2-Chapter 28: Metal Golem?

The night sky was covered by a sea of clouds. Rain poured down from the heavens, staining the earth and turning it dark and muddy, drowning out any sound as it landed. Six figures moved across the craggy and rocky ground that was used as the border between the two countries. Located on the other side of the baren land, with nothing in sight to provide cover, was a small border fortress used as a checkpoint to enter the country proper.

The rain and lack of light allowed Lucilla and her group to approach the fortress without any trouble. With the visibility so low on would have trouble seeing very far in front of themselves. Pressing their backs against the wall Lucilla, Morella, Sara, Judieth, Cristina, and Aliaa the shuffled to the far side of the fortress wall. Despite skipping out on their visit to Anastasia the Cat woman was once again joining them.

They continued to move within the fortress's shadow, feeling the presence of multiple individuals within the large building. Aiming for an area where the amount of people felt thin, the group eventually stopped on the southern wall. In front of them was a small side gate, locked from the inside.

The fortress itself had two main gates on the east and west sides, with two smaller gates on the north and south sides. Standing in front of the southern gate Cristina melded into the shadows. After waiting for a minute, one of the large doors opened slightly, barely enough room for one to squeeze through. Without hesitation their small squad entered through the opening.

On the other side they found two soldiers laying on the ground. It was too dark to tell if they were dead or alive, but since the smell of their Mana seemed steady Lucilla guessed they were still fine. She turned to look at Cristina with slight confusion, wondering why the Vampire bothered sparing them. Cristina just smiled and shrugged.

Lucilla wasn't really planning to kill anyone tonight either. She only did that if she deemed it necessary. She saw no real reason to anger the Kingdom and had no desire to become public enemy number one in another country. Not that the dead would be able to tell them who their killers were without a Necromancer. Though it was unknown whether or not The Kingdom of Purinia had a Necromancer in employment.

"Where too now?" Lucilla asked Cristina.

"How would I know?" Cristina questioned back. "Typically, one would find holdin' cells under tha main buildin'. So, let's check there."

"You had an answer anyway, what was with the attitude then?" Lucilla complained under her breath as she and her party moved towards the main Structure of the fort.

Moving across the courtyard the six of them entered the main building without incident. Lucilla sniffed the air and frowned. There was a surprising lack of soldiers at was supposedly a border checkpoint. There were some Mana signatures that didn't feel... Alive. They also didn't smell like un-dead either.

"This way." Lucilla said pointing down a corridor, she could also smell both Demon Kin and Beast Folk deeper in the facility. With a scent to track Lucilla wouldn't get lost. She hoped so anyway as she led her Party into the suspiciously empty halls of the fort. There were guards inside, but not nearly enough to run a border check point, even if it was on the smaller side.

She led everyone down a flight of stairs that led to the holding cells of the fort. As they walked, the light crystals on the wall reacted to their movement, lighting their way. Lucilla frowned; the light could give away their approach to anyone located at the bottom of the stairs. Using her magic to manipulate the shadows Lucilla covered the light with them. They weren't completely blocked out, the stairwell still dimly lit, but it should make their approach less obvious.

At the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves standing in a short corridor, the only thing of note was the sturdy wooden door at the other end. Approaching the door Lucilla grabbed the handle and pulled. The door opened without any resistance. Next to the door was a sturdy wooden board and she noticed two hooks located in the wall on either side of the door. She guessed that this was door was meant to keep people in more than it was meant to keep people out. The bored was probably placed on the hooks to prevent the door from opening.

Shrugging she entered the hall on the other side. There she was greeted with two humanoid creatures made from metal. Their sleek and smooth metal bodies measured 188 cm tall, blue glowing streaks ran up and down their limbs and bodies. Their chest seemed to glow a dim blue and their heads wear human shape, but the area where the eyes would normally be a glowing screen of blue.

Seeing Lucilla, the two creatures, that looked like weird metal Golems, unsheathed their plain and normal steel swords. Not wasting time Lucilla took out her own weapons, the two daggers and charged at them. She approached the one on Her right first, the Golem swung its sword at her, its movements jerky and unrefined. Side stepping the downwards swing Lucilla got in close and aimed for the glowing part of the chest.

*Shing*

Her blade just bounced off the body instead leaving only a small scratch for her effort. The weirdly humanoid Golem swung its other arm at Lucilla who just backed away. She frowned as she sheathed her two daggers. Clearly a bladed weapon wasn't going to work. Cracking her knuckles, a smirk spread across her face. If she couldn't stab them, she'll just have to use brute force.

"What the fuck?!" Lucilla heard Cristina exclaim behind her. The moment she entered the room her eyes widened in surprise. "This shouldn't exist in this world!"

"What are you talking about?" Lucilla asked as she once more got in close to throwing a left jab followed up with a right hook at the Golem.

"Not even earth has robots like this, this is straight out of a Sci-fi film." The Vampire loudly complained, her shock making her speak normally. "What the hell are they doing here?!"

"I have no idea what you are saying." Lucilla said with exasperation as she grabbed hold of the 'robot' and digging her fingers between the seams in the plating ripping it off. She was concentrating Chi into her arms, increasing her strength slightly allowing her to reach into the bots now exposed chest and pull out what looked to be Mana cords. The only problem was that they seemed to be sparking and were made from copper.

Cristina was dealt with the second robot without much trouble. She grabbed its head and squeezed it between her hands, crushing it. Letting the out of place bot fall she frowned. "This really shouldn't be here. It's not technology from the old world or from earth, so where the hell did it come from?"

"Does it matter? Let's move." Lucilla said dismissively, yet she still had Maisy collect them and place the robots into storage to study later. "That cell there is probably where they are keeping them."

Walking over to the cell she pointed out Lucilla walked over to it.