Chapter 317

The barrage of questions from Leah had finally settled down, and as things calmed, the conversation shifted to introducing the piloted device.

“My apologies. But thanks to Cardina, I feel like I’ve taken another step forward. Thank you for the talk.”

“Peewee!”

Cardina raised its right wing, as if to say there was no issue.

“Now, let’s bring out the main attraction—here we go. This is it.”

“Hm?”

“Eh?”

“Peewee?”

“Neigh?”

“Nnn?”

The object that prompted question marks from everyone except Nana and Leah was a massive sphere, about four meters in diameter, made of brown mineral. It had no distinguishing features, appearing merely as a sturdy, unremarkable item.

“You ride this? It looks like it’d roll around when it moves…”

“Hehe, it’s fine. This one’s a bit special.”

Saying this, Leah used the spider legs extending from the hem of her light armor to scuttle toward the sphere, then jumped and landed on its top. Bending the spider legs to stand on her own feet, she thrust the eight legs, which had been idling in a skirt-like formation, into the top of the sphere.

A circular hole opened at the top where her feet rested, and supported by the spider legs, she slowly descended inside.

“Leah’s gone inside, huh.”

“Neigh!”

As everyone watched, Leah opened her eyes on the soft pilot seat inside the dim sphere. She envisioned the eight spider legs, still extended upward, inserting into the eight sockets surrounding the seat.

As each spider leg slotted into a socket, the overhead hole closed, plunging her into complete darkness. At that moment, the activation sequence began.

First, the superior Magic Brain, crafted from the Magic Stone of a dungeon boss dragon, absorbed Leah’s Dragon Force to sequentially awaken the other brains: four for the drive system, three for the visual system, two for the auditory system, one for shape control, three for attack magic, and three for probing, totaling sixteen Magic Brains.

Activating the visual system first, camera-like lenses appeared on the sphere’s exterior, two aligned horizontally near the center in all directions—up, down, front, back, left, and right—as if eyelids were opening.

“Lenses popped out! Hey, Leah, can you see from in there?”

“I can see, big sister!”

“Whoa, you can talk normally too?”

“Yes, the auditory system started up fine.”

As the lenses appeared outside, six monitors activated inside, illuminating the interior brightly. The front monitor displayed Ai waving or peering in.

Once all monitors were operational, the auditory system activated, delivering external sounds stereophonically to Leah’s ears. Flipping a switch on the armrest of the pilot seat, Leah’s voice was transmitted outside.

When the probing system completed activation, it began emitting Detection Magic, displaying a radar in the corner of the monitor showing living beings within a twenty-five-meter radius as dots.

A voice echoed inside, announcing that all remaining brains had activated.

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“Huh? Was that Nana’s voice coming from inside the sphere?”

“I recorded my voice for it. Leah was too embarrassed to record her own.”

“Leah’s really pulling off all sorts of things with recording functions and cameras.”

“It seems she struggled quite a bit to create a camera that allows All-Seeing Eye to work through the monitors.”

Apparently, just mimicking a smartphone camera didn’t allow All-Seeing Eye to function through the footage. But with the special camera she developed, she managed to make it work, albeit slightly less effectively than with the naked eye.

“Is that so? Well, without that, Leah’s strengths wouldn’t be fully utilized.”

“Hmm, I get that, but how does that round thing fight, exactly?”

“Peewee?”

Despite explanations from Nana and Leah during the activation process, which hinted at various functions, its combat capabilities were still unclear from its appearance.

“Now that activation is complete, I’ll start moving it. First, Shape 1: Kirin.”

“““Kirin?”””

“Peewee?”

“Neigh?”

As Tatsuro, Ai, Athena, Cardina, and Jeanne pictured a long-necked herbivore, the sphere suddenly flared with Forge Flame, its form melting like clay. Dragon Scales emerged, and the sphere transformed.

“A Kirin, but the mythical kind.”

“Like the one on beer labels, right? And it changes shape!”

“Yes. Using materials from the previous dungeon boss we defeated with Nana, I modified a glass orb from the treasure vault that turns into a golem. With my Smithing Skills’ transformation and creation, I can instantly reshape it into forms programmed into the Magic Brain. Normally, my Smithing Skills level wouldn’t allow such free manipulation of this material, but since acquiring the Soldlung title, my compatibility has improved, enabling this.”

From a mere four-meter-diameter sphere, it transformed into a four-meter-tall creature clad in dungeon boss Dragon Scales, with a horse-like body but a ferocious, dragon-like face. A single, sword-like horn with a sharp edge protruded proudly from its forehead.

“This form’s specialty is speed. Likely because it’s based on a horse-type golem monster’s material, this quadrupedal shape maximizes mobility.”

“How fast can it run?”

“Let’s try it in normal mode first—here we go.”

Leah transmitted movement commands through the spider legs still connected to the sockets, and the machine absorbed the necessary Dragon Force, darting off in an empty direction. It reached about three hundred meters away in an instant and returned to Tatsuro and the others like the wind. It was already much faster than Leah running at full speed.

“Pretty fast, huh. But you said ‘normal mode,’ so it can go even faster?”

“Yes. Now I’ll try the non-normal mode—run!”

Activating a built-in function, it kicked off the ground and moved forward. This time, it reached the turnaround point at an incomparably lighter and faster pace, then instead of returning, it kicked diagonally upward—into the sky.

“It can run in the air with that huge body!?”

“Amazing! And so fast!”

Despite its massive, likely ton-heavy body, it moved as lightly as a heavenly steed, zigzagging through the air like a pinball reflecting off walls before landing smoothly.

