Receiving Svarog’s directive, the automaton corps immediately moved into action, charging toward the members of Wildfire.
The sudden onslaught did not catch the Wildfire members entirely off guard.
Oleg and his crew had maintained a cautious stance all along, never letting down their guard for a second…
Wildfire successfully held off the initial wave.
However, the automatons outnumbered them several times over, and the remaining forces simply bypassed Wildfire altogether, hurtling straight toward Stelle and March 7th behind them…
“What a pain…”
March 7th sighed helplessly.
She had expected a peaceful Trailblaze expedition, not an out-of-the-blue brawl.
She manipulated Six-Phased Ice to creep through the mechanical joints of the advancing automatons, instantly freezing over a dozen of them in place.
Going instantly from a full-speed sprint to a dead halt, the automaton formation was thrown into disarray by the sudden pileup.
Seizing the opportunity, Stelle swung her baseball bat and charged into the fray.
As a Pathstrider blessed with special energy by Nanook, Stelle’s combat strength was among the elite of Pathstriders, making it look effortless as she smashed through an automaton with every swing.
Seeing Stelle cut through his units like vegetables, Svarog’s optical visor flickered.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he personally joined the battle…
The arrival of these off-world visitors was an unexpected anomaly, and having brought limited armaments with him, Svarog’s attack options were constrained.
His auxiliary mechanical arm unit descended, hurtling straight toward Stelle as a purplish-red forcefield erupted from its palm.
The sharp, high-pitched crackle of electrical current was impossible to ignore.
Surrounding automatons received Svarog’s commands and charged Stelle simultaneously, locking down her escape routes.
Sensing the abnormal energy from the mechanical arm above, Stelle didn’t hesitate for a second.
She channeled a dense surge of Destruction energy into her bat, leaped into the air to dodge the incoming automatons, and swung her bat hard against the airborne arm.
At the same time, March 7th cast an ice shield over everyone within her line of sight.
Fortunately, there were no lingering bystanders.
The moment the automaton forces and Wildfire had reached a standoff, the local townsfolk knew trouble was brewing and fled without lingering.
Some hid around the clinic, while others fled toward the mining area.
*BOOM—!!!*
A violent explosion detonated, its roar deafening within the semi-enclosed space.
Whether hiding inside the mining sector or taking shelter in the plaza beside the clinic, everyone raised their heads toward the sound.
Dan Heng and Su Yan were no exception.
Having heard rumors that Svarog was attacking, and worried about Stelle and March 7th, the two left the plaza without hesitation and sprinted toward the blast…
Stelle was hurled backward by the blast, landing behind March 7th.
Twisting midair to adjust her footing, Stelle landed smoothly.
Her hair was slightly disheveled, but she was uninjured.
The others were in much worse shape.
Several stood dazed, their ears ringing and vision swimming as they lost control of their footing.
Seele was mostly fine, save for a slight tightness in her chest, though she couldn’t block every single automaton alone…
Unhindered, the remaining automatons charged toward March 7th and Stelle.
March 7th erected walls of ice to freeze their joints, doing everything she could to hold them back…
Bat in hand, Stelle charged at the automatons that breached the ice barrier.
However, before she could reach them, dozens of beam strikes hit the automatons first.
Under the watchful eyes of March 7th, Stelle, Seele, and Svarog, dozens of light spheres converged into a single, massive ball of luminescence…
Moments later, as the light faded, a bizarre structure appeared before them: dozens, if not a hundred, automatons had been chaotically fused together into a crude, spherical mass.
“Hss…” Seele drew in a cold breath as she stared at the grotesque pile of metal.
She couldn’t fathom what power could fuse dozens of automatons together in an instant.
“…” Svarog was equally incapable of comprehending how it had been accomplished, his high-speed CPU straining near its thermal limit.
“Are you two alright?” Su Yan and Dan Heng caught up to March 7th and Stelle.
Seeing that neither was injured, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Once assured of their safety, Su Yan got straight to the point.
“Why did a fight suddenly break out?”
He turned his gaze toward Svarog.
In the original storyline, there was never a scenario where Svarog led an army of automatons to attack Boulder Town.
Even calling it a butterfly effect felt like an understatement.
“I don’t know,” March 7th shook her head in complete bewilderment.
“He asked why I was in Boulder Town, so I told him.
Then he said something like ‘Show me your strength’ and ordered his automatons to attack…”
“He just wanted a fight!” Stelle summarized succinctly.
“I agree with you,” Seele chimed in from the side, nodding in agreement with Stelle.
“That Svarog guy always likes to spout nonsense at first and then send his automatons to crush everyone…”
“Repeat what you just said…” Su Yan reached out toward Svarog and clenched his hand into a fist…
Ice crystals materialized out of thin air, freezing Svarog completely, leaving only his head exposed. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Gathering information would take time, and to prevent any unexpected variables, freezing Svarog in place was the safest move.
Having undergone physical cooling, Svarog regained his composure and stopped calculating the previous anomaly.
*…Variable factors introduced.
First factor: capable of easily defeating 89 automatons and Overseer Unit Svarog.
Second factor: incomprehensible attack method…*
*…Calculating…
Calculation failed…
Crucial variables missing!*
Svarog ceased calculations and silently stared at the off-world visitors to gather more data.
Nearby, Su Yan and Dan Heng quietly listened as Stelle and March 7th recounted the exchange.
*…This differs from the game plot.*
Su Yan mused internally.
In the original plot, Svarog reacted aggressively the moment he heard the word “Stellaron,” directly attacking instead of saying “Show me your strength.”
If there was any difference, it was that March 7th had declared her faction prior to the conversation.
Come to think of it, March 7th announcing her faction was actually a great move.
Svarog’s database likely contained basic galactic knowledge, meaning he knew the reputation of the Nameless across the cosmos.
Chivalrous, good-natured, helpful…
A whole host of lawful-good labels.
Non-evil factions generally held a high opinion of them.
As for why a fight broke out…
Su Yan had a theory based on Svarog’s words.
Perhaps Svarog wanted to seek help from the Astral Express!
After all, phrases like “Seal the Stellaron, keep Trailblazing” sounded to some like “A mere Stellaron is easily handled.”
If Svarog interpreted it that way, demanding proof of strength made perfect sense.
As to whether his theory was correct, he could get his answer by asking Svarog directly in a moment.
While Su Yan was lost in thought, Dan Heng extracted what he considered the core takeaway, agreeing with March 7th and Stelle’s deduction that Svarog held information regarding the Stellaron.
Compared to a Masked Fool, Dan Heng preferred trusting a robot.
The moment a second option presented itself, Dan Heng immediately abandoned Sampo in favor of Svarog…
Such was the stellar reputation of the Masked Fools…