Chapter 833: The Dog Squad

Chapter 833: Chapter 833: The Dog Squad

Wild Boar set the heavy load on his shoulder down onto the ground. This vat of True Adamantium was no lightweight.

If it relied solely on the armor’s strength, without the Kryptonian’s physical power underneath it, it might not even have been able to move this particular trophy.

Wild Boar answered over the internal communications channel.

"You mentioned earlier that the super-ejection acceleration system can’t be used to transport ordinary objects. I’ve thought about how to solve that problem as well. I just finished developing a support unit recently, and I’m calling it over now."

Cassandra remembered what the Kryptonian had been building recently.

"I thought you were trying to make a robotic pet. Don’t tell me that’s actually the support unit?"

Before Wild Boar could answer, everyone saw a message appear in their armor’s field of vision:

Dog Squad, Saint Bernard online.

Despite it being the middle of the night, a brilliant white streak suddenly crossed the sky. It made a wide turn before descending near the gathering point of the four suits of armor.

A large silver-white mechanical dog, roughly ninety centimeters tall at the shoulder, approached slowly with floppy ears and drooping jowls. Its design resembled a Swiss Saint Bernard pulling a sled.

It eventually stopped in front of everyone, waiting for its next command.

"Battlefield support unit. Dog Squad Experimental Unit One, Saint Bernard."

When Wild Boar repeated the mechanical dog’s designation, Saint Bernard barked in a low voice, just like a real dog.

But it wasn’t really like a dog.

It didn’t wag its tail when it saw people, circle affectionately around their legs, or stand on its hind legs with its front paws against them as though trying to knock someone over.

Wild Boar walked around Saint Bernard and the sled it was pulling, carefully inspecting the machine on its first actual field test to see whether there were any abnormalities.

At the same time, a system self-check was running inside his helmet’s display.

Saint Bernard wasn’t equipped with the latest artificial intelligence technology. Instead, it used the same kind of primitive program-based AI that didn’t rely on neural networks as BB, the Duckling support machine, and the Sparrow spy drones.

Although its learning ability was far inferior to the new generation of AI based on A-Jie, it had the advantage of having been in use for a long time. Its performance was stable, and it had already achieved considerable results in route selection and obstacle avoidance.

Since it was only intended for logistical support, Wild Boar had never expected this mechanical dog to be particularly intelligent or capable of drawing its own conclusions.

He hadn’t even considered using it to assist in combat.

As long as it could do a good job as a pack mule, that was enough.

If someone crouched down for a closer look, they would discover that the sled wasn’t actually touching the ground at all.

It remained suspended in the air the entire time.

Wild Boar secured the Adamantium heating tank to the sled and spoke while checking everything over.

"I’d already considered designing something like a support unit—a self-tracking ammunition resupply vehicle that could automatically follow us.

"After what happened to Gilgamesh earlier, I thought it would make sense to add the ability to transport ordinary cargo as well.

"If one of the suits is disabled outside, this support system could also be used to bring it back to base.

"That means we don’t have to figure out how to carry it ourselves or simply abandon it on-site.

"This is the first time we’ve used the system. If the test proves successful, I might equip every suit of armor with one support unit in the future.

"Then we wouldn’t need to carry so much ammunition when deploying, which would make the armor bulky and dangerous. If we need replacement parts or a different type of ammunition in the field, switching them out would also become much easier."

Everyone gathered around the sled and watched as Wild Boar armor secured the heating tank in place.

A flexible cover extended inch by inch, tightly enclosing the cargo and firmly securing it to the sled until the two were almost a single integrated unit.

Minotaur armor stared with its large, curious eyes.

"If you cover the cargo like this, can you use the super-ejection acceleration system now?"

"No. The contents themselves might not be able to withstand that terrifying acceleration. We’d need to further upgrade the shock-absorption and damping system, or enlarge it to the scale of a spacecraft.

"I’ve run into some problems with miniaturizing the damping system that I haven’t solved yet."

"Then how are you going to get the stuff home?"

"Let him fly back slowly. At least that way we won’t have to waste our own time."

"Hmm, all right. That’s one way of doing it."

After Gilgamesh finished his first question, he looked at the mechanical dog and, as though treating it like an ordinary animal, reached over and rubbed its head.

There was no sense of cold or warmth through the armor’s gloves, but stroking a hard mechanical dog head still felt quite different.

"Why didn’t you make it behave more like a normal animal? Give it the kinds of reactions and habits a dog would have."

Wild Boar finished confirming the exterior was intact and began checking the system.

"This is only an experimental unit.

"And the more behavioral patterns you give it, the more computing power it consumes. Not to mention that making it behave like a living dog would require it to keep moving constantly.

"My design requires these support and auxiliary units to remain capable of operating using their own resources even under radio interference or an electromagnetic pulse attack.

"I don’t want them to become headless flies the moment the network goes down simply because the mechanical dog was designed so that every action depends on a server behind the scenes or a wireless remote controller. It has to be capable of operating independently.

"So resource conservation—including both computing power and electricity—is an extremely important consideration.

"Finding the right balance between decision-making capability and the power consumed in making those decisions is something I’ve been working on all along."

One shouldn’t mistake the three long-lived beings beside him for technological illiterates.

For starters, the Eternals came from a civilization far more advanced than Earth’s.

Although that knowledge and ability had been bestowed upon them by the Celestials, their technological capabilities were still far beyond those of Earth.

What they weren’t accustomed to was seeing Earth humans, who had spent most of their history living relatively primitive lives, casually talking about things like radio and the Internet.

Even though all of those technologies were equally primitive by Eternal standards.

Gilgamesh and Thena might not enjoy thinking things through, but that didn’t mean they lacked brains.

After considering what Wild Boar had said, they understood it easily enough.

Cassandra was much the same.

She didn’t spend her entire life trapped inside some little world modeled on ancient Greece, nor did she confine herself to the way people lived one or two centuries ago.

Although she didn’t chase the latest cutting-edge technology and knowledge, Cassandra adapted to and learned the things she needed in everyday life.

They all understood what the wearer of Wild Boar armor was talking about.

What they didn’t understand was the point of going to such lengths.

"If you have enormous resources behind you, is all this really necessary?"

"Because if I were in your position, and I saw an unmanned machine like this running around in front of me, I’d definitely try to hack it, hit it with an EMP, or jam its wireless communications.

"If those three methods didn’t work, then I’d consider destroying it.

"I can’t exactly fail to prepare for the things I myself would do, can I?"

Going all out on advanced technological equipment without preparing for electronic warfare was basically asking to reach the front lines, watch all the weapons you relied upon get disabled, and experience the sensation of falling from heaven straight into hell.

On a battlefield, what mattered wasn’t being advanced.

It was being reliable.

The Eastern Front between Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II had already demonstrated that point thoroughly.

The three long-lived beings were speechless for a moment.

"All right. That’s pretty reasonable."

Finally, Wild Boar checked the connection between the mechanical dog and the sled.

It wasn’t connected by an ordinary chain or something like a vehicle yoke with some room for extension.

Instead, the two were linked by a coupling mechanism resembling an automobile’s driveshaft, firmly securing them together.

Once all the inspections were complete, Wild Boar activated Saint Bernard’s return command.

The mechanical dog moved its four legs, pulling the sled behind it as it floated forward, seemingly without feeling any burden from the load.

Watching the mechanical dog struggle to slowly climb into the sky while pulling the sled, Thena tilted her head and looked at Wild Boar armor.

"Can that little guy really make it back?"

"To be honest, I’m a little worried myself.

"The load is already beyond the original design specifications. The weight of the Adamantium wasn’t part of my original calculations."

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