[389] : Athena & Yahweh's Secret—Riku Meets the Ex-Machina!

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The Elves.

They were the seventh-ranked race among the fifteen Exceed.

Just above them, at rank six, were the Flügel. Although only a single rank separated them, the gap between the Flügel and the Elves was unimaginable.

In a sense, the top six races, starting with the Flügel, could be considered the "Upper Races." The remaining races, starting with the Elves, were the "Lower Races."

It was a chasm that could not be easily bridged.

And now, the intelligence Riku had recovered from the Dwarven map pointed to the ruins of an Elven city. According to rumor, this city had been destroyed by the Flügel.

With a single attack.

Even so, any information about the Elves was incredibly precious. Living in the shadows of the world, even while fighting for their very existence, humans continuously gathered intelligence on the other races. The books in Riku's room were the culmination of generations of this accumulation.

But among them, information on the Elves was scarce. This was why Riku was so interested. What's more, Mika and the others were also gathering intelligence on the various races to prepare for the battles to come. This made the potential findings at the Elven ruins even more valuable to Riku.

And so, looking at Mika and his companions, Riku held up the data slate and said with a hopeful smile, "So, anyone interested in exploring the ruins of an Elven city?"

"No one's interested, huh?"

Wrapped tightly against the elements, Riku muttered to himself as he trudged through the desolate wasteland.

He was replaying the earlier scene in his mind with a sense of resignation. After he had posed his question, Mika's answer had been a simple, "Not interested."

According to Mika, the Elven ruins had been abandoned for who knows how many years. Any important intelligence would have been picked clean by other races long ago. A deep dive would likely yield nothing of value. With that kind of time and effort, he'd be better off infiltrating a current Elven city to gather data. The intelligence he'd get from that would be far more valuable.

Hearing Mika's response, Riku had a moment of clarity, realizing his mistake. He had projected his own limitations onto Mika and the others.

Humans couldn't fight back against the other races. Because of this, they always chose to explore ruins that the other races wouldn't bother with.

As Mika had said, this Elven city had been in ruins for years—anything of value was long gone. But it was only in ruins like this that humans dared to venture.

Their targets were the things the other races deemed worthless. From this trash, they would extract any faint glimmer of value, accumulating knowledge piece by piece. This was how their entire library of information had been built.

But Mika was different.

From the moment he met them, he had declared his goal was to challenge the Gods. And he had the power to back it up. For someone like him, gathering intelligence wasn't such a painstaking process. If they wanted information, they could likely get it, one way or another.

Their current hesitation was only because they had just arrived and were still getting a feel for the world. As Mika had said, they were travelers. Besides their ultimate goal, they also had to take in the scenery.

Understanding this, Riku had abandoned his plan to explore the Elven city.

But Mika, perhaps sensing his disappointment, had told him to go ahead if he really wanted to. He had even prepared a couple of "gifts" for him.

The first was a hooded cloak that could completely conceal his presence. The second was a bracelet. According to Mika, the bracelet had a barrier function. If it sensed an incoming attack, it would activate a shield to protect him. When it did, Mika and the others would be notified instantly and would appear by his side.

After receiving these two pieces of gear, Riku, who had given up on the idea, now felt the desire to go rekindle within him. To explore without having to constantly walk on a razor's edge between life and death… it was something he had long dreamed of.

And so, he set out alone, embarking on a new kind of exploration. Gazing at the distant ruins on the horizon, his pace quickened.

—————

Back in Mika's room, the four of them were occupied with their own tasks. But in the center of the room, a floating screen displayed Riku's every move.

"Is it almost time?" Mika asked with a soft smile, leaning back in his chair as he watched the screen. He was quite looking forward to Riku's meeting with Schwi.

"What are you waiting for, Mika?" Yahweh asked curiously, noticing his strange behavior.

But it wasn't Mika who answered.

"Mika is probably waiting for that machine," Athena explained. "We sensed another presence back at the airship wreckage. Its method of concealment was quite good, but it was still too amateurish to fool us."

"I see." Yahweh nodded slightly. As someone who frequently traveled with Mika, she knew he possessed some strange and specific knowledge. But since he hadn't mentioned it, she hadn't asked. She had always respected his secrets. She figured he knew something and had arranged things accordingly.

And she was right.

Mika had sent Riku to explore the Elven ruins alone precisely so he could meet Schwi. That encounter was the most important event in Riku's life.

Mika was happy to see the fated couple meet. Though he had his own missions in each world, meeting the characters who had once moved him was a wish he had held since his youth. It still was.

After a long and arduous journey, Riku finally arrived at his destination: the ruins of the Elven city.

