Chapter 599 The Spire (Part 4 Out Of 4)

After discovering that all of the remaining floors of the spire are all empty and devoid of the angels that I was looking for, I proceed to continue the climb and reached the second to the last floor to the top. There, sat a big automaton, shaped like an angel but one closer look and you will see that this was not alive.

The mini-boss before the main event. I was expecting it to be here but seeing it here means that it is already existing since the very beginning. According to the lore of the automaton, it was originally an automaton meant to guard the spire against any intruders. However, after the cult leader took over the spire, she rewrite all of the code of the automaton and made it guard the floor, right next to the top floor so that no one else will be able to climb the top floor.

I slowly approached it, trying to see whether this guy still function like it was before and as expected, my guess was correct. Approaching it will not activate its little functions. No matter what you do, it will not move. Not only that but even if you try to attack it on this mode, it is in its "Invincible" state which would render all kinds of attacks useless as everything will not connect to this guy.

There is only one way for it to stand up and attack. And I think the cult leader programmed this guy like that.

Approaching the next flight of stairs that will lead me to the next floor, the automaton that is staying still and inanimate started to boot up. Its eyes lit up red and stood up like a robot. Then, it dashes fast enough for normal eyes to have trouble following.

PENG!

"So you are now awake!"

Deflecting the blade in its hands, the automaton retreated a little bit after failing to kill me. That also revealed its HP and name to me.

[Ancient Automaton of the Spire](Mini-Boss)

HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000

Type: Automaton, Holy, Light

As expected of ancient creation, it was amazing. It's too bad that the angels no longer have any kind of knowledge about this kind of automaton as they are not even taking the ancient technology their ancestors made in the past. Even I would feel very lucky if I managed to get one like this.

Since the automaton is built with a frame similar to a human woman, its slender body is enough to easily move around and dash without any problems. But that design alone spells problems for me.

PENG! PENG! PENG!

Because the Automaton is a machine, it does not feel tired and will not stop until the intruder is killed. You can say that it is the ultimate guardian anyone would face. Its swift attacks forced me to change the Versatile Weapon's form to a Magic Sword and block all of its attacks that are coming to me.

The longer I am blocking those attacks, the heavier and stronger they go. If my Versatile Weapon has a durability bar present on it, it wouldn't take too long for its durability to plummet down as all of the attacks are quite weapon-damaging. Too bad that this weapon will never degrade, like ever so that feature does not work on me at all.

Since it keeps attacking, I have to keep my attention to all the strikes but occasionally, I am looking for a weak point of this guy. It might not stop attacking but remember that it is just a machine. Even a machine will stop working once it breaks so I am keeping my attention on it while also trying to stop all of its attacks.

It didn't take too long for me to find a chance to strike it.

PENG!

As our blades clashed once more, I immediately sweep its legs after its attack. Because its attack pattern repeats based on what was programmed, whenever it attacks, it repeats the same movement that perfectly replicates it every time it tries to do so. I took advantage of that, and sweep-kick the automaton.

It was painful but because of its stance, the automaton immediately went out of balance and fell to the ground. That's when its little core that is hidden behind its back appeared. I didn't waste my time and grab it with my hands and rip it out from the automaton. Without its core, the automaton returned to its previous inanimate state, effectively defeating it.

However, there is one thing that I am curious about. In the past timeline, we destroyed the automaton, and only the core of it was salvaged. Now that the body is still intact and the core is also intact, what if I just take this guy for myself?

Storing the core, I tried to also store the body of the automaton inside but because it was too big, it wasn't permitted. Still, it was proven to be something I can carry around.

"Atlas."

"Yes, Master?"

"Are you confident in your strength to lift and carry heavy things?"

"Although I would say I am confident, I am not going to promise I can lift every single heavy thing."

"Then perhaps you can try if you can lift this puppy up."

Atlas went outside of the Summon's Area and look at the motionless Automaton before me.

"You are planning on carrying the automaton with us?"

"I am planning to restore this automaton and use it for ourselves."

"Hmm, let me try but don't expect too much, Master. I may be strong but that doesn't mean I can carry anything especially if it was an automaton."

Atlas started stretching his body for a little bit. He is making sure that he won't break all of his bones once he attempts to lift them up. After stretching, he cracked his knuckles before grabbing the automaton up. Surprisingly, he easily picked it up.

"Huh. I thought it would be heavier but it wasn't that heavy. It's a manageable weight. So what am I gonna do about this?"

"Carry it back inside the summon's area, please. I will ask you again later once we have to take it back out again to make it function again."

"Alright."

Atlas carried it back to the Summon's Area, officially taking the automaton as my possession. If the Cult Leader saw this, I might have said "Look at me, this automaton is mine now" before walking away like a boss.

Now, my time has come to face the final boss, the top of the spire. Without anyone else trying to stop me from climbing, I continue to climb the long stairs until I arrived at the very top where the darkness of the sky has enveloped the top of the spire. The only source of light found in the area are the two torches that mysteriously glow in purple color as it dances on the wind.

Before me is a giant monolith with a hexagonal top on it with something a floating black circle that seems to be missing something. Its body is full of different symbols that looked like runes but it doesn't look like one and is more like doodles. It emits the same feeling as the Scourge itself.

And below the giant monolith is the cult leader, praying on it. Sensing my presence, the cult leader stood up, turned around, and glares at me with her fiery eyes, now glowing in red.

"So you have come."

It's time for this sh*t to end.