[Chapter 185. The Gates of Tartarus]

Searanox stood before the Gates of Tartarus, the swirling vortex of dark blue and green energy offering a hypnotic contrast to the massive, ornate stone frame enclosing it. The vast hall was utterly empty, the air stagnant and heavy with the distinct scent of ancient dust. No one dared approach the structure. The citizens of Androxis knew of its existence—it loomed constantly in their collective minds—but they kept their distance, treating the building with the superstitious dread usually reserved for forgotten tombs.

He studied the intricate carvings decorating the framework: a pristine Angel on one wing, and the Grim Reaper on the other. His eyes traced the meticulous stone details before shifting back to the portal itself. It churned like a localized storm trapped behind a pane of glass a gateway to a place that fundamentally defied the reality of his city.

With a decisive step, he crossed the threshold.

The transition was instantaneous. The sterile silence of the stone hall vanished, replaced by an oppressive, heavy heat and a sourceless glare that blanketed the landscape. The air grew thick and bone-dry, tasting of pulverized dust and something faintly metallic. Before him stretched a desolate, rocky plateau, extending endlessly toward a horizon blurred by a permanent, reddish-brown haze. A harsh, white sun hung completely fixed in a washed-out sky, casting long, stark shadows that seemed to unnaturally shift at the very edge of his peripheral vision.

Four Intermediate Recon Drones emerged the moment he stepped away from the portal, zipping off toward the four cardinal directions with a low, synchronized whine. Less than a minute passed before one of the scouts hit something significant.

Its forward momentum died instantly against an invisible barrier. It was the exact same phenomenon that had bordered the Courtyard of the Dead, but there was no iron fence here—just a sudden, inexplicable halt in mid-air. With a simple thought, Searanox guided the blocked drone along the trajectory of the unseen wall while the remaining three units continued their unimpeded survey of the environment.

His gaze eventually settled on a colossal tree towering in the far distance. It was just as barren as the fractured land around it, blackened and entirely lifeless—the sole vertical landmark in this vast, desolate expanse.

A Travel Drone materialized beside him in a brilliant flash of blue light. The moment Searanox mounted the vehicle, it dissolved directly beneath him, vanishing instantly. He stood motionless on the cracked stone, his face completely blank.

He opened his interface and checked his drone inventory. All units were present and accounted for.

"Recalled on its own?" he muttered, summoning the machine once more.

The outcome was identical. The travel drone dissolved into blue particles the exact second his body made physical contact with it. Intrigued by the anomaly, he used a mental command to summon one of every single drone type in his arsenal. Seven distinct metallic forms now hovered in the still, hot air around him.

He sent the Offensive and Assault drones speeding toward the central tree. Meanwhile, the utility-focused Cargo Drone dropped low, methodically collecting loose stones from the cracked earth. The Healing Drone idled silently, hovering right next to the protective chassis of the Defensive Drone. There was only one logical way to test the restrictions.

He raised his rifle, took aim, and fired a concentrated violet beam directly at the support focused pair. The shot struck the defensive drone's multilayered barrier with a sharp, echoing crack of displaced kinetic energy. The translucent shield rippled violently under the impact, but it held its ground.

Next, he retrieved the Corroded Fang from his inventory. The heavy, armored gauntlet covering his right arm retracted with a seamless series of mechanical clicks. He pressed the dagger's razor-sharp tip against his bare forearm and drew a swift, deliberate line down to his wrist.

Fresh, crimson blood welled from the clean incision. The healing drone pivoted immediately toward the injury, bathing his forearm in a soothing, emerald-green light. The damaged flesh knit itself completely shut in a matter of seconds, leaving smooth skin behind.

`All drones function normally, except for the travel drone.` He deducted silently. `A Labyrinth restriction on mounted transportation?`

The thought hung unanswered in the vast, stifling silence. He remained perfectly still for a moment longer, then summoned another travel drone. This time, he didn't attempt to mount it. Instead, he issued a remote command directing it forward. The machine shot into the distance without issue, rapidly shrinking to a tiny metallic speck against the bleached sky.

Soon after, the reconnaissance drones completed their perimeter sweep. The telemetry data fed directly into his mind: the invisible wall formed a perfect square, precisely ten kilometers on each side, perfectly centered on the massive, dead tree. Within that grand boundary, his mental mini-map bloomed with dozens of newly identified moving dots.

Herds of large, six-limbed reptiles were scattered across the plains, grazing listlessly on thorny, ash-colored bushes. Closer to the central tree, however, a denser cluster of larger, highly aggressive signatures moved with a coordinated, predatory purpose.

He dismissed the Healing, Cargo, Travel and Defensive units with a flick of his wrist. Three additional assault drones materialized to take their place.

"Hunt," he commanded.

The dark, weaponized shapes streaked across the crimson landscape like hunting falcons. The lead unit found its target almost immediately: a massive, six-limbed reptile roughly the size of a rhinoceros, its thick hide composed of heavy, grey, stone-like scales. The drone's integrated energy cannons spun up, tearing relentless salvos into the creature's exposed flank.

The beast let out a deafening roar that sounded like grinding tectonic plates and charged blindly forward. The agile assault drone easily weaved out of its path, firing continuous counter-bursts that chipped away at the creature's armored hide. It was a brutal battle that would have taken a standard party of adventurers quite a bit of time to safely resolve. For the optimized machine, it was a simple process.

The reptile collapsed into the dirt, its stone scales cracked, fractured, and smoking from the beams burns. A clean notification floated directly into Searanox's field of vision:

Searanox turned his gaze back toward the central tree, its dead, twisted branches reaching upward like grasping skeletal claws. He began a measured walk toward the epicenter, his rifle held loosely but securely in his hand. All around him, his drones were systematically dismantling the local fauna. On his path, he encountered one of the six-limbed beasts wandering solo, dropping it instantly with a single, precisely placed shot to its unarmored eye socket.

A system window materialized over the collapsing form.

As he approached, the massive corpse shimmered with an ethereal blue light, rapidly dissolving into a shower of harmless sparks. By the time he reached the exact spot of the kill, absolutely nothing remained. He quickly cross-referenced the real-time feeds of his other active drones; every single kill across the ten-kilometer grid was dissolving in the exact same manner.

Then, he caught it.

Deep within the archived memories of one of his southern reconnaissance drones, a sudden, pale flash of light illuminated the rocky plains. From the absolute vacuum of empty space, a brand-new Stonehide Strider materialized on the plateau, fully formed and completely unharmed.

An old memory instantly surfaced from his time in the corrupted dungeon. Narina's distorted voice echoed vividly in the quiet spaces of his mind.

They may stay dead here for now... For now.