Free Web NovelChapter 269: Chapter 263: Metal in Flesh and Blood
Seven metal components.
Two fragments of neural wiring.
One metallic organ.
And a large mass of a strange, silvery-black metal, fused with charred flesh and blood—so intertwined it was difficult to separate even with tweezers—which emitted a pungent, acrid stench.
On the workbench, the items dug out from the Snail Monster’s head and body were arranged in a row by Allen according to size.
Standing before the bench, he first used Craftsman’s Hand to pick up the most intact metal component, holding it up to the light for careful inspection.
The metal’s surface was slightly coarse and intricately shaped. It didn’t look like a product of machining; it had a strange... organic quality, as if it had grown.
Allen then cut open a piece of tissue coated in green mucus and flesh, revealing the metallic interface within.
Allen’s pupils contracted slightly.
’So it was true!’
The metal and flesh were actually fused together on a microscopic level.
The Magical Beast’s capillaries had penetrated the pores of the metal like vines, while extremely fine filaments extending from within the metal had replaced its nerve fibers, connecting directly to the Magical Beast’s spinal cord.
Allen frowned slightly as he looked at the piece of flesh, which was still twitching faintly due to nerve reflexes.
’This is definitely not a product of natural evolution.’
Over the next three hours, Allen conducted hundreds of tests on the remains.
Through meticulous separation and experimentation, he finally determined the functions of two of the core components.
"This is a Magic Power Frequency Modulator," Allen concluded, watching the waveform chart flicker wildly on the holographic screen.
This metal plate, originally connected to the Snail Monster’s heart and thoracic cavity, was an extremely crude "Overclocker." It could forcibly alter the Magical Beast’s own Magic Power fluctuation frequency, unlocking the organism’s maximum output.
That explained why the monster’s Magic Power reading had instantly skyrocketed from 4800 to 5800 after devouring the corpses. It wasn’t evolving; it was absorbing energy to overdraw its limits.
The price was that the modified Magical Beast’s internal organs would fail at ten times the normal rate.
The other component, which was connected to numerous nerves, was a "Perception Amplifier."
It could enhance, amplify, and digitize an organism’s visual signals before outputting them, granting the Snail Monster a precise, over-the-horizon perception range exceeding one hundred kilometers.
That was the real reason the monster could precisely snipe his Demon Eye nodes from an altitude of twenty thousand meters.
’So it wasn’t some innate biological sensory talent, but the effect of technological enhancement.’
The remaining few pieces were too damaged to determine their function through testing.
He leaned against the workbench, lost in silent thought.
’This is a modification system that uses a living organism as a "chassis."’
’Neural wiring connects to the native nerve plexus, metal modules are implanted into the body cavity, the Magical Beast’s own Magic Power circuit is used as an energy supply, and then... some kind of aberrant power is used as an adhesive to force the flesh and metal to grow together.’
’A crude, bizarre technological path. It looks like the work of a Wizard from some branch of the Alchemy School.’
’His path with Golems is "purely mechanical, built from scratch"—the frame, the engine, the controls, he builds every single piece.’
’This other path is "bio-fusion and sourced modification"—find a ready-made monster and shove things into its body while it’s still alive.’
’A technological path completely different from his own, but just as self-consistent.’
’Both paths have their pros and cons. His own is highly controllable and can be mass-produced, but its upper limits are restricted by materials. The other path’s upper limit depends on the talent of the "chassis" (the Magical Beast), and the catalysis of that aberrant power seems capable of breaking through certain natural limits.’
’He found a term for it in his mind: biomechanical modification.’
’And that aberrant power capable of fusing metal and flesh has a well-known source in the Wizarding World.’
’Abyssal Corruption.’
’That’s right. The Black Wizards of the Eternal Secret Sect.’
Allen wasn’t an expert in this field. The "biological modification" branch of his entire knowledge base was almost a blank slate. But he could at least read the technical profile of this Black Wizard—they came from the Alchemy School and followed a path of using living beings as raw materials, not the allied logic of a contract-based school.
