《A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon》


 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 1

    The lively noise of heavy machinery rumbles around as I continue to do my tedious job of installing the same few components onto every moving line of electronics on the conveyor belt. Looking to my sides, see the same old colleagues that I have grown accustomed to over the course of my 5 years of working in this factory. We all sit in contemplative silence as we continue to work our dead-end jobs that should have been replaced by machines long ago.


    To my left, I hear Jerold stretch his back once again with a small series of cracks as his hunched over back finally straightens itself. This caused many others, including myself, to do the same.


    Just another few hours and I can go home for the weekend. Smiling to myself, I chat to my co-worker on the left, Henry, about random things for a while.


    "God, I wish I could get one of those cushy office jobs in the inner city," Henry told me like usual. "I bet those bureaucratic asses upstairs haven''t worked a real job in their lives, right James?"


    I laugh with him for a few moments before we fall back into that familiar silence. I went back to focusing on my work, which was installing the last few interior components onto the frame of a circuit board.


    A dozen or so minutes of working later, in a particularly less noisy moment, I hear a snap coming from the ceiling. Quickly raising my head to search for what caused the noise, I see a falling hang light heading straight for me and my fellow line worker.


    "EVERYONE SCATTER!" I yell out, rising to my feet. Many of my co-workers reacted quickly and jumped out of the crash zone, but Henry did not get up as fast as the rest. Before I realized what I was doing, I began sprinting over to Henry as fast as I could.


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    Acting purely on instinct, I pull and shove Henry out of the way. Stepping forward to begin running out of the impact zone I- CRASH


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Ugggh, my head," I groaned, reaching for my head and rubbing rhythmically to try and soothe the aching pain.


    After a few moments, I rip enough control away from the pain and open my eyes to a most peculiar sight. Whitish pink fluffy clouds all around and under me. The clouds were oddly stable and somewhat fluffy now that I felt it.


    Getting up from the ''ground,'' I glance around, searching for anything to explain my odd surroundings. My eyes finally landed on a desk occupied by 2 beings that looked not quite human. On the left was a red skinned, horned man with a short black combed back hair and beard. On the right was an angelic figure with a set of golden wings and a radiant halo floating above a woman''s head.


    "Umm, hello, where am I? And what am I doing here? Also, who are you guys, and why are you dressed up like that? Halloween was months ago." I ask, genuinely confused.


    The red man speaks up first, "So many questions. First, you are on the gateway between the afterlife and the mortal realm as you know it. Second, you are here because you died, quite prematurely, I might add. Lastly, Lady Angelica and I are angels and devils, respectively, and thus, we must dress accordingly."


    I start to chuckle for a moment, "You must be joking. Seriously, where am I?" I ask again, not believing that I died.


    This time, Angelica spoke up, "Dominc was not joking. You have died, and now we are here to judge you. Starting off," she looks over to Dominic, "He has committed a few too many sins to be brought up to heaven. Do you want him?"


    "Hey. I didn''t do anything that bad." I say, but they seem to just ignore me.


    "Ehh, he seems a bit too innocent to be viable for a transfer to hell. Maybe we could just stick him on C-784. They seem to be running out of suitable dungeons aside from the pre generated ones." Dominic answers.


    "No objections here, go ahead." Angelica replies.


    And with that, Domonic snaps his fingers, and a magical looking circle appears underneath me, and I begin to sink into it.


    I desperately try to claw my way out of the rapidly sinking hole but to no avail. The last thing I see is the smiling faces and waves Angelica and Demonic give me as I depart.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 2

    Well crap. I look around the decrepit and dusty room that I now find myself in which was illuminated by a few, very dim, lights. The room was quite large and had an assortment of various metallic furniture scattered around the room which were completely covered in layers of dust that looked to have been accumulating for who knows how long. On one of the walls was a set of doors which seemed to once have had a nice shade of blue but currently it looked to have lost much of its vibrancy over the years.


    I begin to look downwards before I begin to realize what was wrong. Around where my legs should be was nought but dust and the hard concrete ground. I raise my hands up to my face to rub my eyes, only to find that my hands were gone as well. A few minutes of hyperventilating about the prospect of no longer having my body, I calmed myself down enough to take charge of my mind and to assess my situation.


    Experimentally, I try to grab onto a nearby desk but my hands slip right through. I also try to walk forward like normal and that leads to me gliding around the room with little to no control. Before hitting the wall I begin to flail my arms, trying to slow my approach, I actually slow down and eventually stop before hitting the wall. I begin moving my arms in a swimming motion which does seem to move me a bit but after more experimentation I eventually figured out that I could just think to move towards where I wished to which was a bit hard to control but I soon got the hang of it.


    Looking around the room with my newfound mode of transport, I saw a few odd things like two surprisingly functional looking machines in the corner of the room and a few boxes strewn about the room, one of which was glowing with a faint blue hue. Focusing on the glowing metal container first, a screen located on one of the sides of the box lights up as I get close.


    On the screen, it displayed a loading bar and some text saying that it had "detected a new AI administrator present" and that it had begun "granting access to a new administrator". I was slightly confused for a few moments, I was an underpaid factory worker not an administrator, much less an AI one.


    Before I could contemplate the sudden change of career and my now AI status, the metallic box opened up with a hiss. I looked inside of the box to see some kind of construction manual nestled at the bottom of the container. On the front cover of the manual was an image of some kind of arachnid based robot. Then a small block of text appeared in front of me displaying that I now possessed the blueprint for a "General Maintenance Drone Crawler Variant".


    A drone huh, only a blueprint but still could be useful. Although I have no idea how I''m going to pick up the manual seeing that I no longer have any of my limbs, let alone construct the whole bot. I barely understood how to operate my section of the production line, Corporate never really cared enough to train us on how to make the entire product. They only cared that we could complete our section of the circuit and then pass it over to the next sap in line.


    Then the machine sitting in the corner suddenly lights up and I can hear the faint sounds of the internal mechanisms whirling back to life as if waking from a deep slumber. Drifting over to the machine, I see that it too has a screen and, upon detecting my presence, has the same lines of text stating that I now have been granted full access to the machine. Then the screen changes to display a menu like list of all my drone blueprints, stated near the top of the menu.


    The top of the screen displayed that this machine was a ''small drone works'' and on its right was a little question mark box. Clicking onto the little box with one of my invisible hands, an information tab appeared in front of the main screen. The information tab read that the small drone work was a smaller version of the standard medium drone work meant to create small-basic drones.


    The tab also explained that it ran off of internal batteries and a small energy siphon which was able to pull in energy from the unit''s surroundings, something it''s larger brethren could not sustain themselves on, although an external powersource can increase efficiency in production. It stated that it could store a small amount of fabrication materials within itself and act as an emergency relay node for nearby drones if disconnected from their administrator AI and a larger drone works is unavailable.


    Closing the information tab, I look to the main screen and see some indicators on the very right side showing that the small drone works currently had half of its storage capacity met. I also noticed on the left side of the screen was a section labeled as the drone production queue.


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    Looking over to the right of my one and only blueprints designation was two buttons and a two digit counter. The first button was placed right after my drone blueprints designation and was another information display and I made a note to myself to look at that after the next two things.


    The number counter was placed second to last and near the end of the drone blueprints tab which had an arrow which pointed up and others which pointed down and were located above and below it so I assumed that it was a counter for how many drones I wished to produce. The second button was on the very edge of the blueprints tab and had the word ''construct'' labeled on top of it which was quite self explanatory.


    Looking back to the information button, I once again click upon it, and the blueprints tab slides down to reveal a description of the drone. According to the description, the ''general maintenance drone crawler variant'' or just the ''GMD C'' was a crawler variation of the ''GMD'' which encompassed multiple distinct drones. The ''GMD C'' is primarily used for construction as they are able to climb on shear walls and scaffolding and they can double as field repair units. With their sharp mandibles they are able to cut off excess materials from scaffolding and other such thin metals.


    Huh, so I got a builder drone. Certainly could be helpful, although I doubt I''ll be having them do any construction any time soon, given that I don''t exactly have any materials to do so. I clicked the arrow above the drone production counter a few times but upon reaching the number three the center refused to go any further, citing the fact that I only had enough materials stored in the drone work''s storage module.


    I selected the ''construct'' button and an image of the drone, with the number three in the bottom right corner, appeared in the queue on the left of the screen. As time slowly passed, a bar underneath the drone''s image slowly began to fill up and above the bar was a timer a couple minutes short of a dozen.


    Floating away from the screen, I move over to the other machine nearby and it does the same as the drone works and begins to authorize my access to itself. As it did its thing, I examined the exterior of the machine which was for the most part just a large metal box with a funnel at the top of the machine and an exit shut at its bottom.


    Once its screen was done booting up, the screen displayed that it was a basic refinery/fabricator and it also had an information button which I promptly interacted with.


    The information tab explained that the basic refinery was a simpler version of the standard refinery. The basic refinery is able to take processed or unprocessed resources and is able to strip down or refine into usable base components. Closing out of the information tab, I turn to see that one of the drones had finished fabricating.


    The drone, as if noticing my presence, springs awake and scuttles over to me before stopping at where my feet would have been. The drone had six legs and a flat boxy exterior with small mandibles which protruded from, what I guessed was, the frontal half of its chassis. On the back side of the drone was a small welder pointed downwards to the floor and on all of its joints were small bulbs which gave off a faint blue light.


    Not really knowing what to do, I point over to the spider drone and then to the refinery which it seems to perceive as an order to operate the machine and so they begin to grab various small metal scraps and drop it into the refinery''s funnel. As the scrap metal slides into the refinery, the machine whirls to life and begins to emit a faint glow.


    I continue to watch the spider drone work until the next drone finishes fabrication and so I send them to open up the door opposite of the refinery and drone works. The spider drone dutifully crawls over to the door and looks up and seems to realize it is not tall enough to reach it. So the drone uses its little legs and plants them onto the door and begins to scale it.


    Once it reaches the door handle it grabs onto it and slowly shifts it open by swinging a little bit. I give a pat on the head to the spider who opened the door as thanks and the drone in question seems to stand a little bit higher.


    With the door open I could now see into the next room which was much larger than the one I came from. The room looked to be a slandered looking factory floor with rows of conveyor belts which looked not functional and grated walkways high above where the workers would have slaved away.


    On the ground floor were more chairs strewn about and other such scrap metal laying around on the floor. After looking around a bit more, I found the corpse of another drone of some kind which had its insides spilled out of it. I tell my spider drone which helped open the door to go and help his slightly older brother in smelting down some of this scrap metal and so it scampers off.


    I continued to watch as my drones slowly dragged the hunks of metal into the refinery which spat out metal bars every so often. Every time that happened I would order one of my spiders to drag the bar over and place it into the small drone works which would allow me to queue up another spider. This continued on until eventually I had amassed a total of eight spiders which all moved about the building. I was beginning to nod off into sleep when I suddenly started hearing hurried footsteps outside of the larger rooms'' double doors. I floated over just in time to see a strange form slide one of the two doors open.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 3

    The strange figure was humanoid in form, however they were not made of flesh and blood but rather steel and wire. The robot was quite slim, enough so that I could probably have grabbed its torso at its thinnest point with both hands and my fingers would have touched. If I still had my body that is. The robot was painted a shade of aqua-blue and had some sort of symbol, that being a circle which had been slashed in half down the middle of it.


    Then, I hear a yell originating from outside the factory which seems to cause the blue robot to slam the doors shut and run behind one of the many pushed over desks at a far corner facing opposite the door. Not long after the blue robot gets into place, another robot bursts through the door and begins scanning the room, presumably, for the blue robot.


    The newly arrived robot seemed to be of similar make to the first, however they were significantly more bulky with hulking arms and legs and a sizable torso. This robot also had the same symbol however they were colored red with a few small dashes of purple mixed in. The red robot also possessed a large club which they were occasionally thumping in their hand.


    The blue robot seemed to be afraid of the red one as they looked to be quivering with fear now that the red robot had entered the room. To be entirely fair, if a person nearly double my size was chasing me down with a club, I would be afraid as well.


    The red robot seemed to have finished scanning the room and shouted out, "Come out already GW-3N, I know you''re here. There''s no point in delaying this any longer but if you insist I will find you eventually." This only seemed to make the blue robot quiver even more.


    Then the red robot started to move about the room, methodically checking each and every possible hiding spot in the room. Slowly but steadily the robot approached the desk which the blue robot, whose name I guess is GW-3N, was hiding behind. The red robot got within three feet of GW-3N before one of my spider drones decided to approach the robot, whom I am going to call ''Red'' from now on. I know, I am an absolute genius on creativity.


    Then, Red yelled, "Get out of my damn way, you stupid drone!" As they kick my poor spider which makes it go flying into the far wall where my other spiders scuttled over to see what was causing all the noise and to help the kicked one back onto its feet l.


    I don''t know who Red thinks they are or why they''re after GW-3N but I will not tolerate them attacking one of my little friends for no reason. I mentally seethe in anger, which my other spiders seemed to agree with as all eight of them gathered up and charged at Red who had turned their back to them as they went back to searching for GW-3N


    My spiders quickly take advantage of Red''s carelessness and begin chomping at their exposed and slightly less armored back. In fact one of my spiders began grabbing onto Red''s arms and legs which caused much disbalance.


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    "Get off of me you damned beasts!" Red bellows in frustration as they grab onto one of my drones with a free hand and, using their club, slams the poor drone into the wall which left a large cave in its torso leaving the spider crippled. In response to one of their brothers getting whacked into a wall with a club, the remaining seven spiders began to chomp even more vigorously at Red''s armor or trying to force Red to drop their club.


    Most of their chomps did nearly nothing to Red''s bulky plating and none were able to make Red drop their club but enough went through to force them to not spare a glance as GW-3N got up from her hiding space upon noticing that her chaser was getting mauled by more than a half dozen spiders. The robot quickly assessed the situation and decided to take advantage of the distraction my spiders were making and swiftly body checked Red to the ground which must have hurt for both sides.


    GW-3N was the first to get back up as Red was still forced to deal with my spider''s constant chomps. This allowed for GW-3N to saddle up to Red before they slammed their foot into Red''s stomach more than what was likely necessary in order to prove a point.


    Not quite ready to kill something that could talk, I order my spider drones to stop attacking and to simply restrain the robot which they begrudgingly do so. Crawling off the main chassis of Red, my spiders begin splitting off in pairs to hold down the things legs and arms while GW-3N walks over


    GW-3N seems to deliberate for a few moments before sighing and muttering under their breath, "it''s not worth it,¡± before yelling "Leave and don''t come back!" which Red responds by hastily getting up and sprinting out of the room while my spiders jumped off them.


    GW-3N seems to visibly relax once Red leaves visual range but then remembers that they are nearly surrounded by my spiders who were, not a few moments before, gnawing on Red''s metal plates. This however did not seem to perturb GW-3N as they squatted down to my spiders who were now nursing their wounds.


    ¡°Thanks for the help, little guys. Maker knows what would have happened if you didn¡¯t show up.¡± Then, notice the drone who was crippled by Red, they apologize with a ¡°Sorry about your friend.¡±


    Speaking of the crippled spider, I see that a couple of my less damaged drones had walked over to them and were now using some of the materials left over from their initial construction to replace the dented plates and internal machinery. This left an icon floating above the drone which stated that they were being repaired and it would take another ten minutes until they would be functional again.


    Well it is good to know that you guys can repair each other if they get damaged. I sent over a few more spiders to aid in the repairs before floating back over to the drone works and ordering up a couple more spiders. This however led to an alert popping up in front of me stating that I was nearing maximum drone administrative capacity and that I needed to construct a core in order to facilitate more drones.


    A core you say? Now how would I construct such a thing? And as if hearing my question a notification arrears in front of me stating that I did not possess a blueprint for a core and thus would either need to find said blueprint or to discover an already built core which I could take over.


    Before I could ponder this further, GW-3N got the attention of one of my spiders who was wandering about. ¡°Hey, do you guys mind me staying here? If it¡¯s not a problem that is.¡±

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 4

    They want to stay here? I suppose it could not hurt to have someone with actual hands here to help with work around here. Although, I have a feeling that Red might come back to exact revenge or something which is less than appealing. Especially since I am apparently capped out on my drones.


    I can not even begin constructing a core to increase my drone limit yet and I doubt that GW-3N just so happened to know how to either. Not that it would matter since I doubt I have the required materials to make it from scratch. Maybe there are some more materials or a blueprint further down into the factory but that would require GW-3N to open the door.


    Sighing to myself about how Red might pose a future annoyance, I tell my drone to give an affirmative answer to GW-3N that they can stay as long as they help out around the factory. The spider does this by chittering in their strange binary-like language which GW-3N seems to understand as she thanks the spider.


    I then ordered the spider to get GW-3N¡¯s attention, which they do by using their front legs to tug on GW-3N¡¯s leg while emitting a beeping sound. GW-3N looked down curiously at my drone before realizing what they wanted as the spider in question began scratching at the door like a puppy who wanted in.


    I chuckle internally at the thought of a spider the size of a puppy chasing its non-existent tail while GW-3N walks up to the door and grips the handle. Then the blue robot unceremoniously swings the door wide open which I began to peer into the newly revealed hallway. The walls were made of the same kind of metal-reinforced concrete that the other rooms were made of but unfortunately the hallway was devoid of any sources of lights.


    This meant that anything farther than a half dozen feet away from the door was masked in a blanket of black nothingness which would make traversing here slightly annoying. This did not stop my five spiders from scuttling down into the dark without any hesitation, although I was not complaining since their joints glowed just bright enough to light up a couple feet in front of them which meant I could now see.


    Soon my spiders arrived at the end of the hallway where they were met by a door on both sides. Above the doors was a sign denoting that the door on the left led to the storeroom and the other led to the staircase. GW-3N opened the door on the left which revealed a, still unlit, room filled with a number of shelves and crates along with the noises of something scurrying inside the room.


    Peering into the other door, I could see two staircases which went up and down. Inspecting further, I saw that the stairs leading up had a bunch of collapsed rubble which blocked me from going any further. This left me with two choices, either to go into the store room or down the stairs.


    Deciding to explore the first floor before going deeper into the factory, I ordered my drones to move into the room and check for what was making that scurrying noise. As they entered the room, they were met by more than a dozen small rat looking drones which were rummaging through one of the crates. Then, as if just noticing my drones, the rats stopped what they were doing and began growling.


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    Then the rats jumped off the crate and charged my spiders who immediately braced themselves and prepared to strike back at their attackers. The two lines clashed against each other and it was immediately evident that my spiders had the upper hand against the much smaller rats even if they were outnumbered three to one.


    The rat¡¯s small bites and scratches did not seem to be strong enough to inflict much more than surface damage which was not the case for the spider bites which seemed to be able to disable or outright snap the rats in half. Their advantage was further pushed into victory as GW-3N decided to help out by stomping on one of the rats which caused the others to panic due to the fact that they had absolutely no chance against GW-3N.


    This panic soon boiled over into full retreat which was swiftly taken advantage of by my spiders who used their front legs to grab the fleaing rats before they quickly ended them. And with that the ¡®battle,¡¯ if you could call it that, was over as the last of the rats were either executed or managed to run away fast enough to avoid the death sentence by the hands of my spiders. Looking upon the carnages, I could see that my spiders had taken out twelve of the fifteen or so rats which attacked them while only sustaining minimal damages in most cases.


    The outlier was the spider who was fighting at the very end of the formation and thus had almost no support from their brothers in arms which had resulted in the rats somehow managing to cut something important which left one of their legs lying limp on the ground which was severely hampering their ability to move. Thankfully my spiders were able to patch them back up after a few minutes of repairs which was nice.


    Floating over to some of the destroyed rats, I could see that they had dozens of tiny antennae all across their body along with two slightly larger radar dishes which replaced where their ears would have been. Then, as I was inspecting the corpse of a particularly intact corpse, a description screen appeared in front of me which displayed in formation on the rat drones which were apparently called ATR-S or All Terrain Reconnaissance Scouts.


    The description stated that ATR-S were made to be cheap, mass produced, disposable scouts which could be sent in large quantities into urban areas and would act as miniature sensor beacons which would relay information to their allies. It also stated that their programming was exceptionally basic, not needing much more than orders to find an undisturbed corner where they could still transmit stuff, which meant that they took very little computing power to keep operating.


    These traits came at a cost however as the ATR-S were incredibly fragile and were pitiful in combat due to the lack of any sort of protection or advanced weaponry. The only military application that they could be used for asides from simply scouting was to act as an early warning system when enemy units moved near them.


    Having a few scouts could not hurt and the fact that they were cheap and did not take up too much bandwidth was further incentive to get at least a couple of them. With that taken care of, I was now free to begin snooping around in all of these crates which were sure to have at least a few goodies that I could use.


    After a few minutes of having GW-3N open various crates and cataloging the contents of them, I eventually calculated that the crates possessed a decent amount of materials which would certainly be helpful whenever I found the blueprint for a core which unfortunately was not one of the things stored in the crates. Welp, time to continue the search.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 5

    Slowly but surely, my spiders and GW-3N walked or crawled down the staircase which was pitch black asides from the slight glow that came off my spiders. The walls slowly turned from reinforced concrete into simply just hard stone, which I guessed meant that my drones were now fully underground. Along the walls were dozens of cables and wires snaking down into the darkness below before splitting off into the now visible hallway.


    The new hallway had a series of doors which lined both sides of it and, after peaking into a couple, they were filled with various electronics and spare circuit boards. Continuing down the tunnel was another set of double doors which looked to be much more reinforced than the previous ones although this time the doors were partially open already.


    Once GW-3N pushed the reinforced bulkhead of a door open, I could now see that the room behind them housed a large spherical structure which was contained within a shattered glass case. Near the strange sphere were a half dozen or so metal rings which were severely dented or even cracked in half, some being completely shattered with dozens of fragments scattered across their broken glass container.


    Floating over to the strange sphere, a screen pops up in front of me which states that this pile of broken machinery is a damaged core which required extensive repairs and replacement parts to become fully functional again. Along with this information there was a list of various materials which were required to repair the core.


    Those materials included a large amount of metals, more than I currently had available, and a bunch of electronic components which I could take from the rooms in the hallway. Then, I noticed a small button on the screen which said, highlight nearby usable components. Clicking on the button, the screen faded away and things started to glow with a bright light blue glow. GW-3N did not seem to notice the change however my spiders seemed to be able to, however they did not seem very surprised by the sudden change in vision.


    Alright, this makes things easier. Calling for any of my drones who were not doing anything too important, I began ordering them to begin moving the highlighted materials to the damaged core and to begin construction. As I did this, a couple more of my spiders along with the newly constructed ones began to move towards the closest of the glowing material and started dragging it towards the stairs.


    The ones who were already at the core began grabbing up the various scattered fragments and started to weld them back together with GW-3N catching on to what was happening and helped gather the various fragments. Then, while one of the upstairs spiders was grabbing a hunk of metal, some familiar rodent-like figure appeared from somewhere inside the storage room and immediately began charging towards the spider.


    That''s odd, I only remember three escaping but now there were four of them. Perhaps there was a couple hiding somewhere in the storage room. A couple of the spiders nearby were able to lend assistance to the first spider and soon the rats were taken care of again. With that in mind however, I decided to leave one of the spiders there to make sure there are not any more of those left in the room.


    Soon enough the majority of the materials were delivered to the construction site where my spiders worked diligently to bring the core back online. Above the core was an icon, not unlike the one which was above my spider who was being repaired, which stated that it would take around half a day before the core would be repaired back to functionality and it would take a couple days of continuous maintenance for the core to fully acclimate to its optimal settings.


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    Some time while my spiders were working, they told GW-3N that their assistance was no longer needed and they could go take a break or something which they did by claiming one of the rooms in the underground hallway which had been cleared out during the collection of materials. In this room, GW-3N seemed to have made herself comfortable, even taking the time to grab a chair or two from the main room.


    With the majority of my drones working on the core and the others hauling various chunks of scrap to the refinery for more materials for said core, I did not have much left to do aside from just waiting around. Then I remembered that I could build a couple of those new scout rats and so, using the little bit of bandwidth I had left along with taking a couple chunks of metal from the pile downstairs I ordered the construction of three rats.


    The three drones were fabricated surprisingly quickly, only taking a couple of minutes each, not that I am complaining. With them ready and waiting I now had a decision to make, that being where to take my newly constructed rats. I could try and have them crawl through the small crevices between the chunks of rubble at the stairs which go up or I could have them set off to explore the great outdoors.


    On one hand the rubble might collapse on the rats while they are crawling through them but on the other half of the things which had come from the outside have been rather hostile. The latter point was thoroughly countered by the fact that I only had two subjects to go off of while the former was only a hypothetical and might just be false.


    Eventually, I just decided to take the simple option and ordered my rats to exit through the front doors and to begin exploring the outside world. However, when I tried to follow them out of the factory, I seemed to hit an invisible wall which blocked me from leaving the factory walls. My rats did not seem to be affected by the walls and were curious why I seemed distressed.


    Reaching down to pet the rat in reassurance that I was fine I was sucked into the drone upon my nonexistent hand contacting the drone. Then, after a few seconds of nausea, I notice that the world seems a lot bigger than I remember and quickly I also notice that I can not control my body either. Then I realize that I am now inside of one of my scout rats as another scout looks towards the one I am currently inhabiting with a curious expression.


    Well this is weird. Is my first thought as the scout rat I am inside of begins moving fully outside and was immediately blinded by the brightness of the sun. Then, once my eyes adjusted, I saw that it was not sun but rather suns as my eyes laid upon two twin suns which were situated right next to each other. Well that¡¯s certainly interesting although I should not be too surprised. Those two not-so-cosplayers did say that I was going to be in a different world.


    Now that my eyes are fully adjusted, I began gazing upon what seems to be the ruins in the outskirts of a city as the buildings were much more spread out compared to the much more crammed together constructs in the hive city where I lived before I died. Still not quite used to the thought that I am technically already dead.


    Anyways, far off in the distance I could see what looked like the city proper which looked like an indomitable mountain from where I was positioned. Looking over the ruins near the factory building, I could see that they were grown over by grass and vines and from where my scout was standing, I could spot strange looking cats of various colors with large floppy tails. The strange cats were wandering on two legs rather than the traditional four and seemed to be exploring the ruins and some were even coming out of the sewer grates.


    My scout rats approached the colorful and a pale white one poked them with the dull end of their spear. Up close they looked quite cute and I was thinking about simply having my scouts following around the colorful cats.


    Well that was until one of them looked into the air and pointed which caused the strange cats to scatter and hide in the sewer tunnels and ruins while my drones stood there confused. Then the scout I was inhabiting decided that looking where the cat had pointed and the reason for their panic was made evident as my scout and I could make out a flying figure shooting down straight for us.


    Crap.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 6

    The figure in the sky, which I now could fully identify as a large bird looking machine, swooped down towards my scout rats with a predatory gleam in their eyes while the sun shone off of their metal skin. My scout rats correctly interpreted this as an obvious threat and immediately began racing back towards the factory doors while I regretted having my scouts move away from the factory in order to interact with those colorful cats.


    Evidently the large bird was faster than my scout rats as it soared down and scooped up one of my drones with a set of sharp claws. Up above the scout rat I was inhabiting, I could hear the sickening crunch before I heard the bird prepared to swoop down again. And so it did, this time grabbing the scout rat I was seeing through and lifting it to the air.


    My scout struggled and bit against the bird which, now that I looked at it closer, resembled a vulture but unfortunately it proved to be ineffective before the vulture landed on a rooftop of a building, raised my scout rat up to its beak and chomped. Then everything went dark.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    "Ugh, not again." I groan to no one in particular as my non-corporeal form struggles to focus through a headache which should not be possible seeing that I do not have a head but here I am. Eventually the pain dissipates and my eyes begin working again which allows me to see that I am in the same room that I had originally started in when I first awoke here.


    As much as that sucked, it''s good to know that I do not die with my drone if I am inside of them at the time. Still sucked though. I grimaced as another wave of headache pain washed over me for no particular reason. Eventually I got up and floated over to the drone works where I ordered up a couple replacement rats since I had lost two of them.


    Thankfully, one of the rats had managed to get inside the factory and the vulture thing did not follow inside. So, as reward for being the only one of its squad to make it back alive, I decided to leave the rat in command of the two newly rebuilt drones and told them to keep an eye out for when that vulture leaves and to begin searching the surrounding area once it does.


    With them doing their thing, I began roaming around the factory grounds, occasionally pointing out a chunk of scrap metal which I could direct my spiders to haul over to the refinery. At one point I made my way down to the still being constructed core, spotting GW-3N laying down in their little room, where I found that the core still had two hours left until it would finish.


    Huh, that''s odd, it could not have been more than a half hour since I ordered it. Oh wait a minute, had I been unconscious for a whole hour? With the implications of being knocked out during something important or dangerous fully digested, it further incentivised me to not look through my drones eye¡¯s in a combat situation. Then again, watching the robots fight is cool enough that I might want to stay.


    Telling that part of my brain where to shove it, I spent a couple dozen minutes just watching my spiders go through the slow process of repairing the core until I was so rudely interrupted by a message from those scout rats who had departed not twenty minutes ago.


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    Looking at the message, it reads that they had discovered an anomaly which I should take a look at which I was slightly hesitant to do with the last incident still fresh in my mind. Eventually I gave into my curiosity and slipped into my scout rat¡¯s vision and was immediately greeted with what was so easily encapsulating my drones attention.


    From the partially collapsed ruins of a particularly tall building, my drones stared fourth towards a several story tower which stood proudly in the sunlight. And, more importantly, on one of the sides of the tall tower was the same symbol which Red and GW-3N had on them. I began slightly regretting not stopping Red from running away.


    Welp, it¡¯s not like I can change the past. I internally sign to myself while ordering my scouts to keep an eye on the tower while they continue searching around the ruins. For a few minutes the less cautionary part of me decided to stay in the drones vision for a time, curious for might be in the rubble.


    Eventually I find my curiosity was not misplaced as my scout drones and I spot a glimmer of light emitting from one of the rubble piles. My scout rats slowly approached the source of the light and eventually we saw that it was coming from somewhere underneath the outer layer of rubble. Carefully, my scout rats dug through for a time before the leader, the one I was watching from, fell down as the ground underneath them gave way.


    Once the dust cleared, I could not help but smile as I laid my eyes upon the source of the shine. Covered in a thick layer of steel, with large hydraulic looking mandibles, and a set of six heavy duty legs was a robotic ant the size of a large dog. My scout rat scuttled towards it and I could see that the thing was not online and would likely be safe to touch.


    Then my scout rat¡¯s eyes began emitting a grid of lights which began panning across the ant¡¯s limp body. A couple of moments later and a screen spreaded right in front of me and on the very top of the screen read the Armored Carrier Arthropod.


    Reading further, I see that the Armored Carrier Arthropod, or the ACA was a medium sized low distance hauler meant to move large and usually heavy crates or other such containers. However they were extremely slow due to the extra compensators which were required to allow the ACA to not crumple underneath the weight which they were designed for.


    Additionally they were used as a strong defensive drone to protect from animals farther away from the hive cities reach which I could understand after all the same hydraulics which keep the drone standing under pressure can stomp onto an unexpecting wolf or fox. It also states that due to its slow speeds it can often be prayed upon if it is without an escort. Lastly it says that it needs to be constructed in a Medium drone works which unfortunately do not have.


    Well then, I suppose I¡¯ll have to wait until I can find a Medium drone works. Maybe there¡¯s a blueprint for it somewhere around here. Ordering my scouts to continue to search, I retire back into the factory watching the various spiders meander about.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later, once the sun had nearly set, my scout rat¡¯s reported that they had found something. Switching to their vision, I saw that they had found a factory section which looked to have been connected to the upper floor of the one which I had started off in. The connection looked to have collapsed down into a heap on the ground and it certainly would not be working anytime soon.


    it¡¯s not like I would have been able to get there seeing that the stairs up to the second floor are still covered in rubble. Nevertheless, there is definitely something within the factory segment and my drones are here to find it. My scouts scurried forward and soon found an opening in the wall of the factory segment and began to wriggle through.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 7

    It took a bit of effort for my rats to get through such a narrow hole but they eventually made it and found themselves in a room not dissimilar to the storage room in the factory which I came from with one quite important major difference. On the ground of the room were dozens of drones which looked charred or in some cases completely reduced to slag. What happened here?


    Ignoring the corpses for a second, I had my scouts look through the various crates for supplies and stuff but they found nothing so I had them inspect the corpses which led to the outstanding discovery that they were in fact burned. Looking around the room for a way out, I see the obvious thing which is the door, however my scouts likely do not have the mass to even pull the door knob down since the spiders had struggled when they did it and my scouts were less than a quarter the weight of a spider each.


    Then, I found an air vent which had a convenient little hole in it which my scouts happily climbed through. Continuing through the vent, my drones quickly find a grater blocking their way further; however, there was another path going to the right which they promptly begin moving through. Not long after the change in direction they find themselves at the end of the vent and thankfully it was already open.


    Looking down, my scout rat could see that there were a few loose crates which would break their fall so they quickly dropped down into the room. Looking around I could see a large box-like machine which was about the size of a tipped-over fridge with a conveyor belt coming out of the bottom part of it. My drones scurried over to the machine and upon close expectation, they could see that the machine had its internals ripped out of it and had some minor burn marks across its hall.


    Nevertheless, my scout rats began their scanning process and soon the description made itself known. According to said description, the medium drone works was basically the bigger brother of the small drone works and could fabricate medium sized drones along with the smaller sizes, although with a decreased efficiency. Unfortunately, the larger drone production capabilities came at a price as the medium drone works required an outside source of power to function unlike the small drone works which could rely on internal power collection for its electrical needs.


    Great, one more step towards getting those big ants. However, how am I going to get power for the drone works, I haven''t seen anything that might be able to generate electricity yet. Perhaps there¡¯s something further into this factory section. Ordering my drones to look out of the room, my scout scuttles over to the door and begins peering out into a hallway along with a familiar looking sign stating that the room adjacent to the one I just came from was the stairs.


    Moving up the next floor, my drones looked through an already opened set of doors into another large room which was about half the size of the main factory room. In the center of the room was a rusty beetle-like drone corpse which was laying belly down on the ground. Around the drone were the slagged and burnt corpses of other drones which surrounded the beetle as if they were charging towards the drone before they died.


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    I began getting an uneasy feeling which seemed to take root around the back of my head, and it was strong enough to make me order one of my scouts to poke the rusted drone. I ordered my other scouts to stay near the door just in case something happened and I needed them to run. I watched, from one of the non-sacrificial scouts, as my rat cautiously approached the strange drone corpse.


    As fast as I could blink, the beetle sprung to life upon the scout moving past the ring of destroyed drones and the top of the beetle opened up to release a tube like appendage, in front of which was a small flame. Seeing the writing on the wall, I ordered all of my drones to get out of there as fast as they could, unfortunately the one which I had sent to inspect the beetle was immediately incinerated by the beetle¡¯s uncaring flames.


    My remaining scout rats rushed back towards the room which they had dropped down from the vents and quickly climbed up onto the crates in order to reach the still opened vent. Jumping into the vent, my scout rats dashed back out and away from where they had come from and began making their way to the factory with one less member.


    With them on their way, I slipped back out of their vision and began thinking back on the strange beetle drone which had so quickly dispatched my unfortunate drone. It was definitely concerning to know that they could take down my drones so quickly so I made a mental note to not go back to the factory segment without something which I was confident in their ability to take down the beetle.


    My spiders certainly are not quick enough to get to the beetle before it begins torching them and I doubt that my new ant drone would do very well against it seeing as they were described as quite slow in comparison to my drones which meant they would have to endure the fire that much longer. To ensure that none of my drones enter that area I designate it as a no go zone to all of my drones who seemed more than happy to oblige.


    When my scout rats returned, I began ordering for their replacement members to begin being produced and told my scouts that they were to wait until their reinforcements finished fabrication and to begin monitoring the area around the factory and, more importantly, the large tower for any signs of hostile activity.


    Now that they had their orders, I decided to wander about the factory where I saw GW-3N making themselves busy by helping out a couple of my spiders haul some particularly large chunks of scrap metal into the refinery which was nice of them. Speaking of spiders, they were still hard at work on the core which looks to have around an hour left to go which was nice.


    Since the core was almost completed, I decided to pull a couple of my spiders off it and sent them on their way to begin constructing the medium drone works even if I did not have the power generation to operate it. Who knows maybe a convenient source of power will magically manifest before me. And with that I float about the factory, watching all my drones scuttle around.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 8

    Focusing on the drone which I sent out to begin construction on the medium drone works, I watched as it finished gathering the materials required for the construction of such a machine. Then, as the last of the materials were neatly stacked up near the construction site, from the spider''s eyes a hologram shot out which depicted how the medium drone works should look like. Then my little spider began the process of constructing the machine, starting off with its metal frame.


