Chapter 1147: 356. Protocol Terminal_2
By the time Noland Lee had retracted the “Sword of Silence” from the pipeline, a crack emitting soul energy came into view.
The gray soul energy gushed out from the crack like a stream, dispersing throughout the network of pipes.
Noland outlined a spell blueprint in his mind and cast “Soul Absorption.”
The surrounding gray energy was drawn invisibly towards him. noveldrama
Suddenly, a gray energy cyclone appeared around Noland, with him at the eye of the cyclone.
The System sent a prompt, indicating that his soul energy reserves were rising rapidly at a rate of 100 points per minute.
...
Noland’s “Soul Absorption” was only 20% complete.
For every 100 points absorbed, 400 points would dissipate…
But that was not the point, as the wasted energy belonged to the Undead Cult; Noland wasn’t bothered.
He looked towards the pipe network nexus outside the High Platform.
The nexus’s energy monitoring device was a bone hand clutching a black heart.
The tighter the bone hand clutched, the more abundant the energy flow inside the pipes.
After Noland began absorbing soul energy, the bone hand slowly began to loosen, and the black heart it was clutching started to turn a vivid red.
One could imagine that when the bone hand fully released and the heart turned completely red, an alarm would be triggered.
Having figured out how the energy monitoring device worked, Noland nodded slightly and placed his hand on the black heart.
“Veil of Different Worlds” spread from his body to the device.
The bone hand closed and once again clutched the black heart tightly.
The red light of the heart disappeared, reverting to a dark appearance.
Noland pulled out the “Sword of Silence” and stabbed into the pipeline, creating a new crack.
Twin streams of soul energy burst forth from both cracks and were completely absorbed by Noland.
The black heart and the bone hand remained still.
“Veil of Different Worlds,” brilliant!
Noland waved his hand, shooting an earthy brown light from the Rock Earth Magic Wand, sealing the cracks in the pipeline.
The soul energy outside the pipeline gradually dissipated, no more energy escaped.
Now was not the best time to absorb massively.
Only after adjusting all the pipe network nexuses with “Veil of Different Worlds” would it be the right time to voraciously absorb soul energy.
Noland waited quietly for a moment.
Five minutes later, Nolin brought some information.
“Sir, including this one in front of you, I have found a total of 35 energy nexuses,” she said while transmitting the magic image she had drawn using mental magic.
Noland glanced at the image showing the marked energy nexuses, and smiled with satisfaction:
“Very good, Nolin, you’ve done well.”
“It’s my duty, sir,” Nolin replied as she maneuvered a Mechanos towards Noland, using its head to point towards a distant location:
“However, there is an energy nexus guarded by the Undead Cult over there. That’s the most crucial energy nexus, likely the energy center of the entire pipeline network.”
Noland said,
“No worries, that’s within my expectations. I’ll handle them. Is there anything else noteworthy?”
“Yes, sir,” Nolin continued, still using the Mechanos to point in the direction of the center:
“Those undead guarding the center seem to be conducting some magic experiment. You might want to go over and see sooner. I seem to have seen their specimens somewhere before.”
“Conducting a magic experiment…” Noland looked puzzled towards the direction Nolin was pointing.
He discussed briefly with the Assassin Angel and assigned Nolin to deploy the “Veil of Different Worlds” on the pipe nexus.
Of course, Nolin did not know the existence of “Veil of Different Worlds.”
Noland merely told her to let the Mechanos stay close to each pipe nexus for at least 10 seconds.
Despite her doubts, Nolin did not ask further questions and began to carry out Noland’s orders diligently.
Noland turned and flew towards the pipe center.
Soon, he saw the undead and specimens mentioned by Nolin.
It was a magic laboratory on the Underground High Platform, characterized by the undead style, filled with an obsession for misery and despair.
The undead responsible for the magic experiment were towering stitched creatures, their bodies covered in sutures leaking dark green fluid.
The Deconstruction revealed these undead were called Stitched Doctors, specializing in limb research and undead modification.
They were burly and barbaric, occasionally spilling rotting fluid on the floor, but that did not affect the specimens.
Because those specimens were a group of metal skeletons, pure metal monstrosities, tough and corrosion-resistant.
Just a group of metal skeletons would not attract Nolin’s attention.
Noland observed closely for a few seconds and noticed something unusual.
These metal skeletons… Why were they wearing clothes?
Not the kind riddled with holes like beggars wear, but a whole set of uniforms with specific implications.
