Chapter 646: Chapter 15: Fall

The young whale’s gentle whimper still echoed through the forest, its massive head affectionately rubbing against the ground where Lynch stood, establishing that trust born from bloodline at last.

“Lynch, look over here!”

Kong’s voice suddenly rang out, breaking this moment of warmth. She stood in front of a relatively sparse area of giant trees not far away, her gaze penetrating the layers of glowing foliage, seemingly staring at something, her tone filled with obvious astonishment.

“What?” Lynch snapped out of his silent communication with the young whale, turned around with curiosity, and walked towards Kong.

As he followed Kong’s gaze and truly saw the scene ahead, half-hidden and half-covered by the lush greenery, his steps suddenly halted, his grey eyes widening instantly.

“This… this is…”

What appeared before his eyes was by no means a natural creation of the forest. It was a large, twisted, and broken metal structure deeply embedded between the ground and the massive tree trunks.

Thick moss, vines, and glowing fungi covered it like a blanket, almost devouring these cold man-made artifacts entirely.

But from the exposed edges, the giant curved metal plates, and the vaguely visible outlines of complex pipes, one could still recognize this as the wreck of some kind of massive vehicle—

It seemed like part of a large cabin that, after being ripped apart by enormous force, had fallen from a great height, crashing here and slowly being enveloped and assimilated by the forest.

“It’s a flying aircraft,” Kong’s voice carried conviction as she withdrew her gaze from above the wreckage, looking at Lynch, “a gigantic flying aircraft. Earlier, when I expanded my space domain to investigate the energy flows nearby, I vaguely perceived something unusual about this area.”

She paused, pointing toward the deeper part of the forest surrounding the wreckage: “From the ’scars’ in the spatial structure and the traces of energy residue, it seems like an extremely devastating crash. A large flying aircraft, for reasons unknown, collided with the edge of this floating island at extremely high speed.” ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

“The crash point should be nearby, the immense impact tearing open the island’s crust, forming the deep canyon where we now stand. And the scattered metal debris and strange parts all over this forest are the ’remains’ of that catastrophic collision.”

Lynch’s gaze swept over the tenaciously standing metal structure before him, then towards the reflective fragments faintly visible deeper in the forest, understanding dawning in his heart.

Kong pointed at the wreckage before them as she continued: “Under such impact force, other parts of the entire flying aircraft would have long since turned to dust or scattered away. Only here, although severely deformed and damaged, the main structure has relatively remained intact…”

Her fingers lightly tapped on the metal wall covered in thick moss, producing a dull sound. “What does this mean? It means that at the moment of the crash, there must have been an extremely powerful, possibly multi-layered protective magic array shrouding this area!”

“They withstood the destructive impact and preserved this core region. Such a level of protection would normally only be arranged in the most core, most important areas of a flying aircraft, such as the command center, core power chamber, or… the place where the most vital supplies are stored.”

Kong turned to Lynch, her eyes twinkling with the light of exploration: “What should we do? Shall we go inside and take a look? The secrets inside might be bigger than we expect.”

Lynch’s gaze had long been deeply attracted by these ruins buried in time and greenery. The massive wreckage of the flying aircraft, the protection of the core area, and the secrets that might be hidden… all of it drew him in like a magnet.

A curve of interest tugged at his lips, and he nodded without hesitation:

“Of course! Since fate has brought us here and we’ve come upon such a discovery, how can we not take a look inside? Who knows, there might even be something useful inside.”

His eyes sparkled with the excitement and curiosity unique to adventurers.

The two exchanged a glance, nodded tacitly. Kong gripped the Cross Sword in her hand, while Lynch restrained his aura, the faint glow of the triple domain flickering on his body surface.

They wasted no more time, carefully brushing aside the hanging vines and thick glowing moss, stepping into the shadowy entrance of the large metal wreckage covered in greenery.

The forest light gradually dimmed behind them, and ahead lay the unknown interior of the ruins.

Lynch and Kong cautiously moved forward, stepping on the soft, thick moss and occasionally stepping on the prickly metal fragments.

The passage was constructed from some kind of sturdy alloy, severely twisted and deformed, covered in dents and torn open seams from the impact, but the main structure still held firm.

Not far from their path, a massive, heavy hatch suddenly appeared in the center of the passage, completely blocking their way.

The hatch itself appeared twisted, its edges even somewhat misaligned with the passage walls, clearly having endured tremendous impact.

On both sides of the passage, like guards frozen in time, lay dozens of humanoid constructs—alchemy demon puppets.

They varied in appearance, but all exuded a cold, fierce aura of slaughter. Thick armor covered their bodies, joints connected with hefty energy transmission pipes, and although the weapon interfaces were rusted, one could still see that they once housed powerful devices.

They each had different postures, some with arms still poised to strike, others seemingly knocked down by a formidable force, lying limp on the ground, covered in thick layers of dust and cobweb-like moss strands, as if they had been in deep sleep for countless years.

“These demon puppets…” Lynch’s sharp gaze swept over these silent guardians, his reservoir of knowledge quickly processing. When his eyes landed on a unique emblem of interwoven broken gears and flames on the shoulder armor of one demon puppet, his eyes widened slightly.

“Destruction golems?” he exclaimed in surprise.

Upon hearing his words, Kong immediately tensed, gripping her sword tighter: “What did you say? The kind that is said in legends to be crafted by the pinnacle of ancient alchemy, with each one being a war machine capable of rivaling third-tier domain beings?”

“Exactly!” Lynch crouched down, meticulously examining the closest demon puppet.

He had seen this creature in a pamphlet at the Magic Power Alchemy Research Institute. Its armor was astonishingly heavy, its joint structure ingeniously and intricately surpassing contemporary technology, even though rusted, the energy core interface at its core still exuded a heart-palpitating residual power.

“That’s them! The ’Destruction’ series, one of the intermittent weapons of ancient alchemy! It’s said that once they are activated, they become pure embodiments of destruction, tireless, unafraid of pain… I never expected to find so many here!”

He looked around at the dozens of these dormant steel giants, an involuntary shiver of unease creeping up his spine.

“Luckily… they seem to have exhausted their energy, completely ceasing operation. Otherwise, just these creatures awakening would be enough to give us quite the trouble…”

The mere existence of these demon puppets silently attested to the once unimaginable high specifications of this flying aircraft. What kind of place required dozens of destruction golems rivaling third-tier domain beings to guard the door at the end of the corridor?

Lynch puzzled over this in his heart, then refocused his attention on the hefty hatch that blocked their path.

He approached a few steps, his gaze searching the hatch’s surface, following its intricate engravings and large wheel lock for possible methods or clues to open it.

However, at that moment, his gaze froze.

In the center of the hatch, a relatively intact area was inlaid with a circular emblem about half a meter in diameter.

The emblem was cast from some dark golden metal, its centerpiece a silhouette of a floating city suspended in the clouds, its structure incomparably intricate and exquisite, below which were layers of gears and array patterns symbolizing energy and support.

The entire emblem exuded an ancient, majestic, inviolable aura; even after being dusted over for so long, its inherent symbolism was enough to send shudders through anyone knowledgeable!

Lynch’s body suddenly stiffened, his heart skipping a beat.

“This… this is…”

He hurriedly bent down to swipe away the dust covering the emblem, and upon confirming its full appearance, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath:

“Sky City, Navest!”

This emblem was none other than that of one of the great four ancient wizard civilizations capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Acadia ten millennia ago, said to possess the most advanced realm of alchemy—

Sky City!

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