Somewhere far from where the drones were encamped at, a mass of undead hid within the thick forests of the borderlands. At the center was a man that didn’t fit with the rest of the decaying, rotting undead horde. The bear pelt on his head was clean, his face was pale but shaven, and his body was muscular.
In front of him, a blob of gray meat slowly grew, blinking its dozens of eyes as if it was recently blinded by a bright light. Once it stopped growing, it slithered towards the pale man and slurred, “I have lost contact with much of the forces close to the heathens’ castle. We suspect it might be that… other group of people we have never seen before.”
“So, it seems they’re trying to challenge us…” the man spoke.
“Brother Farold, you must be careful of the new enemy. They’ve been chasing our forces relentlessly.”
“The fools should know that they have to move at night as well or they will be caught. The dead don’t tire,” Farold chastited.
The gray monster shook its body then rebuffed, “No, Brother Farold. The enemy moved day and night, minute after minute without rest. The only ones that are still unscathed are the smaller skirmishing groups so they’ve been targeting the slower large hordes.”
“How does the enemy know our locations, and how do they keep up with us?” Farold pondered with an anxious face.
“Perhaps they might not even be mortal.”
“Are you suggesting they might be the heretics?” Farold asked.
“No, they are too different. We need to send elites to deal with them,” the gray monster suggested as a group of armored knights stepped forward. Their metal scale armor were worn-down and ragged, and their two-handed falxes were rusted and bloodied. Despite that, they still exuded a terrifying presence as black smoke leaked out of the gaps of their armors.
“Being forced to move the templars this early…” Farold muttered then nodded with a frown. “Very well, Knight Defall will lead the templars to move in to deal with these… outsiders. You will watch from a distance and determine their identity. If they really are the heretics, I will need to pull back and report to the Pontiff.”
A knight with a long red feather on his helmet bowed to Farold before saying, “I shall eliminate the enemies of the Church!”
The drone forces swept across any undead they found within the forests. Their only downtime was during repairs, where the warrior drones had to return to the mini-Custodian for repairs. Luckily for the drones, the mini-Custodian was mobile, which meant that their range of operations was also flexible. Wherever the floating glass-like ball went, the drones were sure to be nearby.
“What? The undead are moving towards one direction?” Exarchi said.
“Affirmative,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One responded. “This unit deduced that the undead are retreating.”
“That means they’re finally giving up or regrouping. Either way works for me.” Exarchi shrugged.
“Should the units cease operations and let them go?”
“Negative! Increase the aggressiveness levels of the attacking units! If we let them go now, we’ll lose the opportunity to stock up on more matter!” Exarchi exclaimed.
[Warning: Unit is under attack by-]
[Squad Phi-Two-Five lost.]
“What?!” Exarchi shouted. He quickly looked over where the lost squad was at, and moments later, the nearby squad was also destroyed. From the video logs, he could only see specks of the attackers before the warrior drones were cut into pieces.
‘All units. Return to base immediately,’ Exarchi ordered in his local hivespeak then turned his attention to the unknown threat. The drone forces didn’t only consist of the warrior drones. There were also scattered groups of scout and light attack drones within the operation area, so Exarchi ordered all of them to intercept the unknown enemy.
‘It’s getting closer…’ Exarchi murmured in his mind as another drone squad was eliminated. ‘They’re heading towards here!’
“Should this unit handle this problem?” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One offered.
Exarchi crossed his arms and asked, “And what is your risk assessment?”
“Low. This unit can handle it,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One boasted.
“I see you’re starting to develop a smug confidence in your personality matrix! Go with the best units to take down the enemy. At the very least, buy me time to relocate the mini-Custodian,” Exarchi ordered.
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“Easily done.”
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The undead knights cleaved through a squad of drones with their falxes just as the mechanical warriors were about to kill a lich. The half-skeleton half-stone undead officer crawled against the ground, struggling to get up until he was helped by one of the knights.
“My thanks, good knight. These foul heathens have destroyed my forces without trouble, and they would’ve destroyed me if it wasn’t for you, Knight Defall!” the lich rasped.
“Yes, yes. Regroup with Brother Farold. You know where he is,” Defall ordered.
“You don’t have to tell me that twi-” the lich was skewered and shocked by a headless warrior drone before he could even finish his sentence. The knights tore the drone apart, but the damage was already done.
“We’ve lost him!” a knight reported after checking up on the lich.
“These demons! What sort of sorcery is this?!” Defall cursed as he chopped the dead drone even further. “Without a doubt, the filthy pagans have contracted demons to fight against us!”
“I didn’t sense any life in these demons!” another knight remarked.
