Deadmines (3)

What? Before everyone's astonished eyes, the Farm Reaper in front of them suddenly lit up around the head, spun its upper body, and thrust its fork at Linda.

"Watch out." Siso instinctively shoved Linda aside, but his own hand was brutally pinned to the ground. Peru and Alpha both reacted. Peru slammed his shield heavily into the back of the robot's head, and before the robot could respond, Alpha pounced and transformed into a black panther. He seized Siso in his jaws, turned, leaped to Linda's side, dropped him there, and left again after saying, "Treat him."

Seeing Siso nearly pass out from the pain, Linda was frantic. She immediately cast a healing spell to ease his wound. "Why are you so stupid? Were you trying to get yourself killed?" Enduring the pain, Siso said, "If I weren't stupid, you'd be the one lying on the ground right now. Lord Alpha told me to protect you properly, so I have to complete the mission." The first half of his words filled Linda's heart with waves of emotion, but when she heard the second half, she became irritated. Her bandaging hand tightened too much, drawing a muffled groan from Siso.

But Peru and Alpha were not having an easy time either. Facing a robot wrapped in metal plating, they found it hard to attack. Alpha's claws could only leave pale streaks across its body. Fortunately, Peru was managing fairly easily. Whether it was old or something else, the Farm Reaper's attacks were not very frequent, so he did not need to make any deliberate evasive movements. Of course, it would have been better if its attacks were a little less powerful.

As time passed, Alpha and Peru gradually realized something was wrong. The Farm Reaper's energy seemed endless; it had not stopped at all. "This won't work. If this keeps up, we'll be the first to collapse. Doesn't this thing have some kind of switch or weakness?" Alpha said as he slashed at it with a claw. Sweat streamed down Peru's forehead as he replied, "Who knows? I haven't seen one of these things in a long time."

"Hit its neck. There's a master control switch there that can stop it." A weak voice came from the side as Siso clutched one hand with the other.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Alpha complained, though his movements did not pause. Once he spotted the switch on its neck, he swiped a claw at it.

"Automatic attack disabled. Automatic attack disabled. No intruders. No intruders." After several clacking sounds, the Farm Reaper's rotating upper body stopped. Peru and Alpha dropped to the ground, panting, while Linda helped Siso slowly walk over. Alpha asked curiously, "How did you know this thing's weak point was its neck?" With Linda's help, Siso sat down nearby and said, "There were Farm Reapers like this where I grew up too. I accidentally broke one once, and my father gave me a harsh beating. He said I wouldn't get to eat unless I fixed it."

As if he had discovered a new continent, Alpha teased, "Oh? I never expected you to have been so naughty. Still, if it hadn't been for you, Peru and I would probably have been exhausted to death. Good job." Looking at the remaining Farm Reapers, Peru said worriedly, "What are we going to do about the rest? We can't avoid them at all. And that big one in the middle... I have a bad feeling about it."

"For now, let's get some proper rest. But don't move from where you are. I've noticed that as long as we don't enter their attack range, they won't be triggered. We'll decide what to do after we've rested." Alpha said calmly.

About thirty minutes later, Peru and Alpha had fully recovered their strength. Siso had mostly recovered as well and could move freely, though he still could not raise his sword with that hand. Linda's mental strength had also largely returned. Protected by the others, Siso carefully approached the Farm Reapers and quickly disabled their automatic mechanisms. When he finished disabling the last one, Siso let out a long breath and relaxed. The others relaxed as well.

"Beep beep. Reaper 100 has lost contact. Reaper 200 has lost contact. Reaper 300 has lost contact. Reaper 400 has lost contact. Beep beep. Reaper 5000 is beginning to receive commands. Beginning work. Searching for intruders. Searching for intruders." The enormous Farm Reaper in the middle—or rather, Reaper 5000—began to shake. Dust fell from its body as its upper half started rotating. One hand still held a fork, but the other wielded a massive axe...

Everyone stared blankly at the gigantic robot. "Siso, do you know Reaper 5000's weakness?" Peru swallowed and asked quietly.

"I think it's probably still the neck," Siso answered uncertainly. "Damn it, so this is how this big guy gets activated." Alpha cursed. "Quick, hide first." The words had barely left his mouth.

"Intruders detected. Intruders detected. Reaper 5000 accepts command. Eliminate intruders. Eliminate intruders." Reaper 5000 immediately fixed its gaze on them.

"Damn it, spread out! I'll draw its attention. You figure out how to deal with it." As soon as Peru finished speaking, he threw his hammer at Reaper 5000. Naturally, the hammer flew back, but it brought Reaper 5000's attention with it.

Without another word, Alpha turned into a panther, carried Siso and Linda away, and set them down in a relatively safe spot. "Siso, hurry and think of any other weaknesses this thing has. Linda, keep an eye on Peru. Don't let him fall. I'll see if I can climb up." With a feline leap, he pounced forward and gripped one of Reaper 5000's legs tightly with both claws.

Siso struggled to recall the Farm Reaper's weaknesses. "Damn it, this Farm Reaper only has that one weak point. We normally used manual mode... Manual mode! I've got it! Linda, stay here and don't go out. I'll help too." Just as Linda was about to say something, she saw a line of blood spray from Peru's body and immediately dared not lose focus.

Siso went over to the Reaper 100 from earlier and felt around its neck. Muttering to himself, he said, "If I remember correctly, it should be here. Got it, this is it." He gave it a hard pull. Bang! A black shadow slammed down beside him, kicking up clouds of dust. "Pah." Alpha spat out blood, looked at Siso beside him, and frowned. "What are you doing here? Did you think of another weakness? You can't get up to its neck at all."

As Siso worked on the mechanism in his hand, he said, "If I remember correctly, making a slight adjustment here can change this guy's operating mode. Yes, like this." "Beep beep. Reaper 100 is beginning work. Intruder detected. Eliminate intruder." It then charged straight at Alpha.

Seeing Reaper 100 charging at him, the fur on Alpha's nose nearly stood on end. Just as he was about to attack, he saw Reaper 100 run right past him and charge toward Reaper 5000 instead. Alpha turned his head and stared blankly at Siso.

Siso wiped away his sweat. "Thank goodness the program wasn't changed. It's still the same. This will reduce our pressure. There are a few more over there. I'll modify them too. One probably won't be enough."

Alpha gave him an approving look before running toward Reaper 5000 as well, buying time for Siso.

As the other Farm Reapers joined the battle, Peru's pressure nearly vanished. In the middle, only the large Farm Reaper and four smaller ones remained locked in combat.

"But this still isn't a solution. We still can't get through." Peru looked at the passage behind Reaper 5000.

"It's fine," Siso said calmly. "These farm robots have another special 'flaw.' When they work too long without rest, they generate a great deal of heat. Once the heat reaches a certain level, they'll be completely scrapped. All we need to do now is wait for that moment. Uh... but judging by the looks of it, it might take a while." Siso's voice grew quieter and quieter.

Looking at the battling robots before him, Alpha said, "Not enough heat? Easy. We'll warm them up a little."