The Star Gate Sky Island was a massive island floating above a sea of clouds, with a diameter exceeding thirty kilometers. It was the central hub of the Gate of Truth.

On the flat, black stone ground, over a thousand arched Star Gates, each a hundred meters tall, stood in neat rows, their shifting halos of light a dazzling, colorful display.

The Rune indicator signs atop most of the Star Gates shone with a steady light, each one pointing to a large material Plane.

Dozens of other, slightly smaller Star Gates were dormant, the Runes on their frames shifting like flowing water as they awaited the input of mission coordinates.

Allen approached an unoccupied Star Gate and touched his insignia to a Rune device on it.

The Rune Array of the waiting Star Gate flared to life, its intricate script beginning to spin and reassemble at high speed.

A few seconds later, the light stabilized. A new line of standard Wizard script appeared on the lintel: [Target Plane: 867].

A membrane of iridescent light, shimmering like the surface of water, rippled into existence within the Star Gate.

Without the slightest hesitation, Allen stepped through.

In the next instant, a bone-piercing chill washed over him.

The scene before him switched in a flash from a bizarre kaleidoscope of twisted colors to a monotonous expanse of gray and white.

The sky was a leaden gray, with a heavy layer of clouds hanging so low it felt as if one could reach up and touch them.

Underfoot, cracked, grayish-white permafrost stretched to the horizon, and the air was filled with the biting sting of wind and frost.

This was Plane 867, a recent discovery tentatively named the "Wailing Icefield."

The Star Gate’s exit point was a crude relay station. The faint etchings of a Defense Array were still visible on the ground, though it had clearly gone unmaintained for some time.

"Jarvis, gather environmental data."

[Environmental data collection in progress... Temperature: -162 degrees Celsius. Discovered 6% unknown free metallic elements in the atmosphere... Magic Power concentration: Low.]

Allen raised an eyebrow slightly.

’Six percent free metallic elements... that concentration is abnormally high.’

He didn’t rush to deploy his Cybertron Workshop; that would create too much of a disturbance. First, he needed to confirm whether the area was safe.

With a mere thought, ten V-model Demon Eyes emerged silently from a spatial rift. The Illusion Runes on their spherical bodies flickered once before they blended completely into the environment, ascending into the sky and fanning out in all directions.

A moment later, far higher up at an altitude of twenty thousand meters, an invisible ripple spread out near one of the Demon Eyes. Allen used a Golem Projection Skill to teleport the massive "Sky Throne" directly into the upper atmosphere, where it, too, vanished from sight.

However, the wide-area detection array on its underside began scanning the land below at maximum power.

A colossus made entirely of matte-white porcelain, with eight folded metal wings on its back, appeared silently at Allen’s side.

Divine Statue Gabriel.

Under the dim, gray light, it resembled a sculpture of a Judgment Angel stepping out of myth—cold and sanctified.

Allen remained motionless, but his mind was working in tandem with DSeek, rapidly processing topographical data transmitted from the Demon Eyes and the Sky Throne. They detected no Magic Power fluctuations of note in the vicinity, only a dead silence.

But as the detection range expanded at an astonishing rate, an immense silhouette began to materialize on the blank map, approximately five hundred kilometers to the north.

Allen’s pupils contracted slightly.

It was the ruin of a city.

Moreover, it was the ruin of a metal city on an astonishing scale.

Its architectural style belonged neither to the Wizard Civilization nor to any other known planar civilization.

Countless metal spires, thousands of meters tall, leaned askew like giant, broken swords, pointing toward the gloomy firmament.

Metal streets, wide enough for ten carriages to ride abreast, had been ripped apart and twisted by some incomprehensible force, curling upward into grotesque spirals.

The entire city lay lifeless upon the icefield, like the skeletal remains of a colossal metal beast devoured to the bone.

[DSeek, run a comparative analysis against civilization architectures in the Association’s knowledge base.]

[Comparison initiated... No matches found.]

