Star Forge Titan

Diana breathed a sigh of relief, secretly thanking herself for not forgetting this special 'trick' that was born in the lower town of Lutetia.

The downtown area has a very complex terrain, and when she was a child, like Betty now, she often had to go out to find various jobs that could bring in income.

However, the chaotic downtown area is full of malicious thugs who will sell children to factories or even worse places as extra money.

For those scum, this is just a "small business" that is as common as their daily meals.

Therefore, the children who make a living in the downtown area have gradually invented special "tricks" that use the complex terrain and their own more flexible, agile and smaller bodies than adults to quickly pass through various routes that ordinary people can hardly imagine and shake off their pursuers.

Before she learned the Lind Kick and Punch technique, which allowed her to defeat those with ill intentions with her fists, Diana, then just a little girl, learned this little trick called "City Sprint" from other children in the downtown area after watching them a few times.

She even relied on her own talent to push it further to an incredible level.

After stabilizing herself a little, Diana looked around.

She saw that her current position was very close to the edge of this gradually forming maze.

In the very center of the maze, a large cube made entirely of bricks and walls was rumbling, as if there was an extremely powerful monster inside that was wreaking havoc.

Seeing this, Diana couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, secretly surprised that the Genoese seemed to be more capable than he appeared.

Since she couldn't leave in a short time, the girl turned her attention to finding out the secrets of the factory. She had no intention of letting go of the factory owner who caused her brothers and sisters to suffer.

Although the space at the top of the wall that could accommodate standing was very narrow, the short-haired girl still walked as if she was walking on a flat road, taking steps as light as a black cat, and her feet walked quickly across the top of the wall in a straight line.

Not long after, Diana, who had jumped down from the wall, appeared inside the factory. She followed the shadows in the corner and approached the place where the roaring sound continued to come from.

On the way, the girl saw countless workers with tired and frightened expressions who could not stop at all, repeating the repetitive work of operating spinning machines to make cloth.

As she got closer, Diana realized the workers' feet weren't truly fused to the ground; they were more like being chained to the ground with some kind of shackles. Thick, heavy cement rings were clamped tightly around the workers' ankles, their lower parts completely connected to the gray cement and masonry floor.

At present, there is no way for these workers to leave their jobs unless they use hammers to break them open.

Although Diana looked reluctant, she did not stop. Instead, she walked lightly and focused on avoiding the workers' sight.

The girl from the Lower Town never hesitated to speculate on people's hearts with the greatest malice. Because she had seen too much malice, she was more accustomed to keeping a blank expression on her face.

Now Diana would only smile slightly in front of her companions in the orphanage and Mother Theresa.

Most of the time, she is the cold-blooded and ruthless Salt Witch, always wearing a mask of indifference, leaving all her opponents far behind without saying a word.

Following the shadows and various other looms, Diana got closer and closer to the source of the constant roar in the center of the factory.

Finally, what appeared before the girl was an extremely large steam engine.

Steam engines were common in all kinds of magical factories across Linde, but the machine Diana saw was unlike any other steam engine she had ever seen or heard of.

Steam engines usually have a variety of complex transmission structures and a boiler with a flame burning underneath to boil water and produce high-pressure steam.

However, this steam engine has an extremely chaotic and twisted appearance, with various gears and pipes intertwined into a complex structure like vines or blood vessels.

There is actually more than one boiler that produces high-pressure steam. There are seven boilers of different sizes and models, which are like wildly growing tumors, and are wantonly embedded between the complex pipelines and transmission structures.

The firelight emanating from it was as red as blood, making people feel very uneasy when looking at it.

At this moment, two massive arms continuously lifted up lumps of coal and tossed them into the boiler. Even without tools, those exceptionally broad palms were like two flexible shovels. The owner of these arms was a towering monster, over three meters tall.

From time to time, the monster would throw a handful or two of coal into its mouth, as if there was a boiler running in its stomach.

And on that fat head, there are three completely different faces, with a big face in the middle and two smaller faces on its left and right cheeks.

They crowded together and kept trying to bite each other, but because of their position, they could never really bite each other, and could only utter all kinds of dirty words in unclear voices.

Diana couldn't help but breathe faster. She slowly backed away. Such a huge monster was not something an ordinary person like her could deal with.

"Shut up! Stop making noise! ​​I think I hear some noise?" The fat face in the middle suddenly let out a sharp shout.

Hearing his words, the other two faces on the left and right paused for a moment.

Then, the honest face on his left cheek began to lament again. He kept complaining about how hard and boring his first half of life as a servant was, and how he ended up turning into a monster in the end.

At this point, the face of the servant Andy could not help but show sadness, and he let out an unpleasant cry like a donkey's bray.

As Andy started crying, the face on the right also started to curse loudly. This face belonged to Auburn, the captain of the factory protection team. He kept spewing out all kinds of downtown slang, and used the most unpleasant and rude words to curse the face in the middle that belonged to the factory owner Abagnon. At the same time, he also angrily scolded Andy for being an annoying trash and asked him to shut up immediately.