After a careful check to ensure no one was around, he allowed himself to relax slightly. In the past, no matter how carefully he checked, he would still proceed with extreme caution. But this time, with Mika's help, he could finally let loose a little. His youthful spirit, long suppressed, bubbled to the surface. He began to search for any signs of Elven intelligence, relying on his own experience.

He didn't notice, however, a small figure watching him from the top of a hill behind him.

The next moment, the small figure shot towards him at an incredible speed.

—————

"Nothing useful here either, huh." Riku meticulously combed through every corner of the ruins, not missing a single detail.

Though he intended to be a bit more reckless, he still moved without a sound, without causing the slightest disturbance. It was muscle memory, ingrained after countless repetitions. It was a skill honed through countless dangerous encounters.

In short, Riku was still on high alert.

Therefore, when it happened, he sensed the danger.

But the enemy was too fast.

He barely had time to turn before a figure flying towards him was already in his sights.

And its attack was even faster than its approach.

Without giving Riku a single moment to think, the attack was already upon him. In an instant, his backpack and clothes were shredded.

I've been attacked?

It was only then that his mind caught up. But then he noticed something strange. The defensive item on his wrist hadn't activated.

'What's going on? Did it malfunction?' Riku thought rapidly.

He didn't suspect Mika's gift was fake. The other item, the concealment cloak, had worked perfectly, allowing him a smooth journey. It was clearly a genuine artifact.

Giving him one real and one fake item made no sense; Mika had no motive. And even if he did want to get rid of him, Riku doubted he would use such a convoluted method. He trusted his own judgment on that.

So, he ruled out a malfunctioning device. After all, it was a gift from Mika, a being who could traverse worlds. It was unlikely his creations would fail so easily.

He began to analyze other possibilities.

And then he found the reason. The enemy's attack hadn't struck a vital point.

His thought process had taken only a fraction of a second, before his body had even registered the feedback from the attack. Now, it came through.

He wasn't injured.

This meant only his gear had been destroyed.

When Mika had given him the items, he had explained their functions, including the bracelet's smart-activation feature. Riku had understood immediately.

For a defensive item, the activation trigger was a critical piece of technology. It wasn't like armor, which was always worn, or a magic scroll that needed to be activated manually. It was a reactive item.

In an environment where the Black Ash that could burn skin and destroy internal organs was constantly falling, he was effectively under a constant, low-level area-of-effect attack. If the bracelet's activation conditions weren't strict, it would be wasted in no time.

"So the item only reacts when it senses a genuinely dangerous attack?"

"And because the attack didn't actually hit me, it didn't activate?"

Instantly clarifying his situation, Riku breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the item still worked, he was fine.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, a figure slammed into him.

Riku hit the ground, and the figure straddled him.

"No intense pain in my back. They didn't use much force. Their goal isn't to kill me, but to capture me."

"And because of that, I wasn't in any real danger, which is why the bracelet didn't activate. A one-in-a-million stroke of blind luck, huh?"

"Looks like I need to anger them, use their killing intent to activate the bracelet and escape."

The moment he was tackled, having only caught a blurry glimpse of his attacker, Riku had already made his decision. He would taunt them, make them want to kill him.

At the thought, Riku felt a strange sense of excitement. In the past, when facing other races, they would always have to send one person to act as a decoy, to draw the enemy's attention so the others could escape.

And to attract the monster's attention, the one being sacrificed would always shout, screaming curses. Perhaps it was to banish their fear, or to vent their long-suppressed frustrations.

Riku had imagined himself in that role countless times.

And today, it was finally his turn to unleash the darkness he had held back for so long.

"I—"

"Brother, I can't hold it in anymore. Please make me a woman."

Just as Riku was about to let out a string of curses, his attacker spoke first.

And her words left him utterly speechless.

'Huh? What does that even mean?' Riku asked himself, stunned into silence.

At the same time, he finally got a clear look at his attacker.

A naked girl.

That was his first impression. But then he saw the mechanical parts integrated into her body, and he knew her true identity.

An Ex-Machina.

In that instant, Riku's plan to provoke his attacker into trying to kill him, thereby activating the bracelet, was thrown out the window.

Because she was an Ex-Machina.

The Ex-Machina were also one of the fifteen races. But unlike the others, they were mechanical constructs, not biological creatures. And they weren't individuals—they were a collective consciousness, all linked together.

To be seen by one was to be seen by all.

To be an enemy of one was to be an enemy of the entire race.

They were considered a special existence because of their unique combat style. It was said that they could analyze any attack directed at them in less than a second and immediately devise countermeasures of equal or greater power. Whether it was the magic of the Elves, the spirit armor of the Dwarves, or even the breath of a Dragonia—they could replicate it all and return it in kind.

Because of the long Great War, their arsenal was constantly growing.

For this reason, they were considered by the other races to be the most vicious race, capable of infinite enhancement.

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