Chapter 615: Ex Machina (2)
Pandemonium. I’d thought I might one day encounter that name without borrowing another identity, but I never expected to find a trace of it at this moment.
And not just any trace — it was the Eight-Armed Four-Eyed Idol, the very symbol of the Doctor, hailed as Pandemonium’s most brilliant researcher and technologist.
Could I easily forget the time of the interim settlement, when Old World artifacts and data were appraised, and appropriate compensation given?
‘Of all people, the Doctor… It can’t be a coincidence.’
Among the countless organizations Lennok knew, Pandemonium was the one that most freely handled and utilized Old World artifacts and knowledge.
At its core was the Doctor’s ability to analyze and collect Old World artifacts, transforming them into usable forms.
As far as Lennok knew, the Clown was also a brilliant researcher, possessing knowledge comparable to the Doctor’s.
However, the Clown’s thirst for knowledge and research ability were of a grotesque kind, specialized not in Old World artifacts, but in toying with humans like playthings.
That’s why a shadow agent’s thought circuit.
For Lennok, dismissing the discovery of the Doctor’s trace within it as mere coincidence was difficult to accept.
It was likely that the existence and construction of this thought circuit had also borrowed from Old World knowledge or the Doctor’s power.
‘I hadn’t planned to act today…’
For now, he had intended to endure the schemes creeping into his workshop while meticulously investigating the mastermind, but if Pandemonium was involved, that changed everything.
Lennok, who had connected a communication device to the thought circuit, calmly spoke to the shadow leader.
“Do you know who completely modified your body?”
“…All agents of the Sidesquad are sworn to secrecy, with part of their memories erased before undergoing body modification.”
The leader grudgingly replied.
“We merely move for the order of machines and the discipline of steel. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“You’re saying you don’t know in a very roundabout way.”
Lennok nodded indifferently.
“Well, fine. If it were someone I knew, they wouldn’t have left crucial information here in the first place.”
“…”
“If I upload your thought circuit to the public network, it wouldn’t be strange for your consciousness to be torn to shreds by all sorts of dummy data. It would be quite amusing to watch.”
The skill with which he expertly disassembled the modified body he’d never seen before, preserving only the thought-processing component and leaving just the ‘mouth’ attached.
Perhaps sensing that Lennok’s words were no idle threat, the light within the thought circuit flickered uneasily.
“I’ll ask just once. Who moved you to kidnap me from this workshop?”
It didn’t take long for the leader to speak.
“Langmuir. That committee member ordered you kidnapped and brought to him.”
“…”
Langmuir. Realizing the significance of the name, Lennok gave a wry smile.
The Ex Machina committee member who had allowed Lennok to participate in the Selection Ceremony was now the first to covet Lennok’s abilities and take action.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand the thought, but to use such an extreme and violent method in just a few days…
Lennok, gazing intently at the thought circuit, rose from his seat and asked.
“Alright. Where is Committee Member Langmuir now?”
“Machina’s central district, the affluent quarter. But without a Beta-grade Ticket, you won’t even be able to enter the streets of that quarter.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lennok said, pulling out a mechanical chip from among the leader’s completely disassembled body parts.
“The Tickets you were using are scattered all over the place here.”
“Nonsense. How could another human possibly use a Ticket customized to individual biometric data…!!”
“Update complete.”
Click!!
As Lennok effortlessly swapped out the Ticket attached to his artificial skin, the leader’s voice from the speaker cut off abruptly.
Lennok, stroking his wrist covered in artificial skin to check for abnormalities, asked again.
“What’s the number and scale of the security forces guarding the mansion?”
“…The security scale changes in real-time, and security codes fluctuate, so it’s difficult to explain in words.”
The leader replied in a tone of despair.
“Unless you see it for yourself…”
“Good.”
Lennok, having responded, immediately rose to his feet.
The moment the massive crow robot spread its wings, stirring up a strong gust of wind,
Clang!!
The workshop ceiling opened wide, fully revealing the night sky.
“Let’s leave right now.”
“Beta-grade Ticket approved. Entering Cordolado District.”
An guidance voice echoed between massive mechanical barriers, and the steel wall blocking hundreds of meters of sky slightly opened.
Whoosh!!
