Chapter 78: The Merit of Dog Meat

Soon, a steam-powered combat automaton charged toward Sun Licheng, raising its right arm like a siege hammer and smashing it down with brutal force. Faced with such a giant, Sun Licheng dared not take the blow head-on; as the hammer came close, he rolled sharply to the left. A muffled thud rang out, and the ground caved in with a deep crater where the hammer struck.

“How terrifying!” Sun Licheng exclaimed inwardly as he saw the pit. Had he been hit, he would have been crushed to pieces.

The steam combat automaton, having missed its target, turned its body. The crossbow mounted on its shoulder fired bolts at Sun Licheng with deadly speed. Relying on his keen senses, Sun Licheng tumbled across the ground, deftly evading the attack.

Seeing the automaton's moves grow predictable, Sun Licheng sprang up with a carp jump, raised his blade, and charged forward with a shout.

“Ha!” With a furious roar, his sword flashed and struck hard at the automaton’s knee joint, but it failed to inflict any real damage.

“Damn!” Cursing his lack of success, Sun Licheng quickly retreated as the sound of wind rushed past his ear—the automaton’s hammer swung again.

Thus, Sun Licheng clashed noisily with the combat automaton, winning precious time for Mr. Nimblehands. The latter, shield in hand, dragged the Spotted Spider toward the passageway.

At that moment, another steam combat automaton arrived. It strode up beside Sun Licheng, opened its wide maw, and prepared to unleash a blast of scorching steam. Unable to split his attention, Sun Licheng felt his heart tighten with dread.

Suddenly, a pillar of red light flashed before Sun Licheng’s eyes, piercing straight through the automaton poised to unleash its attack.

With a thunderous explosion, the entire cavern trembled. The automaton’s internal high-pressure tank detonated. Its body, now like a ruptured flash mine, had its lower half splayed open, the upper half vanished, and it collapsed to the ground.

“Dogmeat!” Sun Licheng recognized the arrival of Dogmeat—the distinctive attack of its magic crystal cannon was unmistakable.

With one automaton destroyed, Sun Licheng’s burden eased. He began to maneuver around the remaining automaton, and Dogmeat rushed in, barking, to assist.

Seeing reinforcements arrive, Mr. Nimblehands quickened his pace, dragging the Spotted Spider into the passageway. Once he had secured the spider, he dashed out, shield raised, but instead of joining the assault on the automaton, he headed toward the opposite wall, where two crossbow firing ports were located.

These wall-mounted crossbow turrets were themselves combat automatons. They quickly detected Mr. Nimblehands' intent and immediately swung their barrels to target him. Fortunately, Mr. Nimblehands had eight tentacles and could fly; amid a flurry of metallic clangs, he made it safely to one of the firing ports, shield held high.

He jammed the shield against the firing port, then thrust a tentacle into the stone wall, swiftly locating the control circuit for the crossbow and began hacking it.

With over 150 goblin CPUs, Mr. Nimblehands possessed formidable computational power. In less than a minute, he cracked the automaton controlling the crossbow port, which promptly drooped its head, rendered inert.

Having neutralized one, Mr. Nimblehands repeated his technique and quickly took care of the other. Surveying his surroundings, he then flew toward the steam combat automaton.

As Mr. Nimblehands soared above Sun Licheng and his companions, he suddenly saw Sun Licheng radiating a brilliant light, followed by a sword strike that seemed to split the heavens.

With a thunderous crash, the massive steam combat automaton was forcefully cleaved backward, slamming hard against the ground.

“Damn, was that really me?”

Only when he heard the automaton's impact did Sun Licheng snap out of his trance-like state, stunned by the scene before him.

He quickly searched his mind and, as expected, discovered another awakened skill.

The new skill was called Full-Throttle Charge. When wielding a weapon in close combat, there was a chance to trigger it. Once activated, it unleashed a ferocious blow capable of knocking down an enemy or even completely disarming them.

This martial skill was originally a blessing from the God of Knights. Yet, as heroes were in some sense a higher form of knight, they too were blessed by the God of Heroes, making the skill even more potent.

By remaining to protect his companions, Sun Licheng accelerated the flow of his heroic power and finally obtained this skill, thereby defeating the enemy.

Seeing the automaton toppled, Mr. Nimblehands immediately changed course and flew toward it. Before the automaton could rise, a tentacle reached its back with a click, opening a small aperture—the automaton’s control core.

With his powerful hacking abilities, Mr. Nimblehands finally compelled the steam combat automaton to bow its head and fall completely still.

Sun Licheng, seeing the last enemy vanquished, panted heavily as he moved to Dogmeat’s side, only then noticing two arrows embedded in Dogmeat’s body, evidence of injury.

Sun Licheng’s heart leapt in alarm. He quickly knelt to examine Dogmeat. After a thorough check, he found that although the bolts had penetrated deeply, they had not caused much harm to Dogmeat’s steel body, and he was relieved.

“Boss, these are heavy combat automatons, typically used to guard critical military installations. Their slow speed makes them rarely deployed in the field. I've checked—there’s no immediate danger nearby.”

Mr. Nimblehands flew over to report, and with two crisp snips, severed the bolts lodged in Dogmeat.

With no means to repair Dogmeat for now, they'd have to wait until they exited the cavern.

“Have you determined the power source for these mechanical automatons?” Sun Licheng affectionately patted Dogmeat’s iron head and turned to ask Mr. Nimblehands.

“Yes, these combat automatons use geothermal energy as their backup power source.” Mr. Nimblehands’ answer gave Sun Licheng sudden clarity.

With the guards dealt with, Sun Licheng and his group began searching for an entry point. Soon, they found a smooth panel.

“Boss, this is a fingerprint lock. Only those with the bloodline of the Goblin Empire can open it,” Mr. Nimblehands explained, pointing to the panel. “If someone without the proper bloodline tries, the mechanism beside it will eliminate them.”

Looking at the crossbow ports Mr. Nimblehands indicated, Sun Licheng felt a chill run through him.

But he knew he had to enter. Taking a deep breath, he signaled to Mr. Nimblehands, who raised his shield protectively at his side.

Seeing Mr. Nimblehands ready, Sun Licheng slowly pressed his right hand onto the panel. As his palm touched the surface, a blue light shimmered across it. Steam hissed from behind the door, and with the screech of metal grinding, the iron gate opened amid a billow of smoke.