A few hours earlier, the Codebreakers Shelter had already experienced something that should have been impossible.
For several days, Claire’s Illusion Device had successfully concealed the entire settlement from the outside world.
From a distance, the shelter didn’t look like a shelter at all.
The illusion distorted the appearance of the surrounding area, making the enormous settlement disappear beneath the image of an ordinary hill covered in vegetation. Anyone passing through the region would see nothing more than a natural formation surrounded by trees and overgrown ruins.
It was one of the reasons Codebreakers had been able to expand so rapidly without immediately attracting the attention of nearby settlements. Even the merchants with strange protection against A.I. Army’s detection failed to notice it...
However, the illusion wasn’t perfect.
At least, not against everything.
A strange machine had wandered into the area.
It wasn’t part of the ordinary patrols of the A.I. Army, nor did it resemble any of the machines that the Codebreakers had encountered before.
The machine had simply appeared from the wilderness and moved through the surrounding area without any obvious objective.
At first, none of the Sentinels or guards stationed around the shelter considered it particularly dangerous.
After all, the machine didn’t immediately attack and it simply walked silently...
Then, as it passed near the concealed settlement, something unexpected happened.
The machine suddenly stopped.
Its head slowly turned toward the enormous hill...
Clank... Clank...
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the air around the hill began to distort.
The machine’s sensors had somehow detected something!
It released a strange echo, and for a moment, the illusion wavered!
It happened just for an instant, but that single moment was enough.
The image of an ordinary hill briefly disappeared, revealing something beneath it.
It saw a massive wall!
The machine stood completely still.
Then it turned around and it didn’t attack.
It didn’t even approach the hidden settlement.
Instead, the strange machine simply continued walking away, disappearing into the wilderness as if it had never been there.
Unfortunately for the A.I. Unit, however, it had already been seen.
Ralph happened to be stationed at one of the outer watchtowers when he noticed the almost invisible machine!
His Eagle Eye immediately activated.
The skill allowed him to perceive details that ordinary survivors would have overlooked, and the moment his gaze settled on the retreating machine, his expression changed.
[ Target Identified. ]
[ Nightmare Unit. ]
[ Classification: A-Grade ]
Ralph’s eyes widened.
"A-Grade? Shit..."
He immediately contacted the shelter’s command center.
The information spread quickly.
By the time the machine had completely disappeared from sight, Wallace and the others had already been informed.
No one knew what the Nightmare Unit was capable of and that was the problem.
The Codebreakers had never encountered such a machine before.
The only thing they knew was that it was powerful enough to be classified as an A-Grade unit.
It had detected the illusion and that alone was deeply concerning.
The shelter immediately increased its alert level.
The Sentinels stationed around the perimeter were ordered to remain vigilant, while the surveillance network began monitoring the surrounding wilderness more carefully.
Everyone expected that the Nightmare Unit might return, but no one expected what happened next.
Several minutes later, the first alarm suddenly sounded.
"Diggers! They’re coming from underground!"
Indeed! It didn’t come from the watchtowers... Instead, it came from underground.
The entire shelter immediately reacted.
The underground detection system had identified movement beneath the settlement. Without a doubt, something was digging.
"Underground breach detected!"
The warning echoed throughout the shelter as the ground beneath the settlement began to tremble.
However, the Codebreakers Shelter had been built with more than just walls and watchtowers.
The moment the underground sensors detected the approaching movement, the shelter’s defensive systems activated.
Explosive charges buried beneath the outer perimeter detonated in rapid succession.
BOOM!
The ground violently shook.
The underground tunnel created by the approaching machines collapsed under the force of the explosions, burying the passage beneath tons of earth and shattered rock.
The Diggers had no choice but to change their approach!
Well, they couldn’t continue digging forward.
At the same time, they couldn’t simply emerge beneath the settlement since the Advanced Barrier was still active.
Soon, the first Digger finally emerged from the ground a few meters away from the shelter as the barrier prevented the Diggers from breaking through directly into the shelter’s interior...
CRASH!
Soil and debris were thrown into the air as the machine forced its way toward the surface.
Then another appeared... and another.
Soon, dozens of Diggers emerged from the ground... This time, the illusion was already useless, so it had been disabled.
It was at this point that the shelter’s Sentinel opened fire!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Still, the Diggers were not ordinary A.I. units.
Their massive drill-like heads had been specifically designed to penetrate defenses and endure heavy artillery!
Their powerful bodies alone were capable of damaging even structures that would have been impossible for ordinary machines to destroy.
Just like that, the Diggers ignored the incoming bullets!
Their armored bodies continued moving forward as they turned to their objective!
Apparently, the Diggers turned their massive drills toward the Advanced Barrier.
Then they attacked!
BOOM!
The impact shook the entire defensive field as the barrier rippled violently.
Then, the next Digger struck.
BOOM!
Another impact followed as the Advanced Barrier trembled.
Soon, the people inside the shelter realized something was wrong.
The Diggers were actually damaging it!
"Those things can break the barrier?!"
Someone shouted.
The answer became obvious when the third impact struck as cracks of energy began spreading across the surface of the barrier.
The Advanced Barrier was holding... but it wouldn’t hold forever.
The Diggers had succeeded in doing something that few enemies had ever managed to accomplish.
They had found a way to threaten the Codebreakers Shelter’s strongest defensive system.
And then, suddenly, the Diggers stopped...
It was quite weird, but soon, everyone realized what was happenin... a Sentinel made of black steel came out of the gates of the shelter.
Atom had come out!
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