Chapter 638 — Mechanical Weapon

"How is it? Can you go through their memories and see what their plan is?"

Standing beside Alpha, Liora couldn’t help but look at her controlling the Mechanical beings and ask.

Alpha was in no rush to respond.

She waited for several seconds, utilizing her connection with the Mechanical Emperors, going as far as to assimilate them in an effort to peer at the memories.

When she was finally finished, she nodded somewhat hesitantly before shaking her head.

"It is somewhat complicated.", she prefaced her words.

"These people’s memories appear to have been sealed by an external force. Although I can try to break the seal due to my status, doing so will surely alarm the mastermind behind the scenes."

"At most, I can search through some not-so-important information without activating the methods left behind."

A trace of disappointment flashed in Liora’s eyes.

However, she quickly recovered. Such a thing was to be expected.

If anything, she would have to doubt whether it was a conspiracy had the Mechanical Race possessed no method to defend themselves against soul searching.

What she was betting was that Alpha’s status as the "Mechanical Leader" could help her bypass these restrictions.

Unfortunately, it now seemed impossible.

Liora quickly cheered up.

"It doesn’t matter. You’re right. We should refrain from alerting the mastermind."

"Let these Mechanical Emperors continue their tasks as usual. As for us..."

She briefly paused.

"Have you located the entrance to the second floor?"

They had been searching through the dark void for a method to advance to the next floor for quite a while.

Even though it was obvious they were getting closer, evidenced by how they had been attacked, locating the real transit point would waste a lot of their time.

If they knew its exact location, things would become much easier.

Under her instructions, Alpha began sifting through the memories she had just obtained, working to digest them.

Half a minute later, her face broke into a smile.

"Found it!", she said, though her smile was soon replaced by a frown.

"But there seems to be an issue...", her voice lingered.

--

It didn’t take long for Liora to find out where Alpha’s worries stemmed from.

With the location of the entrance known and given her current strength, it didn’t take long for her to arrive at her destination.

Once there, she understood the reason for her concern.

The road to the second floor... had been blocked.

Not by people or the Mechanical Emperors, but by an enormous machine.

It was truly the first time Liora had seen something like this. Even she, having traveled to so many worlds, was somewhat surprised, much less the natives of this world.

The machine was a giant sphere.

Made from metal, ores, and woven through streams of information, it floated a few feet above the air, constantly revolving like a bouncing ball.

It didn’t seem particularly threatening at first glance.

At the very least, it didn’t radiate the kind of aura that would make people instinctively fear it.

Yet that impression couldn’t have been more misleading. And Liora quickly understood that.

Only moments after her arrival, a second Emperor arrived at the clearing.

He belonged to the demon race.

Judging from his constantly darting eyes, it was obvious he had also been searching for the entrance to the second floor.

Seeing the spatial passage behind the sphere, his eyes immediately lit up.

Despite this, he did not do anything reckless. He observed the mechanical sphere with caution before waving his hand.

Instantly, a second demon landed beside him.

It looked exactly the same as him.

Clone technique! Liora realized immediately.

She didn’t try to stop the demon, but continued observing while maintaining the concealment layer around her.

Therefore, she soon watched as the demon controlled his clone to carefully approach the sphere.

Just when it was a few kilometers away, and the demon breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly confirming there was no danger, something suddenly changed.

The sound of gears turning echoed.

Then...

Silence.

There was no attack, nor did any overwhelming aura erupt.

Under the demon’s astonished eyes, his clone rapidly faded away.

Within a mere moment, it had disappeared.

His shock did not stop there.

Soon, he felt an overwhelming force being born inside of him.

Terror flashed across his eyes. It was as though something was awakening from deep inside of him.

He wanted to struggle, to suppress that force before it could hurt him, but he found that he couldn’t.

Just like his clone, his body rapidly faded away.

His skin, bones, and flesh disappeared.

Soon, every trace of his existence had been erased. No trace of him having ever been here remained.

Such a sight was shocking.

Even Liora was surprised as she watched it happen.

Although her experiences far surpassed ordinary people, she was still caught off guard.

She could clearly see where the force that had wiped out the opponents came from.

It was the mechanical sphere floating not far away.

From her point of view, the sphere revolved and a stream of information fired out, landing on the clone and then tracing the connection between it and its real body.

Then, the entire existence of both was overwritten, resulting in their death.

Such methods were terrifying.

Even Liora would find it difficult to kill a Rank 10 Emperor in a single strike, much less do it through the connection between them and their clone.

After all, Emperors had countless means at their disposal. Being able to revive was relatively easy for them.

The fact that the demon couldn’t meant that the stream of information did not merely target him physically, but had erased the information that defined his existence.

Liora narrowed her eyes.

She looked at the mechanical sphere, her gaze thoughtful.

"It’s no wonder that the Mechanical Race felt no need to station any Emperors at this place. This machine is more than enough to block the way of any ambitious people."

"Even Rank 11 Awakeners would struggle to defend against it. Unless they found a way to fight against that inexplicable force, they would suffer greatly."

It was the first time that Liora recalled another major advantage that the Mechanical Race held: they could use means beyond Rank 10.

Unlike most weapons, which needed the practitioner to be powerful enough in order to wield them, technological products had few such requirements.

The mechanical sphere in front of her was clear evidence of this.

Liora didn’t believe it was a "Rank 10" weapon. Most likely, it had surpassed that stage.

"Other races should also possess such means. But compared to the Mechanical Race, a race that was born because of technology, they are far behind.", Liora shook her head.

Organizing her thoughts, she shifted her focus back to reality. She observed the mechanical sphere for several seconds.

Even with her strength, she would have to go through certain trouble in order to get through it.

Her life would not be in any danger. However, it was highly likely that she would attract the attention of its controller.

Fortunately, Liora had no such need. As her mind stirred, a golden light appeared in her hand.