The internal noise of fear, anger, or self-hatred was gone. His mind was clear, his senses alert. He began to notice details he would have missed before: the way the echo of their footsteps resonated in the vast cavern, the scent of damp rock mixed with the faint smell of ozone from the glowing crystals, and the way the blue luminescence shifted on the walls.
His eyes settled on 404's back. The deep scratches had almost completely sealed, leaving behind faint grey scars that resembled veins in marble.
"Your wounds..." Hong Min said, his voice coming out quiet. "They're closing."
"This is the self-healing protocol," 404 replied without turning around.
"Is this an ability of the Panir race?" Hong Min asked with genuine curiosity. "Do you use any kind of 'Soul Gate'?"
404 stopped for a moment. "Panir. you have repeated this word. I have no data on it. And 'Soul Gate,' I have no data on that either. I am healing, that is all."
The two continued walking, Hong Min processing this empty answer. Every mystery solved opened the door to ten more.
They finally reached the battlefield. The scene was a mixture of silent destruction and dormant power. The wreckage of stone pillars was scattered about, and the rock floor bore deep scars from the fight. In the center lay the body of the machine, headless, its right arm a pile of crushed metal.
Hong Min cautiously approached the severed head. It was larger than his own, its crimson lenses now dark and dead. Suddenly, the lenses flickered with a faint, intermittent red light, like a dying ember. A choppy, distorted metallic voice emanated from the head, but the words were clear, and in the same Kinara language he knew.
"...Must... protect... protect... the city... failed... to... protec..."
404 readied himself to pounce on the head, considering it a threat that might reactivate.
But before he could move, the red light in the machine's eyes went out completely, and silence fell. It was finally dead.
Hong Min stood in shock, staring at the silent machine. It wasn't a monster; it was a guardian. A guardian that had been doing its duty, and they had been the intruders.
Curiosity drove him to see what was inside this incredible being. He bent over the body, which was open at the chest where the wounds were deep. Inside, among the complex wires and circuits that pulsed with a faint light, he caught a quick glimpse of a gleaming metal plate, etched with symbols and inscriptions he had never seen in his life. And in the center of the plate, he recognized the same symbol that 404 had stared at for so long: a circle with three interlocking triangles inside. The inscriptions were elegant, geometric, and completely different from the rough script of the Murim.
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"What is this?" Hong Min wondered in confusion. "This is their written language... it's like nothing I know. But... the machine was speaking our language, Kinara. How can they speak one language and write in a completely different one? What kind of mad civilization is this?"
Before he could study it or even focus, the plate began to glow a hot red. He heard a sharp, high-pitched whining sound coming from the machine's body.
Hong Min leaped back quickly, pulling 404 with him. Within seconds, the machine's entire body was engulfed in a white-hot fire, so intense it produced no smoke. The metal and rock eroded and turned to fine ash, and then the ash itself vanished, leaving almost no trace, as if the machine had never been here at all.
"A self-destruct protocol..." Hong Min whispered in awe. "They didn't want anyone to know their secrets."
He stood stunned for a few moments, then his intense thirst drove him to the lake. He drank his fill of the cold water, his mind still processing everything that had happened. As he wiped his face with water, he looked into the clear depths that reflected the cavern's blue lights.
And there, at the bottom of the lake, just a few meters from the edge, he saw it.
A massive, square stone door, set into the lakebed. It was adorned with the same strange, geometric inscriptions he had glimpsed inside the machine. And in its center, carved clearly, was the same central emblem: a circle with three interlocking triangles.
The door wasn't glowing, but it was there, unmistakable in the clear water. The secret that had just vanished had reappeared before him once more in a new, deeper mystery, waiting in silence at the bottom of the lake.
[From the Files of the Explorer: Dream - Log #02]
Entity: The Automated Guard
Origin: Automaton Type (per Murim classification): The Striking Blade Rank (per Murim classification): Rank 5 - Flood General Description and Behavior: This entity is fundamentally different from the organic "Jalmoud." It is a fully metallic construction, its frame leaner and more agile, made of a polished, dark grey material I have never seen before. It has no face, only a smooth surface with two circular lenses that radiate a cold, lifeless crimson light. Its movements are fluid, precise, and terrifyingly silent, like a specter made of metal. Its logic is horrifyingly simple and direct. It seems programmed with a single objective: maintain the "order" of the place. It completely ignores anything that doesn't move, but the moment it senses an unclassified living being, it deems it an "error" or a "virus" in the system that must be eliminated. It doesn't hunt for food; it hunts for "purification." If you are not part of its system, you are trash to be erased. Known Abilities:
- Superhuman Speed: Its speed far exceeds that of "Jalmoud." It can dodge and dash in a flash. It is not a slow mountain of destruction, but a flash of death.
- Integrated Weaponry: Capable of extending a sharp, glowing blade from its arm. It likely has other hidden weapons.
- Tactical Intelligence: The most terrifying thing about it is not its speed, but its mind. It is not a dumb machine. I saw it change its strategy mid-battle when it realized it couldn't win in a direct confrontation of strength. Its exploitation of a hostage weakness was a cruel and sickeningly intelligent move.
- Self-Destruct Protocol: Worst of all, upon taking critical damage, it activates a self-destruct mechanism that turns it to ash, hiding all the secrets of its creators. You can't even take a piece of metal from it as a souvenir. Its makers were insanely cautious.
Personal Speculations: Its raw physical strength is less than "Jalmoud's," but it is exponentially more dangerous. Speed and intelligence are a deadly combination. Its only weakness may be its literal logic. It can be confused or tricked by unexpected commands or situations, as happened when its own severed arm was thrown at it. Its system seems to process threats in a specific order, and this can be exploited.