Chapter 714 – 714. Savior of the Academy
714. Savior of the academy
Discovering the traces of the raiding party, we moved with enthusiasm. I followed the trail for almost two days without a break. In the process, if he saw a mechanical monster in his way, he did not avoid it, but fought and destroyed it. Even if the battle was difficult, they could not avoid leaving traces of the raiding party.
But after two more days, the enthusiasm faded.
“Ha. I found the trail and moved as fast as I could, but I still can’t see the raid…. How far are you from the alternate raiding party?”
Sarah lamented.
“I feel like something is fundamentally wrong. Is the raid really somewhere down here underground? Maybe the raid party went above ground while we wandered through the underpasses. We have to think of a case where we get mixed up.”
“…….”
Flora crossed her arms and listened to Han So-hee’s opinion. The reason why he does not refute is because Han So-hee’s words are not absurd.
“I scout almost all day with Mocha and I can’t see the end. Is your mother really here?”
I even nailed it.
Flora bit his lip.
“… It certainly might not be here. There’s Rayburn in the assault team… He might have found a clue and climbed to the surface. Still, it’s not a good idea for us to go above ground. We haven’t even explored the underground passage yet.”
“Mr. Flora, do you think you can explore all of these wide underground passages, especially the maze-like twists and turns, in just a few days? I think it’s impossible.”
“Sohee is right. Flora. I know the ground is dangerous. But the situation right now is very frustrating. I’m not going to ask you to leave the underground passage at all. But I think you should at least know how things are going on on earth. We have Eugene and Mocha. You can get information on the ground without having to travel around the ground.”
“… You speak well. To be honest, I think the raid is still underground…. Your opinions and guesses are valid. Great. Let’s go upstairs for a while, scout, and if there’s nothing there, come back downstairs.”
We moved again What was different from before was finding not only the traces of the raiding party but also the entrance to the ground.
The entrance was easy to find. I had to deliberately search for it on the ground, but in the underground passages, there were entrances and exits at certain distances. We decided on an appropriate entrance and walked nervously up the stairs to the ground level. Fighting on the stairs was the worst, so I prayed that the monsters wouldn’t come out.
Sara’s footsteps, which had been leading the climb, stopped abruptly.
“There is an iron gate ahead. But this door… It’s kind of luxurious.”
We also checked the door.
As she said, there was an iron gate in front. In addition to being over 3M in size, sharp patterns are embossed on the surface of the iron door. It exudes a luxurious atmosphere.
It’s different from the buildings in this dungeon I’ve seen so far. The buildings were grand, but lacked these minor details.
‘Is this door special? Or is it the same elsewhere?’
Anyway, the important thing was not the splendor of the door.
Sara put out her hands and pushed the door open. The door opened slowly.
It was a place full of machines. Lights are flashing all over the place, and wires of different circumferences and lengths are gathered in a disgusting way. If it was messy, it was messy, and if it was organized, it was organized.
“Wow. Is human I never thought it would come from the underground. Are you lucky?”
A woman’s voice was heard. It was a rather lively voice.
We looked around for the owner of the voice. Clearly, voices were coming from all directions. However, wherever he looked, the owner of the voice was nowhere to be seen.
“Who are you?”
Sarah asked, her rapier in her hand. She was wary of her invisible enemies.
“I am Makina. Ah, I know your true identity. Flora, Sara, Han Sohee, Seong Yujin. Right?”
Han So-hee moved behind me. We prepared to deploy barriers to see if knowing our names was suspicious.
“Did you say Makina? What is identity? How do you know about us?”
“Flora has a lot of questions. She will answer you one by one. I am Machina, and my true identity is an artificial soul. I know about you because I get information from the machines.”
“I get information from machines… ? I do not get it. If there is information, why not use it? Had I had that information and used it, I could have turned the situation to my advantage!”
“Since I was exiled to the tower in the first place, I have no right to do so, and I have no intention of helping the Machine King.”
“… Tower?”
I remembered a few days ago when I was scouting the ground with Mocha. One of the seven huge buildings in this dungeon was a soaring mechanical tower.
“Did you see the tower, the castle, and the factory when you came here? Factories make machine monsters, and castles are machines’ storages. Here, the tower is where the machines are controlled. But the Machine King, not me, has the control. Now, this is the prison where I am imprisoned. Nothing more, nothing less.”
We looked at each other We didn’t understand all of Makina’s words. But I know that Makina is not hostile. If Machina had been an enemy, she would have attacked straight away.
“Machina. Show up.”
Flora asked proudly.
“I want to too… Now I’m stuck at the top of the tower. If you want to see me, come up to the top of the tower.”
A flashing light guides the way up.
As I was about to move on, Han So-hee grabbed me.
“Everyone. This might be a trap.”
“Sohee. The artificial intelligence called Machina… No, if the artificial spirits were trying to kill us, wouldn’t she have already killed them?”
“Sarah is right. …… Even if Sarah is wrong, you have to go upstairs and confirm Makina’s true identity. Maybe Machina is the real Machine King.”
“Sister Sohee. I think it’s already too late to run away.”
I pointed my hand at the back entrance. The iron door to the basement was silently closed. We are given two options. Either forcefully open the door or go upstairs.
•••
“Kook. Hold on.”
