Chapter 488 The Man with Blood on His Hands
The stranger felt dizzy and lay on the ground with his eyes wide open like a corpse.
The night sky was red with flames, and gargoyles made sharp sounds and flew by like a swarm of bats.
It wasn't that he wanted to play dead to escape the attack, but because his limbs felt cold and numb and he had no strength.
——Besides, playing dead was pointless in the first place in front of his beloved creation.
The gargoyle's outer shell is the product of an amber craftsman. Its essence is no different from that of a hellhound, and its interior is the soul of a familiar. However, the magic-resistant stone statues forged by the amber craftsman are more solid and reliable than rusted scrap metal.
Whether based on the Twilight Path or the Transcendent Path, both are particularly adept at manipulating souls. Gargoyles' initial enemy-hunting mode is soul-targeting, so invisibility, disguise, or feigned death are useless.
Now that the stranger is lying here, he seems to have given up on himself.
His mind was in a mess now... Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if he was shot to death by the gargoyle.
But strangely, the gargoyles did not attack him.
They just circled above him, making sharp monkey-like cries; alchemical bombs were thrown down, making continuous explosions.
An explosion was even close—the blown dirt flew up and landed on him. Perhaps because of the explosion, or perhaps because of some other reason, the stranger could only feel a ringing in his ears and a growing dizziness in his head.
He seemed to be unconscious, yet still conscious. It seemed like an eternity had passed, until the blood soaking his body had cooled, becoming like mud and tightening his skin, before he finally heard other sounds.
It was a team of soldiers wearing star-black uniforms.
The leader was a captain. He looked to be in his thirties or forties, with a stern gaze and a full beard. His officer's uniform was looser than the others', with a silver star-shaped metal badge on his chest and white gloves suitable for alchemists.
That represents his identity - alchemist.
"...Long time no see, teacher."
The captain bowed his head respectfully and stood at attention, looking at Master Nobel lying on the ground, and said in a deep voice.
The stranger kept a straight face and didn't respond. It was as if he hadn't heard anything.
"The association specifically told us to ensure safety if we see you."
As if he knew that Master Nobel would not say anything at this moment, the captain said to himself: "We will escort you back to your country next.
"Welcome back to Xingti, Sensei."
“…I’m asking you.”
Although he knew he shouldn't be doing this, Stranger couldn't help but feel the surge of emotion and sadness in his heart. He stared at the officer, who was nominally his student but whose name he had no idea, and whispered, "Why are you attacking civilians?
"—The Queen is dead, the Princess has fled, and the army of Avalon can't stop ours. We've already won! What's the point of letting the Gargoyles bomb the village and kill the civilians now?!"
He subconsciously regarded himself as an alien.
Fortunately, Nobel did have Alien ancestry. Because of this, the captain laughed out loud: "You still think you are Alien..."
"—Answer my question, Captain! Is this an order from your superior?!"
"Yes, that's the order I received."
Captain Xingti said calmly, "Because we need to rest here and replenish our energy."
Hearing this, Mo Ke was stunned for a moment.
His brain felt dizzy and he suddenly realized something.
These autonomous, overwhelming gargoyles... naturally weren't vegetarians. And if they were to be fed with mana, they would require a large number of spellcasters to serve as mana batteries and be stationed near the front lines. However, on Star Antimony, both alchemists and demonologists held high status, making it impossible to commit so many spellcasters to the war effort.
After all, the essence of this war was that these spellcasters' demands for higher pay were unsuccessful. Therefore, Valentine VII attempted to divert domestic conflict and open up new markets. If this war itself required the high-intensity participation of these masters, then it would be a waste of time.
Since gargoyles are essentially familiars, they are like other demons... able to restore their magic power by eating human souls and flesh.
The familiar itself does not require much mana, so it does not even need the soul of a transcendent.
Just killing one civilian can provide enough energy for at least six gargoyles to fight continuously for more than twenty hours.
……but.
but……
"I remember that the army should have a device to replenish the magic power of gargoyles..."
Stranger said subconsciously: "It shouldn't be necessary..."
These gargoyles are real "stone statues" before they are given the order. They are stationary on those devices and will stay there as long as they are not activated.
