Chapter 225: Construct Lifeform and Soul Wetware (5K)

Drip.

The instant he heard that faint sound, a surging sense of crisis exploded wildly in Herbert's heart.

He had no time to explain, no time to worry about being exposed, and with all his might he sent a warning to Sophia.

"Run!"

Run!

!!!

Although Sophia didn't understand Herbert's tension, she still acted on reflex in the very first instant.

Her four hooves kicked out hard, and then she leaped into the sky!

And the moment she leaped, Sophia immediately realized something was wrong.

"Not good!"

In her panic she had no time to choose another position, and could only leave the two of them exposed in the construct robot's line of sight.

But at the same time, in the very next instant after they were exposed…

Hiss—

A crimson laser descended soundlessly upon the spot where they had just been, melting a bottomless great hole into the ground.

!!!

"What spell is that!?"

In that instant, Sophia had felt no fluctuation of magic power whatsoever.

But judging from the damage dealt to the ground, if that beam had landed on her body, its power would absolutely have grievously wounded her!

"What on earth…"

There was no time to think. The calm was quickly broken; a heavy rumble came from afar, and the earth trembled with it.

Sophia looked up. The robot, polluted by blood and flesh, had already risen to its feet and was walking slowly toward them.

Its chest's metal shell was entwined by grotesque blood and flesh, and those blood vessels were still writhing ceaselessly, as if possessed of a life of their own.

The mechanical eye inlaid with the magical-energy crystal flickered with a cold, emotionless light, and every step of its heavy body sank the ground a few degrees.

Seeming to realize its own movements were sluggish, the robot did not continue the pursuit, but stood in place and raised its right arm.

A dangerous red glow flickered in the hollow of its arm.

What is that… No, she couldn't keep waiting like this!

Without Herbert needing to give the order, the battle instinct engraved deep in Sophia's soul had already commanded her body to respond.

The muscles of her tall, powerful horse-body tensed, while her human upper body displayed an extremely calm and resolute expression, her eyes locked tightly on the robot ahead.

In an instant she drew her bow and nocked an arrow; a radiant light coiled around the spirit-power arrow as she loosed it toward the construct robot.

The arrow's shaft did not tear the air with a sharp whistle like an ordinary arrow, but crossed space soundlessly and at extreme speed.

Whoosh!

At the same time, what she fired was not a single arrow, but a rapid-fire volley!

And just before the robot's palm spewed a scorching energy beam, Sophia, in that sliver of time, loosed three arrows in succession.

And these three were all aimed at different spots.

The forehead, the chest, and the cannon-port on the arm.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The first spirit-power arrow met the energy beam in midair, erupting into a violent shockwave that exploded with a "boom."

The fierce shockwave churned out, forcing Sophia to retreat two meters despite herself, while the heavy robot stood firm in place.

But it wasn't having an easy time of it either.

The second arrow followed right behind, piercing into the gem on its forehead before the shockwave arrived!

The arrow's speed was so extreme that the robot could only barely tilt its head, with no time to react further; the arrow stabbed into the gem on its forehead that radiated a ghostly blue light.

Hiss.

Immediately after, a crack appeared on the gem, spreading like a shattered spiderweb, bursting apart as it could bear no more.

Crack!

And with this shattering, the robot's body reacted at once, trembling violently, as if its internal systems had suffered a serious impact.

Crack crack crack…

And the truly deadliest was the third arrow, which had not arrived at the same time as the first two, but deliberately lagged half a beat behind.

Its target was the robot's chest — where its energy core lay!

"Die!"

The arrow, carrying an unstoppable momentum, plunged straight into the chest, like the scythe of death, stabbing viciously into the robot's breast.

But in that split instant, something unexpected happened.

The blood and flesh coiled around the robot's chest actually reacted first, taking the initiative before the arrow arrived and intercepting it mid-flight.

A tentacle of muscle-fiber-like flesh shot out, wrapped the arrow, snapped it, and then absorbed it into the body.

"What!?"

Sophia's originally confident expression froze; she stared in disbelief at the blood and flesh that had so easily devoured her spirit-power arrow.

"How could this be?"

How could her soul arrow be devoured so easily!

And as if to confirm Sophia's thought, that blood and flesh seemed to trigger some bizarre chain reaction.

Hum…

A powerful energy rapidly gathered within the robot's body, and then, without warning, exploded with a thunderous roar.

The force of the explosion was tremendous, producing a powerful shockwave that spread outward in all directions, sweeping up the surrounding environment.

Vast clouds of smoke and dust rose into the air, spreading rapidly like a black tidal wave, shrouding everything around them.

Boom!

A tremendous roar rang out, as if some massive, heavy object had slammed violently into the ground.

Sophia stared at the scene before her for a moment, then slowly let out a breath of relief.

"Thank goodness, it's my victory!"

