In the end, Ryan discovered that he could control around fourteen objects at the same time. However, he managed to find a way to overcome that problem. Using Earth Manipulation and Earth Transformation, he created something like a simple cage that could store fifteen of his battle machines. As long as he has mana, he can control fourteen of those. It consumed more or less one hundred points of mana per second, but now Ryan had under his control fourteen 'flying battleships,' and each one had fifteen battle machines.

"You sure had an interesting idea, but I think you could have made some adjustments and thus make everything more efficient. The design of the cages is brute as well."

"No one asked you anything," Ryan said. "Why are you giving me advice for design and efficiency? You are a dragon; you always try to overpower your foes with brute strength."

"Are you different?"

It was funny that Femradiel could compare humans to dragons. Ryan didn't know if she was stupid or if she just respected Ryan that much. Either way, it didn't matter. It was an unfair comparison. Unlike dragons, Ryan wasn't stupidly durable. Overpowering his enemies before they could find him was more of a way to increase his survivability than a way to boost his ego.

Regardless, when night fell, Ryan made his 'airships approach the first line of defense of the iron scorpions. As expected, since he took his time and was careful, the monsters never noticed their approach, and when they did it, several of them had already been killed by the battle machines.

"This is much better than I predicted," Ryan frowned while his mana was being recovered at a stupid speed.

Dozens of monsters were killed in a matter of seconds, but eventually… The battle machines ran out of mana, and the scorpions began to fire poison at them. While the airships could fire now and then and eliminate some scorpions, it didn't seem like a bad idea to attack that sporadically. So, Ryan made them fly skyward and return to him before he could run out of mana.

"Let's see… they can fight for a full minute without stopping, but outside combat, they have to wait for 150 seconds for them to reach their total amount of charge," Ryan nodded to himself. "They killed eighty-seven monsters, so by using them, I can kill twenty-five scorpions per minute."

While that was impressive, given that Ryan didn't lose a single machine and he didn't fire a single arrow, he didn't feel that impressed or satisfied. It wasn't a lot of progress, given that he had to defeat a good number of monsters that four dungeons spawned over four months.

"It would be great if they could use my mana, but things aren't that convenient," Ryan opened his skill list and then checked what his options were. "My mana recovers much faster during their first barrage of attacks, so I have to put all that mana to good use."

The most obvious answer would be to use Summon Golems. However, they were too noisy. In the end, Ryan decided to use Crazy Shot… it was the only way to spend a lot of mana fast while also making good use of his high dexterity. While he wouldn't be able to be that stealthy, sacrifices had to be made.

After the battle machines were fully charged, Ryan approached the monsters and then used Crazy Shot. Some of them died while the vast majority put their eyes on him, but they saw the airships moving skyward and then bombarding them with Mana Bullets when they approached. In the end, the second fight ended much faster than the first one, and the second wave of enemies was pretty far behind.

"It is a little better, but it can be improved even more, "Ryan said.

"You are really greedy, aren't you?"

Ryan ignored Femradiel and just moved toward the next group of scorpions. He fired Crazy Shots in one direction while his battle machines finished things on the other side.

"Let's split up, buddy," Ryan said. "You will carry some two of those on your back and approach the monsters. Don't attack them. Just let the machines do the hard work. In half an hour, find me in that direction."

Furball nodded. Although the cages were a bit heavy, he could transport three of them just fine. So, while he headed to the left side, Ryan went to the right side and began to slay iron scorpions like a death machine.

"Now this is much better," Ryan showed a relaxed smile while he killed scorpions with his crossbow with the help of the combat machines.

Ryan felt as if he had created some killing bots. If the combat machines just had some mobility… they would be perfect. Suddenly, Ryan had a crazy idea… What if he uses Summon Golem and installs a combat machine in each of them? He probably could put two on each shoulder!

"You sure have some interesting ideas… not only will you give some mobility to those weird machines, but you will also increase their firepower. Impressive."

"I have my moments," Ryan shrugged. "Just don't think you will gain anything by flattering me."

After a while, Furball finally joined Ryan. Although he had some poison marks on his body, those were getting smaller by the minute. Ryan told him to continue his work at his place while Ryan started to summon some golems. At the same time, he used Earth Manipulation to connect the battle machines with their bodies. Soon, after he gave them the order to head north and engage with all the monsters, they find along the way.

"Now I just have to do this for a few hours, and they should be able to do cleaning for me," Ryan smiled confidently. "While scorpions and golems are both long-range tanks, the battle machines will give a massive advantage to my side. I can't imagine them losing this."

Suddenly, Ryan had another idea… What if he uses Seal on the battle machines? It looked like he was inspired that night.