Chapter 323 Automatons
âJoe, Gou Dan, keep up the pressure on those two!â Edward cried as he caught one of the Red Eyes Black Dragonâs talons as it flew downstream. âIâll help Eleena!â
After all, even though Eleena was able to cast her skill and prove that she wasnât stunned or put to sleep, the sack and the rope keeping it close proved enough to stop her from escaping.
If left to her own devices, she might soon die and be resurrected in the Unnamed TownâŠ
âIâm Doug Ag!â Gou Dan complained, but didnât protest against Edwardâs call. As a Player, he was certainly very sharp when his foe wasnât dead.
âThe EXP hasnât come to me yet! Who do you think youâre fooling by playing dead!??â
Even though the two kidnappers had fallen quite hard, they were certainly tough enough to survive it since they had managed to keep their distance from three first-rate Players for so long. In fact, they had regained consciousness even before Joe and Gou Dan could reach them.
Whether it had been because Eleena had flowed downstream and gone out of range or some other reason, the Chains of Penance that bound the two menâs feet had vanished, breaking into countless fragments of light and restoring freedom to them.
It appeared that they had no intention of running eitherâwith their target lost, the two simply stood their ground to face Joe and Gou Dan.
The shorter man had even whipped out his small shield in an instant, deflecting the arrows Doug Ag shot at him.
The text on both menâs heads then left Gou Dan and Joe doing double takes.
The tall man was named âMercurial Automatonâ and was Level 36. The short man was âSilvered Automatonâ and was Level 44. They werenât humans, but automatons, like golems!?
And their levels were surprisingly high-few first-rate Players would have the depth to defeat them outright.
That was especially true in the cast of the shorter man. Although thereâs no telling what template he possessed at the moment, at his level, he could hold his own against the young Barren Giant alone!
Furthermore, when their mysterious war hammer and the buckler were taken into account, they were surely evenly matched against Players of the same level even if they had normal monster templates, or perhaps even a class above.
Naturally, Joe and Gou Dan were prepared for them to be as strong as they were mysterious. But what truly stunned them was that they had clearly abducted Eleena and fought them, but their names remained yellow-neutral even now, and not red, signifying an enemy.
âGou Dan, what should we do?â Joe asked.
If they stick to Edwardâs usual orientation, they would refrain from attacking yellow names and try to win them over to their side, in turn strengthening the reputation of the Church of Games.
In fact, that principle was more or less how the Players easily won the assistance from the Crookes city watch. âDo you need to ask? Get them!â Gou Dan didnât hesitate to raise his AWM. âItâs not like this is our first time taking down yellow-names! Or what, are we supposed to invite them to do after what theyâve done?!â
No sooner had Gou Dan finished, he was sent flying into a building beside the path as the war hammer streaked towards him.
That naturally provoked Joe, who swung his legendary greatsword Giantâs Toe at the two men while bellowing, âSmite!â
The short man merely raised his buckler calmly in response, but Joeâs familiar spirit suddenly leaped out from the ground beneath them, crying ora as it punched them on the chin and sent them flying.
âFools! Iâve never learned Smite!â
Joe grinned as he pressed his advantage, controlling his spirit familiar to grab the Silvered Automatonâthe shorter man-and barraged his face with full-strength punches with such violent force that the ground beneath was cracking!
Beside him, the lanky Mercurial Automaton could well see that the situation was dire. He immediately spread his palm to summon his illogical war hammer, which shot out from the building which dust had yet to settle.
But when the tall man really focused his eyes, he soon realized that it wasnât just his hammer flying to himâthe young human he had sent flying was coming too.
Even as Gou Dan held on to the war hammer as it streaked towards the tall man, he raised his AWM which was in wristbow mode and shot the tall man at point-blank range.
âArmor-piercing shot plus explosive enchantment! Now die!â
The bolt that was wrapped in Divine Grace easily pierced the tall manâs head, punching into his head with only half of its shaft sticking out.
Soon, the explosive enchantment kicked in and the bolt blew up violently in the manâs head, the shockwave even sending Gou Dan flyinghe was only able to stop after rolling a while on the ground.
At the same time, smoke billowed and swallowed the two automatons, preventing both Joe and Gou Dan from confirming what happened to them.
âNo EXP! They arenât dead yet!â Joe shouted at Gou Dan after checking his System notifications.
âTch! They survived!?â Gou Dan exclaimed in disbelief. âI blew up his brains! Itâs not like heâs undead!â
âAre automatons any different from undead?â âUhâŠâ
Gou Dan considered it at Joeâs question, and realized that the two really werenât that different.
If one had to describe it, undead were bodies that moved driven by soulfire, whereas automatons used a different energy source.
Moreover, compared to undead which were merely fragile corpses and skeletons, the automatons were several times more durableâŠ
âLooks like we either have to empty their HP bar or destroy their energy core if headshots wouldnât work.â Gou Dan frowned while blowing a raspberry at how troublesome the situation was.
***
As the dust settled, the two automatons were already gone, leaving silver fragments which had either been punched out or blasted apart. Each of the fragments were tossing and turning like worms or leeches too, twisting into an S-shape one second and a B the nextâŠ
Both Joe and Gou Dan were left bewildered, even though they had been wary of any danger at first.
âDamn it, they got away and without making a sound? Are they cats or something!?â Joe cursed, clenching his greatsword as he vented his frustration.
Gou Dan couldnât help being weirded out too.
There werenât any alleys nearby where the automatons could escape from, and while there were drains, it was too small unlike the sewage in Lancaster-no adults could move within.
And if they were really running under the cover of the smoke, they shouldnât have gotten so far there was no glimpse of them in such a short time.
So how the hell did those two automatons escape right under their noses? ââŠI feel that this city is not as simple as we imagined.â Gou Dan muttered, scratching his head.
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