“Aurea, head back with the Enforcers and Montanas. The Deathwalker is on his way.”

She looked at me with a puzzled expression. “You’re not coming?”

We were currently moving the Sentinels to the new ambush location, but the drones had notified me of the Deathwalker’s approach.

“I can’t. I need to know what this Deathwalker is capable of. Don’t worry, I won’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“No way in hell I’m leaving you then. Either you’re coming with me, or I’m staying,” she told me firmly.

“I won’t be in any danger. You, however, will still be vulnerable to his magic.”

“I don’t care, I’m not leaving. You’ll need someone to watch your back, right?”

“I will have some of my soldiers with me. Aurea, trust me, I’ll be fine.”

She refused to leave despite my best attempts at persuasion, so I was forced to remotely disable her exo-suit and have my Enforcers take her away. She shouted in protest and tried to exit her exo-suit, but she couldn’t escape my Enforcer’s vice-like grip. I appreciated her loyalty, but I couldn’t let her die due to any carelessness on my part.

“[She will be very angry with you.]”

“It’s worth it if she’s safe.”

“[Warning. Deathwalker approaching rapidly]”

Taking control of Boar, I had a force of 5 Montanas and 25 Enforcers follow me to meet the Deathwalker at the front of the army. We waited directly in their path, knowing they would eventually see us. Once they saw us, they hunkered down behind their shields and prepared to engage. That was until the Deathwalker arrived. Galloping to the front, he sat on a horse in front of the shield wall without a trace of fear on his face.

“Interesting,” I heard him say. “It seems the reports were correct.”

“Men, if you do not wish to die, retreat now,” he said. The soldiers dared not stay, and all made a mad rush back several hundred meters. Dismounting, he slapped the horse, prompting it to run back towards the army.

“[The men did not hesitate to retreat at his order. He must command a large amount of fear and influence.]”

“Yeah, no fucking kidding…”

I decided to test his magic. Based on what Aurea had said, Deathwalkers were some of the most formidable mages in existence. Choosing to be a bit conservative, I ordered 3 of my Enforcers to attack him. They charged forward, but as they did so, the Deathwalker began to change. I observed carefully as his irises changed from blue to pure black, then the whites of his eyes underwent the same change. As my Enforcers were about to attack him, he let out a surge of energy. I could see a sphere of black power expand outwards, making everything it touched die. The trees caught within the blast turned gray and pale, the grass shoots withered and died, and a squirrel in the branches above collapsed and fell onto the ground.

“Well, Aurea sure as hell wasn’t joking.”

Fortunately for me, his magic had no effect on machines made of steel and iron. His eyes widened in surprise as my Enforcers threw several vicious punches at him, forcing him to roll back and out of the way. The Enforcers didn’t let up, chasing after him and keeping him from using another magical attack. Drawing a sword from under his robes, he slashed at the lead Enforcer’s arm. I expected it to bounce off their steel frames, but it cut through it like it barely existed.

“What the fuck?”

I paid closer attention to the sword. It was made out of a strange light blue metal that shimmered in the sunlight. I had no idea what kind of metal it was, but it cut through steel easily.

“Eve, what is that?”

“[Analyzing…unknown material.]”

I cursed in my head. The blue sword was making it all too easy to deal with the Enforcers. Within a minute, the 3 Enforcers had been dispatched.

“Fire the sentinels!”

High pitch whirrs echoed throughout the forest as the turrets charged up and aimed at their target. The Deathwalker looked confused at the sound, but his expression quickly turned into one of alarm. He ducked down right as the Sentinels fired their shots, barely avoiding being turned into a paste. The Sentinels kept firing, but he somehow managed to dodge every single shot, one time even managing to smack a bullet away with the flat of his sword.

“How the fuck is he doing that?!?”

“[The turrets are not having any effect. I would advise you to conserve their ammunition and send it the other units.]”

“Yeah, you're right.”

Refusing to take any more chances, I ordered the other 22 Enforcers to attack, keeping the Montanas as guards. The Enforcers rushed towards the old man and spread out to encircle him. The Deathwalker, apparently seeing that he was outnumbered, pulled out something from under his robes. I was barely able to see two small pellets in his hand before he threw them at the ground. The moment the pellets touched the ground, a large black cloud of smoke surged out.

“Target lost. Searching for target,” the Enforcers said. I had purposefully programmed them to speak English, making their words undecipherable to everyone else.

