Chapter 340. Main Research Center (2)

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-Kiiiiing!-

After seeing their comrades being destroyed, countless more unmanned robots rushed to this location and started to search.

-Kirruk-

Their goal was to collect intel regarding their mysterious opponent.

They were coded to collect intel throughout the entire research center, but once attacked, they would gather in order to destroy or capture their foe.

Though the sensors above the modules were working at full power to find the two intruders, it was all futile.

After inspecting its destroyed comrade, the AR-1121 picked it up and started to move away, it assumed the intruder had fled to another location.

It would be able to gather a bit of intel after it looked through the debris.

And right next to them…

There were two pairs of eyes that were watching these robots returning to their original positions.

‘This is much better.’

Hansoo nodded as he looked at the thin barrier surrounding him and Kiriel.

And Kiriel smiled proudly.

“It’s something the mages of the Kingdoms were using, but it seemed useful, so I learned it. I was able to hide from the Ark-Roa, and even from the one who created the various Transcendents.”

Hansoo’s brows rose up.

He had always wondered how she’d roamed around without being detected by the others, but it looked like this was how she had done it.

‘It still shouldn’t have been that easy.’

Her methods were indeed above the norm, and her talents were naturally not inferior to the Keldian in the past.

“Anyway, where do we go now?”

Kiriel asked Hansoo, looking around the vast, artificial land.

‘It’s too wide.’

If she were to read everything with her Psychometry, she would burn out very quickly.

She didn’t know what she had to look for as well.

‘Right… Do I have to tell her?’

Hansoo thought to himself.

If they were going to continue traveling, there was a need for him to tell her that he had come from the future.

Otherwise, she would question him every time he did something strange.

It might even cause confusion during a decisive moment.

Since Kiriel wouldn’t understand why he was doing certain things.

But even before Hansoo could finish his thoughts, Kiriel asked him a question, with eyes full of expectation.

“Hurry and show me. I heard you have a weird superpower right?’

“…”

‘Did she see that too?’

He had heard that she’d researched him, but it looked like she’d also seen the lies he’d made in the past.

Hansoo chuckled at Kiriel’s puppy-like eyes and pointed towards a direction.

“Let’s go that way then.”

And Kiriel smiled at Hansoo’s actions.

This world was a new, unknown world.

Nobody knew where they were, and they didn’t know what they would encounter or where they had to go.

But a trait that showed them the path in a situation like this?

Wasn’t that the best trait in a leader one could ask for?

And his goal was cool too.

Saving all of mankind.

‘I’m going to follow him until the end!’

Kiriel tightly grasped the fang in her hand as she quickly followed Hansoo from behind.

***

“It seems everything was destroyed.”

‘Who lived here in the past?’

Kiriel mumbled as she ran past countless metal buildings.

It was strange.

Robots wouldn’t live in such places.

And the half-destroyed barrier in the sky had also proved something.

There was something that needed that exact barrier.

But strangely, there wasn’t a single trace of a human being in this vast land.

Only the metal robots that roamed from place to place while making strange noises.

‘Ugh.’

Kiriel looked around at the tank-like robots, who all seemed to be running around in a hectic state because of their intrusion.

-Sssssk!-

‘What the hell?!’

Kiriel frowned at the minute and invisible wave that made contact with her own barrier.

This was a detection skill.

Quite a high-leveled one too.

‘No, it’s not just a skill. What is this?’

One thing was clear at least; they had been found.

-Swoosh-

A man appeared from where the wave had originated from in the distance.

Right where they were heading towards.

And the man was holding onto a strange rod-like object in his hands.

-Chiiijijik-

‘That. He mixed his skill with that.’

She wondered how he’d detected her through her barrier, but he’d apparently mixed his skill with a strange object.

The man wore a necklace, which suddenly created a strange, translucent bubble that surrounded his head.

Something that allowed him to maintain his fighting abilities in a land that had no oxygen to breathe.

Kiriel started to get curious as she watched the man. He seemed to be clad in various items that looked different from normal artifacts.

‘… Were you always able to mix skills with technology?’

That thing looked extremely useful.

Though the skills looked magical, they were a lot of cases where they fell short.

Most of them were very inefficient if they couldn’t be used in direct combat or for survival.

And as if feeling Kiriel’s eyes on him, the man shouted out towards Kiriel and Hansoo.

“Wait! Please wait a moment!”

Kiriel stopped after hearing the man’s shout, and asked Hansoo:

“What shall we do?”

She was interested in the man already, but the man had come to find them instead.

And the man was in quite a perilous situation as well.

