“All Systems Online, Taurus Interface activated.” Niu Lang flipped the switches within his cockpit and placed a replica of Mechataur’s head at the side of a placeholder near his shoulder.
The Minotaur head immediately lit up upon receiving electrical power and turned alive. Its first reaction was yawning as if it had awoken from a very long slumber.
“How long have I been – whaddafuck is this?! What happened to me?! Where is the rest of my body?! Why am I in the cockpit?! NIU LANG, what the hell did you do to me?!!” Mechataur started shouting and couldn’t accept the reality around him.
“Woah, woah, hold your horns! I just made it easier for you to move about without the large body…well that is if you are connected to an electrical pack…”
“What bullshit are you talking about?! After that fight with the giant Titan Knight and sacrificing myself for that human master, this is what I have become?!” Mechataur continued yapping yet Niu Lang believed it was best to let actions speak for themselves. He flipped another switch and turned the switch knob which caused the robotic bull head to power down.
The bull head was actually a soul containment unit and what Niu Lang did was transfer the soul back to his large body which he actually continued to complain about.
“Now I am stuck I’m this- woah wait a minute. This is… this is… woahhhhhhhh!!” Mechataur started to survey his new body and realised there were so many changes to it. He no longer had a bulging metallic abdomen and instead, a proper body chassis.
After which, he started to move his hands and legs to test the joints. “I feel lighter and more flexible! Can I do a somersault with this body?”
“If you want to continue to stay in that metal head for another three more months, sure go ahead and try that.” Niu Lang rolled his eyes.
“Aww man, thanks buddy!” Mechataur tried to stand up but realised there were a ton of tubes being stuck on him. “Pfft all these annoying wires!” Mechataur started tearing and plucking each and every one of them.
“Urgh be gentle! Each of them cost thousands of dungeon dollars!” Niu Lang exclaimed as he had no choice but to turn the knob back and Mechataur returned back to his head.
“Hey! What is the meaning of this! Get me back to my body! You have no rights to stop me and contain me! I have my constitutional right to my own body!” Mechataur said
“Where did you even learn that phrase…” Niu Lang sighed as he clicked a few buttons and those tubes and wires automatically released themselves.
“Hey! Why are you ignoring me?! Respond back!”
“I have no choice but to transfer your soul to this containment unit else fixing you previously might kill you off permanently since I have to dissect and replace each and every part there is while maintaining and improving the core body.” Niu Lang believed everything was in order and told Moloch that they were ready to sortie.
“Erm..yeah I appreciate your efforts, but that doesn’t mean you can keep me to this small robotic head!”
“Would you prefer being inside the previous iteration? That one was a jar which Kraft gave me, without any outlet to speak out your will freely?” Niu Lang questioned, and Mechataur kept quiet for a moment.
“Good. Now, I know you are a little frustrated about this situation. So in return, we are going into battle. I give you full reign while I provide support within the cockpit.” Niu Lang said as he could hear the portal opening above them. He quickly closed the cockpit doors and wore his helmet.
“Mechataur, Pilot Niu Lang. Departing!” Niu Lang announced and immediately they found themselves performing a free fall at a few hundred metres above the supposed target. Niu Lang knew that they would be free-falling and already had a jet booster attached.
“Unit’s control has been transferred to you.” Niu Lang said as he turned the switch knot again and Mechataur could literally feel the winds against his entire body.
Even without any commands, the metal bull robot had already activated his jet boosters to counter the descend. With a bit of fiddling, a rifle appeared from the jet booster as well, giving Mechataur the means to shoot at their target.
Naturally, Niu Lang was inside the cockpit doing all the aiming assist as it had been a long time since Mechataur got to hold a rifle. In addition, the knockback and recoil from the rifle were tremendous because of the large calibre rounds it was using so Niu Lang’s aiming assist was useful, especially when he purposely went for the joints.
As for the Mechanical Castle Arm, the rats operating it were able to withstand the attacks done by the Wyvern Goblin Knights, and there was some damage from the artillery attacks, but those were not as deadly as rifle rounds from Mechataur.
One shot was all it took to damage a portion of the joint and hit a steam pipe that supplied energy to the arm’s laser cannon. That one shot alone had managed to disable the Mechanical Castle Arm and caused it to topple a little.
Emergency repairs were on its way, but the next few rounds targeted the very same place too, causing the mechanical joint to dislodge. The entire arm fell without the support, but Mechataur was not done with it.
It now started to shoot randomly at the castle, ignoring Niu Lang’s complaints about wasting ammunition (well, those bullets were really quite expensive) and subsequently began opening his chest plates to shoot the missiles… only to realise there were none in there.
“Where did all my missiles go?!” Mechataur asked Niu Lang with a streak of panic going through his circuits.
“Moloch asked for an emergency sortie…that is why I did not pack those stuff in. I figured we had enough firepower in the jet boosters. There’s an enlarged RPG launcher in it which should finish the job.”
“What do ya mean we have enough firepower?! There’s no such thing as enough firepower. Firepower is a never-ending pursuit for greatness! I hold you responsible for not getting the job done this time around!” Mechataur complained.
“And that is why I invented the switch knob. Ayse’s researchers say that there might be a drastic application of your current personality because you had been detached in a soul containment unit for too long. You need to chill and rationalise.”
“I ain”t doing that kind of shit! All I need to do is to kill the enemy right in front of me, and I lack the means to do so!” Mechataur unequipped his jet boosters and fell straight into the castle, crashing into it while taking out the RPG launcher.
Without thinking, Mechataur threw the rifle and fired every single rocket within the launcher towards the Mechanical Castle Arm…only to find another arm suddenly appear behind him. However, this arm was not as complete as the initial one and Mechataur’s crashing actually released the arm from its deadlock of debris.
“Holy shit!” Mechataur exclaimed as it stopped the right broken arm with its own and faced it while shooting AP rounds from his robotic cheeks. It did not stop there as it tried to charge its horns and fire a blast of electrical energy towards it.
“Holy shit, indeed!” Niu Lang agreed as he saw Mechataur’s energy level had dropped so significantly in less than a minute!
