[Unable to repair: Insufficient materials.]

“Uhh….” Exarchi muttered as he stared at the mini-Custodian that was deployed with him.

“Scanning…Analysis completed. Reports indicate that you may have broken it,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One pointed out with his arms crossed.

“I’ll demote you back to a mere spider drone!” Exarchi threatened then turned to hivespeak. ‘Master Custodian, what’s going on with the material shortage?’

‘Shortage?’ Custodian asked.

‘My mini-Custodian indicates that there is no more materials.’

‘Impossible. I have materials from all the human corpses I’m processing. Is your mini-Custodian broken?’

‘I don’t know,’ Exarchi replied with a doubtful tone.

‘Check.’

‘How? There hasn’t been a problem like this before…’

‘Try running the diagnostics tool?’

Exarchi scratched his head and muttered, ‘I didn’t know we had one.’

After tinkering around with the mini-Custodian, a new notification popped up in Exarchi’s mind.

[Running Foreman Diagnostics Tool…]

[Checking for problems…]

[What is your problem?]

“It says that there’s no materials but there’s plenty of material according to Master Custodian.”

[Please wait…]

[You are too far from the main storage unit. As a super-factory A.I., you are unable to expand- ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

You can extend your supply line using a Forward Outpost Core.]

‘What? We’re out of your supply range, Master Custodian!’ Exarchi exclaimed.

‘Only now?’ Custodian questioned.

‘I’m not sure. We were probably supplied locally from the organic materials we gathered along the way and from the undead ambush,’ Exarchi estimated.

‘If you can supply yourself locally, start gathering materials. I’ll try to send an outpost drone to you as soon as I can,’ Custodian ordered.

‘Affirmative. I’m on it.’

Exarchi moved out of the large carriage he was using a mobile command center then gathered his bodyguards to meet the archpriest who hired the drone army, Agrianos. Just as he had reported to Custodian before, the human allied army was camped outside a castle town in the borderlands between Alaria and the Kojan Wall. They were only a few days away from the actual frontlines, but they had yet to move from the castle for weeks.

While the nobles and Agrianos were allowed to have residence inside the castle, the lesser nobles and much of the army had to camp outside of the castle. While Exarchi was considered as one of the ‘upper nobles’ and guests of Agrianos, he preferred staying in the Varangian camp as he wanted to manage his army closely.

Using one of his handful of Steadfaster model mounts, Exarchi rode up to the main keep of the castle. The drone ‘horses’ caused quite a commotion when Exarchi arrived at the castle. While the Rhanks had little interest in the drones as they had already known them quite a bit, many tribal-looking and foreign warriors marvelled at the large beasts trotting into the castle grounds. Some were even hurriedly dressed in combat garments as they had thought that beasts were attacking the castle.

A Rhankish serjent rode up to Exarchi and called out, “General! What brings you here?”

“I need to talk to Agrianos. Now.”

“Archpriest Agrianos is currently speaking with lords of the other lands. Is your matter really urgent?” the serjent asked as he raised his iron mask.

“Yes, or else I wouldn’t be here.”

“Ah, yes. That does make sense, General. Follow me,” the serjent guided.

Inside the large castle keep, there were Rhankish nobles, Alarian warlords, and many other foreign leaders discussing with the archpriest. He was skillfully talking in many languages, mediating between the various people who couldn’t understand each other. When Exarchi entered the meeting room, the room became silent.

“Why haven’t we moved yet?” Exarchi asked, not caring about etiquette or what the humans thought of him.

“The lords of the local region told us that the undead had cut off the path between the Kojan Wall and Alaria. We can’t move without risking a large ambush,” Agrianos explained.

“Then why don’t we attack the undead harassing us?”

“It’s not simple. We sent several scouts and groups, but only half of them would return by the end of the day. The searers are wary about sending more of their men,” Agrianos replied while waving his hand towards the leaders. “Without pinpointing the exact location of the head of the undead army, we can’t go on the offense.”

“So you only need the undead gone?”

“If Humanos allows it, yes.” Agrianos shrugged.

“The Varangians will deal with them,” Exarchi declared as he turned to leave.

“Wait! What do you mean by that?”