    Above the construction site the same icon which had appeared over the damaged spider while they were repairing the spider however this time it reported that the medium drone works would be finished being constructed in a hours time. I can¡¯t wait for this to finish so that I can begin fabricating those new ant drones. Thankfully this won¡¯t take as long as the core had, then I would be waiting here forever.


    And, as if on cue, a notification blared in my non-existent face which informed me that those repairs on the injured spider drone had just finished and they were ready to begin going back to work. Drifting over to the drone in question, I saw that the spiders who were repairing them were already on their way back to their original assignments and had simply left the newly repaired drone to get up on their own. Focusing on said newly repaired spider I watched as they slowly pushed themselves back off the ground and began looking at me as if asking what was their assignment.


    I decided to send them over to the spider working on the medium drone so that they could lend a hand with it. While they waddled over to the construction site, I began floating about the factory aimlessly before I got a notification that my spider drones had just finished construction on the core. Drifting back down there, I immediately noticed the difference now that the core was up and functioning as a blue light shone bright in the middle of the construct.


    Additionally, the various rings which were fragmented and broken on the ground were not encompassing the bright blue light and were actually spinning around it in mid air which provoked many a question in my head. How in the world can those rings float around like that? Whatever it is, it clearly can defy gravity and float mid air. Man if I could control gravity I could do so many cool things with it, like a weightless tank or something.


    Floating closer to the core, I simply stay there and watch as the rings spin around for a few minutes before I break out of the trance and focus back on what I should be looking for. After a few minutes of looking around, I eventually found an access terminal and so I began turning it on and looking around for a few moments before I eventually found the information button. Clicking it, I began reading out the core¡¯s description now that it is fully functioning.


    In the description it stated that the core was the most essential and integral part of an AI''s longevity and that almost everything hinged on the fact that it was still functioning. Its main purpose was to host the entirety of the AI¡¯s conscience and thus if it were to be destroyed so would the AI. In addition to its main function it has a level of administrative capacity meaning that it can at the very least shoulder the burden of controlling the various drones that it is tethered to.


    Additionally, below the description was a small list of various statistics which looked to be important, the first being that my administrative capacity was currently at ten percent meaning that I had more than enough processing capacity to construct some more drones. The second statistic was reporting that the core was pulling power from some unknown source somewhere further into the factory and I was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth so for now I did not question where it was coming from. The last of the statistics was also the most simple, being a report stating that the core¡¯s structural integrity was all green and that there was currently nothing that needed to be repaired.


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    With all of that taken care of, I began ordering all of my newly idle drones to begin going back to any previous assignments that they might have had or in the case that they did not, I ordered them to begin helping out with the medium drone works.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After an hour of nothing of note happening, I finally got a notification that my drones had just finished with the construction of the medium drone works. Finally, it''s about time they finished. Floating over to the now finished drone works, I made it to the terminal and began navigating through the menu over to the drone blueprints which I had available. Once I got there, I found the new ant drones along with another blueprint which contained something I did not remember ever finding.


    With my curiosity piqued, I eventually decided to put a total of three of the ant drones onto the queue along with one of whatever the mystery blueprint is set to construct. Once my various spiders began hauling the materials to begin construction on the first of my new ants, I realized that they took nearly five times the materials to construct compared to the spiders and, with some quick mental calculations, I discovered that this order would take nearly my entire metal stockpile.


    Deciding that if they required that much materials they would surely be worth it, I did not reverse any of my orders and so the slow process of fabrication began. The new ant drones took substantially longer to fabricate compared to the spiders and most definitely the rats however that was expected seeing that they were much larger than my other drones. After waiting for what I guessed to be around thirty minutes, the first of the three ants finished fabrication and began stepping out of the medium drone works.


    A hiss of hydraulics emanates from the drone as it slowly begins marching out of the drone works and onto the factory floor. The ant drone uses its short but sturdy legs to move a few feet towards my nonexistent form before they began to look up towards me, questioning. Interpreting this as a request for their first assignment, I simply order them to begin defending the factory by stationing themselves near the front door. The ant promptly moves to the door and begins their first shift of guard duty.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Not too long after the second ant finished, I decided that one ant guarding the door is enough for now, so I decided to send the newly fabricated second ant to begin using their hydraulic mandibles to start moving the large pieces of rubble which had blocked me from the upper floors of the factory. They made quick work and had already managed to dislodge a large piece of rebar before I got a message from my scout rats who had been patrolling the area in search of interesting things.


    In their message, they stated that they had detected several robots who had left the large tower and were now making their way towards the factory. In addition to the robots, my scout rats also saw that they had brought with them three quadrupedal drones of some description. My scout rats tried to get a closer look on the incoming robots, however the only thing they could make out was the fact that Red was one of the robots in the group. Unfortunately my scout rats were spotted soon after making that discovery and they were forced to retreat so they do not have much else to report.


    Ordering the scouts to make sure to discreetly monitor the incoming robots as they make their way towards the factory, I began to organize my drones and informed them that they should prepare for a fight. It seems that Red has decided that it is time to enact his revenge. They sure will be surprised when my ants tear through their ranks.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 9

    Drifting over to the main room, I checked up on the drone works and found that the drone works was just about two thirds of the way to completing the third drone in the batch of ant¡¯s and should begin the finishing touches within a minute or two. Floating over to my impromptu spider liaison drone who has been interacting with GW-3N the most out of all of my drones, I ordered them to inform GW-3N that we may have some company soon and that it might be a good idea to find somewhere to take cover and hide. As my spider drone scuttled away to inform GW-3N of the potential danger, I began checking in with my scout rats to see just how much time I have left before I would have to marshall my drones and prepare to repel attackers.


    My scout rats quickly notified me that they still had eyes on the incoming group of robots approaching from the tall tower and that I still would have a few minutes before they arrived meaning that my third ant should be able to finish production right as they arrive. Curious as to what the incoming robots looked like, I slipped into the scout rat and opened my eyes to look down on the group of robots quickly approaching my little factory base. I could pretty much immediately see that they were walking in a disunified scattered formation if one could call it that and at the very front of the group, I could see a distinctive and familiar bulky red painted robot leading the mass of robots. Red was leading the mass of disorganized robots in the direction of my factory base and the other robots seemed to be following their orders with the same apathy that I recognized from the faces of my colleagues and I as we followed the nonsensical instructions of our supervisors.


    As they walked forward towards my factory, I took note that most robots seemed to be carrying various improvised weapons like pieces of rebar and thick metal plates rather than Red¡¯s more purposeful club which looked to be spiked now. I also made note of the varying color schemes of the robots moving about on the street below my scout rats as nearly every robot had a different color from the next, although robots with the same colors seemed to be grouping together. Perhaps they are part of the same family. Wait, can robots have families? I mean they can talk to each other now so I guess nothing is out of the realm of possibility. Shaking that thought away and out of my head, I focused on the three quadrupedal drones which my scout rats had pointed out earlier. They stood atop four thin stick-like legs and had a set of large antlers which sprouted out of their head ready to impale someone if they got too close.


    They have moose drones? Seriously? What is with this place and having animals as robots? Putting aside my confusion for later, I focused on the sharp and sturdy looking metal antlers and hoped that my ant¡¯s armor would be able to take a hit from one of those mooses or else they were going to have a really bad day. Deciding that I have spent enough time looking at my encroaching enemies, I slipped back to the factory before gathering up all of my drones and began placing them in the entrance room in various defensive positions. Positioning my ant¡¯s near the door to hopefully tank most of the damage and keep the attention away from my significantly more fragile spider drones who I ordered to take up positions above the door with the idea of having them drop down atop the hostiles and hopefully sow a bit of chaos.


    With the positioning taken care of, I decided to float over to my small drone works and order up a couple more spiders into the queue with the hope that by the time that the battle was done they would be able to help out with repairing the inevitable damage that my drones were sure to take. Hopefully they finish quickly, I wouldn''t want one of my ants or something to shut down completely because I didn¡¯t have enough spiders to repair them in time. With that all taken care of, I and the rest of my drones waited for the moment that the enemy robots would burst into the factory and begin the battle, only pausing to let the third ant take up their position in the formation as they finished being fabricated. Waiting for what felt like minutes but was probably just a few dozen seconds, the silence was suddenly cut as a chorus of bellows and roars before two of the three moose burst into the factory and promptly slammed directly into my ant¡¯s who pushed back just as hard.


    Now that I had a few ant¡¯s to compare to the moose drone¡¯s height, I was able to recognize the sheer difference in height between my ants and these mooses as they practically loomed over my arthropods as they locked antlers with my ant¡¯s mandibles and began a test of strength. However, despite the size difference, my ants began steadily pushing the moose back out of the factory which was only punctuated by a few of my spiders who decided that this was a good enough target as they dropped down from their place on the wall and onto the backs of the moose drones before beginning no chomp down on the enemy drones neck. This quickly caused the moose drones to panic as they began backing up quickly and swinging their heads about as they attempted to shake my small but persistent spider drones. This state of affairs was not to last unfortunately as the third moose quickly ran up behind the two moose and quickly bit down on my offending spider drones with a swift crunch.


    Thankfully in that time, my third ant was able to swing over to the side of one of the moose drones before charging forward, positioning their mandibles around the neck of one of the moose before clamping down and snapping off the neck of the moose with a crack. The deceased body of the moose quickly crumpled down to the ground as my other ant quickly disentangled themselves from the dead moose¡¯s antlers right as I heard Red shout something from outside the factory. Not long after I heard this, two robots carrying those improvised weapons rushed through the door before stopping their charge as they spotted my ants standing over the remains of the moose drone which they had just taken down. I could faintly hear the muttered ¡°what the¡± from one of the robots before the rest of my spider drones dropped down from the wall and onto the two robots.


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    Said robots quickly started yelling nonsensically and attempting to scrape off my spiders who clung to their bodies fiercely with a couple even managing to bite down on the robots legs causing them to fall over face first into the ground. As my spiders did this, my ants charged forward and quickly teamed up on the mooses and brought them down with some effort and a fair few stab wounds from those antlers. Regardless this left the entrance to the factory open which allowed me to order my drones to charge out and begin the counter attack which they quickly complied to as they rushed out of the factory and towards the enemy robots standing around confused and panicking.


    As my drones charged out, I slipped into one of my ant drones to properly see the action as it unfolded outside. As I did so, I heard one of the robots yell out ¡°RED! You didn¡¯t say this place had ACA¡¯s!¡± This was followed not long after by a shout from Red containing a, ¡°There wasn¡¯t! Don¡¯t look at me, focus on the drones in front of you! Go on, get them!¡± As this most eventful conversation was taking place, my drones quickly charged out from the factory and slammed into the disorganized and confused ranks of the enemy robots Red had brought along with them to disastrous effect. My ants tackled robots to the ground where my spiders quickly disabled them from resisting before moving on to the next closest robot.


    Upon seeing how quickly their numbers were falling, a few of the assembled robots began backing off before breaking out into a full retreat, chief among them being Red to practically shoved robots behind them as they fled. However my drones would not let them get away that easily as my ants swung their body around and chucked a few spider drones at the fleeing robots who were knocked down to the ground upon impact. Sure a couple still managed to get away, however the bulk of the robot force had been captured with Red being one of them which I felt was a pretty good outcome all things considered. Ordering my ant¡¯s who were not significantly injured to begin dragging the captured robots into the factory, I began delegating my spiders to begin administering repairs to all the injured drones and, as a sign of mercy, any of the robots who were critically wounded.


    It did not take all too long for my drones to transfer all the robots into the hallway in the factory where they were lined up against the wall while a couple of my spiders who were assigned to patch them up tended to their wounds. I made sure to have my ants watching over the prisoners in order to ensure none tried anything while they were under my care and watch. This seemed to be more than sufficient in keeping the robots in line as none attempted to escape or harm my spider drones although they did seem hesitant to let my drones repair their injuries which I suppose is fair enough, they had been fighting them not a minute ago. As I drifted over near them, I was able to overhear a couple of robots who shared paint colors mumbling to each other about something.


    Floating closer to the group of robots who were discussing something, I was able to make out what they were talking about under their breaths. One of the robots was looking to a couple of their buddies to their left and panicky whispered ¡°What are they going to do with us? Are we going to be scrapped for parts? I don¡¯t want to die.¡± It was clear to see that the robot in question was scared to death and obviously flinched when one of my spiders began checking over their wounds to determine whether or not they required repairs. After my spider assessed that the robot in question was sufficiently intact and moved on to other robots in another section of the line, one of the robots who the first was talking to spoke up. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be fine kido. We haven''t been destroyed completely yet and it doesn¡¯t look like they are in the mood to chuck us into a refinery at the moment which is a good sign.¡±


    That seemed to calm down the first robot a touch as they seemed to stop shaking as much and began darting their eyes around marginally less which was better than nothing. A desperate person is a dangerous person. Another robot, which had the coloration of green further up in the line gumbled ¡°I for one did not sign up for this. I was told that we were here to take on a few feral spider drones and find some nice scrap to take back to the tower, not get our asses handed to us by ACA¡¯s.¡± This statement was met with a few agreeable gunts from a few other robots along the line and a fourth drone spoke up as well. ¡°I heard a rumor that this was all so that the prick of a chieftain''s son could get GW-3N back because he got rejected so hard that she ran away.¡± Huh, so GW-3N is a girl, I kinda guessed that they were given that they were slimmer than Red but I guess that confirms it. I¡¯m not even going to question how sentient robots determine their gender.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say that, he¡¯ll have you scrapped for parts if he hears that!¡± was the warning from the first robot as they quickly turned around and glanced over to the other side of the line of robots where Red was sitting at the end. ¡°And how is he going to do that? It¡¯s not like he¡¯s free to leave here either. He¡¯s stuck with us until by some miracle these drones release us or the chieftain gathers enough of the guards to break us out.¡± As the robots continue to converse with each other, I received a notification from my medium drone works which pulls my focus away from the prisoners. Over at my drone works, the mystery drone had just finished being fabricated and now there was a notification hovering in front of my nonexistent face asking whether or not I would like to enter my freshly constructed vessel drone.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 10

    "New drone available. Would you like to enter the Vessel Drone?"


    Looking up from the notification to the newly fabricated ¡®vessel drone¡¯, I found that the drone in front of me looked to be a large mech suit and was easily several feet tall with extensive armor plating and protective equipment. Inspecting the vessel drone which was standing imperiously and unmoving, I could see that it was incredibly robust with multiple layers or protective plating and thick looking hydraulics which ran through each of the robot¡¯s limbs. Speaking of which, standing firm underneath the torso of the construct were a pair of thick and sturdy looking legs which I could observe seemed to have multiple redundant systems to ensure that they would never falter under anything but the most dire situations. On the sides of the vessel drone were short but robust looking arms which looked to be able to take a significant beating without succumbing to the forces applied to it.


    As I continued to inspect the components of the beast of a robot, a floating description appeared close to my face and after quickly looking it over I found that it was detailing the specifications of the construct which stood in front of me. Apparently the vessel drone is a heavily modifiable drone which in order to properly function would need to be activally piloted by the AI in control of it meaning that unless the AI administrator in control of the vessel drone could split their conscience they would only be able to pilot 1 vessel at a time. According to the description, the general purpose of the vessel drone is to facilitate the AI administrators ability to interact with their charges and environment manually as well as venture out of their zone of control. As such they were equipped with a speaker in order to allow the AI to directly communicate to those not connected to the AI¡¯s Additionally this vessel drone in particular was an industrially designed one which is specifically built to be as sturdy and robust as possible in order to face the harsh dangers that working in a factory details. Yeah, I would know. If I was built like this vessel drone, I doubt that I would have been killed by that damned ceiling light.


    Reading further into the description I found that asides from durability, the industrial vessel drone was unfortunately not equipped to do very much else other than simple physical feats like construction and hauling. Well, I guess it could be worse. Being an absolute tank has its advantages when dealing with things like angry robots trying to get revenge. With that thought, I glanced back to the line of robots that had been taken as prisoners before returning my attention to the vessel drone. Now do I just slip into it like when I watch things from inside my drones or do I-. As I poked the vessel drone with my index finger, I proceeded to be quickly engulfed by the vessel drone and promptly bathed in darkness. Then, I opened my eyes to look down upon my metalic hands and robotic legs. Oh yes! Finally, I can move around rather than just floating! Ahh, oh how much I¡¯ve missed having a body.


    Taking a few moments to readjust myself to the feeling of actually being able to move my arms and legs again before deciding that I might as well use my newfound speaking abilities to begin interrogating the prisoners. Walking over to the line of prisoners, I could see that many of them seemed to be surprised by my vessel''s bulk and more were evidently afraid of my avatar which I suppose I could not fault them for given that the vessel drone was rather intimidating. Looking at the prisoners, I found that many were avoiding eye contact, minus Red who seemed to be attempting to bore a hole in my forehead with their glare, as if they thought that if they met my gaze I would punish them or something outrageous. I would not act like my former bosses and so I simply observed them passively. Now that I was standing before them and not actively attempting to battle each other, I was able to see that they seemed to have split themselves up into four distinct groups based on their colored markings which I presume denoted their jobs or something.


    There were the reds with Red being the only one making up that group, there were the greens of which there was 2 who seemed to be cowering slightly, there were three yellow robots and whom I remembered were the ones chattering about what I was going to do with them earlier, and lastly there was one blue robot who sat alone and seemed to be looking around for someone. Deciding that since they had so neatly grouped themselves, I decided to interrogate them in batches and so I quickly pointed to each of the three yellow robots first and said ¡°You three, come with me.¡± The three robots in question nervously looked at each other before getting up and followed me down the stairs to one of the rooms in the hallway near my core at the behest of one of my ants who herded them down and took up position behind them. Eventually reaching the bottom of the stairs, I directed them inside of one of the half dozen rooms lining the sides of the hallway before following them in and ordering my ant to guard the door incase they try and overpower me in order to escape, even if I doubted that they would be capable of that.


    The room that I had chosen thankfully had a decently sized table and a few dozen chairs laying around and so we quickly took up positions around the table with the three of them grouped up on one side and me on the other. Looking at the group of yellow robots who were looking distinctly nervous as they started to fidget and avoid eye contact, I cleared my throat before speaking up. ¡°Alright, I suppose some introductions are in order. My name is James, what is yours?¡± The three robots quickly began looking between each other before who I guessed was the eldest one of them given the slight rust on their hull spoke up. ¡°My self given designation is Patcher, and these two are Plate and Screw respectively.¡± Nodding to myself while quickly notting that down in my head if for nothing else than building up a rapport by using their names. ¡°Alright, I just want to clear some things up. While I am not particularly vengeful and thus will not be killing you guys like I suspect you¡¯ve been thinking,¡± Screw quickly glanced to Plate, ¡°However, I am still rather annoyed by your guy¡¯s attempt to destroy my drones and presumably capture GW-3N who is now a ward of mine, at least for now.¡±


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    The three robots in question looked between each other awkwardly before Patcher asked ¡°Will you let us go if we answer your questions?¡± I paused for a moment, thinking the question over. Given that they seemed to be less than inclined to favor red who I think is the main reason for them barging in here, I did not really have much reason to keep them locked up other than a potential bargaining chip along with red for whomever that chieftain fellow that they were talking about is. Eventually I simply responded with a courteous ¡°I¡¯ll consider it¡± which Patcher seemed to decide was about as good as they were going to get as they prompted me to ask away with a gesture of their hand. ¡°Alright, first up, what is with the different colored markings? You guys seemed to be splitting up based on your colors and I would personally like to know why, if for nothing else than for the sake of knowing.¡±


    Patcher seemed to be rather surprised by the question, I guess they were not expecting something of that nature but regardless they answered by stating that each colored marking denoted their assigned occupation. These markings went as follows, red markings means fighters and warriors, blues were maintainers, yellows were assigned to construction and refinement, greens were the designated scavengers, and lastly purple denoted that they were part of the leading caste in charge of making decisions in their ¡®tribe¡¯. As such, robots of the same color stuck around each other more often since they were coworkers and thus knew each other. Of course this is not always the case since the robots could be shifted into different jobs although that rarely happens. As I listened I nodded along, taking in the information as possibly helpful at a later date before asking my second question.


    ¡°Alright, so how many people make up your little village in that tower?¡± This seemed to make Patcher hesitate slightly as they considered whether it would be a bad idea to tell the big scary person currently holding them captive how many people make up their community. ¡°You know what, nevermind. I¡¯m not in the business of forcing information out of you guys, just tell me why you guys signed up for this expedition into my territory.¡± Plus I could just ask GW-3N if I really need to know what I¡¯m going up against. Patcher and their two buddies visibly relaxed upon my decision to not press for answers and quickly rattled off how they had been told that there was a cache of tools and equipment over here by Red and how all they would need to do is chase off a few spiders in the area. Apparently they knew what Red had been doing as of recently regarding GW-3N however the promise of having free reign of the equipment was a bit too much of an incentive for the three to give up.


    Well, I guess that confirms my guess that Red is the mastermind of this operation. Nodding in understanding, I quickly ran through my head for any more pressing questions before eventually deciding that none came to mind immediately so I said that I had no more questions and waited here while I brought the rest of the robots down here. With that, I quickly left the room and ordered my ant waiting by the door to continue standing guard before I walked up the stairs towards the rest of the robot prisoners. Upon reaching the top of the stairs and to the line of remaining prisoners, I saw that GW-3N had come down from wherever they had been hiding to look at the captured string of robots. They seemed surprised as they spotted me lumbering up the stairs, however before they asked who I was, I simply waved my hand and told them that we would have some proper introductions in a little bit before gesturing to the rest of the robots to get up and follow me down the stairs, to which they complied with some hesitancy.


    Quickly making our way downstairs, I sent most of the robots into the same room as the three yellow robots, making sure to assign a few spiders along with the ant already there to guard the door. However, I decided to separate Red from the rest due to their somewhat more important status by virtue of being the ¡®chieftains¡¯¡¯ son, however that is supposed to work. With that all taken care of, I made my way up the stairs once again before finding GW-3N watching as my spiders worked on patching up the injuries which my drones had sustained during the fight. ¡°Umm, hello. I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve had a proper introduction quite yet. My name is James and I am-¡± GW-3N cut me off as they said ¡°You¡¯re an AI right? I¡¯ve read all about you people, able to control swaths of drones and order them in-person from their vessel or from the safety of their core. Never thought I would ever be able to see, let alone meet, one of you!¡± I stood stunned for a few moments as my mind realized what their words meant before snapping out of it and simply nodding my head in acknowledgement.


    If they¡¯ve heard of AI¡¯s then there might be more people like me out there! At the very least I won¡¯t be the only one who can do the stuff I can. I¡¯m not sure if I should be excited or concerned. ¡°Well, umm, I¡¯ve already caught your name from some conversations that I¡¯ve been hearing. Nice to meet you properly I suppose, tell me if you need anything and I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± GW-3N nodded understandingly although said nothing, simply inspecting my form and presumably taking in the fact that they were under the care of an entity, presumably quite rare, that they have been reading quite a lot about. ¡°Hey, could you do me a favor and make sure that none of those robots currently being held down stairs try to escape while I¡¯m gone.¡± GW-3N quickly nodded in affirmation before walking off towards the stairwell, presumably to do just that. Good, because now I have to go and have a nice and civil chat with that Chieftain of theirs.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 11

    But before I venture into potentially hostile territory I have to get my guests situated and a suitable force mustered. I have one of the ants and its escorts lead the group of prisoners into the starting room where they will be staying for the foreseeable future. I also station one of the other ants to guard the core in case something were to happen in my leave.


    As for the rest of my drones, I send one of the spiders to start scrapping the corpses of those moose things which leaves me with myself, an ant, 5 spiders, and the scout rats. I might be able to bolster those numbers up once the scrap starts getting processed again but until then this is all I got.


    Speaking about scrap I haven''t looked at the drones that attacked me yet. Better do that before I they get scrapped. Walking to the most intact corpse I pull up the description for the drone.


    "The Multi-use Rural Courier or the MRC is the most common courier drone used in open areas. While lightly armored and armed they make up for it with their increased speed and maneuverability. Although they were primarily used to ship things between various settlements they were built to support modules and thus could be used in a variety of situations if fitted correctly."


    Interesting. Although not very helpful seeing that this is where everything is currently, that may change later. As I am finishing that though the one drone stationed to carry the corpses to the refinery tugs at the moose thing to little effect.


    "Oh yeah, you''re probably not big enough to do that. Well, I got arms now, might as well use them." I pick up the scrap with a grunt and place it on my shoulder while walking over to the refinery. Sliding the corpse into the chute the refinery greedily gobbles it up. Repeating this process for the two others, my supply of building materials return back to reasonable levels.


    Well, with that done I can now start the trip to the tower. Gathering my cobbled-together expedition group I walk out of the factory and onto the street. My scouts inform me that the tower was about a 10-minute trek from my current position. Following the instructions of my scouts my drones and I slowly make our way past the various ruined buildings and destroyed wrecks of rusted-down drones.


    As we were turning a corner my scouts hurriedly notify me that potentially hostile drones meandering about on the street to my left. Instructing my drones to stay back I risk a glance from behind the corner. The drones were roughly the size and shape of a hound and there were 3 of them all searching for something.


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    *Well then, I guess it''s time to find out how good this suit is at combat." I rush forward with my drones and reach a third of the way to the hostile drones before they notice me lumbering toward them. They form a combat stance and brace for impact, predicting that I would charge through them with my greater bulk. But I decided to surprise them by suddenly making a bolt to the right of the drones and kicking one in the midsection, caving in its metal frame.


    Then while they are distracted with me, my drones crash into the hounds and crushed one''s head in with a powerful crunch from the ant. The spiders riding on the ant quickly disembark and attack the final one with quick snips and bites at the defenseless drones. I put down the hound with a stomp on its head and the drone spasms for a few seconds before finally succumbing to its wounds.


    "Well then, that went better than expected. Great job guys. Oh yeah, scouts, mind marking down this location so we can grab the scrap on our way back?" One of the scouts in question messages in the affirmative and continues to do reconnaissance on the path ahead.


    With the short skirmish over I continue on the path with my drones quickly falling in behind. For the most part, the rest of the trek was uneventful, asides from the occasional spook from the bird things. Thankfully they seem to be hesitant about going after my little group, likely because of the risk of retaliation.


    It did not take very long to eventually reach the looming tower and as I make my way up the stairs to the front door I hear a yell come from inside the tower.


    "You there! Halt at once or you will be fired upon!" The voice announces from somewhere on the second floor. Deciding not to risk it I order my drones to stop moving as I begin to scan the building for the origin of the voice.


    "Hello, whoever you are. I would like to have an audience with the chief of this land. It seems I have acquired possession of something dear to them."


    The voice is silent for a moment, probably conversing with someone, and then yells back "Very well, leave your drones outside."


    Deciding worst case scenario I just make another Vessel Drone I tell my drones to be ready to leave if I am to be destroyed. After that, I stride into the unlocked doors and I immediately am faced with a wall of pikes and some sort of ranged weaponry pointed at me.


    "What is it you want and what do you have that you believe is important to me?" The lead robot a red painted, questions.


    "Well, it seems I have under my possession a few of your numbers after the apparent chieftain''s son attacked my compound." A few bots in the line shift as if realizing what I was talking about.


    The Chief held a steely glare as he growled back "What. Have. You. Done. to my son?"


    "Oh, nothing yet. But it would be a shame if something were to happen to them. Isn''t that right?" The Chief does not respond. "Shall we begin negotiations?"

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 12

    The negotiations went smoothly for the most part. In exchange for the hosta- ahem, valued guests of mine, I gain a large amount of scrap, electronic components, and a guarantee that the Tower tribe will not interfere with me or my future associates as long as it does not endanger them.


    When it came to the situation with GW-3N the Cheiften argued that she, as I learned that genders are infact a thing here, should be returned to the tribe since she was still technically a part of it. I disagreed and countered that she chose to stay with me so unless she changes her mind I will not be relinquishing her from my care.


    We eventually came to an agreement that if she says that she wishes to remain within my jurisdiction then that is final. If she does infact wishes to leave I am not to stop her and she will leave with the rest of the bots. On that topic, the Cheiften requested that he could bring a team of a dozen guards to escort their fellow tribesmen to safety, sighting the various hostile drones wandering the streets.


    Finding this to be acceptable terms, I agree and we set off back to base, although I leave the supplies there for now seeing as I do not have enough drones to ship it all back to base.


    For the first few minutes, it was quite awkward between me and the guards as they began to idly chatter with each other as the trip went on.


    Overhearing a few bits of random chatter about recent events like a few random sightings of drones and how someone in the tribe was found dating another. Then, a screech rings out from across the sky.


    Snapping my attention to the source of the unexpected noise, my eyes soon find purchase on a large flock of around a dozen those bird things swooping down straight for us. "Take cover in the buildings!" I shout out but to my dismay the guards seem to have frozen in fear.


    Groaning internally I have my drones form a sacrificial line between the guards and the incoming attackers. While they do this, I shake one of the guards who I assume was their leader, with the whole fancy hat thing. This seemed to disperse the man''s stupor as he quickly realized what was happening and immediately ordered his men to make it to the nearest building.


    The guards complied with this order without complaint as they burst into the buildings on our right. Following them I pull back my drones as they were about to be hit by the swarm of birds. Unfortunately, it was too late as 3 of the 5 spiders were snatched up and my ant received a few gashes but ultimately made it out. Hearing a cry of pain from behind me, I spot a downed guard being mauled by one of the birds. Before I could finish processing this my body went into motion.


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    I rushed forward to the guard and their attacker and proceeded to drop kick the bird in the chest. Not bothering to look at the damage I just inflicted I scoop up the heavily injured guard and bolt to the door. My drones make it in a few seconds before me and the injured guard and I slip in and slam the door shut just as a pair of claws collide with the newly obstructing door.


    I breathe a sigh of relief as I see that the rest of the robots made it back safely asides from the few glancing scrape or slashes. Then as if just noticing their mangled comrade I hear a voice from the crowd, "B3N!"


    As if having opened the floodgates all the other guards rush over to see what had happened to their compatriots. Another voice calls out "Captain! Do we have any repair kits? B3Ns injured."


    "Shit! We were supposed to get a resupply 3 days ago but it was redirected to another squad." The Captain responded with not a little amount of frustration in his voice.


    Deciding enough was enough I speak loud enough for everyone to hear, "Don''t worry my drones can fix him up." I order my 2 remaining spiders scuttle over to the injured guard and begin reassembling the damaged parts.


    There was a great deal of stress in the air as my drones worked, clearly because they felt conflicted about their supposed enemy patching up their fallen comrade. Most of the guards spent their time milling about and creating short-lived chatter. Occasionally one of them would open the door to see if the birds were still outside but every time someone did the birds would swoop down and the door would be swiftly shut.


    Deciding to end the current stretch of silence I ask "Hey, do you guys consume anything? I assume you would need power of some sort but I have never seen my drones do anything of the sort." Some of the guards look around at each other, unsure of who should respond.


    Finally, one decides to step up and says "We usually hook up to one of the batteries connected to the solar panels every day or two. Wait your drones don''t need to do that?" The guard looked perplexed as he asked the question.


    "I have never witnessed them do such a thing. The closest I have seen them do anything like that was when they lay down for a few hours before getting back up." I answer back.


    Silence reined for the next few hours as we collectively decided that opening the door just aggravated the birds more. Looking back over to the guard, B3N, and I''m happily surprised to see that the repairs are almost complete and that it will only take a dozen or so minutes. I relay the information to the others and they visibly sigh in relief.


    Deciding to take a look outside for myself I order my scout rats to check if the birds have gone away yet. Thankfully my scouts report that they have and that it is clear to head back.


    After informing the captain that the coast was clear now I carefully open the door and peek out. Seeing no signs of the birds being here asides from the mangled corpses of my spider drones and the bird drone that I kicked.


    Giving the ''all clear'' the guards and I, decide that we would rather not be outside for very long, and quickly hustle our way over to base camp. Upon arriving back I can clearly see that everything is still in order. My guard drones are still taking out the occasional rat raid, the core has not blown up yet, and the captives have not moved from where I left them.


    "Ahh, it''s good to be home."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 13

    While grabbing up all of the prisoners and leading them to the squad of guards I ask GW-3N the question of if she wanted to go with them back to the tower. Thankfully she say that she would rather not go back and wished to stay here with me. After that we wish all of them - minus Red - fair well and send them on their way.


    And with that, it''s just me, GW-3N, and my drones left in the factory. I decided that I should probably get back to work I send off my remaining drones from the expedition to go back to what they were doing before, which was slowly getting through the rubble by the stairs. Looking over to my current stockpile of resources, currently stored in the storage room, I have more than enough to make a few drones.


    Deciding to do just that, I put on queue 2 of those moose drones so that they could start shipping over our newly acquired resources from the Tower tribe and the various drone corpses I left behind. Hopefully, they don''t get attacked by the flock of birds.


    Checking back over to the rubble removal project I find that the drones are making wonderful progress and should be done by nightfall which should is quite soon as I left on the venture to the Tower tribe at noon. Unfortunately that all this rubble has not had much use for me since it is mostly made of concrete.


    Deciding that I should be doing something productive I start heaving up the larger pieces of the rubble and walking over to place them outside. My efforts seem to have sped up the process by a considerable amount as the ants crush the last of the small debris.


    Well then, it''s time for an expedition. Looking over to the selection of drones currently here right now I find that I have 2 of my ants and 8 spiders at my disposal for the moment. This is probably enough to dissuade anything from attacking.


    Ascending the newly cleared stairway, it takes but a few moments to arrive at the second floor. The room that I am immediately confronted with was large and rectangular, with the short side being the entrance I came from. Along the walls of the room were 4 doors split between both sides. On the opposite wall from the entrance was the collapsed walkway to the other section of the factory.


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    In the center of the room was a large pile of segmented drone corpses laying about which looked as if someone took a bunch of robots and broke them into pieces so they could become something that vaguely fit the description of a puzzle. Assuming this to just be some sort of waste pile which for some reason was not thrown away or repurposed and so made my way to one of the many doors lining the walls.


    Making my to the left most door I open it to find nothing at all. I stood there slightly confused before opening another just to find it empty as well. Continuing to open the doors I found that each one was containing near nothing of use asides from the occasional metal scrap until I reached the last door.


    I tentatively open the door, and to my relief, it reveals a ladder. Climbing up the ladder and pushing up the hatch I find myself on the roof of the factory with two things immediately in front of me. The first being a few rows of small solar panels checkered across the roof. The second thing was a tall tower that looked to be some sort of communications array which was unfortunately slightly damaged from lack of regular maintenance.


    Calling up my spiders, they immediately begin to do their jobs and start fixing up the array with the bits and pieces around the roof. Unfortunately, my ant guards seem to be struggling to get onto the roof so I guess they are just going to stay there.


    Inspecting the solar panels further, I realize that they are in fact still functioning and are sending their collected power over to a set of batteries connected to the rest of the factory. So that''s why I have some power in my medium drone works and core. I kinda forgot about that they needed power so I guess that answers that un-asked question.


    A dozen minutes of playing fetch with the ants, which they surprisingly enjoy, later and the spiders message me that they are done with repairs. Giving one last pat to the ants, I climb up the ladder once more and walk over to the tower. Looking around I find a cable that seemed to have been purposefully unplugged and a nearby socket. Plugging the cable in, the tower whirls to life and the radar dishes on it begin to shift and turn, searching for any messages.


    After a few moments of silence, I conclude that no one is sending any signals so I decide to send my own. Grabbing a nearby speaker phone I click the button to begin broadcasting my voice.


    "Hello Hello. Can anybody hear me? If you do please respond."


    Clicking off the broadcasting button I hear naught but silence in response to me. Trying again, I get the same result of nothing.


    I''m about to try again but a notification pops up in front of me before I can do so.


    "A hostile AI has detected your signals. Prepare."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 14

    "Shit" was all I got out after reading the notification. I quickly unplugged the power cord in the hopes that it might make it harder to find me. Grabbing up all of my drones that were not doing anything I send them out so they could grab up as much metal scrap as they could find. I also walk down to the drone works and set up a few more squads of scout drones and tell my existing scouts to search for the position of my new adversary.


    As I''m doing this, the pair of moose drones I sent out, return with much-needed supplies which are hurriedly stuffed into storage and with that, the pair is on the move again. Hopefully, I will be able to stock up on enough materials for replacements before the first wave arrives from the other AI. On that thought, I should probably start producing the drones now so that I won''t have to during a fight.


    Putting a couple of ants onto the cue, I save a chunk of my materials just in case they prove ineffective against whatever my new enemy throws at me. Checking on the rat scouts I find them on stand by and so I send them out to do their jobs.


    With all of that sorted, I walk outside myself and start helping my drones pick up the larger bits of rubble and scrap. Glancing up into the sky I find that the bird drones, which I''m going to start calling vultures, are hanging out around the nearby buildings that are less collapsed. They seem to be hesitant to pick a fight with me and my drones but that does not put my nerves at ease.


