Faced with the suddenly appearing giant dragons, the massive robot was clearly startled. It hurriedly shifted its target, raising both arms to aim at the enemies before it. However, before it could fire, the white dragon opened its gaping jaws and bit down hard on one of its arms, then violently swung its head and hurled it away.
"Ah—————!"
The massive robot roared as it rolled across the ground, then struggled back to its feet. Immediately after, it saw the black dragon standing before it suddenly open its mouth wide.
It then took a deep breath.
"Fus—Ro—Dah!"
Accompanied by the black dragon's roar, the massive robot felt an overwhelming shockwave slam into it head-on, smashing into its body and forcing it to slide backward. At the same time, the white dragon spread its wings and took to the sky. Taking advantage of the moment when the robot was repelled by the Unrelenting Force, it unleashed a torrent of icy breath from its mouth.
"———————!!"
Howling, bone-chilling cold surged forth from the white dragon's mouth, striking the massive robot directly and drawing a howl of agony from it. The robot abruptly tore up a huge slab of flooring, lifted it overhead, and hurled it toward the white dragon while enduring the freezing breath. Seeing the enormous chunk of debris flying toward it, the white dragon hurriedly beat its wings, attempting to evade.
In the instant the white dragon's breath ceased, the massive robot leapt backward. In the very next moment, its entire body began to transform, shifting in the blink of an eye from a giant robot into a fighter jet!
"Oh ho, it can transform too? Interesting!"
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai let out a whistle. But the robot clearly had no intention of lingering in battle. After transforming, flames instantly burst from its rear as it howled, attempting to surge into the sky.
However...
"Boom!"
Just as the aircraft began to take off, a gigantic centaur knight suddenly appeared directly in front of it, reaching out with one hand and gripping the nose of the jet firmly.
"Grab it! Don't let it get away!"
At this moment, Anne raised her spellbook high, issuing commands to her heroic spirit. Hearing her order, the heroic spirit roared, gripping the fighter jet's nose with both hands and forcibly stopping its escape.
"Woooo—!!"
The jet now struggled desperately to break free from the heroic spirit's restraint, thrashing wildly like an untamed stallion. At the same time, missiles shot out one after another from the aircraft, blasting toward the surrounding flying dragons and the heroic spirit. Explosions and flashes erupted everywhere. Even Gureya and Phyllis, both transformed into giant dragons, were forced to retreat under the robot's frenzied counterattack. The knightly heroic spirit summoned by Anne also began to weaken under the machine's relentless assault.
But...
"You think you can escape? Olgis!"
While the robot fired missiles in all directions, Duanmu Huai had already leapt down from Gureya's head. As he shouted, Olgis, who was seated on Duanmu Huai's shoulder, suddenly stretched out her hand. With her movement, slender puppet strings rapidly extended forward, tightly wrapping around the fighter jet's nose. In the next moment, Duanmu Huai and Olgis were dragged straight toward it. Facing the aircraft below, Duanmu Huai raised his warhammer high.
"Die, Abominable Intelligence!"
With Duanmu Huai's roar, the thunder warhammer came crashing down, smashing straight through the cockpit and striking the pilot inside. Under the fully charged blow, the pilot instantly came apart like scattered building blocks. Immediately after, carried by the tremendous impact, the once wildly struggling jet plunged straight toward the ground—like a bucking wild horse suddenly struck hard on the head and knocked unconscious. Now, this fighter jet followed Duanmu Huai's full-force strike and smashed directly into the earth.
"BOOM!!!"
The jet slammed heavily into the ground, then transformed back into its robotic form. At this moment, the knightly heroic spirit had already arrived before it.
"Pierce it, heroic knight!"
With Anne's call, the next instant saw the heroic knight's spear thrust forward, piercing straight through the robot's chest and pinning it firmly to the ground.
"Noooooo!!!"
The robot let out an unwilling roar. It raised one arm toward the sky, opened its mouth as if trying to say something, and then... its legs went stiff, and it fell completely silent.
"Thud."
After confirming that the robot before him was truly silent, Duanmu Huai finally leapt down from the wreckage. Phyllis and Gureya reverted to human form, walking over together with the others.
"I really didn't expect to see such a strange robot... it can even transform..."
Anne stared at the robot's remains, unable to help but sigh in amazement.
"It seems different from the robot dolls we dealt with before."
Ranni calmly voiced her curiosity, and Gureya nodded beside her.
"Yeah, judging by how it acted just now, it didn't feel like a robot at all, but more like a human... what exactly is going on?"
