CHAPTER 79: THE ILLUMINO MECH GRAVE

CLANK

CREAAK

The gnawing sound was the first he could hear.

It was rabid, slow, almost... deliberate, and in the next moment,

BANNNG!

The sound of heavy pounding of metal rang out, and both of his eyes were immediately forced open.

Looking up there, the first thing that welcomed him was the sight of the gloomy sky, covered in completely dark clouds.

CRAAAACKKKLLLEEE

The sound of red lightning crackling forced him to his feet, almost blowing his eardrums.

His heart pounded furiously, as if trying to escape his ribs.

"Where... am I?"

Everlearn mused as he looked around him, and his face changed.

It was a burial ground.

A burial ground of heaps of metals that stretched from deep underground into the sky.

There were nozzles of weapons shooting up into the air, some unidentifiable metal pieces, and some metals were so bizarre that they actually formed a massive two fingers sticking up from the ground.

Just like half-buried hands, but metallic and gigantic.

"grrrrh,"

The groan escaped his lips as his hands reached for his nose and throat, tightening around it.

The smell!

It was like inhaling burning chlorine gas, and soon his eyes turned red, covered in veins.

He needed to get out of here, but at that moment, it flashed.

║Congratulations On Meeting the Requirements Host.║

║You Have Arrived in Illumino Mech Grave║

’I... Illumino Mech Grave!?’

That was a word he had never heard of or even come across before.

║Mission Issued: Survive A Night In The Illumino Mech Grave!║

║Rewards:

+10% Creation Fusion With The Mecha Devourer Mech Module.

+1 Base Fusion With an Illumino Mech Module║

The mission issued was easy to grasp.

He needed to survive, and right now the smell was killing him, so at least that was obvious.

But the rewards for that weren’t something he understood or could grasp, and for some reason, the system’s golden light was dimming, and soon it was completely gone.

All he saw last were the words:

║Good luck Surviving Everlearn Snowfall║

’Hey system?’

He called, but there was no reply.

’Initiate MDS protocol,’ he ordered, but once more, nothing happened.

The system was... gone.

Only now did the horror begin, slowly setting in.

CLLAAANK

CREAAK

While the entire graveyard was silent, the gnawing sound, as if something was crunching on a heap of metal, still rang out, sending Everlearn’s heart into a frenzy as he turned behind him, looking into the distance.

It was dark, too dark, and the large heaps of metal chugging into the sky obstructed the view for more than 500 meters away from him.

He looked in all four directions, and the same was true.

His eyes squinted at his surroundings, and he noticed the existence of flying dark dust in the air.

His hands reached out, scooping some of that dust, and Everlearn brought them closer to his nose, only for him to fling his hands away.

WHHEEEZE

A wheezing escaped his lips as he collapsed on both knees, a line of blood dripping from his left nostril.

’It’s them. The ashes,’

He noticed.

They were the ones stinging his nose and eyes.

He turned his head up, finding that the ashes were only there for 300 meters in the air.

Above 300 meters, there were no ashes.

He couldn’t go forward or backward; the path stretched into darkness, and he doubted he could walk a kilometer with his mouth and nose covered before running out of breath.

The only thing to do if he wanted to survive longer was to climb up into the air.

He needed to get at least 300 meters into the air to escape the stinging smell that made it hard to even concentrate.

But the question was, how was he even supposed to get that high?

To that answer, Everlearn looked around, and it occurred to him:

The metals sticking up into the air.

Not all, but some of them stuck high enough to be out of the dusty zone.

’I need to climb,’

TRRICCCKLLE

The peculiar sound hit him, and he turned down, finding another line of blood rolling down his right nostril.

His nose was burning, and with every passing second, the world turned blurrier and blurrier.

Time was running out.

Immediately, the running began.

He wouldn’t want to climb a structure only to still end up in the zone, so he needed to find something higher.

And speaking of higher, Everlearn found it after five minutes of running.

It was the hand-shaped mechanical structure, with three massive finger-like pillars jutting up from the ground.

Its palms were high, and the fingers were high enough to escape the dusty zone.

What was more, they were pointed needle-like extensions, what should have seemed like hair on the back of a palm, except this was no hair but cold, hard metal.

Still, they created the perfect aid to climb, and in the next moment, Everlearn’s hand drew away from his nose, and he began to climb.

One problem was quick to rise.

The more he climbed, the harder his chest pounded for some reason.

It was like trying to walk against an ocean current that grew stronger the higher he went.

The dust particles higher in the air weren’t lessening.

They were getting worse and more stinging, and halfway, about 100 meters, his blood began dripping onto the metallic hands.

Some of it even fell downwards, but they were corrupted and turned into dark ashes that floated in the wind before they landed on the ground

Still, Everlearn continued.

His breath was running out, and the only thing that could save him was getting up there.

If he stopped right now or fell to the ground, his death was guaranteed.

Dying due to putrid air!?

The fuck kind of death was that!?

That wasn’t a way for a man to go.

Not his type of man.

So he continued.

After five minutes of struggle, Everlearn finally had it.

An incredibly deep inhale of the fresh air just above.

He inhaled and exhaled continuously, a relieved smile on his lips.

Only now did he realize how good it felt to breathe clean air.

He had survived the first thing, the air.

But now that he was high up 300 meters in the air,

He could see it, the entire burial ground, and his spine froze when he truly saw this world.

It was unlike anything he could have ever imagined.