Hopping across the rocky cavern tunnels, small troglodytes that escaped the assault on Custodian’s complex navigated the labyrinth-like underground through familiar scent markings. Behind them, Custodian’s scout drones followed closely and stalked them all the way back to a large underground dome.

Inside the vine-filled dome, there were quite a number of troglodytes gathering. From what Custodian could guess, this was the monsters’ forward outpost. Muddy structures were built, fires were lit across the outpost, and the high troglodytes occupied the central part of the base.

The troglodyte survivors managed to reach their superior kin, but it seemed that they were not intelligent enough to give out a report on what happened. Nevertheless, the high troglodytes still understood that their probing assault had failed.

While Custodian observed the troglodyte horde, the leaders of the warband discussed amongst themselves.

“The iron monsters will be tough, it seems. We will have to wait for Huatotle to arrive before we could do anything rash,” the largest troglodyte declared.

“And what if the iron monsters finds us first, Tenokotle? We already know that these monsters could shift into us, one of them could here right now, and the swarm of iron monsters could be scuttling towards us as we speak,” a troglodyte covered in vines argued.

“Kuisotle, everybody here was already checked and we have already placed traps along the paths. Speaking of that, I’d like you to check the lesser ones that returned. Make sure they bleed,” Tenokotle croaked to another high troglodyte. Since the infiltrator drones of Custodian didn’t bleed, the troglodytes found a quick way to root out the drones from within.

“High Priest, I’d like to know how we will drive the demons out. Not one of our kind made it back from the probing assault, so it’s hard to discern the defenses,” a large and sturdy troglodyte asked Tenokotle.

“Kanotle must had been a fool and threw his entire warband into their deaths. I would’ve retreated once I lost even a single tilapola,” the troglodyte next to him chided.

“Enough. Kuisotle, gather your men. You’ll probe the iron monsters’ nest once more, and this time, bring as little polas as you can,” Tenokotle ordered.

“Why not? The little bastards serve as good meatshields for us. A tilapola lost is a great wound to Lord Tilapola that would take many years to mend, but a thousand dead polas mean nothing to us,” Kuisotle complained.

“The little ones will only slow you down. I want you to get in, grab any useful information, and get out. Don’t die like Kanotle,” Tenokotle said.

Kuisotle stood up, then bowed. “As you command, High Priest. May Lord Tilapola watch me.”

Custodian watched as the high troglodyte gathered his men and prepared to assault the A.I.’s territory. This time, however, Custodian was aware of the incoming attack, so it started to mount a defense.

It began to predict possible paths that the frog monsters would use, then got its drones to work. They were probably going to use the same tunnel the last troglodyte group used, so most of the focus was put into that tunnel. Pits were made, spikes were created, and tunnels were blocked when it wasn’t defensible to funnel the intruders into traps. In addition to static defenses, warrior drones were being amassed from other parts of Varangia.

Custodian didn’t only plan on repulsing the troglodytes. It also wanted to push out, and find out where these troglodytes were coming from. Scouting the homes of the monsters were becoming troublesome as the intelligent high troglodytes were smart enough to find out about the infiltrator drones.

Eventually, though, they would have to return home if the troglodytes were pressured too hard, just like how the rats retreated en masse back to their nest once they realized that attacking Custodian’s drones wasn’t worth dying.

‘Who is leading the assault against the organics?’ one of the Daedalus automatons asked over hivespeak.

‘I’m thinking of Princeps, but I’m very interested in these ‘Thane’ drones. I want to see if they are able to command an assault all on their own,’ Custodian answered.

‘May I join the assault?’ the drone asked.

‘Why, Apoth?’ Custodian asked back. The drone in question, Apoth, was sort of like Custodian’s own chemist who had been experimenting with all types of chemicals he could get his hands on. In terms of combat, he was only mediocre, so Custodian was wary about sending him on his own into battle.

‘I would like to test some concoction I have been making recently. Also, I want to see if a high troglodyte corpse would yield a different kind of chemical. The last time you got a high troglodyte corpse, you simply processed it without telling me about it,’ Apoth explained.

‘If all you want are dead troglodytes, then I will get drones to send it your way. There is no use of sending you to the front,’ Custodian pointed out.

‘Then who will lead the defense?’ Apoth asked. Even though Custodian wanted the Thane drones to lead the assault group, the Daedali drones would still be the core of the fighting group. The A.I. was trying to find a way to automate warfare since if it needed to micromanage every single battle, it would waste precious production time.