    A dozen minutes of scavenging later, the mosses are back with the next batch of scrap, and this time they grabbed up some of the wrecked drones. Realizing I never looked at the canine drones properly, I pick up the most intact one and pop up the description.


    "The Lightly Armored Skirmishing Hunters or the LASH are agile fighter drones meant to get in and out of fights slowly picking at their opponents. Due to their low durability, they are deployed in small hunter groups which are quite proficient at taking out singular large targets. Can be constructed in a Medium Drone Works."


    This will definitely be useful if the AI sends anything large. I put a triplet on the queue if that exact scenario occurs. After grabbing up the wrecked drones and hauling them into the refinery I go back to helping the other drones with the scavenging efforts.


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    After a half hour, my scouts alert me that they have found a large group of flying drones moving in my base''s direction. Hopping into the view of my scouts I quickly spot the drones in question.


    With skinny arms and heads and a large abdomen with short stinger-like spikes at the end of the lowest part of the body, the drones had a striking resemblance to a small swarm of hornets. With a quick scan of the group, I found that there were 8 of them and they seem to be flying in a formation of 2 scattered columns 4 long.


    My scout pans its view over to a building in front of the approaching hornets and in the said building was the same flock of bird drones that attacked me earlier today. They seemed to have created a nesting grounds of some sort in the tall building, to what purpose I have no idea seeing as they can''t reproduce. But that is asides from the point for the flock has taken notice of the incoming swarm of hornet drones and they do not look like they were very happy about it.


    The column of hornets continue their flight, seemingly having not noticed the flock of birds, and are slowly but steadily making their way closer and closer to the nests. The lead bird drone, at least the drone I assume is the leader because of the larger build compared to the others, seems to have had enough of the swarm moving into their territory like they own the place and screeches into the sky. This is mimicked by the other bird drones and soon after they all take flight and shoot straight for the hornets.


    The hornets shift to face the incoming threat and tighten their postures and pointing their stingers at them. But it''s too late at the first of the birds clash with the smaller hornets and seem to rip them apart with ease, taking out 2 of the hornet drones. Then the swarm retaliates by suddenly firing their stingers right into the flock, taking out 3 of the birds. Clearly not expecting such retaliation from the smaller drones, the lead bird squawks, and the other birds being to retreat. The lead bird then quickly sweeps down to the closest hornet and deeply gashes it, causing the drone to fall from the sky, after which the lead bird also retreats.


    As the birds flee the remaining hornets continue to take pot shots at them to minimal success. As the last bird exits out of sight the swarm of hornets, now down to 5, form up once again and begin moving in the direction that they were originally moving towards.


    This is useful info, useful indeed. Shame I don''t have any ranged drone yet so I guess I''m going to have to draw them inside so they are at ground level.


    Breaking the connection to the scouts I go back to work with renewed vigor knowing that I don''t have much more time to grab up enough resources to last a siege.


    I glance briefly at the few brid drones perched on top of the nearby buildings watching. Maybe they''ll help out too I think with a hint of hope in the back of my mind that I might not be alone in my defence.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 15

    "And that''s the last of it" I grunt to myself as I drop the final pile of scrap into the refinery with a sigh. My scouts have been occasionally feeding me updates on the incoming drones and after the most recent one, I decided to pull my drones back into the confines of the factory.


    Pausing by the door I survey the now cleared-out husks of once rubble-filled buildings which have now been pilfered unrelentingly. All that remains are the many scattered and crumbling walls that mark where there once was a building. I glance over to the significant pile of concrete and other such rubble that I have no use for. A pity that all this stuff is going to waste. I''m sure I''ll need it eventually but until then this junk is just going to stay there.


    Looking back to my collection of drones that were mostly milling about I decided to start setting them up. Quickly counting the number of drones I split my ants into 2 groups of 5 and form them into lines on each side of the doorframe to the main room. Grabbing up my 10 spider drones, I instruct them to use their climbing ability to place them above the door. Lastly, with the final drones, I hold them in reserve so they can help where needed.


    My scouts alert me to their position right outside of the factory.


    Grabbing a fallen metal desk I position it in front of me as a makeshift shield. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and then the doors burst open and the first pair buzz into the room. Immediately 4 of my spider drones drop onto the hornets with a thunderous "Thunk" in order to hold them down for my ants to finish them off. But before the ants manage to do so the next pair in line seems to have noticed the offending spiders and proceeded to impale 2 of them, freeing one of their comrades in the process.


    My ants hurriedly scuttle forward and chomp down onto the downed hornet''s neck, finishing it off. The ants and a couple of the hounds on the other side attempt to do the same to the freed hornet but unfortunately it seems that it had managed to fly out of their grasp. Thinking quickly I grab a nearby pole off the ground and throw it towards the escaping hornets and with a satisfying crunch the hornet is impaled by the pole and falls to the ground with a thud.


    Before I could celebrate the successful throw, a spike pierces my upper forearm. I quickly recoil from the pain, although slightly duller than I would have expected, and back up into cover. Risking a quick peak I poke my head from behind my shield and just as quickly I shoot back without getting a good look as another salvo of the spikes slams into the shield. Wincing from the pain I get up and stagger to the side, before the hornets are able to rearm, over to my ants. Ordering one to grab the lacerated corpse of the hornet I open up the description for the drone.


    "The Atmospheric Heavy Lancer or the AHL is a slow but powerful striker drone meant for long-ranged engagements. They were designed to be used as long-ranged support drones meant to aid melee drones from afar. Highly vulnerable to ambushes from behind or the sides and is ineffective against large mobs of drones due to long rearming times. Can be constructed in a Medium Drone Works."


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    Using a large chunk of my scrap I order 2 pairs of the new drones and I refocus my attention on the 3 hornets left outside. According to the scouts currently observing the engagement the hornets seem to have taken up defensive positions, content to hover around and wait us out.


    Then a familiar screech pierces across the sky and in comes the large flock of robotic birds soaring straight to the hornets. The hornets turn to face the new threat and fire a volley of pikes toward the incoming swarm. But this time the swarm has learned its tricks and quickly dodges out of the way before going back to dicing for the hornets.


    The flock and hornets clash and it is quite easy to see that the few hornets are no match for the substantially larger force of birds but they still put up a fight. One manages to fire off a random pike that finds punches in the lead bird''s shoulder area which causes it to fall and crash down on a ruined building. do birds have shoulders?


    But that''s asides from the point. I grab a few spiders and place them on my still-aching arm for field repairs as I walk out of the base, not bringing any other drones in case the flock deems them a threat. Scuttling over to crash sight to maybe find a very useful blueprint I clamber my way up the rubble and the head of the lead bird immediately snaps to my position. Ducking back immediately I start fearing that it will pull itself up and I will be able to do nothing to stop it from scraping me.


    But as a multitude of moments passed I experienced no such occurrence. Risking another peek I find that the bird is still staring straight at me. Gathering what little courage my little factory worker mind could muster I step out of cover towards the robotic beast. The bird continues to stare me down as I slowly inch closer to its head.


    And once I reached over to the impaled shoulder of the bird it suddenly screeched into the sky. Near immediately a half dozen birds break from the flock and surround me. I quickly raise my arms to try and protect myself but strangely enough, they don''t immediately attack. One of them hops down and points at me with its beak and then points to the spike in their leader''s shoulder.


    Hesitantly I walk over to the spike and put my hands around the spike and look to the bird for confirmation. The birds backs off, which I interpret as ''continue'', and so I grip on tight and pull upwards. The spike slowly makes its way out of the drone''s shoulder and the others do not attack which is the best sign that I can really hope for right now.


    The spike finally slides out completely and I set it down on the ground, after which I grab one of my spiders and place it in the hole. The drone quickly gets to work and rewires most of the components inside of the appendage but seems to be unable to do much more. Picking the spider up and stepping a few paces back the lead bird tentatively pushes itself upright and experimentally flaps its wings. Seeming to find it mostly working the drone lifts off and with the rest of its flock, who have finished fighting the hornets several moments ago, off into the distance.


    As I watch them fly off into the distance a new message appears in front of me which I curiously open to find something unexpected.


    "Relation with the Outskirt Arial Attack Flock +5. Currently 55/100 reputation. New screen unlocked Foreign Faction Relations."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 16

    "A reputation screen?" I ask out loud to no one in particular. After a quick search on how to go to said screen I finally find that I just have to think open/close foreign faction relations. The screen that popped in front of me was what could be compared to a spreadsheet with the names of factions I had encountered, current relations along with a small bar with some marks, recent relation changing events, and a scale of relative power compared to myself.


    The first on the list were the ''Tower Tribe'' who were, as a whole, not too happy with me with their collective reputation sitting at 40. Under the tribe''s name was a small list of sub-factions in the tribe which consisted of the ''Council of Elders'' which I equated to being the leaders, ''Tribal Guardsmen'', and the ''Tribal Citizens''. The council did not like me one bit with their score of 35, probably because I held one of their kids as a hostage. The guardsmen have a slightly appreciative attitude towards me with their 55 relations after I saved one of them, so that''s nice. Lastly, sitting at a solid 50 tribal citizens are uncaring about me, which is alright with me for the time being.


    At the very bottom of the tower tribes relation section was the lined bar, and looking from left to right, it showed the current status of the relationship. The marks went from sworn enemy to steadfast ally, and the little blue tick mark that represented the tower tribe sat around ''Uneasy Neighbors'', and their relative power was ''slightly inferior''.


    The next on the list of factions are the ''Outskirt Aerial Attack Flock,'' whom I am going to be referring to as just the Flock. With their reputation score at 55, their scale slates them into the ''Friendly Neighbors'', and their power is ''similar''.


    And last but not least,''Undetermined AI Core'' who does not like me one bit with a score of 10. The relation bar puts our relation at ''Adversary'' and its relative power reads, ''unknown''.


    *Well, that''s slightly concerning. * I close the screen and walk back into the base. Looking around, I realize that I haven''t sent my drones back to work, which I swiftly do. After the dust settles from all the drones rushing about, I see that the hounds, moose, and the newly constructed hornets do not have anything to do. Deciding that I do not need them anywhere home currently, I send all of them out to act as a patrol squad. With nothing to do with myself, I walk outside and start helping the drones bring the new scrap corpses into the refinery.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Hours later, around midnight, I get a message from my rats again. Opening it up, it reads that they have found the other AI base and that it was about a day''s travel away. Along with the message, they sent a handful of pictures of the base.


    The base looked like an old mining system with plenty of large drills and spotlights strewn about the area. In the pictures, there were multiple sets of patrol groups wandering around the compound. The patrol groups were comprised of hornets, which were found in squads of 4 and large 10 legged drones, whose two frontal legs were significantly larger than the others, which were always in pairs


    While my scouts were unable to get much closer without risking being spotted, this was still very useful information.


    Walking over to my Medium Drone Works, I order another pair of hounds and hornets along with another batch of 5 spiders. After I finish with that, I call back the patrol group and replace them with two pairs of ants with their escorts to be the new guards. With that, I now have my own attack squad, which is made up of 5 hounds, 5 hornets, and a small group of logistical repair and rearming drones.


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    I set off with my newly formed group along with some emergency repair materials towards the AI mining base.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A half day goes by, and the rat scouts ahead of me that are, well scouting, inform me that a pair of those other 10 legged drones and accompanying hornets are incoming. Looking around my current surroundings, I decided to set up my own hornets on the top of the nearby buildings and hide my logistics team far away from where combat will occur. With my canine squad, I moved into a building on the right, which was a little bit behind the hornets'' sniper positions.


    Ordering my hornets to hold fire, I sat down on a nearby chair that I thought could hold my weight and began to wait for the enemy to come to me. The chair could not infact hold my weight and broke after 5 minutes of sitting.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Another 15 minutes go by until my hornets on the roofs notice the incoming group. Momentarily, I hop into the closest one''s view to get a better look. The enemy hornets were slowly buzzing their way forwards around the height of the second story of one of the buildings, which was comparatively low to the current position of my hornets.


    The grounded drones slowly stomped its way forward, and zooming in, I could now get a good look at one. They were about as long and tall as a car but were twice the width of one, including the legs. The front legs, which were positioned slightly upright so as not to scrape the ground, were quite thick and could likely crush me. On the right frontal leg was a drill with the width of a small yoga ball at its base. The other leg was what looked like a jaw with blocky and thin teeth, which could probably fit one of my spiders quite easily. Now that I think of it, it looks quite like a crab.


    As the group moves closer and closer to my position, I order my hornets to aim for the flier and fire in 3 . . 2 . . 1 . . FIRE. The metal spikes quickly pierced 3 of the 4 enemy hornets, but the last one managed to dodge the spike that was aimed at them. Quickly, I hop back into my vessel''s view and order my hounds to attack the crab walkers. I and my drones burst through the door and begin to wale on the closest crabs legs bringing them down to the side.


    The crab quickly reacts to the sudden loss of its right legs and uses its right frontal leg as a support to keep balance. While it does that, the remaining enemy hornet fires a spike and nails one of my hornets in the abdomen, disabling the poor drone. The crab on the left decides to help his buddy by climbing behind the first and uses its left leg to grab onto one of my hounds and crushes it. The other crab then activates its front right leg, causing it to begin willingly and attempts to strike to the closest hound but misses by a few feet when my hound realizes what is happening and dodges.


    As all that was happening, my 4 remaining hornets were rearmed and fired once again at the remaining hornets and one of the crabs. The hornets manage to take the opposing hornet down and land 2 spikes on the previously undamaged crab body. Two of the hounds quickly took this opportunity and punced on the impaled crab with righteous fury, scurrying into the insides of the crab from the holes the spikes made and ripping up its insides. The remaining hounds continue to tear the downed crab apart, and I use my fists to crack open part of the drones'' shell.


    And with that, the ambush was over. Calling for the logistics team to patch up that one hornet that got hit, I also scanned the crab and pulled up its description.


    "The Industral Mining Excavator or IME are designed to strip mine long shafts of excavation sites and deliver the resources to specialized drones While ment for menial labor, they are still incredibly strong and could highly damage even military grade drones. The one weakness for the IME is that it is only armored enough to handle loose rocks falling on it instead of direct combat. Can be constructed at a Large Drone Works."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 17

    Well, this will certainly be useful. Looking back over to the team of spiders hovering around the damaged hornet, all welding on metal plates to patch the poor drone up. With another 20 minutes left on repairs even with 4 of the spiders working I decide to leave the rest of the hornets and bring the hound squad and one spider with a bit of repair materials to do some exploring in a few nearby buildings.


    Using a long pole that I found on the ground as a walking stick, I found a warehouse a few blocks away from the rest of my drones. Opening the doors, I am greeted to a barren room with dozens of crates, some of which were busted open or toppled over. Looking more closely, I see that many of the crates lids were forcefully opened, and subsequently, the crates were empty.


    "Clink."


    I spin around to find that there were 3 robots all pointing makeshift spears at me. My hounds begin to growl, but I hold them back in case it was a trap. "Mind telling me why you have your weapons raised at me?"


    "What are you doing in our territory?" The middle male looking robot counters back.


    "I''m just traveling by, now be polite and answer my question." I responded.


    "Not many drones are so friendly around here. Forgive the greenhorn, would you." A new voice answered, which startled me for a moment.


    Quickly shifting to get a good look at where the voice came from, I see a stout, male, reddish robot with a walking stick not unsimular to my own.


    "I may, but first, who would you be?" I greet the newcomer while trying to mask my surprise with politeness.


    "I am R5-7G, but let''s be civilized here. You three stand down," the likely senior robot said with a stern voice.


    2 of the 3 robots lowered their weapons hesitantly, but the one in the middle exclaims, "But sir! They are outsiders they cannot be truste-"


    R5-7G cuts them off, sternly saying, "And not all outsiders are evil. Some can be extremely helpful, especially in times like these." The middle robot reluctantly lowers their spear, staring at me.


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    I order my hounds to stand down as well, and I lean my pole on the side of one of the crates. "Well, now that things have calmed down, I believe it is time for formal introductions. Since you''ve given up your name already, mine is James. Nice to meet you." I hold out my hand.


    R5-7G grabs my hand and gives it a firm shake. "Well, for the record, I am instructor R5-7G of the Nomadic Pitting Tribe. But enough with introductions, I''ve never been a fan of those. What are you really doing here? Nobody wanders around these parts."


    "It''s a long story, but first, do you have any feelings for an AI who controls an excavation site for about half a day in that direction by any chance?" I responded.


    R5-7G''s body clenches for a second after hearing the description of the other AI''s location before shifting back to a more neutral position. "Yeah, we have a little history, so what are you getting at?"


    "Well, I activated a signal tower a few days ago, and it seems like they noticed and did not like it, so they sent an airborne attack squadron." I responded.


    R5-7G mutters under his breath. "So that''s why it''s been so quiet." Then he looks back to me "Well as much as I dislike that AI for what it did to my tribe, we are unfortunately in no shape fit to help you in any capacity."


    "Oh really? is there anything I can do to help?" I inquire.


    "Recently, many of our number have taken some amount of damage after a fight with an IME. Currently, we are searching for some repair kits for them." R5-7G responds with a hint of shame in his voice.


    "Here, take it as a sign of goodwill." I handed over a few of my repair supply boxes.


    "My many thanks." R5-7G replies with a sincerely grateful tone.


    "My pleasure," the repair team notifies me that they are finished and are prepared to move. "Welp, I best get moving. I hope we meet again." I say to R5-7G as I scoop up my pole.


    "Yes we," he gestures to the other bots, "Should also be going now. Best of luck on your ventures, James."


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Back on the road with the rest of the group, we continue to move forward to the AI encampment. We were making good times and would arrive around noon of the next day, but then the forward scouts alerted me of an enemy structure ahead. Hopping into the scout groups view, I am greeted by what looked like a cobbled together relay tower. Around said tower was a small detachment of a half dozen hornets, another half dozen scorpion looking drones, and 2 pairs of miner crabs who were doing their namesake and descending into stone mine shafts and depositing the extracted ore onto a small army of those moose drones.


    Around the excavation site were piles upon piles of rubble from collapsed buildings, with some of the larger pieces of debris being the size of a truck.


    And with that, an idea hatched in my head. Drifting back into my metallic body, I begin moving once again, but this time towards a new target.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 18

    After a few hours, the preparations were finished. All of the hornets were in their sniper nests with plenty of spare spikes if they are to ever need them. The squad of attack hounds are prepared to begin the assault with their hastily cobbled together scrap armor. And lastly the pair of moose and I are ready to ignite the battle.


    In front of me was the largest piece of rubble that I could find and could drag over to the ledge near the mining base. With it already placed in position, I patiently wait for the right moment to strike. And then it comes when the last of the 4 excavator crabs drops off the last of its load and begins to crawl its way back into the mineshaft as the moose drones begin to galop off into the distance.


    Ordering my moose drones to begin to push the large piece of rubble, I dig my feat into the ground and begin to do the same. While the help from the pair of moose and the immense strength afforded by the metallic body of mine, the rubble was still massive but did eventually gave way and with that it began to roll down the cliffside. Peering down to get a better look, I watch as the rubble smashes down onto the crab that was entering the mineshaft.


    Quickly ordering all combat drones to engage, I begin to run down the hill to aid in the battle. Looking around while running, it seems that my hornets have already fired. Evidently, I see about half of the enemy''s hornet division has been shot out of the sky. Reaching the current engagement between the hounds and the enemy scorpion drones, I finally get a good look at the latter.


    The enemy drone would have looked like a regular scorpion if it was not for its tail. The drones tail was sparking with streaks of electricity jolting back and forth between coils around the drones tail. And then, suddenly, the scorpion drone''s tail began to spark even more violently before a beam of energy violently impacts the side of one of my hounds, causing it to spasm frantically before going limp.


    Note to self, don''t get hit by one of those. Pulling up to the battlefield and quickly assessing the situation, I find that the fight is not going in my favor. 2 of the hounds downed because of the electric beams and the fact that they have taken down only 1 of the scorpions. Quickly calling over the 2 moose drones for reinforcements, I run over to the closest scorpion, who is facing the hound on my left, and crush its abdomen in.


    half of the remaining scorpion then quickly turned to face me, clearly realizing the true threat in this engagement. Well, lucky me, I guess. Then I begin to hear a faint whirling coming from the pair of drones. Ducking and rolling to the side, the beam blasts the area where I stood just a moment before.


    Getting back on my feat, I rush forward before the pair could recharge and fire again. Grabing the left most scorpions claw, I begin to bend it backward with all my might until I hear a "CRACK" as I stumble back. Twirling my newly acquired club, I spring back towards the pair and slam it down onto the undamaged scorpions head.


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    On the edge of my vision, I see that my hounds have managed to take down another one and are both attacking their last one.


    Continuing to wail on the scorpion, I briefly hear the familiar wirling coming from the other one. Dodging out of the way of the beam, the scorpion that I was engaging in melee takes advantage of my sudden retreat and takes at swipe, which lands straight on my chest.


    Reeling back from the pain, I stomp onto the dammed drone with all my might, crunching their head to the ground. Backing up for a moment, I rush behind some nearby boulders while calling my hornets for some fire support. Another beam hits the boulder that I was using for cover with a thunderous crash.


    Then I hear the satisfying "Thunk" of a spike from one of my hornets. Peaking out, I see that the battle is turning slightly in my favor with the remaining pair of hounds, duking it out with one of the scorpions and the reinforcing moose holding the other at bay. Limping out from my hiding spot behind the bolder, I move over to the scorpion fighting my moose.


    With the scorpion fighting the moose, it does not notice me immediately. I definitely noticed me when I smashed one of its legs with allies dismembered claw. Once that one was down and for the count, the moose pair runs off the help the other fight. But as I am about to join them, I hear a rumble. And then another. Soon, a third adds itself to the chorus.


    Off in the distance, I see that the rubble blocking the mineshaft has begun to fall away. Then a drill pops out from the pile, still active. I quickly order my hornets, which I unfortunately only have 3 left of, to turn towards the mineshaft and prepare to fire while I walk over to repair teams. Shortly after I make the small distance to the spider drones and place one on my chest, I hear the last of the rubble fall to the side as the 3 ramemaining crabs walk out of the mineshaft


    My hornets fire their rounds toward the enemy, and I can hear the spikes rip through the light armor of the crabs. But it is not enough, as the first one took 2 of the spikes before going down, and the 2nd crab was still holding on. I tell my moose and hounds to rush in and buy time for the hornets to reload before running in myself.


    The moose were the first to get to the crabs and took the brunt of the damage as one of the crabs started to drill into one of them. My hounds were second to make it to the crabs and started to focus the left one by chomping down onto its right legs, which was our left. I was the last to make it, so I dove underneath the crab on the right and grabbed onto the hind legs of the drone, slamming it with the scorpion claw.


    This was apparently enough for the crab to grab me up with its scooper claw and hold me up in front of it while I tried and failed to squirm out of its grasp. Then it pulled up its driller claw and plunged it into my stomach, and began to spin it up. Realizing that repairs weren''t going to fix the predicament I was in, the spider drone who was slowly welding my chest together hopped off of me and started to chomp at the driller arm. This seemed to annoy the crab enough to have it drop me to the ground as it crushed the spider with its claw.


    I curled up from the excruciating pain coming from my now once again non-existent stomach and waited for my inevitable death. But none came as the hornets fired the next volley of spike, all aiming for the one right above of me, which was getting ready to drill me to peices.


    Then, a notification sprung up in front of my eyes, "Vessel Drone has taken significant damage. Transferring AI conscience to the nearest core for stabilization."


    As my mind faded back to that familiar darkness, I noticed the other crab collaping to the ground in the background, and I smiled inside, knowing my drones were fine without me.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 19

    "Stabilization completes. Revitalizing AI conscience."


    I wake up with a gasp as I quickly open my eyes to find that I''m back in the room that I started in what felt like months ago but was only about a week. No matter how many times I''m going to experience death it''s still going to suck. Looking down I also notice that I am once again just a pair of floating invisible eyeballs. A notification pops up in front of me as I was about to begin drifting over to the main room.


    It was a manifest of all the things that happened during my stasis that was apparently 5 hours long. The list read "Enemy Mining Outpost claimed. Lv 1 Territory Map unlocked. All drones fully repaired and rearmed."


    A level 1 territory map? Wonder why it''s only level one and how am I supposed to make it better. I pop open said map and a light blue tinted 3D holo projection of everything that my drones and I have so far explored. Everything from the other factory segment, that I have been procrastinating about, to my newly claimed territory a sizable distance away from my Home base.


    Speaking of those two areas, they both were shaded in dark blue, which I supposed meant that they were my direct territory. All around the map there were various pin points which showed where various things of importance were. For instance, the Tower Tribe''s tower had a pinpoint right on the top of it, not that I would need it since the tower was almost 2 times as tall as the rest of the buildings. I could also see the positions of all of my drones dispersed around the maps.


    But enough of that, I look over to the Enemy Dungeon''s base, whom I am going to call MAI which stands for mining and AI. Over at MAI''s base, their territory was also shaded in but with a dark red. Around MAI''s base were a few other outposts not too far away from the one I took. I guess I need to start reinforcing that area soon.


    With that thought I drift over to my small and medium drone works and start placing orders. I start pumping out another batch of 10 spiders in the small drone works. Then I put in the order for 2 more moose, another 2 squads of 5 hounds, and checking on how many hornets I have left I put another 7 in the queue to round up their number to 10. I also order for my vessel drone to be replaced because I''m starting to miss my hands.


    While they are doing that I order one of my patrol groups to start clearing a more safe and unobstructed path over to my new Outpost.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A dozen or so minutes later most of those spiders are finished fabricating but the medium drone works is just starting to produce its third hound so I order the spiders to start construction on a second medium drone works.


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    Then before I start to wait again I realize that I should be looking around at my new territory. Hopping over to Outpost I realize I do not need to be in one of my drones or in a vessel while here. Well that''s nice.


    I float around for a few moments taking inventory on everything of potential use around here. There isn''t much infrastructure around here, only a mostly destroyed refinery, to which I send my remaining spiders on deck to repair, and a mineshaft with not much in it aside from the occasional ore vein that has not been fully extracted yet.


    Floating over the pile of drone corpses I do a quick look over before picking the most intact of the scorpion drones and pull up its description.


    "The Electric Beam Lancer or the EBL is a combative drone meant to fry circuitry in smaller drones while disabling larger ones. Due to its need to dissipate large amounts of heat after every blast, the point at which the beam it shot from is kept far away from the rest of the body which unfortunately leaves it extremely exposed to any sort of damage. Can be constructed in a Medium Drone Works.


    Hmm, disabling larger drones you say? Now that leaves the question of if I could make them mine. Hopping back to base to quickly add 3 of them to the still very long queue. The first squad of hounds are complete and the drone works is currently midway though the second so I send off the hounds to help defend the Outpost. Looking at the small swarm of spiders I see that they have made good progress and are almost done with the second medium drone works.


    After a few minutes they finish with construction so I have them crawl onto the backs and carrying baskets on the moose pair and have them be shipped off to meet up with the new hound squad. Moving over to the newly made medium drone works I shift over some of the queue over to it and away from the first which now has essentially doubled my production speed.


    Realizing that I have just drained most of my material savings I hop over back to the Outpost and am happy to see that the spiders here have recently finished the refinery over here. I quickly order some of the hornets to start shoving all of the drone corpses into the refinery for recycling. As they do so the spiders also make themselves useful by picking up the resource blocks and drop them into the remaining moose''s baskets.


    The scrap that was salvaged from the pile of corpses was more than enough to fill up the baskets of the remaining moose and have a bit left over for more emergency repairs.


    Finally, I check up on the scout squads and make sure that they are still patrolling the area so that there are no hostile drones sneaking up on us.


    With that all done I move back to my main base and start passing the time by looking to the sky and watching the clouds and occasional birds from the Flock fly by. Speaking of the Flock, a small group of their members land on the clearing in front of my base. Hopping into the view of one of my ants I watch as one of the birds then pokes at some rope-like material. The material then falls to the ground and with it a small electronic tablet.


    Having my drone walk over to the tablet to get a better look, I read from the tablet with a peaked curiosity.


    "We, the Outskirt Aerial Attack Flock, request that you construct a wing of drones to replenish our ranks. You will be compensated with a sizable amount of resources."


    Well this will be interesting.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 20

    Decisions, decisions. On one hand, accepting the request would be a great boon for relations with the Flock. On the other hand, I am already strapped for resources, and I need to finish with the drones currently on queue. Although they did mention that the Flock would give me a large supply of materials that would indeed bolster my stocks.


    Right about when I was ready to make my decision, a pop-up appeared in front of me.


    "Fabrication Quest: Construct a wing of 25 ASL drones. Rewards: 100 units of fabricator alloy and the blueprints for ASL drone. Do you accept? Y/N."


    Choosing yes, one of the birds in front of me pulls out a blueprint of what I assume are the ASL drones and 25 bars of metal. The front-most bird also pokes one of its claws into the tablet and, after a few seconds, shifts it over to the drone I still inhabit.


    "The rest of the resources will be distributed once our drones are complete and their controls are transferred to us."


    I have my drone nod in understanding, to which the birds reciprocate, and I pull up the description from the blueprint.


    "The Arial Swarm Lancer or the ASL are small but fast drones meant to attack in large groups by flying at high speeds and piercing their target with the spiked beak of the ASL. Cheap and quick to produce, they are often used as distractions or suicide squads to take down larger opponents. Can be constructed in a Small Drone Works."


    I guess I shouldn''t have expected to get one of the larger bird designs right off the bat. Hopping out of it and drifting over to my drone works to order up those new drones. As I get there, I see that the 2nd hound squad and a few of the reinforcements for the hornets are also complete. I send off the hounds to the Outpost like the others, along with 2 of the hornets, while leaving the other to guard the base. I order up the large group of requested drones on the small drone works before floating around the base, looking for something to do.


    I pass the time by watching my hornet buzz around and occasionally scaring off the random group of hounds. As I do this, I also check on how the ants and spider escorts are doing and the progress on the path clearing project using the map that displayed a rough outline of the terrain. Looking at it now, my patrol drones have stripped about 1/10 of the string of roads that connects to the Outpost of loose rubble and wrecks of rusted cars and other such vehicles.


    Checking back on the production line, I see that the description was not lying when it said quick to produce because it has only been around 3 minutes, and the 2nd drone is already finished. They were about twice the size of a brick, and with their disproportionately sized beak, they occasionally tip forward before pulling back up. They kind of remind me of pterodactyls if they were considerably smaller and thin.


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    Going back to wandering around to make sure that everything is still running smoothly I realize that even though I''m now running around and expanding my territory, I still have some factory to explore in the other wing. I grimace when I remember that flamethrower thing in one of those rooms.


    Looking around, I see that I do not have much of anything protecting my home base at all. There was only one of the patrol groups, one of the hornets with 4 more on the way, and around 6 other spiders that were working around the factory insides. Deciding that I should at least wait until more drones are available to start exploring, I begin waiting once again.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    About an hour later, the last of the quest drones finished and so I marched them over, in one of the ants again, to the group of 3 birds who were sitting perched onto a nearby building frame. As I moved close, a notification appeared in front of me asking if I wished to transfer ownership of the 25 drones to the flock. Answering in the affirmative, I felt their presence drift away and their blue hue faded, replaced by a light gray matching the flocks colors.


    After they fully transferred, the frontal bird singled to one of its compatriots, and they dropped the rest of my reward onto the ground. Then they flapped their wings and flew off with the smaller lancers following in tow. A notification pops up stating that I had completed the quest, and my relation has increased by 10 with the Flock. Nice.


    Moving back to the production line, I ordered the finished hornets to join their sister drone in guard duty. Along with the hornets, my vessel drone was finally being conducted, so I hopped in, happy to be back in a physical body of my own direct control again.


    Once again, walking out of the factory walls, I survey the current condition of the guards of my base. Currently, there is a pair of ant drones with their spider escorts and a squad of five hornets buzzing around from roof to roof. Maybe I should go and clear out the rest of the factory segment that I have been kind of ignoring.


    Picking up the ant patrol group and two of the hornet snipers, I start moving in the direction of the factory segment. But before I get too far, I remember that this would be a perfect time to test out the scorpion drones. Hopping out of my vessel for a moment, I get jerked back into the base''s influence and see that one of them has just finished fabricating. Ordering them to meet up with the rest of the exploration group, I link back into my vessel.


    Upon reaching the double doors that lead into other segment of the factory, the scorpion that I called for managed to catch up with the group faster than expected. Moving my other drones back, I ordered my scorpion to fire on the doorframe. The hum coming from the scorpion steadily became more and more powerful before the blue beam blasts forth and hits the door . . . doing little to push the door back. Instead of the large blast I was expecting, along with the door being caved in to allow easy access, I got a mostly intact door with an insignificant dent on it.


    Well, that was underwhelming, I think, but as if reading my mind, the scorpion shrunk down to the ground and let out a sad whine.


    "Aww, I didn''t mean it that way." I was just expecting something else." My attempt at comforting my drone was unsuccessful, only rewarding me with another whine.


    Sighing internally, I walk over to the door and grab hold of its handles, but as I do, I feel a surge of static electricity course through my chassis. I stand immobilized for a few moments before the effects wear off.


    Turning back to my scorpion friend, I pat them on the head. "I think I found a use for you, little guy."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 21

    After waiting a few moments, I poke the double door once again to check if the static electricity has finally faded away. Thankfully it had so I grabbed on to the door handles and with a wretched scream emanating from the door being pulled open. As I did this, some rubble collapsed through the opening and fell down onto my feet.


    Finally, after many chunks of debris fall onto me, I am able to create a hole large enough for my drones and I to fit through after we move the rest of the rubble out of the way. After we are done with that, I have the ants go in to make sure that there are no enemies in the vicinity. After they signal that the room is clear, my drones and I, save the hornets due to their larger frame and wings, walk in.


    Looking around, the room was in complete shambles with holes in the ceiling leading to the second floor, various burn marks along the walls, and a few piles of slag which I assumed were previously drones of some kind. There were two side rooms and another pair of doors opposite of the entrance doors. Moving to the room on the right, I found a small room filled with containers of various sizes. Looking through them, I found that most of the containers held some fabricator alloys and a handful of electronics.


    Making a mental note to come back for those supplies, I walk over to the other room and open the door to find a still functioning small drone work. Just by looking at it I could see that the drone works was recently used from the fact that dust on the top has just begun to settle. As I continue to examine the machine a new notification appears on top of it.


    "Convert Small Drone Works away from Ratling Scout Platoon. Y/N."


    Convert? Wait ratling scout platoon? Is that where those rats came from? Deciding that I would not mind gaining a free production structure I converted it to my control. As I do this I hear scuttling from the ceiling and then a large group of scouts drops on top of one of my ant drones. They are quickly dispatched by the spider escorts thankfully but I wonder why they decided to attack after I took their base, assuming that the one drone works was their only one.


    Walking over to the pair of doors opposite of the entrance doors I pushed them open and greeted with a hallway. Moving down it I find a familiar room that was where my scout rats once crawled out of the vents and discovered the medium drone works. Continuing on to the next set of doors I reach the room with the flame shooting beetle.


    Keeping close to the edge of the room I have my drones set up facing the fire spitting beetle. Ordering my scorpion to do its thing I get ready to sprint forward. The hum from the charging scorpion beam comes to a halt and then the beam of energy blasts out and hits the beetle right in the side. As it gets hit, the flame thrower part of the drone retracts into the safety of its carapace.


    Rushing forward with my ants following close behind I grab a chunk of concrete from the ground and slam it into the midsection of the fire spitter. This knocks the drone back and seems to slightly lessen the effects of the stun beam and it seems to gain some control of its many legs as it clamps down onto the concrete floor.


    Smashing it once more I realize that the armored shell of the beetle was incredibly resilient and that I have only made small dents in its carapace. As my ants reach the beetle they also find much difficulty in damaging the droid as many of their bites were struggling to find purchase on any part of the drone. The beetle attempts to fight back against the ant assault by having its flame thrower part peek out and it fires a few bursts of flame before retracting again to avoid the flurry of chomps that come soon after.


    Looking around for something to help deal with the surprisingly stubborn beetle, I see a crowbar leaning on a nearby wall. Quickly grabbing it, I wedge the, well, wedge of the crowbar in the small gap between each pair of legs. Pushing as hard as I could, I managed to dislodge the drone and topple it over.


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    One of my ants quickly rushed over to the, now upside-down, drone and opened its mandibles to get ready to chomp down. But then I heard a short burst of beeps which caused me to quickly jump out of the way and into the cover of some support pillars. Right as I do this, the beetle drone explodes violently and unfortunately one of my ants and its spider escorts were caught in the blast. Peeking out from cover after the dust settles all I can see the burt chassis of my poor ant and spiders along with the shell of the now evidenly fire spitting and explosive beetle.


