"Boom!!!!!!!"
A colossal roar, far more muffled and soul-shaking than any previous explosion, suddenly erupted from the direction of the Akademiya!
Its sound waves even temporarily drowned out the shouts of battle and cries of despair in the city, as if some ancient beast had broken free from its shackles!
Whether it was the panicked Sumeru citizens fleeing, the relentlessly advancing undead army, or the desperate survivors resisting, all were involuntarily drawn by this thunderous sound, looking towards its source—
It was a gigantic, bottomless pit that had suddenly appeared in the plaza near the Akademiya!
Immediately after, four enormous mechanical arms, strangely fused from unknown dark purple metal and twisted flesh, suddenly emerged from the edge of the deep pit!
The arms were covered with thick pipelines, runes glowing with ominous energy, and... vein-like structures that seemed to be faintly pulsing!
These four arms supported themselves on the ground, and accompanied by a grating sound of twisting metal and a viscous squelching, a suffocatingly massive shadow slowly rose from the deep pit!
When its full form was finally revealed under the dim, dark sky, everyone who saw it felt a shiver run through their very soul!
That was... The God of True Mechanism?!
But it was not The God of True Mechanism that people knew, which, though massive, still fell within the category of "mechanical construct."
Its body seemed more bloated and twisted; its originally smooth armored shell was covered with grotesque welding marks and abrupt, tumor-like biological tissue masses.
Its energy core emitted a turbid light, a mix of purplish-black and crimson, making anyone who looked at it feel dizzy.
The overall aura it exuded was no longer divine majesty, but a pure, blasphemous evil and madness that defiled life itself!
"The God of True Mechanism?!"
On the distant cliff, the quartet, who were "observing the battle," were also stunned.
"That's not right?"
Jesse scratched his head, his face beneath the mask filled with confusion.
"Isn't Balladeer still in Inazuma playing 'mother-son affection' with Ei? Where did this thing come from? Did Dottore himself get in it?"
"It looks like a forcibly activated defective product."
Zane analyzed calmly, quickly rummaging through a pile of equipment nearby for a magic scroll inscribed with complex observation runes.
"The energy fluctuations are extremely unstable, and the structure is... very wrong."
He activated the scroll, and the runes instantly lit up, but then, the scroll couldn't withstand some invisible, foul energy backlash and "whoosh"—it spontaneously combusted, instantly turning to ash!
"Tsk, the interference is this strong?"
Zane's brows furrowed tightly, and without hesitation, he pulled out another scroll of higher quality, gleaming with the luster of mithril.
"Manifest for me!"
This time, the scroll successfully activated, and magic converged before them, forming a smooth magical water mirror that clearly reflected the image of the terrifying giant god in the distance.
Then, Zane uttered a low command: "Observe The God of True Mechanism's interior!"
The scene in the water mirror suddenly changed, penetrating The God of True Mechanism's thick, twisted outer armor to directly peer into its internal core!
However, the very next second after seeing the internal scene—
"Holy crap!! Dottore, what kind of perverted lunatic are you!! Ugh—!!!"
Elliot only took one glance and felt his stomach churn, a surge of acid rushing up his throat.
He tore off his mask, rushed to the side, and leaned against a rock, vomiting frantically, wishing he could throw up his bile.
"Waaahhhhhh!!! Traveler! What is that thing! It's too terrifying! Too disgusting!!!"
Paimon's little face turned pale with fright, letting out a series of sharp screams, and like a cannonball, she plunged into Lumine's arms, burying her entire face tightly, her small body trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.
"Mmm! Paimon... don't... don't be scared... Ugh..."
Lumine endured the intense nausea constantly rising in her throat, mechanically patting Paimon's back to comfort her, while her own face turned sickly green, and her stomach cramped violently.
The mental pollution brought by that image far surpassed any monster!
"How could... how could..."
Nahida's small body swayed, her emerald eyes filled with unprecedented shock, fear, and a sense of utter desecration.
As the God of wisdom, she could not comprehend or imagine such cruel and malicious acts existing in the world!
Her words caught in her throat, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.
"Matt, go turn to stone over there!"
Zane was also deeply disgusted by the sight, but even more so, filled with towering rage.
He suddenly kicked Matt, who had completely petrified from extreme shock and disgust and almost fell on him, pushed him aside, and enduring the physical discomfort, leaned closer to the water mirror to observe carefully, his face so gloomy it almost dripped with water.
"Dottore, oh Dottore..."
Zane's voice was bone-chillingly cold, carrying a killing intent that almost solidified.
"I still underestimated the extent of your depravity..."
Through the water mirror, they saw the horrifying scene inside The God of True Mechanism's head cockpit (if it could still be called a cockpit)—
There was no precise control panel or energy core at all, but... a gigantic, still faintly pulsing and wriggling, grotesque mass of flesh!
Countless thick, mucus-covered nerve bundles and blood vessels extended from the flesh mass, connecting to the cabin walls.
The surface of the flesh mass constantly churned and bulged like a boiling swamp, occasionally revealing over a dozen twisted, deformed human heads that were letting out silent screams of agony!
These heads seemed to have been forcibly fused together; their expressions were extremely painful, their eyes hollow and streaming blood-tears, and their mouths were stretched open to the point of tearing, yet no sound could escape.
One of the clearest heads, located right in the center, was none other than the former Grand Sage—Azar!
He and the heads of the other sages seemed to have become the biological CPU and energy battery of this evil creation, sustaining The God of True Mechanism's operation in endless torment!
"No! How did the art style suddenly jump from fantasy warfare to Lovecraftian horror?!"
Jesse finally recovered, feeling his SAN points plummet as he looked at the scene.
"Suddenly?"
Zane turned his head with a dark expression, abruptly shifting the water mirror's view to the scene of devastation within Sumeru City—
The undead army advanced relentlessly, swords hacking into flesh and blood;
The streets were littered with incomplete corpses;
Some necromancers were directing lower undead to drag mountains of corpses to the center of the plaza, igniting pale undead flames for concentrated Burning, to prevent plague.
Thick black smoke mixed with the foul stench of Burning flesh and blood rose into the sky; the entire Sumeru City was like a living hell.
"This has already been a dark and despairing style!"
Zane growled.
"But now, this 'God of True Mechanism' is a 'source of pollution' that must be prioritized for elimination!"
He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging anger and nausea, his eyes becoming incredibly sharp.
"Regular undead troops probably won't be efficient against this kind of patchwork monster, and it's too disgusting; we can't let them go."
As he spoke, he once again opened the ebony box containing the Overlord chess pieces.
But his fingers bypassed the skeleton soldier pieces, precisely picking up several pieces that exuded an even more terrifying aura.
"It's time to call in the 'professionals."