Chương 222

The flight back to the Observatory was a quiet affair, as everyone needed time to process what they had just discovered. Orion carried the wounded Sentinel with a carefully maintained antigravity field, ensuring the druid suffered no additional jolts after the makeshift surgery. Beside him, Dorian and Luna acted as lookouts, while Selene protected their backs and Pauline cleared the way, ready to shoot down any beast foolish enough to block their path.

She only needed to do it twice, and both times the battles, if they could even be called that, ended in a flash of darkness. She's not messing around. I guess this was a rattling discovery for her, too. When they landed within the perimeter of the Forward Operating Base, the environment was noticeably different from the morning.

Without the vanguard, the encampment was under the control of the logistical and support divisions, and the frantic atmosphere had shifted to a more subdued calm, though Orion didn't for a moment believe these witches weren't on edge. Maybe they're frustrated because they got left behind. There are some reasonable ones, but many are basically religious fanatics who have been given a clear target, yet are still restrained. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them sneak into the woods to try and get a few kills.

Medical personnel immediately swarmed their arrival thanks to the paper crane Pauline had sent ahead, taking custody of the Sentinel and transferring him to a triage tent. Orion watched them go, confident that the Sanctum's healers could handle the recovery now that the Silence-shrapnel was removed.

"Get some rest," Orion said, turning to Dorian, Luna, and Selene.

"Even if we won, we had to pull out all the stops, and we've seen enough combat for one day. If we want to be out in the field anytime soon, you need to get back to full strength."

"What about you?" Dorian asked. He was clearly exhausted from having his shields repeatedly broken and the long flight, but he seemed determined to make sure Orion didn't face everything alone.

"Pauline and I need to deliver a report," he replied with a thin smile.

"I'll join you in the dormitories once I have a workspace set up." That did the job, mostly because the others were too exhausted to argue, so they headed toward the inner ring. Orion signaled to Pauline, and the two of them moved to the central command pavilion. With Asteria deployed to the Ironwood frontlines, command of the FOB had shifted to Magistra Theresa. She was an older witch with sharp, angular features and a reputation for strict administrative efficiency.

When Orion and Pauline entered the central tent, Theresa was standing over a desk cluttered with logistical paperwork and didn't look particularly pleased to see them.

"I'm pretty sure Elder Voidwalker gave you a clear order to stay away from the fighting," she said.

"I hope you have a good reason to have gone against her word, because her son or not, I will not tolerate any insubordination under my watch." The fact that she was staring directly at Orion instead of Pauline, despite her much higher rank within the Sanctum's hierarchy, showed she knew very well that he was the mastermind behind such an operation.

"We intercepted an Iron State engineering squad setting up an anti-air array on the Beaked Peak," he reported, maintaining a professional tone despite wanting to sneer. For once, he wasn't the one making the decision, but he doubted he'd be believed either way, so he didn't bother explaining.

"They intended to ambush the reinforcements with it, but thanks to our intervention, the squad has been neutralized, and we secured the array." Theresa put down her quill, her full attention now on them.

"An intact anti-air array? Where is it?" Shadows gathered around the hem of Pauline's cloak, spilling across the rugs in the command tent. The darkness swelled upward for a few seconds before retreating, dropping the heavy brass-and-crystal device onto the floor with a dull thud. Theresa walked around the table, examining the intricate machinery. She observed the pristine quartz emitter and the pressurized tank of Silence. Then, her gaze fell on the glass cylinder nestled at the base of the tripod.

The glowing green fluid illuminated the scarred human brain inside, revealing the copper needles still deeply embedded in the grey matter in all their horrifying detail. The older woman stared for a long minute. She did not gasp or recoil like the others, but the ambient mana in the tent grew noticeably colder as her jaw clenched.

"We suspected their automated technology relied on organic catalysts," Vane said quietly.

"But I hoped it was more like necromancy than this." Orion couldn't help but raise an incredulous eyebrow, but once he thought about it, he decided it wasn't too strange. Most of the necromancy practiced in Cyril took place in the Ebony Gauntlet, under the Lich King's scrutiny, and followed the faction's strict rules. That meant not using it to turn living beings against their will, and this definitely qualified as that. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

What a world we live in, where vampires and necromancers are among the more scrupulous of dangers.

"I managed to study its workings and gained some insight," Orion explained, stepping beside the machine.

"The conscious mind was completely wiped before we put it to rest, functioning purely as a computational processor. From that, I assumed that the Iron State lacks the capability to synthesize high-tier spell crystals, so they bridge the mechanical and magical divide by wiring human neural pathways directly into their logic circuits." Theresa looked at him quietly, probably wondering how much she should trust his word, but Pauline nodded in support, and she sighed.

"Can it be reversed?" she asked, seemingly accepting his expertise for now.

"No," Orion answered, just like he'd done a mere hour ago.

"The tissue is permanently fused with the machine's power system, and I already cut the main connection to stop the device's operation. The brain is essentially dead, and I doubt even tier five magic could bring it back to life." That was a subtle way of implying that even the High Priestess wouldn't be able to help, but he knew better than to say it so openly, considering that Theresa was one of the more traditional Magistrae.