As for Abagnon, although he was annoyed to the point of wanting to go crazy by the two faces on his left and right, his heart was filled with unspeakable anger and pain.

But at this moment, the old miser was most concerned about something else.

"Shut up! Shut up! I heard some noise. It must be a worker slacking off!" Abagon was breathing heavily, and his face looked like an angry bull.

"This is my factory, no one can be lazy! Humph, just wait and see, I will catch that guy and put him back to his workstation!"

"That's right. We can't let the lazy guy go. Crush his head! Use his blood as lubricant!" Auburn's face showed a ferocious and hideous expression.

Now, only blood and seeing others fall into a worse situation than himself can bring a little pleasure to this poor creature being devoured by the monster.

As for Andy on the left, he was still there complaining to himself and unable to make any judgment at all.

After reaching a temporary consensus, the monster with three faces dropped the coal in his hand and began to twitch his nose constantly, sniffing the air carefully, trying to find the possible absent worker.

The situation was extremely dangerous, but fortunately, there was a large amount of coal piled around the strange steam engine. These black rocks, used as fuel, were piled up into several small hills, allowing Diana to use them as cover and avoid the three-faced monster's wide 270-degree vision.

But the rapid depletion of her physical strength soon made her realize that she couldn't hide forever.

Besides, I have never been the kind of obedient princess who waits for someone to rescue her, and most girls born in the lower city will never wait for their own prince charming.

Looking at the roaring boiler under the steam engine, Diana gradually had a somewhat risky idea in her mind.

After thinking for a moment, she felt that instead of waiting until she was exhausted and caught by the opponent, it would be better to show her strength while she still had it and try to find a way to eliminate the opponent directly!

Having made up her mind, Diana suddenly dodged from behind the coal pile, bent down, picked up a piece of coal, and threw it hard at the back of the three-faced monster's head.

"Ah!" Three faces cried out in pain at the same time, and their pain seemed to be connected.

Turning 360 degrees to look behind him, the monster saw the pale-faced Diana throwing another piece of coal and looking at him provocatively.

The short-haired girl felt a slight tremor throughout her body and her heart beat rapidly at the monster staring at her with three pairs of eyes, but she found herself in exceptionally good shape. All her muscles were in peak condition, as if they had been thoroughly warmed up.

"Hmph." Diana snorted and threw the coal in her hand away.

This time, the coal hit Abagon right in the center of his forehead, leaving a black mark and making him cry out in pain again.

"It's a chick!" the face on the right, belonging to Auburn, shouted excitedly.

"Bad girl!" Andy cried even louder because of the pain.

"Work!" Abagon's eyes were red. He controlled his extremely huge body after the fusion of three people's bodies. Like a galloping carriage, he took heavy steps and rushed towards Diana who was standing in the distance.

The short-haired girl dodged and disappeared behind the coal pile again. When the monster got around to the back of the coal pile, he saw that she had already run to the other side and picked up the coal and threw it at him.

The coal pieces thrown by Diana were accurate and powerful, hitting either the forehead or the eye sockets, causing all three faces of the monster to scream in pain.

As they circled and smashed around like this, the three men's eyes became so red that they seemed to be about to emit light.

So, when Diana reappeared, they were like angry rhinos that had gone completely mad. They roared to the sky, then lowered their heads and rushed towards the girl standing in the distance.

The other party seemed to be completely frightened by this terrifying aura, and just stood there in a daze, not knowing how to dodge.

However, the mad monster did not notice that Diana was standing right in front of the rumbling steam engine.

Behind her was the filling port for the largest boiler, which was used to add coal. The entrance was even large enough for an adult to easily fit in.

When the monster formed by Abagon, Auben, and Andy accelerated to a certain speed, a smile suddenly appeared on Diana's face. She suddenly turned around and struggled to open the boiler's filling port.

Even with leather gloves on, the short-haired girl felt a burning pain in her palms. The moment she opened the door, the intense heat radiating from inside even caused her hair to curl slightly.

But she still insisted on opening the stuffing port completely, and then, under the monster's stunned gaze, she leaped to the side.

However, the three-faced monster was unable to stop its forward running steps due to its excessive weight and fast speed, and even changing direction was difficult for it.

Finally, with a tripled expression of terror, the three-faced monster slammed headfirst into the boiler!

Its fat neck, three times the diameter of an ordinary person's, was stuck tightly in the stuffing. Even if it struggled frantically with its two swollen arms, it could not break free from the restraint.

From the boiler came the sizzling sound of flames roasting flesh, and billowing black smoke billowed out of the chimney, followed by the shrill screams of Abagnon, Auben, and Andy.

Diana looked at the tragic scene with lingering fear, and felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Even the underground magic car race had never given her such a strong sense of excitement.

Finally, the monster slowly stopped struggling.

Ironically, with the death of the monster incarnated by the factory owner, the various machines that were roaring and running in the factory also stopped working.

The workers first looked at each other in bewilderment, then burst into cheers of joy while crying bitterly.