Hearing this, Captain Xingti simply smiled nonchalantly. "You're talking about traditional gargoyles, sir. Those are completely useless, only able to harass soldiers or drop explosives. And once they enter the priest's sanctuary, they immediately lose their ability to move."
"This new type of gargoyle is immune to the priests' dispelling attacks, making up for its biggest weakness. The bishops who tried to stop us were all torn to pieces by the machine guns. However, because this type of gargoyle has to bear the weight of weapons and metal armor, its energy consumption is much higher... If we use 'pillars' to transport energy back and forth, it will probably take five or six hours to charge before it can operate for less than half an hour, and it will have to return as soon as it takes off.
"The Griffin Legion is fully staffed. We may have to face them head-on later, so we can't do that without replenishing our mana beforehand. Furthermore, the corpses we've used can also be used to provide materials for subsequent ritualist teams. This allows us to achieve the best possible results with the fewest kills.
"——Of course, in order to escort you, our team will not be fighting on the front lines. Let's head directly to the port."
...Is it because of me?
They attacked civilians because the gargoyles I invented consume too much energy...so they had to attack civilians?
This thought popped up in Mo Ke's mind, and his scalp felt numb.
The gargoyles in the laboratory environment naturally had no shortage of energy. He hadn't considered the issue of the environment at all.
Hearing this, Mo Ke felt the dizziness getting stronger and stronger.
"...Who invented this special gargoyle?"
He struggled to sit up, maintaining his last bit of rationality and hope, and asked tentatively.
"Actually, this is considered a military secret. But after today, it's going to be declassified, so it can't be hidden anyway... so it's okay to tell you."
The captain smiled warmly. "After all, the association specifically said they'll treat you with respect and meet your every need. Xingbi needs your brains and skills."
"The developer of this 'Armed Gargoyle' is the renowned genius 'Albert Lore'. He's the young master of the Lore family... You passed away early, so you might not know him. He's only in his early twenties, but he's already a master of Disaster Splicing, even reaching the third level of the Path of Balance. He's a renowned figure on Star Antimony and a leader of the younger generation.
"I heard he's been nominated to join the Royal Alchemist Association and should be able to receive the Star Antimony Medal after the war. It's said he has a chance to reach the fifth level before he turns thirty!"
The more Stranger listened, the more dizzy he felt.
Never before had he felt so disgusted with his hobby of developing necromancy.
He just felt that it was an art and a technique.
An art that transforms the ephemeral into the eternal, a technique that breathes life back into the dead.
But now, he finally realized that this was a sin.
When he conducted research and development for the sake of efficiency and put it into mass production...even if he had never killed anyone with his own hands, his hands were already stained with blood.
...Fortunately, all of this is fake.
In his world line, the armed gargoyles have not yet been put into production.
He is still under development and is updating the version...
He thought to himself in a self-deceptive way.
But soon, he realized another problem.
Even if I stop researching and developing these armed gargoyles that can only be driven by killing civilians, won't someone take over and continue the research and development?
He has opened the Pandora's box.
But it can't be closed again.
"——Teacher will probably join us in the future and work with that genius to develop a stronger gargoyle!"
At this moment, it seemed as if to laugh at him.
A perfect laugh rang in Stranger's ears.
The sharp laughter was almost hysterical, almost breathless. Even though a competitor had been eliminated, Stranger felt completely uninterested. He simply felt like the laughter was mocking him.
He suddenly heard the sounds of biting and chewing.
Subconsciously turning his head, Stranger saw the gargoyles gathered together to eat.
He had certainly seen gargoyles eat corpses. Pure stone had no digestive system, but demons could eat humans.
He even feeds his own dead bodies to the gargoyles to destroy his lab supplies. The gargoyles are very obedient and accept all offers. He even keeps a gargoyle in his own lab, and he even crafted a ruby body for it to make it look more beautiful.
But for some reason, he suddenly felt nauseous.
He saw the gargoyle sense his gaze and turn around.
Looking at the bloody mouth, Mo Ke finally couldn't bear it anymore and fainted completely.
There was only a vague thought left in his mind -
——I no longer want to invent this kind of "weapon" that exists only for more efficient killing.
A little late, update completed!
(End of this chapter)
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