‘I might be able to spare one of the other Daedali,’ Custodian answered, but noticed that the combat-oriented Daedali were either busy or outside of Varangia. ‘Or perhaps not.’

‘I have an idea. It would be worthwhile to use some of my creations in the defense,’ Apoth said.

‘Is that so? And what is your idea?’

‘Ideas, actually. Firstly…’

----------------------------------------

Kuisotle’s large toad-like body waddled through the rocky underground tunnel followed by a small group of high troglodytes. The vines he wore like a cloak dripped strange purple liquid as he shook his body from time to time, probably out of habit.

As the troglodytes made their way through, Kuisotle ordered his men to stop. He bent over, then ran his webbed hands against the stone floor. He sniffed his hand and could faintly smell the blood of his fellow kin.

“A tilapola had died here,” Kuisotle noted. Other than the dead high troglodyte, Kuisotle also sensed that several other smaller troglodytes died here as well, but he omitted them in his thoughts.

“Priest Kuisotle, do we turn back here?” a troglodyte asked.

“And report what? Our job is to figure out who or what dares to desecrate the children of Lord Tilapola. As for me, I want to at least personally destroy one of the monsters,” Kuisotle croaked. “We continue.”

As the scouting party made their way through the tunnel, the smell of troglodyte blood became more obvious to them. The troglodytes held their weapons tightly and eyed the walls cautiously.

Occasionally they would hear some pebbles or shards of rocks tumbling, and the entire party would stop for fear of an imminent ambush. The nerves of the troglodytes were already at their very limit, but they still continued on.

Kuisotle’s group went past a tunnel section filled with stalactites, and finally Kuisotle realized something was up. “Investigate this area. Don’t wander away from each other,” the high troglodyte ordered.

“The smell of our brothers and kins are strong,” a troglodyte noted.

“Many polas died here,” another reported.

“Even so, where are the iron demons?” Kuisotle wondered out loud.

“Priest Kuisotle, should we continue? Maybe the iron demons were pushed deeper into their nest,” a troglodyte suggested.

Kuisotle was calm, but he couldn’t help but feel as if he was surrounded by danger. He rubbed the vines hanging from his shoulders, then took a deep sigh.

“We go back, now.”

“But Priest Kuisotle, I thought you wanted revenge,” one of the scouts said.

“I-...”

Hidden carefully within the groups of stalactites, large iron tubes began shooting out from the ground. Once fully erect, the top of the tubes opened up and began exhausting purple smoke. From behind the scout party, spider drones began charging at them.

“We’ve been ambushed!” Kuisotle shouted.

“Do we break through the iron demons?” one of the scouts asked as the troglodytes began huddling together in a combat formation.

Kuisotle looked ahead and noticed that there were humanoid figures moving towards his men. With strange purple smoke coming from the sides, iron demons at the front, and spider demons at the back, the troglodytes was surrounded.

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“Break through the smaller demons! On me!” Kuisotle led the charge against the weaker spider combat drones. He swung two rock hammers around, smashing drones left and right as he tried to break through the line of spider drones.

Spear drones worked together to form a line against the troglodytes, causing Kuisotle’s break through to slow down to a grind. Even worse, there were some drones which climbed the ceiling in order to attack from above. Kuisotle noticed that the tips of the spider drones’ weapons were poisoned, but they were largely harmless to the troglodytes.

Soon, the purple smoke reached the troglodytes. Strangely enough, it didn’t harm them, but it did make their senses like sight and smell duller. Kuisotle inflated his throat, then spat out goo at the spider drones in front of him.

Just like how the smoke was harmless to the troglodytes, the goo was harmless to the drones, but it slowed them down. Kuisotle took the opportunity to rush through the drones’ weakened defenses and broke through.

“Kuisotle! Go and warn the others! You must live to tell Tenokotle!” a high troglodyte shouted as he held the warrior drones back with what remained of the lesser troglodytes. Only a few scouts managed to get out with Kuisotle, and the rest of the troglodytes stood their ground in order to buy Kuisotle even one more second.

“Lord Tilapola will guide your soul! Everyone else, on me!” Kuisotle raised his hammer and ran deeper into the tunnel.

The last high troglodyte swung his rock maul around, desperately fending off the larger and more disciplined warrior drones. There were spear drones slowly encroaching his back, and before he even realized it, he was already encircled.