-Kirrrrk!-

“Damnit!”

The surrounding robots had heard the man’s shouts and were gathering towards this area.

Apparently, he had come outside even after knowing that it would be dangerous.

Hansoo pondered for a moment at Kiriel’s words, but then nodded.

“Let’s hear him out at least.”

The scene from the memory Kiriel had told him about kept on bugging him.

And he also wondered why the giant barrier in the sky had broken apart.

Intel was better the more one had, and somebody who’d been here longer would definitely know more than they did.

Kiriel chuckled as she nodded.

“It looks like we’ll need to rescue him first.”

The man was screaming while he fought the robots in the distance.

“Ahhh!”

-Booom!-

She and Hansoo couldn’t be seen by the robots since they were behind her barrier that hid them.

So all their attention and attacks had been focused on the man.

Hansoo nodded at Kiriel’s words as he watched the man who was barely dodging the various attacks that flew towards him.

“I’ll do it.”

Then…

-Sssssss-

… A mass of red clouds started to appear around Hansoo’s body.

***

“Haa… haaa. Thank you.”

The man gasped for breath after reaching the barrier Kiriel had set up.

Kiriel mumbled to herself as she looked at the man’s appearance.

‘Woah. What a hottie!’

His looks were comparable to some famous superstar.

But Kiriel moved her eyes away from his face.

The various machinery the man had on his body was more interesting to her than his face.

‘What are all these things?’

She wasn’t an engineer to begin with, so she couldn’t figure out with a single glance how he used his machinery nor how they were created.

But there was no need for her to know all those details.

She just needed to know how to use them, and what effect they had.

And her trait was perfect for such a thing.

‘Let’s see.’

-Kiiiiing-

As Kiriel activated her Psychometry to read the memories, Hansoo spoke to the man, who was still gasping for breath.

“Why did you call out to us?”

The man looked into Hansoo’s eyes and said:

“What else? I was asking for help.”

Kiriel clenched her teeth as she used a touch of her Psychometry.

She had expected this to some degree.

Since she and Hansoo had shown off their prowess already, anyone who came to find them would be coming for that exact reason.

But what gall.

‘Is he not scared?’

Those looks might be able to subdue the rage of some females, but it wouldn’t be that useful against another man.

But Hansoo looked at the man in amusement.

He could see the man had something backing his arrogance.

And the man saw Hansoo’s gaze and nodded.

“Good. We should all be helping each other out. I’m sure you won’t lose out on this deal.”

“Do you even know who we are?”

The man shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I don’t know who you are, but you are human. Since that crazy bastard Melchizedek betrayed the humans, we should be helping each other out.”

“Betray?”

Kiriel was shocked.

Betrayal?

Had they been allies in the past?

The man looked at Kiriel in shock.

‘What a pretty girl.’

The man, Jack Hounder, smiled and replied kindly.

“Yes, betray. That bastard suggested we ally and then betrayed us the moment we agreed.”

Jack looked in the direction of the research center in the distance.

***

Outer areas of the giant machine city.

-Rumble-

A train-like object was quickly scouting through the perimeter of the city.

But it didn’t seem like a train for transferring people or cargo.

The giant train racing through the metal ground was simply humongous.

-Rumble-

The giant train charging over the ground was easily the size of a small island.

And there were hundreds of buildings that had been built on top of that train.

And in the middle of this train…

Within a giant building…

-Rummble-

A two-meter-tall humanoid form was standing in the middle of a structure, which resembled a factory or research center.

The man, who had been standing amidst the countless noisy machines, ignored the faint vibrations in the ground as he looked around.

Though the various machines looked quite disorganized, the view from the man’s position was quite a sight.

To the left, there were thousands of test tubes which held countless humans.

To the right of the man, there were factories that were quickly constructing things.

-Bubble, Bubble-

The humans who looked to be sleeping peacefully were mostly in parts.

Just the bottom half, the top half or just the arms and legs.

The other parts had already melted down into the liquid.

And these liquified bodies were being sucked into a larger tube that was attached on top of the test tubes.

-Sssss-

The man, who had been staring at the factory, turned towards the liquids.

Towards the direction where those liquids were heading to.

The man looked at the giant aquarium located in front of him.

The lifeform that was being created in the middle.

The lifeform that was receiving the liquefied humans from the left, and nanomachines from the plant on the right.

The man caressed the aquarium as he mumbled.

‘A step towards… unification.’

But this was not enough.

He needed more.

As fast as possible.

As much as possible.

The man then turned towards the elevator and smiled.