The style of the uniform was odd, as if coils were wrapped around the body to form a fitted garment.
If one had to make a comparison, Noland Lee thought this attire was very similar to a “mummy”, the only difference being that the mummy’s cloth strips were replaced with metal coils.
Just as Noland Lee was about to deploy the Deconstruction Technique to understand the fundamentals, the Assassin Angel said,
“That is the Death Steel Assault Soldier from the Ghost City of the Dead World.”
Noland Lee raised an eyebrow and initiated the Deconstruction Technique.
The results of the Deconstruction matched exactly what the Assassin Angel had described.
…
[Name] Death Steel Assault Soldier
[Type] Death World Technological Product
[Level] Currently unmeasurable
[Status] Awaiting activation
Upon receiving 1000 points of Soul Energy, this target will revive and begin executing commands.
[Features]
1. Death Agreement
This target is protected by the ‘Ghost City of the Dead World’s’ Death Agreement.
It will execute the commands as per the agreement’s content until the agreement’s terminal is destroyed, rebirthing itself with the power of the agreement continuously.
2. Terminal Servant (Inactive)
This target will only obey the commands from a specific agreement terminal.
3. Death Steel Will
Cold, merciless, slaughtering, loyal.
[Skills] Briefly omitted
[Weaknesses]
1. Destroying its soul can delay its revival time
2. Destroying the agreement terminal can paralyze it
3. Using the ‘Great Forge of the Dead World’, it can be completely obliterated
…
While Noland Lee was reading the results of the Deconstruction, the Assassin Angel was also sharing the content she knew by ear, which mostly matched the Deconstruction results.
Did Nolin find the Death Steel Assault Soldier familiar?
It was inevitable.
The Metal Creation Group’s freight fleet was the primary target of robbery by the Ghost City of the Dead World.
Nolin and her predecessor, the Synthetic Human DKP-15, even without having personally witnessed the scene of the Death Steel Assault Soldier in action, were bound to have come across related reports within the group.
What Nolin hadn’t expected, however, was to encounter the Death Steel Soldiers of the Ghost City of the Dead World in the Inner Cosmos.
And there was something even more unexpected.
The Death Steel Assault Soldier currently being manipulated by the Stitched Doctor was not the full extent of the forces sent by the Ghost City of the Dead World into the Inner Cosmos.
Arriving with them was also the ‘agreement terminal’.
“The combat units of the Ghost City of the Dead World are calculated based on the agreement terminal. A D-Class agreement terminal can control 10 Death Steel Assault Soldiers. C-Class controls 100, B-Class controls 1000, and so on,” the Assassin Angel explained,
“The group of Death Steel Assault Soldiers we are seeing now, exactly one hundred of them, indicates that they are controlled by a C-Class agreement terminal. In the Ghost City of the Dead World, such a fleet is typically used for infiltration and reconnaissance missions.”
Noland Lee’s gaze swept over the High Platform, asking,
“What does the agreement terminal look like?”
As soon as Noland Lee spoke, a Stitched Doctor from behind the shadows on the platform came onto the High Platform.
It held a metal skeleton in its hands, which bore an 80% resemblance to the Death Steel Assault Soldier.
This metal skeleton wore a crown on its head, which looked like a black pot filled with knife blades.
The Assassin Angel said,
“That is the agreement terminal controlling this squad of Death Steel Assault Soldiers, a C-Class Death Steel Soldier Commander.”
Thinking it over, Noland Lee asked,
“What do we do now? Should we try to capture that agreement terminal for analysis? Maybe it contains some Order Book.”
Noland Lee raised this question due to an awkward predicament he faced.
To some extent, the Death World’s Death Steel Soldiers, much like the Metal Creation Group’s Synthetic Humans, could not be comprehended by Noland’s Deconstruction Technique in terms of their internal components.
For instance, now, when Noland deconstructed the agreement terminal, he could only obtain its overall Panel Data.
Yet, if he wanted to understand comprehensively the commands it would execute, he needed to specifically deconstruct the ‘agreement files’ within the terminal.
It has to be said, this data isolation mode was quite a fatal flaw for the Deconstruction Technique, an external hack.
The Assassin Angel said,
“Let’s observe here for a while; we still have plenty of time. If I’m not mistaken, this Death Steel Assault Team is most likely here to aid the Undead Cult in opening the Pollution Zone. If we can find an opportunity to annihilate them, it would also delay the opening of the Pollution Zone.”