[Telekinetic Blade Control]

[Twin Fang]

Davey didn’t stop. After taking a quick, short breath, he charged toward the enchanted– golem. “Hup!”

[Blood Demon Attack]

[Longsword]

[Combined Impact]

[Black-and-White Twin Lightning]

With the sword technique of [Longsword], which applied an immense amount of weight without any artistry, in one hand, and a dark purple flame in the other, Davey pushed his hands off of each other and punched forward.

Rumble!!With a huge wave of energy, an immensely heavy dark purple flame landed on the golem with an extreme power that was strong enough to not only smash its body into powder, but also to disfigure the wall behind it.

“Ah, my head…”

-Davey! I’ve told you not to overdo it!

‘I know. Can you please be quiet because I’m aware of that fact?’

Davey had a headache and felt like his head was ringing. He approached the golem, which had been broken into pieces, and pulled out the core magic stone from its head. He ignored the warning his body was sending him.

Groan…

Lucia was of no help in this situation, but Davey wasn’t going to blame her for that. This situation was probably catastrophic for her, who only had the experience and skills of a trainee.

“Sio Howl.”

“…”

“If you have your head straight, keep Lucia safe at all times.”

“…”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I will consider you of no help and kill you if you make me say the same thing again.”

For now, Davey felt like it was a good thing he had kept Sio Howl alive. He watched Sio release his mana with a tense expression. Sio looked like he had a million questions about how Davey was able to use this unbelievable swordsmanship and was able to use a 6th circle magic spell, which was said to be of the same level as Swordmaster. However, it seemed like he was thinking about what Davey had said earlier.

“We have a long way to go. Follow me.”

Once everything became settled, Davey walked forward and deeper into the ancient ruin.

* * *

Davey wanted to take everything if he could, but it was unfortunate that he didn’t have enough storage to collect each of those huge objects. So, he decided to only take the magic stones and the small stone plates that had mana arrangements engraved on them. As he put them in his pouch, he couldn’t help but smile as he counted more than thirty perfectly usable magic stones and twenty normal stone plates. ‘I’m definitely getting rewarded for my efforts.’

Davey would be able to build at least four or five new Megatron-like golems. He was glad that he didn’t crush the ceiling and go up right away. And besides, he was curious as to what was inside.

Davey looked around while catching his breath, since no more enchanted golems appeared.

“S—Sir Davey! Wait!” Lucia, who was staring into space, ran toward Davey with wide eyes.

Regaining his strength little by little when he heard Lucia, Davey said, “I told you to stay back.”

“I—I am also a priest! Please let me cast a strength recovery spell or something at the very least!”

“I also know how to use holy magic.”

“I was told that there is a difference between one using it on themselves and someone else casting it on them!”

Lucia was determined to be of help in some kind of way. Staying back and doing nothing would actually be helping Davey, but Lucia quickly released her holy power and used a healing spell on him with teary eyes. However, her holy power dissipated even before it formed the spell.

‘There’s no way that such a quick casting of a holy magic spell would work.’

Lucia tried to forcibly release her holy power while sobbing, but it was inevitably not going to work. Holy power, regardless of who it belonged to, was extremely lazy. Although, Davey thought it was quite cute how she was struggling to try something.

“Relax,” Davey said.

“…”

“Take a deep breath.”

When Lucia stopped breathing heavily and began breathing slowly, Davey said, “Okay. Good. It gets harder to use holy magic the more impatient you become.”

“Sir Davey…”

“Slowly. You can take it slow. We have lots of time.” A flamboyant and bright white light burst from Lucia’s hands while Davey comforted and reassured her. He trembled slightly less, then softly patted Lucia’s head and showered her with compliments. “Excellent. That’s more than enough. Remember that holy magic has to be used in calmness. You have the responsibility to save everyone, whether it be your partner or your teammates. You know that, right?”

“Yes…”

“There is no one to heal them if you panic.”

“I’ll…keep that in mind.”

“Okay. Good job.”

Lucia seemed to have so much faith in Davey that she would believe him even if he had said that he made wine with cherries. The blind faith that was in her eyes was quite familiar. However, Davey couldn’t do anything about the hint of guilt that she felt.

Thud!!! After a short rest, Davey took his two silent companions and arrived at the huge hall at the end of the corridor.

-Beep!

As soon as the three entered the hall, a timer with ten minutes showed up on the stone board on the opposite wall and began counting down.

“Do we get recess too?”