    Sighing to myself I start looking around the room for anything that might be useful. After a quick check around I only find a few bits of metal and components so I start moving up the stairs to the next floor. Glancing around the room I could not find much of note inside of any containers. There were two doorways, one on the left side of the room and one on the right. Since right is always right I open that door first which leads to the collapsed walkway connecting to the main segment of the factory. Moving over to the left door I open it to find a small room with a few scattered chairs and a desk along with a computer sitting on it. Around the floor of the room was the occasional hole as I made a mental note to walk carefully in that room.


    I try to lighten my steps as I slowly walk over to the desk with the computer on it. Thankfully I make it there without falling through the floor and so I first check the drawers. In the first few they were mostly barren asides from the piles of collected dust that have likely not been touched in years. In one of the last drawers I found a blueprint snuggled under some various blank papers and empty folders. Stuffing the blueprint between my left arm I check the last of the drawers before making my way back outside of the room. I decide to grab the blueprint and pop open the description of the likely new drone.


    "The Self-Detonating Plasma Sprayer or the SDPS is a small, heavily armored, flamer/kamikaze drone meant to burn away small swarms of enemies and to detonate if overwhelmed. Due to their armored carapace they are incredibly hard to damage once deployed, although they are very slow due to the same reason. Also, most of the blast when detonated can be directed downward to the base of the drone which makes them excellent at breaching armored vehicles and or inplacements. Can be constructed at a Small Drone Works."


    Well that will certainly be useful when I reach MAI''s other outposts or even their main base. Walking back to the main base I order to have three of the beetles to be constructed on my new drone works on the way back. When I do get back to base I also order up ten of those swarm lancer drones on my other small drone works.


    After a quick look around to make sure nothing else needs anything else to be looked at I decide to take the three new scorpions with me as I start making my way over to the mining Outpost. As my drones and I marched, I could see some of the woodpecker drones that I made for the Flock fly around in the sky.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours of walking later, I see that the sun has nearly reached the horizon. Deciding that now would be a good time to find shelter for the night. Although my drones nor I may not need to sleep we still can be ambushed, doubly so during the night.


    Taking refuge in a nearby, mostly intact, building I begin searching around the structure to see if there is anything of use. Not finding anything of note, I head back to my scorpion in the main room, who are all sitting down in a circle. Taking a seat in the middle I order my drones to guard my body. And with that I hop out of my vessel drone and snap back over to the factory. Looking at the drones that have been completed I order the lancer woodpeckers to carry the explosive beetles and once daytime arrives to fly off to the Outpost.


    Speaking of which I hop over to the Outpost to see what is going on over here. After a quick inspection it seems that nothing much is going on. The hounds and hornets are still patrolling the area and keeping the spiders safe and the spiders have decided to start trying to dislodge some of the looser chunks of ores in the mineshaft. Not really going to complain, any passive resource gain is better than no gain.


    Hopping back into my vessel drone I look around to see that my scorpions are still fine and are continuing to guard me. Not really seeing much to do I just sit there not really thinking about anything in particular. I close my eyes and remember even with my ability to go days without sleep it is still a good idea to get some rest if you can.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 22

    I rouse from my slumber as piercing rays of light shine across my metallic face. Rising to a sitting position I find myself still surrounded by my drones who remain ever vigilant. Now fully aware of my surroundings I opened the door to the room that I had stayed the night in and began moving down the road with my scorpions following close behind.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Arriving at the Outpost around noon I find that the drones that I had sent ahead of me have already arrived and have been helping out around the compound. The hornets have joined the veterans from the previous battles and have chosen their sniper positions. The two squads of new hounds have decided to split apart and are currently patrolling the area while the two remaining battle tested hounds acted as the alphas of their respective squads.


    Letting my scorpions loose into the swarm I make my way over to my group of spiders, not including the ones deployed here from the transport moose. Opening up the build menu I order them to start making this outpost a more functioning forward operating base by constructing some basic drone production. As they begin scurrying around gathering materials for the project I start gathering up the current garrison to form up in front of me.


    It takes a few minutes but they all eventually get to their positions. Looking upon the strike group I count two squads of six hounds each, a sniper team of five hornets, a triplet of scorpions, a few scout groups of rats, and a support team of three mooses and the spiders who are riding on them. Satisfied with the amount of drones at my disposal I opened up my territorial map.


    My eyes drift around the map before landing on another of MAI''s Outposts which is due north and about a day''s worth of travel from my current position. My scouts have only done a few brief sweeps of the area due to its distant nature but from what they have seen, the Outpost is under defended which means it should be easy pickings. The outpost, from what my scouts could see, is located inside of a series of warehouses surrounded by a large fence. Oddly enough there was an abnormally large amount of holes around the fence which completely negates the effectiveness of it.


    Anyways after this outpost is taken there would only be one more and the MAI''s main base which are quite close to each other. Likely because of the proximity of the last outpost and the main base, from what my scouts have been able to glean, the outpost is heavily defended with a multitude of hornets, crabs, and scorpions. I don''t think I can handle that quite yet.


    Taking down my map projection I start making my way over to the far off outpost with my small army of drones following close behind.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    My drones and I have been marching for about 6 hours and dusk is soon to hit. The remaining sunlight is able to light up the path enough to where I have a slight difficulty seeing in any of the shaded areas but it was manageable. As we continue moving, I notice that the buildings around me slowly start to change from being a mix of residential and commercial buildings into most of the buildings being under construction with scaffolding scattered all around.


    I idly ponder on what these buildings were going to be made into before I start feeling a light rumble. Looking around for the source, I only find more unfinished buildings and stacks of more scaffolding. The rubbing slowly becomes louder and louder before it sounds like it is right on top of me and my drones.


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    Wait! On top!


    "Everyone scatter." I yell out urgently to my drones while running over to some nearby buildings. Many of my drones are able to get a decent distance away from each other but for some it was not enough as three something shoots out from the ground and two of them manage to slam right onto some of my hounds. The sounds of drills digging through the lowly armored sides of my hounds fills the area.


    My hornets were the first to react as they fired their armaments which managed to graze the front most ambushing drones and piercing another in the chest. My scorpions also charge up and fire on the enemy with three bright blue beams, stunning the two drones in the back. Last of the group to respond to the sudden attack, my hounds rush to their injured comrades and all rush towards the immobilized enemy.


    As all my drones are doing this, I move forward to some cover near the enemy so I may get a better look, which I do get. The drones had sleek bodies and a spiral drill which encompassed most of their face. On their arms were two curved plates that looked like old medieval shields that were split in half. Also their legs were little stumps that were barely two inches tall which would have made them kind of cute if they were not trying to kill us. Hmm. They kind of remind me of moles if they decided their face was the best of their limbs for digging. As I observe the new drones, my hounds have closed the distance and the enemy mole drone uses its large shield legs as a barrier in front of itself.


    My hounds, upon reaching the mole, form into a semi circle and start to move in to encompass the drone. The mole, realizing that it is alone, attempts to break out of the closing in line of hounds by charging straight into the left end of the formation. It moves with surprising speed, using its frontal claws to help volt the mole above the hounds that were about to champ down on its neck. As the mole lands it twists around and grabs onto one of the hounds with its claws and uses its drill to dig deep into the poor drone''s cranium. As my hound falls limp in the moles claws, the rest of my hounds pounce on the offending mole and begin ripping it to ribbons.


    While they do that my hornets have rearmed and now that the other moles are still stunned they fire on them. This time all of their spikes land their mark and hit the moles all over. One of the moles immediately falls over, dead, but the other mole regains its control and revs up its drill face and starts to burrow into the ground. One squad of hounds, realizing that it is trying to escape, breaks off from the main group and grabs onto the exposed legs of the mole and, with the help of one of the scorpion''s claws, pulls it out of its escape hole and they start to ravage the mole.


    I walk out from where I was hiding, as well as my spiders who immediately begin repairs on the injured, towards the impaled corpse of one of the moles and pop up the description description.


    "The Deep Magma Tunneler or the DMT is a mining drone meant to dig to the deepest part of the mines where most other drones cannot reach due to the cramped spaces and excessive heat. Thus they are smaller than most driller drones and are decently heat resistant. They also are equipped with portable shields to help with protecting the less armored areas of the chassis from collapsing tunnel debris or other such hazards. Can be constructed at a Medium Drone Works."


    "Nice, now I have something to mine out the ores in the outpost."


    As I close the description I find that my hound drones are finished with enacting their vengeance and my spiders would need a bit of time before they could finish patching up the injured. I set my hornets to begin flying around to ensure no one sneaks in and ambushes my drones again. Ordering my ground based drones to protect me, I hop out of my vessel and start the usual check ups on the home base and the outpost.


    As I look around I notice that my territory is woefully under defended when I leave. Seeing as I don''t have anything else to do, I decided that tonight I would change that.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 23

    Taking a quick inventory of the current drones defending the home base and the mining outpost. In total I am left with one and a half patrol group of two ants and their escort of four total spider drones protecting the path to the mining outpost from the factory, a small home garrison of hornets, and the group of woodpecker lancers and the three fire beetles that I sent to the outpost. In addition in both the outpost and the main base house a repair team of spider drones that technically could count as combatants but I would rather not have to resort to that.


    That certainly is not much to work with. At least compared to the attack party that is currently away from base. To combat the lack of drones currently on standby, I use another decent chunk of the stockpile to produce a batch of ten ants in the pair of medium drone works. Along with that I have the twin small drone works start producing two of the fire beetles and sixteen of the lancer drones.


    As their fabrication progress meter ticks by, I have the spiders at the base, with the help of some enlisted hornets, start to create a makeshift barricade in the cleared out area around the factory. Hopefully it will make it slightly harder for ground based drones to attack the base and also make them easy targets for my hornet snipers while doing so. Watching them scurry about grabbing the larger, rectangular, and sturdier chunks of concrete from the pile.


    Slowly but surely the C shaped wall of rubble grows tall enough that the patrol ants begin to have trouble climbing over. Of course the hornet and spider drones have no problem moving over the defenses seeing as one can literally fly and the other is meant for this kind of construction work. The pile of leftover rubble has shrunk from the size of a large ship container to around the volume of a decently sized bus.


    As the finishing touches were made by the spiders filling the smaller gaps with some of the smaller chunks, the hornets went back to work. I order the spiders to start trying to make a gate of some sort with whatever they could find from the farther off buildings that haven''t been stripped yet.


    Getting a notification that the drones in production have finished, I gather up all of the new drones and have them line up at the front of the factory. For eight of the ants I split them up into four groups of two and have them be accompanied by two woodpeckers for each ant and I send three of the groups to set up positions on the newly created barricade and the fourth I send to reinforce the path patrol groups slightly diminished numbers. With the last two ants I have something special for them in the form of their own personal fire beetle.


    As the said fire beetles crawl onto the ant drones I can see the nervous looks that they are giving me, obviously scared of their new companions on account of the latest incident that ended with one less ant.


    "Don''t worry guys, they are just to keep anything off your backs. And in the worst case scenario you guys just drop them off at a chokepoint and clear out what is left after they are done." This seems to ease the concerns of my ants as they stop looking back to the armed explosives that are now going to be with them for the perceivable future. As for the beetles reaction to the insinuation that they would be left behind, they seemed to not be bothered by this in the slightest. Maybe it is because of their suicidal nature or they just think they can take whatever is thrown at them but what ever it is along as they do not take down any friendlies with them they are allowed to think whatever they want to.


    I have the pair of ants and their new fiery friends set up inside the factory as a last resort and because I am pretty sure that fire is not exactly long ranged. And with that I can confidently say that they will not take out my core without a fight. Although, looking at my current material stockpile, it has cost a decent chunk of my current finances. Sighing to myself, knowing that it means I have to start sending my drones out to strip the buildings again.


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    Although I do have these new miner drones and I do have a mineshaft over at the outpost. Adding that to the list of things to do, I check on the attack party to see if the repairs are finished yet and I find that they were done a while ago but I was to focused on the spiders dragging a particularly large chunk of rubble at the time and I just ignored it.


    Hopping back into my vessel drone, I get back to moving through the unfinished buildings with my drones scuttling in tow.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As the sun rises high into the sky after another nine hours of marching, my drones and I are only a half dozen minutes away from the enemy outpost. I order the rat scouts to move in and check for any hostile drones before creeping forward with the rest of my forces after the scouts give the all clear.


    As I crest the hill, on which my drones and I have been advancing on, I spot the set of four warehouses which were positioned into a 2x2 grid. Wonder why out of all the buildings around in this district, why would the warehouses be the only buildings constructed. Actually never mind they were probably storing all the building materials there, at least before whatever happened to all the people.


    Pressing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I focus on the few drones moving around the outpost. From what my scouts could see from their positions, the garrison seems to only consist of a few hornets, a small team of 3 moles, and a bunch of spider drones because of course they would find construction drones at a construction site.


    The spiders looked to be moving in and out of the various warehouses ferrying around materials. The hornets and moles seem to be on standby and have taken up patrolling the area to pass the time.


    I send in my hornet team to take on their MAI counterparts while I help position my scorpions and hounds to get ready to fight off the moles. I hear the "thunk" sound of the hornets firing off their salvo and it seems that the moles heard it too as they begin to tunnel downwards. As they do this my scorpions start taking pop shots on the moles and on some of the spiders that started moving towards my position.


    Unfortunately the moles were able to get underground and I could feel the rumbling already as they started to drill their way towards me. Spreading my drones out we wait for the enemies to approach. And approach they did as two of the moles burst out of the ground and managed to hit one of my hounds in the side and graze one of my scorpions in the legs.


    My hounds and scorpions move in to engage in melee and do so quite effectively due to their obvious number advantage. While they do that I look around for the third mole and find none, but I could still feel the rumbling of the drill which meant it was not far. Wondering what could have made it not burst out of the ground immediately, my eyes landed on my repair team sitting on my moose.


    Realizing what was about to happen, I break into a sprint and rush back over to them. But it is too late as the mole strikes the moose in the side as it flies out from the earth. I made it there shortly after but the mole had already done significant damage to my drones and had destroyed two of my spiders before I got there. Grabbing one of the arms of the mole drone I fling it back, away from my vulnerable drones.


    The mole hits the ground and skits to halt by using one of its shield bearing arms to dig into the dirt and thus slows itself in the process. Attempting to leave the drone with no time to recover I rush forward once again and try to grab onto the drone''s rather smooth body. The mole rather predictably resists and swipes at me a few times earning a few shallow gashes on my arms and chest.


    I grab onto the nose drill to gain some kind of purchase on the body of the mole and quickly realize my mistake as the mole activates its drill and shreds my hand. Releasing my grip, I stumble back from the pain of the gashes. Thankfully the mole does not press its advantage but instead decides to back up as well, recovering its strength.


    One of my hornets seems to have noticed me struggling against the mole and decides to help by firing a spike into the stomach of the mole. I move forward and grab onto the spike and begin to hold the mole in place while slamming my fist into the top of its head over and over again. Soon not long after the moles head has more in common with a crater than a functional cranial structure.


    Dropping the corpse and looking behind me I find that my drones have finished off their targets with minimal damage taken. Looking over my still healthy units I grab up some of the hounds and hornets that are undamaged and start moving down the now mostly empty paths of the warehouses.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 24

    Advancing with my remaining fully functioning forces, I stop at the first of the four warehouses doors. They were large, about twice my height and three times as wide, and completely made out of some rather dulled plates of steel. I position my two scorpions to face the doors and have the rest of the group form up behind and on the sides of them. Once they are all set up I push the doors open with a heave and quickly rush to the side, giving my scorpions better sight lines.


    It is a good thing I did too as they proceeded to fire their beam tails into the poorly lit interior of the warehouse. While the light from the beam faded swiftly, it was long enough for me to see a glimpse of what was inside of the room for a moment. I managed to spot a total of around 10 drones, four of which were scorpions and the rest were a scattered group of spiders. From the looks of it one of the beams managed to hit one of the enemy''s scorpions but the rest of them began to give off the familiar humm that my scorpions released just a few moments ago. Realizing what they were about to do I ordered for my drones to break formation and scatter but it unfortunately was too late as 3 beams struck out from the scorpions in the dark, hitting two of my hounds and one of my scorpions.


    My four hornets that I brought with me fired off their spikes into the unlit warehouse and from the sudden halt of two of the silhouettes of dark red light coming off from the drones, marking them as MAI''s, I would presume that at least a couple of the spikes had found their mark. My hounds were next to act as they all at once rushed into the structure in search of the drones that dared fire upon them and their drones in arms. I ran forward with them, but due to my much greater mass, I only catched up to them after they had begun ravaging a spider drone that was caught out in the open.


    The lighting in the warehouse was poor, with only some side windows high on each side of the structure. Thankfully it was enough to see the general contents of the room which was full of crates of various sizes. Seeing a faint glow in one of the said crates I walk up to it and pop the lid open and I find a spider shivering in fear. Looking at it I feel slightly bad for it as it was obviously scared shirtless and was fighting for the wrong person, not that I could do anything about it. Or can I?


    I was able to convert that one small drone works to my side so why should it not work on drones too? As I begin reaching down to gently pick up the spider I hear a loud crash followed by the barking of a few of my hounds. I guess it will have to wait. I put the lid of the container on and locked it before rushing over towards the sounds of combat further into the warehouse.


    As I pass another pile of containers I find one of my drones stunned against the right wall. Turning to my left I see three of my hounds all teaming up on two of the scorpions. As I start to wonder where the third scorpion is, I dive into the cover of some nearby crates as a beam of energy pierces through the air and hits where I was just a moment ago.


    Thankfully more of my drones, in the form of another hound and a hornet, rush forward and reinforce the ongoing brawl. The hornet fires off their spike in the general direction of the one unengaged enemy scorpion but, from the look of it, the scorpion in question managed to duck in time. I really need to find or make a dedicated weapon instead of just picking up whatever it is around at the time.


    Sighing as I scoop up a few rebar poles, I take a step back before hurling the pole. Although I am not the greatest javelineer in the universe, through a stroke of divine intervention I managed to impale the scorpion that fired upon me straight in-between their eyes. With that, the engagement has swung into my favor considerably. And just to add salt to the wound, some of the drones the scorpions hit with their stun beam began to regain their control and joined the fight.


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    Not long after that, the last of the scorpions fell to my hoard of drones and all that was left were the scattered spider drones all across the building. Ordering my drones to capture instead of kill if possible I get a message pop up notifying me that I have defeated the garrison of this outpost. I guess there was nothing else hiding in any of these other warehouses. I wonder what''s in them.


    I guess this is the perfect time for now, I order a few un-damaged hounds to guard the captured spiders and I send everyone else to get tended by the repair team. With that settled I walk over to the second warehouse and pop open the door revealing much of the same compared to the previous warehouse. Moving over to the third I open up the doors and am greeted with a collection of drone and resource producing equipment. There was a small drone works along with a medium as well and in the corner of the building was a refinery.


    If my memory serves me right, the medium drone works need an external power source to function for any extended periods of time. Which means there is something that can generate electricity somewhere. Looking through the doors of the building and to the final warehouse, I could guess where it might be located.


    Opening the final door I reveal a generator along with a few small mountains of barrels. Taking a look into the barrels I find a faintly yellow substance residing inside them. Inspecting the generator a description pops up in front of it stating that it was a chemfuel powered generator. I guess that''s what is in the barrels. Taking a look at the piles of said barrels, I see that I have a decent supplement of chemfuel which will probably last me for quite a while.


    Deciding that I did not need to start up production anytime soon, I left the generator be for now. Walking out of the warehouse, my eyes land on the batch of six spiders. Wait,weren''t there seven before? Then I spot the mangled corpses of a spider around a half dozen feet away from the rest of the bunch. Well that explains it.


    Stepping towards the imprisoned drones, that were still being dutifully guarded by a couple of hounds, many scuttle as far away as they could before their captors began to growl causing them all to freeze. "Hey guys, I''m not here to hurt you, I''m going to cut you all a deal," A few relax a smidge when they hear me say that I wouldn''t hurt them but most still huddled together and looked back with a fair amount of skepticism. "I guess that''s fair, I did shut down your scorpion cousins. But that aside, I offer that you can join us or I will let you free on the condition that you give up your ties to my enemy."


    I draw a line in the middle of the group, "If you wish to join me then step on the left side, if you wish to be let out into the wilds than move to the right." A pair of drones begin to hesitantly step to the left but are then attacked by 3 their seemingly more zealous brothers and or sisters. I quickly grab the three aggressor and place them away from the group and have my hornets quickly end them.


    Once I finish with that I see the remaining spider drones have decided on their fate. The two spiders that decided joining me were better or the threeish options have stepped on the left side and their glowing joints have turned blue that matched the rest of my drones. The last drone had stepped to the left without me noticing and their joints had turned into a neutral gray.


    Keeping my word I pick up the gray spider and release them into the wild. Hey, maybe they''ll start their own spider colony I jokingly think to myself. I have the turncoat spiders join the others and as they begin to mingle I notice that the turncoat drones are made of a slightly darker metal.


    Then a notification pops up stating that I gained a new skill. Expanding the pop up, I see what it was referring to.


    "New skill gained: Minor Drone Conversion. Have a 25% chance to successfully convert a captured small drone."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 25

    I release all of my drones from my direct command and so they all disperse to perform their designated duties. The hornets find vantage points while the hounds begin patrols. The spiders spread out and handle various repairs with their carrier moose in tow. Lastly the scorpions help out with smelting down the robotic corpses strewn all around the newly conquered outpost.


    While they all do this, I hop out of my vessel and begin my usual checkups on all of my compounds. The main base is still doing well, the spiders have managed to scrounge up enough scrap to make those gates I requested and have started improving the ''walls'' with some supports to help keep the clumps of loose concrete chunks together. The garrison have been fighting off the occasional group of enraged hounds without much difficulty due to the fact that many of their number could fly while the rabid hounds could not.


    Moving on to the mining outpost I could see that it was going less well due to the substantially reduced number of defenders stationed there, not to mention the nonexistent fortifications in place. There was only the ten woodpecker drones and a triplet of fire beetles stationed there which would likely last only a dozen minutes if engaged by any large group of MAI forces. Thankfully, for the most part, the outpost had made it out without to many losses, having only had a few of their woodpecker lancers get picked off while they patrolled near taller buildings. The fire beetles have proven themselves quite capable in combat, although there were many times where they nearly resorted to self destruction before they were reinforced by their arial companions.


    Checking on my current stash of resources in my main base I could see that it was still reeling from the last time I dipped into it but thankfully it had at the very least one more burst of drone production left in it before it would run dry. With that out of the way I ordered up a pair of mole drillers and another wing of five hornets, along with a spare moose to ferry resources back to base and a few replacement woodpeckers. As I order up the last of the needed drones, notification pops up and states that I am beginning to reach my administrative capacity.


    Moving back to my base and more specifically my core, I find that I am indeed nearly at my maximum drone limit. Would building a second core fix that? Or is there a way I could upgrade my core? Checking both options, I find that I can do both if I so choose. Sure upgrading is a bit more expensive and likely more efficient, straight up building another core is considerably faster for whatever reason as it would only take around half a day compared to the two it would take to . Seeing as I will not need many more drones anytime soon, I go and have my spider drones begin working on improving the core.


    Which begs the question, can my other structures be upgraded as well? Experimentally I open up the description of one of my small drone works and sure enough I see the upgrade button, although it was grayed out. Then as I look at the upgrade button more, something pops up in front of it saying that I need a level two core to upgrade the small drone works, which is a shame but not entirely unexpected.


    deciding that for now my work here is done, I slide back into my vessel drone and begin wandering around, helping out wherever I can to pass the time.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Around two hours later, all of the reinforcing drones destined for the mining outpost have finished being fabricated and have begun making their way over to the outpost. After seeing all of them off, I hop back into my vessel drone and begin wandering around. Not seeing much to do, I resign myself to the duty of helping the scorpions with hauling the various drone corpses and clearing rubble off the various central paths.


    As I continue working around the outpost, one of my far off rat scout teams reports that they have detected another attack group moving towards the mining outpost. According to them, the force is made up of three pairs of crab walkers, a dozen hornets, a fireteam of five scorpions, and eight hounds. Shit. I can''t catch a break for the life of me. Thankfully my scouts report that it will take an upwards of a day and a half until they reach the outpost giving me ample time to prepare.


    Dropping the chunk of loose debris, I order all of my drones to rally on me. Once they all gather around, I leave one of the scorpions and a few hounds behind to hold down the fort while we are gone as I start the machine back towards the mining outpost with my remaining retinue. Although before that I did send off my spider drones to fill up their moose transports with some various electrical components and alloys found around the warehouses.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A day of near constant marching later, and we arrive at the hilly exterior of the mining outpost. Entering the outpost proper, I see that the reinforcements have arrived around a half day ago and have already set up a few defensive measures without my instructions. The ingenuitive buggers have set up various defensive emplacements ranging from small peek holes in various buildings perfect for hornet ambushes, to pitfall traps with dozens of sharpened spikes arrayed in each and every one of them.


    While the clever drones were doing that, the more ingenuative of their number spent a while drilling out a decent chunk of ores which were promptly smelted down into the much needed ingots for reinforcements, even if they were of the smaller variety. Deciding it was better to use up the materials now instead of having to wait for everything to be fabricated in the thick of battle, I ordered up another batch of five woodpecker lancers and a couple more of those fire beetles just in case I needed a bit more punch.


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    I do a quick head count of all the drones I currently have here on standby. At this moment I have a squad of five hounds, fifteen hornets, two scorpions, a swarm of soon to be fifteen woodpeckers, three fire beetles with another two on the way, and a pair of moles. At least our forces are somewhat evenly matched.


    I start to disperse my drones to their defensive positions and once I finish with all that I begin to help out the leftover non-combatant drones set up a few more traps.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Another few hours later and my scouts report to me that the incoming drones are nearly upon us. Deciding to hop into the view of one of my said scouts, I have my drone face the approaching enemy drones as they march closer and closer to the web of meticulously constructed traps. Then one of their forward vanguard hounds steps onto a loose pile of rubble off the side of the road and promptly falls through the pitfall trap. I hear the thud of the poor drone all the way from the little viewing stand my scout rat is watching this all occur from.


    The enemy formation seemed to realize what had just happened as they began to send in a few of their repair spiders. The poor sacrificial drones step around the road in search of the traps hidden, and eventually they find one but in the process activates it. They did not even have the chance to run as a few drones in a nearby building dropped a large chunk of rubble straight onto one of the spiders, crushing it instantly. Well that was kinda a waste, I think to myself wistfully, I was hoping to hit one of the crabs with that one.


    But alas, the spiders continued on activating many of the prepared traps, sacrificing themselves in the process. Slowly but surely the main group of enemy drones shuffled forward getting ever so closer to my outpost. As their main cluster of drones reached the outskirts of the outpost clearing, my drones struck. Hornets fired off their salvo into the exposed sides of the enemy formation from the cover of various buildings, taking down a half dozen enemy hornets and damaging two of the back line crabs. Hounds charged forward and clashed with their counterparts in a bloody melee downing one of their opposing hounds immediately. Scorpions disabled a couple of the frontmost crabs with their stun beams. Woodpecker lancers swept through the air and picked off whatever was unguarded and exposed, managing to down another two hornets. And lastly, deadly fire flowed forth from the beatles strategically positioned underneath debris, hitting the moles that were beginning to burrow underground though to little success.


    The enemy were quick to react as their own hornets fired down upon anything they could lock onto. A couple of my hounds were hit and as well were a few of my hornets unfortunately. Due to the loss of nearly half of the hounds, the ground engagement was going less than favorably. My hounds were beginning to be pushed back by their bow''s slightly more numerous opponents. The only thing that was keeping my drones from being completely overwhelmed was the fact that the stunned crabs were stopping the others from moving forward.


    Thankfully some support in the form of my swarm of woodpeckers that slammed into the undefined sides of the enemy hounds. My hounds quickly take advantage of the distraction and successfully bring down the few enemies that were not downed from the initial charge made by their bird support. As they do this, the stunned crabs begin to regain their motor function and start to advance all while swinging their large claws around, attempting to hit anything they could catch. They managed to hit a few of my drones but it was quite effective at forcing my lancers to keep their distance.


    This did not deter my hornets from firing another salvo of spiky bolts into the enemy hornets and crabs. The hornets managed to down another three hornets as well as finish off the back most crab. Back over at the ensuing melee, my scorpions have decided that recharging their beams was taking too long and have joined their hound brothers. With this support my hounds finish off the last of their opponents and disengage.


    Right on time too because as they began to retreat the two forward crabs pushed forward and slammed their claws into the ground and then fling debris all across the battlefield, hitting my retreating hounds and scorpions and flinging a few of my beetles off from their positions. Thankfully all but one beetle managed to get out from under the rubble but as they did, one of my scorpions was drilled into by one of the crabs.


    To make matters worse, the three moles have split up and dug into some of the buildings that my hornets are hiding out in. I send over my own two moles to try and protect my exposed hornets but there are two many of them and so one of the enemy moles hunts down all of my hornets in the building. They were defenseless while they were rearming compared to the mole who easily took down two of my hornets before being pierced by the third who rearmed and fired their spike into the moles chest.


    Now that just leaves the crabs.


    My eleven - minus the one who shot the mole - remaining hornets take down the front most crab with their amassed fire. My woodpeckers all swooped into the back most crab, which was too distracted with finding where the hornets fire was coming from, and used the holes the spikes made to slice the crabs insides apart.


    The final crab decided that the hornets were its priority and thus started to swing its gigantic claws and slammed them into the nearby buildings. This managed to hit three of my hornets as swaths of rubble were cast out onto the street.


    As the crab was doing this, it did not notice one of the fire beetles crawl up and onto the belly of the crab. Then the beetle clamped down onto the crab and detonated its charge. A loud bang sounded off which was followed by the crab tipping over to the side and exposing the damage the beetle managed to do. There was now a small hole in the crab and inside said hole was the electronic guts which were all lit on fire and with various pieces of shrapnel lodged into it.


    All of my drones lifted up their appendages or equivalent and I decided to join the chorus of cheers.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 26

    As my drones begin to disperse across the outpost I hop out of the scout that I had been inhabiting during the battle. I watch as my repair spiders start welding back together all of the damaged drones with practiced precision. Deciding to check up on everything before I hop back into my vessel drone, I float around the outpost looking for anything that might need my attention.


    For the most part everything looked fine in the mining outpost and, after a quick check, the other outpost was doing alright as well. With those two done I move over to the main base. As I float around the factory grounds searching for anything out of the ordinary, I spot GW-3N strolling around the halls.


    I feel a pang of guilt as I realize that I''ve been more or less ignoring her existence for the past few days. Sure I had given her a safe-ish place to live, if you do not count the one MAI raid that happened a while back, but I have not even asked if she wanted her own room or anything like that. I make a mental note to apologize whenever something is not going horribly wrong.


    Drifting back to the topic of general check ups, I eventually make it to the core where the ongoing upgrades are being made. I Look upon the factory''s resident spider repair/construction team which is currently swarming around my core, implanting new components, welding together more metal frames, and all the other construction related things that I am not well versed in.


    Looking above the flurry of work on the core, I see that the time left on the core''s upgrades is an hour short of two days. I guess that is to be expected seeing as I only requested my drones to begin the upgrades right before the attack on the mining outpost began. Welp, it is not like I strictly need more drone capacity since quite a few of them were recently destroyed.


    Speaking of which I should probably replace them, but as I look into my stock pile or lack there off I suddenly reconsider my plans. It seems that the upgrades to my garrisons have claimed a substantial amount of my already dwindling stockpile, enough so that after the fact it could barely be called a stockpile. Well then, I guess it''s time to start filling up my coffers. I wonder if the flock has any more quests, the first one was quite lucrative.


    Commandeering one of my spiders, I have the drone weld a message onto a spare metal plate. As the spider does its thing, I think about anyone else who might want anything and would be willing to pay for it. Begrudgingly, my mind points out that the tower tribe might want to purchase some of my services. Conveniently, as my spider finishes writing its message, a moose enters the compound bringing with it a full load of materials all the way from the warehouse outpost.


    After my moose finishes dropping off its cargo I drop my message into one of its metal carrying baskets that are strapped to their sides. I tell the moose to please gallop over to the flock''s nests and the tower tribe. The moose looks at me with the same glare that I and my co-workers would give our boss when he asked us to work overtime. "Oh don''t be such a baby, you can take a long rest after you deliver the message and bring back their responses." And with that the moose speeds off out of the factory barricades and into the distance.


    I tell one of the ant guards that are stationed at the barricade gates to notify me whenever that moose returns, to which the ant nods its head in confirmation.


    After another sweep of the compound looking for anything else that I might need to work on I conclude that there is nothing left for me to do so I hop back into my vessel drone. My sight is then greeted by the somewhat familiar dusty floor of the mining outpost. I get up from my sitting position on the floor and glance around to see that all my drones are back to doing their assigned work. A couple dozen feet to my right is the mine shaft and snaking out of it is a bunch of ny spider drones hauling small pieces of ore towards the refinery.


    Deciding that I don''t have anything better to do I walk into the shaft and enter the mines proper. The shaft was quite large, being about four times as wide and three times taller than me, but that is to be expected seeing as the much larger excavator crabs were the main resource gatherer here before I destroyed all the drones and took over. Now that I am thinking about it, that kinda made me sound like the bad guy but my mind decided not to dwell on that for too long and flipped back to random thoughts.


    A few minutes of walking the long shaft I eventually see that it shrinks down to around my height and I can hear the ever constant sound of drilling getting louder. I guess this is where the crabs left off and where my moles finally started digging on their own. It does not take long before I spot one of the moles drilling out a particularly large chunk of ores. The drone spots me and then, with its shield-like claws, breaks off a chunk of the ore and holds it out for me.


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    "Aww, thank you little guy." I say as I accept the ore with one of my hands and pet the mole with the other, to which the mole seemed to greatly enjoy. I walked out of the mineshaft with the ore chunk and then dropped it into the chute of the refinery and watched as it eventually popped out a bar of metal.


    After I do that I spot three of my hounds strolling around the outpost. Walking over to them, I notice that the lead hound is one veteran drone that had survived both of my assaults on the two outposts. I guess that makes that one hound the most experienced of their rank. As I approach the three drones, the veteran hound notices that I am here and quickly snaps to attention, which is to say they sat down facing me and straightened their back, and the two others quickly followed suit.


    I pat the lead hounds head and say, "There''s no need for you to snap to attention. You''ve survived through more than enough to be exempt from that." I see the tail of the veteran hound wag a bit but the drone continues to stay at attention. I sigh to myself but my mouth curls up a bit. "Well alright, if you want to be like that, fine. I''ll be sending you and your subordinates," I glance over to the two hounds flanking the main, "Another batch of recruiters. You all better train them well."


    As I walk away my hound happily barks in response. Saddling up to the cliffside of the hill that the mineshaft is dug into, I sit down and wait for the moose to get back with the messages. Thankfully I do not have to wait for that long, as my ants notified me that the moose had just arrived after a few minutes of me sitting around.


    Slipping back out of my vessel drone and hopping back into the factory base I spot the moose in question sitting down in the main room of the factory and inside the moose baskets were two new tablets. Having one of the indoor ant guards pick up both of the tablets and lay them on the floor I begin to read off what has been inscribed.


    Reading the flock''s message first, it said that they would deliver a quarter of the previous requests alloys reward for another batch of then replacement swarm lancers. That is a bit less alloys per drone than last time but I guess they do not need reinforcements as badly as last time. Ordering up the requested drones I begin to read the tower tribes message and I see that they too are ordering drones. They are specifically ordering a group of three hornets to supplement their guard force and would be willing to pay with a decent chunk of metal scraps and electronic components for the drones.


    While I do not particularly like the tower tribes leaders, I can not see a way where they could become much of a threat if I give them the drones. Placing the three hornets on the queue, I order the requested drones to fly off to their new owners after they are all finished being fabricated.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    About an hour later, the woodpeckers had already flown off to the flock''s nesting grounds and should have arrived by now. Two of the hornets have finished being constructed and the third has just begun. Floating outside of the factory walls, which is something I have been able to do ever since I had my spiders build the barricades, I see that the sun is beginning to set.


    I am lounging around and watching the sun slowly dip down when one of my ant guards notifies me that someone is at the gates. I drift over to the mentioned section of the barricades and spot a small group of one green who is holding up a severely damaged yellow bot with the help of another yellow.


    "Please Mr. Dungeon, let us in. We have wounded and they need repairs now!" The green robot pleads with my ant guard and its escorts.


    Sensing me, the ant guard turns to face my non-existent body with a questioning look plastered on its metallic face.


    "Open the gates and escort them inside the factory." I order my ant, to which they nod in understanding. As my drone gets on that, I pull away two of my spider drones that were working on the core beforehand and I tell them to meet in the main room. The spiders in question begin to climb up the staircase as I simply slide through the ground like a ghost.


    I see the three bots as they storm up the stairs leading to my factory and finally reach the main room. They place their injured friend on a random nearby table as the spiders finally make it up the stairs. The two healthy robots nearly swat the spiders away when they get on the table but they stop themselves as they see the pair of drones starting to weld the, what I can now see are gashes and bite marks.


