After inserting the obsidian, the steel gate showed no reaction whatsoever—it remained perfectly still.
At that moment, a message came from Bai Qingxue: the Mechanical Knights had suddenly stopped chasing her and were heading this way at full speed.
"No way, seriously? The key doesn't work anymore?" Shi Feng cursed and slammed his fist against the keyhole.
Since the simplest method wasn't going to get him through, he'd have to resort to something more dangerous.
Beep beep beep…
Without warning, the keyhole on the massive steel gate erupted with blinding golden light. Countless energy runes flashed across the three-story-tall double doors, and with a piercing screech of grinding metal, they began to slowly swing open.
The Mechanical Knights were already closing in, but the gate had only opened a gap just wide enough for one person to slip through.
Without a second thought, Shi Feng yanked out the key. The gate immediately froze in place, and he squeezed sideways through the narrow opening.
System: You have discovered Steel Shell Fortress "Baruthea."
The two-story-tall Mechanical Knights tried to charge through the gate, but the gap was far too narrow for their massive frames, and the doors themselves were too large and too heavy. All they could do was hammer away at the gate from outside—which accomplished nothing.
"I'm inside," Shi Feng sent a message to Bai Qingxue, then began carefully making his way down the enormous steel corridor.
On the other side of the Fallen Lands.
"Qingxue, how is he doing?" Zhao Yueru, who had been waiting off to the side, looked over as Bai Qingxue jogged back.
"He's fine. He made it inside."
"But this quest is no joke. I tested the Mechanical Knights' strength just now, and they're completely different from any other special elite. They can parry my attacks almost instantly and counterattack in the same breath. If my reflexes hadn't been fast enough, I'd be dead."
"Without combo skills that deal massive burst damage, you can't even kite these Mechanical Knights. You'd just end up getting yourself killed." Bai Qingxue sat down and pulled out food and drink to recover. The images from her recent fight still played through her mind—terrifyingly close calls. The shockwave alone from a lance strike shattering the ground had cost her over two hundred HP. If she'd been hit directly, the consequences would have been catastrophic.
Zhao Yueru let out what seemed like a sigh of relief for reasons she couldn't quite explain.
"Alright, snap out of it. Let's farm Birdmen here at the Skyline Pass. The drops and experience are both really good—we should be able to catch up to those top-tier players pretty quickly." Once she had recovered, Bai Qingxue stood up and took charge.
Meanwhile, inside Steel Shell Fortress, Shi Feng moved forward with careful steps. The steel corridors were covered in rust, with only sparse lights flickering along the walls—just enough to see the path ahead.
After covering a good stretch without encountering any real danger, the only sounds were the occasional drip of water and the distant rumble of machinery still churning after a thousand years. That the dwarven civilization's technology could still function after such a passage of time was a testament to just how advanced it had been.
After passing through an enormous corridor, he arrived at a massive smelting area. Steel framework staircases lined the iron walls on all sides, and beneath the roaring furnaces lay a pool of water that plunged into seemingly bottomless darkness.
Instead of following the staircases toward another exit, Shi Feng leaped straight down, diving into the pool below.
Halfway through his descent, he activated Gravity Release. His speed dropped sharply, and he floated downward as gently as a feather.