Chapter 1007 (2/2)

Of course, Tatiana also hadn’t bothered to ask what the specific problem was that made it necessary for her assistant to wake her up. But when he wanted to bring her to the outer wall, Tatiana immediately knew it was something large enough that a view on a monitor wouldn’t convey the extent of it. Which made Tatiana think of a fearsome term that she hadn’t heard in a while to describe the current threat.

Monster Horde.

Now that Zone 1 had forces enough to pacify Dungeons, they hadn’t needed to deal with large scale attacks by rampaging monsters. Still, Randidly had insisted that Erickson Steel be built with walls high enough to resist in case those dangers would ever appear again. So it had been done with Tatiana’s blessing. Plus, Erickson Steel had a fair amount of prototype drones from Randidly’s earlier days.

Tatiana shimmed side to side as she slid her skirt up her legs. Hopping on one foot, she moved over to the mirror and checked how she looked. The result had her growling in frustration and looking around fruitlessly for a hairbrush.

But it wasn’t like Erickson Steel was defenseless. They had the walls, some turrets, and Tykes might be hanging around somewhere...

In addition, Helen would come rushing back as soon as she was contacted. And as far as Tatiana could tell, her arrival meant it would then only be a matter of time before the whole of the monster horde was executed. But Tatiana’s real concern was what would happen in that intervening time-

Tatiana threw up her hands in frustration. If her hair was soon gonna be soaked in monster blood anyway, it didn’t matter how it looked now. So she made sure all of her articles of clothing were properly buttoned and then hurried out. Seeing no one around in the street, Tatiana lengthened her stride and accelerated.

With a few light steps, she leapt up onto a low wall, then up against the side of a three-story building, then across the road to reach the roof of a five-story building. Then she accelerated further, becoming a blur that flowed easily along the rooftops.

Generally, Tatiana wanted to maintain a facade of calm and controlled CEO while she was moving around Erickson Steel. It helped create an image that was easier for the people who worked for her to respect her. But if there was a danger threatening the compound… speed was of the utmost importance.

Besides, nothing builds internal pride than a dangerous external threat...

With an easy grace, Tatiana vaulted up across the last bit of distance from the factory rooftops to the outer wall that surrounded Erickson Steel. Her assistant was already waiting there with a dozen other of the Erickson Steel guards. They all looked seriously out down from the wall to the road leading down from the Northwest toward Erickson Steel.

With a light cough to grab their attention, Tatiana folded her arms behind her back and began to speak. “What’s their average Level?”

“Uhh…” Her assistant looked at her in confusion. “W-What do you mean?”

Tatiana looked at him. Immediately, it became clear that there had been some sort of miscommunication from the bewildered look on his face. She missed Vye dearly. Then she curtly pushed him to the side and stepped up to the wall to look down at what they were all regarding with such slack-jawed wonder.

Below the wall, along the road as far as the eye could see to the Northwest, was a column of gleaming drones. Instantly, Tatiana narrowed her eyes. Had Halloway been dishonest and the government was launching a separate inquiry for Helen’s violence?

But very quickly, Tatiana recognized that these were not any of Ghost’s drones, which were based on the same principles that Randidly used when creating machines. No, these were extremely complicated and ornate looking, covered in thick layers of metal shielding to protect the valuable pieces that lay within their bodies.

These were the creations of the Order Machina.

Tatiana saw fully articulable metal centipedes with mounted flamethrowers and Mannatech canons. There were large hives of metal built on wheels that could produce a thousand deadly flying knives within only a few seconds. There were tall and lumbering dinosaur inspired collossai with long necks and teeth of superheated plasma.

Truly, the display was an oppressive one. Just from a casual count of the models that Tatiana recognized, there were probably five hundred high-end machines moving in formation toward Erickson Steel. At the front of this procession was a well-preserved a neon yellow Maserati sports coupe, undoubtedly made long before the System arrived.

Still, the fact it was so immaculately maintained was a testament to the financial power of the man at the helm.

“I just thought you should see… isn’t it amazing…?” Tatiana’s assistant whispered. “I wonder… does the Order Machina want to establish a branch here…?”

Tatiana almost rolled her eyes. You seriously got me out of bed for this…?