"Click!"
"Thud, thud, thud!"
A sudden series of explosive reports rang out among the enormous machines, many of them as large as buildings.
Three large-caliber grenades struck an Adaptive Combat Core that was searching, one after another, and exploded.
Flickering plasma and dazzling flames suddenly blossomed.
The attacker was a humanoid mechanical unit six meters tall.
Its entire body looked somewhat bulky, but it moved remarkably fast. A large-caliber assault grenade cannon hung from its left arm, while a faintly glowing Power Claw occupied its right. Its short, thick legs swung rapidly, producing a series of dull metallic clangs.
As it ran, its upper body maintained perfect dynamic balance, and the assault grenade cannon in its hand fired continuously.
The heavy body shrugged off the assault grenade cannon's recoil with ease.
Anyone confronted by a cannon charging toward them at high speed while firing nonstop would probably look rather unhappy.
Fortunately, the Men of Iron were not human, and the Adaptive Combat Core had no face to show its displeasure.
The attacking Machine Body's Crimson electronic eyes flickered continuously.
"Active target detected. Eliminate."
The mechanical, monotonous electronic voice repeated the words over and over.
"Zzzzt!"
A thick, brilliant blue beam pierced the flames thrown up by the secondary explosions, then vaporized the main torso of the rapidly advancing mechanical unit.
As the flames dispersed, a thick cannon barrel slowly receded into the surface of the bright silver sphere.
"Clang!"
The remaining pieces of the body scattered across the ground under their own momentum.
Iax was not remotely surprised by the attacks from these combat units of the Men of Iron.
The city's highest-authority unit had already disconnected them from the network and issued an unequivocal order.
Eliminate all active targets.
By the time the city's Central Intelligence discovered that its