Acai's Sky

Chapter 968: Rusted Core: Gear Rhapsody 3

As the battle deepened, Acai discovered that these mechanical creatures seemed to be controlled by some mysterious force.

Although their attacks are ferocious, they follow a certain pattern, as if they are following a certain instruction.

After clearing a wave of attacks, they followed the direction of the energy fluctuations and found a secret room hidden deep in the gears.

The entrance to the chamber was blocked by a massive metal plate engraved with intricate runes.

Ah Cai studied the runes carefully and, with the knowledge she learned from ancient books, cracked the secret of the runes.

The metal plate slowly rose, revealing the interior of the secret room. Inside, a huge crystal instrument was operating. A black crystal was suspended in the center of the instrument, emitting an ominous aura, like a sleeping demon.

This thing... feels even more dangerous than the Rust Core." Tong Jiayuan frowned.

Just as Ah Cai was about to approach, the system suddenly issued a sharp alarm:

[Warning! Unknown energy source detected, immediate evacuation recommended]

[Warning! Energy fluctuations have reached critical value, and space is about to collapse]

Before he could finish his words, the black crystal suddenly exploded, and countless black tentacles stretched out from it and entangled Ah Cai.

A biting chill came from the tentacles, as if to freeze her soul.

Ah Cai swung her sword with all her might to cut off the tentacles, but found that the tentacles quickly regenerated at the broken ends and continued to attack her.

"This isn't going to work!" Elder Tong Jiaren pulled out a psychic bomb. "We have to use energy shock to destroy this device!"

He threw the bomb at the crystal instrument, and the violent explosion produced a powerful energy shock wave.

The black crystal trembled violently in the shock wave and finally shattered completely.

With the destruction of the crystal, the chamber began to collapse, rocks fell, and cracks appeared in the ground.

Ah Cai followed the crowd and ran desperately in the rain of gravel. Their steps were quick and panicked, and the roar of falling boulders continued to come from behind them.

Finally, at the last moment, they rushed out of the secret room.

They gasped and looked back. The entire Gear Castle was slowly sinking into the ground, leaving only ruins. Dust filled the air, obscuring their vision.

[Ding, special event completed, rewards: 1 mysterious energy fragment, 1 mechanical civilization inheritance]

[Rusty Core (3573) area exploration increased to 80%]

"It seems that there are still many unknowns waiting for us to discover about this fragment." A Cai said, looking at the dawn in the sky, his eyes full of anticipation.

Tong Jiayuan nodded: "Come back next time, maybe I can uncover the true secret of the Mechanical God."

The morning sun cast a hazy golden glow on the gear ruins. Ah Cai stroked the fragments of mysterious energy, and a faint tremor came from the cold touch, as if some kind of consciousness was awakening deep in the fragments.

Tong Jiayuan suddenly grabbed her wrist and stared vigilantly at the distant horizon - a column of black smoke was rising from there, accompanied by a sharp sound similar to the meshing of gears, like the roar of a giant beast before waking up.

"The energy fragments are getting hot!" Ah Cai suddenly clenched the fragments, and the light spread along her fingertips, projecting a complex star map on the ground.

The light spot in the center of the star map kept flickering and finally stopped in the southeast direction. There, a mechanical fortress could be vaguely seen floating on a vortex of gears. The outer shell was covered with spiked energy barrels, like a giant steel hedgehog, emitting a dangerous aura.

As everyone approached the fortress, spider-web-like cracks suddenly appeared in the ground, and countless mechanical centipedes broke out of the ground.

These centipedes are covered with diamond-shaped metal armor plates that flash coldly in the sun. Corrosive acid is sprayed from the tips of their tentacles, and wherever they go, holes are corroded on the ground.

Ah Cai spun around and leaped up, the sword light tearing through the air like a silver dragon. The severed mechanical limbs were detonated by the energy arrow shot by Tong Jiayuan before they even hit the ground, and the explosion was deafening.

"Look up!" Ah Da suddenly shouted.

The energy barrel at the top of the fortress began to accumulate energy, and a scarlet beam of light gradually took shape, like a fire dragon about to awaken.

Ah Cai quickly deployed the defensive barrier [Money Shield], and the golden light shone. The moment it collided with the red light, the energy storm generated blew the two of them away dozens of meters.

Ah Cai bumped into the wreckage of the gears, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. She quickly put away the gold coins, cursing inwardly: Damn, I got hit by the gold coins! I got hit by the gold mountain!

When she looked up, her pupils suddenly shrank—at the fortress's energy core, floating in the air was a black crystal fragment identical to the one in her hand.

There's a resonance between these fragments!" Ah Cai wiped away the blood and raised the mysterious energy fragment above her head.

The fragments instantly burst into bright light, resonating with the core of the fortress. The entire fortress began to shake violently, and the sound of metal clashing was endless.

Tong Jiayuan seized the opportunity to draw his bowstrings, and three energy arrows pierced the energy shield and struck the junction of the cannon barrels. Amidst a deafening explosion, one side of the fortress collapsed, revealing the intricate mechanical corridors within.

The two walked deeper along the sloping corridor, and ancient mechanical runes continued to emerge on the surrounding walls.

Ah Cai used ancient books to compare and found that the runes recorded the "forbidden experiments" of the mechanical gods - trying to merge the energy sources of different worlds to create a being beyond dimensions.

The out-of-control black crystals were the product of a failed experiment. These runes seemed to tell a long-forgotten history, a history filled with madness and ambition.

"Be careful!" Tong Jiayuan suddenly pounced on Acai.

A dark blue laser grazed their scalps and hit the wall behind them, melting a charred hole.

A humanoid fighting machine appeared at the corner, with half a black crystal embedded in its chest. Its mechanical eyes flashed with a strange purple light, as if it was a gaze from the abyss.

Its arms instantly transformed into flails, and it came smashing down with the force of thunder at such an extremely fast speed that the sound of the air being torn apart could be clearly heard.

Ah Cai rolled over to avoid it and threw out the Demon Binding Rope with her backhand.

The moment the chain wrapped around the joints of the machine, Tong Jiayuan's arrow shot accurately at the crystal.

The fighting machine made a sharp roar, and the armor on its body began to crack, but when it was about to explode, it suddenly split into three small mechanical bodies and launched attacks from different directions.

A Cai was forced into a corner, and at the critical moment, she inserted the mysterious energy fragments into the ground.

Golden light patterns spread from the fragments, forming a massive purifying array. Dazzling light illuminated the entire corridor. Three mechanical bodies struggled violently within the array. Amidst the shrill whistling of twisted metal, the black crystals on their surfaces burst into a dazzling purple light.

Ah Cai's temples were throbbing, and the resonance between the mysterious energy fragments and the mechanical body was like a heavy hammer hitting her consciousness.

At this moment, Tong Jiayuan suddenly ripped open his clothes, revealing a gear-shaped tattoo on his chest - that was the "resonance totem" passed down by the mechanical clan for thousands of years.