Gacha Addict in a Matriarchal World

Chapter 160: The Veil Of Deception (2)

Cogwheel Stragglers.

In other words, the God of Machinery’s warriors who were left behind.

A monster with decayed flesh barely maintaining its original form, resembling a skeleton with a metallic body.

It might seem similar to a Human Golem, but there’s a difference in purpose.

A Human Golem is given a second life with a new body to a warrior who has died once or is on the brink of death.

It could be considered a leisurely retirement life.

Thus, their duties are mostly security or patrol. The first Human Golem we encountered was patrolling the Safe Zone we ascended to on the 3rd Floor...probably the residential area for ordinary believers.

In contrast, the Cogwheel Straggler, though defeated and broken, is rusted and corroded in places.

Nevertheless, those who were modified to engage in war...especially the War of the Fallen Gods.

Their combat power should not be underestimated.

Screech-!

The creature exhaling rotten-smelling vapors, raising a massive stake.

Is it a kind of pile bunker? Surely a weapon equipped to defeat an enemy more powerful than itself.

In the War of the Fallen Gods, there are limits to what an ordinary soldier can do, even after being modified with the power of the God of Machinery.

The fact that it aimed such a weapon at someone who looks as weak as me...no, not at me, but at Lydia and Benny who were behind me.

Such an insolent creature.

I smirked and took my stance.

“It’s time to be discharged.”

With that mutter, I kicked off the ground. The distance closed in an instant.

Did it not expect me to charge first? It hesitated briefly before turning its gaze towards me.

From its hollow eye sockets, I caught a glimpse of clicking gears. And then.

Clank!

As if reloading, its arm retreated a full length backward.

Not knowing how far it would extend, I decided to avoid it entirely rather than adjust the distance.

“One shot first!”

Swinging my hand sideways, I fired three arrows from my Wrist Crossbow that had been loaded.

Swoosh!

The arrows flew not at a single point but in a straight line horizontally. The geared soldier responded by raising its opposite arm.

Half-destroyed and rusted, it was once a shield likely adorned with elegant patterns.

Judging by the complex mechanical device attached, it seemed to have functions beyond a simple shield, but...

It was difficult to guess its original shape, as only traces remained, perhaps shattered in the moment of defeat.

In other words, it couldn’t cover a third of the upper body now, but it was still a thick and sturdy shield.

Even though the arrows were fired at a fairly fast speed after several enhancements, they weren’t enough to pierce such a large metal mass.@@@@

Ting ting!

The arrows bounced off with a light sound. But it didn’t matter. This was what I hoped for.

The arrows scattered in all directions. Just as the arrows, which caused no damage, were about to pass the Cogwheel Straggler.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, an immense amount of light burst from the arrowheads.

Unlike the Explosive Arrows used against the Human Golem before, these were Illumination Arrows.

Originally used to shoot far away to brighten areas out of reach...

If activated from such a close range, it can briefly rob the enemy of sight.

Thanks to prior preparation, I opened my eyes just before the light burst.

I thought it might not work since its eyes were already rotten and crumbled, and it was perceiving the world with the remaining sensory aid of mechanical devices... RANОBΕs̈

“Now, you have no weapon?”

Laughing with a cackle, I completely released the greatsword and drew the Unicorn Dagger once more.

The greatsword lodged in the shield made it difficult for it to move, which means that the opponent also struggled to handle the shield.

The pile bunker, now missing its stake, resembled a mitten.

And the gesture of the Cogwheel Straggler swinging it with one arm was closer to that of a child.

“Bring it on.”

In any case, a dagger can’t cut through thick metal. But must one really cleave that ticking, fume-spewing hunk of iron?

“Hup!”

The first thing to do was to remove the flesh stuck between the metal bones and gear joints.

Slash. Slash.

The dagger swiftly skimmed over the skeleton of the gear-ridden survivor. Each time, rotten chunks of flesh fell away.

The sensation was like stripping meat off a chicken leg. Yet, even after tearing off all the flesh...even the maggot-infested head and the brain inside, the remnant Straggler functioned perfectly fine.

“Haaa...”

Indeed, the body was merely a relic of the past, with all control seemingly conducted by the rampaging machinery.

I should have smashed that black box from earlier.

Swallowing a deep sigh internally, I wielded the dagger once more.

This time, targeting the hydraulic hose extending from the heart area, spreading throughout the body.

Press... Slash.

It seemed to resist slightly, perhaps due to its rather sturdy material, but soon enough, the hose snapped.

From the cut surface, a massive amount of oil vapor spewed out, emitting a foul stench.

“Ugh.”

The smell was enough to induce a gag reflex, but it proved effective.

With a noticeably sluggish movement, the creature thrusts the pile bunker like a fist.

Even when its body was intact, it couldn’t land a hit, so why would it succeed now?

I easily dodged this as well and proceeded to slash another hose with my dagger.

Fssssshhh-!

A cloud of vapor spread instantly. The oil-infused gears began to work even harder, but...it was nothing more than a final flicker.

The creature, which had been struggling for a while, gradually grew still and soon could barely move.

However, seeing that the gears in the eye sockets creak instead of the pupils, it wasn’t dead. It was just immobilized.

Given time, it might recover, but...that time is not now.

I twisted the greatsword and ripped it from the shield right in front of the immobilized creature. And then.

“Stop it, and die.”

I wield the weight of the greatsword, light only to me, as a weapon and swing it towards the Cogwheel Straggler’s head.

Thwack!

Once wasn’t enough, so I kept striking down.

Thud! Thwack! Thud!

How many times did I strike it down like that? Eventually, the creature’s cogwheel stopped spinning as its skull caved in.

“...Hah.”

It took this long just to take one down.

Twisting open the cogwheel at the heart to extract the Magic Stone, I asked Lydia and Benny, who were watching in a ready-to-intervene stance.

“Should we take down just a few more and then return to the surface for now?”

It’s not about getting used to combat. I needed proper equipment and to devise a strategy.