“Their armor is higher quality than ours…” someone grumbled.
“But our equipment is blessed. Which is why we refuse to take them off, knight. Now do not be tempted by greed,” Defall scolded.
“Tempted by the tools of the demons? Never!”
Defall nodded then rested his falx against his shoulder. “Come, brothers. The infestation is getting stronger. We might be closer than we think.”
The knights scanned the area for a few minutes then marched together when they confirmed it was clear. As they could sense life, they could easily ignore the wildlife wandering across the forest. Even when the sun had set, the knights continued their march.
“There’s no sign of them here,” Defall concluded. “I sense a fellow worshipper in this direction. Follow me so we can-”
Unexpectedly, a group of drones appeared out of a large bush. They looked as surprised as the undead knights, so it seemed that this was also unintentional from their part. Nevertheless, both sides got into action within a split second.
Shields clanked against the old armors of the knights while the falxes’ blades cut through the thick armor of the drones. Age-old experience was tested against ruthless efficiency as old clashed against new. Both sides were almost equal in force until spider drones joined the fray, jumping onto the backs of the knights from seemingly nowhere.
The templar Defall swiftly hacked away the surrounding drones with ease. Sensing great danger from the skilled knight, the drones backed away with caution. The only exception to this was the drone leader, Thane Alpha-Alpha-One.
The two said nothing to each other, but they knew what was going to happen. Thane Alpha-Alpha-One was the first one to move, lashing out at the templar with its mighty axe. Defall parried every blow and riposted with his own weapon.
While the drones tried to interfere with the duel, the other undead knight blocked their path. From every angle, Defall was attacked viciously. The knights, infuriated by the lack of honor from the lifeless machines, also attacked Thane Alpha-Alpha-One.
When Thane Alpha-Alpha-One tried to hack away at Defall’s left arm, its attack was repulsed, knocking the thane off-balance. Using this opportunity, Defall took out a small knife from his belt and stabbed at the drone’s neck.
Of course, he knew that wasn’t enough, so he tried to pull his weapon back for another lunge. Unfortunately, getting too close to Thane Alpha-Alpha-One was a big mistake. The templar’s hands were grabbed, and he was promptly shocked.
In order to counter this, Defall tried to launch his own spell… and failed.
“W-What the?! My magic?!” Defall exclaimed. He punched and kicked at the drone, but nothing was working, so he pulled out a short sword from his hip and hacked away at the drone but it stubbornly held onto him. Given no other choice, Defall sawed his own arm off with the sword.
Though sluggish, Thane Alpha-Alpha-One held its weapons back up in a defensive stance. Meanwhile, Defall, having lost his arm and his falx, readied his short sword.
“Brother Defall! We’re trapped!” a knight called out.
“Can we break through?!” Defall asked.
Before the knight could answer back, the drones began attacking together. Thane Alpha-Alpha-One couldn’t understand what the undead were saying, but it sure wasn’t going to stand around like an idiot while the enemy communicated freely!
The feeble Freeholder drones were destroyed easily, but they provided enough pressure for the more elite Thane drones to press their attacks. Still, even with the numerical advantage, the drones were finding the templars to be a very difficult opponent.
Not only were the undead better fighters than the Vyssian warlords and Rhankish serjents, they were also highly durable. It took full decapitation to kill a templar, but their shabby-looking armor were making it a strenuous task.
The skirmish had turned into a slugfest in which the templars lost. Much of the undead had retreated, so there were no reinforcements coming to help Defall’s men. On the other hand, drone warriors trickled in from every corner of the area. For every warrior drone destroyed, another one took over.
In the end, the last templar to fall was Defall. In his final moments, he screamed, “Brother Farold will avenge me, you demons!”
‘Task completed, Leader Exarchi. All according to this unit’s calculations,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One reported with an upbeat tone.
‘Yes, but your legs are missing, your head is caved in, your neck is wide open, and your arms are battered. Do you not know how expensive it is to repair you?!’ Exarchi yelled back.
‘Result still achieved. Next time, give clarification in objective details,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One grumbled.
‘So you’ve managed to wipe out the undead? You didn’t keep one of them alive?’ Exarchi asked.
‘Affirmative. All targets eliminated. Does Leader Exarchi require a functioning undead?’
‘Hmm. Negative. We don’t even speak their language, and I’m not equipped to handle talking corpses. I’m not even sure if they’re intelligent. Now, return to base for repairs,’ Exarchi ordered.
As Thane Alpha-Alpha-One was carried away by its bodyguards, small gray sludges observed the drones for a while before disappearing off into the darkness.