"Scout, where's the next factory location?"
"ACE, focus on your driving—eyes on the road."
"Misery, today's target is the remaining four factories. We're running out of time. I have a special medicine here for Oripathy. If you start coughing up blood, remember to take it."
"Ascalon, did Theresa give you any other instructions when she sent you here?"
"..."
Now that her strength had somewhat returned, though her injuries hadn't fully healed, Kal'tsit seemed to have regained her usual sharp, decisive demeanor, taking over from Scout as she issued one command after another.
ACE and Misery, seated in the driver's seat, didn't even dare glance at each other.
When the boss is in a bad mood, what else can subordinates do but endure it?
"Garde!"
"Hm?"
"Never mind, you should just rest."
Kal'tsit had called out Garde's name almost instinctively, but as soon as she did, she realized that Garde wasn't an employee of Babel—she had no authority over him!
In fact, in the battles ahead, Garde would undoubtedly remain their main combat force.
Without him, even if Misery managed to get Scout, ACE, Ascalon, and herself into the factories, they would still struggle against the two Nightzmora Knights.
If another Nightzmora Knight were to appear in the central control, they would likely face losses unless they were willing to accept casualties.
In the next two battles, Misery brought along both Garde and Ascalon, as well as the older, dashing ACE, a middle-aged ace heavy-armor operator from Babel.
ACE alone could withstand a Nightzmora Knight's assault for several minutes, and with Ascalon—a fighter capable of defeating a Nightzmora Knight in single combat—their offensive capabilities improved significantly.
Garde's efficiency in killing Nightzmora Knights, without resorting to his ascension powers or trading blows, couldn't even compare to what ACE and Ascalon achieved together.
Put another way, if ACE had assisted Ascalon in their previous fight with Garde, while they may not have defeated him, Garde wouldn't have been able to overpower the two of them easily.
However, a slight mishap occurred during the assault on the second factory.
In the control center of the factory, a third Nightzmora Knight appeared.
This one was a humanoid Nightzmora Knight—the same one who had once conversed with Kal'tsit and had even injured Garde.
Seeing the intimidating presence of Garde and the others, this Nightzmora Knight chose to flee rather than engage.
Yes, it ran away.
It abandoned the factory's terminal intelligence, leaving the other two centaur Nightzmora Knights to hold back Garde's team while it sped off into the depths of the hotlands. Its swiftness left everyone stunned.
Garde and ACE each held off one of the centaur Nightzmora Knights, while Misery and Ascalon gave chase, but they eventually lost track of it.
The humanoid Nightzmora Knight possessed a near-human intelligence—or rather, it might have once been a living Nightzmora that had transferred its consciousness into a mechanical body.
Garde, the only one capable of taking down the humanoid Nightzmora Knight in combat, couldn't match the creature's speed—even with his ascension powers.
Nightzmoras originate from the Kuranta race, one of Terra's swiftest. This trait, unchanged despite their mechanized forms, allowed the humanoid Nightzmora Knight to escape.
The first Nightzmora Knight Garde encountered had simply been overconfident. Had that Knight fled immediately, their current situation would have been much worse.
"Sorry," Ascalon said upon her return, a long wound marking her side.
She had managed to catch up to the Nightzmora Knight, but her attacks were insufficient against the creature's tough, machine-enhanced hide, which rivaled Garde's durability.
Even with Misery's support, they couldn't bring it down.
The team had signaled Kal'tsit and the others from the perimeter as soon as they left the control center.
They all piled into the vehicle to give chase, but the Nightzmora Knight was far too fast to catch.
"There's no point in saying more. No one could have anticipated this. We may need to prepare for a difficult battle," Kal'tsit said.
Originally, their plan had been to quickly attack the factories, then assemble the lizardman army to assault the awakened capital of the ancient civilization.
But now, with the surprise element lost, the enemy would be ready.
Still, the seven-person team moved on to the final two factories.
The good news: one was merely ruins, inactive and untouched by the ancient civilization's forces.
The bad news: the other factory had deployed all its mechanical guards and modified soldiers, forming an impenetrable wall around the complex.
The central control core was likely guarded by more than two Nightzmora Knights, and even getting in would require a significant sacrifice.
This time, Garde went in alone.
Misery got him to the control core. Activating his ascension power, Garde charged straight to the terminal and detonated the bomb.
The aftermath was grueling—worse than his subconscious battle with the wyverns in the dream.
His tail was nearly severed by the Nightzmora Knights, and his scales were left in shreds.
Four Nightzmora Knights pursued him, striking at every opportunity.
Without opening his ascension ability immediately, Garde wouldn't have reached the terminal at all.
The swarm of enemies left him with no chance to even throw the bomb; he had to detonate it at close range.
It had only been a day, and his ascension power hadn't fully recovered, which made his injuries all the more severe.
At least, the mission was complete. Now, all they could do was wait, hoping the lizardman army would gather and bring them a much-needed advantage.
However, a day later, they were met not with relief, but with dread.
The true rainy season in the hotlands had arrived.
Amidst a torrential downpour, a Nightzmora Knight clutched his ceremonial helmet and approached a towering metal palace, bowing deeply with each step.
Calling it a "palace" might be misleading; it was more akin to a massive shelter.
Factories lined the perimeter of this refuge, delivering processed materials and releasing mechanical guards.
Within the shelter lay row after row of colossal stone sarcophagi, occupying nearly two-thirds of the space.
The humanoid Nightzmora Knight kept his gaze forward, heading directly to the shelter's deepest chamber, where a complex liquid-filled chamber awaited. Countless metal cables intertwined with a central metallic sphere within the vat.
The Nightzmora Knight didn't speak, but through their shared consciousness, voices echoed from every direction.
"Kal'tsit?"
"A familiar name."
"Is she here to fulfill her promise to me?"
A chuckle rang out in the depths of the underground chamber, blending amusement with a cold indifference.
"Or perhaps… she's come to kill me?"
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