Today is destined to be a memorable day for the magitech city.

Most ordinary residents take pride in being residents of the magitech city, enjoying the convenience brought by magitech technology every day. In fact, they know very little about the mysterious central research institute.

But today, when they saw the hurried crowd coming out from inside, they realized that the organization exposed to most people was just the tip of the iceberg... Damn, there are so many people?!

The densely packed crowd is all researchers, and these people account for more than 90% of the research on magitech technology conducted by humans. As for the remaining 10%, they are generally overlooked by these researchers.

Hmph, what do those old farts holed up in the Magic Guild know about magitech technology? They spend their days clinging to Magic incantations that are almost decayed, just thinking about reducing one or two syllables from a spell. What kind of research is that?

-ahem, that's beside the point.

The most intriguing thing is why these researchers suddenly rushed out from the underground research institute. And almost at the same time as these researchers ran out of the institute building, the city-wide evacuation broadcast sounded, followed by waves of violent tremors from deep underground.

Fortunately, the buildings in the magitech city have excellent earthquake resistance. Coupled with the rigorous tests of various large-scale magitech weapons experiments, the damage to surface buildings is not severe.

But soon everyone realized that they seemed to have made an extremely foolish mistake.

"Hey, they really made us evacuate, are the invaders that dangerous?" On the temporary gathering square, Researcher A patted Researcher B on the shoulder.

"It seems so. I heard that the guards suffered heavy casualties, and even the developing magical armor was destroyed in the battle."

"Hiss... Even the mechas were... Wait, since it's already like this, what's the point of us evacuating? The invaders will soon break through, right?"

"Princess Milanía is counterattacking."

"It sounds a bit familiar..."

"You don't even know? It's that person who gained popularity after slaying the dragon some time ago. Although it's a bit embarrassing to ask legendary heroes from other countries for help, with her presence, defeating the invaders shouldn't be a problem."

At the same time, in another corner of the square, the female knight brought forcibly by the princess almost got into a fight with the mercenary.

"You bastard! If anything happens to Her Highness... How am I going to explain to His Majesty when I go back!"

At the time, her head was in chaos after being forcibly carried away. It was not her intention to come out like this, that's right! The female knight explained it to herself like this, throwing all the responsibility onto Beinrich.

"You... " Beinrich raised his hands helplessly. "Anyway, you can't go back now, even if I made a mistake, it doesn't matter."

If the other party had loudly refuted, Shuma could continue to argue with him for a while. But now that he admitted defeat, the female knight didn't know how to respond.

"I chose to be a mercenary because I can't stand the stupid codes of knights," Beinrich suddenly added, shaking his head. "Compassion is indeed a virtue, but when faced with those insane people, even if you spare them, they will eventually come back with knives, right? Instead of being kind-hearted and causing harm to oneself, it's better to just kill them."

"Then there's loyalty. I'm a mercenary, only loyal to myself and my brothers. I don't understand why you choose to serve those high and mighty king and nobles, and even consider loyalty more important than life."

"You, a faithless guy like you, of course..."

"Hey, that's not right," Beinrich shrugged. "I just don't believe in gods, or in your knightly spirit, but that doesn't mean I have no faith. Might makes right, the victor is king, survival of the fittest - these are the creed of a mercenary. It may not be as noble as your knightly spirit, but it's practical, isn't it?"

Shuma didn't know what to say. He never expected to be rendered speechless by a rough and wild mercenary.

Seeing the silent expression on the female knight's face, the mercenary whistled, but his expression changed in less than three seconds. "Um, well... hey, knight girl, can you help me explain something about myself?"

"?" Shuma raised her head in confusion, only to see Delua and her group approaching quickly.

"Sir Shuma!" Delua came solemnly to Shuma's side. "Her Highness..."

"Her Highness is currently engaging in battle with Hermes below, accompanied by Sir Aya," Shuma struggled with her expression. "It was indeed my negligence. I will apologize to His Majesty upon our return."

Delua seemed momentarily stunned, then sighed and patted Shuma's shoulder with a helpless smile. "It's not your fault, Sir Shuma... I believe His Majesty will not blame you."