“You said air movement tech was incomplete, but that looked pretty complete!”

“No, no. That was only possible because I activated a Magical Tool I made to reduce its weight, obtained through a trade with dungeon info. Right now, it’s lighter than my own body.”

“You developed that too? Let’s see—whoa, I can lift it!”

“Haha, it’s really light!”

When Tatsuro and Ai grabbed the giant Kirin golem, it felt as light as if it weighed less than twenty kilograms. Further explanation revealed that reducing its weight enabled movement with the incomplete Air Walk, though Leah noted that even when Air Walk is perfected, this technology would remain highly practical.

“Also worth noting are the horn and scales.”

“Oh, tell me, tell me!”

According to Leah, the horn was crafted from the scorching bones of a dungeon boss dragon, which cool over time: starting to cool after a year, becoming touchable after five, and reaching room temperature after ten.

These ten-year-old bones, when infused with Dragon Force, emit intense heat. By shaping them into a sword-like horn, Leah could use her Dragon Force to perform piercing or slashing attacks with a scorching horn.

The scales, already highly durable golem monster material, were further enhanced with high-durability Dragon Scales for added defense. Each scale was meticulously crafted with sharpened tips. Normally laid flat for a smooth texture, they could be raised and vibrated laterally with Leah’s control, shredding anything that touched them.

“So that’s about it for Shape 1.”

“You said ‘1’ earlier, so there are more transformations?”

“Yes, two more for now.”

“For now? So you could add more later?”

“Right. The idea came from not being able to choose just one shape. Theoretically, it can store about a thousand shapes.”

“That’s amazing!”

“Well, shaping them is quite a hassle, so I don’t plan to make that many. Now, let’s transform to the next—Shape 2: Tiger.”

As Athena’s beast ears twitched at the word “tiger,” the Kirin reverted to a sphere, then spat out Dragon Scales to form a new shape.

“Tiger! So cool!”

“It’s not fur but Dragon Scales. Still, it’s got some presence!”

Ai and Athena cheered excitedly at the sight of a tiger, slightly smaller than a light truck, clad in Dragon Scales. It had two horns on its head, sharp fangs meticulously polished inside its mouth, and a glimpse of some kind of emission port in its throat. Its four thick, sturdy legs had five sharp claws in the front and four in the back, digging deep into the ground.

“This form balances attack and mobility, a versatile type. It’s less mobile than the Kirin but excels in power and attack variety. It’s probably best for fighting unknown opponents.”

“Unknown opponents, huh? There’s a suitable monster in the probing range. Want to fight it?”

“That’s a good idea. I’ve tested its movements, but never in actual combat. Can you handle it, big brother?”

“Yeah, leave it to me. Tsukuyomi—”

Tsukuyomi extended three of Secom-kun’s tentacles in three directions from Tatsuro’s coat toward a monster within the probing range that hadn’t noticed them or shown any intent to approach. Meanwhile, Tatsuro and the others moved to spectate behind Leah’s tiger.

The monsters brought forth were three. The first was about two meters tall with red skin, a humanoid with a protruding octopus-like mouth and a rotund body, wielding a red club nearly as tall as itself. However, an orange slime sat atop its head like a helmet.

The second was a fly-like monster about thirty centimeters long, with two front legs shaped like fifty-centimeter scythes.

The third was a fifteen-centimeter-diameter eyeball with leathery skin, mounted on a one-meter-long wooden stick with three thin, branch-like legs for walking.

“Three? Wait, four?”

“It’s effectively three, big brother. The largest one is a puppet controlled by the slime on its head, which has consumed its brain.”

“Yikes, no wonder its eyes look crazed. That’s a nasty slime.”

“It switches hosts when one breaks, but at our level, it’s not a threat, so don’t worry, big sister.”

The slime typically waits on trees for a suitable host, then drops onto its head, drills a small hole in the skull, and slips inside to feed, acting as the brain to gain nutrients and attack power. However, it lacks the strength to penetrate Tatsuro and the others’ durability, and its speed is slower than a land turtle, making contact unlikely. Hearing this, Ai, initially creeped out by the monster’s vile nature, sighed in relief.

“Alright, big brother, release them. I’m fully prepared.”

“Got it. Here we go—get along and get killed!”

“Dragging them here and saying that is harsh… Well, they look creepy, so whatever.”

“You’re pretty harsh too, Mother…”

“Let’s do this, Tiger!”

As Athena cheered for the tiger form, the released monsters angrily sprang into action. The slime-controlled monster swung its club at the fly-like monster.

“Whoops, friendly fire’s not allowed.”

“They’re going for the weakest-looking one, huh.”

Tatsuro quickly used Tsukuyomi to grab the fly monster and pull it away. Meanwhile, the eyeball monster used its stick-like body to conjure a fireball above its head, firing five in succession. Cardina, having instantly analyzed them, neutralized them with Magic Bullets of Dispel Magic.

“Thanks, Cardina. But attacking the spectator seats is off-limits too. What a pain.”

“They’re just brainless monsters, so they target what looks easiest to beat instead of the giant in front of them.”

“Sigh… no choice. Ai, come here.”

“What? Whoa!”

Tatsuro pulled Ai close, pressing her face to his chest. He then readied Amaterasu and began using Curse Magic and Mixed Tree and Darkness Magic.

“You guys are allies, and the enemy is the tiger!”

A black vortex appeared from Amaterasu’s tip, and the three monsters, as if hypnotized, clustered together and turned their attention to Leah’s tiger machine.