Through the gap, a black monstrous bird-like form emerged, flapping its wings. Lennok hung from the back of the Night Raven as it furiously flapped its wings and ascended.
Lennok, looking down at the residential area spread out dozens of meters below, lifted the thought circuit.
“Which way is Langmuir’s mansion?”
“…Before that, I have one question.”
The leader asked Lennok, with a contemplative air.
“You could have undoubtedly prevented me from noticing the anomaly in the communication network.”
“…”
“I thought I had belatedly noticed that Brett’s voice was fake, but looking back, even that tremor was intentional… What was the reason?”
The leader’s voice, coming through the speaker, turned rigid.
“What are you aiming for, entering this city?”
Instead of answering, Lennok gazed intently at the Night Raven, which was carrying them through the sky.
“This city’s sky is relatively easy. Flight is possible just by slightly assisting lift, without grand technologies or arcane formulas.”
“…”
“Even living on a single continent, in a single world, the environment and conditions are so different. I wouldn’t have known this fact without directly visiting the Machine City.”
Saying so, Lennok held the microphone connected to the leader’s thought circuit and smiled.
“I believe that experience and logic not gained through direct trial and error ultimately cannot hold great meaning.”
“What on earth do you mean…”
Rip!!
Lennok didn’t wait for an answer and pulled out the microphone connected to the thought circuit.
Immediately after the sole device that converted external sounds into signals and input them into the thought circuit was gone.
A grumbling sound was heard from inside the Night Raven, which had been silently flying through the sky.
“Honestly, Master is far too kind to organic beings.”
Inside the monstrous bird, which had turned its crow-like head, gleamed the bright blue magic of a Cybernetic Spirit.
The Night Raven, which had dealt with the shadows, was not a robot moving entirely under Lennok’s control.
It was a new combat-purpose controller created to allow Davi, the Cybernetic Spirit, to use her abilities in Machina.
The Night Raven’s apparent spatial leaps to attack the shadows were entirely a product of Lennok’s space magic.
Lennok had completely entrusted Davi with the Night Raven’s operational authority, lending her the necessary magic or arcane formulas at her request.
“Why do you tell such things to organic beings who wouldn’t understand your advice anyway?”
Davi subtly turned her gaze and spoke to Lennok.
“If they could understand such words, they wouldn’t have completely modified their own bodies in the first place.”
“I’m not saying this to give advice.”
Lennok replied with a smile.
“It’s a form of self-suggestion, to persuade and remind myself.”
“…”
“And there’s no guarantee that full body modification is the only answer. Mechanical ascension, abandoning the human body, must also have borne fruit somewhere.”
Saying so, Lennok glanced back at the massive mechanical barrier he had passed.
A colossal steel barrier, its extent impossible to guess even while flying high in the sky.
Similar barriers were erected throughout the city, obstructing movement and defining space.
This landscape itself was proof that the Machine City, Machina, had once attempted to redefine space and the world according to its own standards.
“Mimicking that person’s voice earlier was along the same lines. Gauging the criteria for linguistic dissonance through mechanical modulation and reproduction.”
Lennok’s eyes glowed quietly.
“Through that, I can verify how Jinwa’s common language functions for intelligent beings.”
The shadow leader noticing that Brett’s voice was strange wasn’t Davi’s mistake.
Davi had been imitating Brett’s voice, who had infiltrated the workshop, using her cybernetic abilities, experimenting with how much modulation was needed for other shadows to perceive it.
It was part of a research to understand Jinwa’s common language, which Hyman Kilberg, the sorcerer from Ghost God Palace who had been astonished to see Davi use language, had mentioned.
“The fact that the name of a particular Ascendant is heard so frequently isn’t a good sign.”
Lennok muttered, taking hold of the handle attached to the crow robot’s back and lowering his body.
“Perhaps I should start preparing from now on.”
“Hehehe, if Master would entrust the design to me like this, I could make it look truly majestic!”
“…”
The form of the Night Raven, born from Davi’s design.
The Cybernetic Spirit herself seemed highly satisfied with the monstrous bird’s appearance she had designed.
For the sake of the commendable spirit, Lennok decided not to mention that its appearance seemed just a little too self-indulgent for his taste.
Whoosh!!
Davi slowly lowered their altitude so Lennok, mounted on her back, wouldn’t lose balance, and began to fly leisurely over the residential area.
