In the control room, only a pile of bones remained.
"He passed away peacefully, leaving behind no negative emotions like resentment or anger, as undead usually do..." Wiz clasped her hands together as if offering a prayer for the skeletal remains.
This drove Ethan mad: "Peacefully?! How could he leave peacefully after causing such a huge mess?! Did he not feel even a shred of regret for his actions?!"
"Ethan! I found its power reactor! It's the legendary, ultra-rare Coronaditye stone supplying its energy!" Standing nearby, Yunyun pointed at the radiant, sun-like stone in the energy chamber and shouted.
Coronaditye!
Rumored to be an ultra-rare legendary stone, even in this world filled with magic and wonders, it was considered a top-tier treasure! True to its name, it was like a miniature sun, containing nearly limitless energy.
One could call it a perpetual engine!
And this was the reason the Mobile Fortress Destroyer could rampage endlessly across the world.
"If we can deal with the Coronaditye, this crisis will be over!" Yunyun clenched her fists in excitement, her ruby-red eyes gleaming like a predator ready to pounce, startling Wiz beside her, who cautiously spoke up.
"The problem is—how do we deal with it? The Coronaditye's energy is infinite. Waiting for it to deplete is impossible, and its sun-like heat means we can't find a suitable container to move it in a short time. Plus, being a stone, if we try to destroy it, there's a high chance it'll cause a massive explosion!"
Wiz used her knowledge as a thousand-year-old Lich—er, as an experienced Lich—to analyze the difficulties in solving this problem.
"Actually, using teleportation magic to send the Coronaditye to an uninhabited area and detonating it would be the best solution. Unfortunately, all my teleportation coordinates are densely populated areas. While there's a Random Teleport skill that can send it to an uncertain location, we don't know where it'll end up—and if it lands somewhere crowded, it'll be a disaster!"
"Ugh~" As if overwhelmed by frustration, Wiz clutched her head and let out a small, distressed noise.
"Ethan! Do you have any good ideas?" Seeing Wiz like this, Yunyun couldn't bear it and turned to Ethan, who seemed to be reading a diary.
"Is there a way to handle the Coronaditye's explosion in that diary?"
"No... there's no way to deal with the Coronaditye's explosion in here... But this almost made me explode on the spot!"
With those strange words that left Yunyun confused, Ethan closed the diary—written in Japanese—with a pale face, then tore it into tiny pieces.
"And now, I don't just want to tear up this diary—I want to tear up its owner too!"
"You already did! And the diary's owner is already a pile of bones, meeting Goddess Eris as we speak!" Yunyun couldn't hold back and fired back with a sharp retort!
"Alright, I have a plan. And if this works, we might have a real shot at fighting the Devil King in the future!" Ethan wiped away his earlier gloom, his face brimming with confidence—or what others might call a smug grin.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Outside the Mobile Fortress Destroyer.
"Is Onii-sama not done yet?" Iris effortlessly sliced a massive golem in half, then turned a worried gaze toward the Mobile Fortress Destroyer. The hole previously cut by the Holy Sword had already regenerated!
Though the Mobile Fortress Destroyer now showed no signs of activity, there was also no movement inside—just an endless stream of golems emerging.
*BUZZ!*
Like the sound of a machine powering up, the Mobile Fortress Destroyer suddenly reactivated, firing a searing heat beam that pierced through the distant sky!
"This is bad!" Iris regretted her carelessness.
But just as she gathered magical energy to attack, the machine abruptly shut down as if running out of power—even the surrounding golems froze in place!
"Is it... over?"
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"Amazing! Ethan actually understands magi-tech too!"
Watching Ethan rapidly press buttons on the control panel with dizzying speed, even shutting down the Mobile Fortress Destroyer and the Coronaditye, Yunyun's eyes sparkled with admiration.
'Is that really it? Even if you're a fan, your stare is so intense it's giving me pressure!' Ethan screamed internally.
But rather than dwell on that, he focused on the control panel he had now mastered.
As he suspected, the Mobile Fortress Destroyer's design resembled modern machinery from his original world. The reason it went berserk was due to some lunatic programming a battle-focused artificial intelligence into it.
Combined with the Coronaditye's infinite energy, this machine would've fought endlessly until destroyed!
Fortunately, his Prasaga ability proved incredibly useful now. Using its insights and the hacking skills he'd learned before dying, Ethan planned to halt the Mobile Fortress Destroyer's operations—even cutting off the Coronaditye's energy supply to put it back to sleep.
And the reason he did this? He was interested in the Mobile Fortress Destroyer. It was the perfect war machine, just as its creator intended!
In a one-on-one fight, it might not mean much, but in large-scale warfare, this thing was a true weapon of mass destruction!
His ultimate goal was storming the Devil King's Castle and defeating the Devil King. When that time came, he'd face hordes of monsters. If he could command the Mobile Fortress Destroyer, even the entire demon army would tremble in fear.
*CLICK!*
'Oops, lost focus and hit the wrong button—did I just fire the laser?'
Ethan pursed his lips, then shrugged and resumed his hacking.
'Well, that was just an illusion. It was all a matter of timing—nothing to do with me. I'm the hero who saved Axel!'
After that, the Mobile Fortress Destroyer ceased operations, and even the Coronaditye dimmed, as if burned out.