But just when everyone was rejoicing that they had escaped the disaster——

Boom! A dull heartbeat echoed from within the boiler.

Diana was shocked to see that the fat body of the three-faced monster began to change its shape and grow more flesh and blood like a block of melted wax, until it completely engulfed the boiler of the steam engine.

Woo-woo-woo, a sharp sound like a whistle came from the mass of flesh and blood that engulfed the steam engine, and three distorted faces appeared on the surface of the flesh.

The crazy machine began to spin again, and several workers who had no time to react were directly caught in it and turned into a bloody mess.

A greater fear followed...

Chapter 37 On-site Teaching

A shrill scream rang out in the factory.

But what followed were three overlapping harmonies.

"Work!" An unpleasant roar, so sharp that it made people subconsciously cover their ears, came from the three faces embedded in the engine.

The engines anchored to the ground vibrated violently. The free magic floating in the environment began to stir. The high-intensity magic lights hanging from the factory ceiling flickered. The bolts driven into the concrete floor trembled and flew off in all directions. The terrifying sound of twisting metal mixed with the strange crackling sound of flames scorching flesh.

Most of the steam engine was engulfed in flesh and blood, and then a monster with three faces and a large boiler embedded in its abdomen slowly stood up.

In fact, the source of the terrible epidemic that caused children to show signs of heavy metal poisoning was the strangely shaped steam engine.

Simply being infected with the epidemic will only make people feel uncomfortable, and then they will start to have a fever like a common severe cold. If they can rely on their physical fitness to endure it, the symptoms will gradually subside.

The true cause of the plague's terrifying manifestations was the special curse emanating from this steam engine. Like radiation, it caused the plague within its reach to undergo drastic changes under the influence of the cursed magic, ultimately leading to the fusion of humans and magical machines.

The black lumps that appeared on the workers' bodies were a sign of fusion. If they continued to stay within the curse's reach, they would eventually become part of the textile machines, wailing as parts in the never-ending work.

Therefore, after devouring the boiler of the steam engine, the factory owner also completely turned into an extremely terrifying monster.

In a sense, his essence had transformed from a diseased human into a monstrous being akin to a low-level demon under Narvus's command. Under the influence of the plague curse, the consciousnesses of Abagon, Andy, and Orben merged into a new, twisted soul, imbued with some of their respective characteristics.

It combines the stinginess of Abagnon, the cruelty of Auburn and the cowardice of Andy, which is simply stinking for a being that can smell the scent of soul.

"Everyone must work!" The devil factory owner slapped his chest with his long hands that hung below his knees and roared.

"Today is Monday, every day is Monday, work! Work without stopping! Don't stop!"

So said the factory owner who had fused his boiler into a terrifying machine-demon.

“…” Diana felt her hands trembling slightly, and her always expressionless face turned pale.

Now is not the time to give up.

The girl said this to herself in her heart.

So she quickly regained her composure and looked around alertly.

Because the monster reached a height of five meters, the small piles of coal could no longer hide Diana's figure. Instead, the rows of textile machines around her were as tall as walls. But when she saw the workers who were forced to stand next to the machines, she was forced to give up the idea of ​​using them as a cover.

Perhaps it was because of Mother Theresa's teachings. Although she was born in the lower city and had the nickname of the Salt Witch, Diana's heart was obviously not as hard as that of ordinary residents of the lower city.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have risked her life and death in an underground car race after leaving the orphanage to earn money to support the orphanage. Even Mother Teresa's repeated persuasion didn't stop her from doing this.

As for the cargo storage area at the other end of the factory, which was filled with various finished fabrics, although the terrain there was also chaotic, it was directly blocked by the fat body of the demon factory owner.

So, when the demonic factory owner turned his head and looked at her, Diana still did not choose to hide in the textile machine area.

"Here, there is another one, a lazy one!" The demon factory owner stretched out his big hand that could easily pinch a person, and let out a turbid and malicious roar.

"I'm going to use the blood of the lazy as lubricant!"

Before being squeezed out, Diana finally moved.

Without caring about her image, the short-haired girl rolled on the ground. Although her clothes were stained with coal dust and her body was hurt by the hard coal blocks, she successfully avoided the grab.

Moreover, Diana did not roll backwards or to the left or right, but rolled straight towards the demon factory owner. What happened next proved the wisdom and correctness of this choice.

"Where did it go? Where did it go!?" The devil factory owner scratched his belly in confusion. His lead-gray nails, made of a mixture of screws and steel, left blood marks on his white flesh, but they soon healed themselves under the twisted and powerful vitality.

Despite having three pairs of eyes, the Demon Factory Master's fat belly embedded with boilers makes his vision very limited.

It couldn't even see its own toes, let alone Diana who was rolling past its legs.

Diana moved behind the other person, held her breath, and walked lightly towards the cargo storage area in the distance.

She knew that this little trick could not be hidden from the other party for too long, so she had to find a new hiding place as soon as possible. But what Diana did not expect was that a trembling and shrill voice suddenly came from the workers.