"ALDRED!!!"
The beam blasted a hole in Aldred's body. And he exploded into a blood of mist.
"Haha! You fool! You think I don't know that you're targeting me?"
A Bajaragon in the sky dived down and slammed itself onto the larger robot.
CRASH!
The Bajaragon transformed into a phantom claw and slashed. The large robot was disoriented. Aldred then transformed into a giant velobra and belched a poisonous miasma that devoured layers of the robot's armor.
Aldred transformed into his human adult form. Golden Battle Gear wrapped around his body with lightning sparked on its surface. He grabbed the air, and the spear appeared with lightning.
Aldred stared at the disoriented robot, and activated his muscles to full power before throwing the spear.
The spear stabbed the robot, and sent electric current, breaking many parts.
A steel tube protruded out of the robot's arm, and thick flame spewed out. It engulfed Aldred, but the flame started spinning like a whirlwind, and it entered Aldred's palm.
"Fighting me using flames? Big mistake!" Aldred pushed his palm. "Let me return it to you."
Powerful tongue of flames burst at the robot, causing it to overheat and stop functioning.
Dozens of 10 meter fire javelins stormed at the robots, and eventually, it fell to its knees.
The chest of the large robot let out a steam before the door went down, revealing a humanoid robot with copper skin. The robot then transformed into human appearance.
"It's you!"
The robot in front of him was actually the one he had met before on Mount Fargon.
"Nice to meet you, Aldred. My name is Thinker. I know this might not be a nice meeting by your definition, but I was told to be polite most of the time. I hope you don't find my remarks to be rude."
Aldred frowned. "What do you want? Why are you attacking me?"
"I want your ring."
"Ring? Oh, you mean this?" Aldred took out the Ring of Doarus he got from the empress and showed it to the robot.
The robot's eyes turned red and spun as if scanning the small object in Aldred's hand.
"Yes. My master told me to obtain that ring."
"I can give it to you. But there is a price."
"Everything has a price. That's what my analysis concluded after receiving enough data."
"Right... My asking price is 100 mecha. They have to be powerful enough to fight Elite Gold Rank and easy enough to use for my soldiers."
"Can you tell me your definition of Elite Gold Rank?" Thinker asked.
Aldred smiled. "Xer Xai. Show yourself."
Xer Xai burst out of the ground, and roared at Thinker. Of course, the robot didn't even flinch. He had no fear nor any other feeling.
"I want each mecha to be able to survive being chased and attacked by this creature for 30 minutes. Also, I don't want to use batteries for the mecha. They have to be self-sustainable in any environment."
"And of course I not only take survivability into account. I want the mecha to have enough offensive power to at least crack the exoskeletons on this beast."
Thinker shot out a probing laser at Xer Xai. The red light scanned the beast from top to bottom.
"How is it? Can you do it?"
"The data I received told me that it will be very expensive to meet your specification, but we can do it."
"Alright, send the mechas quickly. I will give you 3 days of time before I change my mind."
"Okay."
Thinker's back revealed a jet pack. It shot flames, pushing him into the sky.
The other robots were also retreating with jet packs. It was such a sight to see the hundreds of robots flying into the clouds.
Mary, Mira, Mareona, Sophia, Ivette, Stella, Zafrina all ran at him.
"Aldred, is that the guy we met on Mount Fargon?" Mary asked.
"Yes. My guess was right. He's a robot."
"What's a robot?" Mareona asked.
"A robot is something non-living yet acts like it's alive."
"So like undead or golem?"
"You can say that. But they don't use magic. Instead, they use something called technology. They only come from one nation. I am sure you have heard of it before."
"Duria," Aldred said. "Bacon, the Gold Rank adventurer that betrayed us, had said something about that nation before."
Mary nodded. "They are also known as Steel Forged. Despite their technological advancement, the nation is not willing to share their knowledge. They are very isolated and no one is allowed to trade in their country. Sometimes you can enter their city, but all of the technologies that you borrow must be returned."
"Can they sustain themselves like that?" Aldred asked.
"Although no one is allowed to trade with them, their government sometimes sends a specialized caravan to trade with other nations."
"So no one can come to their land to trade, but they can come to us?"
"Pretty much."
"How can that country not be conquered by someone yet?"
"If the Ceraisian Empire isn't at war with Montcresian, you can be sure that Duria will be blazed in flames right now."
"Is the Ceraisian Empire some sort of powerhouse in this continent?"
"You can say that. We won many wars and many great generals were born in our nation. From what I read, Ceraisian is always ready either for a war of attrition or thunder-like victory."
"I am guessing they are playing attrition with Montcresia."
Mary nodded. "If nothing changes, Montcresia will be taken over by a few generations. Their effort in trying to increase population is not that effective because of their past culture."
"Is that true, Mira?"
Mira nodded. "Although the pope had changed the bible. Some people still couldn't get used to having more than one wife. They still see it as unloyal, and inappropriate. The pope is working on it by giving more financial aid the more wives a man has."
"Damn. Getting money for having a lot of wives. Now that's a country I want to live in."
