“Report!”

Jean’s order was there before her feet even touched the ground.

“My lord!” Captain Tato, the head of the vanguards, walked up and saluted. “My lord, my men made a move at the crash site as soon as we received the order. No one has entered or exited the vessel after our arrival. My warriors have made sure of that.”

Standing on a hill and glancing down at the crashed ship, Jean nodded, but she wasn’t convinced. It took at least half an hour for a rider to meet up with the vanguards and deliver the message. Another half for the riders to arrive here. That was enough time to do a lot of things.

She turned to the riders behind her.

“Spread out in groups of ten and scout through the perimeter. If you see anything unusual, do not attempt to engage them. Report back to me at once!”

The horsemen departed quickly, but they were just one of Jean’s cards. Already, a net of observers have been unloaded above the vessel, and they were gradually spreading outward. None of the observers could detect what was inside the metallic vessel. Unsurprising. Whatever origin it was of, this ship’s technology obviously surpassed what Jean’s Wardens and Purifiers were capable of. At least B-2s and Capitalguards couldn’t jump through dimensions.

Thankfully, the ship looked like it has been through hell, which gave Jean a chance to make a move. Even so, she brought her entire Roman legion. One wrong move, and even a Reapress like her might fall. She needed sufficient cannon fodders to maximize her chance of seeing another sunrise.

A few minutes passed when one of the rider squads returned.

“My lord, there has been signs of combat at one of the villages merely leagues away. All the villagers have disappeared. There wasn’t a single body or survivor. I have never seen anything like that before.”

“That’s because who we’re facing isn’t like anything we have faced before.” Jean gave a slight explanation at the confused guard. “So the villagers are captured?”

“Yes. But for what?” The guard, with his native-level foresight, was confused. What could anyone want with a group of villagers? They’re not soldiers. They’re not even rich. Even bandits wouldn’t want to go after them because there was simply nothing to be gained.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to find out the answer the Roman way. By blood and steel.” Jean replied quietly. Those within this spaceship were in a better situation than she has hoped. In the best case, when she arrived, everyone inside the spaceship would be dead, all the defenses would be crippled, and all the information she needed would have survived the crash and be ripe for the taking. Ah well, she’s out of luck today.

Those inside the spaceship were not only not dead, but they were strong enough to make a move on the outside world already. The villagers must be kidnapped for intel.

This left only one choice. She needed to lead the Romans into the spaceship, kill those inside, and get what she wanted. If the descension didn't do the job, then she would just have to do it herself.

“My lord.” The guard nodded. Deep down, he was concerned over fighting an enemy he knew nothing about. It wasn’t about courage. It was about human natural. But his honor and his loyalty forced him to put the doubts aside and pass the order down.

The forces moved quickly. Jean couldn’t afford to wait for his main forces to arrive, so she worked with what she had. The 5,000 equites were ordered to patrol around the ship and hunt down anyone and anything not a comrade. Rather than using them as foot soldiers and having them slaughtered inside the ship without achieving anything, she preferred that they secure the surroundings.

If those inside the ship flee out, legions of equites could at the very least delay them.

Jean brought into the ship only the chosen few. Namely, her personal guards and the berserkers. Her 300 personal guards wore heavy armor and carried everything a warrior would need to kill. Two crossbows with enough arrows to fight a small war. A large blade and two daggers. A small shield that was just big enough so it wouldn’t obstruct the man’s movement.

The berserkers were the exact opposite. If the guards were an unbreakable wall of steel, then the berserkers were gulfs of flames capable of devouring anything in their path. Their armaments were much more simpler than the guards. Things like shields and crossbows were too delicate for them. All Jean did was cover them with the heaviest armor in her legions and put in their hands the largest blades available. It was simple, yet effective. Berserkers were already tough to kill. With the armors on, they could at least take twice the damage before falling. When the time comes, these berserkers could carve a path through any opposition before being put down.

There were dozens of openings across the vessel. After all, the ship crash-landed. Jean chose one of them. A handful of guards led the way into the opening with their shields raised. Jean and the main forces waited outside patiently.

Suddenly, Jean heard the sound of a blaster firing rapidly, as well as a pained groan. But that firing quickly came to an end. Jean and a handful of guards slowly walked across the opening and into the vessel.

Inside, one of the five guards was on the ground. A gaping hole through his chest. His shield laid on the ground, unused. The man barely had the chance to lift the shield before being put down forever.

The wound was no more than a few inches wide, but it went straight through the man’s armor, as well as his heart, clean. That was hardly a good news for Miss Turner. The small penetration wound didn't mean the attacker lacked firepower. Rather, it meant the attacker had the technology to focus all the firepower on where they were needed and not waste any of the energy unnecessarily.

Jean turned her gaze to the attacker. It was some sort of energy blaster attached to the ceiling of the ship. It must be part of an internal defense network. She could see a few rails attached to the ceilings that the blaster must’ve moved across. But the blaster only fired a few rounds before going dark. From her knowledge, Jean would guess it ran out of energy.

