“The hell’s that?!” Tangerine exclaimed from the cockpit of her orange Kyklops. Peacock, who was standing beside her in her own green Kyklops, was likely thinking the exact same thing. After the two of them had managed to escape from the Ark with their lives, Peacock had used her wicked vessel’s ability to search in order to find where Gould and Scarlet had gone.
Since they were both wards of the wicked god, they were able to pass through the barrier the two of them had erected.
It was in the north of Isengard that the wicked devout were able to meet up once more.
“What exactly is this place? Did you take over a town of the elvenfolk or something?”
“This is our new base that was created by Gould’s crown skills,” Scarlet answered without turning around. “Our living quarters are on top of the large tree to the south. If you wish to rest, head there.”
He was most interested in the Kyklops the two had arrived in. More specifically, he was interested in the three-meter-long cubic pitch-black container they had brought along with them.
“It was fortunate you were able to retrieve this from the Ark. I was afraid I’d have to build it again from scratch.”
“I was the one who blew the Ark up. If I didn’t make sure to grab at least this much, I knew you’d nag later.”
“That was unavoidable. It is a much better outcome than the Ark falling into enemy hands. The sacrifices may have been big, but as a result, we have acquired a power much greater than the Ark.”
“Oh yeah?” Tangerine skeptically asked, raising her eyebrow. Scarlet turned his gaze to the southern edge of the fortress where a large monolith with a red crystal embedded inside of it stood. Etched into the monolith was ancient magic writing. It was a device designed by Gould and built by Scarlet. A red light was being emitted from the large crystal like a laser, slowly forming a magic circle on the shore of the lake where the fortress was built.
Once it was complete, strange creatures began to crawl out of it. Though they looked human, their bodies could hardly be described as being made of flesh and blood. Like the Cydevils that Gould and Scarlet had created, they were bodies fused with machines, a metal mask sitting on their heads.
Those masks took all kinds of shapes, from dogs to cats to birds to even crocodiles. Each of them carried their own metal weapons like spears or swords or staffs. Mechanical Beastmen was likely the most accurate way to describe them.
“Are these summoned beasts?”
“Rather than beings from the spirit world, they are Undead summoned from the underworld through Gould’s black crown ability. He chose servants who suit our goals and called them through.”
“Are they corpses?”
“Ones fused with machinery, yes. They’re very similar to Gollems, practically Cydevils, really. They aren’t alive, you see.”
The masked mechanical monsters orderly lined up along the shore, and then not a single one of them moved a muscle, showing absolutely no sense of having their own impulses.
They really are just Undead, Tangerine thought.
“Man, if Graphite were still alive, he’d be all over them,” she remarked.
“Perhaps.”
Scarlet’s response was clipped. He felt it somewhat silly to even use those words. The wicked devout already had their souls absorbed by their wicked vessels, so they weren’t much different from the corpses standing over there. The only difference was that they still had their own sense of self.
Still, although it was the only difference, it was a big one. Scarlet had something he wished to obtain even if it meant turning his body into nothing more than an Undead. Even his own life was irrelevant if it meant he could acquire it. And so, he made a deal with the devil. A devil known as Gould.
“Those mechanical soldiers of yours definitely look like a force to be reckoned with, but they’d be no match for Brunhild’s giant soldiers, you know?” Peacock bluntly stated.
“I will figure something out. We’re currently developing a frame different from the Kyklops,” Scarlet replied before guiding the two of them to a building that looked like a hangar. They were both left stunned by the bizarre new mech. Its body was slimmer than that of the Kyklops, with a short torso but long limbs, arms bent into a Z-shape at the elbows, and knees bent in the opposite direction of a human’s. Its hands and feet ended with sharp claws, making it look much more like a beast than a man.
“I’ve named it Baphomet. It can move much more freely than the Kyklops, and can easily exchange what equipment it has. This makes it possible to create all manner of mechs from just the one base.”
Tangerine looked up at the Baphomet’s head after hearing Scarlet’s explanation.
Oh, so the curved horns are meant to be a goat’s.
Naming it after Baphomet, a goat-headed demon, was very appropriate.
In truth, Scarlet had thought up the ability to change equipment after observing the Waltraute, but he was too prideful to admit that fact.
“I had been pondering how to plant combat knowledge into them, but thanks to what you both brought back, that issue has been resolved.”
A Four-Armed Gollem opened the container the two wicked devout had salvaged. Inside it was a transparent case that contained a large round crystal that looked like a massive human brain. It was a Q-Crystal, which was pretty much a Gollem’s brain. That large Q-Crystal stored all of the memories inside the Kyklops’s Q-Crystals—a mother Q-Crystal, you could say. All of the combat data from the Kyklops was backed up inside of it.
Using that, the Baphomets could inherit the data from the Kyklops, as if transferring experience points, allowing them to battle at top condition.
“Where is Gould?”
“Over there,” Scarlet said as he looked over at the central part of the tree fortress where there was a pyramid-like structure that resembled an altar.
“A...ring?”
On top of the pyramid altar was a gold metal ring covered in intricate designs that was about five meters in diameter. It was fixed to a base and was glowing like a sunrise over a mountain. Standing in front of it was Gould, glowing a similar golden light. He held out his small hand to the ring, and part of it began to slide around in a circle. The many inner and outer rings moved one after the other as if a puzzle was being solved. They turned in different directions like the dial of a safe until they all came to a stop. The ring was letting out a low hum, but besides that, nothing else had changed.
However, Tangerine noticed a small light in the middle of it for just a moment.
“What does this thing even do?”
“...Who knows.”
Tangerine frowned at Scarlet’s clipped response. She’d already realized that both he and Gould were hiding something. She wasn’t about to criticize them for that—they were never companions that trusted each other, after all. Honestly, they could do what they wanted so long as it didn’t cause her any problems, but she couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed.
“I’m just gonna assume it’s some experiment. Well, whatever, do what you like. We’re gonna go rest.”
Tangerine went off to the living quarters with Peacock. Meanwhile, Gould was busy trying to figure out what the problem was following the experiment.
“My method is not the problem... Then is it a difference in the output? Are there not enough souls to fuel it? In that case...”
The little mechanical puppet with the memories of a genius Gollem engineer was steadily advancing toward his goals.