Metal clanked against the crude stone floor of the dungeon repeatedly as an army of drones rushed across a tunnel. Numbering more than a few dozen drones of various types, they ran from junction to junction, following the path scouted by other drones.

They went through a large open area filled with dead troglodytes and damaged drones before quickly heading into a tunnel. Surging forth with outstanding speed despite the weight their carried, the drones didn’t stop for anything until they finally reached the tail end of Drone 11’s ever growing army.

‘This is the last split in the path. One path leads to a fortress, another one… to another fortress. What is your call, Master Custodian?’ Drone 11 asked its master.

‘Let me review my options once more,’ Custodian replied.

Over the next few days after the first troglodyte town was captured, Custodian’s drones were busy conquering town after town. Eventually they managed to take over four of the bordering towns and villages, which left Custodian two options for the last incursion.

[Potential Incursions]

[Troglodyte Territories ▷]

[Unknown Border Fortress]

[Unknown Border Fortress]

It seemed that the drones wouldn’t be able to progress any further unless they take out one of the border fortresses. The fortresses were scouted earlier and they were as fortified as the previously destroyed troglodyte assault camp, which meant that Custodian would be facing heavy losses. Not only that, the previous incursions had raised the alarm of the troglodytes, causing the fortresses to be fortified even further.

‘Perhaps I should have taken the fortresses first…’ Custodian thought to itself as it began formulating a plan to take over one of the fortresses.

[Unknown Border Fortress]

[Medium Tier Incursion]

[Minimum recommended for Medium Tier Incursions: 150 Freeholder combat drones worth of combat value.]

It seemed that, unlike the border towns which only required a minimum of 25 Freeholder drones, there was a sudden increase in drones needed to barely take the objective. Now it was asking for 150 Freeholder combat drones or a mixed army of thanes, huskarls, and freeholders. If Custodian had a stomach, it would have clutched it so hard from looking at the estimated cost of making a new army.

Fortunately, there was an upside in conquering the border towns first. At the tail end of Drone 11’s army, there were not only the recently arrived reinforcements, but also a small mob of oversized frogs.

Since the conquest of the four towns and villages took days, it gave time for the captured spawn pools to produce some troglodytes. When the troglodytes first hatched, Custodian immediately thought about scooping them into its core for matter, but realized that the juvenile monsters were subservient to the drones. Not only that, they were somewhat self-sufficient, and didn’t require too much effort to keep in one place.

The troglodytes initially stayed close to the spawn pools, but for some reason, the older and bigger troglodytes started to flock around Drone 11, not that the automaton minded. Being only a few days old, the juvenile spawns were only half the size of the lesser troglodytes Drone 11 had been slaughtering.

‘Take the right tunnel. We’ll take that one first,’ Custodian ordered.

‘As you command.’

Drone 11 led the mixed army of machines and slimy toads down the tunnel until they reached an open dome area leading towards the fortress. It seemed that there were some hastily erected barricades, but were abandoned by the defenders.

“Hold here, little ones,” Drone 11 ordered as the blob of frogmen stopped on their tracks. The juvenile troglodytes obviously didn’t understand the drone’s bell-like voice, and they even started mimicking Drone 11 in vain. At the very least, they wouldn’t wander too far from the drones.

‘Set up an outpost here. We’ll need a few days for our drone and troglodyte forces to grow in numbers,’ Custodian ordered Drone 11. Obviously it would be suicidal to attack now, so Custodian opted to prepare for a siege first.

Equipment, warriors, and worker drones were moved from Custodian’s complex and into the new outpost while infiltrator drones disguised as troglodytes flocked new troglodyte spawns to the front over the next few days.

‘I wonder what would happen if the organics meet their real fellow organics…’ Custodian thought. There were reasons for the A.I. to be concerned, of course. Organics were chaotic in nature, and Custodian doesn’t trust anything it couldn’t directly control. The drones could barely communicate with the troglodytes, so forget about controlling them in the first place.

What if the troglodytes turned against Custodian? What would happen if they actually caused more trouble than help?

Nevertheless, Custodian was willing to test its troglodyte auxiliaries while it still didn’t have a choice. If Custodian waited too long to attack a fortress, the monsters might actually be able to retaliate first or block off the drone army.

While Drone 11 supervised the construction of the forward outpost, it also watched its troglodyte followers forage around. It noticed that a small group of monsters were digging up a corner of the outpost and decided to see what they were up to.

“What is this?” Drone 11 asked as it crouched down. Using its smaller and more nimble side arms, it grabbed a handful of soft earth. As the earth crumbled through Drone 11’s hands, large worms were unearthed which the troglodytes were apparently foraging for.

Since it would be useless to try and convert these worms into matter due to the effort it would take, Drone 11 decided to drop worms onto the noisy group of juvenile frogmen. The troglodytes happily gobbled up the worms and went back to foraging for more.