Although that robot's strength was unexpectedly powerful and its attack methods were extremely cunning and bizarre, it was still no match for her!

Heh heh.

Three arrows were all she needed!

The three arrows Sophia fired were not shot randomly without thought; in that instant, she had carefully considered many things.

The first arrow was to cancel out the beam, the second was to draw attention, and the third was the true killing blow.

And now, although the process differed somewhat from what she had imagined, the result had not changed.

It had fallen!

She raised her head proudly amid the smoke and dust, her heroic figure made all the more valiant against the backdrop of her surroundings.

And just as Sophia was about to seek praise from her lord—she heard her master's furious rebuke.

"Bai Chi! What are you standing there dazed for!?"

At this moment, with so much happening all at once, Herbert—who had finally gotten a chance to speak—couldn't help but roar:

"Keep running!"

Damn it!

Don't you understand something as simple as smoke without harm!?

Run?

This time, because of her confidence in her own strength, Sophia did not immediately obey Herbert's instruction; she turned her head and looked at her master in confusion.

Haven't I already won…

The moment Sophia thought this, she saw Herbert lunge toward her.

He slammed her head down hard.

Hiss—

In the next instant, a crimson beam of light grazed past just above her hair and the back of Herbert's hand.

"Khh!"

Herbert let out a grunt, looked at the back of his hand which had melted by a centimeter's thickness, and couldn't help but grin savagely.

Tch.

That was close to costing me a hand here.

But fortunately, he was currently in soul form, so his origin had not been harmed; with a bit of rest, he would recover quickly.

However, Herbert didn't mind, but Sophia could not accept such a thing.

My lord was injured.

My lord… was injured!

"…"

She looked at this scene with intense self-reproach, her heart filled with guilt and anger at her own carelessness.

I failed to protect my master.

Anger and guilt burned fiercely in her heart; her eyes instantly turned crimson as she turned her head and fixed them on the robot that had re-emerged from the smoke and dust.

Although it had suffered grave damage—a large hole had appeared in its chest—it had not lost its combat ability, and slowly climbed back to its feet.

It wanted to launch another attack on Sophia, but when it raised its hand, nothing fired out.

Such a powerful attack was not without limits; it also came at a considerable cost.

It's that robot!

Destroy it!

Obliterate it!!!

An impulse to throw caution to the wind surged up from the bottom of Sophia's heart; she wanted to fight this robot to the death.

Her horse's hooves pawed the ground ceaselessly, and she gripped her weapon tightly—even if it cost her life, she would utterly destroy this enemy that had brought harm to her lord!

Kill it!

"Sophia!"

But just as Sophia's battle lust was surging, Herbert grabbed her forcefully and shouted into her ear: "Don't be reckless! Go!"

Go!?

How can we possibly go now?

"But! You're injured! I…"

Sophia turned her head, unable to control her emotions, her blood-red eyes glaring furiously at Herbert, who was blocking her revenge.

She had completely lost her head now, unable to even tell the situation apart.

No one can stop me from avenging my lord!

Not even my lord!

Sophia had lost her head, but Herbert was perfectly calm; he stared at her and said: "I'm not discussing this with you—this is an order! Go!"

Upon hearing these cold words, Sophia's body trembled, and she immediately came to her senses.

She finally realized what she had just been doing.

"Me?!"

How could I be so negligent?

My lord must be utterly disappointed in me now.

"... Yes!"

Sophiea abandoned checking the robot's status and immediately turned her body, sprinting toward the escape route she had already prepared.

Perhaps due to overwhelming shame, Sophiea ran with all her strength, faster than before.

On her horse, Herbert turned to look back at the massive dust cloud, squinting at the robot barely visible within it.

He had strongly urged Sophiea to leave, partly because victory was impossible.

On the other hand, the robot's condition was deeply abnormal.

Sophiea hadn't noticed, but Herbert had clearly seen one detail.

Just after the robot was severely damaged and tried to pursue, the flesh spreading across its chest suddenly blocked its movement.

Its state was deeply abnormal.

That flesh was strange, as if another will were controlling it.

More like it had been infected by some special contamination, altering its will.

Symbiosis?

No, more like... parasitism?

Just as Herbert thought this, a faint voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"... Help!"

Who is speaking?

"Please—"

It was not a cold mechanical tone, but a cacophony of dozens, even hundreds, of men, women, and children screaming in anguish.

Their cries overlapped, echoing endlessly in Herbert's ears.

Herbert widened his eyes, staring intently at the robot kneeling helplessly in place, his mind racing with thoughts.

Save you?

"Please—"

The voice stirred his inner softness, making him want to weep for their miserable fate.

"..."

Yet for this strange thing before him, Herbert merely frowned, then resolutely turned away his gaze.

He even patted Sophiea and ordered: "Sophiea, run faster."

Something foul is here. Do not linger.

Let's get out of here.

"Yes!"

