DEATH ZONE

Sounds of mechanical constructs echoed in the spacious room inside. “Finally some action, let’s kick some ass.” Hamon perked up from the corridor.

Theo laughed. Constructs… “Sorry, Hamon. I will leave you out of that one.” Theo cracked his knuckles. “Gods, I love dismantling constructs.”

Mechanical creatures rushed to him from around the room, some of them humanoid, others cart like bearing saws on the front. It was a spacious room, the size of a basketball court. Theo ran around the walls with the torch in hand. The constructs which tried to punch him suddenly found their arms falling off, followed by failure in their parts. Theo ran as dismantled constructs convulsed on the ground, parts forcing onto the other until they exploded under pressure. He dodged, pushed, and kicked those he could not focus on dismantling with mana techniques. The hardest were the flying drones, which were further away and needed much more mana to reach.

Theo grabbed some flat plate from a broken four-legged larger construct and used it as a shield to cover his front and head. Up ahead on the other side of the room was a throne, with a skeleton sitting on it. Dropped on the throne, Theo recognized what he came for, the earring of detection.

Hamon, by the door, was marveled by the scene. He had seen Theo fighting before and had no doubts the man was good. Theo didn’t even use his blessings for fighting most of the enemies. This scene, however, was another level. It was the concrete representation for the boy that in this world, a one-man army was real.

There were rolling constructs approaching from behind, exploding when they hit a target. Theo used the other constructs as cover. The drones were converging on him, some shooting from afar and others straight up banging on his shield to try to knock him down. All that was, however, too late. Theo jumped over, reaching the earring and cutting the mana connection it had with the constructs.

All of them slumped over at the same time as Hamon became stupefied from afar. “Got it, Hamon!” Theo waved the earring and motioned for Hamon to come over.

“How did you do that?” Hamon ran over-excited. “That’s like, awesome! Totally OP! We could just rule the town by ourselves like that.”

“Chill, young grasshopper.” Theo made a sage face with closed eyes, “from great OPness comes great responsibility,” but soon opened one of them. “Also, that only works on constructs.” He scratched the back of his head to a disappointed Hamon. “Remember about magical resistance? Constructs have as much of that as a rock. I can get into them and move parts around.”

Theo put the earring on his left ear as Hamon asked. “That’s the treasure? What does it do?”

“It lets me tap into the web of consciousness.” Theo tapped the earring twice. “Pretty much a staple sensor for construct making. It’s part of their targeting system.”

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“Huh...” Hamon asked.

“It lets us feel people coming closer. But more importantly...” Theo threw the skeleton aside and sat down on the throne. “It gives us the power to act like a smart ass and say things like ‘I’ve been expecting you’ while turning around.”

“I see…” Hamon was not sure of how to react.

“Anyway.” Theo stood up and started inspecting the constructs. Damn, he made their brains auto-fry upon death. “Help me collect the crystals inside the constructs. The rest is pretty much useless for us.”

“Can’t we sell it? Or trade with someone? I’ve heard there are some imp shops in towns.” Hamon played around with some gears.

“Sure, if you feel like carrying it.” Theo picked up another crystal. “Who told you about those shops?”

“I overheard some people talking,” Hamon answered with a lower voice than before.

“Hmmm… I see.” Theo thought about their time at that village but didn’t remember anything special.

“Damn, what a bunch of cheapskates.” Hamon kicked a construct. “They give no experience.”

“You know, before being experience, it’s called life force, right?” Theo turned to look at him.

“So what?” Hamon started dismantling another construct, looking for crystals.

“It’s a construct. It has no life… yet.” Theo left the last part mostly unsaid as Hamon harrumphed but continued to work.

It took longer to scavenge the crystals than to finish the actual fight. Theo was dismantling a construct close to the exit. Why is the last room so straight forward?

He looked back to watch the whole room. Nothing seemed amiss. Stone walls and pillars. Empty wooden shelves where there were drones. Theo started inspecting every part with mana finding nothing everywhere besides… The throne.

Inside it, he found a complicated trap. It was seamless, and there was nothing on the surface of the throne pointing to it ever existing. The whole throne didn’t even make different sounds. From the crystals inside, Theo presumed it was set for self-destruct and as he was no expert in disarming traps. At first glance, this seemed above his pay-grade. Whoever made this, however, wanted to go beyond normal mechanisms and started incorporating mana inside the trap. That I can work with.

Using his knowledge about mana, Theo was able to navigate through the trap in a few hours. Hamon was impatient already, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t hurry and risk it. After disarming everything came the problem of opening it. Theo did so with utmost care at the beginning, trying to pierce the throne with his sword, but had to change his approach, applying more and more force as time passed. The stone that made out the throne was probably different from those all around.

At some point, he asked Hamon for help. The boy’s first hit made his heart jump to his throat. When even that only managed to make a crack, they went all out. Another hour later, they managed to create enough cracks around the throne that it broke up like an easter egg. After fumbling around, saving the crystals and removing useless parts, he took his prize.

Theo laughed. You were too careless Santiago, the real reward was left behind. The earring was probably just part of the construct’s trap. In his hands was a blackish-purple baton. It wasn’t much longer than a sword’s handle. On its surface, there was an engraved word—Autonomous Bridge. Theo recognized the writing in the language of the Manari, the previous human-like civilization which governed this world. People speculated that they suddenly disappeared hundreds of years before the first humans arrived in the ‘Kingdoms Depth.’ In various parts of the world, they discovered engravings and artifacts of their history, language, and power. Many studied those clues, believing there was some bigger mystery to unravel about them. Some succeeded in getting an achievement, but nothing conclusive was found out in the end.