I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

The torrential rain lashed against the cobblestone streets of Plymouth, enveloping the entire city in a misty curtain of water.

The signboard of the Black Cat Bookstore, depicting a one-eyed black cat, creaked and groaned in the wind and rain, as if whispering some ominous secret.

The carriage came to a stop in the back alley, its wheels splashing mud half a meter high as they rolled over the puddles.

"Quick! Move the stuff inside!" Benjamin jumped off the carriage, wiped the rain off his face, and directed two trusted employees to carry the heavy wooden crates through the back door of the bookstore.

Rod was the last to get off the bus.

He stood in the rain, not in a hurry to go inside, but looked up at the dark night sky.

In his vision, where the mechanical divinity had not yet completely faded, the rain curtain was no longer just water droplets, but countless streams of falling data.

He could sense that in that distant eastern port, the nauseating smell of the deep sea was growing stronger with the tides.

"Time is running out."

Rod tightened the collar of his trench coat, turned and walked into the bookstore.

Passing through a hidden door disguised as a bookshelf, the elevator slowly descended into the ground with the roar of the winch turning.

The moisture in the air was drawn away, replaced by a dry, constant-temperature laboratory atmosphere with a faint smell of engine oil.

Professor Isaac was lying on a huge dissection table, holding a quill pen, deep in thought as he studied a complex alchemy blueprint.

Hearing the noise, he looked up and pushed up his thick glasses.

"You're back." The professor's gaze passed over Rhodes, landing on the several wooden crates still dripping with water, his eyes instantly turning fervent. "Those are... the materials we wanted?"

"It's even better than I expected."

Rod stepped forward, waved for the men to step back, and then personally pried open the largest wooden crate.

A chilling white vapor instantly billowed out, causing the temperature in the laboratory to drop several degrees.

Nestled among the thick straw and ice, lay a complete, enormous skeleton gleaming with a faint blue light.

It was a fully grown abyssal crocodile.

Its skull was huge and flat, with deep-set eyes, and two rows of serrated fangs that still radiated a ferocious light even after death, ready to devour its prey.

Its spine is as thick as a steel pillar, and each bone has a natural bony texture that resembles runes.

"Perfect material..." Professor Isaac's hand trembled as he reached out and stroked the cold bones. "This bone density, this natural magical conductivity... Rhodes, are you really going to make it into that?"

"certainly."

Rod took off his soaking wet trench coat, put on a clean alchemical robe, and then put on the specially made goggles.

"The Iron Duke's creations are merely crude stitches of flesh and blood, forcibly propelled by steam pumps. That's a waste of materials."

Rhodes walked to the lab table and placed the dark blue magic core he had taken from Kruger under the microscope.

What we're making is art.

He turned to Benjamin: "Preheat the furnace to three thousand degrees. Melt all that cold-forged steel and add mithril powder. I need an alloy with the best ductility and the highest hardness."

"Three thousand degrees?!" Benjamin's eyes widened. "How much high-energy coal would that take? My money..."

"Stop talking nonsense and get to work," Rhodes said. "If you don't want to be thrown into the sea to feed the fish by the princess in three days, don't worry about the money."

Benjamin shrank back, turned and ran toward the smelting area.

Rhodes picked up a sharp scalpel and walked to the skeleton of the abyssal crocodile.

"Professor, please prepare a spiritual awakening solution for me. I need to activate the remaining biological instincts within this skeleton."

"You mean..." Professor Isaac's expression changed, "...preserve its hunting instincts? That's dangerous. If it gets out of control, it will treat us as prey as well."

"It won't have a chance."

A cold, golden glint flashed in Rhodes' eyes.

"Because I will equip it with an absolutely rational heart."

……

Over the next 24 hours, the underground laboratory transformed into a furnace of steel and magic.

The huge furnace roared, and molten steel flowed into the mold, making a "sizzling" sound as it was being quenched.

Rhodes stood before the dissection table, like a priest performing a sacred ritual.

Instead of using traditional necromancy to resurrect the skeleton, he employed construct science derived from the Titan prototype.

He used a scalpel to carve intricate miniature magic arrays into each crocodile bone, then poured molten mithril into them.

The silver liquid spread along the bone's texture, turning the originally grayish-white bones into an eerie silver-gray.

"Skeletal enhancement complete. Magical affinity increased by 300%."

Rhodes muttered to himself, his hands moving so fast that only afterimages remained.

