Hyper-Dimensional Player-Chapter 397 - 24: Ancient Ruins

Rumble!

The ground started to shake, countless fragments of rock fell down. Their group had been digging for more than half a month and had excavated thousands of meters down. At this moment, the walls on both sides cracked open, as if some mechanism had been triggered, and heavy footsteps echoed from the darkness.

——Dwarven Defender (Ancient Mechanized Body) (Divine Hall Guard) (Three-star Silvery Gray)!

——Dwarven Furnace Guard (Ancient Mechanized Body) (Divine Hall Guard) (Three-star Silvery Gray)!

——Moradin’s Steel Guardian (Ancient Mechanized Body) (Divine Hall Guard) (Four-star Silvery Gray)!

Three mechanical guardians, standing three to four meters tall, emerged. Their surfaces were even marked with bronze-colored rust. The leading golem wielded a heavy warhammer and carried a thick dwarven tower shield. In an instant, a massive force surged, with rocks flying everywhere, and the howling wind smashed towards Tassia.

Facing the sudden enemy, Tassia quickly retreated. With the help of her mechanical arms, she moved like Spider-Man, her expression tense yet exhilarated: "We’ve hit the jackpot!"

"Below us are ancient relics from the Mythical Era."

"We might excavate an ancient dwarven city."

Boom.

A huge force smashed the excavation shield machine ahead into a pile of scrap metal. The three activated ancient dwarf mechanized bodies appeared sluggish, but their combat power was astounding. With a booming dull sound, the runes of the Dwarven Mythical Era lit up on their warhammers, a unique engraving close to the rune language.

"Watch out for the lava!"

At that moment, a startled voice came from the side.

A hot stream gushed out from the underground, continuously spouting lava from the triggered mechanism. A man who didn’t escape in time was engulfed by the lava, his body instantly obliterated.

"Something’s not right!..."

Duncan had arrived by now; they took turns digging, resting in shifts while the machines worked non-stop. If a machine malfunctioned, Duncan would apply Holy Oil to appease the Machine Spirit. This maintenance method seemed bizarre but was indeed effective.

At the rear of the team, Bert, dressed as an Esoteric Practitioner, pulled out a section of mistletoe staff, saying solemnly, "We might have uncovered something incredible."

A dull gunshot echoed.

Tassia, using the power of her mechanical arms, leapt ten meters, landing on a rock. She shouted, "Gun! Give me the biggest one!"

In the corner, a burly mercenary tossed an upgraded heavy machine gun over.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

A storm of metal pummeled the dwarven mechanized body, denting its surface, but the bullets could not penetrate its thick armor. As the formation of the three mechanized bodies changed, the defender holding the dwarven tower shield moved to the front of the team.

The runes on their surfaces glowed faintly, seemingly activating different combat modes.

On the projection page.

A line of special prompts appeared.

——"Dwarven Defender activated the Combat Specialization ’Defense and Attack’."

——"Dwarven Furnace Guard activated the Combat Specialization ’Fierce Attack’."

——"Moradin’s Steel Guardian activated the Combat Specialization ’Flowing Slash’!"

Huh?

Why are there combat prompts?

Duncan glanced at the prompt box with his mind, discovering that the mark of the ’Mechanical Soul’ had lit up. These were all messages from the Mechanical Soul, as if it had a special perception of mechanized bodies, informing Duncan of the enemy’s actions.

A hail of bullets tilted out.

Using the strength of the mechanical arms, Tassia lifted the modified heavy machine gun, its 30-centimeter diameter akin to a cannon, and swept a dense firepower net across the enemies. If they were flesh and blood, they’d probably have been shredded to bits by now.

But these hulking creatures were made of steel, capable of withstanding damage but not being torn apart.

"Watch out!"

Just then.

The foremost Dwarven Defender launched a Shield Strike, its dwarven tower shield weighing at least half a ton. A mercenary hiding in the corner who’d just pulled out a grenade was smashed into pulp by the shield, which then exploded, making the Dwarven Defender’s leg unstable, struggling to maintain its balance as it moved.

"No, we need armor-piercing bullets!"

Tassia glanced back at Duncan and shouted, "The armor-piercing bullets are in the iron box next to the rack, toss me one, there’s a sniper rifle too!"

Duncan immediately turned, grabbing and tossing the iron box over.

But in these few seconds, the battle had already shifted. Under the cover of the Dwarven Furnace Guard, the rearmost Moradin’s Steel Guardian had charged in front of everyone, deceptively quick despite appearing slow.

The large warhammer swept by with a whoosh!

Splutch.

A mercenary’s upper body was smashed to pieces instantly, the heavy warhammer’s momentum unabated, swinging like a whirlwind towards another.

Flowing Slash.

Duncan had already picked up a sniper rifle, though it was extremely heavy, weighing around thirty kilograms.

"What the hell!?"

"Can mechanized bodies possess such combat skills?"

At the front of the battlefield, a one-sided slaughter had erupted. The other two dwarf mechanized bodies were cumbersome, but Moradin’s Steel Guardian was different. Duncan saw a sophisticated combat technique in its actions.

Even as it maneuvered and charged, its steps remained flawless, proficiently balanced, harmonizing with its mechanical structure.

