Chapter 72: Andromancer (1)
Thud……!
A hole large enough for a single person to pass through had been punched into the thick iron-plated door.
And what pushed its way through that gap was not a person.
‘An android…….’
At a glance it looked like an ordinary android, but when I examined its interior through the Electrosphere projection, it was completely different.
‘I thought that woman was a techer.’
Diesel recalled the small-frad ga Corp agent.
〈She’s not a techer, she’s an Andromancer.〉
An Andromancer.
Like a necromancer, they didn’t handle corpses, but instead specialized in humanoid robots.
Unlike a ‘techer,’ who personally donned a Reinforced Exoskeleton and fought while deploying drones and turrets, ‘Andromancers’ hid in safe locations and controlled countless androids and machines, making them extrely troubleso opponents.
‘I might have to take back what I said about shields being the strongest.’
Andromancers didn’t control androids through hacking alone.
As if they were performing actual magic, they commanded machines through thods the world still couldn’t explain.
〈Master, what will you do?〉
Instead of answering, I changed the field of vision in front of my eyes.
To a special sight that projected the Electrosphere.
Looking at the world through completely different eyes, an overwhelming amount of information poured in—things I could never see normally.
Among them, I focused on the android slowly advancing down the corridor.
‘Ugh…….’
Just examining the firewall made my head heat up.
So this was that siege barrier.
〈Be careful. Just getting close will trigger aggressive feedback.〉
A barrier that combined the ‘firewall’ that blocked approach and the ‘ICE’ function that dealt with intruders.
The siege barrier was a security asure that actively attacked those who approached.
‘Looks like it’s around Grade 5.’
At that level, Diesel could now hack it—but that was only when dealing with an ordinary firewall.
When it ca to a terrifying thing like a siege barrier, you had to raise the assessnt by at least one grade to get an accurate reading.
Even so, Diesel began preparing sothing.
〈Ha…… really, Master……〉
Ar grumbled slightly after realizing what their master was about to do, but imdiately assisted with the calculations.
〈At this rate, Master probably won’t die a natural death.〉
〈Yeah. With you helping , how easily could I die?〉
The mont the calculations finished, Diesel’s avatar slipped out like a soul.
Holding a peculiar weapon in its hand.
That composite weapon in the shape of a sword was the Ice Breaker that Little Sister had once shown—‘Sign Sword.’
‘This feels…… kind of different.’
Perhaps sensing his doubt, Ar answered.
〈It’s a much weaker version than what Sis used back then.〉
〈What? The code I just wrote was exactly the sa.〉
〈Master, are you insane? You didn’t even connect to the Electrosphere through , and you think you can wield the sa thing as Sis?〉
〈No, at this level, even I should be able to—〉
〈The gap between you and Sis is still unimaginably vast. If you used an Ice Breaker of the sa class as hers, your brain wouldn’t just burn—it would lt.〉
〈…….〉
〈Still, don’t worry. This should be more than enough to break a siege barrier.〉
〈Well, if you say so.〉
Diesel’s avatar poured processing power into the Ice Breaker shaped like the Sign Sword.
‘Hmm…… it’s definitely a burden.’
Once the program was fully charged, his brain overheated enough to trigger the ergency cooling system.
With a vow to always consult Ar before dealing with Electrosphere-related matters from now on.
The sword was drawn straight through empty air.
[……!]
[What the hell?]
The siege barrier of the android at the very front shattered cleanly.
Diesel didn’t miss the opening and directly plunged his avatar into the android’s interior.
[D-138 unit has been hacked.]
[……Was there another hacker?]
The small-frad woman commanding the situation from the rear frowned.
She imdiately took control of another android and issued a firing order at the machine that had just been hacked.
Bang, bang, bang……!
Bullets flew and embedded themselves precisely into its chest and lower abdon, and the android lost power and collapsed.
‘That was a fast call.’
From the machine that had now beco scrap tal, sothing began to waft upward.
‘So that’s it.’
A specter that wandered the Electrosphere forever.
Unfortunate beings who had connected to the Electrosphere, only to have their connection to their physical bodies forcibly severed, unable to return and stripped of their sense of self.
It wasn’t wrong to say that the power Andromancers wielded was fundantally the power to command those things.
How that was even possible still lay in unknown territory.
〈Master, wait a mont.〉
〈Huh?〉
Just as the Electrosphere specter that had escaped from the android was about to ooze its way out of the corridor—
Another Electrosphere spirit moved.
Ar expanded their body to about the size of a puma and charged straight at the specter.
〈What are you do—〉
Then they viciously bit into its head.
〈……?〉
Diesel stared blankly for a mont at Ar’s wild, feral 모습—no, wild appearance—sothing he had never seen before.
In an instant, Ar devoured the entire specter, then reverted to their original form and returned to their master.
〈What was that just now?〉
〈What else? I ‘consud’ so data nutrients.〉
Watching Ar lick their front paw as if they’d just had a delicious al, Diesel asked,
〈Does that make you stronger or sothing?〉
〈Well, it should help a little.〉
〈……Alright. Get ready to eat one more.〉
〈Don’t push yourself too hard.〉
If I could use the Sign Sword again, it would be an easy solution, but doing that would probably damage my brain from overheating.
Honestly, even now I was barely holding on.
So what Diesel chose was, as expected, magic.
‘I can vaguely see magical defenses, but…….’
What I grasped this ti was lightning that chained in all directions.
A high-output spell manifested as White Lightning snarled and crackled.
That violent spark scattered in all directions, and pain surged that couldn’t be ignored.
‘Ugh……. White Thunder has incredible destructive power, but the backlash is just as severe.’