“Target locaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” an Enforcer started speaking, until the speaker started emitting a buzzing sound and fell silent. Somewhere from within the smoke, I heard the sound of its metal body falling to the ground. The other robots investigated the commotion, only to find the body of the fallen Enforcer, its head and body separated by a clean cut. Suddenly, the screech of metal cutting metal came from the back of the group. Another Enforcer had been destroyed, with no trace of the Deathwalker to be found.

“Get out of the smoke!” I bellowed mentally, trying to take away the advantage the smokescreen provided. But for some strange reason, the Enforcers didn’t listen to my orders. They simply continued to search through the smoke for the Deathwalker, and were subsequently picked off one by one.

“Eve, why aren’t they listening to me?!?”

“[Unknown obstruction is causing interference.]”

“Damn it! I’m literally right next to them, what the hell is interfering with the signal at this range?!?”

I retreated a few meters as the sounds of battle continued to echo from within the smoke. Every few seconds, I lost the signal from an Enforcer. Even if the Law of Death was useless against my robots, the Deathwalker was still a formidable opponent. I ordered a few more units to come to my aid, but kept them just out of sight for now.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

After several minutes had passed, the smokescreen began to dissipate. As the wind blew the smoke out of the way, I saw destroyed metal parts scattered across the ground. Most of the mechanical bodies were scattered across the ground, and some still shot out sparks with an electric crackle.

Sheathing his sword, the mage approached with his hands up in a gesture of peace. Now that I had seen his magic would have no effect on machines, I allowed him to come slightly closer. 2 of the Montanas took a step forward, prepared to intercept the enemy if necessary

“Stop,” I said once he was 5 meters away.

“You speak?” he asked. His face betrayed a slight bit of surprise, but he quickly schooled his expression into one of neutrality.

“Uh, yeah, of course I do. Now what is it you want?”

“I want to know exactly what you are. I’ve never met anything that’s completely immune to the Law of Death. And golems that can speak are quite rare.”

“I’m not a golem,” I snorted, affronted by his assumption.

“You aren’t?” he asked, muttering to himself under his breath. I had no idea what he was saying, but it was obviously interesting to him.

“Fascinating, incredibly fascinating. Who is your summoner? I would be very interested in meeting them.”

“I already told you, I’m not a golem. Nobody summoned me. Got it?”

He shook his head, “Impossible. How else could you have come into being? Even if you aren’t a golem, you are obviously magical in nature.”

His comment caused an idea to pop into my head.

“What's your name, Deathwalker?”

“I am Sir Mors Sicco,” he said, his finger tapping on the pommel of his sword as he spoke. I noticed that the range of motion of his right arm was severely impacted, likely from the third degree burns.

“Are you a scholar, Sir Sicco?”

“I do consider myself one, yes. I find the study of life and the natural world around me fascinating,” he said, stroking the rough stubble growing along his chin.

“Huh, so you’re a biologist?”

“By-ologist?”

“[Technical terminology does not translate well.]”

“Yeah, I forgot about that.”

“A biologist is someone who studies life, be it individual cells or an entire ecosystem.”

He shook his head, “I am not familiar with these terms. Cells? Ecosystem?”

“Which is exactly why I asked if you were a scholar, Sir Sicco. I was hoping we could exchange our knowledge. I believe I have information that would benefit your studies greatly.”

I could see my offer tempted him. But I felt he needed one last push to convince him. If I could make him see that I could help him, he might be persuaded to protect or even trade information and materials with me. The possibilities were exciting.

“For example, let us take death, as it is your forte. What is your understanding of death, Sir Sicco?”

“Hmmm…” the mage thought for a moment. “Death is when a creature ceases to live. It’s heart stops, it’s body grows cold, and it stops moving.”

“Technically, you are correct, but that's a simplistic view. Let us look at a tree. It doesn’t have a brain, and it doesn’t have a heart. It doesn’t even have blood. So how does a tree die?”

My question seemed to confuse him. He stood there, thinking about the enigma. The human army was still waiting behind him, but I saw they were beginning to feel restless.

“You can kill a tree in many ways. You can drown it, block sunlight from reaching it, or just chop it in half.”

“You are not wrong, but again, that is a simple answer. You need to look deeper into what causes it to die. As a gesture of goodwill, I’ll tell you. A tree dies when you add too much water, due to the roots drowning and rotting. A tree dies when it doesn’t receive sunlight, as sunlight is essential for it to process energy. If you want to increase your understanding of death, perhaps these are the kinds of things you should be considering.”