He glanced back at the dust cloud now far behind him and shook his head slightly.

Herbert did not consider himself heartless; when he had the capacity, he usually helped those who begged for aid.

But this situation clearly did not meet his criteria—he was not in a position to help, and the other side was certainly not innocent.

"Nie Nasha, you heard that voice just now, didn't you?"

【"Yes, I heard it. That soul fluctuation truly came from that construct lifeform."】

Construct lifeform.

In this world, construct lifeforms are a special kind of existence.

They are typically living beings created by combining magic and machinery, with various forms and functions.

From simple stone golems to extremely complex magical creations, all are possible.

Strictly speaking, the Holy Grail bearing the Wine of Forgetting is also a living organism, falling under the category of construct lifeforms.

Creating construct lifeforms usually requires immense magical power and highly specialized knowledge.

Creators must gather specific materials—metals, gems, magical artifacts, and so on.

After assembling these materials, they must still cast specific spells and incantations to grant them life and consciousness.

Such spells and incantations are exceedingly rare, each creator's most prized secret, never lightly shared.

This has kept the price of construct lifeforms perpetually high, making them highly sought-after luxury items.

Under these conditions, some evil entities devised another cheap, quick shortcut.

Using their method, most people could skip the step of implanting a soul, easily creating construct lifeforms.

Or, put more simply—wetware.

"This world has wetware too."

Unlike the world with four peddlers, here wetware does not rely on artificial brains or organic tissues.

Instead, it uses another force—soul.

Artificial souls are rare and hard to obtain, but the souls of sentient beings are everywhere, aren't they?

Why look far away when the answer is right here?

Powerful spellcasters imprison the souls of sentient beings inside special gems, sealing them within construct lifeforms to serve as their souls.

To preserve their intelligence, their consciousness is not fully erased—it is deliberately retained.

These imprisoned souls are forced day after day to obey their master's commands, helplessly watching their own bodies move without any ability to change anything.

Without question, this method was immediately deemed an extremely cruel evil practice by the righteous factions and banned as a forbidden art.

Yet due to the persistent high demand for construct lifeforms, many evil and neutral spellcasters continue secretly producing them.

Even people within the righteous factions would purchase such inexpensive construct lifeforms.

Anyway, I'm not the one who killed them, nor am I the one who extracted their souls, nor am I the one who sealed them inside.

I bought him to help him find release, to prevent them from falling into the hands of those evil people!

Anyway, deceiving oneself is very simple.

There are as many reasons to convince yourself as you could ever want; as long as they can get past that hurdle in their own hearts, it's no problem at all.

And because the tide of the times demanded it, the situation gradually began to shift later on, and people slowly relaxed the restrictions on this kind of soul wetware.

Although it still couldn't be brought out into the open, it was no longer explicitly prohibited.

Now it is silently assumed that all souls used are those of extreme evil, and sealing them within construct lifeforms is also a way of letting them atone for their sins.

This is also one of the reasons Herbert is uncertain whether the other party is innocent.

Sophia's arrow shattered the gem on the robot's forehead — does this mean those pitiful souls have already been freed?

If so, then why would they still need Herbert to rescue them?

And if not… why would Herbert need to save them?

He had no reason to take risks for souls whose allegiance he could not determine.

Besides that, the robot's body also revealed eeriness everywhere.

Although the construct body showed no fluctuation of magical power, it gave Herbert an extremely intense sense of crisis.

"Nie Nasha isn't clear on its method of attack either… is it pure energy?"

That robot showed not the slightest fluctuation of magic before launching its attack.

Compared to magic-side animated constructs, it looked more like a machine that moved purely through mechanical structure.

But the energy it used was also beyond the scope of Herbert's knowledge.

"It can't possibly be a Spark, right…"

In the end, which aspect of development did that destroyed civilization actually focus on?

After seriously considering it, Herbert shook his head; the knowledge he currently had on hand was insufficient to continue supporting his thoughts.

"Wait until I get back to the monastery and ask the Warden for some more relevant materials."

And what Herbert feared most were still those "foul blood and flesh" on the robot's body.

What does it actually mean for the robot?

Where exactly do they come from?

Is it the corruption of some entity? Or a kind of curse?

"…"

Herbert silently pondered; Sophia, who considered herself to have erred, also did not dare make a sound to disturb him, and silently carried him at full speed all the way back toward Elda.

This time they chose a different route, crossing over towering mountain ranges, and did not run into the Heavy Knight wraith again.

The journey there had taken quite a bit of time, but the return trip was several times faster.

Just when they were not far from Elda, Nie Nasha broke the silence and asked:

【"Herbert, you've looked over all three Wreck Occupants — have you decided which one to make a move on?"】

"You ask which one, huh…"

Herbert also came back to his senses, blinked in thought for a moment, and said somewhat helplessly: "Those guys aren't easy to deal with at all."

(End of this chapter)