The Ruin Serpent was enormous, especially considering that the average person in this world was already far from normal. Therefore, when Ren designed it, he had the researchers expand the machine's size several times beyond its original specifications.
As a result, the massive serpent that now emerged from behind Ren was a full hundred meters long, with a colossal head several times larger than a house!
The Ruin Serent bore a striking resemblance to the popular Pokémon Steelix or Onix.
To adapt to underground travel, its body structure was particularly unique. The head was the largest part, while its body consisted of a series of spheres, each edged with sharp steel spines!
Every section of its body could rotate around its connecting points, enhancing its drilling capabilities.
As the serpent emerged from subspace, its massive body coiled across the ice surface, instantly crushing the ice that had formed over countless years. Then, it raised its head, and the drill and gears on its head began to spin at high speed, emitting a piercing sound.
"Boom!"
It slammed heavily onto the ground, and the thousand-year-old ice was instantly shattered by its body, turning into shaved ice.
Phyley had never witnessed such a scene and was completely dumbfounded.
"This is a Ruin Serpent, model number SH-00000. It's currently the largest one," Jasmine told her.
Phyley looked at her blankly.
"There are many types of autonomous mechanisms like this. Although the types available overseas are still relatively few, the research progress is actually several versions ahead of what's currently circulating."
"I remember when I left Wano, the Underworld had already been preparing to create Ruin Drakes," Jasmine said to herself. She quite liked these machines and had collected many mini versions of the entire Ruin series in her room in Wano.
Those were small, movable toys that came after the combat system was developed, and Ren felt that they were definitely the kind of thing Young Master's younger brother would like.
The Ruin Serpent's drilling speed was incredibly fast, and in no time, it had completely shredded the entire ice surface, producing deafening sounds on the solitary island. Fortunately, there was no one on the island, so no matter how much commotion it caused, it wouldn't be discovered.
"Let's follow it."
Ren said, bringing out two more Ruin Hunters from subspace.
Although the Ruin Hunters appeared earlier, the technological level they contained was no lower than that of the Ruin Drake·Sky Patrol. They were weapons of great strategic significance.
As a result, Ren had already created the Ruin Guards several years ago but has yet to send them to the overseas market. Of course, there were still differences between them.
The Ruin Drake used higher-quality materials, giving it greater resistance than the Ruin Guards and Ruin Hunters. Its firepower had also been significantly enhanced.
If the firepower was increased, then even if the performance was similar, there would undoubtedly be many people willing to pursue it.
However, compared to the bulky Ruin Drake, the Ruin Hunter had greater mobility in the air. Especially since Ren made minor modifications to the Ruin Hunter's design in the blueprints—adding a standing position.
This way, in addition to being a weapon, the Ruin Hunter could also serve as a mode of transportation.
Ren and Jasmine each controlled a Ruin Hunter, flying along the massive tunnel drilled by the Ruin Serpent toward the underground.
The deeper they went, the darker it became.
However, the core in the Ruin Hunter's head still emitted light, a beam like a flashlight that only illuminated a small area. Yet, reflected by the ice layers, it became incredibly dazzling.
Molly thoughtfully put sunglasses on Felice.
As for herself, this level of brightness had no effect on her at all.
The two machines continued descending. The cave carved out by the Ruin Serpent was about ten meters wide, more than enough to accommodate two Ruin Hunters. This was thanks to the spikes on both sides of its body, which greatly widened the passage as it rotated.
"Huh, it's empty below?" Molly looked down and noticed a significant distance between the bottom of the ice layer and the lakebed.
"The water at the bottom of the lake hasn't frozen, so it's already seeped underground," Ren explained. He saw the Ruin Serpent break through the ice layer and crash onto the riverbed.
After wriggling its body, it began drilling into the ground again. However, the original cavern leading underground was actually not far away.
Ren opened his subspace to recall the Ruin Serpent, preventing this creature's movements from causing the ground to collapse.
Nowadays, smaller Ruin Serpents were often used for mining in Nine Miles Village. Although the Ruin Serpent was convenient, it couldn't be used indiscriminately.
Every time the Ruin Serpent was deployed, the terrain had to be surveyed in advance, and whether the mountain structure was a syncline or anticline had to be studied. Otherwise, even without causing a collapse, it would lead to groundwater leakage.
"Let's go down from over there." Ren moved the control stick, and the Ruin Hunter tilted, flying toward the other side as Molly followed closely behind.
The entrance to the underground cavern was actually still submerged in water, but this was no problem for Ren.
Once again, he entered his Great Deity form, releasing cold air to freeze the water surface, then controlled the Ruin Hunter's four arms to begin breaking up the ice.
The arms of the Ruin Hunter were very special devices because they could change shape to a certain extent.
It had three arm forms: one was a normal mechanical arm similar to a human's; the second was like a cylindrical lance from a medieval knight, which Ren used to excavate the ice surface.
The third was the Ruin Hunter's strongest form, where all four arms transformed into cannon barrels for indiscriminate bombardment.
Molly followed suit, operating her Ruin Hunter to excavate the ice surface.
Although not as fast as the Ruin Serpent, the two of them kept descending.
...
After Zephyr arrived on Skull Island, the other great pirate warlords were starting to get restless.
The rumors had been spreading for so long, but there was still no sign of John coming out to deny them. It was as if he had truly died.
"Shiki, do you really think John is dead?" Charlotte Linlin had several Den Den Mushi in front of her, indicating she was in simultaneous conversation with several people.
The one with the mane-like Den Den Mushi on the other end was clearly the Golden Lion.
"What nonsense are you talking about? If he were going to die, he wouldn't die in such a mysterious way!" the Golden Lion said from the other end of the call.
"So, you think this is a trap? But John doesn't have the guts to drag so many people into this mess," one of the Den Den Mushi said.
"Ochoku, you're too naive. He alone wouldn't have the guts, but what if someone was backing him up?"
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