‘Master Custodian, when will we attack?’ Drone 11 asked.

‘Soon. Why do you ask?’ Custodian shot back a question.

‘I want to test the effectiveness of the squishy organics,’ Drone 11 answered.

‘It’s true that I want to test the effectiveness of the auxiliaries and-... It seems that you’ll get your test sooner than later,’ Custodian cut itself off as it noticed its scout drones were blazing alarms into its face.

[Alert: Intruder detected heading towards Forward Outpost Beta-Alpha-945]

Small scout drones disguised as rocks watched as a band of armed troglodytes headed towards Custodian’s forward outpost, and it seemed that the monsters were unhappy that the drones were making themselves home close to their fortress.

The troglodytes wandering around Custodian’s outpost all stood straight on their two legs, then started croaking loudly. They seemed to have smelled intruders coming as well, something which Custodian quickly took note of.

Instead of putting its warrior drones forward first, Custodian decided to put Drone 11, the infiltrator drones, and its troglodyte auxiliaries to the front in order to test its newly acquired tools.

As the enemy troglodytes neared the drone outpost, automated turrets fired upon the encroaching frogmen. The hail of bolts pushed the troglodytes into a full charge towards the outpost defenders.

The infiltrator drones moved up first, causing Custodian’s organic auxiliaries to also surge forth without any orders. Drone 11 joined the fray last, swinging its mighty axe around while being careful not to hit any friendly organics.

As Custodian watched troglodytes slaughter fellow troglodytes, it thought, ‘I wonder if I could also tame the humans… Perhaps I need to unlock a human farm?’

The auxiliary troglodytes were fierce, but they were still too young to be much of a threat against the fully grown and geared enemy troglodytes. In the end, Custodian was still forced to move its warrior drones forward.

Nevertheless, the enemy troglodytes were still weakened by the initial surprise attack by its own fellow kin, so the subservient frogmen didn’t die for nothing.

With the help of Drone 11 and a shieldwall of warrior drones, the troglodyte assault was crushed without a hassle.

‘It might just be a scouting party,’ Custodian noted. ‘Or they could be probing our outpost.’

Drone 11 looked over the corpses of friends and foes alike, then grabbed a dead auxiliary from the ground. The surviving auxiliaries were whimpering and limping around, or were noisily cannibalizing the corpses. ‘The organics are still too weak. We should hold off the attack until they are strong enough.’

‘If we wait for too long, it will give the enemy organics more time to fortify,’ Custodian explained.

‘Our organics will only be terminated in great numbers if we assault now,’ Drone 11 argued.

‘It matters not to me. All organics are simply sources of matter. Whether they are allied or not, a dead organic will only serve to benefit me.’

Drone 11 dropped the corpse onto the ground, then went quiet for a while. ‘Very well. But I have one request.’

‘What is it?’

‘I want some equipment for the organics. It doesn’t matter if they are made from scraps, I just want the organics to last a bit longer.’

Custodian ran some calculation in its head, then looked over the number of troglodytes. After some deliberation, the A.I. decided to relent. ‘If it pleases you, I don’t mind patching some scrap armor up for your pets.’

‘Thank you, Master Custodian.’

“Are we lost?” a Rhankish horseman asked as he fumbled around with an old map.

“I don’t think so, Count Marcoir. That is indeed your recently stolen castle, I think,” Marcoir’s trusted right-hand man, Lorferd, commented as he leaned back to take in the sight.

For sure, there were the recognizable landmarks such as the castle on the hill, but for some reason, there were more walls, and a sizeable portion of the forest around the castle was missing. Even the villages surrounding the castle disappeared.

Not simply abandoned. Gone.

The land around Castle Marcoir went through a total uprooting. As Marcoir scouted around the region, he saw old foundations of villages, but most of the buildings were… not there.

“Now, when I heard that Vyssians would pillage and loot anything not bolted to the ground, I didn’t really expect them to steal our houses as well,” Lorferd commented. “Perhaps it is true that Rhankish hovels are better than Vyssian huts.”

Lorferd expected a retort, but he saw that the count was silently staring at the fortress at the distance.

“My lord?” Lorferd called out.

Marcoir clutched his stomach then mumbled, “Were the priests wrong?”

“What was that?” Lorferd asked once more as he approached the count.

“Lorferd, we won’t be able to attack from here. We’ll have to go around and see if we could take the two baronies up north instead,” Marcoir ordered.

“But Count Marcoir, your home is just ahead.”

Marcoir shook his head then clicked his tongue. “It’s just a barren piece of land. I’ve always said it. Now that I’ve lost it… I don’t know. Whatever the case, we need to help the two northern barons.”

“If your judgement says so, my lord.”

