Point-of-View: Shiro Blanc
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"You're really into this, huh?" I said to Minise.
"Well, yeah, I think these autonomous puppets are pretty cool," She replied, reading through some notes with a look of fascination.
After Elina let Belia take one of the puppets, we went outside the Rustlands and set up a barrier, after activating the puppet and putting it inside the barrier.
When activated, these puppets simply roam about and patrol, and are programmed to respond to any noise or commotion, but to do nothing if they don't sense an unidentified Mana signature, in order to prevent them from randomly attacking passers-by.
And of course, all the programmed commands are run by the Mana Orb that serves as an energy source for the puppet. I think they have extendable blades hidden in their arms too, but I don't know much more than that. Neither did Minise, so before we left the factory, she asked if she could borrow a copy of the schematics.
"Woah, check this out, they actually have three Mana Orbs, a large one that serves as a core and can run for an entire week when full, and two small ones in each palm, which can be used to absorb any magic attacks! And for physical attacks, they've been cast with a defensive barrier spell. It's not a very strong barrier since it's a complex shape that perfectly envelops and moves with the puppets' body, but while it may not be highly durable, any damage done is restored within seconds," Read Minise in fascination.
"I see, so unless you've got powerful physical attacks at your disposal, defeating these things are no easy task," I remarked, getting pretty fascinated myself.
"Right, and check this out, when it absorbs magic attacks with the Mana Orbs on its palms, the absorbed Mana is used to restore any depleted Mana from the core orb. And if it's at capacity, it simply expels the excess Mana into the air harmlessly. And it's basically got zero blind spots, it doesn't 'see', instead has a detection field, which is a non-physical and invisible barrier, that spans a radius of a HUNDRED METERS from the core, so it can even detect enemies underground! Hm, I don't know how good its attacks are, but with defenses like this, these puppets can at least help buy time in a large-scale battle, and-...!" She exclaimed, her eyes gleaming as she began to speak so quickly that her words were starting to lose coherency.
"Hey, slow down, you're getting way too excited over this, I can barely understand what you're saying," I interrupted her, as I let out an inadvertent laugh.
"Oh, sorry...heh, yeah, guess I was kinda ranting a bit there, huh? Hope I didn't annoy you," She replied with a sheepish smile, a hint of embarrassment on her face as she turned slightly red.
Wh-what the hell...that was way too cute.
"N-no, you definitely weren't annoying me...if anything, that childlike excitement was kinda-...," I began to respond.
"Heyyyy, I'm back!" Exclaimed Belia, walking through a portal with a paralyzed Elf, before looking at the two of us with a gleam in her eyes, "Oohhh, what's with this intense sexual tension? Am I interrupting something?"
"N-nope, nothing like that," I replied, trying to play it cool as I cleared my throat.
"Y-yeah, um, it must be your imagination," Added Minise, averting her gaze.
"Yeah, okay...I'm not stupid, but sure, I'll pretend that I buy that. Sheesh, it's been long enough, just fuck already, you two," Suggested Belia with a shake of her head.
"Just ignore her," I muttered in exasperation.
"I-I know, she's always like this, it's nothing new," Responded Minise, avoiding meeting my gaze.
Well, this is awkward. Time to change the subject...
"So, anyway, that Elf...you gonna make him fight the puppet now or what?" I inquired.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot! Okay, I'll undo the paralysis and drop him into the barrier simultaneously, here goes!" Grinned Belia, letting go of the Elf as she opened a portal on the ground.
The Elf let out a cry of alarm as the paralysis wore off, but it was too late, he was already more than halfway through the barrier. He then fell into the barrier, landing on the ground with a thud.
Till that point, the puppet had simply been walking circles inside the barrier, but it immediately responded to the sudden noise and impact, before rapidly zipping towards the Elf as sharp, narrow blades extended out of its palms, each about half a meter long.
The Elf hurriedly got onto his feet and fired out a blast of wind at the puppet, which swiftly halted and pointed the backs of its palms out in front of itself, the wind dissipating right as the attack closed in on the puppet...I see, so the backs of its hands are where it absorbs magic-based attacks from.
"Huh, maybe I should have grabbed that Elf some weapons," Mumbled Belia thoughtfully, before adding with a shrug, "Oh, well, hindsight."
"That thing is seriously durable," Remarked Minise, as the Elf evaded a slash and countered with a high kick to the side of the puppet's head, visible cracks appearing in the defensive barrier cast over it.
The puppet quickly got some distance, after forcing the Elf to spring back by slashing at him, the tip of its blade grazing the bridge of the Elf's nose, leaving a small cut on it. The puppet then shot forward again, as the damage to the barrier dissipated.
"Its attacks are predictable though, it only slashes with those blades...that Elf is a bit faster and stronger than the puppet, if he plays it carefully, he'll probably win," I observed, as the Elf continued to evade the attacks.
"Heh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Smirked Belia, as the puppet grazed the Elf a few more times.
Hm? What does she mean by-...suddenly, the Elf stumbled and collapsed onto his knees, letting out a sharp gasp as blood poured out of his mouth, before the puppet swiftly closed in and slashed at his neck, decapitating the Elf before he could react.
His severed head fell onto the ground and skidded away, as a fountain of blood burst out of the neck stump, before the body limply collapsed to the ground, forming a wide pool of blood.
"Oh, I get it, those blades are coated with poison, aren't they?" I realized, as the puppet retracted the blades and went back to walking circles inside the barrier.
"Yup, and a fast acting one too. It causes rapid organ deterioration and internal bleeding, just a small scratch would be enough to kill within a couple of minutes," Explained Belia, looking pretty pleased, "An army of these puppets will be quite the useful force."
"Yeah, they don't actually need to land a significant hit, a few grazes would be more than enough," Surmised Minise with a look on awe.
"Exactly! Now, then...," Trailed off Belia with a smirk, before opening a portal, through which a bunch of bodies fell through, "Time to use those Lich powers to control these things!"
"Ugh...fine, I guess I did agree to that," Sighed Minise in response, before entering her Undead Mode and activating the Lich powers.
Several of the corpses then rose up, opening their lifeless eyes as they got on their feet.
"Well? What do you think?" Inquired Belia with a confident look on her face.
"Woah...they're so easy to control," Replied Minise in surprise, "Way easier than the Fairy corpses I controlled when we fought the Fire Sage, and it feels like I can do a lot more damage with these ones too!"
"Of course that's the case, I did modify them myself, after all," Declared Belia smugly.
"You've got way too much free time," I chimed in with a sigh.
"Well, yeah, I don't really need to sleep, so I have more time to spare than mortals do. That said, I do like to sleep every now and then though, it feels nice," She remarked wistfully.
"By the way, how many of these puppets have been made so far?" Asked Minise curiously.
"About two thousand or so, I think...acquiring wood to make them is not a problem, but the Mana Orbs will eventually become an issue...we've got plenty stocked up, but once we start running low, replenishing the supply will be a slow process. The crystals used to make Mana Orbs are easy to find, for now, but they don't exactly grow on trees, so once we mine all the crystals, we'll be stuck," Sighed Belia, scratching her chin.
Is it just me, or has she mellowed out just a little bit? It could be that since if the Rustlands falls, she'll have nowhere left to go, but she's definitely a bit less chaotic than she used to be...who knows, maybe spending so much time with humans is affecting her a bit.
And I'm not gonna lie...I'm pretty fascinated to see how and if she changes any further. Because if and when the change becomes obvious...I'll be able to tease her about it...
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