Soma had experimentally flared his mana to check how sensitive the shadow-covered man was.
But that turned out to be a mistake because he was instantly discovered.
Soma's mind went through plans to combat this situation, but he was drawing up a blank for most of it.
Now that he had come this far, he had to try all he could.
So, Soma carefully sent his mana through the wires and toward his dog-shaped puppet.
Soma had recently patched that toy, and it felt and looked even more life-like.
The distraction worked, and the shadow-covered man sent an attack the puppet's way.
But since the puppet was agile and flexible, Soma could make it dodge the attack.
The bonus is seeing the site from another angle and gaining an advantage.
The shadowed person's body language slightly hesitated once he noticed that he had missed his attack, but he did not hesitate to attack again.