Recalling the scene from the night before their departure to Gilliast Castle, in the study of King Granzon, where His Majesty War King Granzon said seriously, "My daughter will definitely cause trouble at that time. She might even fight with that lunatic who attacked the castle. If you can stop them, please do so. If not... just cheer her on," Shuma's secretary had an exhausting feeling.

It was reasonable to want to relax a little when dealing with a daughter like that. Perhaps it would be better not to be too strict upon their return.

At that moment, the ground suddenly trembled violently, and... the tremors were getting closer?!

Not long after, under the gaze of the entire city, the Central Research Institute building began to shake, and the amplitude of the tremors became larger and larger. It looked like a patient having an epileptic fit, with glass shards flying and bricks and stones scattering.

Upon seeing this scene, Heffy and Chip exchanged glances and their expressions revealed a sense of impending doom. Then, the building collapsed amidst a continuous rumbling and a barely audible roar!

Starting from the first floor, each level's glass curtain wall shattered in ascending clouds of dust and noise, collapsing one after another. The dust rose higher and higher until the top floor of the building was breached. A massive pale dragon silhouette, dragging another huge body, quickly flew into the sky. And the building, with its support columns destroyed, began to collapse in all directions, ultimately becoming a pile of ruins.

A wave of exclamations erupted from the crowd.

"That's... a dragon?!"

...

"You bastard! Let me go!"

With the dragon claws embedded in his back armor, Hermes looked terrified as each flap of the dragon's wings lifted him more than ten meters higher. In theory, flying shouldn't be difficult with the Holy Rank laws, but Hermes had only recently acquired control over these laws. If he were to fall from such a height, even a slight mistake would mean certain destruction.

More importantly, Hermes sensed a terrifying power gathering below... If he were hit while in the air, it could be extremely dangerous.

Both hands sprung out with metal blades, attacking Aya, but Aya let the blades cut through her body, covered in blood, without letting go and continued to rise.

"Miss, are you okay? I can't hold on much longer!"

Struck once again, Aya let out a painful roar, her wings weakened and almost losing strength.

Finally, Tiran didn't disappoint her.

"You've worked hard, leave the rest to me."

The dragon claws covered in blood released their grip, and Hermes and Aya separated without support. The heavy metal body tumbled and fell downward, the surface armor rapidly heating up due to the friction in the air, turning from black to glowing red.

After barely adjusting the balance and preparing to land steadily using the power of the laws, Hermes felt an unprecedented sense of crisis in his heart.

At the bottom of the deep hole they crashed into... there was light?

At the bottom of the research institute's courtyard, Tiran struggled to stand upright with his remaining strength. He extended his index finger towards the rapidly enlarging bright red dot in the sky and made a faint sound, "I told you to die, you old bastard... Sky Piercer!"

Something erupted silently.

After abandoning the heavy mecha, Aya couldn't hold on for much longer either. Her severe injuries made her land weakly on top of a building, and at almost the same time, she witnessed the termination of the mechanical divinity.

A faint light shot out from the ground, and besides that, it seemed as if nothing happened.

But soon, the heavily damaged heavy mecha rolled over again, heavily smashing into the already ruined building.

Of course, Hermes couldn't possibly make such a foolish mistake. The only explanation was that he couldn't react.

"How... is... this... possible?"

The cockpit had been distorted and deformed by the high temperatures and impacts. A piece of protruding metal pierced through Hermes' abdomen, but before that, the magitech genius had already been fated to die.

His heart's position had become a perfect circular void.

Hermes' current mood can be said to be quite complicated. In a few short hours, he experienced despair, madness, and ecstatic joy multiple times. If it weren't for his excellent heart, he really wouldn't have been able to endure it all.

Although he couldn't kill the Dragon Slayer, he had indeed proven the peak of magitech technology, and his long-cherished wish for the mechanical divinity had finally been fulfilled. This way of dying in itself wasn't a terrible ending, right?

As his consciousness gradually dissipated, Hermes thought to himself.

But... he couldn't accept it, he couldn't accept it! It was as though there were voices shouting in his heart.

Why? Why did he have to die? He wanted... to live!

Wait, why did he think that way? Wasn't he the one who could sacrifice everything for his dreams, regardless of his own life or others'?

With very little remaining cognitive ability, Hermes tried to think.

Was this the feeling of those people who became test subjects before they died?

It seemed... unbearable.