Facing Svarog

Seeing the master of the Robot Settlement appear, Jing Yan was delighted.

The people beside him, however, were extremely tense.

"Galaxy Baseball Hero" Stelle pulled out her strange baseball bat. It glowed with brilliant white light, and patterns spread across its surface.

March 7th immediately used a skill on Jing Yan: [Cute is Justice].

Blue and pink light wrapped around Jing Yan's body, granting him a layer of Six-Phase Ice armor.

"Not bad." Jing Yan looked at the armor on his body and praised it.

As expected of a Pathstrider of the Preservation Path, March 7th's armor had excellent defensive capabilities.

But more than that, he wanted to find out how he'd fare against the leader and strongest member of the Robot Settlement, Mr. Svarog.

When the vagrants nearby saw that Mr. Svarog was getting serious, they hurriedly grabbed their tools and ran back.

They didn't seem to have witnessed Mr. Svarog going all out very often. As they ran, they kept glancing back with astonished expressions, while quickening their pace.

"Outsider, human. I'll give you a chance to explain!" Svarog said calmly.

His voice was as mechanical as ever.

"Uh, Jing Yan, you really aren't a robot." March 7th glanced at him.

Stelle, standing beside her, looked awkward and rubbed her forehead.

Jing Yan said nothing. He had already begun to act.

As far as he was concerned, there was no point in talking, especially with a mechanical hunk of iron like this.

In Svarog's eyes, there were only family and non-family, threats and non-threats, and so on.

As a mechanical being, even with an exceptionally complex program, he still viewed and understood the world in an almost entirely rational way.

But in the universe, there were variables everywhere.

Changing his ingrained views wouldn't be easy.

So Jing Yan simply attacked.

[Illusion Domain]

Jing Yan immediately unfurled his domain.

Then, [Body Enhancement].

This move was similar to Stelle's abilities as a Pathstrider of Destruction.

Of course, Stelle was an exception.

She wasn't technically a Pathstrider. It was only because her body contained an object of the Destruction Path—a Stellaron—that she could wield the power of Destruction like other Pathstriders of Destruction.

If she received the blessing of another Aeon, she could still use that path's power.

Most Pathstriders couldn't do that.

A huge mechanical claw beside Svarog suddenly generated a powerful suction force, pulling "Galaxy Baseball Hero" Stelle toward it.

Then a red barrier formed around her, enclosing her inside.

Immediately afterward, rows of small missiles launched from behind Svarog and streaked toward Jing Yan.

"Mr. Svarog, wait!"

Clara sensed that something was wrong and wanted to intervene, but March 7th hugged her before she could.

"Wait, Clara, don't go forward yet. It's too dangerous up there."

March 7th spoke patiently, looking down at her.

"But..."

Clara exchanged a glance with March 7th, then looked toward Jing Yan and Svarog. Worry showed in her eyes.

She continued, "But..."

"It's fine." Jing Yan casually spoke over his shoulder.

The small missiles hadn't hit Jing Yan. Instead, they struck some Automaton: Grizzlies that had rushed over to "protect" him.

Under Jing Yan's control, they had been reactivated and had developed something like human emotions.

Since they had only just restarted after being formatted, they were like naive children. The difference was that they could understand commands without needing to learn how to speak.

So they immediately rushed forward and shielded Jing Yan from the missiles.

The huge bellies of the Automaton: Grizzlies were dented and gouged by the explosions from Mr. Svarog's missiles.

Still, the damage wasn't too bad.

After all, Mr. Svarog's attack had been aimed directly at Jing Yan, and the bellies of the Automaton: Grizzlies shielding him were the thickest parts of their bodies.

"Outsider detected. According to calculations, target threat level: extremely high! Initiating extermination mode!"

Mr. Svarog continued.

A mechanical claw flew over and shoved the Automaton: Grizzlies aside.

At the same time, a beam of light fired from his hand.

It shot toward Jing Yan's face.

Jing Yan smiled.

He didn't move at all.

He let Mr. Svarog's beam hit him square in the face.

It pierced through the thin layer of blue-pink Six-Phase Ice armor that March 7th had applied and struck him.

But the next moment, his figure flickered several times before vanishing from the spot.

It was as if he were a virtual projection.

Svarog stopped moving.

Then Jing Yan suddenly appeared in another spot nearby. He still stood with his arms folded across his chest and casually said, "As expected, this ability works on mechanical beings too."

"After all, you have eyes, don't you?"

Jing Yan spoke nonchalantly.

At first glance, what had just happened seemed dangerous, but it wasn't.

He hadn't used incredible speed to dodge Mr. Svarog's beam. He had genuinely relied on something like virtual projection—or rather, this wasn't technology at all. It was divine power.

[Illusion Domain]

Within this domain, even a mechanical being like Mr. Svarog could be affected.

That meant the spot he had just attacked wasn't where Jing Yan stood at all. It was an empty space nearby.

And Jing Yan still hadn't lifted the ability.

"Cough, damn it!"

"Galaxy Baseball Hero" Stelle, who had been held by one of Mr. Svarog's hands, had successfully used her bat to break free of the red barrier and escape.

Mr. Svarog immediately swung a giant floating claw at her again. Stelle struggled to raise her baseball bat and block the enormous mechanical claw coming down from above.

[Verbal Domination]

Jing Yan began using another of his abilities.

He didn't call in the other machines to help gang up on Svarog.

He wanted to test how much his divine power could affect an ancient machine like Mr. Svarog, who was of a higher level.

It was clear that Mr. Svarog's program was much more sophisticated, and his defensive mechanisms were far more complete.

"Virus intrusion detected. Isolating and disabling some modules!"

Mr. Svarog said to himself.

That reaction made Jing Yan pause.

As expected, as a Pathstrider of Destruction and a mechanical being with a more advanced intelligence module, he was much harder to deal with than the others.

He was far less susceptible to Eros—and correspondingly, much harder to control.

What was interesting, though, was that he interpreted the influence as an electronic virus?