Chapter 72
Chapter 72
The workshop’s high-ceilinged hangar.
A jet-black legion stood in formation there.
One hundred Honeybee units, one hundred Poison Bee units, and another one hundred Toad units responsible for fire support.
All of their surfaces had been carefully coated with specially processed Ghost Bat leather for this operation.
The material possessed a unique property that refracted light.
In broad daylight it would blend into the dazzling sunlight, and at night it would become perfect darkness, disappearing from sight.
Under the right conditions, even if they flew right in front of someone’s eyes, they would be almost impossible to detect.
“Boss! That bat leather also works nicely as anti-jamming defense. It reflects radio waves extremely smoothly.”
Picker explained proudly.
I nodded and looked at the black stingray-shaped drone standing at the very front of the formation.
My new blade—Shadow.
I was curious to see how much this unit could accomplish.
“You’ll take field command for this operation.”
“…Awaiting orders.”
The low mechanical voice carried a weight different from Picker’s.
“Capture is the priority. But if they resist or the situation becomes messy… you can cut off their limbs.”
“Understood. If they resist, I will eliminate them all.”
“…Wait.”
I flinched.
There was killing intent in that response.
So the AI Persona: Silent Executor was not a joke.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Disable them by removing the weaponized mechanical parts they implanted in their bodies. Don’t kill them.”
“…Understood, Boss.”
The answer was dry, but somehow sounded slightly disappointed.
I would need to watch my wording with this one.
Otherwise it might return dragging nothing but corpses.
“Poison Bees. Follow me.”
Shadow issued a short command.
At that moment, its body blurred and dissolved into the air.
Spatial Distortion Stealth.
Perfect invisibility—no sound, no visible form.
Hundreds of drones followed it out of the hangar in disciplined formation.
“Tch. That newborn sure likes acting cool.”
Picker blinked its lens irritably.
It clearly didn’t like losing command authority.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Picker was a genius at information gathering and analysis, but handling everything alone caused serious overload.
The number of drones would keep increasing, and real combat command suited Shadow better.
“Picker, keep an eye on Shadow. It seems too rigid. I’m worried it might cause trouble.”
Picker puffed up proudly.
“Ha! Of course, Boss! I’ll train that rookie thoroughly. Just watch.”
He flew off enthusiastically after Shadow.
I sat down before the monitoring screens and rested my chin on my hand.
Time to watch the show.
Southern Waste Hill near Ewha Station
Among the three exploration points, it was the farthest location.
Boom!
A massive wrecked vehicle crumpled like paper and was shoved aside.
A man equipped with a heavy hydraulic arm stepped into view.
A soldier from the Steel Legion.
Three more members followed closely behind him.
A three-person unit formation.
A perfect inverted triangle.
These were movements of soldiers hardened by ten years of combat in the ruins.
Even while walking they never lowered their weapons.
Their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings.
The auxiliary cylinders attached to their legs and recoil suppressors at their elbows were particularly impressive.
Such equipment allowed them to maintain stable firing posture even while moving.
At the center of the group walked a man carrying unfamiliar equipment.
A Guro Foundry technician.
He was controlling a strange spider-like machine with multiple legs.
A Ground Exploration Device.
Whiiing—
A Honeybee drone arrived overhead and zoomed in.
At the same time the Mana Resonance Lens activated.
“Scan complete. None of them appear to be Awakened.”
Picker continued the report.
Faint mana reactions were detected near the men’s hearts.
Judging by their size, they were all F-Rank.
“Typical F-rank physical enhancement. But since their limbs are mechanical, their awakened abilities probably don’t matter much.”
Indeed, their main strength came not from awakening but from the weapon systems implanted into their bodies.
However, something else caught my attention.
“The mana circuits… look different.”
Compared to the raider data I had collected, the difference was clear.
The density was similar, but the thickness was different.
No—looking closer, it wasn’t simply thicker.
It looked like several thin threads twisted together.
“Could that represent experience?”
Perhaps the more one refined their abilities, the more strands the circuit formed.
“That’s quite a sharp observation, Boss. Very possible.”
“Right? Make sure we record detailed data.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Meanwhile
“We start here.”
The Guro Foundry technician confirmed the location and activated the exploration device.
A hydraulic piston slammed into the ground and emitted seismic waves.
“Begin perimeter watch. Don’t let even a rat escape.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stay alert. A cornered rat bites back. If the Bomber is hiding down there, he might pop out at any moment.”
They assumed Kang Sinhyeok’s forces were large.
The soldiers remained vigilant.
They were clearly far more disciplined than the ragtag raiders encountered previously.
“Oh~ they look impressive. Still in the palm of our hands.”
Picker snickered.
Sometimes I wondered whether it was really an AI.
“Give me a full briefing.”
“Yes, Boss.”
The waste hill was essentially a maze.
Collapsed apartment blocks and mountains of garbage obstructed visibility.
The team searching the southern sector near Ewha Station consisted of eight squads, each with four members.
They were gradually tightening the search net.
