## Chapter 717 – 717. Savior Of The Academy
“If we take that thing down, we can get out of the dungeon, right? Not bad.”
Seong Hari powerfully stomped her foot, planting herself firmly. *Thud!* She maintained her balance on the shaking floor and took a javelin-throwing stance. Blue currents flowed through her body. Seong Hari stared at the Machine King, quietly regulating her breathing.
The power Seong Hari revealed overwhelmed the heroes, including me, for a moment. Just from the atmosphere, it was clear she was on a different level.
With a massive shockwave, a lightning spear flew out. It tore through the air with sheer speed, reaching the Machine King’s body in the blink of an eye.
*KWA-AAANG!*
A part of the Machine King’s massive body, which had been walking towards us, shattered and staggered. It didn’t fall, but a portion of its body that was struck by the spear crumbled. It was as powerful as a massive missile strike.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! That auntie is super strong!”
Makina exclaimed excitedly. It was a sight worth being excited about. However, one strike wasn’t enough. The Machine King was so large that the destruction rate was only about 5%.
‘In other words, I just need to do the same attack 19 more times….’
Seong Hari was pretending to be fine, but if you looked closely, you could see her breathing had become rough.
‘Her stats have been lowered by the Spirit King’s curse (SS), and she must be tired from the battles so far. I don’t think she can do that same attack even five times….’
I wasn’t the only one who came to that conclusion. Rayburn approached Seong Hari and said,
“Stop attacking mindlessly. If you become incapacitated, we’re done for.”
“You’re talking like you have a plan? Tell me.”
Seong Hari raised her hand. The spear she had thrown was summoned back. It wasn’t her skill, but a function of the spear itself. The spear was perfectly fine, without any damage.
“Makina said it, the AI is the weak point. The Machine King is a giant moving building. It’s foolish to fight it head-on from the outside. It’s much better to find the AI room from the inside and destroy it.”
“That’s the right idea. But how are we going to get inside?”
“There’s no easy way. We just have to do it somehow. But I’ve figured out the location of the AI room.”
Rayburn showed Seong Hari the screen of his laptop. It displayed a cross-section of the Machine King. He must have been furiously typing on his laptop earlier to create the blueprint.
“Wow. It’s surprisingly accurate. I thought it was the original blueprint. You’re pretty good, huh?”
“If it’s the Machine King’s soul, it would know the structure. There are no mistakes, right?”
“Yeah. The structure is mostly right. But I don’t know the exact location of the AI room.”
“If the structure is right, it’s not hard to predict. It’s either this room, or here, here, or here.”
Red dots appeared on the blueprint. Seong Hari stared intently at the blueprint and nodded.
“I remember. Let’s go. Ah, Yujin, Sohee, and Sara, go to the back. That’s an order.”
She spoke with a fierce tone that didn’t allow for any objections.
“O-okay, I’ll do as you say, Unni.”
“I will protect Yujin-nim even if it costs me my life!”
“Y-yes!”
Even Makina answered with a military-like posture.
Seong Hari began running towards the Machine King with the attack team.
I watched the situation through Moka’s eyes, who was flying in the sky. The center of the attack team was, of course, Seong Hari. Having received Flora’s blessing, which enhanced her physical abilities, she showed why S-ranks were called the ultimate weapons. She was overwhelmingly superior to other A-rank heroes.
The Machine King didn’t just stand still. It launched guided missiles and released mechanical monsters to hinder them. Ethan shot down the missiles with mana arrows, and the other members of the attack team blocked the mechanical monsters. It was clear they were trying to conserve Seong Hari’s strength as much as possible.
Someone tugged at my hair. I turned my head to the side and saw Makina. I narrowed my eyes.
“What are you doing? Why did you materialize?”
Makina was connected to me. She needed my mana to materialize. Higher-level spirits could materialize with their own power, but it wasn’t efficient and was a big loss, so they avoided doing it if possible.
“Huh? It just happened?”
“……Aren’t you tired?”
“I feel a little tired, but it’s okay!”
“…….”
Materializing on her own without any effort. That was a characteristic of a demon spirit.
‘…Is it because I used the demon spirit’s core?’
It was a bit unexpected, but I wasn’t too worried. Makina and I were already bound by a contract. Due to the contract condition of absolute obedience, Makina couldn’t betray me.
Makina, sensing my gaze, dematerialized and whispered into my ear,
“What are you going to do? Are you just going to watch without stepping in? With your power, you could easily take down Deus. You could order it to self-destruct through hacking, or delete the AI.”
“…….”
Hacking was a cheat skill when it came to machines. But it wasn’t without its drawbacks. The cooldown was long, at 3 hours. It could only be used once per battle, so it had to be used carefully. And there was a range. My current hacking level was 20. The range was 4km. Hacking wouldn’t work beyond that distance.
More than that, the more complex and advanced the machine, the shorter the hacking duration. Even when maintaining Makina, 15 seconds was the limit. Considering the size of the Machine King, the hacking duration was likely to be even shorter.
‘The range is fine. The Machine King is constantly approaching this way, so the distance will soon close even if I don’t move.’
The biggest problem was timing, and I wasn’t confident I could make the Machine King self-destruct in just a few seconds. It was better to find a more reliable method than hacking.
‘Makina. You can possess objects, right?’
“…Uh, you know that too?”
Makina’s other ability was possession. She could possess objects and mechanize them. If she possessed a machine like a computer, she could control it. However, it was only possible with objects.
‘You could possess the Machine King’s body and interfere with it, right?’
