Javier's eyes were still half-closed when he heard it.
Clashing steel. Mana pulses. Screeches from the forest.
It wasn't nearby, but close enough.
One of his deployed white puppet knights had already engaged in combat.
"...Tch," he muttered.
He didn't even bother to sit up.
Still lying down, he raised his right hand toward the sky.
A quiet flick of mana.
Fifty more white puppet knights materialized around him in perfect formation. Their armor glittered under the moonlight, weapons already drawn.
Thirty carried swords and shields.
Twenty wielded magic crossbows enhanced with white ore, glowing faintly with purified mana.
"Forty of you," Javier said calmly, pointing toward the treeline, "assist the others in combat. Clear the miasma zone where the devices haven't reached yet."
The puppet knights moved at once.
"Command received. Affirmative."
They marched forward, silent and precise, vanishing into the darkness.
Javier then looked at the remaining ten.