Odd. Were her assumptions wrong? Was this ship truly exhausted and defenseless? Maybe the disappearance of the village was just no more than a coincidence.

She turned back to her men.

“Divide into groups of twenty, leave the ship, and circle around and enter the vessel from the other entrances. Stick together. Leave fifty guards and thirty berserkers with me. We will stretch their defenses thin. Stick together and the defenders will direct all of their resources to this front.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

The men divided into groups and started moving. Lucus and Caeso each led a squad. As the men behind her dropped in numbers, Jean lead the way and moved across the halls. The halls were wide, at least fifty meters across. Sparks exploded everywhere. The Romans behind her hesitated everytime a spark went out around them. Despite all the changes, technology was still foreign to them.

From time to time, a blaster would make its way across the rails on the ceiling and unload on them. These times, the Romans were more prepared. A wall of shields rose up and deflected the shots long enough for the crossbows to handle them.

In one case, a gladiator chucked his weapon at the blaster. The weapon barely fired a single shot before being destroyed by the brutal ranged attack.

But Jean wasn’t satisfied. She now knew the only mission these internal defenses had was to delay them. That was the only reason they were trickling in one by one. The real defenders wouldn’t be too far away.

That concern was quickly justified.

Jean suddenly heard a strange sound. She frowned and raised her hand. Both the guards and the berserkers halted their steps.

Their steps stopped...but the sound of footsteps continued.

The men have realized it as well. The footsteps were coming from down the tunnel, and it wasn’t exactly the same as the shoes of the Romans. Instead, it sounded like metal hitting the ground...it was almost as if someone was walking across with a pair of metal shoes.

The guards formed two lines. The second line rose their crossbows. The first line knelt down and put up their shields to cover their brethren.

And then they all saw it.

A line of silver, metallic figures entered the sight of Jean and the Romans. They had arms and legs, but no one would imagine they were actual human beings. For one thing, human beings weren’t completely made of metal.

The Romans couldn’t help but stare at the figures’ faces. They had no nose or ears, but there was a line at where their mouth was. They had eyes too, but instead of human eyes with eyeballs and eyelids, they had two empty holes that reflected nothing but infinite darkness.

What were they? Men in armor? But what type of armor would look like this? The size wouldn’t match either. If these were armors, then the men inside would be thin as tree branches…

Unless...

And then the figures raised their arms simultaneously and pointed them at the Romans.

“Loose! Shoot!” Jean screamed. The Romans thought they were prepared, but when faced with a foe completely foreign to anything they have seen before, they still hesitated. The metal figures, on the other hand, didn't. There were blasters attached to their hands, and those blasters were already pointing at the men in red.

Some of the men complied, but by the time they moved to pull the trigger, it was too late.

Twenty metallic figures formed a horizontal line across the hall. All of them started firing their blasters. Pure blue blasts accurately made their way past the wall of shields through the insignificant gaps and landed on the Romans holding the shields.

A dozen men collapsed within the first exchange, but the slaughter wasn’t over. As the men who held the shields fell, the wall was gone, and the metal figures were free to fire at the Romans who were scrambling for cover.

A few men unloaded a couple of bolts at the firing line, but the figures dodged to the side and easily moved away from the shots. They didn't waste a single shot on those who have already been killed or maimed. Rather, they moved onto those who still posed a threat.

Almost every blast was followed by the dying scream of a Roman.

Jean frowned. When she first saw the figures, she imagined an army of machines. After all, the metal figures looked almost identical to her own Swordguards, except the power level was tuned up. Rune blasts and energy blasts. Both metal humanoids.

The only problem was Jean could sense souls within the figures. Souls of human beings.

If she wanted to, she could put down all the figures at once, but she made no sudden move. All she did was move behind the shields of a few loyal guards. The losses were heavy, but it wasn’t time to flip the table just yet.

“Die die die!”

Just like she imagined, as thirty guards fell dead, the berserkers finally realized what was going on. Fear of the unknown was consumed by the endless fury and desire for blood. Eight berserkers charged forward with their giant axes and swords raised, screaming.

The metal figures turned around and started targeting the berserkers, but the armor on the berserkers were thicker than that on the guards. This was because the berserkers could handle more weight and still fight effectively. Instead of burning a way clean through, the shots struggled across the armor and was exhausted inside the berserkers.

Two of the berserkers collapsed and died. Their vital organs were destroyed, but the rest had a chance to heal and keep pushing forward.

One berserker raised his axe and brought it down upon a metal figure. The figure took a step back in an attempt to evade the hit, but it was too late. The axe struck down with lightning strength. Surprisingly, the hack didn't go clean through, but it still managed to fracture the figure’s shoulder armor.

Not only so, the immense sense of the berserker applied on the axe was too much for the figure’s metal legs to handle. Following a huge snap, the figure suddenly found itself half a meter lower. It fired its blaster at the berserker at close range, but it wasn’t enough. The berserker raised his axe again, tanked a few hits, before bringing the weapon down and severing the figure into two through the shoulder.

Jean suddenly frowned. She saw something that made her really curious.

Out of the broken metal helmet...was a shattered brain.