Chapter 162: Equipment

Liba's face turned sour; using the force of Robin's two‑handed push, she seized the chance to leap onto the clock tower, pulled aside her skirt and revealed the explosive crystal hidden in her garter.

This is also considered the most practical alchemical product the Mechanical Church brought to this world.

Although its power is immense, the difficulty of forging it is extremely high, and each one costs over a thousand Gold Coins.

Ordinary people cannot afford it.

Liba sprinted across the rooftop, leapt abruptly, performed a perfect backflip in the air, and then landed on the rooftop across the street.

She also took the opportunity to embed the crystal into a mechanical sentinel's joint.

She understood Robin's intention; since Duke Huo Ke wanted to frame the Wilke family with the massacre charge, they turned the "out‑of‑control mechanical sentinel" into an "evil thing purified by the Order Knight."

These mechanical monsters have always been portrayed as evil beings by the Kingdom Church's propaganda.

The moment the blue flame engulfed the sentinel, she saw Robin standing in the firelight, his golden emblem and the Wilke family crest shining together on his chest, like a replacement of the old and new order.

Wielding the Sword of Condemnation, just two swings sliced a mechanical sentinel down to a human‑sized stick.

This also gave Liba a clear view of Robin's strength; it is certainly beyond what an ordinary Legendary Knight can achieve.

The single combat power of such a mechanical sentinel rivals that of a Great Knight at his peak; when a dozen act together, even an ordinary Legendary Knight can only flee in panic.

"Run toward the Wilke manor!" Robin broke through the encirclement, grabbed her wrist and merged into the fleeing crowd, "Duke Huo Ke wants the mechanical sentinels to sow chaos in Wangdu, but I will make everyone see the Wilke family members fighting to destroy these evil things."

He suddenly halted; in the alley ahead, Viscount Weierke was being carried by two men in black toward the sentinel, his body stained with blood.

Liba's explosive crystal burned hot in her palm; watching Robin's sudden cold grin, she finally read the chill in his eyes—since it's a double trap, let the true hunter be exposed at the prey's muzzle.

When the first sentinel turned toward the viscount, Robin's Order Chain had already pierced the black‑clad man's throat, and his expression combined the anger of an heir with the coldness of a judge.

"Father, you have known the mine's secret for a long time, haven't you?" He caught the viscount's limp body and smelled the faint bitter‑almond scent on him—the odor of an anti‑demon elixir.

Viscount Weierke, trembling, tore off his collar, revealing a black spot on his chest: "My child, run quickly; I may not be saved." Before he could finish, Robin seized him and threw him behind his back.

"Father, you will be fine; let's go to the church." After saying that, Robin smashed through a civilian house wall, heading toward the Kingdom Church.

In the distance, the Royal Guard's horns sounded.

The moment Robin shattered the house wall, the clatter of flying debris mingled with Liba's gasp.

He carried the viscount into the narrow alley, his boots crushing the pooled moonlight, reflecting the red glow of the pursuing mechanical sentinels behind him.

The viscount's head drooped weakly onto his shoulder, a blood‑foamed whisper spilling from his throat: "Don't go to the church. There—" before he was abruptly seized by violent convulsions.

Liba raised the explosive crystal, but then saw the pursuers suddenly halt at the alley entrance.

The red lights of the remaining seven mechanical sentinels simultaneously turned skyward; the Wilke family crests on their chests began to melt, revealing beneath them Duke Huo Ke's iris‑flower sigil.

"Oh no!" she shouted, kicking aside the wooden barrel at her feet, just in time to see the sentinels' reassembled arms—clearly fashioned as the Eastland pirates' chainsaw cannons—"They're shifting the massacre charge onto the pirate leader!"

When Robin's Order Chain, like a golden Giant Python, crushed the fifth mechanical sentinel, the onlooking civilians erupted in cheers as loud as a mountain‑to‑sea roar.

He knelt on one knee, bracing the Sword of Condemnation, letting gear fragments and oil rain splash over his body; the Wilke family crest and the Order Emblem on his chest glowed together in the firelight. This was his deliberately crafted "hero saves the people" tableau; when the first sentinel turned toward the civilians, he knew Duke Huo Ke intended to use the massacre to cement the Wilke family's charge of "controlling evil things."

"Look! The Wilke brat is killing sentinels!" a drunk man roared, brandishing his wine jug, "Those iron lumps on their chests are engraved with his family's crest!"

Someone in the crowd suddenly fell to the ground, pointing at Robin's blood‑stained shirt: "He's wounded! The crest is glowing!"

The murmurs spread like a plague, and Robin heard Liba's shout from within the crowd: "The mechanical sentinels have been corrupted by evil forces! The Order Knight is purifying them!"

At that moment, the remaining seven sentinels collectively turned toward the harbor, their reassembled chainsaw cannons spouting the Eastland pirates' signature indigo flame.

Robin stared at the iris‑flower sigil revealed beneath the melted crests on the sentinels' chests, a cold sneer forming in his mind; the mastermind behind the operation, seeing the plan fail, was indeed eager to divert attention.

"They're after the West District granary!" Liba tugged him toward the alley, knowing a shortcut that could quickly reach the church.

The West District granary stores over sixty percent of the capital's food; if it were burned, it would inevitably cause massive chaos in the capital.

A earth‑shaking explosion roared from the direction of the warehouse district.

Robin leapt onto the clock tower and saw a group of men in black tightly following the other side of the mechanical sentinels.

These people must be the operators of the mechanical sentinels.

"They want to fabricate the illusion of 'pirates using mechanical sentinels to attack the capital'." Liba followed his gaze, then suddenly seized his wrist, "These mechanical sentinels are of very high rank; if they self‑detonate—"

Her words were drowned out by the guards' screams from the warehouse district, as the seven mechanical constructs began to interlock, ultimately forming a thirty‑zhang‑tall mechanical sea monster, its chainsaw cannon aimed at the grain‑filled granary.

The system reported that Guardian Barong had already arrived; the old man's signature Order Power was enveloping the entire city in a stellar‑trajectory aura.

Robin suddenly turned, thrust the viscount into Liba's arms, and the Sword of Condemnation traced a golden arc in his palm: "Take my father to the church for me!"

"Are you mad? That thing is thirty zhàng tall!" Liba's scream was swallowed by the mechanical sea monster's roar.

Robin, however, flashed a heart‑pounding grin, tore open his collar, letting the Wilke crest shine with the Order Emblem under the moonlight; with a tip of his toe he leapt onto the collapsed skyscraper, and at that moment the harbor's spotlight swept over him, casting the lone hero's silhouette onto the mechanical monster's crimson eyes.

"Look! Isn't that the newly‑ennobled baron the kingdom just granted?" a guard's sword slipped from his hand, striking the stone slab with a crisp clang.

Someone in the crowd suddenly knelt: "He's drawing the monster away! Like the legendary dragon‑slayer!"

Robin stood sword‑in‑hand at the clock tower's apex; as the thirty‑zhang‑tall mechanical sea monster raised its chainsaw cannon, he saw Barong standing before the Royal Guard formation.

(End of Chapter)