Even with the black monstrous bird flying low, close to the ground, no one seemed to notice its presence.
By combining invisibility magic with stealth functions to erase its form and presence, only ripples parting the night wind were left in the sky.
Perhaps because it was well past midnight, there were almost no people on the streets.
Here and there, faint lights glowed in a few passing houses and mansions.
Lennok, having reconnected the microphone to the leader’s thought circuit, held the flickering crystal orb and whispered quietly.
“We’ve reached the residential intersection. Tell me the location of Committee Member Langmuir’s residence.”
A tall mansion with walls encased in solid steel plates.
Its exterior thoroughly blocked external intrusion, save for small windows that allowed a view outside.
In the relatively spacious garage, security guards protecting the mansion stood watch, their personal firearms unconcealed.
Whoosh…!!
A scorching gust of wind swept through the guards’ faces, and in that fleeting moment, some furrowed their brows.
A massive form descended from the darkness, crushing the garage door like paper as it burst straight inside.
CRUNCH!!
With the impact, numerous vehicles parked inside the garage were severely damaged, and shattered parts scattered everywhere.
“Intruder!!”
“They’re insane. Who would dare to… in such an absurd way…!!”
“Escort the committee member and evacuate!! Right now!!”
The guards, knocked back by the impact, shouted at the top of their lungs, calling others on their walkie-talkies.
Static, static…!!
As if malfunctioning simultaneously, no calls reached beyond the dead walkie-talkies.
The panicked people rushed towards the inner passage to try and remove the object that had burst into the garage.
Vroom!!
But several vehicles, which they thought were broken, started moving on their own without drivers, ramming into guards everywhere,
and battered and wrecked the garage, creating chaos before anyone could even confirm the intruder.
“Aargh!! Why are the cars moving by themselves…!!”
“Check the auto-drive system!! What on earth is happening!!”
“The intruder vanished…!! With that size, it’s already entered inside!!”
“Check the inner elevators! Subordinates, run and contact the mansion’s security department!”
CRASH!!
But despite the guards’ efforts, a series of roars erupted from beyond the ceiling above.
“Open the CCTV feed and check! Now!!”
The guards, scrambling to the management office and checking the video feed transmitted to the first-floor lobby, turned pale.
On the screen, a monstrous, jet-black crow-shaped creature, impossible to conceal even through the footage, was flying low above the spacious corridor, knocking down other guards like toys.
Watching people being horribly battered and crumpled between its wings and talons, the guards’ faces turned ashen.
CRASH!!
The Night Raven, controlled by Davi, flew around smashing and destroying parts of the eight-story mansion.
With each flap of its wings, electrical signals burst forth, overloading the mansion’s lights and fire hydrants, causing them to flicker and gush water.
WHOOSH!!!
Streams of water poured relentlessly from the corridor ceiling, and the corridor began to dim, flickering into darkness.
Among those guarding the committee member’s residence were superhumans of decent skill and soldiers equipped with advanced gear,
but the Night Raven avoided confronting them directly, instead flying and flapping its wings throughout the spacious mansion.
Rattle!!
People struggled to capture the beast that had entered the mansion, deploying a barrage of bullets, gunpowder, and even bombs,
but the Night Raven elegantly folded and spread its wings, repeating its noble low-altitude flight, as if such offensives meant nothing to it.
WHOOSH!!
While their attention was drawn to the Night Raven’s noble form, stirring the pouring water from the ceiling, the hail of bullets, and the scattered magic fragments,
no one noticed that someone had dismounted from its back and was leisurely walking towards the mansion’s top floor.
“Pattern code input complete”
“First-class visitor approved”
“Lockdown security disengaged”
Whir, click!!
A series of guidance prompts echoed, and simultaneously, the visitor pushed open a sturdy iron door and a mechanical barrier.
Lennok then forcefully pushed open the door to the dark, unlit study and smiled upon seeing the old man sitting silently in an armchair on one side of the study.
“You went to the trouble of calling me, and I’m late in replying.”
Lennok naturally closed and locked the study door, then faced the old man’s face, faintly illuminated by the moonlight outside the window.
“The journey here was so rough that it wasn’t easy to see your face like this.”
Click!!