He riveted the cooled, forged steel armor plates one by one to the key joints of the skeleton.

These armors are not simply covers; they fit perfectly with the skeleton through precise hydraulic linkages, providing protection without compromising joint flexibility.

But this is only the shell.

The real core lies in power and control.

Rhodes picked up the dark blue magic core.

Although this core was of mid-grade quality, in Rhodes' eyes, its internal structure was full of impurities and redundant loops.

"Shoddy work."

Rhodes snorted coldly, his mental energy transforming into an invisible scalpel that pierced into the core.

He is reconstructing the core energy circuit.

He removed the safety valves used for stable output and instead implanted an extreme overload burst program.

He doesn't need the machine to run for a hundred years; he needs it to unleash power beyond its limits in the instant of battle.

"Professor, bring me that parchment."

Isaac, who was preparing the potion, was taken aback and quickly handed over the blueprint with the Abyss Cult symbol that Rhodes had taken from Kruger.

Rhodes spread the drawings out on the table, his eyes fixed on the eye symbol made of tentacles.

"The Abyss Cult...The Iron Duke..."

Rod's finger traced across the drawings. "They're trying to transplant the regenerative properties of deep-sea creatures into machinery."

Although their direction was correct, they used the wrong methods.

"They're trying to wrap steel in flesh and blood; that's foolish."

Rhodes picked up a bottle of dark green potion.

That was the essence he extracted from the mutated fish, a high concentration of abyssal essence, and purified it.

He slowly dripped the potion onto the reconstructing magical core.

"Sizzle sizzle~~"

A sickening corrosive sound rang out, and a plume of black smoke instantly rose from the dark blue core surface.

However, after the black smoke dissipated, the core was not corroded. Instead, a layer of dark red patterns resembling biological blood vessels appeared on the surface.

It began to beat like a heart.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

The dull thumping sound echoed in the laboratory, carrying a sense of oppression from the deep sea.

"What...what did you do?" Benjamin stared in horror at the core. "It's alive?"

"No, it just has the instinct of hunger."

Rhodes embedded the core into the ribcage of the crocodile skeleton.

"Now, it's the stomach of this machine."

With the core back in place, countless mithril wires automatically connected to the core's interface, much like nerves.

Rhodes took a deep breath and placed his hands on the cold skull.

"Mechanical divinity, full power activated."

Buzz!

Rhodes' eyes instantly turned pure gold.

A massive stream of data poured out of his brain, flowing down his arms into the steel and bone hybrid.

He did not use the souls of the living, nor the resentment of the dead.

Instead, it uses pure logic, algorithms, and combat data to construct an absolutely obedient and absolutely efficient killing program.

He incorporated all his dynamic vision, prediction algorithms, and analysis of human weaknesses from his battle in the Rust Alley into this program.

"Your name is Executioner."

Rhodes' voice was loud and cold.

"Your mission is to hunt."

Click.

As the final command was entered, the massive machine on the lab bench trembled violently.

Two crimson lights suddenly shone in the previously empty eye sockets.

It slowly stood up.

This is not a clumsy crocodile, but a steel monster that walks upright.

It stands nearly three meters tall, its entire body covered in streamlined silver-gray armor, with a row of sharp heat dissipation fins on its back.

Its arms extend past its knees, and at the ends are three high-frequency vibrating claws, each half a meter long.

Its thick tail dragged on the ground, with a spiked hammer at the end that swayed gently with its breath, carving deep grooves into the hard ground.

"roar……"

It opened its mouth and let out a low growl that was a mixture of a beast's roar and the release of steam pressure.

A terrifying pressure instantly swept through the entire laboratory.

Benjamin's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

Professor Isaac leaned on the table, his glasses slipping down to the tip of his nose, his eyes filled with shock and fear.

"This...this is the toy you were talking about?" The professor's voice trembled.

"For the eldest princess, it was a toy."

The golden light in Rhodes' eyes slowly faded, returning to a deep black.

He leaned wearily against the lab bench, looking at his masterpiece with a satisfied smile.

"But for the Iron Duke and his allies in the Abyss..."

Rhodes reached out and gently patted the executioner's cold, metallic jaw.

The terrifying steel monster immediately lowered its head obediently, allowing Rhodes to stroke it, and made a mechanical vibration sound from its throat, similar to a cat's purring.

"It's a nightmare."

……

three days later.

Goldenrod Palace, Crystal Banquet Hall.

This was an extremely luxurious banquet.

