Miss Witch doesn't want to be a diva!.

Chapter 687 Approaching Mechanical Cluster

On the ground covered with hot sand, three autonomous units like dragonflies swooped down from the sky. They vibrated their wings, and their electronic compound eyes constantly observed the surrounding environment and recorded the surrounding conditions.

Dry, cracked soil, residual black carbon scratches, and metal that had solidified after melting at high temperatures all indicate that the area has recently experienced a severe heat shock.

After inspecting the scorched earth, the three autonomous units flapped their wings again, flying forward to explore and record various situations.

The anomalies in the southern continent are recorded by these patrolling autonomous units and gradually fed back to the slowly moving mechanical cluster.

Such a large number of traces of intelligent life activities stimulated the central system of the mechanical cluster, which began to make logical judgments after receiving more and more data.

From their perspective, after all these years of continuous patrolling, this planet should not have any traces of the existence of a large number of intelligent creatures, and no new races have emerged and survived wherever they go. However, this discovery has triggered a logical conflict in them. If this planet is really as they judged, there should not be such traces of violent battles. The wasteland hot sand left at the scene shows the result of the bombing with modern weapons.

[Judgment: There are traces of intelligent biological activity in this area]
[Negative. According to recent retrospective records, there are no intelligent creatures in this area.]
The flashing indicator lights kept alternating, making it difficult to break out of the logical cycle of thinking.

As time passed, the giant spaceship cruising in the night sky suddenly loosened its logic, jumped out of its circular thinking, and began to perform its duties.

A large number of flying units dispersed from the airship. They flew in all directions and began a carpet search everywhere.

……

Star Covenant, City of Redstone.

With the arrival of early spring, the plants on the grassland are sprouting green buds again, and the residents here are walking out of their rooms trapped by the severe winter and starting a new year of life.

All things are reviving, animals are running and galloping on the grassland again, and there are more lively birds singing on the treetops.

This kind of season should have been a joyful occasion, but Tilan sat in the meeting hall, looking at the information reported in front of him with a slightly solemn look.

"We have lost all signals from the southern continent. The ships that used to arrive at the port every two weeks have not arrived as scheduled, and no aircraft that traveled far away have returned."

Half-kneeling in front of her were a group of Slami Association members from overseas bases. A month ago, they gradually lost contact with the headquarters, and various attempts had not yet yielded any feedback. All of this hinted at some terrifying outcome.

"One and a half months?" She had just asked about various possibilities, but the members in front of her said that it was impossible for the headquarters to have no contact or personnel exchanges for a month and a half.

"In other words, you suspect that some kind of horrible natural disaster has occurred in the southern continent, and you hope that I can send personnel to investigate the situation there, right?" She understood the purpose of the group of people in front of her.

"Yes, respected Lady Heshia." Although the members of the Slami Association had a sense of pride in the past, the current situation is treacherous and they have become fragile and uneasy.

After losing the headquarters, the Slami Association is unable to maintain its normal system with these scattered overseas outposts. They cannot produce various weapons and products of the industrial age like the headquarters, and cannot resist the local new ethnic settlements with various special abilities.

The reason why they turned to Heshia was that among the several forces in the southern part of the Northern Continent, only the Star-Seeking Covenant led by Heshia had strong strength and vigorous vitality.

The once prosperous Iron Rat Kingdom, the Heshan Rescue Society, the Wolf Blood King Camp, and the Stone Forest Fort built on the mountain have now become a thing of the past.

"I will let my subordinates pay attention to it, but you should also understand that this is not a mission that our covenant members must complete, so don't expect too many definite results." She told the other party in advance.

"We dare not offend Her Highness Heshia. We only ask that you tell us the answer after you get certain information." After saying that, these people carefully said goodbye and left.

A few minutes later, the hall became quiet again. Farlan, who had been standing next to Heshia, took off his hooded robe, his eyes still on the backs of the group of people who had just left.

"What do you think?" Guy spoke on the other side of Tilan. Besides them, there were a few other high-ranking members of the Covenant in the room. However, they did not dare to speak so boldly in front of Heshia. Instead, they listened to the reactions of the two elders with a little curiosity.

