Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Fallen Floating City!
Exploring the Mechanical Realm is filled with unpredictable surprises.
Because the land that makes up the Mechanical Realm is comprised of enormous gears that move slowly.
Soren’s journey is aimed at acquiring knowledge left over from the Arcane Empire and the body of an Ancient God drifting near the Mechanical Realm, so he didn’t particularly want to deal with the Fermi Ant Tribe, especially not with the legendary Mother of All Ants.
Ant tribes are notoriously difficult among the insect races, even more dangerous than the mutated insect races found at the bottom of the Bottomless Abyss.
However.
Just after advancing for a little over ten miles, Soren encountered the Fermi Ant Tribe.
This time, he did not face workers but rather Fermi Ant warriors, numbering over a dozen. Relying solely on spells would not solve this issue, so Soren drew his curved blade and slashed them all down within a second.
“What’s happening!”
“Could it be that I’ve descended into a gathering place for the Fermi Ant Tribe?”
Soren clearly felt something was off; it’s rare to see groups of Fermi Ant warriors in the wild unless they have established a new colony here. The Fermi Ant Tribe loves to expand their territory; they would occupy one gear after another and transform them into colonies. If it weren’t for other races keeping them in check, the Fermi Ant Tribe would likely occupy the entire Mechanical Realm.
“Eh?”
“What is this?”
Soren suddenly discovered a small emblem beside the corpses of the Fermi Ants. This emblem looked quite special, somewhat resembling the emblem of a monk sect. However, Soren knew this was not the monk sect like those in the Material Plane but rather a different biological sect. They seemed to have a part of their population living within the Mechanical Realm.
Soren quickened his pace.
Sure enough, he soon discovered numerous signs of battle!
Before long, he saw many Fermi Ant corpses alongside another leaner humanoid race.
“Gisz Serelle?!”
Soren bent down to examine one of the corpses. The Gisz Serelle people resembled the Gisz but were a race that revered monk doctrines. Among the Gisz Serelle, there were many monks, some even possessing psychic abilities.
The Gisz Serelle are born psionic monks.
“It seems this area is a gathering place for the Gisz Serelle!”
Just a quick assessment of the surroundings, Soren surmised something; there were destroyed structures indicating the Fermi Ant Tribe’s expansion had impacted the Gisz Serelle’s homeland, leading to an inevitable conflict. The Gisz Serelle are extremely powerful; typically, there are at least a dozen Fermi Ant corpses around each Gisz Serelle corpse. However, the Fermi Ant Tribe numbers are vast, and judging from the battle signs, the Gisz Serelle must have been forced to abandon their homeland and retreat northward.
Soren stood still, contemplating, then began to head north.
The Gisz Serelle are a rare race; he had yet to see a living member of that race.
The footprints on the ground grew increasingly frantic, as if the retreating Gisz Serelle were being pursued by the Fermi Ant Tribe. Soren couldn’t help but quicken his pace and eventually used the Flight Spell.
Zzzzzz!
After traveling dozens of kilometers, Soren finally spotted the Gisz Serelle, but the battle was nearing its end.
Over a dozen Gisz Serelle were surrounded by hundreds of Fermi Ants, with hundreds downed on the ground, along with even more Fermi Ants. The Gisz Serelle’s fighting style closely resembled that of monks, but they used psionics in combat, possessing some astral abilities and teleportation capabilities.
If nothing unexpected happened, these Gisz Serelle would ultimately be killed by the Fermi Ant Tribe.
Soren pondered for a moment but ultimately decided to intervene. He quietly slipped into the shadows and stealthily approached the Fermi Ant leader, which was very apparent—like the soldier ant leader among a colony, much larger in stature and head.
—”Shadow Assassination!”
The battle proceeded without any fanfare; Soren merely swung his blade and decapitated the ant leader.
Then, the previously unyielding Fermi Ants fell into chaos. At that moment, Soren revealed himself, almost taking down one ant with each swipe, and in the blink of an eye, over a dozen Fermi Ants lay dead at his feet.
The Fermi Ants were thrown into disarray.
They felt fear against an insurmountable enemy, and when over a hundred Fermi Ants fell to Soren’s blade, they finally began to flee.
On the other side, the surviving Gisz Serelle stared blankly at Soren, as if they were seeing some kind of monster, watching him single-handedly eliminate and drive back hundreds of Fermi Ants.
“Thank you for your aid, my lord!”
After driving off all the Fermi Ants, an elderly Gisz Serelle approached Soren, placing his hands together reverently, and said, “Thank you for saving my kin.”
Indeed, the style of a monk.
The Gisz Serelle’s community consists of sects and is similar to the Gisz’s astral fortress. The entire Gisz Serelle tribe is composed of various faction styles of monks.
“It was a mere gesture.”
Soren smiled slightly and nodded, then looked at them, saying, “This place is clearly viewed by the Fermi Ant Tribe as a new colony. They will not easily give it up and are likely to return soon. You should move to another location.”
The elderly Gisz Serelle nodded, his expression turning sorrowful as he looked at his kin’s corpses.