No wonder they felt this way. The Skynet robots they had fought before showed no reactions at all—they were merely machines shaped like people. But this robot was clearly different. It had emotions, seemed capable of thinking, could speak, and especially its reaction when it was killed... that didn't resemble a machine at all, but rather the dying wail of a living being.
"I don't know either, but I think we'll find out very soon."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai opened a communication channel.
"Lumiel, come to our location. There's something here that needs your investigation."
"Understood, Mr. Inquisitor."
Just after Duanmu Huai issued the order, not far away, under Lorena and Eclair's lead, John Connor approached with several soldiers. Seeing Duanmu Huai, John Connor paused briefly, then stepped forward and extended his hand.
"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm John Connor, commander of the Resistance. Thank you for your support."
"You're welcome."
Duanmu Huai reached out and lightly shook John Connor's hand. The latter then raised his head, gazing at the massive robot wreckage before him, and sighed involuntarily.
"I never thought Skynet could create something this terrifying. Looks like our days are only going to get harder."
"I don't think this was made by Skynet."
"Huh?"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's reply, John Connor froze.
"If this robot isn't from Skynet, then where did it come from?"
"That question..."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai raised his head. In the distance, a red fighter jet had already pierced the atmosphere, descending from the sky and racing toward them.
"...I think we're about to get the answer."
Soon, the fighter jet landed nearby, and Lumiel stepped out. Seeing the massive robot before her, Lumiel was clearly surprised, but after hearing Duanmu Huai's request, she didn't say much and quickly began her work.
This was Duanmu Huai's first time seeing Lumiel use her abilities. The girl extended her hand, and in the next instant, bands of light appeared at her fingertips. These light bands stretched forward while branching apart, forming patterns resembling integrated circuits, then penetrated deep into the robot's body.
Lumiel closed her eyes and began searching through the remaining data.
"Who... exactly are you people?"
Seeing this, John Connor was dumbfounded. He looked at Lumiel, then turned to Duanmu Huai. Though he considered himself well-traveled, neither this robot nor these mysterious visitors were anything he had ever encountered before.
John Connor had already carefully observed this group earlier, yet he still couldn't identify their origins. First of all, their clothing was strange. The world had ended, wastelands were everywhere, and most people couldn't even find decent clothes, wearing nothing but tattered rags. Yet these girls' outfits were immaculate and radiant. Moreover, their attire carried a peculiar aesthetic, as if they didn't belong to this world at all—at least, John Connor had only seen similar styles in cartoons or movies when he was a child.
"You don't need to know."
Duanmu Huai glanced at John Connor and spoke flatly.
"We won't be staying here long. Once we've dealt with the trouble here, we'll leave. That's all you need to know."
"...Alright. No matter what, thank you for your help."
Though Duanmu Huai's words were far from polite, John Connor didn't take offense. After all, these people had helped eliminate the enemy—otherwise, the Resistance headquarters might have been wiped out entirely.
Duanmu Huai waved his hand and stepped aside. At that moment, Lumiel finished her scan.
"I've gathered its remaining data, Mr. Inquisitor."
As she spoke, Lumiel was uncharacteristically excited.
"They are not from this planet, nor are they creations of Skynet. According to the data, this robot comes from an alien world called Cybertron, a highly advanced mechanical civilization..."
"So what are these Abominable Intelligences doing here?"
Compared to Lumiel's excitement at encountering aliens for the first time, Duanmu Huai remained calm. He had exterminated hundreds, if not thousands, of AI civilizations already and was long accustomed to it.
"It's like this. According to the information, a civil war broke out among the robots on Cybertron, and as a result, their AllSpark was lost and cast into space, eventually arriving on this planet... A robot called Megatron once came here searching for it, but vanished without a trace. That's why these robots came to this planet—to search for the AllSpark."
"What is that thing?"
"I'm not entirely sure. In any case, based on what I've seen... that AllSpark seems capable of emitting a unique energy that turns originally cold machines into something resembling living beings..."
"You mean like this thing here?"
Duanmu Huai glanced at the wreckage beside him, and Lumiel nodded.
"Yes. They have the ability to scan other machines and transform to disguise themselves. This robot crashed onto this planet, scanned a fighter jet, and then became what you saw."
"So they were the ones who invaded Skynet?"
"Yes. The signal matches perfectly. It's definitely them."
"Haaah..."
Hearing Lumiel's answer, Duanmu Huai let out a helpless sigh.
Alright then—this just got troublesome.
(End of Chapter)