The great gates of the Sky City before them stood tightly shut, exuding a desolate atmosphere. Though lush forests and grasslands surrounded the area, there were no birdsong, no signs of life to be heard or seen.
"Olgis, let's go inside and take a look."
"Okay, Master."
With Olgis's response, Duanmu Huai held her close, activated his jump pack, and leapt high into the air, landing heavily atop the gate.
THUD!!
The power armor collided with the stone gate, producing a deep, resounding impact—but still, the entire city remained deathly silent. Aside from the grass and trees, there seemed to be no trace of life at all. Duanmu Huai deployed his servo-skull scout drone, sending it out to investigate the surroundings—but even the scout returned without detecting a single lifeform.
Is this place really just a dead city? A hollow shell of stone, with everything else long gone?
No way… better keep going and check for myself.
Duanmu Huai and Olgis jumped down to the other side of the gate and followed the overgrown path further into the city. The architecture here was incredibly unique—while most of the buildings appeared to be made of stone, they possessed a kind of geometric elegance reminiscent of technological constructs. Then again, whether the material was even stone at all was hard to say.
"ROAAAARRRR———!!"
But just as Duanmu Huai and Olgis passed along the road and reached a fork, a massive black shadow let out a bestial roar and leapt down from a rooftop, lunging straight at them. Caught off guard, Duanmu Huai quickly raised his warhammer, spun around, and met the enemy head-on. They clashed violently, then rebounded apart.
Only then did Duanmu Huai finally get a good look at the thing that attacked him.
"What the hell is this thing?"
In front of him stood what looked like a humanoid robot made of metal—but its limbs were shaped like savage beast claws, its head resembled a lion's, and it had a long lizard-like tail and hawk-like wings sprouting from its back...
[Demonic Iron War-Lion]
[LV21]
"Damn… whoever designed this thing must've had serious issues in the head…"
Looking at the mechanical monster in front of him, Duanmu Huai genuinely didn't know what to say. The metal lion, however, let out another furious roar and lunged at the two of them with claws bared and fangs flashing.
This time, Duanmu Huai didn't hold back. He dashed forward without hesitation and brought his warhammer crashing down straight into the jaws of the incoming Demonic Iron War-Lion. The heavy hammer smashed the creature's head into a twisted wreck. But even in that ruined state, the metal lion still thrashed wildly, desperately trying to retaliate.
Without giving it the chance, Duanmu Huai followed up with another brutal swing—like he was teeing off in golf—and sent the beast hurtling through the air. With a deafening clang, it slammed into a nearby wall and collapsed into a heap of scrap metal.
"Looks like this city isn't so peaceful after all."
Rather than feeling unsettled, the sudden attack actually put Duanmu Huai at ease. At least now it was clear that the key to clearing this fragment was combat. As for why the servo-skull hadn't detected any life signs—well, the reason was now obvious: the only things left here were autonomous machines.
And in the time that followed, Duanmu Huai's theory was further confirmed. As he and Olgis continued to explore the city's outskirts, they encountered several different types of robotic attackers.
Besides that lion-headed abomination from earlier, there were also humanoid figures resembling knights wielding dual swords and cloaked in capes—[Prototype Mechanical Soldiers]. Alongside them were similar units, only wielding machine guns instead—[Mechanical Soldiers]. These enemies were mostly between level 20 and 30, and thanks to Duanmu Huai's endless horde of summoned puppet soldiers, they were relatively easy to deal with.
Still, the more he fought, the more intrigued he became about the origin of this mysterious city.
So far, it looked like this place once served as a research and production site for some ancient civilization's robot development... But the question remained—what still lay within?
CLANG!!
Another Mechanical Soldier was reduced to scrap under the relentless assault of the puppets, its twisted frame collapsing with a heavy crash. Olgis curiously walked over, reaching out to poke the wreckage on the ground.
"Master, are these puppets too?"
"In a sense, yeah… you could say that."
"But… I didn't see any control threads on them."
That part puzzled Olgis greatly. All puppets in her [Puppet Deck] were controlled through threads, with her at the core. Every time Duanmu Huai summoned a swarm of puppets to the field, each of their threads was ultimately manipulated by Olgis.
So seeing these "puppets" moving without threads at all left her deeply curious.
"They're made using a different method. They don't need threads to function—though their actions are quite limited."
Duanmu Huai gave Olgis a simple explanation, and she nodded, half-understanding.
As they spoke, the two had already passed through the outer area and entered what looked like a street. Buildings with signs lined the sides. Though the writing was incomprehensible, the style and design of the signs made it clear—this must have been a shopping street.
Duanmu Huai curiously wandered into a few of the shops, but there wasn't much inside. It was unclear whether they had always been empty, or if the fragment simply didn't project their contents.
It wasn't until they entered the third shop that Duanmu Huai finally made a worthwhile discovery.
"Oh, now this is pretty interesting."
Looking at the scene before him, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but be intrigued. In front of him was a display table, and sitting atop it were several cute, beautiful girl-shaped puppets. Each had a different appearance, outfit, and hairstyle. Next to them were cards that looked like price tags.
"This civilization is starting to look pretty fascinating."
Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up. Though he couldn't read the text, it was obvious this shop had been for selling robots. These girl-shaped machines were the products, and those tags likely listed their specifications and functions. In hindsight, he should've expected it—this civilization clearly excelled in robot manufacturing.
Olgis seemed quite interested in these robots that resembled her. She curiously reached out, poking one, then examining another. Sometimes she touched herself, then touched one of the dolls again, seemingly comparing their differences.
"All right, let's go, Olgis."
After observing for a while and seeing no further clues, Duanmu Huai signaled to leave.
But just as the two turned to exit the shop, suddenly, a voice called out from behind them.
"Um... may I... ask you to wait a moment?"
Hearing the voice, Duanmu Huai and Olgis turned around—only to see one of the girl robots who had been sitting silently on the display table... now slowly opening her eyes, staring straight at them.
(End of Chapter)