First up was the unit’s overall destructive power. Having them fire at abandoned buildings wasn’t exactly ideal, but thankfully, magic was enough to cover that.
[Shadow Parade]
I summoned hundreds of mindless shadows from the ground. Even without giving any instructions, the units imdiately took aim—and then, a second later...
They lowered their guns just as quickly, a small rune on their chests flickering the mont they did.
"Hm?"
I ordered the shadows to stand by for a mont and stepped closer to check the rune on one unit’s chest, placing my hands over it and focusing only on its details.
Then...
[Magic-Detecting Rune]
[Detects magical signatures. Advanced detection technology used for certain machinery, specifically combat types.]
"That’s interesting..."
Well, that was a bit more normal than I expected. I’d hoped to find sothing better, but I guess you can’t just stumble on breakthroughs or powerful artifacts every day.
"Aim."
I gave the order, and the units started calculating for possible targets. Their programming hesitated in the absence of hostiles.
Not until the runes flickered again.
Then all of the units imdiately aid at the shadows.
They were smart. Even after deciding my shadows were friendly, it didn’t take them a second to figure out what I was about to command.
Good thing they weren’t just mindless robots that shot at everything that looked hostile—or spared everything that looked friendly.
"Fire!"
The mont I shouted the command, I also ordered the shadows to move. They scattered and scurried around the mansion’s backyard like rats, and it didn’t take long for the robots to start dropping them like flies.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
One.
Two.
Eight.
Ten.
Twenty.
Even with the shadows constantly shifting and darting around, the units kept taking them down, picking them off even as they circled like rats.
But that still wasn’t enough to tell if they were truly effective. I needed to see how they handled a target that actually fought back.
After this, I’d send them into an actual battlefield deploynt and see how well they fared there.
THUD!
BANG!
THUD!
The shadows twisted. Instead of just running around and waiting to be shot, they started attacking, using their lack of pain to hamr their bare fists against tal.
And...
Even then, the units kept taking the shadows out without losing any efficiency. Better yet, even when so units were sward by ten shadows at once, they didn’t look like they were getting dented at all.
A few shadows managed to cling to one unit’s arms, dragging at the joints, trying to force so kind of malfunction.
Nothing. Not even a stutter.
The unit shifted its stance and angled its weapon down in a way that should’ve been impossible with that many things hanging off it, then fired point-blank.
BANG!
The shadows burst apart instantly.
clean, efficient, and no hesitation.
I whistled, "...Not bad."
I crossed my arms, watching as the last few shadows were picked off one by one. No wasted shots, no awkward pauses, no overlap in targets. Each unit seed to know when another was already aiming at sothing, and would just move on.
They weren’t just reacting. They were coordinating. Thinking—or at least doing a really good imitation of it.
The final shadow unraveled into nothing, and the backyard went quiet again. Only the low hum of machinery and the faint, sharp scent of burnt magic lingered in the air.
I let the silence hang for a mont before speaking.
"Alright, ti to purely focus on durability next."
[Shadow Parade]
Another wave rose up, but this ti I shaped them differently: larger, heavier, their forms cramd with magic until they stopped flickering like smoke and started to look solid. Sothing not quite human, not quite beast, caught sowhere in between.
"Engage."
The shadows didn’t scatter this ti. They charged.
THUD!
The first impact echoed as one of the constructs slamd straight into a unit with enough force to crack the ground beneath them.
The unit slid back half a step, just half, then planted its foot and held its ground.
"...Good."
The rest crashed in right after.
Fists hamred down. Claws scraped against tal. Bodies slamd into the units from every angle until—
CRACK—
One of the rifles snapped in half under the pressure of a shadow’s grip.
There it is. Finally.
I leaned forward a little, attention sharpening, as the disard unit didn’t freeze or hesitate. The rune on its chest flared and it moved in, its arm shooting out to grab the shadow by the throat. It lifted the thing clean off the ground, then slamd it down hard enough to shatter it on impact.
So they adapt.
"Switching to close combat when disard..." I nodded to myself. "Useful. Very useful."
Another unit got dragged down, swallowed under sheer numbers until, for a mont, it vanished beneath the mass.
Then—
BOOM!
A pulse of force erupted from its core, blasting the shadows away in every direction.
Oh?
"...That’s new."
I didn’t rember seeing that in the manual. Which ant it was either so kind of ergency function, or Benedict had slipped in a little surprise.
Either way, I wasn’t complaining.
The fight didn’t drag on much longer after that. Even against the reinforced shadows, the units held their ground, so damage here and there, a few dents, and small delays.
But nothing that actually stopped them from doing their job.
When the last shadow fell, I let out a slow breath.
"Alright... that’s enough."
I stepped forward and stopped in front of the nearest unit. Up close, the damage was easier to see: surface scratches, a bit of strain around the joints, and one casing with a hairline crack. Nothing serious.
I reached out and gave its chest a light tap, right where the rune pulsed faintly beneath the surface.
"Not bad at all..."
Honestly, they were in better shape than I’d expected. Which only made what I was about to do even more interesting.
"Now then..."
I glanced toward the mansion, then back at the line of units. Ti to see how they handled sothing a little less predictable, sothing that didn’t follow neat little patterns.
Sothing that could actually think...
"I think I already know how this will end, but it doesn’t hurt to try."
I couldn’t help the slight curl of my lips.
[Command]
The air behind began to twist, slow and deliberate, as a long, thin neck pushed its way out of the distortion. It bent into view like sothing forcing itself through reality, warping the space around it.
"Let’s see how you handle this."
The False Hydra’s head tilted, that uncanny smile stretching just a bit too wide.
And then—
"Attack."
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