large scale invasion. Every Android Soldier had to abandon their current activity and prepare themselves for intercepting intruders. Even the quest that Sila heard about from Bluebird which tasked the player with killing the general was updated. It now told him to kill the Android King, which was clearly impossible with his current forces.
Sila was aware of this as soon as he entered Lost Grea City. The system informed him that he had to kill Orpheus, the Android King, Emperor Rank, Level 1,000. Otherwise, he would have to stamp his seal on the throne within an hour.
Based on his training experience under the Slime King, Sila was fully aware that the latter choice was much wiser. Even though Orpheus might be weaker than the Slime King, he was still the king of a kingdom. The chances of Sila defeating him would undoubtedly be non-existent.
Sila focused his attention on the Android Soldiers to observe their characteristics.
The color of each Android Soldier seemed to be slightly different. Their outstanding traits were their five-meter tall humanoid appearances and the three bright red dots on their faces, which he believed were their eyes. Each of the Androids possessed four arms. The infantry units used them to hold three short metal clubs and a shield, while the archer-like units would use one of their hands to ready their stringless bows and prepare the laser-like arrows with the rest of their hands. Some of the Androids had the symbol of a red hammer crossed with a sword imprinted on their chest and they all had unique weapons in their hands, indicating that their military positions were higher than the rest.
The sound of the drum went off and the frontline of the Android Soldiers marched forward. Their clubs were hitting against their shield, producing a loud noise as they approached. Meanwhile, the archers aimed arrows at Sila"s party through the gap between the approaching Androids.
Sila did a quick survey of the terrain. He and his team were in an open s.p.a.ce with no cover, so they were in a very disadvantageous position. The reason why the archers hadn"t shot them yet must be because either the army had yet to finish getting into formation or his team had yet to enter their effective firing range.
The sound of footsteps stopped and the frontmost soldiers held their weapons forward as laser blades began to extend from the tips. It turned out that the clubs were actually laser spears.
Sila looked at them in awe. "Hm? Is there any weapon like that available?"
Bluebird quickly informed him, "Haven"t you done some research? This is Lost Grea City and the android race is hailed to be the race that is the most technologically advanced in Monster Soul. I wouldn"t be surprised even if they took out a laser gun. The reason why you haven"t seen this kind of weapon before is they are rarely used by players."
"Are they dangerous?"
"I don"t know, and I don"t want to try being hit to find out." Bluebird frowned.
"You can consider the same as any other weapon, sirs. All weapons are the same if they miss their targets," said Sebastian.
"Mister Sebastian? Do you know about them?" asked Sila.
"Kind of, sir. The android race used to be one of the allies of my previous master, so I have come across them before. This race is not quite strong individually but they have the ability to upgrade their stats and skills with their gear. All of them have an energy generator as their weak point, but the location of it in their body varies for each Android."
"It"s fortunate that they have weak point. Do you have a way to pinpoint the location of the energy generator?"
"I don"t know, sir. However, we can guess that it"s located inside the part of their body that they guard the most. Just observe them closely and you will see."
"Don"t talk so nonchalantly. They have finished getting into formation and we are in an open s.p.a.ce. What should we do?" Bluebird was restless.
Sebastian showed a gentle smile as he spoke, "We change the terrain, obviously."
The hollowed eyes on his scythe flashed as Sebastian slashed its blade on his palm. He pressed his bleeding palm against the ground and the blood seeped into it. A blood red character appeared and glowed on the ground before quickly duplicating itself and spreading outward along the ground, reaching as far as they could see.
"b.l.o.o.d.y Graveyard."
The ground shook and numerous red skeletons rose from the ground. Sebastian instantly stabbed his scythe down and continued casting his next spell.
"b.l.o.o.d.y Maze."
The red skeletons screamed. Their bodies glowed and transformed into walls made of bones. The height of the walls reached the ceiling and some of the light of Lost Grea City was blocked, dimming the atmosphere. The walls had formed in a haphazard manner, meaning the area around Sila"s group had turned into a giant maze.
"Fortunately, we are underground and the height is limited."
Sila watched the walls made of red skeletons and marveled. "You have a lot of spells, don"t you, Mister Sebastian? You seem to be able to do everything."
