Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

The battle against the Bloodforged Automatons continued for several more minutes.

Although their regenerative abilities made them considerably more troublesome than the Specter Automatons, they were still unable to overcome the overwhelming difference in strength between themselves and Shane’s group.

Once Tieria had identified the mechanical cores hidden beneath their biological tissue, the creatures’ greatest advantage had effectively been exposed.

Sandara and Lyra repeatedly targeted their damaged chests, while Sylas moved between them whenever an opportunity appeared, disabling their limbs before they could recover. Jillian’s melodies continuously supported the group, allowing everyone to maintain their strength while resisting the strange mental pressure produced by the facility.

Tundra, meanwhile, had already turned the corridor into a minefield.

Every time one of the Bloodforged Automatons attempted to approach from an unexpected direction, one of his invisible bombs detonated beneath it, disrupting its movements and giving the others an opportunity to strike.

Of course, Max was enjoying himself the most.

His mechanical body allowed him to fight the creatures at close range without worrying about their fangs or claws, while the Voidpiercer Gauntlet allowed him to penetrate their mechanical bodies whenever he found an opening.

Eventually, the last Bloodforged Automaton collapsed.

Its mechanical core had been completely destroyed, and the remaining biological components immediately stopped moving.

The corridor finally became quiet.

Max looked around at the destroyed machines and sighed.

”That was actually pretty fun.”

Tundra glanced at him.

”You call that fun?”

”Of course.”

Max looked down at his mechanical hand.

”At least these things were more interesting than the ones outside.”

Shane shook his head after hearing that...

For now, he looked toward the numerous disabled machines scattered throughout the corridor.

The Specter Automatons had been difficult to detect, while the Bloodforged Automatons possessed biological regeneration that clearly shouldn’t have existed in an ordinary machine.

Both types were completely different from the War Automata outside.

That alone made them valuable.

Soon, the looting process began.

[ Do you want to retrieve the loot? ]

”Yes.”

The first notification appeared after the Specter Automatons had been selected.

[ You have earned 2,500 Experience Points. ]

[ Loots obtained: Ancient Alloy x5, Specter Core x1, Optical Camouflage Device x1, Silent Movement Boots x1, Energy Blade x1, Ancient Energy Cell x2 ]

”An Optical Camouflage Device?”

Tieria’s mechanical eye immediately focused on the newly obtained item information as he pulled it out of his inventory.

”That could be useful.”

Surprisingly, Cloud was aware of that device after scanning it. Even without checking the apocalypse system, it was able to explain what it could do.

[ The Optical Camouflage Device can temporarily reduce the visibility of a mechanical or technological object by manipulating the surrounding light. The version obtained from the Specter Automaton is considerably outdated compared to modern stealth technology, but its underlying principles are different from current systems. ]

Tieria’s interest immediately increased.

”Different?”

[ Yes. It appears to rely on environmental light distortion rather than conventional optical camouflage. Further analysis may allow me to improve its efficiency. ]

Tieria nodded.

”Then it’s worth keeping.”

The loot wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, but the fact that they had obtained technology from an ancient civilization made every item valuable.

He then looked toward the Bloodforged Automatons.

”Now the others.” Tiera muttered.

[ Do you want to retrieve the loot? ]

”Yes.”

[ You have earned 3,500 Experience Points. ]

[ Loots obtained: Ancient Alloy x4, Bloodforged Core x1, Vampiric Blood Sample x2, Regenerative Bio-Tissue x1, Artificial Blood Vessel x2, Blood Essence Crystal x1, Ancient Energy Cell x1 ]

The group immediately became interested.

Max stared at the list.

”Blood Essence Crystal?”

After a quick check... They confirmed that it contains concentrated biological energy derived from the Vampiric characteristics integrated into the Bloodforged Automaton.

Its exact applications are currently unknown, but they could let Cloud analyze it for later.

”Maybe this could potentially be used to create medicine?”

”Or something dangerous,” Travis added.

Minerva nodded.

”That’s also possible.”

Shane examined the loot for a moment.

The items themselves weren’t particularly impressive compared to the treasures they had obtained from powerful monsters and Demon Generals. However, they were still completely new resources, and several of them were directly related to technology that humanity had never encountered before.

The Vampiric Blood Samples were especially interesting.

”Cloud, preserve everything. Don’t use or modify the biological materials until we understand them.”

[ Understood. ]

Tieria looked toward the Ancient Alloy.

”Can I have some of that?”

Shane glanced at him.

”Planning another upgrade?”

”Perhaps.”

Tieria touched the mechanical eye covering his left eye.

”The technology inside this facility is different from everything we’ve encountered so far. If I can study the alloy and compare its properties with our current materials, I might be able to improve some of my equipment.”

Shane nodded.

”Take what you need.”

Tieria smiled.

”Thanks.”

Max immediately raised his hand.

”Then I want the Energy Cells.”

Shane looked at him.

”You don’t even know what they’re compatible with.”

”That’s why I want them.”

Max grinned.

”I’ll figure it out.”

A few people couldn’t help laughing.

Even after everything they had encountered inside the First Citadel, Max was still more excited about unfamiliar technology than the danger surrounding them.

Shane then turned his attention toward the corridor.

The remains of the battle had been cleared through the System, but the enormous passage remained unchanged.

The mysterious figure that had welcomed them when they first entered was nowhere to be seen.

It had simply disappeared and Shane had not forgotten about it.

Neither had Cloud...

”Cloud... Can you try to connect to the First Citadel.”

Cloud remained silent for a moment.

[ I have already attempted to establish a connection. ]

”And?”

[ The facility rejected all external access attempts. ]

”Can you hack it?”

[ Possibly. However, I currently lack sufficient access points. ]

[ The facility appears to possess multiple independent systems, and most of them are isolated from the external network. The energy pulses we detected earlier suggest that the systems communicate through an internal network that does not follow the same architecture used by modern technology. ]

Tieria looked around.

”So even Cloud can’t simply connect to it.”

[ Not yet. ]

Shane didn’t look disappointed. Instead, he became even more interested.

”Then find another way.”

[ I can attempt to infiltrate one of the facility’s internal systems by physically accessing an available terminal or control system. ]

Shane nodded and glanced farther down the corridor.

”We need a better map.”

Travis immediately nodded.

”That’s a problem.”

Everyone understood why. After all, their detection abilities had been extremely useful when exploring ordinary ruins, but the First Citadel was different.

The facility itself was interfering with their senses.

Even Cloud’s external detection capabilities were severely restricted.

[ I can currently map approximately twenty to thirty meters beyond our position using the available sensors. Beyond that range, the facility’s energy interference prevents reliable scanning. ]

Shane frowned.

”Twenty meters isn’t enough...”