Its attack carried enormous inertia; after smashing a mechanic into pulp, its massive mechanized body moved in sync, sidestepping, twisting, advancing, charging, its warhammer rotating a full 360 degrees, crushing a mercenary hiding behind a mechanical cover into a bloody mess.

These advanced combat techniques even surpass those of many veterans.

Even the mechanical guards in Nest City, those mechanical servants made by the Mechanical Divine Sect, fall far short of the combat skills it possesses.

Bang!

At this moment, Duncan finally fired.

Unlike the trajectory of arrows, the trajectory of firearms is easier to control. An armor-piercing bullet hit the enemy’s right arm, instantly penetrating the thick armor and exposing a primitive mechanical structure. Duncan couldn’t understand why such a primitive mechanical structure could exhibit such advanced combat skills.

The dwarf’s heavy hammer hit the ground.

The steel guard of Moradin picked up the warhammer with the other hand and suddenly threw it in Duncan’s direction.

Rumble!

A large section of the surrounding stone walls collapsed, and Duncan’s figure emerged awkwardly from the dust, clutching the sniper rifle to find the next firing point.

At this moment.

Bert, dressed as an esoteric practitioner, had completed his spellcasting. He used an unknown spell, directly using holy oil as the casting material, and then saw black, tar-like substances spread throughout the passage. A spark appeared next, and the spreading fire instantly set the entire passage ablaze.

"It’s useless!"

"They are not afraid of fire!"

Tassia mounted three guns simultaneously, forming a firing position. The mechanical nerve bundle at her spine had already linked two additional mechanical arms. She operated a heavy machine gun herself, while each mechanical arm controlled a gun, her firepower exceeding that of an entire platoon.

Ratatatat!

The brief metallic storm finally stopped the enemies from advancing. Tassia prayed while shooting, relying on a mechanical prayer to correct the trajectory, appease the machine spirit, and prevent bullet jams. Even as the barrel was overloaded and overheated, her prayers kept it from exploding, allowing accurate hits on the massive enemy within the flames.

This is the ability of a mechanical cultivator, using mental power to correct the bullet’s trajectory.

By now, Duncan had already set up the sniper rifle again, but just as he was about to aim and shoot, Bert, opposite him, suddenly raised a hand to stop him.

"Wait a moment."

At this moment, Bert’s second spell was about to be completed. As he recited the ancient incantation, a cold wind suddenly swept through the passage, followed by a small blizzard.

The flames quickly died out.

The dwarven mechanized bodies, their entire frames slightly glowing red from the intense fire, reappeared, and after a hailstorm fell, their bodies quickly cooled. The hail caused no harm to them. Such spells might only cause slight bruising if cast on flesh and blood, battering the heads of ordinary people.

Bang!

Duncan instantly realized something, aimed his gun directly at the enemy’s head. These dwarf mechanized bodies were absurdly tough, their iron constructs adorned with metal helmets, their defenses terrifyingly high.

The armor-piercing bullet cut through the air.

Click.

The Moradin steel guard at the forefront was directly shot in the head. The heavy armor seemed to lose some of its function, revealing a crystal-like stone shattered by the bullet inside the fractured skull.

After eliminating the most threatening Moradin guard, the subsequent battle became much easier.

Tassia continued the suppressive fire, shattering one defender’s knee, then shouted to Duncan, "Keep going! Aim for the head!"

Bang!

Duncan set up the sniper rifle, and the second bullet blew off the head of the furnace guard. As the head exploded, some silvery white metallic fragments were scattered, a faint glow of curiosities forming atop them.

——Mithril fragments.

By now, the last of the dwarf defenders had both legs blown off, significantly reducing its threat. Duncan reloaded unhurriedly and landed a finishing shot.

"Quick, save him!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

At this moment, Bert rushed out, dragging a man buried in the collapsed ruins. With a touch, he realized the man no longer had any breath.

The entire exploration team consisted of eighteen people, eleven dead and two injured, with all injuries caused by the collapsing stones.

Anyone hit by those three dwarf mechanized bodies was almost certainly killed.

Those directly hammered by the dwarven warhammer died in pieces.

"Damn!"

"So many casualties!"

Tassia’s face was grim, the initial excitement gone. The enemies were not as the records described; these old mechanized bodies were supposed to be easy to deal with, some even unable to operate properly.

But these dwarf mechanized bodies were different. None of their functions were damaged. Without modern firearms for suppressive fire, they likely would have been utterly annihilated.

A tiny, imperceptible glow merged into Duncan’s body.

Unlike World One, this was Duncan’s first time seizing abilities from a non-fleshy enemy, and he managed to acquire three combat skills at once.

——Defense and Attack, Fierce Attack, Flowing Slash.

Duncan now had a strange feeling, unlike the mechanical servants made by the Mechanical Divine Sect. These dwarf creations possessed a trace of soul, not merely being pure mechanical tools. Even in the images of seized combat skills, it was not the mechanical bodies practicing the corresponding combat techniques but bearded dwarf warriors.

These combat techniques originated from flesh and blood lifeforms, injected into the mechanical puppets through some spell.

"Soul stone..."

Bert crouched down and picked up a fragment of crystal stone on the ground. "What a pity, it’s already shattered."

.........