Thousands of white candles illuminated the enormous banquet hall as if it were daytime, and the melodious sound of violins flowed through the air.

Nobles in their finest attire held wine glasses and conversed quietly by the dance floor.

The air was filled with the scents of perfume, red wine, and hypocrisy.

But the atmosphere tonight is a bit subtle.

Almost everyone's gaze drifted, intentionally or unintentionally, toward the entrance to the banquet hall.

There, the Iron Duke Balthazar held a glass of scarlet wine, surrounded by a group of sycophantic officers and speculators.

He seemed to be in a good mood, with a victor's smile on his face.

"I heard that Earl Rhodes has been hiding in that run-down bookstore in the lower town these past few days?" The Duke swirled his wine glass, his voice not loud, but just loud enough for those around him to hear. "How pathetic. I thought he might come up with something earth-shattering to win back His Majesty's favor."

"Perhaps he's figuring out how to escape." Kruger, who was sitting in a wheelchair with bandages wrapped around his neck, said with a look of resentment in his eyes. "After all, he offended you, and there's no place for him in the kingdom anymore."

A chorus of laughter and agreement erupted from the surrounding area.

Just then, the banquet hall doors were suddenly pushed open.

The melodious music abruptly stopped.

All eyes were drawn to the doorway.

Rod Griffin, dressed in a sharp black tailcoat with the badge of honor pinned to his chest, walked in slowly with his signature cold and aloof smile on his face.

He came alone.

He had no attendants and no female companions.

But in the shadows behind him, there seemed to be a huge box covered in black cloth being dragged along.

The box had wheels at the bottom, but it moved silently, following Rod's steps, even without anyone pushing it.

Good evening, everyone.

Rhodes walked to the center of the hall, ignoring the strange looks around him, and looked directly at the old king sitting on the high platform, and the princess sitting beside the king, who was wearing a purple dress and had a cold and beautiful face.

"Earl Rhodes." The princess put down her folding fan, her sharp, hawk-like eyes scrutinizing Rhodes. "You're late."

"It took a little time to prepare this gift." Rhodes bowed slightly, performing an impeccable aristocratic curtsy.

"Let's hope it's worth the wait," the Iron Duke interjected, striding forward with an aggressive air. "Rhodes, don't try to fool His Majesty with potions or children's toys again. What the military needs are weapons that can kill."

"kill?"

Rhodes turned his head to look at the Iron Duke and Kruger, who was sitting in a wheelchair behind him.

His smile became somewhat amused.

"Since Your Excellency is in such a hurry to see..."

Rhodes snapped his fingers.

"Then please take a look."

Snapped.

As the snap of the fingers fell, the huge black cloth box suddenly exploded from the inside!

Black cloth fluttered in the air.

A suffocating chill instantly swept through the entire banquet hall.

Amidst the fluttering fragments of black cloth, a silver-gray steel monster slowly straightened its body.

Its crimson electronic eyes locked onto the Iron Duke immediately.

"Roar~~!!!"

A violent roar shattered the nearest crystal chandeliers.

The executioner swung his tail, which was laden with a heavy hammer, and smashed the marble tiles on the ground to pieces.

"what!"

The noblewomen let out piercing screams, and the crowd retreated in terror.

The Iron Duke's expression changed instantly.

As a seasoned commander, he felt an unprecedented threat emanating from this machine.

That wasn't one of those bulky steam-powered mechs.

It was a living, bloodthirsty beast.

"What...what is this?!" The Duke instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword.

"This is the executioner."

Rhodes stood beside the monster, reaching out to stroke its cold, sharp claws as if he were petting a docile pet.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the Duke and landing on the King and Princess on the high platform.

"It was created to execute the kingdom's enemies."

Rod's voice was calm, yet it resonated in everyone's hearts.

"Whether it's a sea monster, or..."

His gaze shifted slightly, landing on Kruger, who was sitting in a wheelchair, trembling.

"A rat hiding in the gutter."

The executioner seemed to sense its master's will. It turned its head sharply, its scarlet eyes fixed on Kruger, and its mechanical fangs clicked and snapped.

Kruger was so frightened that he fell off his wheelchair and scrambled backward, his crotch instantly becoming wet.

The entire room fell silent.

Only the heavy breathing of that steel monster echoed in the banquet hall.

Seeing this scene, the princess's originally cold and beautiful face revealed a satisfied, even excited smile.

"very good."

She clapped softly.

"Earl Rhodes, your gift... the King and I both love it."