[Warning: High-intensity, wide-spectrum Magic Power interference field detected. Source is located within the metal city ruins. Interference frequency is fluctuating erratically.]

The coordinates from the investigation team’s last signal placed them in the central area of those ruins. Fortunately, anti-interference technology was Allen’s specialty.

"Advance toward the ruins. Maintain stealth."

Allen issued the command to the units of his reconnaissance network. He then took a step, vanished, and reappeared a second later on the deck of the Sky Throne.

...

「Meanwhile, deep within the ruins.」

Inside a half-collapsed, pyramid-shaped building, six Wizards in standard-issue Association Wizard Robes sat huddled around a faint flame of Magic Power, exhaustion etched onto every face.

Of the ten-person field investigation team, only six now remained.

The entrance was sealed shut by a thicket of dark green, thorny vines. The Runes glimmering on them had grown exceedingly dim.

It was the last resort of the team’s Contract School Wizard.

"I can’t go on..."

A fair-faced Female Wizard leaned against a cold metal wall, her own face as pale as paper. Her Spiritual Power fluctuated as weakly as a candle flame in the wind.

She was a Wizard of the Mind School, but her psychic assaults, emotional detonations, and conjured illusions were completely useless against those "things."

They had no "consciousness" to attack.

Or rather, whatever they possessed, it wasn’t a "consciousness" that could be defined by any known theory.

Nearby, an exceptionally burly Bloodline Wizard, half of his body already displaying inhuman traits, was panting heavily. He had just returned from fighting a wave of them, but he had been completely unable to truly kill the enemy.

"Captain... how much longer can our Magic Power hold out?" a young elemental Wizard from the Witchcraft School asked hoarsely.

The man they called Captain, a middle-aged Wizard with a resolute expression, had a Wizard Robe covered in tears and scorch marks.

"Three days, at most." He could feel his own Magic Power running dry, and his voice was laced with helplessness. "Our communication terminals went dead the moment we came in here. We can’t send out a distress signal."

Thirteen days.

They had been trapped here for thirteen whole days.

When they first discovered these magnificent metal ruins, they had all been ecstatic. It was undoubtedly a major discovery, one worthy of an A-rank evaluation, which meant a massive amount of Credit Points and contribution points.

They had entered cautiously, and for the first two days, everything went smoothly. They collected numerous samples of never-before-seen metals.

The disaster struck at midnight on the third day.

The entire city "woke up."

The ground beneath their feet, the walls beside them, the collapsed buildings in the distance... innumerable metal structures began to writhe as if they had come to life. Countless chunks of metal of all sizes peeled away from the city’s "skeleton" and rapidly assembled themselves into a menagerie of bizarre forms.

There were those shaped like giants, those with claws as sharp as blades, and even some that could fly.

They had no eyes or ears, yet they could lock onto these "organic life forms" with unerring precision.

During their attempt to break out, four team members were torn to shreds by a torrent of metal.

The captain’s elemental Witchcraft could inflict effective damage, but the destroyed metal remnants would quickly be devoured and reabsorbed by their nearby kin, only to rise again in even more ferocious forms.

They seemed endless.

Because the entire city was their body.

"There’s... movement outside again." The Contract School Wizard’s expression changed; he could sense that the thorns he had set up were under attack.

A sense of dread washed over the group as they struggled back to their feet.

Another desperate defense was about to begin.

Just then, the Mind School Female Wizard, her Spiritual Power all but depleted, suddenly lifted her head, her eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and astonishment.

"Wait..." she stammered. "I... I think I ’heard’ something."

"What is it? Is it the monsters again?" the captain asked warily.

"No... it’s not."

The Female Wizard’s breathing grew ragged. "It’s enormous... and so cold, like an iceberg... It’s getting closer!"

She couldn’t describe the sensation.

In her telepathic senses, it wasn’t a "life-form," but more like part of a vast "system" composed of countless precision gears and complex logic.

Its "mind" was as vast and calm as the deep sea, almost entirely devoid of emotional ripples.

That will had just turned its "gaze" toward their position.