Chapter 135: Madman

"The Mechanical Church was called the 'Eternal Furnace' back then." Reyne's fingertip brushed the sword hilt, where a deliberately worn mark lay. "They have mastered the technique of infusing souls into machines, claiming it can let people transcend life and death." He sneered, "Until we discovered they were using the corpses of fallen knights for experiments."

From afar came the rumble of collapsing buildings; through the smoke, a few stiff-moving shadows could be vaguely seen.

Robin's sword suddenly pointed that way: "Like that thing?"

Everyone followed the blade's tip and saw three humanoid figures clad in knight armor crawling out of the ruins.

Their joints exposed intricate gear mechanisms, and a phosphorescent blue fluid seeped from the helmet seams, while their steps emitted a teeth‑aching metallic scraping sound.

"Flesh and blood puppet," Reyne's sword suddenly burst with dazzling golden light, "A war machine forged from knight remains!"

When that puppet suddenly accelerated toward them, its chest armor still bore a worn Knight Badge.

It had once been a Great Knight.

Robin's Tang Sword clashed with the puppet's metal arm, and the sparks illuminated the interior of its helmet—where a face should have been, only a shrunken brain soaked in fluid remained.

"The Wizard Council allied with us back then, not out of righteousness," Reyne's sword light sliced the second puppet's spine, spraying a foul‑smelling nerve conduit, "They feared the Mechanical Church's invention, the 'Soul Furnace,' which can siphon a wizard's very Magic Power!"

The last puppet suddenly self‑detonated, and flying metal shards carved a bloodstain across Robin's cheek.

As he wiped the blood away, he noticed a metal plate on the ground etched with a twin‑serpent emblem—the Wizard Council's insignia, but its edge bore a ring of gear markings.

"Seems our former allies," Robin said, lifting the metal plate with his sword tip; fresh machine oil still clung to it, "have secretly teamed up again."

Warden Aodomu's voice suddenly echoed from the shadows: "It's not an alliance, it's parasitism." His chains bound a twitching mechanical body, its upper half a wizard, while its lower half merged into spider‑like mechanical legs.

"The Mechanical Church is like a rust disease," Aodomu said as his chains tightened, his bronze mask reflecting a cold light. "Back then we three factions jointly buried it in a steel tomb..." He suddenly hurled the aberration at the wall. "Now it has been resurrected through a traitor of the Wizard Council; the lure of eternal life, in any age, holds a deadly appeal for those decaying old fools."

Reyne's sword tip traced a burning golden line on the ground, and within the flames an ancient relief illusion surfaced. His deep voice seemed to echo across time and space:

"In the first year of the Great Cataclysm, the sky split open with seven wounds." The golden line outlined the falling heavens, "Not meteors, but some living metal. They fell upon the Mechanical Church's holy site—Gear Canyon."

Ailina discovered that her dagger had somehow formed ice crystals, while Robin's Tang Sword surface displayed inscriptions that synchronized with the illusion.

"At first we thought it was a divine weapon," Reyne's sword suddenly pierced the center of the illusion, and the flames instantly turned blood‑red, "until we saw those metals devouring villages. They turn the living into half‑mechanical monsters, just like—" He glanced at the twitching puppet wreckage not far away.

Aodomu's chain suddenly pierced the illusion, revealing a hidden fragment of history: "The first chairman uncovered the truth—those metals were gathering soul energy to open a larger abyssal rift."

The illusion showed the three leaders swearing oaths, but Robin noticed a gear concealed at the base of the chairman's staff: "So you did join forces?"

"Temporary," Reyne replied. His sword blade suddenly sliced the Mechanical Church's banner within the illusion. "When we discovered they were secretly reworking knight corpses, the first commander used his sword—" His sidearm suddenly revealed its true form, a spear whose shaft was made of light, "and pierced the Mechanical Pope's heart."

The ground suddenly trembled, and twelve pillars of light rose toward the distant bell tower. Aodomu's chains quivered violently: "They've revived the Soul Furnace! Keles, that madman!"

Robin's Tang Sword suddenly drew itself three inches from its sheath, its blade reflecting the bell tower's horrific interior—hundreds of floating metal cocoons, each encasing a comatose wizard, their Magic Power being siphoned toward a central gear apparatus.

"So that's it," Robin said, pressing his restless grip, "The Mechanical Church needs wizards as fuel, and the Wizard Council wants to seize the furnace technology."

Soon, Melinda and her group arrived; the matter was too vast to be explained merely as a wizard‑knight conflict.

Melinda stared at the Soul Furnace in the sky, her face shocked.

"This thing really appeared on the remote Kolner Archipelago."

Robin seemed to hear something and looked at Melinda.

Melinda gave no explanation, saying, "We must act quickly; we cannot let the Wizard Council seize the Soul Furnace."

"Ailen, contact the Round Table Council immediately."

Robin was taken aback, having never considered his connection to the Round Table Council, which Melinda also knew.

Robin's pupils suddenly contracted, and his fingers involuntarily tightened around the hilt.

Melinda's words cut like a sharp sword, piercing his deepest secret directly.

"You," Robin's voice was hoarse, "when did you find out?"

A speck of silver light glimmered at Melinda's fingertip, sketching the Round Table Council's sigil in the air—a massive round table crowned in the center, flanked by a staff and a long sword.

"Because I'm also a member of the Round Table Council, if I tell you to notify them, you go!"

She looked up at the forming Soul Furnace, the twelve light pillars already linking into a cage shape, "The Round Table Council has long suspected the Mechanical Church's remnants are hidden here."

Robin produced a communication device—a golden disc.

"Lao Mao, the outskirts of Obedi City have Mechanical Church remnants colluding with the western Wizard Council; we need support!"

After a long pause, the communication disc finally replied.

"Good!"

Robin's transmission just ended when a deafening blast roared from the bell tower direction—twelve light pillars suddenly contracted, forming a blinding torrent of energy that surged skyward.

"There's no time to wait for support!" Melinda shouted, "They've already begun siphoning the wizards' soul energy!"

Aodomu's chains snapped taut, emitting a harsh metallic screech: "Keles, that madman, has no idea he's playing with fire!"

Robin inhaled deeply, his gaze sharp: "Then we charge straight in!"

Before departing, he applied all Global Experience to his swordsmanship, instantly raising it to the fourth tier and boosting damage by forty percent.

That is his greatest trump card now.

(End of Chapter)