Lennok took out the shadow leader’s thought circuit from his pocket and placed it on the table, saying.
“Since you sent even this friend to invite me, shouldn’t I properly visit in person and pay my respects?”
The old man stared intently at the thought circuit Lennok had placed down, then slowly spoke, as if spitting out words.
“To dispose of the Sidesquad agents so easily and come all this way, it was just as I thought.”
“…”
“I clearly gave you a chance. Yet you betrayed Machine Head and sided with Steel Heart, betraying us…”
Langmuir said, staring at Lennok with a sharp, piercing gaze.
“You made a mistake, yet instead of gracefully accepting your punishment, you dare to crawl into my residence and run your mouth?”
Only then did Lennok realize that the emotion Langmuir felt towards him was anger, and he nodded.
Lennok stroked his chin quietly and muttered.
“It seems you’re misunderstanding something.”
“What?”
“I have no interest whatsoever in Ex Machina’s other factions. Do you think I made a mistake at the Selection Ceremony to betray Machine Head?”
Watching Langmuir, who was speechless, Lennok slowly walked towards the study wall.
Lennok said, scanning the titles of the various books on the shelves.
“I’m not sure if Ex Machina’s factional struggles are worth that much.”
“…Do you think an ordinary craftsman, let alone someone who could touch an Old World artifact, could toy with the Sidesquad?”
Langmuir replied, struggling to control his breathing.
“I shouldn’t have trusted Isabella from the start. Those Enforcer bastards from Steel Heart…!!”
Only then could Lennok vaguely guess what Langmuir was thinking.
He wasn’t angry that Lennok hadn’t earned the Meister title.
He believed that Lennok failing the Selection Ceremony by touching something he shouldn’t have was, in itself, a staged act, conspired with Isabella.
That’s why, immediately after the Selection Ceremony, Langmuir didn’t bother to talk to Lennok; instead, he tried to forcibly apprehend him using military force.
The moment the shadow agents, called the Sidesquad, were subdued without even laying a hand on Lennok, Langmuir must have become certain that Lennok was no ordinary craftsman.
“Committee Member. Even so, you shouldn’t try to kill a craftsman who came forward for your faction.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was going to give you a punishment befitting your responsibility and treat you properly according to your abilities!!”
“That’s none of my business, however.”
“You bastard!!”
Before Langmuir, who was roaring with a reddened face, Lennok casually picked up a book he had been surveying.
The Governance of the Machine City and the History of the Council.
The moment Lennok, casually flipping through the pages as if skimming the book, placed it on the table next to Langmuir’s chair,
he shut his mouth as if by a lie.
Lennok, looking at Langmuir’s uneasily flickering eyes, spoke.
“Even if I ask what I’m curious about now, you won’t answer honestly, will you?”
“…”
“So, I intend to lubricate the committee member’s mouth a little, to help it open.”
Lennok said, tapping the book.
“Among hundreds of books, only this one is sold on the market at a price unfitting for this study.”
“Wh-what on earth are you…”
Of course, Lennok didn’t memorize how much such books sold for in the Machine City.
He merely had Davi scan all the book titles, then from their serial numbers, categories, and other characteristics, he found a particularly noticeable anomaly.
“Among high-end books and theses easily exceeding 200,000 cells per volume, this one book was a freebie distributed alongside cheap pamphlets. Considering that, perhaps…”
The moment Lennok picked up the book again and inserted it upside down into its spot on the shelf,
RUMBLE!!
the center of the bookshelf swung open, fully revealing a hidden secret door.
“I imagine you thought using a relatively cheap book would make it less conspicuous.”
“…”
“Then, shall we see what the committee member has hidden in here?”
“What on earth are those idiotic guards doing!!”
Leaving the enraged committee member behind, Lennok immediately pulled out an old cellphone from a secluded storage room behind the bookshelf.
“Found one.”
Instead of turning the phone on immediately, Lennok opened the back case, looked at the battery and components, and nodded.
“A 25-year-old product. A portable communicator manufactured by Taylor Workshop. But the screw parts used aren’t from Taylor Workshop. It appears to have been modified.”
“You, what on earth are you… Aah!!”
Only then did the committee member realize that Lennok was using the intuition he had shown before to uncover his secrets, and his face began to turn a ghastly pale blue.