“It’s a new ability, so I don’t know much about it. It’s called possession, but I think it’s similar to hacking. I’d have to take control of Deus’s AI, but… Deus’s AI is so high-performance that it might be difficult. More than that, Deus is too big. Your mana won’t be able to handle it.”
I had forgotten about the mana issue. Makina was right about everything. Makina was my spirit. She used my mana to use her abilities.
‘Is there no other way? Do I just have to watch until Seong Hari takes down the Machine King?’
There was no 100% certainty in this world. The Machine King might have hidden abilities, and Seong Hari could make a mistake. Or the attack team could hold Seong Hari back. I was too worried about Seong Hari to just stand by and do nothing.
‘……If it’s that.’
I glanced at Han Sohee and Sara. They were too focused on watching the situation to notice anything. I took something out of my inventory.
It was a sticker that I got from a random draw a while ago. A sticker that was slightly different from absolute hypnosis.
[0.3 Scale Sticker].
It had the effect of reducing the size of an object to 0.3 times its original size when attached to it.
[0.3 Scale Sticker
When attached, the sticker reduces the size and weight of an object to 30%. It returns to its original size when the sticker is removed. The sticker is single-use.
Price: 500 points
※Caution
The reduced object is highly likely to not function properly.
Consider the space when removing the sticker.
It does not work on living creatures.]
‘…The Machine King is a building. It wouldn’t be treated as a single object. I can’t reduce the entire size of the castle.’
But the Machine King was a machine. A machine was a collection of precise parts.
‘Makina. There’s a crucial part in the Machine King’s structure, other than the AI.’
“There are a few essential parts. For example, the axis at the center below. Without that, 30% of Deus’s body would be incapacitated.”
‘What does that axis look like?’
“It looks like a giant gear. Its role is to transmit power.”
‘If we get rid of that, we can weaken the Machine King.’
“Impossible. It’s inside, so it’s hard to attack from the outside. If you’re inside Deus, it’s better to find the AI room.”
‘That’s true… no, wait. That lower part. It’s made of a giant plate, right?’
The lower part of the castle, a steel plate with huge legs. It wasn’t made by joining steel plates together, but was made as one whole piece.
“It’s to prevent soil or living things from entering from underground. They completely blocked the gap. But why that?”
‘If that disappears or vanishes, the parts inside will come tumbling out, right? Because the floor will be gone.’
“That’s true. But that’s the strongest part of Deus’s body, you know? It won’t budge with any ordinary attack. Maybe if that auntie throws a spear with the same power as before three times, she might be able to break through?”
I called Moka. Moka was summoned in front of me. I materialized Moka and gave her the 0.3 scale sticker to hold in her claws.
I couldn’t move because Seong Hari was watching, and I was slow. But it was different for Moka. Moka, who could fly freely in the sky, could move more freely than anyone else here.
Makina looked at me and Moka as if she couldn’t understand. I didn’t intend to explain everything to Makina.
“Kkuuuk! Kkuk!”
Moka, who said to trust her, spread her wings and flew into the sky. *Fzzzt fzzzt.* Moka used my mana generously and flew at full speed.
“Yujin! What are you doing?!”
Han Sohee grabbed my arm tightly to prevent me from running away and asked.
“I asked Moka to help. Makina said there was a good way.”
“Makina?”
Han Sohee looked around. Unlike me or Seong Hari, she couldn’t see spirits in their spirit form.
‘If I mention Makina, I can roughly get past the question of how I did it.’
I shared my vision with Moka.
The first thing I saw was Seong Hari. She was approaching the Machine King with unbelievable mobility, creating a foothold in the air with a force field. The attack team was supporting her with all their might.
‘She hasn’t entered the Machine King yet. Perfect.’
As Moka got closer to the Machine King, she flew lower. Flying too high would make her an easy target for the Machine King. The Machine King fired missiles and bullets at Moka as a form of check. Moka dodged them all by performing aerial acrobatics.
‘Moka. You don’t need to go too deep. On the outside… yes, attach the sticker to that part.’
The moment the sticker was attached, the lower plate of the Machine King was reduced to 0.3 times its size. The things that were holding the lower plate in place became meaningless. Even though it had shrunk, the still large lower plate fell to the ground. And a beat later, the internal parts of the Machine King fell out.
The most important parts were firmly fixed, so they were fine, but it was like stripping the flesh and revealing the skin. The Machine King’s legs no longer moved. This had neutralized more than half of the Machine King’s weapons.
“Oh my god! How did you do that?!”
Ignoring Makina’s exclamation, I re-summoned Moka in front of me.
‘The distance is about 3km. Perfect.’
The attack team was flustered by the sudden luck, but they fought hard to not miss the opportunity. It was then. The upper part of the Machine King split open, and a giant hand appeared. It was a hand with thousands of small fingers. The fingers were equipped with all sorts of dangerous weapons, such as cannons, machine guns, blades, and harpoons.
“It’s Deus’s hand! It’s a kind of trump card, but he’s already using it! It seems like Zeus is cornered!”
The attack team didn’t panic. Makina had provided the attack team with all the information about Deus in advance. And Seong Hari had finally entered the Machine King.
The sight that unfolded before her eyes was overwhelming.
Seong Hari advanced, swinging her spear. She freely roamed the air using the force field as a foothold and swung her spear. Every time she swung her spear, thunder rumbled. Lightning followed every movement of the spear. When the lightning flashed, the Machine King’s fingers were destroyed.
The thousands of weapons didn’t stop Seong Hari’s advance at all. Seong Hari was like an avatar of destruction, simply destroying everything as she moved forward.