As Davey collapsed onto his knees in futility and was catching his breath, Lucia quickly ran over toward him and grabbed his arm tightly. She said softly, “Thank you… I couldn’t even say this just now, and I was just a nuisance…”

As Davey was patting Lucia on the back because she looked like she was going to cry, Sio Howl asked cautiously, “Can…I ask one thing?”

“I’ll answer if I feel up to it.”

Sio clenched his jaw and asked quietly, “You are extremely talented in swordsmanship that you can make [Aura Blade]. Then why did you do that in the beginning…”

“Beginning?”

“That sloppy movement…”

Hearing Sio shouting, Davey smirked. “Drunken Sword.”

“Drunken…Sword?”

“It’s a sword technique that is done seemingly drunk. A comical sword technique that makes it seem like one is getting crushed by a newbie who doesn’t know swordsmanship.”

“W—What?!”

“You didn’t know? I purposefully did that to mess with you. It seems easy, right? But how could a swordsmanship that tricks other people be easy?”

“Damn it!” Sio Howl clenched his jaw after realizing the truth.

“You are not one to judge and critique others.”

Sio Howl couldn’t say anything. The difference of power and the suspicion he felt from Davey had been long confirmed after Davey had slashed the enchanted golems without mercy. It was an overwhelmingly powerful swordsmanship; since he had shown Sio a swordsmanship that could not be beaten, something not even swordsmanship teachers Boris and Fridos could show, it would be nothing but stupid for Sio to think that Davey’s physical abilities were weak.

“T… Then why didn’t you use magic during training or anything?” Sio asked.

“I would’ve shown you if you had won against the golem.”

Davey was saying that he had adjusted his skill level to be similar to them when fighting. Realizing this, Sio’s face went pale.

“What does… You… Are you really human?”

“Ah right. Lucia,” Davey called out.

Ignoring Sio, who was questioning him in bewilderment, Davey called Lucia over to say what he had been wanting to say. He stood up and stared at the opposite wall. As the wall began to open after the ten minutes on the timer had run out, he smiled and mysteriously said, “Even if someone looks perfect on the outside, you never know what’s inside.”

“Yes… Pardon?” Lucia asked again.

“One day, it will be very helpful to your mental health if you remember it.”

‘Sigh… I can’t even tell her.’

Boom!

Strangely, Davey began to sympathize with how the servant serving the king with donkey ears felt.

* * *

Another enormous hall came into view as the wall opened up. However, unlike the large hall they had just passed, this one had thousands of test tubes filled with a green, fluorescent liquid. It looked like a big lab.

Sio and Lucia looked around with wide eyes, amazed at the hall, which was empty except for the liquid-filled tubes in the hall.

“I think we’ve reached the room at the very end,” Davey mumbled.

Lucia slowly walked over to the tubes. “They…are all empty.”

Davey looked around the empty hall, just like Lucia said, and then stopped and stared at something. He saw two test tubes protruding from the wall that looked unlike the others.

-That’s…

Perserque, who noticed them almost at the exact same time, murmured in puzzlement. She trailed behind Davey in the air.

The thing in the test tubes was a mechanical heart made of metal. It was only the size of a human heart, but it strangely captured the gaze of the observer. He could also see a naked human girl inside a tube filled with solution. She seemed about eighteen years old, but she looked much younger than that because of her small physique. However, unlike humans, she had white wings that were about the length of his arms and a small crack underneath her round bosoms; it was as if that part could be opened and operated.

“I’ve never seen this kind. Did they study some kind of homunculus?” Davey asked.

Homunculus was an extreme field of study in alchemy like the study of golems. If the study of golems was a field that sought to create Deus Ex Machina (The God of Machinery), the perfect heart and core, the study of homunculi was the final wish of those who yearned to create the Stone of the Sage.

“Is this…”

A thought popped into Davey’s head as he was silently staring at it. In front of him was a machine heart, and a strange small girl that seemed to be a homunculus. There was no way to know for sure, but considering that both magic and alchemy had been studied to the extreme in very ancient civilizations…

‘Perhaps that machine heart is…’

“The completed Deus Ex Machina.”

It was Deus Ex Machina, otherwise known as the God of Machinery. It was the pinnacle of the study of golems, and a heart with an ego that couldn’t be made even with Davey’s level of knowledge. It was something that Eva, his alchemy teacher, only made once in her entire lifetime by coincidence.

-The God of Machinery?

“It’s a heart with an ego that is created with technology. What is this place?” Davey couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.