Hel hadn't gone far down the new tunnel when she encountered another [Mechanical Spider Miner]. Following its direction, she saw countless more of them crowding the passage ahead — a dense, unmoving mass of brass and steel.
At first glance, they looked dead. Unless something came too close, they remained motionless, legs curled up tightly against their bodies like lifeless insects.
But Hel could easily imagine what would happen if a living creature wandered near — the things would spring to life, eight metal legs kicking off the ground, leaping forward like a facehugger from a nightmare.
The corpses she'd found earlier had all died exactly that way.
Fortunately, Hel's squad contained not a single living being. The spiders could latch onto skulls all they wanted — it made no difference to the undead. Even if a skeleton's head popped off, it could just be reattached later.
And in any case, these things weren't strong. Even the Skeletal Magus Hel was possessing could crush them with brute force alone.
She knew because she had already tested it.
But instead of destroying the captured spider, Hel became fascinated.
Truth be told, it was interesting.
Though they appeared to be mindless machines, she could sense a faint soul fluctuation inside their metal shells.
Incredible — these things actually had souls. Weak and unstable, yes, but undeniably present.
That was… unexpected.
Hel couldn't help but admire the goblins who'd built them.
She'd thought they were scientists dabbling in machinery, but it turned out they were also practitioners of magic.
"What is this, alchemical lifeforms?" she murmured in amusement.
Earlier she'd been fretting over how to mine the mithril vein without attracting attention — and now, as if by divine favor, an army of perfect miners had delivered themselves right to her doorstep.
A pillow arriving just when she needed a nap. Perhaps she really was the heavens' favorite child.
Hel decided not to rush deeper. Instead, she focused on figuring out how to control the spider she'd caught.
She quickly discovered that the spider's soul was linked to something far away — likely a control node used by the goblins to command their machines.
But for Hel — an expert in soul manipulation and inheritor of the Divine Authority of Death — breaking such a connection was child's play.
With a flick of her hand, she severed the soul link, then used [Blood Familiar] to completely take over the spider.
She didn't even need to use her higher-tier [Blood Servant] trait — for mindless constructs like these, the basic spell was more than enough.
Convenient, efficient, and reliable. Hel saw no reason to let such quality labor go to waste.
So, once she mastered the technique, she stopped exploring altogether. Her new priority: convert every single mechanical spider she could find.
Time passed quickly. Two whole days slipped by.
During that time, Hel became a one-woman swarm — sweeping through tunnels like a plague of locusts, subduing every spider that crossed her path.
By the end of it, her real body looked over her new mechanical workforce and could barely contain her delight.
"Unbelievable," she grinned. "Five thousand mechanical spiders. This haul alone is worth the entire expedition."
Without wasting time, she sent the entire spider legion to work, replacing the human miners completely.
With five thousand of these efficient machines digging nonstop, it wouldn't take long to hollow out the entire mountain.
After two more days of exploration, Hel finally reached the end of the mine — a wide cavern.
At its far end stood a massive metal gate, gleaming with a golden sheen as if forged from solid gold itself.
Before the gate stood a guarding force of mechanical constructs — a real army, unlike the fragile spider drones from before.
[Name]: Mechanical Guardian
[Tier]: 2
[Strength]: 45
[Description]: Standard infantry unit among goblin automatons.
[Name]: Mechanical Centurion
[Tier]: 3
[Strength]: 109
[Description]: Elite infantry unit among goblin automatons.
[Name]: Mechanical Chiliarch
[Tier]: 4
[Strength]: 222
[Description]: Rare high-ranking unit among goblin automatons.
The three models looked almost identical — as if they'd been made from the same mold and simply scaled up in size.
All were humanoid, their only visible difference being the number of arms each had — a trait that corresponded perfectly with their rank.
Hel couldn't help wondering what a fifth-tier version would look like.
"Would it have sixteen arms?" she mused with a smirk. "If so, where would they even fit? It'd just be a ball of arms rolling around. A mechanical spider-man, literally."
The four-armed Centurions already looked cramped, their bulky upper limbs making them seem like hunched old men.
The largest ones — the two Chiliarchs — stood motionless on either side of the golden gate like a pair of colossal stone lions.
Each had eight arms, and each exuded a heavy, oppressive aura.
Around them were twenty four-armed Centurions, positioned in neat ranks.
And beyond those, scattered throughout the chamber, were at least two hundred of the two-armed Guardians.
Many of the lesser units still bore traces of blood on their armor. Following the stains, Hel found more remains — the last of Viscount Gray's men, fallen where they stood.
"So that's what happened to you lot," Hel murmured.
Then she smiled faintly. "Not bad. This isn't too difficult."
Judging by their formation, her current forces could easily handle them.
Still, if gate sentinels were already fourth-tier, who knew what waited behind that golden door? Fifth-tier? Sixth?
Best to strengthen her side a little more before proceeding.
She had no reason to rush. With her current dominance, she could afford to play it smart — perhaps even turn the enemy to her side like she'd done with the spiders.
So, at her command, the Skeletal Berserker Captain and his squad launched a surprise strike.
Before the nearest mechanical guards could react, the skeletons overwhelmed them, disarmed them, and dragged three of the machines away from their posts.
Within moments, the captives vanished into the shadows.
The remaining automatons scanned their surroundings, gears whirring as their glowing eyes swept the chamber.
But finding nothing, they eventually returned to standby mode, motionless once more.