    Not long after my drones began the procedure, GW-3N strolled into the hallway from upstairs to see what all the commotion was about and spotted the damaged yellow on the table. She runs into the room and yells, "What''s going on?" To the other bots.


    "S-46 and S-53 were scavenging near the big statue when S-46 was attacked by a pair of LASHs. We were able to fight them off but S-46 was hit pretty hard. A few days ago one of the guards was sharing stories and told me that there was a Dungeon not too far from the tower and that it had repair drones. So I helped carry S-46 over here with S-53 and prayed that the dungeon here did not mind fixing S-46 up." The green bot explained.


    "I''m glad we made it here in time, S-46 didn''t have much left in him." The yellow robot, who I guess is named S-53, says while glancing over to his injured friend.


    Then the green bot speaks up. "The sun''s getting pretty low, do you mind us staying here for the night?" Everyone looks over to my ant drone and essentially, me.


    I have my ant shake its head and walk out of the factory to get back to work. The three standing bots seem to correctly take that as a "yes I don''t mind" and relax a bit and begin to idly chatter to each other, and I am more than happy to have some more company even if they can not see me.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 27

    As the night passes along, GW-3N and her new friends chat along to each other and eventually the, now repaired, second yellow robot joins in. I mostly mill about around the factory with not much else to do. My attention is briefly caught by the delivery of the much needed alloys that were dropped off by an envoy from the flock.


    Soon the sun rises into the sky and the three robots all get ready and are about to set off back to the tribe. Before they do, I decide that I might as well deliver those requested hornets over along with a courier moose. And so I order my hornets to escort the three on their way to their new positions in the tribe guard force.


    After they all leave I begin to replenish my drone force that was lost during the battle over at the mining outpost by ordering up their replacements. These replacements included two new squads of hounds, five hornets, four scorpions, three new moles for more help in the mineshaft, and two more moose to help transport all of the ores that the moles will dig up. Over by the mining outpost I also ordered a few more woodpeckers to replace the few that got hot by the crabs. All of the new drones will replenish the forces at the mining outpost to being a total of thirteen hounds, thirteen hornets (three of which will be permanently deployed as garrison forces), five scorpions, five moles, soon to be fifteen woodpecker lancers, three fire beetles, and a handful of repair spiders.


    With that all ticking away, I go back to floating around not doing much. I eventually hop over to my vessel in the mining outpost and begin to wander there and occasionally help out the spiders carrying a particularly large chunk of ores. Around half an hour of doing nothing later and one of the guard ants that were watching over the gates notifies me that the moose has returned with the supplies from the deal and a message.


    Hopping back out of my vessel and over to the main base I find the moose in question who drops a tablet to the ground. Drifting over to get a better look, I see that the tablet read that there was a large pack of hounds that were taking residence in a nearby abandoned subway system. The pack of hounds have been attacking various tribesmen who were out scavenging near that area. Many of the scavengers requested something to be done about it but the chieftain and by extension the council denied any motions to send any tribe guardsmen citing the possibility of losing the guardsmen would not be worth it. And so the citizens of the Tower Tribe have now asked me and my drones to help. Underneath the wall of text was a small map showing the hound den due east of the Tower Tribe''s tower.


    I am tempted to rally up the factory guard and set off towards the hound pack inorder to help right away but the more sensible side of me prevailed. Quickly hopping back over to the mining outpost and calling over all the drones not dedicated to garrison duty, I slip back into my vessel and begin marching back over to the main base.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later and I''m back at the factory gates which are promptly opened. Inside the factory proper I called over all the newly produced drones which bolstered my force considerably. With my now fully filled out force I march right out of the gates and towards the hounds.


    According to my scouts, who have already begun properly mapping out the path all the way to the hounds den, the trip should only take around twenty minutes. On the way there my drones automatically form up into their standard formation of hounds in the front, hornets and scorpions in the middle, and repair spiders and moose in the back line.


    As me and my retinue approached the den I hear a scream and a few blocks of houses away I spot a group of four hounds sprinting across the street towards the left side. I pick up pace and order my hounds to break off and charge in which they follow immediately by bolting forward growling and snarling all the way. My hounds made it over to the bend far quicker than I did so I did not see the initial clash but I did hear the sounds of metal grinding against metal and the barking of my hounds.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As I turn past the bend my eyes are greeted by my hounds not much worse for wear, at least compared to the feral hounds that were scattered across the ground. On my left hand side I see a shut door belonging to a squat gray building made of the same concrete that all the other buildings are made of. The door of said building was carrying a large collection of seemingly fresh scrape marks, which are likely from the now dead hounds.


    "Hey, is anyone there?" I call out into the building, shushing my hounds out of the way in case the potential occupants are frightened by them.


    "W-who''s out there? Are the LASHs gone? Is it safe?" A decidingly frightened male voice croaks out from inside the building.


    "Yes it is all clear. Hello, my name is James. Now are you injured? If you are would you please open the door so I may tend to your wounds." I replied with the most calm and soothing voice I could muster.


    The person inside seemed to hesitate for a moment but then creaked open the door a smidge. I see the illuminating eye of a robot person peeking out of the door which was quickly scanning the street and more particularly the scattered remains of the feral hounds. After assessing that I was telling the truth the now revealed yellow robot pokes the rest of his head out of the door. "Alright, I don''t see any more of them so I''ll trust you for now. First no I''m not injured but more importantly how did you manage to take down that many LASHs?" The yellow robot asks with a quirked eyebrow.


    "I took down those LASHs with a few drones of my own." I say as a few of my drones scuttle around the bend a good distance away from the two of us although this does not stop the robot to squeak in surprise and shoot back through the door and quickly shut it closed before eventually peaking back out.


    Then a look of realization flushes onto the robot''s face, "Ohh you''re the dungeon person that everyone is talking about." This realization seems to calm the bot down a smidge but the poor guy does not seem to be willing to leave the safety of the building while my drones are present, at least not completely.


    "Yep, that''s me. Now do you need some escorts to get your way back home or are you alright on your own." I ask the still cowering scavenger robot.


    "No, no. I''ll be alright. Just please, keep your drones away from me." The robot replies back. I have my drones begin to back up and start moving towards the hound den without me.


    I watch as the slightly more calm robot slips out of his hidey hole and scurries off towards the tower''s general direction before running over to join back up with my drones. I make it back to my drones right about as they get into spotting distance of the subway entrance. From where my drones and I were standing I could spot a total of five hounds currently patrolling around the den.


    I send in my hornets to initiate the engagement but as they approach one of the hounds notices the whirling of the hornets wings and quickly warns the other hounds who promptly rush inside the den. My hornets, realizing the situation for what it was, fired off their salvo and managed to hit two of the fleeing five but the remaining three managed to scurry down the stairs.


    "Well there goes the element of surprise." I mutter to myself as I march forward with my hounds. As I approach the entrance of the hound den I hear a faint whine to my left. To my left was one of the two hounds that were impaled by my hornets but it seems that this one was only hit in the leg. One of my own hounds steps over to the downed hound and is about to give the finishing blow but I suddenly get an idea and tell the hound to stop.


    The hound in question hesitates for a moment, clearly conflicted about leaving a hostile still alive, but backs down nevertheless. I call over a few spiders and then they do their duties as medics and begin to extract the spike and mend the gapping hole in the hounds leg. I decide to leave my hornets to defend the entrance and watch over the injured hound while I and the rest of my ground combat focused drones descend into the den.


    The stairwell was rusted down and the walls seemed to be on the verge of crumbling to the ground. On the walls were faint images that have been washed away by the waves of time but I could still make out the faded form of symbols and their meanings have been lost from me. The lights above are dim and are flickering in a slow but constant pattern.


    Stepping down from the last of the stairs I come face to face with a pair of double doors which appear to be a faintly green color. I steady my breath and prepare my drones for the inevitable battle which is soon to come beyond those doors.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 28

    I slowly push the double doors open which reveals the small corridor of the subway station. The corridor is rusted and ruined similarly to the stairs, the notable exception being the walls are much more intact compared to the crumbling walls of the stairways. In the far end of the corridor where the train rails should be sits a dormant train that seems to have shut down mid-docking and is thus only being half way in the station.


    Stepping fully into the station along with my drones, I hear growls coming from both on my left and right sides of me. Then four feral hounds pounce out and onto my forearms which causes me to stumble back into the stairs. My own hound quickly jumps in and starts to tear off the feral hounds and manage to pry off one feral on my left and both on my right. Taking advantage of my right arm''s newfound freedom, I curl up my hand into a fist and slam it into the final feral hounds snout knocking it back and making it easy prey for my own.


    I have the rest of my hounds rush forward into the corridor and they quickly do so, forming a perimeter in the process. Then my scorpions and I follow them in while checking around for more feral hounds waiting to ambush me. Finding none to the left side of the corridor I turn over to my right and see another group of about seven feral hounds who are grouping up near the train where I can see more hounds exiting from. I quickly set up my scorpions to have clear firing angles right before the, now twelve, hounds began running towards my drones and I.


    My five scorpions having just set up were not completely prepared for the incoming charge but fired anyway, three of which managed to hit their targets. This did not deter the nine remaining feral hounds as they charged forward into my line of hounds. Though being outnumbered, the feral hounds put up quite a fight taking down four of my own hounds before finally succumbing from the onslaught of claws and bites. With that batch of hounds dealt with I call over a half dozen of my hornets to come down here and drag the stunned hounds over to the other one.


    Turning my focus back to the corridor I spot a door labeled "Employees Only". Walking over to the door I see a door lock on the left side of the handle. Grabbing onto the handle anyway I attempt to pull it back to which the door responds by stubbornly staying closed. Turning around I call over one of the hornets that have just arrived and they dutifully break off from the rest of their compatriots. "Hey, do you mind firing at that lock?" I ask the hornet who responds by cocking its abdomen and with a "thunk," the hornet flies back over to its friends.


    Spinning back around to the now lockless door I actually find that it was a push door and it might have not been locked in the first place. Chuckling to myself I peer into the room and spot two machines that look like they are barely holding it together and are nearing their breaking point. In Fact the left machine is sputtering and as it does the lights flicker accordingly.


    The machine on the left has many pipes going in and out of the top and right sides of its body. The pipes at the top go straight up and into the ceiling, presumably to go to the surface since I did not see any other buildings connected to the entrance of the subway. The pipe on the right side of the machine connects straight to the machine on the right. Inspecting the left machine further, it refers to itself as A "Moisture Extractor."


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    The machine on the right is quite plain in comparison but seems slightly more intact and functioning than its counterpart. The only external features of the mechanical box were the many cables streaming out from its various ports which then connected to the walls. Inspecting the machine like the last one, I see that it is a "Hydrogen Generator" which explains why they are connected to the moisture extractor.


    I called over my spider repair team to start patching up these two machines with whatever we brought with us. Walking out of the room and to the subway train, my hounds and I cautiously peek our heads through the doors. Spotting nothing out of the ordinary in the first cart, I fully step into the train and begin making my way to the next cart. This continued for another three carts before I came upon a door with strange markings dotting all across it.


    Opening the doors slowly as to not create much sound, the door reveals three hounds. One of the hounds is strangely enough colored purple and is flanked by the two other hounds who are considerably larger than a normal one. The three hounds notice me and my entourage and the two larger hounds begin to growl at us, to which my own hounds reply in kind. But before the two hound bodyguards could start a fight, the purple hound speaks up.


    "You''ve cut quite a swath through my underlings, I''m impressed." The purple hound says in a distinctly feminine voice while looking at my lead hound strangely enough. Also, since when could drones speak normally?


    Putting those questions aside I look over to my veteran hound who looks back to me as if questioning me if they should reply. Giving my hound the go-ahead, they bark out a few times which seems to bewilder the purple hound. Then one of her bodyguard hounds seems to translate for her which causes them to start an internal discussion. "What do you mean he''s not in charge? He says the big man''s the boss? Who in their right mind would let the stupid bots be in charge?"


    I clear my throat with a "ehem," which seems to have jostled the purple hound out of their thoughts. "Anyways forgetting what you just said, I am here to ask a few questions and more importantly demands. Would you be so kind as to listen up?" The purple hound, realizing her situation, decides to do as I say.


    "Now right up to business, why have you been attacking the Tower Tribe''s citizens?"


    The purple hound hesitates for a second before answering with a mutter, "Because they were annoying me."


    Frowning to myself I ask my follow up question, "And what were they doing to annoy you?"


    "They were entering my territory and stealing my stuff. I couldn''t let that slide." The purple hound says to try and defend herself.


    "Alright, how about this. I will go over to the tower tribe to stop doing this but then you and your buddies will become vassals of mine. You can still live here but no attacking me or the tribesmen, agreed? If not, there''s the slightly less peaceful option if you would like." I say with a smile.


    "O-okay, I will agree to your terms." The purple hound says with poorly hidden sadness in her voice.


    "Alright then, pleasure doing business." I say with a chiper tone while walking out of the train. I also leave five of my own hounds with the purple hound, one of which is my veteran hound. Before walking up the stairs to the surface I send my scout rats to begin mapping out the subway tunnels.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 29

    As I make it up the stairs and exit the subway entrance, I see that my hornets are still holding the captured hounds on spike point. "Alright all of you, your boss and I have made a deal so we''re letting you guys go with a warning. If you''re thinking about finding a new employer, make your way over to the factory over yonder." I say while pointing in the general direction of my main base.


    Some of the hounds looked thoughtfully in that direction as my hornets let themselves fall into rest positions and let the hounds roam free once more. Many of the hounds enter the subway station while a few wisely take up defensive positions. I decide to leave my scorpions here to aid the guard hounds for the time being while the rest of my drones and I give the Tower Tribe a visit.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The walk only took about fifteen minutes to get from the station to the first of the recently constructed watch towers that are scattered around the tower. On the tower I could see one of the hornets I sold to the Tower Tribe hovering on the roof. The hornet seems to spot my drones and I and so alerts its assigned guardsmen while waving over to me.


    The noticeably bulky guardsmen quickly climbs down from its tower and makes its way over to me. "Hello, what brings you over here again?" The red guard questions me with a slightly bored tone while fidgeting with his spear.


    "Hey there, I''m just here to inform you guys that the hounds that have been attacking your foragers have been dealt with. Although apparently you folks were encroaching on their territory and stealing their stuff so would you mind not doing that?" I responded.


    "Ahh, alright I''ll be sure to bring that up with my superiors. Thanks for dealing with them Mr. James," The guard replies. "Oh, and another thing, these drones that you''ve sent us have been amazing so expect another order coming soon."


    "That''s good to hear, anyways good bye." I say while walking away with my drones in tow. Making my way back over to the subway station to see how the repairs are going, one of my hornets spots an incoming flier. The flier quickly approaches my position and, seeing through one of my hornets, I realize that it is one of the Flocks messenger birds. The drone quickly lands in front of me and drops the tablet at my feet.


    Picking it up, I read that a large swarm of hornets are making their way towards the Flocks nesting grounds, presumably to get rid of my winged allies. With this discovered the Flock has requested aid in the form of anything that can aid in the inevitable battle. "How long do I have?" I ask quickly to which the messenger responds by drawing a six in the dirt.


    "Alright, I''ll make my way over as soon as I can." I say to the bird which nods in response and then flies off. I hastily make my way back to the subway station to pick up my drones. As I enter the guarded area around the entrance the hounds station there lay down in submission in my presence. Moving down the stairs and into the employees only room I see that the five spiders have another hour or so before they are finished with repairs so I tell them to meet back up at the factory whenever they finish.


    Entering the subway train and then the purple hounds room I see a peculiar sight. The purple hound was leaning into my veteran hound who for their part seems to be incredibly uncomfortable. While this was happening my four other hounds were playing with the purple hounds bodyguards by passing around a metal ball. Well they sure chummed up fast. As I enter the room fully, the four hounds snap to attention and my leader hound looks to be relived that his torture is over.


    "Okay guys I''m going to be leaving for a while so you''re in charge while I''m gone." I say to my veteran hound who looks pleadingly at me. "Oh don''t look at me like that, you''ll be fine. Anyways make sure umm," I stop as I realize I never asked the purple hounds name.


    "Paisleigh" the hound in question answers me before I ask.


    "Make sure Paisleigh doesn''t do anything too bad, alright." My lead hound nods in acceptance of his situation. Exiting the subway station, I leave the rest of my hounds here while taking my scorpions back. With all of my drones sorted for now, I start making my way back to the factory.


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    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Arriving at the metal gates of the barricades, one of the ants guarding the gates opens it up and lets me in. I have my drones disperse for now while I rush over to my drone production. Scrolling through my choices I land on the cheap option of ordering up a large batch of twenty woodpeckers and another five repair spiders just in case. After ordering that batch of drones I also notice that I now have pretty much no available drone capacity, good thing the upgrades to the core is about half way done. With those ticking away I and my scorpion drones begin marching to the Flock''s nesting grounds.


    Since I''ve never had to travel all the way there before I have to rely on my scout rats to guide me through the cracked and crumbling streets. The trip took a little more than half an hour and all the while Flock aligned drones flew across the sky in every direction. Most of them traveled in small groups while others flew solo but nearly all briefly acknowledged my presence and did not interact with me.


    As I neared the area my scouts told me was their nesting area, a vulture drops down from the sky and lands right in front of me. Then another bird pops up from behind the vulture drones back and this one is quite small and looks similar to a parrot except its beak looks to have been replaced with a speaker. And so the drone obviously begins speaking.


    "Hello there!" The bird says with a screeching voice. "Welcome! Please, right in!" The parrot drone says as it lifts off from the vulture''s shoulders. Then the vulture, who is still on the ground, looks at me and my drones apologetically as it grunts at the parrot who has flown a considerable ways away and has not checked if we were even following them.


    A few moments of confused parrot later, the talking drone flies back down and apologizes profusely. After all of that, the parrot begins leading my scorpions and I to a large collection of apartment buildings, one of which is where the nesting grounds likely reside.


    It does not take too long to make it to the nesting grounds but my parrot guide randomly getting distracted and needing the more responsible vulture to bring them back on track did not help. Anyways, the nesting grounds were located on a particularly tall cluster of apartments and everywhere I looked I saw all kinds of bird drones. The apartments were exceptionally intact compared to the uninhabited buildings which more often than not have portions of their structure collapsed.


    That is not to say that the nesting ground apartments are untouched. There are a multitude of missing walls but this does not seem to bother the birds as they use them as convenient exit and entrance points. I am unable to continue my training of thought as my parrot guide stops in front of the entrance to the tallest apartment building and looks at me.


    "Okay, we here. You leave drones on ground. You go up to top." The bird explains while flapping its wings and flying onto the vulture drone. Then the considerably larger drone flies up onto the top of the building with the parrot standing at the base of the vulture''s neck, leaving me and my scorpions standing there. Mentally shrugging to myself, I follow the parrots instructions and order my scorpions to help out wherever they can while I am away.


    Turning back to the building, I open the door and walk into the dimly lit hallway. There were around a half dozen rooms lining the sides of the hallway and at the end of which was the stairwell looping around the elevator which has a faded sign saying that it was out of order. As I walked down the hallway, I felt the slight urge to open the doors and look for any goodies but the reasonable side of me took hold and said that it was not a good idea to steal our ally''s stuff.


    Four flights of stairs later and I reach the roof to find the familiar lead vulture drone along with the translator parrot and a few guards. The leader vulture gestures to the table on which is a 3D holographic map of the area surrounding the nesting ground. On the map I could see the far off group of hornets flying right towards the nesting grounds. The dotted line connecting to the holographic image of the hornet stated that they had another five and a half hours until they reached us. Also displayed on the hologram was the current amount of battle ready drones that the Flock had available which amounted to a total of sixteen vultures and twenty nine woodpeckers.


    "Don''t know how many AHLs there are." The parrot says after they realize what I was looking at. "All scouts got shot before long. Not easy to get close."


    I hazard a guess that they used some of the swarm lancers that I supplied them as scouts since they are down more than a few. I send out my rat scouts to get an accurate count on the hornets in the hope that they are small enough to not be spotted. Then I look over to the two birds.


    "I have just sent my own scouts to give it a shot. While they do that, I will be mustering more reinforcements to aid in the coming fight. We want to take down those guys as much as you do." I say, which earns a nod from the lead vulture.


    "So what''s the plan?"

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 30

    The discussion lasted for quite a while, with me throwing random ideas while the obviously more tactically inclined either shot them down and on occasion implant them into the battle plan. The actual discussion part of the planning phase took longer than it should have due to the apparent lack of advanced vocabulary of our resident parrot translator but it was manageable enough to get the general points across. Actually the lead vulture seemed to be able to understand me just fine, the opposite was not true.


    The end result of the multi hour planning session was that first, my own hornets would ambush the enemy and hopefully take down a half dozen. They then shall fall back and as they do the woodpeckers would split into two groups and begin to flank the enemy hornets and draw their fire. Lastly, while the hornets are distracted the flocks forces will swoop in and engage the hornets along with my hornets which will act as fire support.


    The plan was solid enough but it relied on two things. First of the two is the hope that the hornets do not significantly outnumber us which will not be determined until or even if my scouts get a look at the hornet swarm. The second thing is that the hornets will get distracted by the woodpeckers and not immediately switch to the much larger and thus easier targets that are the flocks vultures.


    After the plan was established, I summoned all of the hornets and woodpeckers that were at the factory along with the available spider drones. The number of drones amounted to fifteen hornets, five of which were the guards defending the factory, and a total of twenty woodpeckers. Along with them were a repair team of fifteen spiders and a transport moose which barely had the space to carry them all and the accompanying materials.


    As they all started making their way to the nesting grounds, my rat scout team in charge of locating the hornets alerted me of their findings. The hornets numbered at a strong forty and they were formed up into four orderly squadrons of ten each. One of these squadrons seemed to be armed with a special type of ammunition as their traditional metal spikes have been replaced by what looks like a cannon barrel.


    While my first worry of potentially being completely outnumbered has been thankfully snuffed out, I am slightly concerned about the strange armaments of the special hornets. For all I know they could fire a laser beam that will cut a building and absolutely decimate me and my drones. Making a mental note to myself saying that I should have my hornets focus fire on those special drones first I break off communications with my scouts to relay the news to my avian allies.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later all of the drones are in position and the incoming hornet swarm is only a few minutes away. I am currently looking through the eyes of one of my hornets who are currently landed inside a few buildings in the path of the swarm. The enemy hornets quickly come into view as they fly over a line of buildings and my hornets quickly pick their targets from the back most squadron which is composed of the special hornets.


    They all hold their fire as the swarm slowly drifts over and passes my hidden hornets. My hornets steadily take aim and fire into the enemy with their backs turned. My hornets do not look back as they stream out of their hiding spots and split off to the sides and take cover behind buildings while retreating back to their predetermined fall back points. The enemy hornets are about to give chase but then they see as an opposing swarm of exactly thirty-eight swarm lancer woodpeckers sweep across the air towards them.


    I switch to the view from one of the woodpeckers and the sight is nauseous. The constant twists and turns the many woodpeckers are forced to do inorder to evade incoming fire is astounding. The swarm of woodpeckers smash into the first of four hornet squadrons and quickly inflict heavy casualties. The enemy hornets being swarmed three to one on average seemed to be too much for them.


    Unlikely for my woodpeckers, the initial shock wore off quickly as enemy hornets quickly assisted their comrades by firing into the dogfight that was occurring. Strangely enough the four special hornets left did not fire into the mob which only served to unnerve me for whatever reason. Thankfully my uneasy feelings were quickly pushed to the back of my mind as the vultures from the nesting grounds finally arrived with the lead vulture at the tip of the spear. They all come crashing into the unexpecting hornets in melee.


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    As the swarm of woodpeckers finishes off the last of the first squadron my eyes quickly burst into pain as my connection is severed forcefully. Quickly pushing through the pain I hop back into the still functioning eyes of a nearby hornet giving supporting fire to see what had just happened. My eyes fill with horror as I see that the special hornets had fired some sort of small EMP at my woodpeckers and that more than a quarter of them had been knocked out of the fight.


    I order all of my hornets to focus all fire on the special drones before they can get another shot in. My hornets quickly obey my command and all fire off another salvo which takes down another several drones, three of which were the special variety which leaves one left. The current count of enemy hornets left on the field numbered about eighteen or so.


    Unfortunately while taking down the prior twenty two the flocks vultures have taken eight casualties, only three of those managed to fly away back to the repair teams, and the swarm of woodpeckers looked to be down to half strength. Thankfully we were still winning the melee fight but that was only because our drone selection is slightly more adept at it compared to the hornets.


    This fact was not lost on the enemy hornets who seemed to have gotten desperate and decided to fire one of their EMP bombs into their own units. This caused four woodpeckers, a vulture, and one hornet to fall from the sky. The fight continued without pause but it was obvious to the hornets that they were losing and so a handful of the hornets pulled up their claws in surrender.


    This did not go well with their more loyal brothers as they immediately struck at their traitorous counterparts. This however made them quite easy targets and were taken down considerably easier. A few other hornets decided now was a time to break rank and fly away in the wake of the dying down chaos but were quickly shot down by my own recently reloaded hornets.


    The remaining seven hornets stook to their decision and kept their appendages up and their unloaded stingers pointed downwards. My own hornets begin taking the surrendering drones in custody while the flocks of vultures and the remaining woodpeckers begin to fly back home for repairs and check on the fallen for any signs of life left in them. Fortunately more than a few of those downed drones were only temporarily stunned by the EMPs but the rest seems to have fried the inner circuitry of the rest.


    I send over my hornets to aid in the recovery effort and let the still damaged drones get some repairs back at the nesting grounds. Speaking of the nesting grounds, I hop back into my vessel and walk down the flights of stairs over to the makeshift field hospital/repair shop. The first of the injured vultures and woodpeckers have just landed and have already been sorted by least to most damaged with the latter being repaired first by the majority of my spiders.


    With nothing much else to do I walk over to the spiders who were repairing a vulture who''s been shot at the base of their right wing. I grabbed the poor drone''s wing and began to hold it in place as my swarm of spiders began reconnecting circuits and welding replacement plates together. With the majority of the spider repair team all working together, it only took around twenty minutes.


    As my spiders began focusing on the next drones, the only slightly damaged leader vulture approached me along with the remaining vultures not being repaired immediately. Then they all suddenly lean down and get into a position that looks to be their equivalent to bowing. The translator parrot then speaks up from the side of the land vulture.


    "We are eternally grateful for you and your drones assistance in protecting our homes. So as show of our gratitude, we would like to formally declare our allegiance to you and your efforts." The tiny parrot says with an eloquence than I thought the drone could muster.


    Then a new screen appears in front of me that reads, "The Outskirt Aerial Attack Flock has offered their undying support. Do you accept their support and officially become allies? Y/N."


    I immediately answer in the affirmative and as I do the joints of all the Flock drones turn from glowing a dull gray to a vibrant blue which closely resembles my own blue glow. Then another notification appears in front of me.


    "You are now allied with the faction designated as the Outskirt Aerial Attack Flock. You now have the attached blueprints for their designated unit(s). New drones: The OAR."

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 31

    An OAR? I guess that''s what the vultures are called. I pull up the description and begin reading.


    "The Opertunistic Aerial Reconnaissance or the OAR is a well rounded aerial scout meant to probe enemy forces and engage light or unguarded targets if possible. While not entirely meant for direct engagements they are still able to put up a decent retaliation if needed. Can be constructed in a Medium Drone Works."


    Nice, now I have a main line aerial melee fighter. Pulling the description away I see that the various Flock drones have now gone back to doing their thing. Looking over to my spiders I see that they are still working on some of the injured drones so I decide to leave them too it. Not seeing much more of a point to staying here much longer I decide to set off back to base with my scorpions and hornets.


    The trip back was uneventful for the most part aside from the occasional curious wild drone. Upon arriving at the factory I see that the spiders assigned to the base have begun improving the barricades which means they have finally finished with upgrading the core. The swarm of spiders have decided to start chipping at the larger pieces of concrete to form them into more of a blocky shape and using the newly formed block to replace the loose ruble which was there previously.


    Walking over to the drone works I order up a few of my own vultures and, after checking how many woodpeckers I lost, I also order for two of the woodpeckers. With the new drones slowly pumping out of the drone works I decide to take a few hornet guards and walk over to the subway system.


    As I approach the guarded area around the subway entrance I can see my veteran hound and two groups of subordinate hounds, both formally feral and homegrown alike. The veteran seems to be drilling the two groups of mixed hounds on pack tactics by having them do a mock battle. My veteran seems to notice me approaching and signals for the training hounds to stop, which they immediately do and look grateful for the break.


    All the hounds present snap to attention upon seeing me and I wave them off. My veteran seems to tell the other hounds to go back to training and then stands up on all fours and begins to follow me as I walk over to the subway entrance. I immediately notice that the lights are substantially brighter and, after a few moments of checking, the flicker is gone as well. Reaching the bottom of the stairs and the subway proper, I see that it is the same down here.


    I guess the spiders did a good job at repairing those generators. Looking over to the subway train still half way docked on the far end of the corridor I have an idea. Walking over and into the first cart I take a left and to where I am guessing is the driver''s seat or whatever drives the train. I soon walk up to a metal door that has another "Employees Only" sign plastered on it.


    I briefly thought about having my hornets blast a hole like the last time but I stop myself once I realize I might hit something important if I do. On a whim I attempt to simply turn the handle but to no avail. A few minutes of troubleshooting I got the idea of having one of my spiders give it a try. I order a couple of my woodpeckers to carry a spider over to me and so I begin to wait.


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    The woodpeckers arrived faster than I thought they would and so my spider was quickly scooted over to the locked door. The tiny drone climbs up to the lock and extends its welder and activates it. Over the course of a few minutes the tiny drones slowly cut through the metal door and before long there was now a softball sized hole right where the lock was. Opening the door I see a console holding a bunch of buttons, dials, screens, and switches. None of which I have the faintest of ideas on what they do.


    Reaching over to experimentally poke a few buttons, one of my fingers suddenly turns into what looks like a USB stick in a Transformers style transformation. Then, as if sensing my presence, the console lights up and seems to direct me to what I assume is the port of my now USB finger. Shrugging to myself I mutter, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," and without further ado, I plug my finger into the port.


    Upon plugging into the console, all the random buttons began lighting up. Then a speaker from somewhere sprang to life and began spitting out static before straightening out to gibberish and then intelligible words.


    "Systems online. Suitable AI handler detected. Required activation apparatus nominal. Rebooting now."


    As soon as the voice ceased speaking, the whole subway train jerked forward. Then the train scooted ahead for a few moments before grinding back to a halt. A couple seconds after the train stopped all the doors began sliding open again and so I poked my head out. Seeing that it was safe for me to walk out of the subway cart fully, I stepped back a few paces and looked back to see the train had moved itself fully into the station.


    I also noticed a confused and partially angry purple hound stomping out of the farthest back cart. The hound in question storms over to me and yells at me that "YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST WARNED ME ABOUT THAT". They seem to falter slightly when I look down upon their comparatively small frame but they still have enough simmering fury to look back at me indignantly.


    "Ohh don''t give me that. You''re fine. It''s not like I blew up your section of the train or anything." I retorted with just as much dismissal in my tone. Paisleigh replies with a "Hmph," before slipping away back to her subway cart.


    As she is walking away, I get a message from the scout group that I sent down the tunnels saying that they found another station. According to them, the station is down the tunnels for about sixteen hours of walking before they split into two. The station was then around eight hours down the right path which eventually ends at the station and does not go any further.


    My scouts then exited the station to find that they were about twenty minutes away from the warehouse outpost. The scouts had decided to update me on their progress before they set off to check where the left tunnel at the split off goes too. Well that will certainly be helpful and would definitely help transporting any leftover stuff at the outpost. Maybe even be a set off point for an attack on the final MAI outpost before their actual home base.


    Skimming through my mental checklist I decide that, since I do not have anything more important to do, I should go over to the other station near the warehouse to go and set up a perimeter. I had my veteran hound go fetch a few of his troops and before long were back on the train. My lead hound decides to go, probably to check on his subordinates and warn Paisleigh, while I begin to power on the train.


    Inserting my finger once again, the train slips back to life and one of the screens begins to display a network of tunnels and stations along with a bar at the top stating to pick a destination. Choosing the one that goes in the direction my scouts had explored the train slowly begins to chug forward but soon after begins to speed up to a decent pace.


    I take a seat on one of the many rows of sturdy but somewhat uncomfortable chairs that litter the subway and begin to wait as the train slowly tugs us along.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 32

    Around two hours later, the subway train slowed down and docked to the new station. I stand up from my chair as all the doors slide open and my hounds rush out and begin sweeping the station for any feral drones. Stepping out myself, I assess that there is none and so I walk over to the, near identical, "Employees Only" room. Checking the door I find that it is surprisingly unlocked as it swung open with a slight push from me.


    Looking over to the same two machines that were present in the previous station, I find that they are in slightly better condition than the last two but were still needing repairs. I decided to call over the small spider repair team from the warehouse outpost. While I waited for them to arrive I walked up and out of the station and had the squad of hounds I brought with me set up the perimeter in case anything unfriendly showed up.


    Thankfully they do not take very long to reach us and so I send the group of three spiders to begin restoring the machines to tip-top shape. While they do their thing I decide to take a few of the hounds along with my veteran to go visit the nearby outpost. Surprisingly Paisleigh requested if she and her two guards could come with so I thought why not? and gave them the okay.


    Walking over to the outpost did not take much time at all so we were quickly standing in front of the four large warehouses that made up the compound. Looking around for the garrison of the outpost I find that there are only two hounds and a scorpion left defending this place. Deciding that this garrison needed an upgrade, I walked over the resident drone works of the outpost.


    I order up a total of three more hounds and a batch of five hornets which should be more than enough to deal with any large feral attacks at the very least. I also have the small drone works here begin pumping out another two rat scout squads to help mapping the area out since they were not able to the last time I was here. With those all ticking away I hop out of my vessel and drifted back to the new subway station and my spiders repaired it. They seem to be almost done with the repairs and would be able to recharge the train soon enough.


    As I slip back into my vessel drone I begin to hear Paisleigh conversing with my veteran hound. "-t normal for him to just stop moving?" I hear Paisleigh''s question. My veteran hound was about to nod in confirmation when I answered for them.


    "Yes, it is normal. I was just checking on something." I respond while standing back up and taking a look at the freshly made rat squad.


    Goodnes they fabricate quickly. I order them to begin scouting out the general path towards the last MAI outpost in preparation for any future incursions. As they scamper off, I see Paisleigh watching them with a hunter''s gaze. She seems to snap out of it once they scuttle behind a building and out of view. Paisleigh also seems to notice me looking at her and say, "What? They look tasty."


    Chalking it up as a feral hound thing, I decide to send the hounds I brought with me back to the subway station since I and the garrison would be fine without them here. I decided to let my veteran show Paisleigh and her guards around the outpost if he would like, which he did not but was nearly dragged away by the quite adamant purple hound.


    Paisleigh''s guards dutifully followed the pair around but did decide to converse with the garrison hounds who were more than willing to get away from guard duty and its accompanying boredom. While they all do their things, I prop myself up against a wall and hope back out of my vessel again to begin checking up on the factory and mining outpost.


    First checking the factory, I see that the spiders have been doing good work on the walls as they look considerably more sturdy. Floating around for a bit I remember something while at the resident drone works. Floating up to one of the small drone works, I opened up the menu for it and saw the thing I was looking for. As I click the button to upgrade the small drone works, a handful of the wandering spider drones immediately rush over to the drone works and storage room.


    I watch as they begin to strip parts out of the machine while others weld presumably better components in. I pull myself away from the spiders as I order them to upgrade the other drone works once they are done with this one. Drifting away from the factory I drop back into the mining outpost which is as busy as ever. I could see lines of small drones carrying small chunks of ore out of the mine shaft and into the refinery.


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    Many of the scattered drones wave at my invisible form as they work while others doing more important tasks just nod to me. The garrison seems to be doing just fine and in fact seems to have been scavenging the nearby buildings in their free time. Looking deep into the mines I find that the moles working there have been digging an extensive network of strip mines. Back on the surface I also find a steadily growing stack of alloys collected from the mines.


    The stack of materials was enough to fund the construction of another entire attack group of hounds and hornets, which is about ten of each. Hopping back over to the factory I order up another few transport moose while sending the already constructed one to begin the process of bringing all those alloys back to base. While I am still back at the factory I quickly check the solar panels on the roof to see if they too can be upgraded, which they are and thus are added to the list of things my spiders need to do.


    Speaking of the upgrades the spiders are doing, they have just finished with the first small drone works and have moved on to the next. Checking the newly furnished drone works I can see immediately that the machine has gained significantly more mass and has a multitude of tubes and antenna. Inspecting the menu of the drone works, I could see that the upgrades have increased its fabrication speed by thirty or so percent. It also seems to have unlocked the modification function but unfortunately it seems that I need a specialized machine to begin designing modified drones.


