Chapter 217: Mapping The Unseen

’Robert… A Lord is willing to cooperate with us? It seems that I will have to give this man more credit. He is a proper soldier of humanity.’ Michael analyzed.

At the same time the crew threw a few glances at Livia, wondering if she would be willing.

“So your grand idea boils down to helping them yourself?” Livia scoffed, staring at Robert with dangerous eyes.

“Pretty much.” The Lord flashed her a charming smile. “That is only if you are willing to part with me for some time, of course. My priority still remains to ensure your safety. If the guards here don’t strike you as reliable enough, then forget my suggestion.”

Silence stretched until Livia’s gaze softened as she sighed heavily. “Okay, go… But please, don’t… return to me like you did last time.”

With a simple nod, Robert turned to the crew. “Well, there you have it! I hope that you can allow a stranger to join you for as long as the operation lasts!”

Instinctively everybody glanced at Michael, who was still studying the Lord.

“Joining our ranks means that you will abide by our rules. Your opinion will always be taken into account, but in highly dangerous, tense situations I will give the orders, and you will have to follow them without hesitation, lest you risk all of our lives.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you willing to follow these terms?”

Naturally, just because the Lord looked reasonable enough didn’t mean Michael wouldn’t try to pry him a little. Considering the difference in realms, it was vital to establish the leader of the operation from the very beginning.

Failure to do so would cause distress even in the most elite of troops, leading them to their demise. Michael had seen enough of that to know how important it was to avoid this kind of outcome.

“Truthfully this works in my favor.” Robert chuckled. “People assume that I desire to lead those weaker than me, but it is really a hassle. It is much more preferable for somebody smarter than me to take charge and tell me what to do.”

Thankfully the Lord didn’t seem against the idea of following Michael’s leadership.

“I see, then welcome aboard.” Michael nodded.

Not lingering for more than necessary, they headed out, with time not running in their favor.

“Take care…” Livia muttered under her breath as she watched Robert go.

Hearing her with his enchanted hearing, he gave her a thumbs up before proceeding.

Outside, Robert glanced at Cyberfang, who had remained outside since the beast was too big to enter the building.

“You really are masterfully equipped.” The Lord nodded in approval. “Not only do you all seem extremely capable, but you even have this kind of mecha in your ranks.”

“Not just one.” Ava giggled, nudging Claire with her elbow. “She is the rumored White Angel, the one that is said to not have an equal in mecha skills. Though for now she has abstained from using it, wanting to improve her fighting capabilities.”

Claire smiles mischievously in turn. “And Ava can look cute with her petite build until she sneaks behind you with a hammer that weighs a ton.”

Due to the need to cooperate with the Lord, they had to share parts of their fighting styles, since doing so in the middle of a battle could be deadly.

“Interesting…”

Robert nodded and briefly glanced at the only one who had stayed silent. Ruby walked with her hood pulled over her head and remained close to Michael to minimize any slip-ups.

“You all seem… certainly unique.”

After a brief pause, he added.

“Oh, about my fighting style. It is quite boring, to be honest. Most of the techniques I have mastered give me control over the wind. I can shape it into thin, indivisible blades, form tornadoes, or steal the oxygen from my foes’ lungs and make them slowly choke to death.”

Robert smiled innocently.

“You know, simple things like that, nothing too impressive.”

“The nerve!” Richard scoffed. “Who would go describing the coolest fighting moves to exist only to end with nothing too impressive?”

Officially done with the introductions, it was time to begin the investigation. Which, even with the help of a Lord would undoubtedly take a lot of time.

The reason for that was simple. When people learned that Magmorious, the capital city, housed over half a billion people, most of them could not truly comprehend how large that number was.

While the population was difficult to grasp, the landmass was easier to understand. Despite being densely crowded, the capital still spanned more than 100,000 kilometers. With a size that colossal, it was quite literally larger than some countries on Earth!

And somewhere deep underground lay the hidden main lab from which the rogue AIs were being controlled. Finding it would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

“You said you commanded the wind, right?” Michael turned towards Robert, an idea forming. “How big is that range exactly?”

“It depends. Assuming you want me to search the various metro systems for hidden tunnels, the range would be between two and six kilometers, depending on the surrounding materials.”

Michael nodded. “That should do it for a start.”

His plan was relatively simple. Just as Robert had guessed, they would head to one side of the capital and descend into the metro system, waiting for Robert to spot any illegally dug tunnels.

Scanners were sadly out of the equation because they weren’t able to locate things that were deeper than a kilometer underground.

The good thing, at the very least, was that they only needed to find a single tunnel, since all of them were supposed to be connected. Following its route would inevitably lead them to the very center.

As for why Michael couldn’t pinpoint the exact coordinates, even though he had used Bypasser on one of the lab’s main computers, it was because while the general area was revealed, the precise location was masterfully obscured as if someone had prepared for any hacking attempts ahead of time.

As the crew began searching for hidden tunnels, a robotic voice echoed menacingly at their destination.

[Current progress… 20%]

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