Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Without the small plane to transport them, the group's speed wasn't slow. Loloria and Celestia were born to fly, and Tilan could also use Magic Power to weave wings; the only one with a slight difficulty was Ores. Her Magic Power level was indeed sufficient to perform the task, but after losing her memory, many of the past spells she learned needed to be relearned, including flying abilities.

Maintaining the ice-blue wings with some effort, Ores and Tilan held hands, advancing in the high sky. The group finally arrived at the site of the ruins before nightfall.

However, someone was already here.

On the ground was a crescent-shaped giant crater formed by explosions and collapses, filled with rubble and blasted soil, along with numerous shattered Mechanical Body fragments. Beside the crater stood over a dozen long poles with spotlights hanging on them, and a gray small transporter was parked nearby.

They were members of the Slami Association, wearing Bulletproof Vests and holding Electromagnetic Firearms, guarding the ruins. It seemed that some members had already entered the underground.

Upon landing, Tilan did not approach immediately but observed from nearby.

Had all the Mechanical Bodies inside the ruins come out? Surprisingly, not much was left here, she thought to herself, then glanced at her companions.

Loloria was looking at the deep crater not far away with great interest, while Ores was looking down, trying to find a larger stone to stand on, and Celestia was curious about the Slami Association's equipment.

Everyone had different priorities, so Tilan decided to first make contact with those members of the Slami Association.

...

"Stop, who are you?" Before the four could approach, the stationed association members raised their guns in warning.

"We heard there were ruins here, and they had even triggered a Mechanical Body disturbance." Tilan tried to explain the reason, but judging by the other party's attitude, they didn't seem welcoming.

"Back up, don't come any closer, or we'll open fire." The other party had no interest in listening.

The group halted, and Celestia glanced at Tilan, wanting to ask her how to resolve it.

This was a bit troublesome. These Slami Association people seemed to regard this ruin as their possession.

Just as Tilan was contemplating whether to break in directly or get Flan to negotiate, gunshots and explosions came from the depths of the crater.

Several fully armed combat personnel retreated from the passage beneath the crater while shooting, driven back by a silver metallic Mechanical Flying Mantis. Unlike common Mechanical Bodies, its shape was elegantly streamlined, with alloy material far superior to ordinary metal, showing no signs of rust. Even bullets left no traces upon impact, simply gliding off and bouncing away.

The constant clattering of close-range firing from multiple assault rifles brought up countless sparks, though the shots were largely ineffective. The Mechanical Flying Mantis deftly controlled its limbs, leaping and moving within the tunnel, rapidly closing in, its sharp blades flashing as it dismembered the combat personnel before it.

Then it charged again toward the next target.

At a disadvantage, the members of the Slami Association had to continuously retreat until reaching the surface.

"Requesting reinforcement! Have the camp use heavy firepower against it!" One member urgently shouted.

Soon, Tilan and the others saw a squared-off war machine emerge from the Slami Association's temporary shelter, its lower body resembling a tank with a track chassis, above which was a rotating semi-humanoid structure, clutching firearms on mechanical arms. As the internal fire control system adjusted, it aimed at the Mechanical Flying Mantis leaping below.

With a clang, one of its cannons fired, exploding on the ground and sending dirt ten meters high, followed by another shot.

Such attacks finally caused some damage to the Mechanical Flying Mantis. At least the shockwaves slightly damaged its internal precision electronic components, after which its movements and jumps became somewhat distorted, not as agile as before.

"Poor anti-shock structure, probably lacks internal separation modules, but uses hard bridge connections instead, not like a first-generation product." Loloria commented.

"But compared to those cheap replicas outside, this guy is pretty decent."

Despite not being as agile as before, the Mechanical Flying Mantis still caused significant casualties within the enemy ranks. Facing the close maneuvering mantis, the war machine struggled to aim and keep up with the movement, thus changing tactics, beginning to use the machine guns mounted on its shoulders.

Dense bullets hit the Mechanical Flying Mantis, leaving some scratches on the armor, while others landed in the dirt behind it. Subsequently, the mantis began to approach the war machine, cutting through the gun barrels with its sharp blades.

However, the ensuing battle wasn't as smooth. Although the mechanical mantis severed some external components, finding no effective way to deal with the iron-clad war machine overall; its forelimbs' blades weren't adequate to cut through the heavy sturdy Casting Armor.

The nearly half-meter-thick armor resembled metal concrete; if its blades hacked into it, they would get stuck.

After several exchanges, the war machine lost its offensive capabilities, but its remaining body was still difficult to directly destroy, causing the Internal Flying Mantis to be locked around it and granting nearby combat personnel ample shooting opportunities.

Under relentless shooting, its armor began to suffer damage due to high temperatures and metal fatigue, eventually exposing internal electronic components until they were destroyed and shut down.

Half an hour later, seeing the mechanical mantis completely halt, the members of the Slami Association breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, when they looked around, they found that Tilan and the others had long disappeared.