    Checking my blueprint list to see if upgrading my core automatically gave me the blueprint for that particular machine but I quickly saw that it did not. However it seems that it did give me a different blueprint. Looking at it now, it is called a "Equipment Fabricator Bay" which is exactly what it sounds like. Diverting my spiders for the time being, I order them to begin constructing this new building in one of the empty rooms since I probably will not be producing many drones for a while.


    The swarm of spiders finish constructing the machine quite quickly and have all gone back to upgrading all the drone works. The fabricator was quite large, about as tall as a bunk bed and just slightly more wide and long. Opening up the screen for the fabricator, I see that it already has a bunch of pre-designed things available like extra plating for my torso and other such limbs. Seeing as I have a considerable amount of alloys being shipped over to me, I decide to order one of the rectangular blast shields, a half dozen custom throwing spears with a satchel to carry them, and a sling pouch for some extra carry capacity for repair supplies incase I need it. As I order them, the moose that was delivering those alloys arrives back and so they drop off their load.


    I order them to wait until those stuff finished fabricating and when they do they should take it to the subway station to have it shipped over to me. With that in mind, I order the spider''s working on repairing the station at the warehouse outpost to start up the train and send it back to the first station. I float around for a few moments longer, checking around for anything left to do and seeing none, I hop back over and into my vessel drone.


    As my robotic eyes begin functioning once more, I see that Paisleigh and my veteran hound, I really need to name him if I am going to continue to bring him with me, are about to finish their tour. I could see from the look on my hounds face that he was getting desperate and needed to get away and take a nap or something so I graciously got up from my sitting position and walked over to them. My veteran, seeing an opportunity to escape from the grasps of Paisleigh, quickly breaks away and falls in line behind me.


    "Hello there, how was the tour?" I ask with a friendly voice while ushering my hound away to safety, to which he looked at me thankfully before scampering off.


    "Oh, it was quite pleasant. I quite enjoyed my time with your subordinate." Paisleigh replies. "So, where to next?"


    I think for a moment before responding with a "maybe we should go bac-" before I am cut off by a message from the scout team that was moving towards the final MAI outpost. The message reads that they think they have found the current location of those nomadic robots that I met a while back. They say that the robots look worse for wear and seem to be moving in the opposite way from the outpost. Ordering the scouts to follow the nomads, I turn to face Paisleigh.


    "Do you want to check out some bots with me?" I ask the purple hound who looks complentive for a few moments before answering with a "Sure".


    I rush over to the small drone works stationed at this outpost and order a few more spiders to help with any wounded. I also grab a couple of the garrison hounds as extra protection just in case, I set off towards the direction of the nomads. According to my scouts it should only take a dozen minutes to reach them. Let''s just hope nothing bad happens before then.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 33

    As we near the location of the main congregation of the nomadic robots, we are stopped by a few familiar fates. R5-7G, the scavenger instructor, and a couple of his prot¨¦g¨¦s stand in the way of me and my drone friends. Once they do, Paisleigh begins to back away from them and her guards immediately move in front of her protectively. Looking to the three nomad bots, who seemed to be quite tense, and back to Paisleigh.


    Leaning down, I whisper to the cowering purple hound "do you guys have history?" Paisleigh looks back at me with a slightly regretful face but before I could ask anymore R5-7G clears his throat in order to gain our attention.


    "I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but in what way are you related to that damn mutt?" R5-7G all but growled out which was a far cry from the calm and collected form that I remembered the instructor as.


    "I don''t know what kind of beef you have with her but I vassalized them after I found out she and her lackeys were attacking some of the tower tribes people. Have they done the same to you?" I ask, hopeful that the situation was not what I thought it was looking like.


    "You could say that we''ve had more than a few encounters with them. None ended very peacefully." The last part was said with a growl, clearly indicating that this might be a bit personal.


    "Look, I will make sure they won''t bother you all anymore, or anyone else for that matter. But I am here to offer aid, not start a fight so if you wish I may send Paisleigh away for the duration of my stay." I say, trying to ease tensions which seemed to be slightly successful as R5-7G sighs to himself, his anger hopefully simmering out a small bit.


    "You may send away the mutt if you so please but if you choose not to we will need to be escorted by some armed guards." The nomad finally replied although they clearly indicated that the former would be much preferred over the latter.


    Looking down to the purple hound that is Paisleigh, I ask if they want to but she quickly shakes her head. Nodding in response I order my lead hound to lead Paisleigh and her guards back to the subway station as I walk up the R5-7G.


    Once my drones leave I ask the, now, considerably more calm instructor robot "would it be better to have my repair drones come here or for you and your tribe to my nearby outpost." R5-7G seemed to think for a short while before looking back to one of his trainees.


    "Go and tell everyone to pack up their stuff again, we are going to start moving again." Then he looks over to me and asks where the outpost is and so I point in the general direction of the outpost. R5-7G nods back to me before saying "I''m counting on you to not be like the others. You better be as trustworthy as I think you are." Then he and the other trainee run off back in the supposed direction of their camp, presumably to aid in the packing.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After walking back to the outpost I see that the repair spiders that I ordered have finished and the few ones that were at the subway station have returned. Checking the local storehouse for the current stockpile of materials I find that we should have enough to fix at least a few of their wounds. Just in case I strip a few of the half finished buildings of their metallic possessions which came in the form of scaffolding, rusted tools, and the occasional leg of a chair or other such furniture.


    As I was finishing off the third house, I saw the first of nomads. Many of the armed robots seemed to be wary of all my drones but they continued to lead the less able of their tribe to the attention of my spiders which quickly got to work on them. After re-encountering R5-7G and confirming that this was all of them, I could count a total of twenty seven robots, and a little more than two fifth were wounded in some way.


    According to R5-7G, the nomads no longer had any sort of official chieftain so as one of the last experienced scavengers and one of the older of their number, R5-7G became the pseudo leader of the tribe. Apparently around five months ago, they were a more traditional tribe and were settled down somewhere more north but then an AI, who I assumed was the same one I was currently fighting, had awoken and begun hostilities with the tribe. At first they were able to fend off the AIs occasional attack but over time they became more and more ferocious and before long they had to run from their homes and stay mobile, lest they are found by the AI.


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    During the days of wandering and struggling that the tribe went through after being chased off their lands, Paisleigh and her entourage had taken advantage of the tribe''s lack of stability and harassed the tribe and stole the little supplies they had. Somewhere in all that chaos R5-7G lost his wife and so he swore to make sure that no other tribe member had to deal with anything like what happened to him. His anger towards Paisleigh was suddenly a lot more understandable given that she had a not insignificant part in all of this.


    Recently the AI has managed to track down the nomads and has sent a force of moles to ambush them. Thankfully no one was outright killed but many were much too damaged to perform their duties. And so they continued to evade any attacks from AIs ruthless hunt for a few more days before I eventually found them.


    Focusing back onto the present, half of the injured tribesmen have been repaired during my conversation with R5-7G and have joined the rest of the uninjured tribesmen in setting up their camp. I turn away from the working robots and back to R5-7G. Continuing the conversation I ask "how long are you guys going to be staying here, not that I mind much".


    "At least a few days to let everyone rest and recoup. We''ve been moving near nonstop for the past couple days. Thank you, again, for repairing my people and offering protection. I believe I can speak for all my fellow tribesmen in saying that we are extremely grateful."


    "No problem. Any enemy of that dreadful AI is a friend of mine." I say back with a slight smile before I walk away to leave R5-7G to his work managing the tribe. Anyways, speaking of MAI, I should think about attacking that next outpost soon. They likely are recouping losses from the last wave they sent at me. On that train of thought, I ordered all of my drones that were on standby at the factory to make their way to the subway station to get shipped over here along with my new equipment.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later, the subway train finally docked back at the warehouse station and out-streamed my drones, who I immediately sent back to the outpost. Entering the train I find my new equipment laying on the driver''s seat at the front cart. I sling the satchel filled with my new javelins and the storage pouch over my shoulder before grabbing the blast shield. The shield was quite large, nearly reaching my chin while planted on the ground, and with a see through panel. On the back were a few metal clamps which I slid my left arm into before locking the clamps in.


    The shield is surprisingly light and thus it did not take much effort to heft it up and hold in front of me experimentally. Looking down the aisle to Paisleighs cart, I wonder if she is doing alright and if I should check on her. Walking over I could see that she was sitting on her makeshift throne with her guards standing at the door way. I decide that she would likely prefer alone time and so I begin catching up to my drone and making my way back to the outpost.


    As I approach I can see that my guests have fully set up and a few of their number are holding spears and seem to be on guard. Many of my hornets and scorpions begin joining them, this seems to unnerve most of them but they do not comment on it. The newly arrived spiders join their garrisoned brothers in repairing the last few and generally help out around the outpost.


    Then, as I was about to sit down, the rat scouts that were mapping out the path to the next outpost alerted me of MAI presence. According to them, a mixed group of MAI drones are heading straight towards the outpost. They were about fifteen minutes away and numbered somewhere around twenty and there was a pair of crab walkers in their ranks. I dismissed the message and quickly jogged over to R5-7G who was guarding the outskirts of the nomad camp.


    "One of my scout groups has alerted me to an incoming attack. I suggest marshaling your troops and hiding your people in one of the warehouses." I say in a serious tone to convey the urgentness of the matter to which R5-7G nods in response before running over to his tribal guardsmen.


    I began to order my drones around to get ready for battle and so they all began moving around with utmost haste. My hornets began flying up onto the warehouses for a height advantage, my veteran hound began marshaling his subordinates and sectioning them off into groups, and my scorpions began hiding in some of the more finished buildings with their beam stingers poking out of cover. I decide to join R5-7G and the rest of the nomad militia as the first of the enemy drones begin marching into view.


    Hope this goes as well as the other times.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 34

    The first of the enemy drones to enter engagement range was a couple wings consisting of eight total hornets. The militia, which was nine strong, and I took cover behind a few of the nomads'' metal fold out tents while my own hornets and scorpions lined up their shots and fired. The enemy hornets, seemingly expecting the attack, managed to dodge most of the spikes from the hornets but the scorpion beams managed to catch a few more which netted half of the enemy either temporarily stunned or dead.


    The remaining enemy hornets opened fire and were able to hit and kill a scorpion and two hornets. Then the next group of the enemy drones approached, this time consisting of the pair of crabs and two groups of five hounds each guarding one of the former. They quickly surged forward and so my own hounds, which numbered thirteen in total, broke from their cover and began engaging their counterparts. I too leave my cover as I run forward, javelin in hand, to help engage the crabs while my ranged focused drones rearmed.


    The militia follows suit and follows behind me, albeit more cautiously but I turn my full attention back onto my target. I heft up my javelin and take aim at the right most crab and I chuck the javelin into the air . . . just for me to completely whiff it as the javelin sticks into the ground. Thank goodness everyone''s focusing on the battle and thus did not notice that absolute failu- I cut that line of thought as I hear some snickering from behind me which I unsuccessfully try to ignore.


    Sighing to myself, I pull out another one of my javelins and, definitely for the first time, I throw it straight into the thin metal plating that makes up the outer shell of the rightmost crab. The crab in question shrieks in pain and begins charging past its hound escorts and straight for me. I quickly grab another javelin but instead of throwing it I hold up my blast shield and dig my heels into the ground and brace.


    Right after I do, the crab''s driller arm clashes into my shield and begins doing its namesake. My shield holds for long enough to allow me to peek out to my left and hurl my javelin into the crab''s face. The drilling swiftly stops and a louder shriek is heard again which and just as I pull out my fourth javelin, the nine tribal militia finally reach the crippled crab and begin to stab at it with their spears to insure it stays down.


    Looking back to the rest of the fight, I see that the left crab had not been slacking off and in fact had managed to cause a few of my hounds to either die or if they could disengage from the fight. This made the left side a lot less in my favor than I felt comfortable with. Even worse, another group of MAI drones entered the field, this time it was a group of four scorpions which quickly fired off into my hounds. Thankfully the hornets and scorpions have finally reloaded and thus began firing once more. My hornets manage to take down the last of the enemy hornets through pure volume of fire and so it left my scorpions time to focus down on the last crab which they began pummeling with beam fire.


    As the last of my scorpions stopped firing to cool their systems, the crab came down with a thunk. Then, with the help of the militia, the hounds swiftly took down the last of the enemy and even managed to take a few captive. But as my drones began relaxing and collecting the prisoners for conversion and corpses for recycling, a low rumbling began being heard. Knowing what that entailed, I quickly ordered my drones to scatter but I soon realized that I did not warn the militia who were just standing there confused.


    I just barely began to shout the warning before three moles sprung from the ground and immediately landed on top of a few tribesmen. I knew deep down that neither I nor any of my drones were close enough to get there in time before the poor robots were ripped to shreds but I still got up and began running over as did my drones. But suddenly, three quickly moving blurs rush past and pounce upon the offending moles, knocking them off the tribesmen.


    As I make sense of the now stationary blurs I see that standing proudly on top of the defeated moles, was Paisleigh and her two bodyguards. I and the tribesmen threw cheer in the air at the successful defense without too many casualties. My lead hound and his subordinates congratulate Paisleigh and her guards for saving the lives of those guardsmen. Leaving the three to their basking in praise, I walked over to R5-7G. I was about to speak first but he began right as I got into conversion range.


    "I am even more grateful to you for helping protect me and my tribe. You have given us hope that we may once again be able to live out a normal life in peace. For that I am eternally grateful." After he says this R5-7G bows to me along with his men.


    "Please, get up. Like I said, it was no problem, any enemy of that AI is a friend of mine. Plus you guys helped quite a bit during the fight, I would have likely lost at least a couple more hounds if you guys didn''t aid in the final push." I reply humbly.


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    "How much we helped matters not. All that does is that you helped us when we needed it and did not back down when it would have been easier to just ignore us. So from this day forward, you and your current and future friends will be our friends as well."


    As they finish speaking, I get a notification stating that my relation with the nomadic tribe has increased by forty. "I''m glad to be friends with your tribe. After you leave, do know that you are welcome to come back at any time if you so choose."


    "The same goes for us as well." R5-7G says before one of his tribesmen gets his attention. "Ahh, sorry but I must go now" he says as he breaks off into a jog towards the tribesmen in need.


    Looking back at my drones I see that my spiders have already begun to patch up all of my injuries and a few were even repairing the prisoners. Speaking of the prisoners, my drones managed to capture three hounds, one scorpion, and a crab who was stun locked by my own scorpions. A few of my hornets guarded the crab in particular, never stopping their watch for if they did the crab could cause a lot of damage.


    Walking over to the captured drones, I could see that two of the hounds who were not too damaged or currently frozen in place, unlike their other compatriots, backed away from my approaching form fearfully while half heartedly growling. I stopped advancing as I held my hands in the air, revealing that I did not hold any weapons which seemed to calm them slightly. I look over to the partially impaled scorpion and extremely beaten up hound and quickly call over a few repair spiders who hastily scuttle up to the injured drones.


    The damaged drones for their part attempt to back away from the insistent spiders but after a few failing limbs cause them to collapse they eventually accept treatment. The healthier hounds seem to understand what the spiders are here to do and so they do not interfere with their work, although they still watched for any signs of danger from the working repair drones.


    After the spiders finish fixing the fatal wounds, I approach the now stabilized drones who do not react as aggressive as last time although they still seemed wary of me which was fair enough. I propose the same conditions to the four drones as I did to the spiders back at the warehouse outpost but with one more option of entering Paisleighs service for the hounds if they so choose.


    This time only one drone chose the violent outbreak and so they were swiftly removed and eliminated. The remaining two hounds and one scorpion then rightly decided living was the best option. One of the hounds decided to join Paisleighs force and the remaining hound and scorpion decided to sign up with me. I was about to try the same deal with the now slightly conscious crab but I quickly got a pop up stating that I was not experienced enough yet to convert large drones.


    Not seeing much else to do, I walk back to the battlefield to retrieve my javelins. With the sudden influx of materials coming from the fresh drone corpses, I decided to order up some replacements for my losses and, after realizing I left my new vultures at the factory, I ordered up a wing of five vultures. As they all started ticking away, I decided to help out and so I began to help haul some of the wrecks to the refinery.


    This continued for a while until we eventually ran out of available corpses but not before the fresh vultures walked off the production line. Looking over my map, I note the distance between the warehouse outpost and the final MAI outpost which was around six hours of marching. Marshaling my drones, I set off towards the hopefully under defended outpost with my drones following right behind me.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Around half way, one of my scouts reported that they had found something of interest. Slipping into their view, I quickly noticed what they were seeing. Ten minutes or so away from my current position were five, deactivated, hounds all sitting in a store house. Hopping back into my vessel, I quickly order the slight detour over to the storage building.


    Upon entering the building I order a few spiders to check for any damages on the hounds. After a few moments, the spiders report back that they were in optimal condition if a bit rusty. I asked one of the spiders if they could bring them back online to which the drone responded by opening one of the panels and looking at me experimentally. Looking at the now exposed area left open, I see that a familiar looking port was located at the center of it.


    Pulling my hand close to the port, one of my fingers transforms back into its USB looking shape which I then plug in. Right as I do, the hound flutters to life and immediately lights up into the same bluish shade which marks the drones under my command. Doing the same for the four other hounds, I exit the building five hounds stronger and with a hope that I will not have needed them.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Another couple hours pass before my drones arrive close enough to the outpost for us to see into it. I decided to slip into one of my vultures, who had all perched on top of some buildings alongside the hornets. Through my drones eyes I could see that the outpost was located in a run down industrial building of some kind, perhaps a water or power plant.


    From where my vulture was perched, I could spot an outer garrison consisting of two pairs of crabs who were circling around the facility, a dozen hornets stationed around and atop the building, a contingent of twenty hounds who were split up and guarding the four crabs, and last but not least a small team of four scorpions stationed near what I think is the main entrance.


    After concluding that there were likely a few more drones inside of the facility itself, I began to designate my drones positions for the tough fight ahead.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 35

    After a little preparation, all my drones were set up and ready for battle. My hornets were in their usual spots except I had them hide on the highest floor so they did not get spotted by the enemy hornets. I had my vultures set up as close as they could and to get ready to lift off and attack the remaining hornets after my own barrage. The remainder of my force, that being my hounds and scorpions, are all concentrated on one side of the facility so that it will force the rest of the enemy patrol to walk completely around the facility.


    Now that everyone is in place, it is time to start the action. I order my hornets to begin firing as my hounds, scorpions, and I begin advancing forward to the confused looking patrol group. My scorpions immediately fired into the first of two crab walkers while I threw my first javelin into the other. The enemy hounds seemed to react quickly as they snapped out of their apparent surprise and charged my own hounds who did the same.


    As I am grabbing my next javelin, I spot my vultures sweeping across the air towards the remaining hornets. Focusing back onto the fight in front of me, I see that my scorpions have stopped firing due to overheating but they managed to stun the right most crab walker into a crawl. My first javelin on the other hand only seemed to have angered the other crab as it had begun charging for me. A few hounds see this and break off from their fight to begin chomping on the crab walkers legs which seem to stop the charge momentarily.


    But it was more than enough time for me to chuck my next javelin into something important as the crab''s four left legs immediately seized up and faltered, causing the crab walker to slump to the ground where my hounds pounced on to finish it off. The rest of the hounds seem to be doing quite alright with the other hounds'' absence and have managed to take down the last of the enemy hounds. Looking at the stunned crab, I decided that this battle is going to take too long to try and capture prisoners and so my hounds swiftly end its misery.


    With this patrol taken care of, I decided to begin moving around the facility counter clockwise or in simpler terms I decided to go to the right. After a few minutes of walking around the facility, my drones and I find the entrance guarded by the scorpions stationed here. I quickly think up a plan before running out of concealment and attracting the scorpion''s attention with my blast shield in hand.


    The scorpions reacted about how I expected them to, which was immediately firing upon my cowering form behind my blast shield. The blast from four scorpions all at once was not to be understated as I was practically shoved back but my shield, being true to its name, absorbed the majority of the attack. Then my hounds enacted the second and last part of the plan and charged forward to mop up the now recharging scorpions. Hefting my shield to the side I begin to think, Huh, that went surprisingly smoothly I wonder if the rest of this will be that eas- before a sharp pain explodes around where my hip should be.


    Looking down to my side, I see a familiar looking spike which is currently stuck in my hip and stomach area. Shit. A few of my drones begin to help me limp over to the facility walls where I hopefully can not be hit again but a few other drones also get shot in the process. I came to the realization that the remaining enemy hornet must have gotten tired and decided that we were a lot better targets than my own hiding hornets or my vultures who were either already taken out or causing havoc.


    Calling over my repair teams, I look up and begin scanning the roof for where the enemy hornets shot me from. After a quick glance, I spot one standing on the edge of the roof and so I begin shuffling a few of my scorpions forward and order them to fire on it since I doubt I could hit it with my javelins no matter how hard I throw. My scorpions fire off their beams which seem to be less effective due to the distance of their target, but nonetheless they manage to force the hornet to seize up and fall over and down to the ground.


    Not long after, the repair team finally arrives and my spiders immediately hop off their moose rides and begin to patch up my drones and I. And, to my dismay, the other patrol group finally arrived as well and upon spotting us, they began to charge forward. My un-injured hounds spring up and begin charging and my scorpions begin to fire off their beams although they quickly have to stop due to the fact that they had not fully cooled down after taking out that hornet. I begin to limp forward, javelin in hand, while a couple spiders cling to my torso while doing what they do best.


    The two lines of hounds are the first to clash and for a few moments my hounds seemed to have the advantage, likely due to my slightly higher troop count. But that quickly changed as the first unhindered crab joined the fray with the half stunned crab following close behind. I quickly chucked my javelin at the non-stunned crab in hopes of distracting it, which did seem to work as it began to clamber towards me. This time my hounds were too deep in melee for any of them to break off and help which left me alone to deal with it.


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    Quickly grabbing another javelin, I rush forward with my shield razed to protect against the very deadly crab drill. I shudder as I remember what it did to me last time. Seeing that the crab was about to swing its drill arm, I tried to dodge to the side but due to the fact I am still injured I did not quite make it far enough and so the drill clipped my shield and a little bit of my shoulder. I ignore the pain as I quickly slide under the crab and begin to stab its underbelly with my javelin.


    The crab did not take kindly to that and so raised its chassis up into the air only to slam it back down. I would have been pulverized if I did not prop my shield up to take the majority of the blow, although that shield would likely never be usable again as it was nearly compressed to half its prior size. I quickly return back to repeatedly stabbing at the crabs underbelly, lest the drone lives long enough to crush me fully.


    Thankfully it does not come to that as I hear a few familiar thumps in the distance which were quickly followed by the many of the nearby hostile drones screeches. It seems my hornets finally got around to lending some fire support. Taking advantage of the slight break in action that was afforded by the barrage, I punch upwards into the shredded underbelly which causes a sizable indent but more importantly it gets me closer to the more vital systems of the crab. I then proceeded to sink my javelin deep into the guts of the crab and finally the crab faltered and fell . . . with me under it.


    After a few heaves, I managed to shove the majority of the corpse off of me and after a few quick glances I saw that first, my repair spiders that were still on me were fine and second, the hornet barrage had turned the battle into our favor. With the crabs downed and the enemy hounds in tatters my own hounds managed to sweep through the remaining hostiles without incurring too many more casualties. I send over a few of the undamaged hounds to guard against any hostiles exiting the facility while my spiders do some much needed repairs.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    After a few dozen minutes I and the rest of my drones have finally been released from the firm grip of my spider drones who have all seemed to take the personality of medical workers. My vulture had lost two of their number but they managed to take two enemy hornets for every one they lost. My hounds had lost nearly a half dozen troops which only left eight who remained under my command. My hornets and scorpions had not taken any casualties for obvious reasons which was nice, less drones to replace.


    Grabbing my javelin satchel, which had been restocked by a few of my drones who retrieved the ones I threw, I walked over to the entrance to the facility with my hound and scorpion drones following close behind. My scorpions prepared their beams as I pushed the doors open but thankfully there were no enemies in sight. The room was quite simple, just a desk with a rusted down terminal and some stairs on its sides leading to a higher platform with a door at the end.


    A few of my hounds push forward in front of me as we sweep through the room, checking every corner for any hiding drones. I walk over and attempt to turn on the terminal but to no avail, although I did spot a faded out logo on the back of it. The logo looked like a trident with "Poseidon Industries" on top of it. I guessed that Poseidon industries dealt with water or maybe ship building but seeing as I have not found an ocean yet I chose to believe the former.


    My drones do not find any hostiles in the room so, the rest of my hounds, scorpions, and I walk up the stairs to the next door. Preparing the same procedure as the last door, I swing the doors open to unveil a corridor with a steel grating walkway and dozens of pipes and cables streaked along the walls.


    My drones and I form up with my hounds in the front, me in the middle, and my scorpions supporting from the back. We begin to slowly advance through the walkway, our feet clink against the metallic floors. The trip was quiet to say the least, nothing but our own footsteps to drown out the silence, at least until it was not. Out of nowhere a pair of moles punched through purposefully thin sheets of metal masquerading as the walls and quickly began attacking my hounds.


    They were swiftly put down but they managed to take two hounds with them, only one of which was still alive to be repaired. I sent a request for some of the repair team to drag the injured hound before pressing forward once more. After continuing forward for another few minutes we come up to another set of doors. Being extra cautious for any surprises I quickly kick the doors open and duck back as my scorpions fire off into the room, hitting three hounds who would have pounced on me if I had not been as careful. My hounds swiftly end their counterparts before advancing into the room.


    Following them, I could see a collection of machinery all sitting around in more or less functioning condition. I saw the familiar small and medium drone works and basic refinery but the last three machines illuded me. After a closer inspection I recognized the hydrogen generator which was hooked up to a large container which I presumed was filled with water. Looking to the second to last machine in the room I noted that it was significantly larger than everything else in the room. Walking over to it and popping its description up, I see that it was a large drone works.


    Finally, I can make my own crabs!


    Walking over to the final machine in the room, I inspected it to find that it was a modification designer station. I begin to think of all the potential upgrades I could do to all my drones, at least until the lights flickered out.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 36

    As my eyes begin to adjust to the sudden darkness which has engulfed the room, I hear the screeching of metal on metal coming from one of the other machines. The faint glow from my drones was enough to let me see that a mole had just crawled out of the hydrogen generator which now had a large hole in the middle of it. Thankfully my scorpions were also able to see the mole as they fired off their beams straight into it and my hounds ran up and tore up its stunned form.


    Calling over the repair teams to repair, or more likely replace, the hydrogen generator I begin to split up my drones into two groups. Each of the groups was made up of three hounds and two scorpions and both groups were sent off to begin scouring the rest of the facility''s various corridors. Leaving the two squads to their work, I begin to collect the various corpses for recycling.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A half hour and a couple of my drones later, the last of the enemy drones have been rooted out and eliminated. Soon after, my repair team finished patching up the generator enough for everything to power back on. Sending the repair team to tend to the remaining wounded, I walk over to the modification station. Opening up the menu for the station, I saw small avatars of all of the drones I had blueprints for.


    Clicking on the spider drone avatar, it shows me a list of a bunch of basic modifications like extra plating or serrated jaws. At the bottom of the list of available modifications was a small block of text stating that I would need to find blueprints or examples of modifications before they become available. Flipping to my hornets, I see that I already had the modification for the EMP cannon which replaces the spike launcher.


    I select the EMP modification which then becomes highlighted and a button lights up which is labeled "Save Variant Design" with a small note stating that I could select more than one modification at a time. Not seeing any other modifications that I was particularly interested in adding, I press the button which then notifies me that the new hornet design has been added to the available drone blueprints.


    Speaking of which, I walk over to the resident medium drone works and begin to order up replacements for the fallen drones and a wing of five EMP hornets along with them. I thought about fabricating a few crabs for the mining outpost but after looking at my remaining stock of materials, I decided to settle for requesting the next delivery from the mining outpost to be rerouted to here. Then, as if sensing what I have not even finished thinking about, the scout group exploring the subway tunnels reported that they had found another station around thirty minutes away from my new outpost.


    I decided to send over a third of my repair spider with a pair of hounds as escorts to check for anything that needed fixing up so that the subway train could pick up the supply moose to deliver the requested supplies. But after a few moments of thinking, I realize that the crabs or any large drone I produce here likely will not be able to fit in the subway train. Thus they would all be forced to take the multi-day trip if I wanted to send any to the mining outpost or my factory home base.


    On that thought, I slip out of my vessel before hopping over to my factory headquarters to begin calling over the spider team station there. I ordered them to begin working on constructing the large drone works in the main factory room but after seeing how large the holographic display of the machine, I realized that with the current drone works where they are it would become quite tight in the room. After a few dozen minutes of my drones reorganizing the placement of my medium and small drone works, we manage to squeeze the large drone works into one side of the room and still maintain a wide enough walkway for the large drones to leave.


    As my spiders begin construction, I decided to check up on everything while I am here. Drifting around the base, I remember that I now need a replacement for my blast shield after what happened to it last time. Scooting my invisible form over to the fabricator, I order a new blast shield before absentmindedly perusing the other pre-designed equipment. Eventually my eyes settled on a short but thick mace which would definitely help with smashing open holes, at least better than my javelins did to that spider.


    I see that the moose deliveries have been steadily flowing in as around half of the containers in the storage room have been filled to the brim. I also see that Flock patrols have occasionally been seen monitoring the areas around the factory and according to some of my ant guards they have helped out when feral drones try to attack the base. The ant guards managed to convey this to me by having their smaller escorts write on some of the tablets that have been found around some of the buildings which had been deconstructed for materials.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    My guards also informed me that GW-3N has been visited by some people from the tower tribe who had been let in upon request by GW-3N, although with some hesitation and a few drones left to keep track of them during the duration of their stays. Good for her, she likely has been quite bored with only the admittedly difficult to converse with drones for company. On that note, I tell my guards to lessen the monitoring and to give them some privacy by only placing guards by important things like the drone works, the storage room, the solar panels, and the core.


    With that taken care of, I drift over to the mining outpost to check up on things over there. Checking the mines first, I see that the moles have stripped a considerable chunk of the ground beneath the outpost which has managed to produce just a little bit less than the amount of alloys being shipped off to the factory. Looking around the rest of the outpost, I realize that it is actually quite sparse for activity aside from the mines. Sure there was the constant patrol around the facility but aside from that there was only the near constant stream of ores coming from the mines and to the refinery and from the refinery to the storage room.


    After a few minutes of brainstorming things to do in the mostly empty outpost, I decided to leave it as is and mentally noting that I needed to work on it. With nothing else to do here, I pop over to the warehouse outpost and begin the same usual check up as the last two. Starting with the nomads, I see that they have settled in just fine and seem to have been enjoying the safety which has been provided by the garrison. I also spot that a few of the more able bodied nomads have begun some scavenging of the nearby half constructed buildings.


    According to the garrison here, the nomad scavengers have been using the refinery to process the metal that they found and have been giving a portion of their findings to my drones as a sort of payment which I am not adverse to. My drones stationed here have been occasionally activating the chemfuel generator, which has been deactivated since I had not needed to use any of the larger machines, when some of the nomads asked if we had any kind of power source which they could recharge themselves at.


    After another quick sweep of the outpost, I find that the crab that my drones had captured is still here. Drifting over to the prisoner crab, I check if I am able to convert the large drone which I assumed was yes after no notifications appeared to halt me from doing so. Perhaps now that I have the large drone works I can convert large drones. I mused to myself. I have one of the hornets ask the crab if they were willing to join me and my troops.


    The crab began to look contemplative before rubbing some of their legs together which confused me for a second but I decided to pass it off as a weird quirk that the crab drones have once I see them change color. I get confused when the crab''s lights turn multi-colored, half being a neutral gray and the other being my blue. My hornet interpreter relayed to me that the crab had decided to unalign with its previous ruler but had also chosen to join me for as long as I am able to provide repairs and other such maintenance with the one condition being they could leave at any point if they so wished.


    Not finding anything wrong with that, I left them to their devices although I did ask a few of my hornets to keep an eye on them, just in case.


    Moving on to my newly captured outpost and into my vessel. Opening my mechanical eyes once more, I find that the room I was completely empty of my drones save the ones undergoing construction. Walking back out of the facility, I see that my drones have already begun patrolling my new territory and have already repelled a few feral drone attacks. It seems that this area has an abnormal amount of ferals wandering about, as spotted by my vultures who have been acting as lookouts for my ground forces.


    With that in mind, I ordered up a batch of eight ants and a complement of sixteen woodpeckers with the supplies pilfered from the corpses of the feral drones that attacked my outpost. I realize that out of context, that sounds very bad guyish but it is not like saying a bunch of strangers are going to read this on a hypothetical app on a hypothetical device, right? Shoving those ludicrous thoughts aside, I decide to go and check on the drones I sent over to the subway station but as I search for their signals, I find no trace of them. Then I get a glimmer of hope as, for a few seconds, one of my spider''s signals manages to slip though whatever was blocking it before swiftly ending.


    According to my map, the signal came from around the halfway point to the subway station. Calling over all of my available drones aside from the ant guards and their escorts, who are only at a fifth of their number, I begin to march in the direction of my spider''s last location. I begin to have a foreboding feeling that the drones I sent out are not going to be coming back.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 37

    My drones and I race through the ruins of the much more damaged buildings, at least compared to the ones back at the factory, all the while fending off smaller packs of ferals. Thankfully not too many of my drones were damaged beyond repair but every second we needed to stop and put down a hound or ant was a second that my spider away team did not have, assuming they were still alive. While moving towards the last known location of my drones, my sensors pick up faint traces of what is likely the remaining drones left in the repair team and as I get closer the signals begin to strengthen to an extent.


    Upon reaching the general location of the last transmission from my drones, I find the impaled and mutilated corpses of my drones. I see that both of the hounds I assigned to guard the spider team were killed, likely while trying to guard the spiders seeing as their corpses were positioned in front of the spiders. I begin to count the spider corpses before I hear some crittering above me. I look up to find two of my spiders dangling above me suspended by chains hooked to a balcony of a nearby building, both of which were severely damaged.


    I was about to ask one of my drones to help them down before I heard a familiar click and then a sudden weight on my back pushed me to the ground. I land face first onto the ground but I decide that it was not grumbling about as I hear a thunk followed by a yelp from on top of me and a few whines now to my left side. I quickly get back on my feet as I glance down to see my lead hound on the ground with a spike nearly identical to the ones fired by my hornets stuck right between their hind leg and the rest of their body.


    Realizing what was happening, I hurriedly scooped my veteran hound off the ground and began booking it to the rest of my drones as I heard more clicking coming from all the various buildings around me. My own drones had not been sitting ideally by as all that was happening and had taken upon themselves the decision to begin firing in all directions, which I was not opposed to at all. All of my hornets fired off their salvos which punched through the walls which my vultures then flew into while my scorpions fired into buildings with the intent of stunning anything inside.


    I followed the hounds, with their leader in my arms, into one of the adjacent buildings which they all began clearing out with haste. I called over the remaining repair contingent, who burst in as soon as my hounds gave the all clear, and set my lead hound onto one of the tables which were scattered in what appeared to be a restaurant of some kind. The spider team quickly begins work on the hound as I, along with the rest of the hounds, begin preparing ourselves to help clear out the next building.


    With one of my javelins in hand, my hounds and I quickly sprint out of the restaurant and into the next building which upon entering looked to be a jewelry shop. Inside said jewelry shop was a half dozen hounds, a third of which seemed to have been hit by the stun beams from my scorpions, whom I immediately threw my javelin at which managed to hit one of them in the side. This got their attention as they shook out of their stupor and began charing at me which was mirrored by my own hounds.


    My hounds were at a numerical superiority but the shock of their leader being wounded seemed to have shaken them as it took longer than I expected to take down the three hounds. Thankfully none of my hounds were critically injured but they took a few more hits than usual. My hounds swiftly ended the stunned hounds as I began making my way behind the counter and to the back door. Opening it revealed a staircase which I and my drones began to climb up.


    Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I spotted a pair of hornets perched near the windows of the building, one of which seems to have been hit by one of mine. They look preoccupied with my hornets and scorpions outside and so do not notice me and my hounds approaching the hornet from behind. The enemy hornet continued to be oblivious to our presence until it was too late as my hounds all pounced onto the unsuspecting drone.


    As my hounds maul the hornet, I peek my head out of the collapsed section of the wall which the two enemy hornets had been firing out of. From my new vantage point, I could see that the fight outside has not been going the best. Many of my hornets have been hit and my vultures had taken quite a few hits after engaging their targets, many of which had a hound guard or two. With that aside, it seems that my hornets and vultures had managed to take out the majority of the enemy ambush groups with an acceptable usage of mass focus fire.