The old woman nodded slowly, taking in the implications, and turned her sharp gaze to meet his eyes.

"The Veil Priestess briefed me on your background before she departed, saying that you successfully analyzed and bypassed the Iron State's underground manufacturing facility in Silverpeak. I understand that you are more familiar with their methodology than anyone currently stationed at this base; is that correct?" Orion held her gaze.

"I am."

"Then, for the moment, you are reassigned," Vane declared.

"Sweeping the lower peaks for canisters is a waste of your specific expertise. I have already officially requisitioned the old wyvern nest as a secure research facility, and you will take this machine apart there. I want to know exactly how it uses the Silence, how the reactive plating on their armor functions, and most importantly, I want some kind of vulnerability we can transmit to the frontlines."

"I will need a sterile environment, a steady supply of neutral mana crystals, and unrestricted access to the alchemical equipment my mother left behind," Orion requested, already mentally going through the tools he would require.

"Speak to the quartermaster. Magistra Pauline has the authority to give you whatever you need, and I'm too busy to come running for anything," Theresa said, returning to her desk before giving him one last look.

"Young man, I understand this might be jarring, but do not let the ethical concerns of this device distract you. We need actionable intelligence, and you must do whatever it takes to find it. Now go take a nap before you fall asleep on your feet." Pauline pulled the machine into her shadows, and they quickly left the command tent, heading toward the dormitory tents. Despite Theresa being a cantankerous witch, she was correct that he needed to rest before starting his examination.

A few hours later, a much more refreshed Orion stood in the center of the dome-shaped observatory. The rusted doors had been replaced with spelled ones, and the lingering cold of the wyvern's nest had been banished by a series of warming runes. Several tables had been moved into the space, along with the supplies he had requested. Pauline placed the anti-air array on the largest reinforced table before tapping him on the shoulder just as he was about to approach it.

"I will resume my patrols of the nearby peaks, but I will leave a tether to your shadow. Just send some mana through it, and I will come." Before he could say anything in response, she swept away, and he decided it was probably her way of releasing some of the frustration from being momentarily overwhelmed during the fight. Once he was certain he was alone, he rolled up his lab coat sleeves, organized his tools, and approached the machine.

Using [Hypotheticism], Orion carefully began mapping the structural makeup of the outer casing. The metal was a brass alloy, as expected, infused with conductive impurities designed to disperse magical energy. He observed the locking mechanisms and applied a micro-application of focused gravity to unscrew the heavy bolts without creating any friction that might trigger an alchemical reaction. Maybe he was too paranoid, but his mother had always taught him to be cautious around unknown substances.

Piece by piece, the outer shell peeled away, revealing the dense internal circuitry, and Orion pulled out a blank notebook from his satchel to sketch the pathways. The design was brutalistic but functional. The Iron State engineers built a closed-loop system in which raw, ambient mana was drawn in through intake valves at the base of the tripod without contact with the Silence, and then directly guided into the biological core.

Once he had gotten everything he could from it, he carefully dismantled the parts and set them aside for further study before moving to the inner portion. Pushing his trait hard, he gradually started to interpret the remaining mana signatures etched into the copper needles piercing the brainstem and frontal lobe. What he discovered was unsurprising, but it was reassuring to have confirmation of his hypothesis.

The needles were not just transmitters, but active stimulators designed to guide the brain toward specific patterns. It didn't take him long to figure out the order of operations. The machine fed raw mana into the biological core, and at the same time, the copper needles delivered precise electrical and alchemical shocks to the brain's pain and rejection centers.

This kept the organic tissue in a constant state of involuntary trauma, and the brain, acting as a natural mana manipulator, reflexively tried to reject the pain, producing a highly concentrated stream of data. The machine then captured it, stabilized it in the pressurized tank, and routed it up through the quartz emitter, where it would power the emitter after coating the casing that held the Silence.

That would then be fired at extremely high speeds at any unsuspecting target flying overhead, and with their ability to draw mana disrupted, they would be in mortal danger from the fall alone, even if they somehow managed to survive the impact. Overall, it was a very effective weapon. Nothing overly complicated, but he got the sense that the Iron State prioritized results over methods, and that would certainly be effective.

Once he had gathered all he could from the first observation, he shifted his focus to the reactive plating he recovered from the fallen engineer's armor. Setting the charred outer layer on a side table, he examined the chemical residue left by Luna's attack. When her spell struck, it didn't penetrate because the armor contained micro-pockets of an unstable alchemical powder.

When subjected to sudden damage, the pockets ruptured, releasing smoke heavily saturated with erratic Silence particles, specifically designed to scatter coherent mana and effectively form another layer of defense.

"That's how that guy was able to survive," he muttered. Picking up an unblemished section of the plating, he placed it into a containment box. Stepping back, he formed a small [Gravity Cannon] and fired it at the metal. As expected, the micro-pockets burst, releasing a puff of white smoke. The smoke tried to scatter the spell, but his spell was built from too much Knowledge for the Silence to fully affect it, and the plate dented heavily under the pressure.

Hm, so that still works, but it's not really practical on a large scale. I wonder…