“Don’t worry. Once we retake the northern castles, we’ll be able to surround those Vyssians. Once we cut the Vyssians out of the region, we’ll starve them out of my castle,” Marcoir explained as he started riding off.

Lorferd nodded quietly, then followed after his lord.

At a distance, a few metallic spiders were observing the Rhankish riders as they disappeared into the horizon.

‘They left?’ Custodian asked.

‘Indeed. I can only base my judgement from our encounters with the troglodyte, but I am sure the humans won’t attack our fortress, I think. I do hope the humans are as smart as the troglodytes,’ Exarchi responded as he watched the surroundings from the highest tower in Castle Marcoir.

‘Tell me what you think,’ Custodian said.

‘I think they’re going to go for Kilothar and Enfoir up north. The Vyssians are about to finish their sieges from what our aerial drones could see, but they won’t be able to hold out against a large Rhankish counter-assault.’

‘Should we assist the Vyssians?’ Slayer asked.

Exarchi laughed in hivespeak then said, ‘Why? To the Vyssians, we do not know what’s going on up north, so we should pretend like it. We should allow the Rhankians to drive off the Vyssians. We have much to benefit from this, am I right, Weaver?’

‘True. We could press for a better deal with the humans if they come to us begging,’ Weaver nonchalantly chimed in. ‘Though, a certain Vyssian Lord has been… what the humans would say sticking his foot up his nose in our business.’

‘I-It’s only sticking his nose in our business, Weaver,’ Red corrected.

‘Is that true? I might have had a translation error then,’ Weaver sighed.

‘Cease pointless talk. What is the point you are trying to make, Weaver?’ Slayer interjected.

‘A human by the name of Otto has been trying to find clues about what we are and what our movements are. I advise Slayer and Exarchi to also watch out for Vyssian scouts. On the other hand, I request for more drones at my disposal,’ Weaver stated.

‘Right ahead of you, buddy!’ Exarchi exclaimed. ‘I’ve already sent reports of Vyssian riders sneaking around Castle Marcoir.’

‘I can only spare a few drones as I need to focus on retaking the troglodyte border fortress,’ Custodian replied.

‘That is fine. Speaking of the troglodytes, is it possible if we could use the troglodytes on the surface as well?’ Weaver asked.

‘My own organic cannon fodder, huh…’ Exarchi pondered.

“THEY’RE USING OUR OWN KIN AGAINST US!” a massive high troglodyte screamed as he tossed a large stone pot towards the wall.

“Calm yourself down, Huatotle,” a slightly smaller but elaborately dressed troglodyte ordered from atop a throne.

“How can I, High Priest? They - those monsters - have corrupted our kin! They can no longer be considered polas anymore!” Huatotle shouted.

“I knew it, those bastards would be the end of us,” the vine-covered Kuisotle cursed.

The rest of the high troglodytes gathered in the great throne room of The Great City of Tilapola also started to croak loudly, some were even beginning to panic. There were some rumors swimming across the room that a portal to Hell had opened and that they should flee while they could.

Four towns and villages were lost in a matter of days, their first assault had even ended in failure. What would they even hoped to achieve trying to stop the unstoppable?

However, unlike last time, Tenokotle noticed that more high troglodytes had shown up. The destruction of the first army, the fall of the border towns, and the imminent threat against The Great City of Tilapola had finally opened the eyes of the skeptical nobles that had kept to themselves until now.

Tenokotle knew that if he slipped up, he may not have another chance.

High Priest Tenokotle stood up, causing the entire room to quiet down. He stared down at every single high troglodyte in the room, instilling both fear and respect without even lifting a single finger.

“I ask of you, my brethren, to clench your fear and convert it to anger, fury, and rage towards the invaders. Our malign foe has caught us unready for we had become too complacent. Just because we had defeated our ancient foe, it doesn’t mean we had attained superiority over this mortal realm. Our overconfidence is now being paid in blood; our blood.

“But might I remind you, my brethren, that our kind had already gone through this near-apocalyptic scenery before. Lord Tilapola nearly crumbled under our ancestor’s watch, but where are we standing now, brethren?

“Towering, proud, and united. Tilapola will never bow to extinction - this I will assure you. Brethren, I ask you, take up your arms once more just as your ancestors had, reach beyond the walls of Lord Tilapola, and defend it to the last.”

The high troglodytes stood up one by one, pounding their staves and feet against the floor. “We stand by you, High Priest Tenokotle! We must raise the bands of war!”

“War Priest Huatotle, are your warbands ready?” Tenokotle asked.

“It is, High Priest. I had tried my best to rein my temper as I didn’t have the numbers, but now, it seemed that the time has come for me to tear those demons apart with my own fleshy hands,” Huatotle croaked.

“Tilapolas, prepare yourselves and make sacrifices. We march once more. This time, prepared and frenzied!” Tenokotle announced.