Like a closing fan.
But that perspective existed only in two dimensions.
“Boss. The team at three o’clock is moving faster. The team at seven o’clock is delayed by obstacles.”
Picker transmitted a 3D tactical map.
Eight red markers indicated the teams’ positions in real time.
The data came from the one hundred Honeybee drones.
The workshop wasn’t even here.
They were digging through empty air.
“Total waste of effort.”
Picker mocked them.
Perhaps his greatest talent was not intelligence gathering—but acting like an internet troll.
Shadow and Porter certainly didn’t behave like that.
Strange.
“All squadrons—positions.”
Shadow’s emotionless command echoed.
At the same moment the air shimmered.
Forty Poison Bee drones divided into groups of five and silently spread above the eight teams.
The upgraded Poison Bees were completely different from before.
First, the motor noise.
While not as silent as Shadow’s ion propulsion, the redesigned low-noise system blended perfectly with the wind of the waste hills.
Their armament had also changed.
Instead of simple venom stingers, they now carried pneumatic rapid-fire launchers.
Interchangeable magazines allowed different types of needles.
For this mission the magazines were filled with high-concentration anesthetic darts.
The Honeybee drones were miniaturized units.
But Poison Bees shared the same body structure as Picker.
They also had another hidden weapon.
Like bees carrying pollen, each unit held a small shell in its clamp legs.
This time they carried smoke grenades.
Used to block visibility and create confusion if necessary.
The deployment was perfect.
Five drones assigned against each four-man enemy team.
Each drone marked one target.
The extra unit served as reserve.
Of the fifty deployed drones, ten remained in the air to provide overall support.
The other fifty had already moved toward the western Mapo Station waste hill, the next target.
“Hey! Team 3! Not there! Move slightly right! The angle’s wrong!”
Picker adjusted their positions.
Seeing the big picture really was Picker’s specialty.
Shadow handled execution.
The Dohwa-dong Waste Hill, the real target, still contained Jibgae and Yoon Imsu.
There were too many variables there, so it was left for last.
Meanwhile Porter was roaming nearby, eliminating stray mutants.
Meanwhile — Steel Legion Squad 3
“…Something’s wrong.”
The leader of Squad Three halted.
The periodic radio transmissions from nearby squads had stopped.
It wasn’t a simple communication failure.
Instinct was warning him.
“Can anyone hear me? Over.”
He attempted to contact the unified channel.
No response.
“Contact headquarters. Connect to Captain Jibgae.”
“…Sir, the channel’s dead. I can’t lock the frequency.”
“What?”
The squad leader’s eyes sharpened.
Two communication frequencies blocked simultaneously?
“Jamming! Everyone combat readiness! Perimeter—”
Click.
He raised his rifle.
At that moment—
“Countdown complete. Operation begins.”
Shadow delivered the verdict.
Pish-pish-pish!
Dozens of tiny impacts sounded simultaneously.
“Ugh?!”
A sharp pain struck the squad leader’s neck.
By the time his hand reached the spot, his vision was already fading.
His men beside him clutched their necks the same way.
“Wh… when…”
He had definitely heard something from the air.
He tried to look up.
But his body would not move.
His knees buckled.
Darkness consumed his vision.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three seconds.
Four soldiers collapsed silently.
A perfect suppression.
The exact same thing happened simultaneously across the entire southern waste hill.
“Ha! Bullseye! Good job, bees! Shadow, not bad!”
Picker shouted excitedly.
He seemed unusually eager to emphasize his role as commander.
Perhaps gaining subordinates had matured him a little.
Once the Poison Bees finished firing, they returned to Shadow.
Their magazines were empty.
“Resupply initiated.”
Blue mana erupted from Shadow’s body.
Spatial Tethering activated.
Magazines filled with anesthetic darts appeared in midair and were absorbed into the drones.
Immediate battlefield resupply without returning to the workshop.
This was the infinite-supply legion I had envisioned.
On the command monitor, all eight screens turned green simultaneously.
[Suppression Complete]
“…Wow.”
A gasp escaped me.
Twenty-four veteran soldiers.
Men hardened by countless battles.
They had been neutralized in less than a minute—without even realizing the others had been attacked.
Overwhelming.
With power like this, maybe I no longer needed to hide.
Revealing the drone army and taking complete control of Mapo District no longer felt impossible.
Confidence rose within me.
But at the same time, something chilling lingered.
“Trained soldiers really are terrifying.”
Zooming in on the fallen troops revealed that even in their final moments they had tried to maintain a defensive circular formation with their rifles pointed outward.
Pure instinct.
If they had been ordinary raiders, they would have screamed and fled.
What if I persuaded them to join me?
And replaced their crude scrap equipment with the latest gear from my workshop?
The thought was exhilarating.
Not a mere raider gang—
But a force rivaling a professional army.
Perhaps even surpassing it.
“Shadow, send in the Toad units and secure them with adhesive shells. I’m heading out now.”
“Yes. I will bind them thoroughly.”