Mocha went up first. It was reconnaissance. I looked around me more carefully than usual.
“Nothing looks dangerous. At least in my eyes.”
We started to climb up cautiously.
“Miss Flora. Makina said she gets information from the machine. That means they know where the raiding party is.”
Sohee Han said. Makina also knew information about us. She should also know almost 100% about the capture team.
“Right. So the first priority is to get raid information. And….”
Flora slurred her words. Because Makina might be listening to our conversation. However, it was not difficult to guess Geun’s backstory.
If Makina seems to be in danger, she gets rid of it.
She said ‘artificial spirits. Is it a created soul? Or artificial intelligence? If it is artificial intelligence, there is a high possibility that hacking will work….’
Iffy. I guess I’ll have to try it to see if it works or not.
Reached the top floor. There were no more stairs going up. Machines are placed here and there, and in the center is a round core encased in glass.
Woo woo woo.
The core glowed blue, and a holographic human appeared on it. She was a woman with dark blue hair and a white dress. Her appearance is quite ugly, but she is a hologram after all. She is untouchable.
“Welcome. This is my body Isn’t it pretty?”
“It is pretty.”
I said grimly.
And Flora stepped forward.
“There must be a reason for calling us here, right?”
“Yes. I want to get out of here Being stuck in a tower is frustrating. You guys help me get out.”
“… What do we believe in helping you?”
“I know what you guys want. Did you say attack squad? Are you looking for humans who are fighting the machine king? I know its exact location. If you help me, I’ll tell you the exact location of the raid. As a bonus, about the Machine King. Isn’t that a huge benefit for you?”
Flora looked back at us once and said to Makina.
“… Great. We know what we want. However, we will have to guarantee our safety.”
“It is not dangerous. I need your help because I have no limbs. And I have no intention of attacking you. Unlike humans, machines do not lie, so you can trust them.”
Makina started pampering all of her girls except for me. I was excluded from the work because I was young and unreliable. What Makina told me to do was to touch the various parts of the tower. There were many cases where they went down to the first floor depending on what they were told to do.
“Sarah! It’s not that wire, it’s the thick wire on the right! Cut that wire! Flora! Don’t forget to press the button! Sohee is doing well!”
I crossed my arms and looked at the hologram. It’s too well made to be called artificial intelligence.
“What are you really like? Artificial soul? Is it possible to artificially create a soul?”
“You seem to be curious about me. To teach you a little, I’m made from the spirit of the Machine King. The Machine King judged that the biggest difference between humans and machines is the soul.”
“Who?”
“The Creator of me and the Machine King. Is it correct to say that he was the last human here? Although the Creator is already dead.”
“You must be a great person since you created an artificial soul.”
“Right. He was a smart guy However, several hundred years after he died, the Machine King decided that I was no longer needed. It was judged that it was less efficient because it had a soul.”
“… The machine king’s soul is you?”
“Artificial intelligence and artificial souls are completely different.”
“Why didn’t the Machine King get rid of you and imprison you here?”
“The Machine King can’t get rid of me. Because the Creator programmed it that way. He couldn’t get rid of it, so he was locked up in this tower. When I go out, I will get my revenge on the Machine King. I will get rid of the Machine King’s artificial intelligence and I will take over his body.”
While talking with me, Makina gave them exact instructions.
And at some point, with a crackling sound, the glass that contained Makina’s core shattered. Energy started flowing out of the core. Sensing an abnormality, the girls gathered at the top.
“Ahhh! The full output coming into this body… ! How long has it been?!”
I stared at Makina’s core, who was delighted with golden eyes.
“Thank you, humans! As promised, I’ll tell you the location of the raid. They’re at the second machine shop! 120 km west of the tower!”
The surrounding machines are ripped off and run into Makina’s core. It is to form a body with mechanical parts.
“Han So-hee! Stop it!”
Flora shouted. I had no intention of leaving Makina free from the beginning. I didn’t hear any information about the Machine King, but since I found out the location of the raid team, it was time to deal with Makina.
A barrier covers Machina’s core. However, the barrier was easily smashed by mechanical parts flying from all sides. Even the beams of light Sarah shot did little damage to her core.
“I get it roughly.”
I chuckled. Inside the core, I saw something familiar. It is a mechanical spirit core.
“Machina. Are you a machine spirit?”
“He is also a spirit sage. Did you figure it out in the end? No, is it because of those eyes? But just because you noticed doesn’t change the situation.”
“You intended to trick us and attack us from the beginning. It is a lie to say that machines do not lie.”
“I am the real machine king. There’s no way I’m leaving the intruders in my country alive. You are late to realize.”
I moved slowly. I knew it the moment I saw Makina’s core. The essence of that is, after all, a machine. And since I’m a machine, it doesn’t work for me.
[Hacking succeeded.]
[Machina can be hacked for 15 seconds.]
“Five seconds. It’s a lot shorter than I thought.”
Thud!
All mechanical parts and pieces of metal that had gathered around the core fell down. The core was floating in the air, but the light was dimmed.
“Uh, uh, what is this?! Why are you my master?! What have you done to me?!”
“We don’t have much time, so let’s make a contract quickly. One condition of the contract. Absolute obedience. Trying to hit me in the back of the head, don’t think about going over well. I will pamper you forever.”