Sebastian shook his head, "That"s incorrect, sir. There are many things that I can"t do. I possess a total of six hundred and sixty-six spells, but only thirteen of them can be used unconditionally. The rest have restrictions for use and some of the conditions are almost impossible to fulfill. For magic types, the key factor is timing. Use the most suitable spell in the right time and place. This is the most basic teaching for every magic-type creature."
Bluebird was clueless about that, but he still nodded and made a solemn expression like he had known about it from the start. He approached the skeleton walls and knocked them. "How st.u.r.dy are they?"
"Red skeletons have low attack power but they are quite hard to kill. Even if they are destroyed, they will regenerate completely within three seconds. Well, if they are constantly attacked, they will collapse. Based on the number of enemies, I think they can resist less than ten minutes. The walls aren"t mainly for defense but for obstructing their vision while we invade the inner part of the kingdom, sir."
Sebastian placed his blood-soaked hand on Sila and Bluebird"s hands, then tapped it on Lookhin and Bow.
"This will let you pa.s.s through the walls, everyone. The walls are currently everywhere in the kingdom for now. This terrain should provide us with a major advantage."
Bluebird tried to touch the walls again and found that his hand pa.s.sed through them. The sensation he felt was similar to how it felt moving through water, but the density of the walls was lower so he could move more freely.
He transformed himself into a blue tailorbird and found that he could still fly through the walls. Then, he transformed back and activated Psychic Bird Dance to summon a bird and commanded it to try flying through, which ended in success.
"This is really convenient."
"The walls sense your power, not your body. If you clad a weapon with your power and throw it out, it will still pa.s.s through them. With this, our team can attack the enemies freely while the opposing side has their movement limited."
Boom--!!
The sound of the walls crashing echoed all around them. It seemed the opposing side had started to act.
Sila explained the plan. "We need to find where the throne is. Once we do, I"ll head toward it. We"re the ones at fault for intruding on their territory, so please refrain from killing them if possible."
"I object. If we hesitate to kill them, we will be the first to die. Look at how many there are!" argued Bluebird.
"I agree with Mister Blue on this, sir. Being kind to an opponent is like being harsh on yourself. We can talk about who is right or wrong later, but if we decide to act, we have to be serious," added Sebastian.
Sila pondered for a moment. The sound of the walls crashing could still be heard. He sighed.
"Fine. We will act seriously. But, keep it to the extent of self-defense, okay?"
"Fufu. Self-defense? Roger, sir." Sebastian"s lips curled into a smile as he heard this word.
"We should scatter around and search separately," suggested Sila.
"Again, I don"t agree with you, sir. I think it will be better for us to do what we are best at. Lookhin and I will stay here and fend off the main army. This way, we will also act as a decoy and their troops will be more focused on us. As for Mister Blue, I see that you can transform into and summon a small creature. May I ask if you can summon many of them?"
"Around two thousand for the time being. I just got back from a job, so I can summon only this many."
"In that case, use them to help find the throne, if you may. As for Mister Sila, you will have to invade the inner part of the kingdom while searching for the throne. Please avoid confronting any Androids who seem to be strong. If Mister Blue spots the throne first, please relay its location to Mister Sila and then hold some of the Androids back to give Mister Sila some time. Lastly, Miss Head Maid and Lady Bow, please keep yourself out of harm"s way. If possible, please just stay still. If Lookhin or I need to spare our focus to protect you, we might fail."
Everyone agreed with this plan. Sila also agreed that this plan was more decent than his previous desperate suggestion so he didn"t object.
The sound of walls crashing down continued, urging them to start moving. Sila used qinggong and flew past the walls, heading out.
Bluebird was aware that time was short and precious. He immediately summoned all the tailorbirds at his disposal and ordered them to fly close to the ceiling. With the visibility of the android army being limited, they would have a difficult time spotting even a single bird.
Thousands of tailorbirds fanned out and headed toward the inner part of Lost Grea City. Bluebird also transformed himself into one of them and headed out.
Sebastian stayed where he was as his role in this was different. He told Lookhin to save its strength for when the walls were completely shattered. Before that happened, it was his duty to decrease the number of enemies as much as possible.
He lifted his fingers up and then stopped when he glanced at Bow and Julia.
"It shouldn"t be proper of me to let a woman or a kid see it."