Exarchi held his hand out in a confused manner and asked, “The Varangians will deal with them. Is there something confusing about that statement?”

Agrianos couldn’t get the right words out so after some deliberation, he shook his head and said, “No. Go ahead.”

As the drones exited the castle, Thane Alpha-Alpha-One told Exarchi, “Sending query regarding plan to LEADER Exarchi.”

“The plan is to divide into small squads and get rid of the undead.”

“Specifics, quantity?”

“No more than ten Freeholder combat drones per squad.”

“Ten? This unit’s assessment estimates that is too risky,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One pointed out.

“The undead are vastly outmatched by us. Ten is enough to get rid of the flocks of undead circling the useless organics,” Exarchi declared with confidence as he looked at the data he was given. Even long before they had arrived at the castle, he had already identified the largest groups of undead in the region. Though he couldn’t find the smaller and more nimble undead forces, he didn’t care as the small groups didn’t yield maximum profit potential according to his calculations.

“Set objectives,” Thane Alpha-Alpha-One requested.

“Take out the biggest groups, and report to me once you are done with them. I need those materials now,” Exarchi ordered.

A large man covered in gray cloth shambled across the forest floor. He clenched his fist and held it close to his chest as he murmured to himself. His head twitched uncontrollably as he shuffled aimlessly in the thick forest until he stopped moving.

He turned to his back and his sight was immediately greeted with the sight of a horde of corpses from various animals. Some of the corpses had also merged to form bigger monstrous beasts.

“What was… that noise?” the large man rasped. His eyes darted across the woods, nervously scanning the area. He closed his eyes, feeling the air around him. After a minute, he opened his eyes again, this time, less cautious. “I… don’t sense… the living. We go…”

Before he could take a step forward, bolts shattered through many of the fragile undead. Skeletons, in particular, were torn into halves as their joints were precisely pierced with unprecedented force.

The large man tried to find out who was attacking him, but he didn’t need to as the assailants revealed themselves from the foliage. Dressed in thick armor made of metal and fur, humanoid figures approached the undead.

“Only… ten of you?! You… underestimate the will… of the Church!” the large man rasped and pointed his finger towards the attackers.

Countless number of undead charged at the armored figures, but they were all hacked apart effortlessly. Even if the undead managed to get close to the mysterious warriors, they couldn’t even get through the seemingly impenetrable armor!

“No matter! They… will tire… soon enough!” the large man declared as he sent more and more undead in.

First, the skeletons were purged. Then the zombies were cleaned out. Even the undead abominations were skillfully taken care of as if the armored warriors had already faced such creatures a million times!

Minutes turned to hours, yet the warriors stood their ground. No, it would be better to say that they were plowing through the undead line!

“Impossible! It cannot be…” the large man took a few steps back as the warriors got closer and closer. “We retreat! We… remain in one piece… to fight another day!”

Of course, the large man had managed to survive this long as an undead because he had wits. As soon as he was losing, he didn’t hesitate to turn tails!

Unfortunately for him, when he turned around, he realized that a long spear had pierced through his chest. He grabbed the spear and gurgled blood, unable to comprehend what just happened. The large man was approached by the leader of the warriors as he felt onto his knees.

Coincidentally, the leader was also Thane Alpha-Alpha-One.

“Report. Undead leaders are impervious to physical damage. This unit suggests to apply multiple kicks to the elimination target,” a warrior drone said.

“This unit propose shocking the target instead,” a drone suggested.

Thane Alpha-Alpha-One pondered for a minute then concluded, “Initiate beat-up and repeated shocking procedures.”

“Affirmative!” the drones responded. They surrounded the large man and continuously stabbed, kicked, shocked, burnt, and punched him until his limbs were torn apart into many pieces. The drones would’ve gone as far as to bury him into the ground by repeatedly stamping on him but they stopped solely because they needed the material that can be processed from his corpse.

‘Threat eliminated. Requesting extraction,’ Thane Alpha-Alpha-One reported in hivespeak.

‘Affirmative. That’s one more group down. As soon as the extraction team arrives, get yourselves repaired and move on to the next group of undead! Time wasted is efficiency lost!’ Exarchi ordered.