"Thoughts? Probably a little sad." Fran shook his head.

He was from the Slami Association and had not betrayed the association. However, after his position in the Star-Seeking Alliance was raised, he deliberately reduced the frequency of contact in order to avoid suspicion. He did not expect that so many amazing changes would take place in just one year.

"The generators, televisions, and independent radio stations they just donated should be fine. I've also recently received some intelligence from some acquaintances, and just as they said, there are serious problems at the headquarters." Fran answered with some concern.

"We still don't know if there is really a problem. Maybe changes in the geomagnetic field and solar wind have disrupted communication and forced it to be interrupted." Someone comforted him, but this did not make Fran feel at ease.

After some discussion, the remaining people gradually dispersed, leaving only Tilan, Falan, and two scholars who concealed their figures and appearances in the hall.

"It seems that the situation recorded by sages of past generations has occurred again." Lindsay also felt some complicated emotions. He was indeed the inheritor of history, but he did not expect to witness some drastic changes happening with his own eyes.

"Was it done by the Silver Wings, or was it a group of the Mechanical Council..." Tilan closed his eyes and thought.

"We can only send someone to check it out." She was wondering whether to go there herself or ask Loloria to go there.

But soon, someone made the decision for her.

A member hurried into the hall and reported to Heshia who had not yet left.

"Your Highness, we have received a telegram from the Southern Jungle Pioneer Team—" He was panting and very anxious.

"They discovered a large number of migrating mechanical clusters, passing through the Land of the Falling Stars and heading north."

"North, that is to say, according to their route, once they pass through the jungle area, they can reach the southern part of the grassland." Tilan knew the terrain distribution of the surrounding area.

"Yes, Your Highness." He was particularly excited to see that Heshia understood the urgency and importance of the information she reported.

"I understand. Are there any other details?" Tilan asked some more questions, but the information conveyed by the telegram was limited and there was no more intelligence.

"First it was the southern continent, and then the mechanical cluster in the south." Tilan rubbed her brows, feeling that things had suddenly become complicated. She could guarantee that she still had a few people who could survive the large-scale attack, but now the Star-Chasing Covenant had tens of thousands of members. If you add the various ethnic settlements that had been incorporated on the grassland, the total number could be hundreds of thousands, nearly a million.

I can't just abandon everyone and run away on my own.

It seems that she must go and see the situation in person this time.

The girl stood up from her chair and began to arrange various matters in an orderly manner, making plans for various emergencies and making all departments ready.

"We still cannot give up spring ploughing, otherwise even if the enemy doesn't come, hunger will cause a large number of deaths."

"As for the war..." Tilan thought about it.

"We should run the newly built weapons factory at full capacity and produce as many weapons as possible. Or perhaps we need to unite more forces to cope with this drastic change." She thought of other forces on this continent, such as the Ford Alliance in the north and the ancient forces further east.

After doing all this, she said goodbye to Orles to avoid worrying her, and then she set out with Loloria, and the two flew to the southern jungle.

A year and a half later, Tilan came here again. Recalling that time, she helped the weak Orlais through the rainforest. The other party was afraid and carefully avoided all kinds of insects. Tilan still remembers that look.

There weren't many changes here. She glanced at the dense trees and vegetation below, and occasionally saw some insects and reptiles moving in the shade of the trees and in the silt water.

Continuing forward, after flying over the verdant jungle area, we came to the barren meteorite zone, where there were many meteorite craters of various sizes, the land was charred and had no vegetation cover.

The geomagnetic environment here is very special. If there are meteorites coming from the sky, they will easily deviate and fall here. Over time, no vegetation will survive on the surface bombarded by meteorites, forming a barren and empty terrain.

After arriving here, she and Loloria stopped immediately and stopped far above the sky, because in their vision, the ground below was full of advancing mechanical clusters. They were made of dark gray alloys and had various shapes. Some were like mantises, some were like beetles, some were like centipedes, and some were like stink bugs. These mechanical clusters seemed to be inspired by some command, constantly converging and pulling out long lines on the ground, slowly advancing forward, like layers of waves made of gray iron.

