Into the Creations 714

Chapter 714 – 714. Savior Of The Academy

714. Savior of the Academy

Having found traces of the assault team, we moved with renewed vigor. We followed the trail for almost two days without rest. If we encountered any mechanical monsters along the way, we didn’t avoid them but fought and crushed them. No matter how difficult the battles were, we couldn’t bypass the assault team’s trail.

However, after another two days, our enthusiasm waned.

“Haa. We found the trail and moved as quickly as possible, but we still can’t see the assault team… How far away are we from them?”

Sarah lamented.

“I think something is fundamentally wrong. Is the assault team really somewhere down here in the underground? Maybe while we were wandering around down here, the assault team went up to the surface. We need to consider the possibility that we missed each other.”

“……”

Flora crossed her arms, listening to Han Sohee’s opinion. The fact that she didn’t refute it meant that Han Sohee’s words weren’t baseless.

“I’ve been scouting with Mocha almost all day, and there’s no end in sight. Is Mom really here?”

I drove the wedge in further.

Flora bit her lip.

“…It’s possible she’s not here. Since Rayburn is with the assault team… they might have found some clue and gone up to the surface. But it’s not a good idea for us to go up to the surface. We haven’t even explored the entire underground yet.”

“Do you really think we can explore this vast underground, especially a place that’s twisted like a maze, in just a few days, Flora? I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Sohee is right, Flora. I know the surface is dangerous, but this situation is too frustrating. I’m not saying we should leave the underground entirely, but I think we should at least know what’s happening on the surface. We have Eugene and Mocha. We can get information about the surface without having to wander around up there.”

“…You talk a good game. Honestly, I still think the assault team is underground… but your opinions and guesses are valid. Fine. Let’s go up to the surface briefly, scout around, and if there’s nothing, we’ll come back down.”

We moved again. The difference from before was that we were now looking not only for the assault team’s trail but also for an entrance to the surface.

The entrance was easy to find. While the surface required deliberate searching, in the underground, entrances appeared at regular intervals. We chose a suitable entrance and nervously walked up the stairs leading to the surface. Fighting on the stairs would be the worst, so we prayed that no monsters would appear.

Sarah, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

“There’s an iron door ahead. But this door… it looks kind of luxurious.”

We also checked the door.

As she said, there was an iron door in front of us. It was over 3 meters tall, and the surface of the door had sharp patterns embossed on it. It exuded a luxurious atmosphere.

It was different from the buildings we had seen in this dungeon so far. The buildings were grand, but they didn’t have such minor details.

‘Is this door special? Or are the others the same?’

Anyway, the important thing wasn’t the door’s splendor.

Sarah reached out with both hands and pushed the door. The door slowly opened.

It was a place filled with machines. Lights flickered everywhere, and wires of various thicknesses and lengths were gathered in a disgusting mess. It was chaotic, yet organized.

“Wow. Humans. I didn’t expect you to come from the underground. You guys are lucky?”

A woman’s voice was heard. It was a rather cheerful voice.

We looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. The voice had clearly come from all directions. But no matter where we looked, we couldn’t see the owner of the voice.

“Who are you?”

Sarah asked, holding her rapier in her hand. She was wary of the invisible enemy.

“I’m Machina. Oh, I know who you are. Flora, Sarah, Han Sohee, Sung Eugene. Right?”

Han Sohee moved behind me. Suspicious that she knew our names, she prepared to deploy a barrier.

“Machina, you said? What are you? How do you know about us?”

“Flora asks a lot of questions. I’ll answer them one by one. I’m Machina, and I’m an artificial soul. I know about you because I receive information from the machines.”

“Receive information from the machines…? I don’t understand. If you have information, why don’t you use it? If you had used that information, you could have created a favorable situation!”

“In the first place, I don’t have the authority to do that since I’m exiled in the tower, and I don’t want to help the Machine King.”

“…Tower?”

I remembered when I scouted the surface through Mocha a few days ago. One of the seven giant buildings in this dungeon was a tall mechanical tower.

“Did you see the tower, the castle, and the factory when you came here? The factory makes mechanical monsters, and the castle is a storage for machines. This place, the tower, is where the machines are controlled. But the control is held by the Machine King, not me. Now, this place is a prison that confines me. Nothing more, nothing less.”

We looked at each other. We didn’t fully understand what Machina was saying. But we knew that Machina wasn’t hostile. If Machina were an enemy, she would have attacked us immediately.

“Machina, show yourself.”

Flora demanded confidently.

“I want to, but… I’m trapped at the top of the tower right now. If you want to see me, come up to the top of the tower.”

The lights flickered, guiding us to the path leading upwards.

Just as I was about to move, Han Sohee grabbed me.

“Everyone, this might be a trap.”

“Sohee, if that artificial intelligence… no, artificial soul, Machina, wanted to kill us, wouldn’t she have killed us already?”

“Sarah is right. ……Even if Sarah is wrong, we need to go up and confirm Machina’s identity. Maybe Machina is the real Machine King.”

“Sohee, it seems like it’s too late to run away.”

I pointed to the entrance behind us. The iron door leading to the underground had closed silently. We had two options: force the door open and leave, or go up.

•••

“Squeak. Squeak.”