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    Sending my hounds to clear out the last few enemy ambush nests with help from my hornets, I walk back to the makeshift . . . field hospital? Repair station? Whatever. Entering whatever you call this place, I see that the spiders have been working hard on a few critically injured drones with the non-fatally injured drones sitting in line. My lead hound looks to be doing better with there no longer being a spike stuck in their side but it seems that they are still undergoing major replacements for lost wiring and circuitry.


    As the sounds of fighting died down, the two previously hanging pair of spiders entered the converted restaurant and, after seeing the amount of patients waiting, immediately joined their siblings in their near tireless work. Stepping out of the building, I begin the process of recording casualties.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    It did not take very long to finish counting up the corpses but it still was long enough for most of the critically injured members of my troops to be fully repaired by the time I was done. In total, I had lost thirteen hornets, seven hounds, and one of the scorpions, not including the spiders and hound escorts which were killed before I got here. I also took the time to count all of the enemy corpses which were made up of a dozen hornets and a pack of sixteen hounds.


    With the majority of my drones patched up, I decide to begin making my way to the subway station. My drones and I cautiously traveled the remaining fifteen minutes or so until we finally reached the entrance tunnel. Walking down the stairs and into the station corridor, I see that this station was substantially more worn down compared to the others. A few of the lights occasionally flicker but aside from that, the station looked to be more or less functioning and after checking the power generators, my spiders seemed to agree that the machinery was working well enough and did not need any major repairs.


    They all still decided to do a few repairs to some of the machines wiring but only took a few minutes to be completed. I relayed the news that the station here was working over to my moose caravan, who were still waiting at the station near the factory, and I got the reply that they were on their way now. With that taken care of, I and my drones begin our march back to the abandoned water treatment plant which was now my newest outpost.


    The trip back had a glum atmosphere among the ranks to say the least. Many of my drones, most of all my veteran hound, were all saddened by the loss of so many of their comrades. Sure many battles had been particularly bloody but not to this extent and with our side taking a near equal amount of casualties as the enemy. With more than two thirds of my hornet force taken down and nearly half of my hounds either dead or injured, I had nowhere near enough drones for any sort of push against MAI for any time soon, especially since this next bit of territory was their main base.


    Sighing to myself as we finally make it back to the outpost, I leave my drones to go back to their usual duties as I go inside deeper into the facility. Reaching the heart of the facility, I walk over to the medium drone works and use up the last of the remaining materials left in stock to replenish some of the hornet casualties. As that all goes ticking away, one of the repair spiders who were stationed at the factory notifies me that the large drone works has finished being constructed.


    Slipping out of my vessel and over to my factory base, I eventually reach my newly constructed large drone works. Quickly checking the amount of supplies I had stored in the storage room, I ordered a triplet of crab miners with the ample resources which had been steadily flowing into my coffers. I briefly thought about creating some more combat focused crabs for a few moments but I just as quickly dismissed the thought as the factory had a sizable garrison already and it was quite safe in this section of my territory.


    In preparation for combat oriented drones, I hopped back into my vessel and walked over to the modification station which sat in the corner of the inner workings of the outpost. A few minutes of fidgeting with a bunch of combinations of various drones and basic mods, I came up with three new designs.


    The first was a heavily armored crab with a multitude of spikes lining their hull to fend off against enemy melee drones. The second was a scorpion with some kind of special internal component which allows the drone to fire a chain of electricity which stuns for a shorter amount of time but targets multiple drones. The last design was a rather mundane upgrade but it could be quite useful as I added the modification of magnetic paws to my hounds.


    I save all of these designs but I do not decide to implement any of them just yet, seeing that I have not encountered any situations that would require them yet or have the funds to produce them at my newest outpost. Not seeing much else to do aside from waiting, I decide to watch as the sun slowly falls down past the horizon. As night swiftly falls, I prop myself against one of the rough concrete walls as my eyes flutter before shutting and soon my mind follows suit.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 38

    I was roused from my sleep by one of my spider drones who looks to have been prodding me for the better part of four minutes. Standing up and looking across the landscape, I watch as my many drones hustle about, performing their duties with diligence. Over by the main road, which leads to the subway station, I could see my caravan of moose who were quickly approaching the outpost. Perhaps a tad too quickly.


    As they got closer, I spotted what had gotten them in such a hurry. A small group of s8x or so feral hounds were close on their heels and were steadily gaining on my moose who were slowly getting tired. With those feral hounds approaching, I quickly scramble a wing of hornets and some scorpions to prepare to engage with a few hounds who were guarding this side of the facility.


    My moose caravan barrels towards and past my drone lines right as my hornets open up the battle with a quick salvo which only a couple of them. Then my scorpions fired off a few stun beams hitting another two which was shortly followed by my three hounds charging forward to finish the job. Once the fighting had finished, I checked on my hounds to find that, thankfully, they had only taken a few scrapes and bites from that engagement.


    With that all taken care of, I walked over to my small caravan of moose who had begun off loading their cargo. I called over some of the scorpions who were beginning to disperse and order them to help haul these materials inside. As they grumpily begin to haul the components inside of the outpost proper, I notice my brand new equipment.


    Picking up my replacement blast shield and mace, I give it a few swings to get used to the weight and length of my new weapon. I get the temptation to whack a few feral hound corpses to see how hard it hits but I decide that it would probably be counter productive to be destroying recyclable materials which could be turned into more drones. Looking over to some nearby buildings I get an idea and begin sifting through them.


    Soon enough I had a wooden cabinet out on the open road acting as my makeshift practice target, although I do not think it can get much more complicated than just swinging the mace at the target and hoping it crumples. Taking a few steps away from the cabinet, I quickly burst forward and smashed my hammer into its rather fragile wooden form. The mace went through the cabinet like, well a metal mace through a really old and frail cabinet and wooden shrapnel sprayed all over.


    "Well this will certainly do" I mutter to myself as I store the mace into my satchel. As I walk back to the entrance to the facility, I see the moose caravan running off back in the direction of the subway station along with a half dozen hounds following alongside them. Entering the outpost, I begin walking through the snaked corridors all the way into the production room.


    Opening up the large drone works, I use up the majority of my newly derived supplies on a pair of armored variant crabs. I also spent the remaining materials on replacing the last few drones who were lost at the ambush site along with a squad of spiders to be garrisoned at this outpost. With all the drone fabricators doing their things, I exited the facility and began to help out around the outpost with various tasks and scaring off the occasional feral.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    An hour and a half or so after the first armored crab came online, I got a notification from one of my ant gate guards that something might need my attention. Popping out of my vessel and over to the main factory base, I see nothing obviously out of the ordinary. Floating over to the gate guard who requested my attention, I find them conversing with a lead rattling scout.


    They both notice my presence and snap to attention and so I ask, "what was the matter? Something wrong with the solar panels or something?" The two drones shake their heads and the rat scout drags over a tablet and types out a short message which read that their subordinates have been reporting odd rumbling sounds within the subway tunnel and they are now requesting permission and a mole to dig around where the noise is coming from.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    After a few moments of deliberation, I give the go ahead and my scout bows their head and scurries off to presumably begin marshaling the rest of their squad for the incoming mission. I turn away to go and order up a mole for the scout rats but my ant guard chitters to get my attention.


    Looking over to the drone curious, I ask, "I''d there something else that needs to be discussed?" The ant then plugs one of its legs into the tablet, using the same kind of USB transformation that I had used, which then began to display a request for additional reinforcements in the case that what is making the noises coming from the subway tunnels turns out to be less than friendly.


    I considered how well the current garrison could factory base before coming to the conclusion that it would not hurt to have a few extra drones on standby. I inform the ant guard that I would see to the construction of a few extra troops before gliding over to my drone works.


    Opening the menu, I take a few minutes to decide on what might be helpful in the garrison before deciding on a wing of five EMP hornets, a half dozen scorpions, and two squads of five hounds each to patrol outside of the barricades and retreat back if they spot hostiles. I briefly considered constructing a crab or two before deciding against it since they could not do anything that one of my other drones could also do.


    The only thing that I could think that they would be helpful with would be tanking some of the hits that might have been directed at my ranged drones but my hornets could fire from quite afar and my scorpions could stick their tails over the barricade while keeping the rest of their body in cover.


    Not seeing anything else to do and not having much reason to go back into my vessel just yet, I drift over to my mining outpost. Immediately, I could see that the new crabs have arrived and are already being put to work. The crabs have been working hard and the large pile of metal is the budding fruit of their labor.


    They have been clearing out the mines to the point where I might have to begin worrying that I will deplete the massive ore vein that my moles have been mining so far. Not that I am complaining about having too much resources, it could never hurt to have a sizable stockpile of materials.


    With the moose caravan on its way back, the on site storage building has been filling up with no one available to move it. Shifting back to the factory I decide to order up another batch of five cargo moose on top of the drones already in queue which have just hit the halfway point on producing the first two hornets.


    Hopping over to the warehouse outpost, I see that the nomadic tribe have begun packing up to begin the trek further south, away from MAI. My drones garrisoning the outpost look to be a little upset about having to go back to guarding the area that the nomads had been taking care of but they give the robots a farewell before going back to their duties.


    With all of the other bases covered, I begin drifting back over to the newest addition to my outpost collection, the water treatment facility. Opting to float around for a bit rather than walking around in my vessel, I surveyed my scattered drones who were patrolling the outside of the facility. The abnormal abundance of feral drones have been constantly prodding at my defenses which has unfortunately caused a few hounds to be severely injured or killed from fighting off large groups of ferals.


    My hornet force has been relatively unharmed as they only had to deal with the occasional sneak attack from a feral or two while they were landed on various roof tops and thus have only taken light damages which are repaired easily enough. The scorpions were in the same boat as the hornets except the scorpions are better melee fighters and more often than not a hound or two are close enough to offer assistance.


    Lastly, the ants have been patrolling with the hounds but, due to their heavier armor, they have sustained much less injuries than their canine counterparts. Ordering up the replacements for the lost hounds, I tell my ants to stay in front of their less armored comrades in the hopes that the ants will take the hits rather than my hounds biting the dust.


    With all that taken care of, I begin making my way to my vessel drone before I get a sudden fairy of alerts from the drones in my mining outpost. Shifting myself to the outpost, I am immediately met with my drones scrambling around as familiar red glowing drones charge from out of the ruins and wreaking havoc on my unprepared drones.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 39

    My drones that were caught out in the open were quickly swarmed by a large number of hounds and some kind of six legged drone which looked like a termite with sparking mandibles and glowing hot coiled abdomens. I could see enemy hounds quickly tearing my poor drones to shreds while the new termites locked their mandibles onto them and, with a short buzzing noise, the drone slumped to the ground.


    My other drones quickly halt their patrols and begin bolting their way to the fight while my air wings of woodpecker lancers and hornets scramble to get off the ground. My fire beetles were some of the first to reach the battle front, as they were delegated to reserve most of the time, and so they began spewing flames across the battlefield.


    This seems quite effective on the termites as a couple of their coil filled abdomen seems to overheat and malfunction and shock the termites which killed many of the ones who were hit by the flames. Unfortunately this success was short lived as they seemed to wisen up to the danger of my beetles and so halted for a few moments as metal spikes shot out from newly arrived enemy hornet reinforcements which numbered around a dozen and a half.


    The hornets only managed to hit a couple of my beetles due to the drones small size and glancing hits pinging off their reflective shell. My own hornets who were stationed, realizing the danger their hostile counterparts could pose, quickly began firing upon them to minimal effect due to the sheer number of them. My few remaining beetles, realizing that staying put would only get them killed, decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and charged towards the mass of enemy drones while spewing fire in every direction.


    The tiny beetles were not very fast but were soon aided by a half dozen woodpeckers who swooped in and collectively picked up the skittering beetles and began flying towards the main body of MAI drones. The hostile hounds and termites seemed to realize what was going on and began spreading out and backing up but they were just a little too slow as the woodpeckers dropped their live payload which, upon reaching optimal range to maximize damage, exploded in a fiery mess of shrapnel and slag which destroyed another half dozen hostiles.


    This left the enemy ground units disoriented and separated but that did not stop their hornet support to get off another volley which slammed into a few of my hounds who were gathering up for a counter attack. Then, a loud series of rumbling which was soon followed by the mining team of moles bursting through the ground who all began attacking the distressed enemy ground troops.


    While that was happening, the last of my woodpeckers have taken off and so they began pestering the enemy hornets with dozens of tiny needles slicing in every direction, occasionally hitting something critical, while my own hornets reload and fire off another salvo which was much more effective due to the woodpeckers distraction. Unfortunately, several woodpeckers were cut down by the hornets mandibles which snatched up the occasional woodpecker who stayed in one spot for two long.


    Thankfully they would not need to keep this up for long as the last group of patrol drones had finally assembled and quickly rushed to battle and aid the moles who were fighting tooth and claw to keep the enemy hounds and termites occupied. With the new reinforcements of about a dozen hounds and with the crabs slowly on the way, the battle began to turn into my favor.


    That is not to say I was not taking any casualties, far from it, nearly a quarter of the reinforcing hounds were taken down immediately upon reaching melee distance with the enemy hounds and termites who had just finished reorganizing. Thankfully my hounds were just as quick to take down their opponents as they bore down on any hostile drones who broke formation.


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    The hounds, combined with the moles who were attempting to take the brunt of the attacks, managed to hold out long enough for the cavalry to arrive. My crabs, while not being the armored variant I had concocted, was still a formidable force on an open battlefield as their claws had a considerable reach and thus allowed them to pretty much outright kill a drone or two from behind the relative safety of my line of hounds.


    I say relative because with enemy hornets in the air, nothing is completely safe. Speaking of which, own hornets fire off another salvo into the enemy which manages to pick off another couple enemy fliers but they quickly find themselves on the other side of the barrel as the enemy hornets decide enough is enough and ignore the ever-present buzz of my woodpeckers and shot out a volley of cold hard steel, leaving my own hornets decimated.


    My woodpeckers took advantage of course but it was too little too late as the enemy hornets now had nearly complete air superiority and thus could fire down upon my ground units with near impunity. Then I spotted a dozen silhouettes in the sky, racing towards my outpost. Reinforcements! My drones just need to hold out for a little longer.


    I began ordering my hounds and moles to run back into the mine shafts as it was the only place the enemy hornets could not reach them. My crabs were left to slowly trudge backwards and hold the rear guard to which they performed admirably, taking down any hostile hound or termite that dared to go after my hastily retreating drones.


    Unfortunately, the enemy hornets were not slacking off while my drones fell back and as the first hound reached the mouth of the mines, the hornets fired two salvos which were split between two of my crabs. Both of the crab''s internal systems were done for but with their sacrifice, the rest of my drones managed to retreat back to relative safety.


    The enemy ground units seemed content to take stationary positions watching over the mine shaft opening and now I could see why. Nearly two dozen transport moose stream out of the woodwork and begin filling their containers full of the alloys that I had been storing. Each moose joined an orderly queue as they, one by one, filled themselves up to the brim and ran off to begin their journey back to their main base of operations.


    From the speed of the incoming airborne reinforcements, the majority of the moose would have already left by the time any more support arrives and with the enemy hornets aiming their sites down the mine shafts, it would be suicide to try and take them on by themselves. With the amount of alloys they would get away with, they could fund another wave and a half of the same magnitude that they used on me and still have a bit left to spare.


    All I could do now was sit back and watch as they plundered my storehouse and wait for the soon to arrive reinforcements. As the reinforcements came into visual distance, I could see that they were a wing of vultures from the flock and led by the head vulture himself. It seems that the enemy drones have noticed the incoming drones and have begun pulling back the few moose who did not manage to fill up.


    I was tempted to send my drones out to try and hit a couple of their ground units but they seemed to guess that I would and left the hornets to guard their rear. And as a final, "Screw you," they decided to fire a final salvo into my refinery and small drone works before flying off to join the rest of their comrades.


    My drones exit the cave just before the reinforcing vultures land on my now corpse littered outpost. The vultures bow at the not so sight of my invisible form before a familiar parrot speaks up.


    "Not good. NOT GOOD. Arrive too late we did. Apologize we must. We do better next time. Yes. Better." The parrot rattles off in a distinctly Yoda like speech pattern.


    "No, no. It''s not your guy''s fault. I should not have assumed this place was safe just because it''s so far from the front line." I say, not entirely sure if they could hear me now that they were part of my . . . faction? Team? Whatever.


    It seems that they can as they nod in understanding. The lead vulture squawks something to his parrot who relays that the vulture wing will stay here and guard the outpost until replacement drones can be arranged.


    Acknowledging the two drones with a simple nod, I turned around and began the lengthy process of counting up the dead.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 40

    It took a little while to count up all the corpses and differentiate between the hounds that were mine but eventually the death count came up with four fifths of my fifteen hounds, the complete destruction of my hornet wing, two thirds of the repair spiders, a swarm of fifteen woodpeckers, two of the five original moles, and lastly two of my crabs. In comparison, MAI lost seven hounds, ten of the new termites, and eight hornets.


    It seems that my drones had managed to make an even-ish kill to death ratio but it does not matter now as they had managed to plunder more than enough resources to replace their losses. My remaining spiders had managed to repair the most critical of injuries within my drones and had already begun patching up the small drone works to facilitate construction of more spiders with the remaining stockpile to help with the rest of the wounded.


    Shifting my conscience back over to my main factory base, I quickly checked on the alloys kept in the storage room to find a decent stockpile that unfortunately was around two fifth the size of the mining outposts. Floating back over to the drone works, I begin ordering up a dozen hornets, one third being EMP with the remaining two thirds as standards.


    Along with them, I order a squad of rat scouts to patrol the outpost more thoroughly in order to alert the garrison if an ambush like this happens again. This drains up the majority of the stockpile which is less than ideal but if I want to get the mines back and running, it is a sacrifice I must make.


    With the drone works beginning to churn out reinforcements for the all but crippled outpost, I slipped back over to the water treatment outpost and my vessel. Shifting my conscience into my vessel drone, my senses begin to reinstall themselves into my surroundings as opposed to the blank emptiness that is moving around without a physical manifestation.


    Looking around the outpost, I take solace in the fact that nothing too bad has happened while I was gone. In fact, due to the abnormal amount of feral drones in the area, who seemed to have not dismissed but seemed to somehow maintain the density, have been constantly throwing themselves against my defenses. Now that I think about it, the feral drones do not seem to contain any level of self preservation compared to my own and even MAI''s drones. I wonder why.


    Nevertheless, the constant influx of corpses has certainly helped keep the stockpile here from diminishing too much from the constant need for repairs strived to match the number of attacking drones. Thankfully the majority of the feral attacks had led to only minor injuries due to my earlier decision to have the hounds take more of a supportive role rather than front line combatants which was now being handled by the ants.


    I suppose the ants should have always been my main melee drones rather than the hounds and now that I had the subway trains the main downside to fielding ants, their lack of speed, was subdued somewhat. Speaking of which, I have not looked into the newest of drones MAI has decided to throw at me.


    Shifting back over to the mining outpost, I begin to inspect the most intact of the termite corpses, many of which were too burnt to allow me to examine them completely. Eventually, I settled on one of the corpses which had been taken down by a hound and so I began to focus on the corpse before a description appeared in front of me.


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    According to said description, the Electro-magnetic Disruptor or the EMD are a specialized drone who originated from a design meant to manually shut down sections of hardware, or in some cases entire power grids depending, to cut off malicious malware before it could wreak havoc. The military quickly took the design and weaponized it to quickly rush into enemy lines and destroy electrical based infrastructure and, if needed, other drones.


    It also states that the termites are very vulnerable to attacks directed at their abdomens due to the fact that the majority of it is their exposed coils which, if disabled, effectively cripples the drone in question. Additionally, covering the coils in armor plating to protect them in fact greatly hinders them as it makes it extremely difficult to dissipate any excess heat and thus cause the drones internal systems to fry themselves.


    I suppose these new drones could act as a decent offensive drone. I definitely could use something to help take down crabs if scorpion or hornet fire support is not available. Closing the description and looking around, my eyes eventually settle on the remaining spiders still alive at the outpost.


    They look to have finished with the repairs on the small drone works and have already begun fixing up the remaining wounded. Floating over to be drone works, I order a dozen spiders to help their understaffed seniors who paused for a second to give me a thankful nod before returning to their work.


    On top of the spiders, I ordered up a team of five beetles since they performed quite well for their small stature compared to the hounds and termites they were facing. Although compared to other small drones, they cost considerably more than, say, a woodpecker. Still, with them managing to take down medium sized drones, they are more than worth the investment.


    Unfortunately, the five beetles have all but bankrupted the remains of the once overflowing stockpile, save the resources saved for repairs to my drones and the refinery which still had multiple spikes sticking out of it. But with all the spiders focusing on repairing my drones at the moment, it would take a little while before they could shift their focus onto the refinery.


    I began making my way over to the factory before I got a new message from the lead scout rat who contacted me earlier. Upon arriving at the factory, I could see that the scout rat was waiting patiently and began scurrying towards my disembodied form with the guard ant from before in tow who was also carrying the tablet.


    As they approach me, the scout quickly connects themselves to the tablet with its tail and so a long string of words begins to spread across the screen. Looking down at the tablet, I begin reading through the lines of text which states that they, the rat scout team, have found the source of the noise down in the tunnels. It also states that the mole they had brought with them began drilling around, only to stumble upon more tunnels that we had not made.


    My rat scout had decided to take the initiative and had his scouts begin mapping out the tunnels with one of the moles just in case something nasty pops up. With them all wandering around the leas scout decided to run up and over to the factory to inform me of the situation. With their message delivered the scout scuttles off toward the direction of the subway tunnels and his squad.


    Looking back to the ant guard, I see that they had walked back to their station as well. Shrugging to myself, I float over to the drone production area to find that a few of the new drones have already finished fabricating. I decide against sending them immediately seeing that the enemy raiding party might have not left quite yet and are just waiting to ambush my drones.


    With that taken care of, I begin floating around aimlessly as I watch all of my drones wander around.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 41

    A few hours later and the last few reinforcement drones set off for the mining outpost which has finally begun producing once again, albeit at a fraction of its previous rate due to many of the mining drones being destroyed. But now with the resources slowly flowing back in, I begin to save up for a replacement crab and a couple more moles.


    Speaking of moles, the rats have been slowly crawling through the dozens of winding tunnels which have been discovered around and below the subway tracks. On occasion, my rats report hearing scuttling or digging from farther in the tunnels but by the time they reach the noise, the source had already disappeared.


    I decide to divert one of the spare scout teams patrolling around the main factory to head down into the tunnels to lend a hand. I hesitated for a few moments when sending down the rat scouts because it would leave the factory without an advanced warning system in the case of a large scale attack but I eventually convince myself on the grounds that it would take some time before MAI could mount another attack due to the sheer distance from their main base and mine.


    That is, assuming they do not have a secret base or something. I order up another rat team just in case, they are cheap enough to spam out.


    Anyways, filling over to the mining outpost, I see the newly reinforced outpost slowly getting back to normal. The hornets have begun patrolling around in the hounds, stead while the miner drones all stepped back into the mines for the vital resources needed to bring this place back to full operational capacity.


    The process has significantly slowed but the moose caravan has arrived back at the outpost and has begun shiping the newly dug up metals back to the factory which will likely become more miners to dig up more materials for more drones. But anyways, the few remaining miners and the little support the spiders could provide were slowly churning out ores. With them all doing their thing, I shift my conscience back over to the water treatment outpost which has been weathering the constant waves of feral drones.


    Checking around the outpost, I see that the outpost garrison has managed to fend off the ferals without too many losses, only losing a ant or two every few large waves, which were quickly replaced after the battle using the amble resources salvaged from the dozens of drone corpses. Using the remaining materials from the salvaged corpses, I order up a half dozen hornets for garrison duty before completing the last checkups for the outpost.


    Floating over to the warehouse outpost, I see that nothing much has happened while I was away. The outpost has been probed by the occasional feral which is either swiftly taken down or runs away. Honestly I should probably do something with the outpost since it has a generator which would allow me to make larger drones here and make it a fortress.


    That will have to wait until my mining outpost gets back to full production but it is not a bad idea to beef up the defenses here. Anyways, slipping back into my vessel drone back at the water treatment outpost, I decide to go check up on Paisleigh at the nearby subway station.


    I decided to take a few hounds to escort me over to the station but thankfully the trip was uninterrupted and so we quickly arrived at the subway entrance. I give the guards who were stationed around the entrance a quick inspection and find that they are all mostly in good condition, although a couple looked to have more than a couple fresh scars.


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    I send the hounds who had escorted me back to the outpost, lest a feral attack happens while they are away, while I walk down into the station proper. Looking around the station, I could see a couple spiders near the waiting benches currently patching up a hound who had a nasty gash on their leg.


    Leaving the spiders undisturbed, I ask one of the few indoor reserve guards for directions on where I could find Paisleigh to which they point in the direction of the employees only room. Walking over to the door, I hear a symphony of squeaks and squawks coming from inside. Lightly knocking on the door, I hear a drone or two spring up and scurry around before one of Paisleighs guard hounds opens the door and lets me in.


    Entering the room, I am immediately greeted with the sight of Paisleigh sitting haphazardly on her makeshift throne, my lead hound standing at attention and looking straight forward not shifting in the slightest, and Paisleighs other guard who had a couple squeaky toy in their mouth which they must have gotten from one of the nearby apartment buildings. Looking into the room further, I see that there are more of the toys which look to have been hastily hidden for some reason.


    "Am I interrupting something?" I ask nobody in particular. My lead hound does not move an inch. Paisleigh looks slightly embarrassed. One of the bodyguards squeaks a toy.


    "Anyways, I''m just here to check on you guys since I''ve been away for a little while." I wait a couple seconds for one of them to respond but none do. "I''m just going to guess that now''s not the right time," I say before exiting the room and closing the door behind me.


    Not seeing much else to do, I sat down on one of the many benches and checked on where my one functional subway is currently. It does not take long to pinpoint one of Paisleighs hounds who were currently riding the subway train as permanent escorts in case the station that they stop at turns out to have been taken down by ferals and the like.


    The subway train seems to be docked at th-, a repair spiders had snuck up on me. I questioned the spider for what they needed, to which they pointed at my satchel containing a few bars of metal. Handing a bar over, the spider quickly scuttled off back to their siblings and they swiftly went back to work. Anyways, the train looks to have docker at the station closest to the factory and has decided to stay there for the time being, seeing that it might hinder the scouting operation currently happening in the tunnels.


    I briefly pondered on whether I should check in with the scout team again before I am pulled from my thoughts as I hear Paisleigh clear her throat. Turning over to the purple hound, I begin to ask if they are done with whatever they were doing but she cuts me off.


    "Sorry you had to see us indulging with our more instinctual desires. It is entirely improper for you to see subordinates like that."


    "Oh, no. There''s no need to excuse yourself, it was quite amusing if I do say so myself. If you want, I can pretend I never saw that." Paisleigh nods her head in a plea.


    "Anyways, what are you here for? Is there anything you need from me and my troops?" Paisleigh asks while slightly leaning her head to the side.


    "I was just here to check on you to see if anything had gone awry while I was away doing other things."


    Paisleigh nods in understanding and says that nothing of note has happened aside from the occasional attack. Then she speaks up again.


    "What were you doing? Did I miss something?"


    Then with almost perfect timing, I get a message from my rat scouts that says they found what was making the tunnels. Moles, a whole colony''s worth of moles all digging around. I just hope they turn out as well as the last two did.

 Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 42

    I motioned to Paisleigh to wait a moment before slipping out of my vessel and quickly floating over to the rat scouts who had found the moles. Peering into the lead scout''s vision, I am immediately met with the imposing form of a pair of moles who looked to be guarding the entrance to an expansive cavern.


    One of the moles spits out a cacophony of chirps, snorts, and squeals which my rat host seems to understand as they nod their head. Then the two moles begin to walk into the cavern with my rat squad leader and his charges flowing right behind.


    The cavern looked to be a small underground town purely based on the amount of drones buildings strewn about. On the streets were at least a dozen moles all staring at my drones as if they had never seen a drone not in the shape of a mole. Actually that might be the reason why they are all looking at us strangely.


    But before I could ponder it any longer, the two mole escorts suddenly stopped, causing my scout rats to skid to a halt as well. Then, the two mole guards stepped aside and revealed a frail and rusted looking mole who seemed to be revered by all the bystanders as they all bowed their heads in respect.


    "Excuse my rudeness but what business do you have here? I would rather not have to deal with more top-siders." The elder mole questions with its crackly voice.


    My scout host chitters something to the mole who responds with an "Ah, so you''re the ones who reactivated the tail network. Yes, yes I''ll tell my people to stop digging in that direction."


    Huh, so they noticed when I got the subway train working, I wonder how long they have been here for. I mentally request my scout rat to ask what is this place which the drone dutifully translates to the elder mole.


    "Hmm, well my data banks are not what they used to be but from what I can recall, this cavern was once a hub station for the local mining operations in this sector. Around a half dozen months ago, I powered back online for whatever reason. It took a while but after a few months, I was able to scrounge up enough scrap to repair the generator to barely functioning levels which brought a few more of my comrades back until eventually," the elder mole jesters to the all the other moles around themselves, "We managed to get all of us powered up and moving once again."


    I suppose this being a mining hub is about the most reasonable place to have a sizable mole colony. I wonder how many moles are here exactly, there are already nearly two dozen here and more could be elsewhere. I began to do a quick mental headcount before a loud rumbling sounds out from every direction.


    My host and their squad of scout rats all begin to look around frantically before faintly hearing cracks coming from the ceiling of the cavern which was around thirty feet above its base. The moles around the scouts also seemed to look slightly panicked and begin shuffling into some of the nearby buildings.


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    I quickly realized why as small chunks of rock fell down from the cavern roof and smashed down near my rats who began skittering around in search of cover. The elder mole quickly motioned my drones to get under the roofed area which they were currently hiding under and so my rats all bolted in that direction.


    Thankfully, with only a few close calls, all of my rats managed to make it under the protection of the roofed area. Without needing to be prompted, my scout rat host gives the elder mole a questioning look and chitters probably something along the lines of "what the heck was that?"


    The rusted mole in question sighs and says, "I suppose I should have told you earlier. Due to me and my people''s activity, the cavern has become less and less stable over the last few months, now all that is left are the four metal support beams located at the four corners of the cavern." The elder mole sighs, "unfortunately me and my kin are not well suited to repairing things, hell, I barely managed to connect two lines of wire together to bring one of the reactor cores online with my claws."


    I mentally glance at my maintenance spider blueprint and begin to think on how much resources I could milk out of the mole colony for repairing those support beams. Probably a lot since the collapse of the cavern ceiling would likely mean the destruction of their generator which I assume would also mean the powering down of any mole who could not find a new power source in time.


    Now, taking advantage of someone''s dire circumstances is not the most morally right thing I could do but it would be better than the alternative so who cares


    I nudged my scout to ask how much the mole colony would offer if I were to fix the support beams. After a few moments of back and forth chattering from my drone and the elder mole, they eventually agree to give me a portion of minerals that they mine in exchange for the repairs done to the support beams which I gladly accept.


    Sliding back up to the surface and into my factory base, I tell my spiders and a couple ants to go down to the mole colony for a field trip while ordering up a few more spiders to take their place while they are gone. With all of that under way, I slip back into my vessel drone back at the subway station near the water treatment outpost.


    Slipping into my metal form, I faintly hear Paisleigh and my lead hound discussing with each other about something. "How does this not disturb you? His body hasn''t moved one inch. It''s been twenty minutes!" My lead hound barks back a remark which I still can not understand.


    "Oh, don''t give me that. I know he''s an administrator or whatever but it still creeps me out whenever he does this." Paisleigh responds, not quite noticing the fact that I had stood up and was right behind her.


    "I mean what kind of being could just leave their body? It''s entirely unnatural. Come on agree with m- why are you looking at me like that?" She asks confused before she jumps three feet into the air as I give a quick tap on her shoulder.


    "Oh My God." Paisleigh exclaims before quickly spinning on a dime to face me, "You spooked me there."


    "Heh, if it is any consolation I don''t like being out of my vessel any more that you do, it''s just part of the job." I say before explaining where I was going and ordering the subway train to start moving to me once my spiders make it down into the cavern.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 43

    It took a couple hours for the subway train to arrive at the station I was waiting at. Enough time to allow me to assist one of the feral incursions which consisted of a pair of hounds, an ant, and a spider. But eventually the train did come and I got up from my seat just to go sit back down, along with Paisleigh, her guards, and my lead hound who decided that looking around at the mole colony would be fun.


    Once the train stopped back at the first station, my lead hound spent a few moments whipping the garrison back into shape as they had become lax in their duties. To be fair, I doubt that anything would happen here but since I was wrong about the mining outpost I guessed it could not hurt to have the guards be extra vigilant just in case.


    After my lead hound finished with the poor guard hound, I began making my way around the subway train and down into the tunnel with Paisleigh, her guards, and my lead hound close behind. Eventually, I then reached the smaller tunnel which had a couple of my scout rats waiting nearby to help guide us down through the winding tunnels.


    Thankfully, I had thought ahead and ordered my scout rats to ask the mole colony to widen the tunnel leading to their colony which allowed me to crouch my way down the tunnels. Soon enough, my entourage and I turn around the last corner and finally exit the very cramped tunnels and into the bustling mole colony.


    With my much larger size, I could now see that the cavern is smaller than I had originally estimated while I was still using my scout rat''s vision but not by much. All around the cavern were floodlights which illuminated the vast majority of the ground area of the cavern.


    One of the caverns'' support beams have already been set upon by my spiders who have begun doing what they do best. Saddling up to one of them, I asked for an estimate on how long it would take to repair these support beams, to which they pointed at the floating tag on the beam which stated that it would take around half a day to finish this support beam.


    After I had finished my rather one sided conversation with the spider drone, the elder mole decided that now was a good time to approach me.


    "Hello there, I suppose you are the leader of these fine drones here" The elder mole says in a chipper tone.


    "Indeed I am. Is there something you wish to discuss or are you just here for idle chit chat?"


    "Actually, I am here to offer you a tour of the cavern. Seeing that your drones are going to be spending much of their time here, you might as well take a look around." The elder mole gives out a chuckle before gesturing to me to follow which I did, although Paisleigh and my lead hound decided to wander off.


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    As it turned out, the majority of the buildings in the cavern looked to just be housing despite this being a mining hub. Although I do suppose I could see the reasoning for having a workforce on site since I was almost one of them. The bureaucrats who rolled over the factory that I worked at decided that workers could rent small apartment-like rooms which were rather cheap compared to the skyrocketing prices of the housing market.


    Thankfully, I was already living out of a decent hab-block in the lower districts and thus did not have to accept the company''s offer, but more than a couple co-workers did and they always had a feeling of being watched while living there. I shudder as I remember the depressing halls of the company apartments which were barely kept from disrepair.


    Focusing back on the tour, I find solace in the fact that the rooms looked to be rather homey. It seems that the rooms had been retrofitted to house the moles. After a dozen or so minutes of walking around more of the same buildings, we eventually reach two interesting structures.


    The first was a large sideways cylindrical structure which had large glass windows that displayed what looked to be some kind of generator. The second building was a small room filled with rusted and broken down servers, some of which looked to have been scrapped for parts.


    I make a mental note to check if I can access data banks after the tour before following my guide down to the last section of the colony.


    "And here is the cargo elevator which connects to a building at the surface, unfortunately, due to the lack of power available the elevator is non functional." The elder mole says with a sigh.


    "Is the generator not enough?" I ask in a slightly confused tone. Why would there be an elevator if the generator does not produce enough power to run it.


    "Well, I suppose it would have, but due to the patchwork repairs the generator is working at less than optimal efficiency and thus it can only sustain me and my kin''s energy requirements."


    I nod and make another mental note to have the spiders repair the generator since either would definitely help to have all the ore which they offer up as tithe get hauled up to the surface rather than dragging it out of the tight tunnels. With the last of the tour finished, the elder mole decides to bid me farewell and walks off towards a few other moles who were conversing.


    Deciding that I might as well look around for Paisleigh, I began walking up and down the various paths around the colony before eventually finding the four hounds. Paisleigh and my lead hound were chatting with each other while the two guard hounds fought over a thin metal pipe which they must have found somewhere.


    I decided to leave them to their chat but as I began walking back to my spider repair team, I began to feel tremors. I disregarded the tremors for a mole coming back from a mining trip or something but soon the tremor got louder and louder before turning into a thunderous rumble.


    Then, a monstrous screech echoed across the cavern which seemed to originate from the wall farthest from the tunnels which I emerged from. Not long after, a large noodle-like mass of metal busted out of the cavern wall.


    All of the moles around me began panicking as I signaled my lead hound to get ready. Pulling out my javelin, I begin advancing towards the incoming threat.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 44

    As I quickly approach the sounds of absolute chaos that is unfolding at the far end of the cavern, I try to get a decent look at the strange metal worm which had caused such a ruckus. Unfortunately, the only details I could make out from my current distance was its gaping maw which looked to have three separate drills all spinning rapidly in conjunction with each other.


