Ch.1119Transformation!

Too sudden a kidnapping. Haschal opened her mouth in bewilderment, her narrowed eyes trembling.

‘What is this…?’

No matter where she looked, all she could see were gauges and levers of unknown purpose, and complex, bizarre mechanical devices she had no idea how to use.

She was trapped like a bird in a cage, inside a box of springs and metal.

‘A cockpit…? Could this be inside Fafnir’s head?’

Haschal intuitively realized that she was now trapped in the cockpit located in Fafnir’s head section.

“No way, this crazy metal lizard bastard…?”

An abduction without even asking for her consent. And the ride quality was truly the worst of the worst.

All specifications were designed for dwarves, making it narrow and suffocating like a coffin for her. And being located in the head section, it shook violently.

RUMBLE…!

The metal tube shook violently in all directions—up, down, front, back, left, right—as if about to strike her.

“Ugh…!”

With the sensation of being thrown into the epicenter of an earthquake powerful enough to split the continent, Haschal let out a groan of dizziness despite her confusion.

She could barely endure it because she had frequently experienced similar situations, but an ordinary person would have vomited everything and more.

However, whether she was confused, cursing, or nauseated, Fafnir couldn’t care less.

Therefore, the mechanical dragon focused solely on its task without paying any attention to her reactions.

「 Transitioning to combat assistance process. Tactical temporary random number generator, efficiency optimization initiated. Feature analysis. 」

Combat assistance process.

It was a procedure to analyze the characteristics and performance of the temporarily installed biological equipment and optimize all systems built for dwarves to the current occupant.

“Hey, hey! Can you hear me? You can hear me, can’t you, you tin can! Answer me!”

Haschal shouted with a growl at the mechanical voice echoing through the cockpit speakers.

Her demeanor was so fierce and violent that one might think she would have smashed all the mechanical devices around her and escaped if her body had been in better condition.

Of course, Fafnir still didn’t care either way.

If she had actually caused a disturbance, it would have forcibly subdued her, but barking like a dog in place didn’t harm it in any way.

「 Divine awakening confirmed. Pattern search… error, no matching data. Similar divinity search… search complete. Star, dawn. Ausrine’s divinity, 60% match rate. 」

“Stop talking nonsense and answer…! Wait, did you say 60%…?”

Haschal, who thought she was being ignored, was about to flare up again but reflexively questioned when she heard something concerning.

‘60%? That’s lower than I expected…’

She was the new goddess of stars and dawn who had gathered Ausrine’s broken divinity and awakened a divine rank.

Just as a broken glass vessel can never be restored to its original state when glued back together, the divinity she had newly awakened naturally differed somewhat from Ausrine’s original divinity.

Of course, Haschal already knew this much… but she never thought the difference would be as much as 40%.

‘At that point, it’s not just slightly altered… it’s almost like a completely different god from the foundation, isn’t it?’

Haschal tried to reflect on herself anew—on what kind of god she was.

Whether she truly was a being with the divinity and power of stars and dawn like Ausrine, or something entirely different that only appeared similar at first glance.

「 Physical analysis. Severe damage. Energy depletion. Forced recovery and divine amplification required. 」

However, Fafnir didn’t give her the luxury to leisurely engage in self-reflection.

「 Musculoskeletal development analysis complete. Bipedal. Medium-sized. Close-quarters combat specialized. Intelligence below standard. Orc warrior level. Vehicle control and operation training impossible. 」

“…What? What is this tin lizard bastard saying? That my intelligence is at an orc’s level?”

Having received unacceptable insults from a mere machine, Haschal stopped her contemplation and was about to angrily strike the control panel in front of her.

「 Optimal tactical process derived. Continuous healing and dynamic control for vehicle operation. Control system and drive system modification initiated. 」

One step ahead of her, all the mechanical devices filling Fafnir’s cockpit began to change their form with dim light and vibration sounds.

– Whirrrr!

The seat, which had been adjusted to a dwarf’s height, clicked and straightened vertically to stand her up, then expanded significantly in all directions to fit human proportions.

「 Space expansion. Forced connection of motion-tracking control system. 」

Then, continuously clicking and separating into dozens or hundreds of small, complex mechanical devices, they wrapped around her from behind like armor or a straitjacket.

“No, what are you trying to…”

A confused Haschal twisted her body to shake off those mechanical devices.

With her exhausted and injured body, she couldn’t break through the old dwarven alloy with dragon-scale level durability, so she could only struggle in vain.

「 Unreasonable interference confirmed. Request to cease resistance. Proposal. Cooperate. Treatment provided. 」

Perhaps finding her struggle troublesome, Fafnir, who had been ignoring Haschal’s words all along, finally properly addressed her and requested cooperation.