A spear cut through one of his legs, and a blade stabbed through his arm. He fell onto his knees and cracked loudly, “I died for Lord Tilapola!”

At last, silence held dominion over the tunnel again.

‘Drones, report,’ Custodian ordered.

‘We have some spider drones pursuing the fleeing organics, but they might not be able to catch those walking meatbags,’ Apoth reported.

‘It seemed that your poison gas and poisoned tips didn’t have the effect you anticipated,’ Custodian noted.

‘I am not sure why the poison did not work. It worked on the rats and spiders, so I am unable to determine why it did not work against the troglodytes,’ Apoth explained.

‘That is your problem to consider. As for me, I have to begin mobilization.’

Custodian will have to postpone sending additional men to Rhankia, since it would be only courting death if it decided to not deal with the gathering army of troglodytes at its doorstep.

Compared to the humans, the troglodytes were much, much stronger, but their equipment were not even noteworthy. Strengthened rock, bones, and leather was basically the mainstay of the troglodytes, and metal was almost luxury to them.

Dead bodies, wood, cattle, and other sources of matter were being fed to Custodian, and the A.I. was beginning to produce a new army to face the troglodyte threat. Except, this one was different from the mercenary army. This one contained more drones with iron frames, and there was an addition to the command structure.

A humanoid drone slightly larger than the average man stood in front of Custodian. It was covered from head to toe in armor and fur, and his equipment wasn’t far behind from the elite huskarl drones.

“State your name,” Custodian ordered.

“I am designated as Thane Alpha-Alpha-One,” it responded with a deep tone.

“Who are you?”

“Thane Alpha-Alpha-One.”

“What is your purpose?”

“Mainframe’s objective: produce anti-mana. Directives have not changed.”

Custodian was testing the Thane Mind’s alleged ‘minor self-awareness’, but so far, the thane drone wasn’t too impressive. When the A.I. asked the thane who it was, there was some hope that the answer would be more creative like ‘I am a warrior of Master Custodian!’ or ‘I am the first war machine to walk upon the organics!’, but it seemed that hope was really something useless to the A.I.

“What are you thinking of right now?” Custodian nonchalantly asked.

“Wondering what’s the next question.”

‘Ooooooh! It actually wondered! How remarkable!’ Custodian thought to itself as it praised its thane drone.

“Your current job is to help lead an army and eliminate the organic threat to my existence. Can you do that?” Custodian probed.

“Downloading data regarding the topic of Warfare Tactics. Completed. Systems checked. Awaiting call,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One responded.

“If you do well, you would get a name,” Custodian offered.

“Name? I am already designated Thane-variant Alpha-Alpha-One.”

“You know, like how the Daedeli have their own personal names,” Custodian clarified.

“Personal? Searching database for Personal…”

“Never mind. Cancel offer. Just go and stand-by somewhere else. This room is cluttered,” Custodian commanded.

As soon as Thane Alpha-Alpha-One left the room, Custodian was silently pondering to itself. While the Thanes were indeed an improvement over the Freeholders, it wasn’t on par as the Daedelus models. Will Custodian be able to make a Daedelus of its own someday? Was it even possible?

For now, Custodian eyed an unfinished prototype to the side. While it couldn’t make its own Daedelus, it could make its own knock-off version.

‘Just you wait, Drone 11…’ Custodian thought.

----------------------------------------

A small group of drones were on the move across the snowy Rhankian land. Consisted of mostly ordinary warrior drones and a huskarl drone, the group made their way towards the castle the Varangians were supposed to attack.

Though Custodian’s army in Rhankia couldn’t attack with their insufficient numbers, there were still some worth in scouting the land on foot. Of course, there were aerial drones scouting from above, but the way to the castle was somewhat wooded. With their vision obscured, Custodian had no choice but to send a small scouting force.

The drones followed a small path which seemed to have various footsteps strewn across the light snow. Due to the Varangian raids, more and more Rhankians were fleeing from the northwestern region, causing more traffic along the three castles than before.

Despite that, there was something odd. Where were the refugees using this path?

Sounds of thumping were heard from the distance, and the drones immediately took their weapons from their sheathes. Large figures sped across the forest, and the drones found themselves surrounded.

A large armored man on a horse charged forth, smashing against one of the warrior drones. The huskarl gutted a horse as it passed by, causing its rider to fall down. Rhankian soldiers on horseback began assailing the drones from every direction, and the drones struggled to hold their grounds.

