Chapter 29: The War Golem from Three Hundred Years Ago
Stepping out of the warehouse, Sylvia looked at the bustling dock and squinted slightly due to the dazzling sunlight.
Half an hour earlier, after being notified by Lakdevo, Loruze had quietly led a group of Radiant Knights to arrest the members of the Full Moon Sect.
At the same time, on their way back, they had casually retrieved some of the “goods” she had stored in a certain section of the sewer.
All of this had been done without alerting the Church of Machinery.
At that moment, Lakdevo, perched on her shoulder, suddenly spoke:
“Master, the weapon you used just now seems rather characteristic of this era?”
It was referring to the silver-black flintlock and hand cannon.
After all, in its view, Sylvia had descended from beyond the world, so the magic and weapons she wielded should not have matched the style of this era.
If what had appeared in her hand earlier had been a long, slender straight sword, there would not have been that sense of incongruity.
“I’m not an unchanging antique.”
Sylvia glanced at it and said with a smile.
Of course, she was merely brushing off the fat crow.
In truth, the dual pistols she had manifested were modeled after the weapons of one of her favorite characters back in her homeland.
Just then, Sylvia’s spirituality was suddenly stirred, and her gaze instinctively turned in a certain direction—
It was a ship sailing downstream, with a large canvas covering the deck, though the protrusions beneath faintly revealed some outlines.
What was that? Why did it stir her spirituality?
Sylvia curiously turned her gaze to the ship’s side, where a dark green sacred emblem was clearly printed—
A triangular base, with three interlocking gears of varying sizes.
A ship from the Church of Industry and Machinery?
Sensing his master’s gaze, Lakdevo also turned his attention toward the river:
“Caw!”
“So it’s an archaeological ship from the Church of Machinery!”
“Archaeological ship?”
Sylvia asked with some interest.
“Yes.”
“Last week, a ruin was unearthed in the eastern part of the City of Alova. The items on this ship were most likely excavated from there.”
“Ruin?”
Sylvia repeated the word.
Was it something from history? To still retain spiritual resonance after being weathered by time proved it indeed held something special.
Thus, Sylvia became even more curious about what was aboard the steam transport ship.
A faint starlight and purple glow flashed across her eyes, and her gaze at that moment pierced through the specially-made canvas that possessed a certain resistance to mystical probing.
However, the moment her eyes came into contact with the object on the deck, she froze in place.
At this moment, an expression of rare astonishment appeared on her delicate face.
It was an arm, an enormous arm.
Based on this alone, its owner would have stood at least twenty meters tall.
But that wasn’t the point.
In ancient times, giants had also been one of the rulers of this world.
If it had truly been a giant’s arm, Sylvia wouldn’t have been so shocked.
What made up this arm wasn’t flesh and bone, but pitch-black steel!
It was a mechanical arm with an exquisitely intricate structure; though the hydraulic rod at the elbow was somewhat rusted, its original form could still be discerned.
She had seen this thing before—back in her homeland!
By all logic, this thing shouldn’t have existed in this world!
“Caw?”
“What’s wrong, Master?”
Noticing Sylvia’s rare loss of composure, Lakdevo’s eyes also took on a purple glow as it looked in the same direction.
Then, half in realization and half in reflection, it said:
“So it’s that one.”
“Hm?”
“You know what this is?”
Drawn back from her thoughts by his voice, Sylvia slightly tilted her head and looked at the fat crow.
“Yes.”
Lakdevo nodded.
“Their history is rather ancient, traceable back to the war more than three hundred years ago.”
Hearing this historical marker, Sylvia nodded slowly.
Three hundred years ago, the Leston Empire in the north had invaded the alliance of western countries.
As the conflict developed, it gradually escalated into a war that engulfed the entire Old Continent.
The war had ended with the surrender of the Leston Empire.
Afterward, that colossal entity in the north was dismembered and ultimately split into what was now the Three Northern Kingdoms.
At that moment, Lakdevo’s voice continued:
“Back then, the Church of Industry and Machinery, following divine revelation, built seventy-two war golems and deployed them in the war.”
“The appearance of these seventy-two war golems was not only a turning point in the conflict, but also a major driving force behind the industrial revolution—”
“Although even now, no one has managed to replicate a single one of them.”
“Those fools—these are clearly creations of divine power! With their ignorant nature, how could they possibly unravel the mysteries within?”
Lakdevo let out a mocking caw, while Sylvia fell into silence.
Seventy-two of them?
It truly was that number, after all.
She then shifted her gaze back to the massive mechanical arm and asked softly:
“You’ve seen what they looked like in full?”
“Of course!”
Lakdevo nodded.
“Although our River Council remains strictly neutral, when large-scale wars break out, we still head to the battlefield to recover souls and prevent the widespread resurrection of the dead.”
“It was during such a time that I encountered one of the war golems.”
Sylvia gave a small nod.
“Tell me what you felt.”
Lakdevo paused to organize its thoughts before replying:
“Powerful. Each one possessed power on the level of an Apostle, though equivalent to Apostles like the Child of the Moon.”
“But their numbers were sufficient.”
“Moreover, as long as the technology was competent, any level of transcendent individual piloting one of these war golems could bring out its full strength.”
“Is that so?”
Sylvia gave a noncommittal smile.
“Which one did you encounter?”
At this question, Lakdevo seemed to recall the past, and its expression gradually turned solemn:
“I encountered one of the war golems deep within the Leston Empire’s territory.”
"Back then, the sky was shrouded in dark clouds. A white steel giant stood tall above the snowline, and the emerald green light that seeped from its eyes felt like a lantern from hell."
"Surrounding it were the lingering souls of the fallen Leston soldiers."
"Later, I learned its name from those wandering spirits:"
"The White Demon—Barbatos."
Barbatos.
Upon hearing this name, the corners of Sylvia’s mouth slowly lifted.
One coincidence could be dismissed as chance, but what if several coincidences were strung together?
She could only say—so it really was?
At that moment, words she had previously seen in the Book of Radiance flashed across her mind.
It seemed she wasn’t alone. Besides herself, there were other transmigrators in this world.
Who was he?
The Lord of Radiance?
Or perhaps the god of Industry and Machinery?
Or maybe... both?
“What’s wrong, Master?”
Lakdevo looked at Sylvia, who seemed oddly out of sorts today, and asked the question for what felt like the umpteenth time.
“Nothing.”
The puppet girl shook her head, then turned to the fat crow perched on her shoulder:
“Calling them ‘war golems’ lacks elegance.”
“Caw?”
Lakdevo tilted its head in slight confusion.
The next second, Sylvia’s voice, strange in tone, rose along with her upward glance:
“I think they should be called—”
“Gundams.”