"You bastard!!"
Sauron Bloodfang finally recovered from the extreme shock and humiliation. He stared intently at the swaying tent flap, his teeth grinding together, his chest heaving violently, and finally let out a beast-like growl from deep in his throat.
He suddenly kicked over the table in front of him, shattering the cups and splattering wine and blood everywhere.
“The Principality of Oak…Victor Horn…and that damned tin can!”
Sauron's eyes burned with resentment and deep-seated hatred, but even more so with a sense of powerlessness and coldness in the face of overwhelming absolute power.
He looked at his trusted general, who was clutching his arm on the ground, his face ashen, and then at the other three gold-level generals who were equally shocked and looked grim. An unprecedented chill rose up his spine.
He knew that this war had completely changed. Their Sass Empire seemed to have become bait used by the Orks to draw fire and test their weapons!
"Pass on the order!"
Soren's voice was hoarse, carrying a ruthless determination: "The entire army retreats! Immediately! Retreat to the rear and hold the fortified positions! Without my order, no one is allowed to launch another attack!"
He was breathing heavily, a sinister glint in his eyes, and he growled, each word distinct and forceful:
"Immediately report everything that happened here to His Majesty the Emperor using the highest-level secret code! The Orks' treachery! The terrifying strength of that monster! And... those unkillable iron lumps of Lind! Write down every detail clearly! Let those scheming fools in the capital see this! Let them rack their brains about how to deal with these monsters!"
————
Meanwhile, a dozen miles away from the Sass-Occo coalition camp, a temporary research institute hidden in the shade of a mountain valley was brightly lit.
The area is heavily guarded, with the outer perimeter featuring the steam-powered sentry turrets typical of the Principality of Ork and patrols clad in light power armor, while the interior presents a completely different scene.
Inside the enormous shed, constructed of steel and reinforced glass, was the pungent smell of machine oil, the scorching heat of molten metal, and a peculiar, life-like odor of alchemical solvents.
Several powerful arc lamps illuminated the central area as bright as day.
The wreckage of the "Earthbreaker" mining machine, which had been towed back, lay across the massive metal platform like a stranded whale.
Its mechanical leg was gruesome, with a gaping hole in its armor torn open by the "Magic Breaker," exposing the energy pipes inside that shimmered with a ghostly blue light, occasionally emitting a few faint sparks.
The deep red, single-eye sensor went completely dark.
At this moment, dozens of the most outstanding scholars and engineers from the Principality of Oak were gathered around this cold steel construct.
Dressed in white or gray researcher uniforms, their eyes burning with an almost fanatical thirst for knowledge, they were directing massive robotic arms and sophisticated scanning probes, carefully peeling away the outer armor from the wreckage in an attempt to peek into its internal structure.
"Incredible... The molecular arrangement of this armor is unprecedented! The resonant nails did cause local lattice disorder, but the overall framework remains stable!"
"Energy core! Look at the way this energy core is sealed! It's completely unlike any known energy circuit!"
"Sensor array! My God, the integration... the information processing mode... it's simply a miracle!"
"Quickly! Collect all samples of the unknown alloys! Analyze their elemental composition and energy affinity!"
"Record every single rune array! Not a single detail can be overlooked! This could be the key to breaking through our alchemical bottleneck!"
Victor Horn stood on the observation platform on the second floor, looking down at the bustling scene below through the reinforced glass. A hint of satisfaction finally appeared on his pale face.
Beside him stood the silent "Crimson Wall," like the most loyal guardian.
"Initiate the 'Heart of the Furnace' preheating process."
Victor gave the order into the communicator, "Prepare for the initial melting test of the core energy unit. Be careful, this energy source may be extremely unstable."
Below, deep within the workshop, a strangely shaped, dark red furnace, pulsating like a giant heart, began to emit a low hum, its opening radiating a chillingly high-temperature light.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a faint wisp of spiritual energy, almost blending into the spatial background radiation, silently lingered in the area, like the most patient ghost.
This wisp of spiritual energy comes from the core of the Steel Sky deep within the distant Blackrock Territory—Linde.
His consciousness, like an invisible tide, gently swept over the wreckage of the dismantled mining machine, past the fanatical researchers, and over the sophisticated instruments. Finally, as if drawn by a magnet, it landed on the dark red "Crimson Bulwark" beside Victor Horn.
Linde's "gaze" pierced through the thick armor covered with alchemical runes.
In his perception, the interior of this powerful alchemical weapon was not a purely mechanical structure.
At the heart of the chest cavity, a living human brain, encased in countless tubes, life-sustaining fluids, and neural connections, is throbbing weakly in a pale green nutrient solution!
The powerful bioelectric signals were amplified and guided by complex alchemical circuits and arcane amplifiers, driving this steel body!
"I see…"
A ripple of understanding spread through Linde's mental energy. "The pinnacle of bio-alchemy, fused with living nerves? Using the brain as a processor, driven by arcane magic and steam... No wonder his reaction speed and combat intuition far surpass those of ordinary constructs."
His interest was greatly piqued.
The alchemy of the Principality of Ork has indeed embarked on a path that is completely different from, yet equally dangerous and interesting, from that of the Zedu civilization.
This technology, which forcibly blends flesh and machine, life and arcane magic, is full of forbidden allure.
Linde's mental power, like the most precise probe, began to attempt to analyze the complex biological-mechanical-arc triple composite structure inside the "Crimson Barrier".
He "saw" the alchemical runes binding his brain, sensed the components of the life-sustaining fluid that kept his brain active, and even detected the subtle pain and chaotic electrical signals generated when his brain was being forcibly fed combat data and commands even in standby mode.
"Interesting...really interesting..."
Linde's mental fluctuations carried the pure excitement of a researcher discovering a new subject: "Forcibly maintaining activity, squeezing out potential... the efficiency is good, but what's the cost? The wear and tear on the soul? Or utter madness?"
His gaze then shifted to the wreckage of the mining machine below, which the Orcs treasured and was about to be thrown into the furnace, and to the "Heart of the Furnace," which was preheating and emitting an ominous red light.
"You want to analyze Zedu's creations?"
A cold, amused glint flashed across Linde's mental energy. "Then study it carefully, friends of Oak."
His spiritual power receded quietly like the tide, leaving only a barely perceptible, virus-like mark, deeply imprinted inside the deepest part of that crimson fortress.
Then Lind entered a deep dream, the dream of Crimson Fortress.
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