It didn’t take too long for the warrior drones to be destroyed, and the huskarl was the only one left.

“Surrender and you will be trea-” Before the Rhankian knight could finish, the huskarl tossed an axe at his head. Though the huskarl missed, the rider almost fell off his horse.

The huskarl took out its crossbow but was promptly ran over by a knight. Despite that, the drone stood up and only when it was skewered at the chest by a spear did it stopped moving.

“Damned Vyssians,” one of the Rhankians cursed.

The leader of the Rhankians got off his horse, then crouched down next to the huskarl’s body. He pulled away the layers of armor until he finally got to what looked like a large mask.

“What is it, Count Marcoir?” a knight called out.

“I can’t take off this man’s mask,” Marcoir answered.

The knight got off his horse and pulled out his knife.

“What in Purgatory are you doing, Lorferd?” Marcoir asked as the knight crouched down next to him.

Lorferd began stabbing at the edges of the mask, but couldn’t find an opening. “What’s this? Did he stitch this mask onto his face?”

“My lord, we can’t break through the final layer of armor they’re wearing,” one of the Rhankians said as he showed a naked drone.

Unbeknownst to them, the huskarls and drones were already stripped naked, and what they were simply doing was hacking away at some naked automatons. Out of impatience, Lorferd took out his axe and swung it against the huskarl’s chest. When that failed, he turned to one of the warrior drones instead.

“Lorferd, enough of this. This is a waste of ti-...” Before Marcoir could finish, Lorferd managed to hack his way through the warrior drone’s chest. It caved in and revealed the insides of the drone.

“What in the Purgatory?!” Lorferd shouted. Instead of blood and guts, there were glass-like tubes and more metal inside the drone’s chest. Tiny metal strings hung about, circling many of the bigger circular gears where organs should had been.

Marcoir couldn’t believe his eyes. He had the other drones gutted as well, but they all revealed… something non-human.

“Touch it, Lorferd,” Marcoir ordered as he pointed at the insides of a warrior drone.

“M-My lord? I don’t think I want to-...”

“Touch it, damn it! It’s an order!”

Lorferd clicked his tongue then gave a silent prayer. He removed his glove then hesitantly pushed his hand into the drone’s chest. The tubes were cold, but they were dry. It wasn’t sticky like touching some guts. It was more like…

“Touching rusted metal…” Lorferd mumbled.

“Well? Are you damned by Humanos yet, Lorferd?” Marcoir asked.

“For Humanos’ sake, my lord! Don’t tell me to damn myself willingly!” Lorferd retorted as he pulled his hand back from… whatever that was.

“These are no Vyssians. Who are they? What are they? Demons?” Marcoir asked. While he was aware of the existence of nonhumans, he was sure that nonhumans also had guts in them, like every other normal living being!

There could be no other reason to believe that these things are nothing but demons! He knew that the Vyssians got some mercenaries to ravage the northwestern part of Rhankia, but he didn’t think that the Vyssians would actually make a pact with some demons!

“Are they… statues?” one of the Rhankians suggested as he inspected a drone’s body with a stick. “I don’t see flesh. Could these be metal dolls made with witchcraft?”

Marcoir was at a loss. He couldn’t get his answer, and he wasn’t willing to sit down to freeze his ass off while he stared at these strange beings.

“Tie three of them, and carry the thing that we couldn’t open. Take their equipment, and leave the rest. We can’t carry too much,” Marcoir ordered. His men took three drones and the huskarl back to his castle. He needed answers, but he knew he wouldn’t get any time soon.

Meanwhile, from a distance, spider drones were watching as the Rhankians hauled the drones away.

‘Did I just watch my drones get molested and kidnapped?! Those Rhankians will pay for this! Drones! Retrieve the remaining drones back!’ Custodian ordered. Luckily, the humans only took a few of its drones so the A.I. could recuperate some of its losses.

Tasting its first defeat, Custodian had to adjust its plans. It didn’t know that the drones would get kidnapped. Did the humans also have a way to reprocess its drones to turn them into more humans?! What a catastrophic development!

The threat assessment of humans had just went up, and Custodian was going to have to plan more seriously against these organics known as ‘humans’.

‘Very dangerous. Eliminate humans as soon as possible…’ Custodian mumbled to itself.

[Exterminator Path progressed.]