"..."
It turns out the save file was stuck due to a bug...
Ed realized Muller's predicament and felt a surge of sympathy for him.
"This is so pitiful. Let's hurry up and interrogate him, then we can arrange a different job for him so he can enjoy life."
Willow looked at Ed with disbelief and asked in surprise:
"You've already decided what he should do?"
"It's not difficult."
"... Okay, now I know where the personalities of the Soul Returner come from."
Willow looked at the alchemical golem, then at Ed:
"How do you want to interrogate him? He doesn't even have a complete mouth right now; at most, he can only make 'uh-huh' sounds."
Ed for a moment and said:
Is there any way to release him?
"Boss, are you crazy?"
"Release it, but only a little bit."
How much is considered 'a little bit'?
"Doesn't Muller want to speak? Let's open a small hole for him and let him have his way."
"I think I know what you're thinking..."
Willow looked at the alchemical golem and said:
"Anyway, I'm planning to revamp it properly later, so you can do whatever you want with it this time."
Thank you.
Hearing that Willow didn't mind, Ed quickly went to the alchemical golem, knocked on the huge, already full "iron can," and said:
" Muller, I have only two demands of you: first, hand over the Grand Duke's Blood; second, tell me everything I want to know."
"If you can do these two things, I guarantee you'll survive."
"Waaaaah!"
Indistinct voices emanated from inside the alchemical golem.
As Ed and Willow stated, due to space limitations, Muller is currently unable to produce a normal sound.
Ed then went to the alchemical golem's side, to its right.
He reached out and grasped one of the alchemical golem's fingers, then snapped it off instantly with a sudden backward thrust.
"Crack!"
As his fingers severed from his body, Muller's flesh and blood gushed from the broken ends, spraying incessantly like a piping bag of cream that had been holding back its power for a long time.
With a wider space, the flesh and blood immediately began to grow wildly, instantly becoming a hammer made of pure white bones, which began to swing back and forth under the pull of the flesh and blood.
Ed dodged Muller's attack with a backflip, and looking at the flesh-and-blood mace that was changing shape as it attacked him, he let out a regretful sigh:
" Muller, you've missed your last chance."
"You'll regret this countless times for the rest of your life."
Ed raised one hand, and a vine instantly sprouted from the crack in the bricks of the ground.
The vine grew at a speed almost identical to that of a fountain, completing its differentiation in less than a breath, with a blade and a cork sprouting from its top.
"Whoosh!"
A flash of light, and even though it was just a wooden sword, in Ed's hands it was no different from metal.
The hammerhead, its flesh still attached, fell to the ground with a "thud," triggering Willow's defensive formation and instantly turning her into a charred corpse.
Just as more flesh and blood were about to gush out from the hole in the alchemical golem's finger, the wooden plug instantly pushed it back in.
"He doesn't seem willing to cooperate with us."
Willow said this in a nonchalant tone, as if it were something she had expected.
Ed shook his head regretfully:
"That's like asking for trouble... Could you draw me a magic circle that can continuously output thrust after inputting Psionic Energy?"
Input Psionic Energy, output thrust?
Willow found this way of expressing herself novel.
But upon closer inspection, isn't this just the Acceleration Spell commonly used during flight?
It's not difficult to solidify the Acceleration Spell that can be cast at will.
She nodded:
"Okay, where should I put it?"
"Located near the alchemical golem, the requirement is that the output power doesn't need to be too high, but it needs to be relatively stable."
"Good."
Willow took her engraving knife and began carving the circuit, while Ed took up the role of fitter on the spot, starting to hand-craft precision parts without blueprints and assembling them.
A few minutes later, both of them finished their work.
Willow put away her sword and let out a soft sigh. She turned to look at Ed and found that he had already assembled a strangely shaped machine.
You have knowledge in this area?
The lich was somewhat shocked as he looked at the mechanical parts whose names he couldn't identify.
"It's at a basic level, much worse than the Graycast Corridor."
Ed shook his head, used an anti-gravity spell to move the machine over, and after confirming the location of the array's core with Willow, placed a reciprocating pedal at the core.
"Come on, let's try it out."
"Good."
Willow flicked her finger, and a Psionic Energy entered the circuit. The entire machine creaked and groaned, and the turntable on top of it quickly began to spin.
"Okay, that's enough."
Ed nodded in satisfaction, attached four sets of blades to the turntable, and then placed it in the position of the cork.
" Muller, I hope you like this gift. I know you can't see it, so feel it."
As he spoke, he pulled out the cork and then started the machine.
"Whoosh!"
The four sets of blades began to spin faster, at a speed that made Willow a little dizzy.
After pulling out the stopper, Willow finally understood what it was for.
This is a slicer!
With the cork removed, Muller instinctively began to spew out flesh and blood.
His plan was simple: first, Alienation into an offensive structure to force back nearby enemies, and then escape as quickly as possible.
Even if what emerged at that time was merely a child equivalent to a four or five-year-old human, it would still possess extraordinary combat power thanks to the Grand Duke's Blood and the abundance of flesh and blood.
That's it!
With that thought in mind, Muller immediately manipulated his flesh and blood to begin growing outwards.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
With a flash of light, a stack of thin slices of meat fell onto the tray Ed had prepared below.
It's just that Blood Corpse are really disgusting; otherwise, if it were a normal animal, he'd be getting a hot pot meal later.
Muller lost a chunk of his flesh almost instantly, but without eyes, he had no idea what had happened.
While experiencing excruciating pain, he could only continue to grow flesh and blood, and was then once again sliced into evenly thick pieces of raw meat.
By this time, Muller finally realized something was wrong, but it was too late.
He used his damaged vocal structure to shout inside the alchemical golem:
"I want to talk!"
Unfortunately, the results were minimal. It was unclear whether Ed hadn't understood or was deliberately ignoring it, but the slicer continued to run.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Muller stopped the splitting and growth of flesh and blood.
He shrank back!
Ed was so exasperated by this constant tendency to retreat into himself that he almost laughed.
Do they really think the golem is their own home?
Seeing that Muller wasn't cooperating, he stepped forward, plugged the cork, and stopped the magic circle. He then quickly replaced the blade on his slicer.
Now it's a meat grinder.