This was another area that needed research.
Just as Leigong had put a massive burden on the body, using ordinary Lightning-type magic as White Thunder imposed a similar kind of strain on the flesh.
Kwa-kwaang……!
Soon, a pure white light flashed through the long corridor.
The spell struck the first target and, as if it possessed its own will, spread onward in search of the next.
‘At least the effect is undeniable.’
The one at the very front took the full brunt of the destructive lightning, staggered violently, and then collapsed like a golem that had lost all its mana.
〈Go, Ar.〉
Ar happily devoured the specter that erged once again.
Perhaps realizing sothing was wrong, the opposing side shifted into a defensive formation.
A massive android designed to shield damage burst out and firmly blocked the corridor.
‘So that’s how you want to play it.’
A model wrapped in an intangible barrier protected from magic.
Behind it, three androids advanced.
The level of the androids rushing in wasn’t particularly high.
At best, about the level of security guards.
Still, there was no room to relax.
An entire corporate brigade was on its way here.
‘I need a way to wipe them out as quickly as possible.’
There was one thod perfectly suited for that.
The easiest way to ruin electronic devices.
〈Nereid, could you co over here for a mont?〉
That was, quite simply, to douse them thoroughly with water.
〈Sure.〉
A rippling distortion appeared in midair, and soon a spirit revealed itself.
‘Hmm……. I didn’t expect you to co so quickly.’
I had already given Nereid her task.
Even so, her coming here without a word ant one of two things.
Either Matafil’s treatnt had been completed successfully.
Or…….
〈What do you need to do?〉
I set aside unimportant thoughts for now.
And focused on what needed to be done.
〈Soak those guys in water.〉
〈That’s easy enough.〉
At the spirit’s casual gesture, a small tidal wave began to surge through the corridor.
‘What the…….’
Surprise spread across the Andromancer’s face as she watched the situation unfold.
A Multiple Mana user, and he could handle both a lightning spirit and a water spirit?
‘Tch, that useless skull bastard. He never said anything like this.’
In her field of view, four androids were being rcilessly swept away.
No matter how much they were cards brought for attrition warfare, being dealt with this easily was absurd.
The mage called Diesel was far more formidable than she had expected.
‘And what is that Electrosphere spirit?’
Every ti a specter possessing an android was retrieved, so spirit would pop out of nowhere and interfere.
‘An Electrosphere spirit that eats specters.’
Even she, with extensive experience binding countless Electrosphere spirits, had never heard of such a thing.
‘He’s definitely not an ordinary mage. I should withdraw imdiately and analyze—wait.’
As she examined the androids being swept away by the current, she spotted a woman collapsed in one corner.
‘That woman is…….’
The hostage Heavyskull had prepared.
Why had he hidden the hostage in such a secluded place instead of using her actively?
Sensing sothing suspicious, she accessed the internal server to search the stored CCTV footage and see what had happened here.
But the CCTVs had already been destroyed and recorded nothing.
However, one device embedded inside the ceiling—impossible to deal with from the outside—was still operational.
It was high-end equipnt installed because this place was ant to be used as the power plant manager’s office.
‘Thorough bastard.’
All the video records had been deleted.
Whoever the hacker was, the recovery was difficult enough to be troubleso.
‘Couldn’t remove the device directly, so they wiped the data instead?’
Not only was his magical ability exceptional, his execution was clean as well.
Hard to believe he hadn’t been active for long.
‘Hmph, this is nothing.’
Unfortunately for him, he had chosen the wrong opponent.
She was an Andromancer renowned even within Cheonrang for her hacking skills.
After spending so ti restoring the files, she found that the originals had been severely damaged.
‘The work of that Electrosphere spirit, perhaps.’
It wasn’t just simple deletion—they had sabotaged the recording itself so it couldn’t properly capture footage.
And the thod of damage didn’t resemble a typical hacker’s trace, but felt like soone had directly tampered with it from within the Electrosphere.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve had a challenge.’
Even so, she smiled.
Because she possessed the ability to restore even files damaged to this extent.
Among her many hacking skills, she prided herself most on restoration.
She searched for salvageable elents within the crushed colors.
She reconnected the shattered dots back to their original positions.
Despite being high-resolution CCTV, it had been fragnted so finely that it was an arduous task.
After struggling through it all, she finally completed the video restoration.
The mont she pressed the play button, an unbelievable scene appeared before her eyes.
“Th-this…… what…….”
A sound escaped her lips without her realizing it.
The damage was so severe that only about eight fras had been properly restored.
But even that was enough to grasp the mage’s level.
[You bitch Iris! What are you doing? Hurry up and provide combat support over here……!]
Kim Rua’s shrill voice rang in her ears, but she kept replaying that re eight-fra clip.
No—she couldn’t stop replaying it.
Because within that brief footage……
‘No way…….’
It contained scenes of entirely different elental mana being manifested.
‘An eightfold mana user……?’
This footage alone already proved the staggering conclusion of an eightfold mana user, but what was truly shocking was the ti it took to manifest them.
Judging the fras by the tistamp, it was only about ‘0.13’ seconds.
That ant the mage had manifested eight different spells in just 0.13 seconds.
‘Is that even possible?’
If this information was true.
If she hadn’t made a mistake during restoration.
‘I can never win.’
Having reached that conclusion, the Andromancer hurriedly inford her teammates.
[Iris……! Get over here imdiately…….]
[This won’t work.]
[What?]
[This mage is an unbelievable monster.]
[What are you talking about, Iris?]
[What do you an?]
She spoke in a serious voice.
[I’m requesting removal of firepower restrictions.]
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