“What do you think that thing is supposed to be?” asked Aumo as she and LisiA slowly approached the giant machine that was attacking the city.

 

“It is somewhat shaped like a Cyclops,” replied LisiA, “But it is obviously made of metal, they didn’t even bother trying to make legs for that thing.”

 

The machine was moving via a track made of metal that was not covered in blood despite having crushed so many monsters underneath it. The blood was instead splattered all over the barrier that surrounds it, but looks as if they were floating since the barrier was invisible.

 

“It does make it look a lot more intimidating, if you ask me,” replied Aumo. The machine wouldn’t be moving as fast as it is if it were to move with legs.

 

As the two got closer, they couldn’t help but realize how big the machine was, as it was at least 5 times bigger than the orcs they had hunted the night before.

 

On the head of the machine was a dark circle that was placed exactly where the eye of a cyclops would be, but it was not as big as one would expect which made it look very awkward.

 

“Whoever built this made the eye too small,” said LisiA when she looked at the head of the machine.

 

Suddenly, the machine stopped, and then its eye started glowing red as if it felt insulted by LisiA’s remark.

 

“There’s a lot of energy flowing to that eye! Watch out!” warned Ria all of a sudden.

 

As soon as Ria suddenly warned the two, the two quickly jumped to their left. A ball of energy soon immediately hit where they were both standing.

 

“That doesn’t look like magic! What was that?” exclaimed Aumo.

 

Aumo didn’t feel any mana coming from that ball of energy that was shot at her and LisiA, but a small crater was formed where it hit.

 

“Mana isn’t the only type of energy,” explained Ria, “According to the robots, Mana is actually very rare. If you want an explanation, I will explain later, but all you need to know now is that it is fortunate that that barrier is made of mana.”

 

What Ria had just said sparked Aumo’s curiosity for a moment, but she knew that now wasn’t the time for that.

 

“LisiA! Are you alright?” said Aumo.

 

“I didn’t get hit,” replied LisiA, “But if we don’t move, that thing will hit us.”

 

The machine was already ready for another ball of energy.

 

Aumo and LisiA quickly got up and moved aside just in time before the ball of energy hit where they were standing.

 

“I need to get closer to destroy that barrier,” said Aumo.

 

“It doesn’t seem like it can fire that very quickly,” said LisiA, “We should get closer before it fires again.”

 

“That thing requires 7 seconds for every firing of that weapon. Move closer in that time period,” reported Ria.

 

“Got you!” replied Aumo as she and LisiA moved towards the machine.

 

Planning out their time, they moved aside every 7 seconds to dodge the ball of energy, and quickly got to the barrier.

 

“Now, how do I take down this barrier?” asked Aumo as she put her hand on it.

 

It was a really solid barrier, but was also extremely smooth to the touch as if it was just glass… except it moved when the machine started turning.

 

“Analyze it! Find where the generator of the barrier is,” said Ria, “I will assist you with it.”

 

While Aumo and Ria were trying to find the source of the barrier, LisiA couldn’t exactly help with doing anything. The machine was slowly turning to where Aumo was, but LisiA could only watch until they destroyed the barrier.

 

LisiA was told to be Aumo’s guardian, but after 130 years, so many things have already changed, with Aumo getting a new body and LisiA herself also getting so many changes to her own body. The addition of all those sensors, the removal of the limiters that were placed on her made her realize how confined she was before. 

 

As LisiA was thinking all this, Aumo and Ria successfully broke the barrier, but the machine was already charged up and ready to fire.

 

In that instant, LisiA grabbed Aumo from behind and moved her away from the blast.

 

“Ack,” said Aumo as she suddenly got tugged from behind.

 

“We need to make some distance before the guards fire at the machine,” said LisiA suddenly.

 

They quickly moved away from the machine and then Aumo sent out towards the guards, “Barrier is broken!” 

 

On the wall, Guardon immediately reacted, “You all heard her! Fire!”

 

With all the cannons focused on the machine, the machine soon went down, no longer protected by its barrier.

 

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After the machine went down, the stampede was declared to be over. All the adventurers that were hoping to get some money from the stampede were disappointed that it had ended just like that, but they were told that they could help with cleaning up the corpses.

 

Many of the adventurers took up the offer as helping also meant that they could harvest the cores that were inside the monsters, and there were many high level monsters in the stampede.

 

Aumo and LisiA after the stampede had quickly gone back to the city, and requested that guards to not spread the news that they helped with the mechanical monster that showed up.

 

“The thing is, we don’t actually want the public to know about that machine for now,” said Guardon when the two first got back to the wall, “I and Roboss will first have to figure out what that thing is.”

 

Not telling the public about the machine meant that the two who helped out with taking it down won’t be spread for now too. One could only wonder how long that would last.

 

Afterwards, Aumo and LisiA went back to the inn that they spent the previous night in…

 

Status:

 

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Name: Aumo

Core Level:4

XP: 30/75

Status: Normal

HP: 1944/2100

MP: 1070/1070 

MP Stored: 0

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Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Sight, Mana Sense, Mana Analysis, Levitation, Mana Vibration, Small Fireball, Ice Throw, Air Slash, Body Reinforcement, Body Strengthening

Upgrades: None

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