The camp was abuzz with activity. Over a hundred people were scrambling to react to my surprise attack. Some were still in a state of undress while others were getting fully kitted out with their equipment. I immediately noticed the person in charge. A woman with scarlet hair and wearing a skinsuit instead of any plate armor. It looked high-tech, with red wires glowing, looking like decorations rather than any practical use. She was direct and calm. A problem.
There were a few more surprises in store for me, as each man found his post. A container opened up, releasing a tiny hoard of drones. They looked to emulate quadrupedal animals, with a turret sticking out of their back and a large camera replacing the head. I was starting to believe the major players in robotics had a fetish for animal biology. A small squad of soldiers grouped up with the drones and headed into the forest.
It was less than I was hoping for. The number of soldiers here had barely changed. But, I still had an opportunity to take advantage of it. Human nature was difficult to remove. Most kept their eyes on the direction their screaming companion came from. I circled around in the opposite direction. The numerous buildings made the camp a little labyrinth. Plenty of palaces to hide, out of sight and out of mind.
My drone body wasn’t too big, barely the size of a large dog. Theoretically light enough to climb whatever my grappling hook grabbed onto without ripping out the hook. Just the right size to make use of the roofing or any of the corners around me. I snuck my way through the back of the camp, aiming for the most critical part of their operations. The communications building.
While they had certainly alerted other groups, I would be better off if they couldn't ask for help directly. I wasn’t aware of what kind of wildlife was present in this forest, but I was informed of the unique animals on this planet. While the people here weren't psionically inclined naturally, mother nature hadn’t removed such an advantage from other creatures. I personally hoped I never met a bear that could cover themself in flames.
For the moment, they might think it was the act of some dangerous animal and bad luck. I would make sure it stayed that way. It required some perfect timing, but I made it to the building with several antennas. I landed on the roof, taking care not to activate the extra leverage my legs had. The metal was thin enough for that to break my stealth. Looking through a window I saw a small group of humans standing in front of multiple computer screens.
They spoke quickly, stressed out by the whole situation. It took me a second to fully adapt to their language. With enough time to now, I saw they spoke the local dialect of Timical. Either this simulation didn’t have a foreign language installed or most of my targets would be from the city I was sent to. Either way, I had a fountain of information at hand. I was going to get the details my supposed creator had left out. I just needed to get in and hack the system.
Lucky for me, this drone had a minor radio system. Probably meant for whoever owned the machine to keep track of it. Some simple editing of the software and I had a short-range wireless hacking tool. Well, I made it sound easy, but anyone else would have taken hours to jury rig such a system. I was special like that. Stabalizing to the proper frequency and I had slipped in with no one the wiser.
This was a local rebel group from the country of Axhale, the country where Timical was located. This was the main staging ground for their uprising against the Human Empire of Holy Druma. I had finally learned the empire's name. I found naming your empire after the single planet you conquered stupid. But that wasn’t important right now. What mattered was figuring out if there more bodies I had to worry about.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Unfortunately, they had a total of three bases spread around the mountain range. Far enough that one being compromised wouldn't expose the rest. Close enough to function as a quick deployment of reinforcements. If the alarms went off here, they may decide to group up and make my life harder, even if I managed to kill every human here. Well, they would have if I hadn't decided to overload the power supply and short-circuit all the communication equipment.
Everyone in the room noticed when the screens went black. Some pointless typing, and arguing with each other, and they were all quickly starting to freak out. One of them was commanded to go inform the other guerilla soldiers. Someone who didn’t get too far as I grabbed him as he left the building. The funny thing about this buzzsaw for hands? They were much quieter cutting through human flesh and bone than trees. Even had little vacuums to collect any spilled blood or meat. How convenient.
When minutes passed without a response another soldier was sent out. Human blender round two. By this point, a few more people were leaving the building to check out why it was so quiet outside. A couple more disappearing acts and people started to notice something was wrong. There were only two left in the room. Unfortunately for me, they had some guns on hand. Armed and alarmed, one slowly approached the door leading to the outside.
I was just small enough to slip through the windows cut into the building. The last one inside didn’t see me before I started carving into him. When the soldier came back, truly terrified, he came back to an empty enclosure. One suspiciously free of dust. Now who could have done that? The last thing he saw was me falling from the ceiling. Another quiet murder added to the tally.
Some not-so-silent smashing later, the entire building was useless. They weren’t going to reach anyone soon. Not without leaving the camp. By this point, the sun was finally starting to crest the skyline. But I didn’t mind. I had all the time in the world to start my massacre. These humans were going to be running around like decapitated chickens. Easy pickings.
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It was a slow but methodical process. A couple soldiers out by themselves were the first to go. With some experience in my belt, I knew I could handle at least a group of three soldiers at once. One for each buzzsaw hand, while the third was either crushed under my weight or disabled by a well-aimed grapple shot. It went especially well whenever they stumbled into one of my many traps. Who knew gravity could be such a good killing machine?
If anyone survived the traps, they’d call their buddies in reaction. Turning their backs to me. Never a good idea. I had to stop mid-way to empty out my internal containers. Turns out, liquifying an entire human body counts for quite a lot in volume. I made better use of their remains than any other human could. A few art pieces scattered around the camp were a good way to sow terror.
The fun had to end eventually. Some of the soldiers broke down, running into the woods. While this made them easy pickings, I had to catch them before I lost them in the forest. It wasted time, time the soldiers used to better prepare. They were so widespread at this point, that I’d only know if any escaped after I finished cleaning out the camp. The braver ones decided to arm themselves with some more heavy-duty guns.
Other than the redheaded leader, none of the other soldiers had any unique equipment. Good for me. No unwanted surprises. Their dog-shaped drones? That was another story. Looting the armory, the enemy drones had their small turrets removed in favor of more explosive ammunition. Grenade launchers. Something my metal plaiting wouldn’t fully protect me from.
A machine intelligence with high explosives? Priority targets. I’d have hacked them and added to the chaos, but I needed to get in close range with my makeshift hacking tool. Something their enhanced sense would definitely pick up on. It didn’t help the drones were handed out to watch over groups of soldiers. I had cut down the group to below half, but they had wisen up to the situation.
Spending some time trying to figure out a way around this was pointless. Every plan I came up with was either suicidal or sacrificed my element of surprise. I didn’t know how educated these guerilla soldiers were, but if they saw me, there was a strong chance even one of them would know how to counter me. This left me with only one option.
As the old saying goes: Meet a wall you can't climb? Burn it down and walk through it.