Mocha went up first. It was a scout. I looked around more carefully than usual.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous. At least, not to my eyes.”

We cautiously started to go up.

“Flora, Machina said she receives information from the machines. That means she knows where the assault team is.”

Han Sohee said. Machina also knew information about us. She would almost certainly know about the assault team as well.

“That’s right. So, the top priority is to get information about the assault team. And…”

Flora trailed off. Machina might be listening to our conversation. But it wasn’t difficult to guess what she was going to say.

If Machina seemed dangerous, we would eliminate her.

‘She said she’s an artificial soul. Is it a created soul? Or an artificial intelligence? If it’s artificial intelligence, there’s a high chance that hacking will work…’

It was ambiguous. We would have to try to see if it worked or not.

We arrived at the top floor. There were no more stairs going up. Machines were scattered everywhere, and in the center was a round core encased in glass.

Whooo-ooo-oong.

The core glowed blue, and a hologram of a human appeared above it. It was a woman with dark blue hair and a white dress. Her appearance was quite attractive, but in the end, she was just a hologram. An existence that couldn’t be touched.

“You’ve come. This is my main body. Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, pretty.”

I said indifferently.

Then Flora stepped forward.

“There must be a reason why you called us here?”

“Yes. I want to get out of here. It’s frustrating to be trapped in the tower. Help me get out.”

“…Why should we trust you and help you?”

“I know what you want. The assault team, was it? You’re looking for the humans fighting the Machine King, right? I know their exact location. If you help me, I’ll tell you the exact location of the assault team. And about the Machine King too. Isn’t that a huge advantage for you?”

Flora looked at us once before speaking to Machina.

“…Okay. You know what we want. But you’ll have to guarantee our safety.”

“It’s not dangerous. The reason I need your help is because I don’t have hands or feet. And I have no intention of attacking you. Unlike humans, machines don’t lie, so you can trust me.”

Machina started to use them, except for me. I was excluded from the work because I was young and not trustworthy. The work Machina ordered was to touch various parts of the tower. Sometimes, we even had to go down to the first floor.

“Sarah! Not that wire, the thick one on the right! Cut that wire! Flora! Don’t forget the button you have to press! Sohee, you’re doing great!”

I crossed my arms and stared at the hologram. It was too well-made to be called artificial intelligence.

“What’s your real identity? An artificial soul? Is it possible to create a soul artificially?”

“You seem curious about me. To tell you a little, I was created from the Machine King’s soul. The Machine King decided that the biggest difference between humans and machines was the soul.”

“Who?”

“Me and the Machine King’s creator. Should I say he was the last human here? The creator is already dead, though.”

“He must have been a great person to create an artificial soul.”

“That’s right. He was a smart person. But a few hundred years after he died, the Machine King decided that I was unnecessary. He decided that having a soul actually reduced efficiency.”

“…But you said you were the Machine King’s soul?”

“Artificial intelligence and artificial souls are completely different.”

“Why didn’t the Machine King eliminate you and just lock you up here?”

“The Machine King can’t eliminate me. The creator programmed it that way. Since he couldn’t eliminate me, he locked me up in this tower. When I get out, I’m going to take revenge on the Machine King. I’ll eliminate the Machine King’s artificial intelligence and take over his body.”

While Machina was talking to me, she was giving precise instructions to the others.

And at some point, with a crackling sound, the glass encasing Machina’s core shattered. Energy began to flow out of the core. Sensing the change, the others gathered at the top.

“Ah, ah! The abundant output flowing into this body…! How long has it been?!”

I stared intently at Machina’s core, which was rejoicing with golden eyes.

“Thank you, humans! As promised, I’ll tell you the location of the assault team. They’re in the second mechanical factory! 120km west of the tower!”

The surrounding machines were torn off and rushed towards Machina’s core. They were forming a body with mechanical parts.

“Han Sohee! Stop her!”

Flora shouted. From the beginning, she had no intention of letting Machina be free. Although we didn’t get information about the Machine King, we had found out the location of the assault team, so it was time to deal with Machina.

A barrier surrounded Machina’s core. But the barrier was easily shattered by the mechanical parts that flew in from all directions. The beam of light that Sarah shot didn’t do any significant damage to the core either.

“I get it now.”

I chuckled. Inside the core, I saw something familiar. A spirit core made of machines.

“Machina, you’re a mechanical spirit, aren’t you?”

“As expected of a spirit user. You finally realized it? Or is it because of those eyes? But even if you realized it, the situation won’t change.”

“You were planning to deceive us and attack us from the beginning. The statement that machines don’t lie was a lie.”

“I am the real Machine King. There’s no way I would let the invaders of my country live. You were too late to realize it.”

I moved leisurely. The moment I saw Machina’s core, I knew. Its essence was ultimately a machine. And as a machine, it was no match for me.

[Hacking successful.]

[Machina can be hacked for 15 seconds.]

“15 seconds isn’t much. It’s shorter than I thought.”

Thud!

The mechanical parts and scraps of metal that had been gathering around the core all fell to the ground. The core was still floating in the air, but its light had weakened.

“Wh-what is this?! Why are you my master?! What did you do to me?!”

“There’s no time, so let’s make a contract quickly. There’s only one condition: absolute obedience. Don’t think you can get away with trying to stab me in the back. I’ll use you forever.”