Such a magnificent sight surprised those who saw it. This was probably the first time in nearly a hundred years that a mechanical cluster had been active on such a large scale. They did not wander around aimlessly like in the past, but had a clear plan.

The unplanned and scattered mechanical swarms were already a natural disaster, causing the destruction of many races. Once they were allowed to gather together, there would be almost no force on this earth that could resist them.

Seeing this, Tilan shook her head. Even she was not sure that she could completely eliminate this huge number of mechanical autonomous units. The number of them flooded the horizon and there was almost no end in sight.

"Lololia, can you try to communicate with them?" she asked the girl beside her.

"No, I've tried many times, but they have already changed the key for enemy authentication and do not accept any further overwrite changes." Loloria's voice sounded a little discouraged, and she felt like she was too useless.

"I am also a mechanical body, and an artificial angel. There is no reason why I cannot defeat these stupid guys."

"If Tilan gives me some manpower, I can start to build my own autonomous unit factory and mass-produce war machines to fight against them." Loloria took the initiative to propose.

"I'll do my best." Tilan and Loloria increased their altitude again, avoiding the detection of the mechanical cluster below, and flew towards the sky above the mechanical cluster.

Through the clouds, she looked at the mechanical units below that were scraping a layer of soil like a plow. Wherever they went, trees fell, grass was turned up, and all kinds of hiding small animals were exposed and dealt with by these mechanical units.

If we allow them to spread, I am afraid that before the so-called restraining force takes action, all life on this earth will be wiped out.

As the two continued to fly south, their speed became faster and faster, and finally they reached the southernmost coast of the continent an hour later.

On the distant sea level, the storm gathered, dark clouds rolled, and lightning flashed in the clouds from time to time. With the help of the lightning, Tilan also saw the outline of the giant airship floating in the clouds.

"So they use natural lightning to replenish energy." She finally understood why these large floating warships had never been seen on land. Perhaps this kind of lightning is very rare on land, making it inconvenient to replenish energy. These floating warships usually float on the sea.

The two of them were suspended in the air, quietly observing the giant crab-shaped mothership emerging from the sea of ​​clouds. At this time, the floating mothership in the midst of lightning on the sea discovered something, and a bright stream of crimson particles shot out, piercing through the atmosphere and submerging the two of them.

After a few seconds, the dazzling particle flow dissipated, and Tilan was unharmed, but flickering spots of light appeared on the surface of her body.

She separated from Loloria and flew rapidly in the sky. Soon after, another stream of particles passed through the atmosphere and hit the location where Loloria was.

"Ah——" In the particle flow, Loloria's pupils turned from green to red, and the mechanical wings behind her protected her body to resist the continuous impact of high-energy particles.

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

"What a strong force." Loloria exclaimed as she dodged. Although it was very dangerous just now, she was accelerating now, and the particle flow behind her was becoming increasingly difficult to hit her.

After a few minutes, she could even reversely crack the logical loopholes in the opponent's fire control system, floating in the air with ease, and only needed to turn her body every few seconds to avoid the particle flow passing through her side.

"You can't hit me like this, but I'm your senior." She even had time to wave and say hello to the helicarrier in the distance.

After teasing for a while, Loloria retreated under Tilan's order and no longer approached the helicarrier.

"Let's go back. We need to come up with a mature plan." Close-range combat is much more dangerous than it is now. After all, those drones surrounding the mothership are not just for show.

"Okay, Tilan." Loloria replied a little unsatisfied, but she still obediently withdrew from the battle quickly and gradually got rid of the scanning and pursuit of the mechanical body behind her.

"The equipment I have is more advanced than yours, so it's only natural that you can't see me."

After circling in the sky for a few times and collecting data, Loloria and Tilan returned to the north.

Looking back at what she had seen along the way, Tilan had a vague feeling that this planet had been playing a reincarnation game for a thousand years, and she was afraid that this time it would not end as smoothly as usual.

(End of this chapter)