Before them, Sky City's gates stood tightly shut, steeped in desolation. Though lush forests and lawns surrounded it, there was no birdsong, nor any trace of living activity.
"Okegis, let's go in and take a look."
"Yes, Master."
After receiving Okegis's reply, Duanmu Huai held her close, activated his jetpack, and leaped into the air, landing heavily atop the city gate.
Boom!!
Power Armor collided with the stone gate, producing a heavy crash. Yet there was still not the slightest movement anywhere in the city. Other than the grasslands and trees, there seemed to be no life here at all. Duanmu Huai activated the Recon Servo-skull and sent it to investigate the surrounding area—but even it failed to transmit any signal indicating it had found life signs.
Could this really be nothing more than a Dead City? With only the city left behind and everything else gone?
No way... In any case, they would keep moving and see what they found.
Duanmu Huai and Okegis jumped down from the gate to the other side, then proceeded along a weed-choked road. The city's style looked quite distinctive. Although most of its buildings appeared to be made of stone, they possessed the geometric beauty of technological creations—though whether the construction material was truly stone was hard to say.
Roar—!!
Just as Duanmu Huai and Okegis passed through the road and reached the fork ahead, an enormous black shadow suddenly let out a beastlike roar and leaped down from a rooftop, lunging straight at them. Faced with the sudden attack, Duanmu Huai hastily raised his Warhammer and turned to meet the enemy. The two collided, then separated again.
Only then did Duanmu Huai finally see what the black shadow attacking him was.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Duanmu Huai stared blankly at the monster before him. It looked like a humanoid robot made of metal, but its limbs ended in beastlike claws, its head resembled a lion's, and it had a lizardlike tail and eaglelike wings behind it...
Magic Iron Mad Lion LV21
"Good grief... Whoever built this must have been out of their mind..."
Duanmu Huai did not even know what to say as he looked at the mechanical monster. Yet the metal lion roared again and lunged at them with claws bared. This time, Duanmu Huai showed no mercy. He took a step forward, met the Magic Iron Mad Lion's fangs and claws head-on, and brought his hammer down. The hard, heavy Warhammer instantly smashed the iron lion's head into scrap, but even so, it continued struggling madly in an attempt to harm Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai then swung his hammer again, striking its body as though hitting a golf ball. The Magic Iron Mad Lion flew backward with a howl, crashed into a nearby wall, and turned into a pile of scrap metal.
"Looks like this city isn't as peaceful as it seemed."
Rather than making him uneasy, the attack put Duanmu Huai more at ease. At least it showed that combat was probably the way to clear this fragment... And the reason the Recon Servo-skull had detected no life signs was simple. What remained here were likely only machines capable of moving on their own.
What they encountered afterward confirmed his guess. While exploring the city's outskirts, Duanmu Huai and Okegis came under attack from several kinds of robots. Aside from the earlier mismatched lion-headed creature, there were Prototype Mechanical Soldiers that resembled Knights, wielding twin swords and wearing cloaks, as well as similar Mechanical Soldiers armed with machine guns. Most of these robots were between Levels 20 and 30. With the endless Puppet army at his disposal, they were not difficult for Duanmu Huai to deal with.
However, he became increasingly interested in the city's origins along the way.
From what he could tell so far, this city seemed to have been a place where some ancient civilization researched and manufactured robots... He just did not know what exactly lay inside.
Clang!!
Another Mechanical Soldier was reduced to scrap under the Puppets' assault and fell to the ground. Okegis walked over curiously and lightly poked the scrap-metal Mechanical Soldier on the ground.
"Master, are these Puppets too?"
"In a sense, I suppose they are..."
"But I don't see any strings controlling them."
Okegis was very curious about this. Every Puppet in the Puppet Card Deck centered around her required strings to be controlled. Although Duanmu Huai would casually flood the field with Puppets whenever he fought, the strings of every single Puppet were controlled by Okegis.
Thus, she found these "Puppets" capable of moving without strings extremely fascinating.
"They're made differently. They can move without strings, though their range of movement is quite limited."
Duanmu Huai gave Okegis a simple explanation, and she nodded as if she half understood.
As they spoke, the two had already passed through the outer area and arrived at a place resembling a street. The buildings beside them still bore signs. Though they could not read what was written on them, the styles and illustrations made it clear that this should be a Shopping Street.
Duanmu Huai went inside to take a look, but there was nothing there. He did not know whether it had been empty from the beginning or whether the fragment had simply failed to project it.
It was not until they entered the third shop that Duanmu Huai finally found something worthwhile.
"Oh, this is pretty interesting."
Duanmu Huai could not help sighing at the sight before him. There was a display table in front of him, upon which sat several very cute and beautiful girl Puppets. Their appearances, clothing, and hairstyles were all different. Beside these girl Puppets were objects resembling price tags.
"This civilization is rather interesting."
Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up at the sight. Though he could not read the text, he could tell this was probably a shop that sold robots, and these robots were likely merchandise. The signs most likely listed their models and functions. He should have realized it earlier, but this civilization truly seemed highly skilled at manufacturing robots.
Okegis also seemed quite interested in these robots that looked so much like her. She curiously reached out, poking this one and examining that one. Sometimes she touched herself, then touched the other one, seemingly comparing the differences between them.
"All right, let's go, Okegis."
After observing the place for a while, Duanmu Huai decided there were probably no more clues to be found and signaled for Okegis to leave.
However, just as they turned to walk out of the shop, a voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Could... could you please wait a moment?"
Hearing the voice, Duanmu Huai and Okegis turned around. On the display table behind them, one of the girl robots that had originally been sitting there had opened her eyes and was staring at them.
Before you continue