"This..."
Logan and Magneto quickly came up behind Fenris as well. The moment they saw this Sentinel, so completely different from the nineteenth-generation model, both of them froze where they stood.
Nearly twice the height, this version of the Sentinel had longer limbs and a far more intimidating, terrifying appearance.
There was no question that it possessed every ability the nineteenth-generation Sentinels had displayed, including mimicry, shared ability data, and the rest.
After another round of iteration, it had likely surpassed the previous generation by a wide margin in certain respects.
At a glance alone, the difference in threat level between the two was obvious. They were not even in the same class.
"If this is called a Sentinel robot, then what were the ones you fought before supposed to be?"
Tilting his head up, Logan realized he was not even as tall as this Sentinel's leg. He reached out and lightly touched its body. The icy shell made him shiver instinctively.
"If several thousand of these things showed up at once..."
Just imagining that scene was enough to make a chill crawl down anyone's spine.
"At best, the earlier ones only count as defective products."
Magneto's face had darkened as well. He cautiously stretched out a hand, and when he discovered that he still could not control this Sentinel either, his expression grew even uglier.
"Stop staring. This version should still only be in the testing phase and not in full mass production yet. Otherwise, the ones they sent out to deal with us earlier would not have been those little three-meter-tall toys."
After giving the enormous killing machine one last long look, Fenris turned and continued deeper into the factory.
"Or there's another possibility. This place might just be one of their completely unimportant bases..."
Magneto followed close behind Fenris, cold dread spreading through him as he voiced an even more terrifying possibility.
...
Another stretch of silence followed.
Even Logan, for once, kept his mouth shut.
He clenched his right fist, his three claws sliding out and retracting one by one. The bursts of pain helped cut through the gloom pressing down on his mind.
In that heavy silence, Fenris took the lead and continued forward through the factory with its nearly ten-meter-high ceiling. A short while later, another massive alloy door blocked the path of the three of them.
Seeing that, Magneto casually waved a hand, and the door, weighing nearly a hundred tons, was forcibly yanked open, revealing a bright and spotless hall behind it.
Surrounding the hall was a ring of laboratories of all sizes, but at a glance, the entire place was completely empty.
"No one?"
The empty scene inside made Magneto frown.
How could a base this large not have any people in it?
"They're gathered in the deepest part of the base. There are close to a hundred people down there."
After carefully sensing the life signs around him for a moment, Fenris opened his eyes again.
"They're probably trying to lure us over there, then die with us."
"As expected."
Magneto let out a cold laugh.
This place had felt wrong from the moment they came in. So this was what they had been waiting for.
"So, are we still going?" Logan asked Magneto, though his eyes were on the silent Fenris.
"With Fenris here, what's there to be afraid of?"
After tossing out that line, Magneto strode forward without the slightest hesitation.
The pressure the Sentinels had placed on him was far too great. Weapons like these were devastating to mutants. He absolutely could not allow them to be formally deployed.
"Killing people is easy. Saving them is hard."
Fenris let out a low sigh.
From what he could sense, the combined life force of those nearly one hundred people did not even measure up to Logan alone. If nothing unexpected happened, then this trip might end up being for nothing.
Boom!
Just as Fenris was about to head for the command center, a massive crash suddenly sounded from behind, mixed with heavy footsteps. A sharp sense of danger surged through him.
"Watch out!"
There was no time to think. Fenris grabbed Logan and instantly vanished from where they had been standing.
Screech!
A harsh metallic grinding sound came from the spot the two of them had just occupied. In the spacious laboratory hall, a synchronized sound of layered armor shifting and opening suddenly rang out.
"The Sentinel?"
Fenris snapped his head around. At some point the heavy laboratory doors had shut again, and the base's only newest-model Sentinel had silently lit up its eyes. Its right hand had already transformed into a sharp spear.
Blood dripped from the spear's tip, spattering onto the floor polished so clean it nearly reflected light. The sight was especially jarring.
"Fuck! That thing isn't some half-finished prototype. It can actually move..."
Logan bared his teeth and clutched his lower back, sucking in sharp breaths through his teeth.
At his lower back was a wound sliced open by the spear. It was not especially deep, and under his powerful healing factor, it closed back up within seconds.
"You bastard, I'll tear you apart!"
Getting ambushed by a brainless robot and actually wounded by it filled Logan with fury. He let out a low roar, his two claws snapping out with a metallic hiss as he leaped high into the air and slashed viciously at the Sentinel's knee.
Not far away, the Sentinel's right hand slowly returned to normal. Its cold eyes calmly watched Logan flying at it, then it lifted its right leg high and brought it crashing down.
"Ugh!"
Logan's claws had not even had time to swing before the Sentinel's long leg struck later but landed first, slamming into him with brutal force.
The sudden, overwhelming impact gave Logan no chance to dodge. A giant foot pinned him hard to the floor, and under the violent shock, a mouthful of blood burst from his lips and splattered across the ground.
He flailed both arms helplessly, only to find all struggle was pointless. The Sentinel was too strong. Pinned beneath its foot, Logan could not budge it even by exhausting every ounce of strength in his body.
"Fenris..."
"Help me!"
The Sentinel's foot lifted high again, then came crashing down once more. Logan's mouth was full of blood, his face flushed red, yet all he could do was weakly raise both arms in front of his chest and watch that enormous foot descend.
A thunderous roar suddenly exploded from nearby, reverberating again and again through the laboratory hall.
Bang!
Before the Sentinel's foot could land, a sharp claw smashed violently into its head. A tremendous force erupted outward and poured straight into the Sentinel's body.
Fenris's momentum had not fully dissipated. His claw raked down from above, easily tearing open the Sentinel's tough outer shell and scattering fragments of metal across the floor.
Under the heavy blow, the Sentinel's body was hurled backward and crashed into a laboratory several meters away.
"Logan, that's twice now."
Fenris turned back and looked at Logan, who was struggling to climb to his feet. He bared his teeth in a friendly smile.
"You're welcome."
(End of Chapter)
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