There was another matter that warranted caution.
’The Snail Monster couldn’t possibly be the only one of its kind.’
Allen shifted his gaze toward the sand table, his expression growing grim.
’Of the forty-seven hundred Magical Beasts currently approaching Zone 18, how many are "all-natural"? How many have had control modules shoved inside them, waiting to go berserk at a certain signal?’
He had no way of getting the answer to that question right now.
But he could start preparing the tools to find it.
"Jarvis, create a new research file. Focus: frequency jamming technology for Magic Power Frequency Modulators, and rapid scanning technology for metallic implants."
"Assign the seventh thread to this research task. Mobilize three worker drones for remote support."
[Received.]
With the arrangements made, his attention turned back to the western battlefield.
[Frontline Combat Report Update.]
[Storm Falcon Squadron 36-hour engagement results: 71 orange-level "hard-nut" targets killed. 15 remaining targets not killed due to ammunition expenditure, target entering complex terrain, etc., but all are in an injured state. Total Magical Beast count reduced from over 6,000 to approximately 4,700.]
[Current Situation: Magical Beast swarm shows signs of regrouping along certain routes. In as early as 12 hours, the vanguard of the swarm is projected to enter the 200-kilometer inner strike circle of the western border of the war zone.]
’The data is normal, within projected parameters.’
Allen’s gaze swept over the troop deployment map. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
The defensive line of Purgatory Platforms and Spider Killers had already been established.
"The remaining 15 orange-level targets—abort aerial hunting and leave them for subsequent forces. Conserve the Purgatory’s ammunition as much as possible. Let the Spider Killer clusters hunt any swarms with fewer than 50 Magical Beasts."
[Directive issued.]
[Rules of engagement updated.]
He handed off tactical command to the fifth and sixth threads and walked toward the Meditation Room.
"Jarvis, current layout of the Demon Eye Mk. IVs."
[Reconnaissance chain consists of 21 nodes. Nodes 07 and 08 are destroyed. 19 remain. The three nodes closest to the Ironstar 6th Legion’s engagement zone are 15, 16, and 17. They are currently at the outer edge of observation range.]
"Have Node 15 move in for close-range observation. According to projections, those two Morning Star-levels are about to fight."
[Upon execution, the node will be exposed to the aftershocks of Magic Power from the Morning Star-level battlefield, with a chance of being destroyed.]
Allen paused for a second.
"Execute. Intelligence acquisition is the priority. Even if it only transmits one second of footage, it’ll be worth the cost."
A Demon Eye Mk. IV began to move.
A dozen or so minutes later, a more detailed image was transmitted back.
It was a great plain 800 kilometers away.
The Ironstar 6th Legion’s interception line was still holding, but the focus of the battlefield had shifted.
The Morning Star-level Rock Armor Earth Dragon Emperor, with a fluctuation reading of twelve thousand, was now facing off against the three-hundred-meter-tall giant main Golem.
A mountain of steel was about to collide with a cataclysmic Magical Beast.
---
「Meanwhile, fifteen hundred kilometers due west of Zone 18, deep underground.」
A shadowy figure with a blurred face stood before a massive, cylindrical cultivation tank.
The liquid inside the tank was a sickly green, and dozens of metal tubes connected the thing within to the surrounding equipment.
The thing was writhing.
A panicked voice came from the side:
"Number 2 is dead."
The shadowy figure was silent for a moment.
"How did it die?"
"...As per your instructions, we didn’t conduct a close-range reconnaissance."
The figure didn’t turn around, but simply placed a hand gently on the glass wall of the cultivation tank.
The thing inside the tank trembled slightly, drawn to the warmth of the palm.
"Zone 18... what school is that Wizard from?"
"The Alchemy School. A First-level Wizard."
Another silence fell, longer than the last.