"I will go face the opponents. Miss Head Maid, please take care of Lady Bow. Lookhin, you have never engaged in a large scale war, right? Listen to me, then. When the walls collapse, be fully offensive. Focus on killing many enemies in one move and don"t waste time on the strong ones. Kill when there is a chance to kill. In addition, please be mindful of your surroundings. Do you understand?"
Lookhin nodded. Its sharp, green eyes looked back into Sebastian"s eyes. Its magic power began to gradually acc.u.mulate inside its small body.
Lookhin didn"t use a normal casting method like other spellcasters. Its unique casting method was to unleash the power of spells directly. The more time it spent acc.u.mulating magic power, the more powerful the spell became. This was something it had learned by instinct.
Sebastian walked through one wall and hid inside another. He stabbed two of his fingers into his eyeb.a.l.l.s as he was about to unleash one of the spells that he didn"t like to use in his human form.
Sebastian was able to control his power completely in his human form, but the downside was him being able to use only half of his maximum power. As for his genuine form, every single death that happened around him would slowly drive him into a berserk state, so he tended to not show his genuine form when his comrades were around.
"Eyes of the Grim Reaper."
Sebastian shut his eyes close, but there was a profound red glow shining through his eyelids. The vision that he could see completely changed. Currently, what was projected in his vision was neither objects nor creatures, but rather souls and life sources.
If he were in his genuine form, he would be able to cast this spell and let the grim reaper"s eyes overlap his normal eyes. Using it in his human form, however, caused him to lose sight of all non-living objects. Only life essences of all living creatures were projected as blurry, shining smoke within darkness.
The smoke shared the same form as the body of the creature. Bow still looked like Bow and Lookhin still looked like Lookhin, but he couldn"t see Julia as she had no real form. As for all the androids, he could spot a tiny frame of light that was slightly brighter than usual in each of their bodies. It was the energy generator that he had mentioned.
Sebastian held his scythe in his right hand and ran forward like a hunting hound who had found its prey. He took a detour, choosing to head toward the archers.
As he ran, he could spot thousands of tiny life essences scattered in the sky. He suspected that they were Bluebird"s summoned tailorbirds.
One of the Android Soldiers blocked his way so Sebastian stabbed the hilt of his scythe into its abdominal area, where its energy generator was hidden. The scythe was clad in magic power without holding back.
Biri--!!
The sound of the energy generator exploding attracted the attention of nearby Android Soldiers, drawing them toward him. Sebastian sneakily moved from the spot and a.s.sa.s.sinated the approaching Androids one by one when the chance arose.
After he had slain the twenty-third Android, Sebastian noticed that his opponents started to become smarter. They no longer blindly followed the sound of explosions and instead moved in groups.
"There seems to be a decent commander among them. In this case, how about this?"
He dashed toward an Android and powerfully knocked the hilt of his scythe into the ground. His magic power surged up.
"Soul s.n.a.t.c.her Scythe."
Sebastian"s scythe traveled in a beautiful crescent arc. Around a hundred archers instantly exploded and scattered as several pieces of sc.r.a.p. The archers usually didn"t possess exceptional defense to begin with, so they were relatively easy to defeat compared to the other soldiers whom he needed to focus all of his power into a single point to destroy each one.
Nevertheless, with him showing off the spell, Sebastian"s location was no longer a secret. Many units from afar were rushing to come his way.
"Um... I"m not certain this spell will work on these sc.r.a.ps, but whatever."
He commanded his magic power to pull all the sc.r.a.ps to join together and flicked his hand to spray blood onto them. Then, he fled from the location.
His opponents broke the walls and finally arrived at the pile of sc.r.a.ps. Sebastian waited until his opponents had gathered and showed a reaper-like smirk.
"Deathly Army Bomb."
Both the blood stain on his palm and the blood on the pile of sc.r.a.ps glowed at the same time.
Boom--!!!
The sound of the explosion shook the area. More than three hundred androids were destroyed in a single move and the nearby buildings crumbled down, falling down onto each other.
"Unfortunately, this spell has a long cooldown time and I"m afraid the above Grea City will tumble down, so I can"t display its full power."
His opponents began to form a new formation to go against him. And when he was about to attack once more, he noticed something from afar and halted at such a sight.
What he saw was Sila rushing toward the biggest life essence in the kingdom. The size of the light that emitted from that essence was large enough that it could be called a second sun.
"Oi, oi. That"s the Emperor Rank monster. Why are you going that way, Master?"