Exploring the Fortress

The gates of the Sky City stood tightly shut, giving off an air of desolation. Although lush forests and lawns surrounded it, there was no birdsong to be heard, nor any sign of life.

"Okegis, let's go inside and take a look."

"All right, Master."

After receiving Okegis's reply, Duanmu Huai picked her up, activated his jump pack, and leaped into the air, landing heavily above the city gate.

"Boom!!"

His Power Armor collided with the stone gate, producing a heavy crash. Yet there was still not the slightest movement anywhere in the city.

Apart from the grasslands and trees, there seemed to be no life here at all. Duanmu Huai activated a Recon Servo-skull and sent it out to investigate the surroundings.

However, even the Recon Servo-skull did not transmit any signal indicating that it had found signs of life.

Could this place really be nothing but a Dead City? Only the city remained, while everything else had vanished?

No way... In any case, we might as well keep moving and see what happens.

Duanmu Huai and Okegis jumped down from the city gate and arrived on the other side, proceeding along a weed-choked road.

The city had a very distinctive style. Although most of its buildings were made of stone, they possessed the geometric beauty of technological creations—though, in fact, it was hard to say whether those building materials were really stone.

"Roar-----!!"

However, just as Duanmu Huai and Okegis passed through the road and arrived at the intersection ahead, a huge black shadow suddenly let out a beastlike roar and leaped down from a rooftop, pouncing straight at them.

Faced with the sudden attack, Duanmu Huai hurriedly raised the warhammer in his hand and turned to meet the enemy. The two sides collided, then separated again.

Only then did Duanmu Huai see clearly what the black shadow that had attacked him actually 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.

Its limbs, however, took the form of savage claws, its head resembled a lion's, and behind it were a lizardlike tail and wings like those of a giant eagle...

Magic Iron Mad Lion
LV21

"Good grief... Whoever built this must have been out of their mind..."

Looking at the mechanical monster before him, Duanmu Huai did not even know what to say. The metal lion let out another furious roar and lunged at the two of them, baring its fangs and claws.

This time, Duanmu Huai showed no mercy. He stepped forward and brought his hammer down directly into the Magic Iron Mad Lion's claws. The hard, heavy warhammer smashed the iron lion's head into scrap.

Even so, the iron lion still struggled madly, trying to injure Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai swung his hammer again, striking its body like a golf ball, and sent the Magic Iron Mad Lion flying with a howl.

It crashed into a wall not far away and became a pile of scrap metal.

"Looks like this city isn't as peaceful as it seemed."

After being attacked, Duanmu Huai felt much more at ease. At least this meant that the way to clear this fragment was probably through combat.

The reason the Recon Servo-skull had detected no signs of life was also simple enough: there was probably nothing left here except machines capable of moving on their own.

After that, Duanmu Huai and Okegis's encounters confirmed his guess. As they explored the city's outskirts, they came under attack from several types of robots.

Aside from the strange lion-headed creature from before, there were also Prototype Mechanical Soldiers that looked like knights, wielded twin swords, and wore cloaks.

There were also similar Mechanical Soldiers armed with machine guns. Most of these robots were between levels twenty and thirty, and with a constant stream of puppets at their disposal, Duanmu Huai had no trouble dealing with them.

However, along the way, he grew increasingly interested in the origins of this city.

From what he could tell, this city seemed to have been a place where some ancient civilization researched and manufactured robots.

He simply did not know what exactly was inside it.

"Clang!!"

Another Mechanical Soldier was reduced to scrap metal under the puppets' attacks and collapsed 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, yes, they are..."

"But I didn't see any strings controlling them."

Okegis was extremely curious about this. Every puppet in her Puppet Card Deck, which centered around her, required strings to control it.

Duanmu Huai might casually deploy a whole group of puppets whenever he fought, but the strings of every puppet were controlled by Okegis.

That was why she was so curious about these "puppets" that could move without strings.

"Their method of manufacture is different. They can move without strings, but their activity is quite limited."

Duanmu Huai gave Okegis a simple explanation, and she nodded as if she understood, though she clearly did not fully grasp it.

As they talked, the two of them had already crossed the outer area and arrived somewhere resembling a street. The nearby buildings still had signs.

Although they could not understand the writing, the styles and patterns of those signs made it clear that this was probably a Shopping Street.

Duanmu Huai entered and looked around curiously, but there was nothing inside. He did not know whether the shops had originally been empty or whether the fragment had simply failed to project their contents.

It was not until he entered the third shop that Duanmu Huai found something of interest.

"Oh, this is pretty interesting."

Looking at the scene before him, Duanmu Huai could not help sighing in admiration. In front of him was a display table, and several cute and beautiful girl puppets sat on top of it.

Their appearances, clothing, and hairstyles were all different.

Beside the girl puppets were objects resembling price tags.

"This civilization is rather interesting."

At this sight, Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. Although he could not read the writing, he could tell that this was probably a shop that sold robots.

Those robots were likely the merchandise, while the signs probably described their specifications and functions.

He should have realized it earlier, but this civilization truly seemed to be exceptionally skilled at manufacturing robots.

Okegis also seemed very interested in these robots that looked so much like her. She curiously reached out and poked this one, then examined that one.

Sometimes she touched herself, and sometimes she touched the others, as if comparing the differences between them.

"All right, let's go, Okegis."

After observing for a while, Duanmu Huai felt that there were probably no more clues and gestured for Okegis to get ready to leave.

However, just as the two of them turned around and prepared to walk out of the shop, a voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Could... could you wait a moment?"

Hearing the voice, Duanmu Huai and Okegis turned around. On the display table behind them, a girl robot that had originally been sitting there had opened her eyes and was staring at them.