Hearing my explanation, something seemed to click with Mors. Suddenly, I saw his eyes turn black. Knowing what this meant, I backpedaled rapidly, narrowly avoiding a blast of magic. Once again, everything in the surrounding area died, but this time the blast was larger.

“Is this the effect of increasing the understanding of your Law?”

I ordered the Enforcers and Montanas to prepare to attack the mage, considering he had tried to blast me with death magic. Even though I had confirmed his magic had no effect on machines, it didn’t mean I was going to take needless risks.

Bowing, the mage apologized, “I’m sorry for that, I simply had a breakthrough. I haven’t had one in many years, and couldn’t control the magic. Please accept my sincere apologies.”

The army stood in shocked silence. It appeared to be a big deal that a Deathwalker bowed to anyone.

“[Warning. Commanding Officer approaching rapidly]”

Taking a second to control the drone, I took a look at who it was referring to.

“Wait a second, isn’t that the commander of the army? Why’s he coming to the front?”

“[Perhaps he wishes to investigate the reason as why the army has stopped.]”

“Of course, Sir Sicco. I was just startled by the magic,” I reassured, wanting to stay on his good side.

In the distance, I heard someone shout, “Make way for Governor Marcus Stratis! Make way!” The soldiers obeyed, opening up a path through the middle. Someone came galloping through, slowing down once they saw the strange scene. The man in question was dressed in a colorful blue cloak, with a soft tunic and leather breeches underneath. The many rings on his fingers suggested he was quite wealthy, as did the fat that hung over his belt.

“Mors you damn imbecile! What are you doing? I ordered you to get rid of these fucking golems!”

Turning around, Mors addressed the man, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. These golems are a treasure trove of knowledge-”

Urging his horse closer, the Governor leaned down, “ I don’t care if they are made of pure gold, Deathwalker. I gave you an order, and I expect that order to be-” his sentence was cut off as his head exploded, sending chunks of flesh and bone fragments everywhere. Mors’s face was splattered with blood, which he promptly wiped off with the sleeve of his robe. The army was silent, as if they couldn’t register what had just happened, even as the headless corpse fell off the horse it was on. Mors looked at me, raising his eyebrow.

“Uhh…Eve…did you do that?”

“[Yes. Eliminating the commanding officer will most likely cause disorganization and panic in the enemy.”

Realizing it was too late for regrets, I decided to play along as if I did it on purpose. “What? I saw an opportunity to take out the leader of the enemy force. I would be an absolute idiot to let that slip past me.”

Mors barked out a harsh laugh, “No, I get it. Thanks, I found that guy annoying.” The soldiers were unsure of what to do. I assumed that they were tempted to attack after seeing their leader die, but they were still afraid of the Deathwalker.

“So Mors, how would you like to proceed?” I asked him. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t attack me, given his response to the Governor, but I had my metaphorical finger on the trigger, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

The mage thought for a second before responding. “Are you willing to let the army through the forest? If so, I’m sure I can convince them to continue on without bothering you anymore.”

“Do you have a map of the area I could use?”

“Of course,” he said, before yelling to the soldiers, “Get me a map, and do it quickly if you value your damn lives.” One of them, presumably a scout, came forward holding a rolled up paper in his hands. Gingerly stepping around the Governor’s corpse, he handed the paper to Mors before running away as fast as he could. Unfurling the paper, Mors presented the map to me. It wasn’t the most detailed, but it would suffice.

“Eve, take a picture of this.”

“[Done.]”

“Hmm. Looks like my hill isn’t the only one in the area. There’s Aurea’s village, with the road leading to a place called Ocaephis? If it’s a large enough city, then it’s possible that is where the army came from.”

I asked Mors about it, and he gave me a bit of rather interesting information. Ocaphis was a trade city, and a famous one at that. Its placement near the border of the Pithus Empire and the neighboring nation of Akatosia made it a prime place to trade regional specialties, and was an important city in the Empire. Refocusing my thoughts, I made sure the army would take a wide berth around my iron mine, but not so obviously that they would suspect something important was in the area.

I handed the map back to Mors, “Your army may follow this path. I warn you, I will be watching. Deviate from the path, and I will show no mercy.” Mors nodded, and called back the scout. I watched as he shared the same warning, and shooed him away. I was fortunate that I had no facial features that would give away the fact that I was bluffing. I did not have nearly enough units left to attack the army again, but as long as they did not know that fact it would be fine.