But being a follower of monk doctrine, he quickly composed himself and spoke, “My lord, you seem to be from another plane? Is there anything I can do to serve you?”
The Gisz Serelle do not like to owe favors.
It seems those of lawful alignment tend to dislike being indebted to others.
Soren thought for a moment and replied, “I have been entrusted by a friend to seek out some ruins related to the Arcane Empire within the Mechanical Realm. Do you know where I might find them?”
During the Arcane Empire era, there was a floating city located in the Mechanical Realm.
The Gisz Serelle elder showed hesitation upon hearing this, slowly saying, “Ruins of the Arcane Empire? My lord, you must be looking for the floating city?”
“The floating city has fallen in a city south of the Fermi Ant Tribe.”
“There, it has already become the stronghold of the Fermi Ant Tribe, with tens of thousands of them dwelling within. I do not recommend you go alone.”
As expected!
Having ant tribes everywhere is indeed troublesome.
Upon hearing this news, Soren couldn’t help but frown, then nodded and said, “I understand. You should leave quickly. The Fermi Ants will likely return soon.”
After saying that, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.
If the floating city truly fell within the Fermi Ant Tribe’s city, then going alone would be a very unwise choice, as he wouldn’t be able to bring anything back. However, he had already laid his plans in the Mechanical Realm; clearing out tens of thousands of Fermi Ants would be quite difficult, but if he could leverage assistance, it shouldn’t be too major an issue.
“It seems I need to find those Tower Spirits!”
Tower Spirits are advanced Construct Life forms, and the Mechanical Realm is full of various metals and parts. There are many Construct Lives here, along with unique Judges. If these Tower Spirits want to establish a foothold in the Mechanical Realm, they would need to integrate into the Construct Life. With their abilities, they should be quickly able to create a batch of construct puppets in the Mechanical Realm.
An ant tribe city must have a queen.
What Soren needed to do was deal with the queen, then find a way to handle the rest of the insects. If all else fails, he would have to summon the Golem Legion from Modo City.
He just wasn’t sure if the current alchemical tree in Modo City could handle inter-dimensional teleportation operations!
Soren thought seriously about it and decided to look for other residents nearby. If he could incite them to counterattack the Fermi Ant Tribe, it would likely greatly reduce the manpower required. For the Mechanical Realm contains beings from other planes—angels, devils, blue dragons, green dragons, mind flayers, and so on—any of whom could possibly dwell in the Mechanical Realm.
However, as per Soren’s habit, he still needed to prepare for contingencies.
Thus, he shifted his consciousness to the third layer of the Bottomless Abyss, the Land of Forgotten, where the Demon Avatar—Soron resides. Although the Mechanical Realm is quite unfriendly to chaotic alignment demons, summoning a legion of demons should help resolve many troubles.
………………
Bottomless Abyss, Third Layer, Land of Forgotten.
After enduring a slow accumulation of power and the forces brought about by expansive territory, Soren finally underwent a qualitative transformation.
“Name: Soron.
Race: Demon.
Form: Balroth Fire Demon [6th Rank] [Large Outsider] [Cross-Plane] [Evil]
Level: Biological Level 27.
Attributes: Strength 37, Agility 25, Constitution 31, Intelligence 24, Perception 25, Charisma 30.
Faction: Lawful Evil. (Note: Other demons will have slight hostility towards your actions.)
Life: 545/545.
Demon Power: 3006/10000.
Domains: Fury, Evil.
Skills: Stealth 285, Deception 325, Negotiation 315, Knowledge 275, Intimidation 370, Spell Identification 220, Use Magic Device 180, Listen 245, Reconnaissance 275, Search 190, Insight 300.
Traits: Damage Reduction 15, Darkvision 60 feet, Fiery Body, Immune to Electricity, Flame, and Toxin, Acid and Cold Resistance 10, Spell Resistance 30, Telepathy 100 feet, True Seeing.
Abilities: Flame Burst, Gaze of Fear, Fear Aura, Fiery Body, Fiery Whip, Bind, Demon Claw (+1 Innate Magic Weapon), Demon Skin (Damage Reduction +10), Demon Resistance (Various Resistances +10).
Specialties: Mastery of Dual Wielding, Mastery of Initiative, Multiattack, Weapon Proficiency: Beheading Sword, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Long Whip, Mastery of Mighty Attack.
Spell-like Abilities: Soul Extraction Technique, Mind Control, Blasphemous Words, High-level Teleportation Spell, Terror (cast at will), Fireball Spell (7 times per day, instantaneous), Dominate Demon (once per day), Summon Demon Legion, Telepathy.”
………………
As a Demon Lord advancing to the Balroth Fire Demon.
Soren’s power is greater than that of other Balroth Fire Demons, with average attributes being around 2 points higher. He is currently following the path of a Balroth Fire Demon Lord and will certainly need to advance to a leader form in the future.
From its inception to this progression, the strength of the demon avatar has surpassed that of most demigods.
Soren has effectively cultivated a constant avatar that surpasses a demigod, which could potentially reach levels above weak divine power in the future!
……………… (To be continued ~^~)
