Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Chapter 1390 66: Approaching Mechanical Cluster

"It seems that the situation recorded by the sages of past generations has appeared once again." Lindsay also felt a certain complex emotion; he truly was the heir of history but didn't expect to witness such drastic changes firsthand now.

"Is it the doing of the Silver Wings or the Mechanical Council's cluster..." Tilan closed her eyes and pondered.

"We can only send someone over to check." She wondered whether to go herself or send Loloria.

But soon, someone made the decision for her.

A member hurriedly ran into the hall and reported to Hexia, who hadn't left yet.

"Your Highness, we have received a telegram from the Southern jungle expedition team—" He was gasping for breath and seemed very anxious.

"They discovered a large migratory mechanical cluster passing through the Land of Fallen Stars and heading north."

"North, which means according to their route, once they pass through the jungle area, they can reach the southern grasslands." Tilan knew the terrain distribution of the surrounding areas.

"Yes, Your Highness." Seeing that Hexia understood the urgency and importance of the report, he was especially excited.

"I understand. Are there any other detailed messages?" Tilan then asked a few more questions, but the telegram conveyed limited information, providing no more intelligence.

"First the Southern Continent, and now the southern mechanical cluster." Tilan rubbed her temples, feeling that things suddenly became complicated.

She could guarantee the survival of herself and a few others from large-scale attacks, but now the Chasing Star Covenant had tens of thousands of members, and if you added the various species settlements on the grasslands, it would be hundreds of thousands, close to a million people.

They couldn't just abandon everyone and save themselves.

It seemed she had to personally go and see the situation this time.

The young girl stood up from her seat and began to methodically arrange various affairs and prepare contingency plans for any sudden situations, ensuring all parts were ready.

"Spring plowing cannot be abandoned, otherwise even if the enemy does not come, hunger will cause a large number of deaths."

"As for the war..." Tilan thought for a moment.

"Get the newly built weapons factory up and running at full capacity and try to produce as many weapons as possible. We might need to unite with more forces to deal with this upheaval." She thought of other forces on this continent, such as the Fede Alliance to the north and the ancient forces further east.

After setting everything in order, she informed Ores to prevent them from worrying, and then she and Loloria set out, flying towards the Southern jungle.

After a year and a half, Tilan returned here, recalling the time she supported the frail Ores through this rainforest, avoiding various insects, a scene she still remembered vividly.

There wasn't much change here; her eyes scanned the dense trees and vegetation below, occasionally catching sight of some insects and reptiles moving in the shade and muddy water.

Continuing forward, after flying over the verdant jungle area, there was the desolate land of fallen stars, where many craters of varying sizes dotted the blackened, vegetation-less ground.

The geomagnetic environment here was peculiar; if a meteorite came from the sky, it would easily deviate to fall here, and over time, the meteorite-bombarded surface no longer supported any vegetation, creating a barren and open landscape.

Upon arriving here, she and Loloria immediately stopped their movements and hovered far above because, in their view, the ground below was crawling with advancing mechanical clusters. They were made of dark gray alloy, with forms resembling mantises, beetles, centipedes, and stink bugs. These clusters were gathering as if summoned by a command, constantly converging and drawing out long lines across the land, making a slow progression, akin to layers of iron-gray waves.

Such a majestic scene amazed the spectators; this was perhaps the first time in nearly a century that the mechanical cluster acted on this scale, not wandering aimlessly as in the past but with a distinct plan.

An unplanned, chaotic mechanical cluster already represented a natural disaster, leading many species to extinction. If allowed to gather, there would be little power on this land to confront them.

Seeing this, Tilan shook her head; even she wasn't sure she could completely clear out this massive number of Mechanical Autonomous Units, their numbers overwhelmed the horizon, almost appearing endless.

"Can Loloria try to communicate with them?" she asked the girl beside her.

"No, I've tried many times, but their friend-or-foe recognition key has long changed, and they don't accept overwriting changes." Loloria's voice was somewhat dispirited, feeling perhaps too useless.

"I'm also a Mechanical Body, an Artificial Angel at that, surely I should be better than these fools."

"Give me some manpower, Tilan, and I can start building my own autonomous unit factory to mass-produce war machines to combat them." Loloria proposed proactively.

"I'll do my best." Tilan and Loloria increased their altitude again, avoiding the surveillance of the mechanical cluster below as they flew over them.

Through the clouds, she watched the layer of soil beneath being plowed, trees collapsing, turf overturned, and various hiding small animals exposed, processed by the mechanical bodies.

If left unchecked, life on this land would be wiped out long before any so-called restraint force could intervene.

As the two continued flying southward, they increased their speed and eventually reached the southern coast of the continent an hour later.

On the distant sea horizon, storms gathered, dark clouds billowed, and lightning flashed intermittently within the clouds. By the light of the lightning, Tilan also saw the outline of a giant skyship floating within the clouds.

"So they're using natural lightning to recharge?" She realized why these large floating battleships weren't seen on land — likely because land had scarce lightning, unsuitable for energy replenishment, so these floating battleships usually hovered above the sea.

The two hovered in the air, quietly observing the giant crab-like mother ship emerging from the cloud sea, at which point the floating mother ship amidst the sea and lightning flux detected something, firing a bright crimson particle stream that pierced through the atmosphere and enveloped the two's location.

Seconds later, the dazzling particle stream dissipated, Tilan remained unscathed, but her body's surface shimmered with light points.

She and Loloria separated, rapidly maneuvering through the sky, and shortly after, another particle stream pierced the atmosphere, striking Loloria's former location.

"Ya—" Within the particle stream, Loloria's pupils shifted from emerald to red, her mechanical wings on her back shielding her front, resisting the continuous bombardment of high-energy particles.

In just a few seconds, the mechanical wings made of special alloy melted and sublimed. Fortunately, the few seconds gained allowed Loloria to escape the bombardment range of the particle flow.

"What power," Loloria remarked, dodging while marveling, though it was dangerous earlier, but now she was accelerating, and the particle beams found it increasingly difficult to hit her.

Minutes later, she even deciphered the opponent's fire control system's logical flaws, effortlessly floating mid-air, merely needing to twist her body every few seconds to evade the particle streams passing her flank.

"You can't hit me like this, after all, I am your senior." She even found spare moments to wave and greet the distant floating mother ship.

After some teasing, Loloria retreated as per Tilan's order, not prolonging her proximity to the floating mother ship.

"Let's head back; we need to devise a mature plan." Close combat would be much more dangerous, especially given the mother ship's surrounding drones were not mere decorations.

"Alright, Tilan," a slightly unsatisfied Loloria responded, but obediently quickly disengaged from the battle, gradually evading the pursuit scans of the mechanical bodies behind.

"My equipment is far more advanced than yours, not seeing me is only natural."

Circling in the sky a few times to collect data, Loloria and Tilan headed back north.

Reflecting on the situation observed along the way, Tilan faintly felt that this planet's millennia-long cycle game might not end as smoothly as it usually did this time.