A proposal to heal her injured body in exchange for actively cooperating in the battle against Invidius.

From Haschal’s perspective, having been injured, defeated, and facing death, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“…What if I refuse?”

Nevertheless, testing a refusal first was truly a response characteristic of Haschal…

「 Immediate termination. 」

Machines are always cold. The response was chillingly inhuman.

「 Head and spine extraction for neural connection method possible. 」

A response saying that if she refused, it would extract her head with the spine and connect neural jacks to use as a tool to move the machine.

‘Ha, if my body were in good condition, I’d smash you to pieces…’

From Haschal’s perspective, it was an answer that not only provoked her temper but caused extreme irritation, but unfortunately, she had no choice.

In her current physical state, if she acted recklessly, she might really end up being dissected by Fafnir and become a Haschal-in-a-tube.

“…Fine, fine. I’ll cooperate. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but whatever it is, let’s see you do it properly.”

Finally, Haschal nodded and relaxed her body, indicating she would no longer resist.

「 Wise decision. Intelligence rating adjusted upward. Orc shaman level. 」

Fafnir praised the decision in its own way, but from Haschal’s perspective, it was still an evaluation no different from an insult. Therefore, she wasn’t pleased at all.

In fact, she barely even listened properly.

Though she verbally agreed to cooperate, her mind was busy contemplating how to defeat Invidius and then eliminate Fafnir afterward.

‘For now, I’ll cooperate to get through this situation, then stab it in the back after I’m healed. By then, this thing should be quite damaged too, so if I target that weakness…’

A sinister scheme to safely recover her body inside Fafnir’s cockpit, then strike from behind after the battle between the two monsters ended, taking advantage of the situation.

At first glance, it seemed like an incredibly vile act, but she did have something she could call a justification.

‘If a mere mechanical weapon was called an evil god, then this thing must have caused unimaginable havoc in the past.’

If it hadn’t committed evil deeds, it would have been worshipped as a dragon or god, and even if it had caused trouble, it would have stopped at being called a wicked dragon if the level had been somewhat normal.

However, Fafnir, like Invidius, was one of the four great evil gods, the evil god of sloth and greed.

The fact that a mere weapon bore the title of evil god was itself a brand proving Fafnir’s power and karma.

‘So you won’t feel wronged even if you die, right?’

Therefore, Haschal contemplated ways to backstab Fafnir without the slightest remorse.

– Click, creak, creak, whirrrr!

Meanwhile, Fafnir busily changed the structure of its cockpit, completely enveloping Haschal’s entire body.

To immediately reflect each of her movements in the control of the machine, making it move as if she herself had grown gigantic.

Of course, Haschal was a person with two arms and two legs, while Fafnir was a quadrupedal mechanical weapon with four legs and a pair of wings.

Unless Haschal fought on all fours like a beast, mimicking her movements would only result in serious inefficiency rather than efficiency.

Therefore.

「 Control system transformation complete. Vehicle armor and drive system transformation initiated. 」

– Whirrrr!

Fafnir began to transform not only the interior of the cockpit but also the exterior armor, skeleton, and artificial muscles into a form more suitable for combat.

– Screeeech!

The long-extended neck folded into the body, and the bent legs and waist straightened to transform into a form suitable for bipedal walking.

– Click, crunch, crunch!

And finally, the armor plates of the beast-like forelegs folded and bent repeatedly in complex ways, completing a form closer to a human arm holding a sword.

【 Such crude҉͈̞̟̣̯̫̫̥͐̎͊͆̐͢͝ methods…!̷̡̛͔͉̇͆̂ͅ 】

The evil god, poorly imitating the true form of the mechanical dragon, growled and gritted its teeth.

Since Fafnir’s appearance, everything had been going in a direction that was unwelcome for it.

Anxiety and impatience, barely concealed or not even attempted to be hidden, flowed out mixed with anger.

“What, starting to feel a bit anxious? That’s good news.”

Of course, Haschal and Fafnir only welcomed Invidius’s anger.

That anger itself was proof that their chances of victory had increased significantly from before.

And the next moment.

「 Close combat specialized, Form 2. Transformation complete. 」

The giant mechanical dragonborn that had completed its transformation rose with a sword, like a sleeping giant awakening.

「 Engagement initiated. 」

An emotionless mechanical voice calmly echoed through the transformed cockpit interior, followed by,

「 KRYAAAAAAAAAAAH-!! 」

Fafnir, transformed into a form suitable for Haschal’s fighting style, spread its wings wide, raising a cloud of dust as it roared.