    I guess that explains how it managed to dig a hole through the cavern wall. I quickly begin to pick up the pace as I begin to hear the tell tale sounds of combat. With that in mind I order all of my spiders in the cavern to stop repairing the support beams for now as I feel that their expertise will be much needed soon.


    A few moments of running past building after building, I eventually stopped at a crossroad of sorts which was wedged between four buildings with a couple slightly armored looking moles duking it out with the worm thing. Now that I was close up to it, I could clearly see that the worm was as long as a car but only half as wide which is not saying much.


    The worm''s fighting style was quite unorthodox as it constantly dipped in and out of the ground before launching itself at its target with its gaping maw of serrated drills. Thankfully for the moles currently fighting, their shield-like appendages were thick enough to mostly deflect the blows that the worm was dishing out but not by much.


    Assessing that my chances at hitting the worm were negligible, I decided it was best to simply rush in and hope for the best. And so that is what I did, sprinting into the fray just when the worm jumped out of the ground straight for the two moles who were holding the line.


    Quickly taking advantage of the worm''s back turned away from me, I stabbed my javelin into the worm which pierced its metal shell embedding deep into its machinery. The worm let out a pained shriek before suddenly changing trajectory and diving into the ground, dragging me along as I had not let go of my javelin just yet.


    As the worm began drilling into the ground, I hastily snatched my mace from my satchel before repeatedly slamming it into the back of my javelin which drove it deeper into the worm. But before I could force more than half of my javelin into the worm''s insides, the danger noodle in question broke through the outer layer of the ground and began swimming through the much softer rock, knocking me off in the process.


    Once the worm escaped my grasp, it did not resurface but rather it began tunneling away from me. I rapidly began tracing the direction at which the worm was heading but before running in that direction I hurriedly checked on the two militia moles. The first one looked to have only sustained superficial damages but the second had taken multiple blows to the chest which looked quite nasty.


    Kneeling down, I tell the uninjured mole to go send for one of my spiders who should be able to patch up their friend before getting to my feet and back on the move. Following the thunderous rumbling, I eventually reached a large clearing near one of the large support beams which allowed me to spot my target swimming through the rocks as if it was of the same consistency of mud.


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    Thankfully, the worm decided that it had run far enough away and switched directions towards me. It must have believed that since I was now alone, I would become an easy target and to be fair, I was. No matter how thick my blast shield is, it will be no match against the worm''s deadly drills.


    The only reason the moles claw shields did not shatter upon contact with the drills was the fact that their claws were designed to handle immense pressure and thus were built with many reinforcements and plating. It also did not hurt that the claws were somewhat curved allowing the moles to rather easily deflect the blows rather than take them head on.


    Unfortunately my blast shield, while being designed to take a beating, was not meant for these kinds of attacks and so I could not rely on it to take too many blows. As the worm swiftly barreled towards me, I hurriedly grabbed another javelin and threw it, managing only to hit the worm with a glancing blow before jumping to the side.


    The worm had realized that I would attempt to dodge and thus preemptively changed its angle slightly which managed to clip me in my right shoulder and rip into my circuitry before tunneling back into the ground.


    Clutching at where my arm had been hit with my left hand, even though it likely would not help very much seeing that I no longer have blood to spill, I grab my mace with my right before I spun around and slammed it into the worm who had just sprung up while my back was turned. Immediately regretting using my damaged arm to swing as a jolt of pain shot through my body.


    Ugh! Why does my vessel have to have pain receptors? I shake my head in a futile attempt to clear my mind before focusing back on the writhing worm which quickly slipped back into the ground. Clenching my mace harder, I begin shifting around trying to keep myself facing the worm.


    Suddenly the worm tunneled straight towards me so I heft up my shield and prepared to dodge the next strike. But strangling no strike came as the worm tunneled right beneath me and, realizing what was happening, I hurriedly jumped out of the way but I knew I did not react fast enough.


    Acting entirely on instinct, I move as much as I can in-between me and the incoming worm, which just so happened to be my blast shield. Through the blast shields see through panel, I saw the worm burst through the ground and slam into me with enough force to launch me into the air.


    I landed on my back, around a couple feet from where I was launched, something the worm gleefully took advantage of as it pounced atop me and drilled deep into my shield which was quickly getting torn apart. It does not take long before the worm makes its way through my blast shield and now that it is through, my fate is all but sealed.


    My blast shield was considerably more hardy compared to my vessel''s meager plating, perhaps once I am forcefully removed from my current vessel I should design a more heavily armored version. But before I could contemplate my imminent doom further, horrible pain coursed through my form as the worm started ripping my body apart.


    Then, it stopped as the worm fell back as if it were hit by something. While my vessel was losing power and would likely not last long enough to be repaired it was still functioning, if only temporary. Thus I could, keeping one hand on my spilling insides, push myself up with the other hand just enough to see my lead hound and a half dozen moles all swarming the worm.


    Looks like I''m not needed for this, I think to myself before succumbing to my wounds and fading back to the familiar dark.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 45

    As my conscience begins to skip back into gear, I start to feel the familiar but still immense headache that comes with being stabilized or whatever happens while I am out. After an indeterminate amount of time of painful headache, I ask one of the nearby drones how long I had been out for. Once they pull over a tablet, they respond that I had been online for around six hours.


    Nodding to myself and sending the drone off back to their work, I move to order up a new vessel before remembering that I should make a new design for it. After a few moments of fiddling around with the modification station, I eventually opt for a vessel with considerably more armor which apparently were also less conductive to combat scorpion shots and the likes. I also decided to throw in magnetic boots too, seeing not much reason not to.


    Ordering the new vessel along with a couple back ups for when this happens again, I remembered that I had lost my blast shield during the fight so I ordered one as well. With all of those in the works, I began floating over to the mole colony before I spotted my leas hound and Paisleigh wandering around the factory.


    Floating over to the hounds, my lead hound spots me and begins to stand straight while Paisleigh looks at my lead hound with a confused expression. "Why are you standing like that? He''s not here is he?"


    Huh, I guess Paisleigh can not see my floating form. I suppose that makes sense, seeing that she is not directly connected to me. I wait until my lead hound finishes explaining to Paisleigh before asking my lead hound for a SITREP on the mole colony.


    Using a tablet brought by one of the meandering drones, my lead hound explains that they had managed to take down the worm after I had gone offline. Unfortunately, due to the worm''s tunneling and general presence, the caverns had become even more unstable and had actually hit a couple spiders while they worked on the support beams.


    The resident moles had also decided to stop drilling entirely in the fear that it may cause a total collapse of the cavern. With all that in mind I excuse myself for a moment before floating back to the drone works and ordering up another group of spiders and sending in the ones still left in the factory.


    After one of my new vessel drones finished fabricating, I met back up with my lead hound, Paisleigh, and her two guards, I decide to go back down to the mole colony so I can have a look at the damages in person. Once down there, I see that many piles of loose debris were scattered around the cavern. Walking over to the support beam which was still being worked on by my spiders I saw that it still had over five hours left until completion.


    Looking around, I decided to try and help a bit by stocking up the piles of metal plates and other such construction materials and passing them to waiting spiders. This seemed to speed up the process by a small margin but every little bit counts.


    As the work went on, I began turning out everything and let my mind wander around for a while. Eventually my mind runs into the string of thoughts revolving around MAI and how they had not attacked in a little while. I thought that they had been mustering a larger force but I ruled that scenario out as there would have been plenty of time for that.


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    Another answer is that they were looking for a suitable target but if they wanted to, they could topple over the garrison at the warehouse outpost with minimal effort. However it does not have any particular strategic advantage aside from the few metals stored there and maybe denying me the ability to fabricate forces in that region but it is far away from the battlefield and thus not efficient to move them to the front when I could just produce some at the water treatment plant.


    As those things amble about in my head, I do not immediately notice the light rumbling around me until a small rock clicks off my head. Preparing for what could be a big crumble, I scoop up a few spiders nearby me before bolting it over to the cover of a nearby building. Placing them down in the relative safety which the building''s roof provides, I instead ran back out towards the few spiders who had not managed to get down the beam before the rocks began to fall.


    Dozens of small rocks clicked off my metal shell like raindrops which became more and more numerous as I ran. When I eventually reached the support beam, the torrent of rocks was becoming more and more of a problem as the rocks seemed to increase in size until they began causing small indents in some of my less armored joints. Picking the last of the spiders, I shielded them with the bulk of my body and dashed back to cover.


    I managed to make it back to the buildings without sustaining anything more debilitating than the earlier mentioned dents, although there were a multitude of close calls and near misses which likely would have caused at least small gashes in my armor. Not daring to go back while the rocks were still falling, I let myself rest as some of my spiders started the process of fixing the dents on me and a few of the spiders who got caught by a stray rock.


    As the rockfall began to slow, I got a notification from one of my scout rats that they were spotting MAI drones gathering a good distance away from the water treatment facility. Calling over my lead hound and Paisleigh, I bid the elder mole farewell along with my spiders before making it back to the subway train station. Hopping on the train and onto a seat, I swap my vision for the scout rat who had sighted the MAI activity.


    Soon enough, my eyes adjusted to its new surroundings before my host began focusing its vision towards the large group of drones who were assembling. From the looks of it, the drones were grouping up inside a large building, perhaps an office building or a hospital. Well whatever it was, its walls were blocking my line of sight on how many drones were rallied there. From the guard count, I could see around a baker''s dozen drones all looking around for any sign of trouble.


    Checking the territorial map, I see that this was around a half hour away from my water treatment outpost. I order my scout rat squad to keep tabs on the enemy formation and to alert me when they begin to move. Slipping back out of the rat scouts'' vision, I float over to my water treatment outpost.


    Once there, I began counting up their garrison which came out to be a sizable force. Accounting for the attack force, the total drone count came out to around two dozen hornets with another wing of five EMP variants, about three dozen various ground drones, a wing of vultures, a half dozen scorpions, and a whole host of repair spiders.


    Ordering all of my drones into high alert, I begin having the spiders begin to rig all of the nearby buildings with all manner of traps in preparation of the imminent battle. Ranging from spikey pitfalls supplied by some of the hornets'' extra ammo to large concrete chunks rigged to drop onto unsuspecting drones.


    Ordering some firebettles since they did well against the termites last time I was interrupted by a message pinging me. Opening it up, the message warned me that the enemy formation has begun to advance towards my outpost.


    Well then, let''s hope this preparation is enough.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 46

    Realizing that I will not be able to reach the outpost in time to aid in the defense, I stay in my astral form at the outpost while directing my drones to get into their assigned positions. I decided to split my hornets into two teams, one to act as the surprise ambush team who were stationed inside a few buildings on central paths leading to the outpost and the others who were left back at the outpost in order to cover the latter retreat. All of the EMP hornets were stationed with the ambush group due to their slightly shorter range due to their less aerodynamic ammunition.


    Along with the hornets, the scorpions were also part of the ambush group and would be carried back while acting as a rear gunner after the initial ambush was sprung. The vultures were staying back at the outpost acting as a reserve force in case something unexpected happened and I needed a strike force right then and there. The hounds and ants were stationed around the outpost as well, scattered in seven teams of four or five each, all split forty sixty with there being more hounds than ants in each group. In a few of the groups were one of the fire beatles that I managed to pump out in time for the battle.


    Last but not least were my spiders who were scattered everywhere either preparing to emergency repair injured drones or manually activate some of the traps. With everyone in place, there was not much to do aside from sitting back and slipping into a front row seat of the action which I chose to be one of the ambushing hornets. Soon enough, the first drones of the attacking force began marching in with their ants taking point, shortly followed by some termites and hounds.


    All in all, they numbered somewhere in and around the mid forties with a heavy emphasis on ants who made up a solid half of their force. I suppose that''s why they took longer than expected to arrive here. The ants aren''t exactly the fastest drones available. Instructing my hornets to hold fire for a little longer, I watched as the first ants reached the first of my traps was a series of pitfalls which caught one of them as they toppled down into the spiky floor.


    The enemy drones seemed to hesitate for a moment before, even slower, they began testing every step they took before putting their body weight into it. As they did this, they slowly revealed that there was only a tight path which had not been perforated with spike traps and so they began clumping together and slowly advanced through the street. Then, as I gave the signal, every single hornet and scorpion in the ambush party unleashed their entire salve into the crowded path. This immediately destroyed around seven drones and stunned at least a half dozen more.


    Unfortunately, that is when the counter fire began as enemy hornet support realized we were here and began shooting wherever they saw us firing from. This took out a few of us but as per the plan, most of my drones had disengaged immediately after firing their shot. With utmost haste, my hornets began taking off while others picked up scorpions who had tipped over upside-down and backwards in order to face the enemy. With their ammunition spent, the enemy hornets were unable to fire upon my fleeing drones but the majority of their hornet force decided to give chase.


    Switching over to the view from one of my scorpions, I could now see the true number of the hornet that had decided to follow us which turned out to be a little over twenty hornets. As they gave chase to my fleeing hornets, my scorpions quickly managed to dissipate the heat off their burning hot coils and so they fired once again, nailing a few of the enemy hornets who promptly fell from the sky. Despite losing some of their number without closing the gap majorly, the hornets stubbornly continued to chase.


    Then they decided that they were close enough and halted before aiming their stingers and firing into my hornets backs. Thankfully most of my hornets were too far for any of the projectiles to hit, however some of the hornets carrying the scorpions suffered glancing blows, or in one case they were hit in the abdomen which forced both the hornet and the scorpion they were carrying tumbling to the ground.


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    Not long after the enemy hornets fired their volley, my ambush squadron reached within range of the outpost and subsequently the defensive hornets who quickly fired off a volley which worked more to dissuade coming any closer rather than actually downing any. The enemy hornets swiftly decided that they were not going to win this and so they began to retreat back to their main force.


    But my ambush team were quick to act on their roles becoming reversed and subsequently shot out their salvo which managed to land a couple of hits. This truly kicked the fleeing hornets into gear as they abandoned all pretext of an orderly retreat as they sped off even faster than before, not even checking to see if we were pursuing.


    Deciding that giving chase was not worth it, I have my ambush team disperse themselves into defensive positions. Switching my perspective once again, this time I slipped into one of my spider drones who, with a few others, were manning one of the half dozen or so rock fall traps.


    Not long after I slipped into my spider drones view, the enemy ground troop column slowly came into view. The column advanced with a large degree of caution which was well within reason. Guessing from the brief headcount I did, at least a couple more drones had met their unfortunate fate, or rather fortunate for me and my drones, by the hands of my various traps.


    Above the infantry column were their hornets who had decided not to chase after my ambush group. It seems that they must have decided that if they were going to be ambushed again, they should at least bring all their weapons to bear. Behind the enemy ground drones, I could now see a few crabs who looked to have a pair of scorpions perched on them each.


    Like the path before it, this road had at least a few spike traps but it seems they had developed a strategy against it as they moved their crab walkers up. Then, as the crab began poking at the ground around it, the scorpions sitting on top of the crab bagan firing in wide sweeps across the ground. This caused all of the traps positioned where the beam hit to activate and crumble away revealing their location to the outer world.


    As the enemy drone column began moving forward down the set path which the spike traps forced the drones down, I smiled to myself. Upon twisting down the path and near the building which my spiders were settled in, my drones quickly shoved with all their might causing the large chunk to fall down onto an unsuspecting termite.


    Hornet spike fire was immediately deployed against my spiders but, due to their small stature and the enemy hornets lack of direct line of sight, none hit although there were a few close calls. My drones hurried away into various hiding spots or escape routes before any more retaliation could be inflicted upon them.


    This continued for a couple more times before I had finally ran out of prepared traps that were ready for implementation. With the absence of my drones'' constant harassment, the enemy drones were able to pick up their pace and quickly advanced into the outskirts of my outpost. Asides from a few brief skirmishes of varying success, my drones fell back into the cover of my hornets firing range.


    The enemy formation looked hesitant to move forward due to my hornets presence but nevertheless, they advanced while staying behind the buildings as much as possible. Preparing for the inevitable engagement, I order my two outermost infantry drone teams to begin advancing slightly forwards so they can collapse on the enemy''s flank if they charge straight ahead.


    Unfortunately, the MAI drones seemed to have noticed my newly positioned vanguard and have sent two similarly sized portions to block them off. Then their hornets must have finished positioning themselves within their building of choice as they let loose a torrent of fire against my own hornets. My drones take minimal damage from the volley due to their already entrenched positions but when they shot off their counterfire, they did not manage to confirm any kills.


    As both of our hornets expended their ammunition on each other, the MAI drones took it upon themselves to charge towards my drone lines now that there was no longer any hornet overwatch. All of my drones braced for impact as the hoard of drones barreled down towards them.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 47

    The first of my drone teams to engage were the two flanking groups who were immediately set upon by their counterparts. My two teams both consisted of three hounds and two ants and their opponents looked to be a mix of hounds, termites, and ants who numbered at five and six respectively. The right most advanced team was the unfortunate drones who had to face off against the larger enemy force but thanks to a shot from one of the scorpions who had taken position near the team, the battle had evened out nicely.


    While the vanguard teams fought in a stalemate, the main force braced as the hoard of MAI drones charged across the large street which they were positioned at. Most intimidating of the hoard were the triplet of battle crabs who still had scorpions perched on top of them. This, of course, netted them the honor of being the main targets for the initial barrage from my remaining scorpions who had not given aid to the advanced squads.


    The volley managed to, at least temporarily, halt one of the crabs'' advance and had taken a scorpion or two out of the fight for now. Then the remaining enemy scorpions opened fire on my drones who were still entrenched behind various cover points for this exact reason. However it still managed to clip one or two of my hounds, each one of them elevating my chances of losing this engagement.


    Then, before the hoard could fully reach my hurriedly recovering, my fire beetles released waves of fire which held back the enemy drones for a few moments giving ample time for my own to fully shake off the stunning effect. Unfortunately soon after they did, the enemy''s battle crabs strode forward and reached over the fiery barrier and attempted to strike blindly at my beetles who were hiding behind their flames.


    The crab managed to hit one of them which caused a gap in the wall of fire, one that the enemy drones were all too happy to fill. One of my drone teams quickly ran in to plug the hole and began taking the brunt of the onslaught of enemy drones who decided that charging through fire only to be engaged with a squad of my drones was less appealing than just attacking the ones defending the breach.


    As this continued, my beetles decided that they had delayed long enough and began an orderly withdrawal while continuing to blaze fire across the battlefield. Upon reaching their assigned drone team, they cut off their continuous stream and climbed onto one of the ants. From this vantage point, my beetles were able to release more controlled blasts of fire which were much more concentrated than the previously displayed spray.


    Focusing back onto my hornets, while my infantry drones fought down at the ground my hornets were rearming themselves in preparation of the next volley. Due to the reduced range, the EMP hornets could not aid in counter sniping the enemy hornets and thus settled for swooping down towards the ongoing melee and fired off their munitions at the largest target they could hit. The enemy''s crab drones expansive build made it an excellent target and the scorpions still perched on them was the cherry on top as they were able to fry both of their systems with a single shot.


    In total, the shots from the hornets managed to take one of the crabs and some scorpions down which greatly relieved the infantry squad holding that particular segment of the line. Not long after my EMP hornets made their staffing run on the MAI infantry, my standard hornets finished reloading and so they let loose their volley of fire into where their counterparts last fired from. This managed to garner at least a dozen hits on the enemy hornets but they quickly let loose their own barrage of spikes which hit more than a few of my own.


    Sending for some repair spiders to come tend to the critically wounded, I once again switched over to my flanking teams who were looking worse for wear. That is not to say that they were handedly losing their battles but they were taking some hefty hits. While the left side managed to fend off their counterparts well enough, only losing two drones in the process, but the right side had to fight a rather uphill battle once the stunned enemy drone regained the ability to fight and joined their compatriots.


    The right side faced serious casualties as they had lost three of their number while only having taken out one and partially injured another. Seeing the possibility of a total collapse, I order my reserve vultures to take off and beeline it to the right hand flanking team. As my vultures rush to take off, I order my drones to hold the line and to focus on just staying alive until reinforcements arrive which my drones were happy to comply with.


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    The two remaining drones that make up the right side flanking team, a hound and an ant, stopped attacking and began focusing on creating distance and avoiding ant attacks coming their way. This continued on for a half a minute before my vultures finally arrived and subsequently slammed into the exposed rear of the MAI drones.


    With the newly arrived aerial reinforcements in play, my flanking team quickly took advantage of the distraction the vultures made and began attacking their opponents with a renewed determination. When all was said and done, the rightmost flanking team had only completely lost a vulture but sustained many minor injuries and one major.


    As they were doing this, the left flanking team finished off their final opponent and were already moving into the next objective which were the enemy hornets who were holding up in a large rectangular building with a series of windows dotting its walls. Thankfully the hornets inside had already fired off their spikes towards my own hornets so the flanking team was able to slip in unhindered.


    Floating back to my main infantry force, I see that it was slowly shifting to the MAI infantry favor. Even though we had managed to already stunned two of the crabs down, the last remaining one still managed to push the balance just enough the enemy hoards favor. The disparity slowly grew as every time my drones managed to take out two of their opponents, three of my own fell in turn.


    In total, I had lost around a dozen drones which were growing by the minute  Thankfully, further respite was found in my scorpions who had finally finished overheating and had already begun lining up their next shots. Then, several beams of light shot out from the various pieces of cover my scorpions were hiding behind.


    These beams managed to hit most of their targets, those being two shots firing on course towards the crab walker and the remaining aimed at the various infantry drones all clumped together nicely. The two shots aimed at the crab walker both hit, taking the beast out of the fight for at least a minute or two until the stunning effect wears off. The various beams which were pointed at the MAI infantry drones managed to hit two out of three times which was good enough for me.


    With both the final crab walker and a couple of the front line drones falling victim to my scorpion''s stun lances, the melee flipped back to my favor and allowed my drones to fight with a renewed spirit. Not long after the most recent volley of scorpion beams, my hornets finished reloading and quickly loosed another barrage of spike shots which slammed onto the building housing the enemy hornets. My EMP hornets performed another strafing run as well which cemented my drones advantage.


    Speaking of hornets, my two flanking teams met up at the base floor of the building which was filled with enemy hornets. More accurately, the remains of the right side drones reinforced the minimal casualties which were accumulated by the left side. Nevertheless, the now singular group of hounds and ants began the process of slowly clearing out the first floor of the building.


    As they were doing this, my hornets barrage hit the building like dozens of cannon shots peppering the walls. For the most part, the first floor was clear of any still whole hornets and so they moved up into the second floor. Unlike the first, which was made up of a series of rooms which all seemed to have a window, the second floor had a corridor which was littered with hornets all lined up and preparing to fire.


    Quickly counting them all up, there were about a dozen or so hornets lining the corridor with at least another half dozen hornet corpses strewn about. Shortly after my drones discovered the line of hornets, said drones fired their salvo before quickly falling back behind the walls of the rooms which were lining the inside of the corridor, presumably to take cover while reloading.


    Now that the hornets were no longer in the corridor, my drones stormed up the stairs and into the first room on the left. Inside the room was a pair of hornets who were loading a new spike into their internal ammunition storage. They barely had enough time to raise one of their pairs of arms in defense of themselves before my drones quickly swarmed them. This continued for the rest of the rooms and had only caused one of the more injured of my drones to suffer a critical hit and their systems sadly gave out.


    However, with the enemy hornets neutralized, my own hornets were completely free to let loose torrent after torrent of spike shots into the defenseless forms of the MAI drones. Who, upon realizing that their hornets support had fallen, decided living was the better part of valor and surrendered.


    With that, a resounding cry of success rang out from every drone in the compound.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 48

    Not long after the fight ended the two dozen spiders stationed at the compound rushed out and began treating the wounded. As usual, the most dire of injured were taken care of first which were then followed by the non essential repairs. As much as my drones did not like it, I had my spiders repair the captured enemy drones who were near death before they could move on to repairing the many minor injuries found on my drones.


    Slipping back into my vessel, I see that the train was nearly at the station and so I got up from my seat and began lumbering over to Paisleigh and my lead hound. I find them in Paisleigh''s throne room discreetly playing with the rubber balls they found a while back. Deciding not to embarrass them again, I quietly walked backwards a few paces before walking much louder than I normally would and knocking at the door before entering.


    Finding the resident hounds bow lounging about the room, I walked up to my lead hound and quickly relayed the situation to them. While they definitely understood that there was nothing they could do to help with the battle now that it was finished, they still looked like they wished they could have been at the front lines. I give them a big pat on the head for their commitment to their job before feeling the train begin to slow.


    Once the doors opened up, I walked out of the train and up the stairs to be promptly greeted by the half dozen drones guarding the station entrance. While they could have proven crucial in the battle, I had decided not to pull them off their duty due to the fact that just because MAI was attacking it would not mean that the feels would stop as well. Thus the various guard drones looked at me with worried faces which expressed their distress over the outcome of the battle.


    Before I could answer, my lead hound did it for me and began barking and howling in whatever language all drones seemed to have in common. Leaving my hound to explain the situation to the worried guardsmen, I begin walking off towards the outpost and ordering my lead hound to catch up once they finish.


    The trip was generally uneventful aside from the usual curious drone or scurrying feral scrounging up scrap for whatever reason in the distance. Arriving at the outpost, I could see dozens of my drones all doing their own things all around the compound. My spiders were obviously tending to the long queue of wounded, some of the more intact of my drones were ferrying corpses into the refinery which was spitting out alloys and components, and many of my hornets, who were largely unaffected by the battle, stood or rather hovered guard over the nearly dozen and a half or so captured drones.


    In total, I had managed to force the surrender of seven hounds, four ants, three termites, one crab, and two scorpions who were all clumped together in the middle of the open road with three fourths of my hornet squadron on watch over them. Walking up to the mass of drones, I offered them a deal. Now I was not crazy enough to foolishly offer to take them in as my own drones, however I was not going to waste an opportunity to bolster my forces just a little bit more.


    I gave them two options, the first being to stay captive and possibly be forced to work as haulers in the mine shafts and the latter option was to join my newly established penal legion where if they survived for a indeterminate amount of time they were allowed to leave peacefully or to join my ranks as a full drone citizen. Because service guarantees citizenship. . . I do not know why I expected any of them to understand the reference but I was disappointed regardless.


    Anyways, four of the hounds, three of the ants, and one termite decided that the penal legion was the better of the two options and were promptly assigned their section of the line along with a few hornets to act as good old fashioned commissars, you know, just in case they are not holding the line hard enough. I decided to send a few hornets to escort the remaining captured drones to the subway station where they will be shipped over to the mining outpost to begin their service, save the crab due to the fact that they cannot fit into the subway train.


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    I decide to wait until I can replenish my losses before sending off more of my drones on escort missions. Speaking of losses, after a quick head count, I calculated that I had lost about two thirds of my hounds, half of my ants, both of the hastily constructed beatles, a seven dozen standard hornets, two EMP hornet, one scorpion, and one of my vultures during the battle. Checking the stockpile of the outpost, I found about enough materials to replace all the hornets and scorpions as well as all the ants.


    And, considering the sheer numbers of corpses, I reckoned that I could scrounge up enough materials to replace several of my hounds at least. Ordering up said replacements, I decided that my first direct order to the penal brigade was for them to begin hauling the dead corpses into the refinery. Now, I can see that this was a bit cruel for their first assignment to recycle their dead buddy''s corpse but hey, it could be worse. I could have them purposefully crush the corpses to truly drive home the message that I am in control.


    But that would be a waste of resources, and mama told me to never waste anything. Anyways, it looks like my lead hound has taken upon himself to command of the penal legion and has already begun whipping them into shape. While it probably is a bad idea to have my penal warriors becoming well trained incase they decide to jump ship or mutiny. However, I trusted my lead hound not to train them too well and thus did not object.


    Anyways, now that MAI had expended what I assume was the majority of their force on their failed attempt at taking my outpost, I decided to order a nearby squad of scout rats to check just how many drones were left to guard their main base. With the outpost more or less stable, I float over and back to my spiders in the mole colony.


    This time, instead of linking to a spider mid-climb on the massive support beam, the spider who now hosted my consciousness was currently grabbing more materials to weld onto the support beam. Looking around, I eventually spotted the timer, which marked how long was left until the support beam was finished, which currently displayed that it would take another several hours before it finished.


    It also seems that some of my drones from the factory had dragged the worm corpse based on the trail of where a worm corpse had been dragged. Speaking of which, I do not think I have properly inspected the corpse and thus have not acquired its blueprint. Floating back to the surface and over to my factory base, I see that my drones had left it on the ground of the main room near the refinery.


    Inspecting the corpse, the familiar status screen appears slightly above the worm''s limp form. According to the description, the Subterranean Tunnel Bore or the STB was a large drone which was originally constructed to clear out areas before other specialized drones could begin construction, mainly subway tunnels. Due to the STB''s limited usability outside of its chosen field, the drone was built to be able to work in quick bursts of activity in-between regular rest periods.


    Well I guess I can find a use for it, I suppose it could help in the mines as a quick way to create new strips of mineshaft which my moles and crabs can pick through. Speaking of the mining outpost, they have been making good headway in my previously depleted stockpiles and should be allowed to taste the fruits of their labor.


    Using all that new ore, I ordered a few more moles to help with the drilling, a group of fifteen hounds for perimeter defense, and a wing of five hornets to fend off anything big which my hounds would rather not have to fight. I am less worried about another attack coming from MAI now that they have just lost their main force but I am not going to get overconfident just yet. Hopefully the garrison will only be there to fend off the occasional feral and not another full scale attack.


    With that aside, I inform a nearby spider that it is alright to scrap the worm corpse to which they nod before scurrying off, likely to go find someone who was actually big enough to scrap the whole thing. I was about to leave to slip back into my vessel drone before I heard a knock on the gates. Floating over to the noise, I find none other than R5-7G and the rest of his nomadic tribe.


    Slipping into one of the backup vessel''s which i had made earlier, I walked over to the gates and said "Fancy seeing you all here, what brings you over?"


    "We were looking for a good place to settle down now that we''ve left the reach of that damned AI, no offense, and when we heard that there was a friendly AI near here we were guessing it was you" R5-7G replied. "Now then do you happen to know any good spots to set up a village by chance?"

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 49

    A good place to settle huh, "Any sort of requirements?" I ask back before calling for the rat team which was scheduled here for a few days of RnR. While I am doing this, R5-7G answers that they are looking for an open area with plenty of buildings nearby for scavenging purposes. Looking over to my scout rat, they seem to be racking through their data banks searching for a suitable location.


    Eventually they perk up and type out that there is a spot about half an hour south-east from the factory. Nodding to the drone, I relay this information to the nomads and they all begin to get excited. Calling over a few hounds from the garrison, I order them to escort the scout rat leader who will guide them to their new home.


    Before they leave, I decide to give them a welcome gift in the form of a couple metal ingots which they graciously accept. Bidding them farewell, I quickly check up the factory to see if anything else needs my attention before slipping back out of my vessel and over to my mining outpost. The outpost was looking much better now that the guard force has been fully deployed.


    While the mines are not back to pre-ambush levels of productivity, it was pumping out metals which were flowing out of the mine shafts. And once the mole colony begins sending their tribute, I will have more resources than I would know what to do with. Or I would blow it all on new drones. Yeah probably that.


    Anyways, checking on those captured drones who were on their way to the mining outpost, I see that it will be another couple hours before they arrive. Speaking of prisoners, I still need to ship off that captured crab to the mining outpost as well. Checking how many drones are healthy enough for an escort mission, I see that if I were to send away any of my drones it would be a couple of days before they are able to return to me.


    With this in mind, I decide to go with the cheaper and consequently the much more cruel method. Slipping into my vessel drone, I walked over to the small drone works and ordered up three fire beetles. Once they finish fabricating, I order them to climb atop the crab prisoner and lock


    onto their chassis and prim themselves for detonation. While this is probably not the most ethically sound method for keeping them in line, it is the one I have.


    While there is the slight concern of the crab trying to pry off my fiery death beetles it is highly mitigated as even if they can somehow kill two of the beetles outright with their two claws, the last one will detonate leaving the crab severely damaged and thus easy pickings for any ferals in the area. And so when I ordered the crab to begin the approximately two day march back to the mining outpost, the crab had no choice but to obey.


    And now that the crab is out of the way, I can now begin focusing on the rest of my drones who were still in the process of replenishing themselves. While most of my drones have been repaired to functionality, there are still some who have external damages which were temporarily overlooked so the critically injured could get treated.


    Along with this, much of the drones which are being replenished are still in queue due to there only being one medium drone works which was and still is what makes up the bulk of my force and as much as I would like to, my spiders are still preoccupied with the wounded. With all of these factors combined, I am hesitant to begin the siege of MAI''s main base even though it will allow them to rally even more drones.


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    Sighing to myself, I begin searching for things to do while I wait for my attack force to fully restore itself back to a reasonable number. After a few minutes of hopping between outposts to see if anything was going on, I eventually decided to see how the nomads were doing. Slipping into one of the hounds who were escorting the scout rat, I see that they have just recently arrived and are already beginning to set up camp.


    Asking my hound to look around, I saw that my scout rat had chosen a large open area with a concrete base which was situated in a small school. With the school and the many buildings close to it, I could see why this area was chosen for colonization considering the sheer amount of possible salvage opportunities.


    Focusing back on the nomads, I can see that their camp was now made up of about a dozen pop up tents which had been pulled from some of the many large packs which the nomads had been carrying around. Leaving them to their devices, I order my drones to head back to the factory before slipping out of them and making my way down to the mole colony.


    Popping into one of the repair spiders who were fixing up the second to last support beam, I could see that they still were only halfway done with that support beam. However, with the first two finished, the mole population has begun going back to their usual mining habits now that the cavern is not at risk of suddenly collapsing. While I personally would not risk walking the line of accidentally triggering a cave in, I was not about to complain about getting more resources sooner.


    Anyways, the repairs will not be finished anytime soon so I quickly run through my mental checklist of potential things I might need to do. Finding nothing of note, I begin aimlessly watching my drones work


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later, I get the message that the last of the replacement drones have finished being fabricated. Floating over to the water treatment outpost and slipped back into my vessel drone. While it probably is a bit overkill to have this many drones attack the MAI base now that their main force has been eliminated, however, I am not going to be caught taking chances which might cost me dearly.


    An additional reassurance for my precaution comes in the form of my scout rats reporting that the MAI base still has a decently sized garrison defending it. Rallying the attack group, I set off in a march towards the, hopefully, last patch of MAI controlled space.


    The march was about as eventful as they can get without spiraling into an ambush due to the abnormally dense feral presence. Thankfully, my hornets were more than enough to fend off the small raiding parties who were crazy enough to attack my entourage. But before long we arrived a few blocks away from the compound.


    Ordering my hornets to get onto some of the higher buildings so they can give accurate fire support, I have the rest of my drones fall in and begin to advance. We began to move in a repeating pattern of my infantry drones and I would move up to my hornets maximum effective range before they would fly up to where we were and then we would repeat.


    While it was not the quickest or stealthy at all, it was likely the most safe of my options and that is all I really cared about for now. Once we started getting close to the first of the MAI guards, they all began pulling back further into the compound. This struck me as odd since fighting around a tight corner in the dense buildings around the base would have been much easier for them since it would practically eliminate the threat my hornets pose, at least until they can catch up.


    Moving further up, much the same happens, we advance and they fall back further and further into the compound and I begin to feel confident that my force could easily take down the meger garrison as seen so far. But before long I was finally standing outside of a rather dark looking tunnel at the center of the base. It seems that every one of the garrison''s drones had shoved themselves into one of the half dozen mine shafts and my drones and I would have to pry them out one hole at a time.


    Sigh. Why did I have to jinx it?

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 50

    Ordering my drones to prepare defensive positions around the mine shaft entrances, I begin deliberating on how to best approach the most likely trap filled tunnels. My drones and I certainly did not want to go down there if we did not have to but there were not very many options available to us that would flush the defending drones out of their hole.


    The hornets were not able actually fire at anything due to the winding nature of the tunnels and while fire beetles might be able to hit some of the drones near the entrance to the tunnel they most certainly will not be able to hit anything much farther than that. That only left two real options left, move into the tunnels and hope for the best or dig our own tun-


    Wait. I just got the blueprint for that tunnel worm drones which can practically swim through rock and stone. It will take a few hours but I can get one made at the water treatment outpost and have it shipped over here quickly enough. Additionally it is not like we really have any downsides to simply just sitting around and sieging mines for a little while.


    After I quickly floated back over to the outpost and ordered a new worm, I soon found myself wandering around the components of the MAI base which were above the surface. For the most part the compound was barren minus a couple buildings holding some living quarters and what looks to have been a reception building.


    I suppose the important stuff is stored underground. I guess this is why they weren''t too upset about leaving all of this undefended. With that in mind, I briefly debated whether the intel gathered by sending a scout rat or two down into the tunnels would be worth the almost guaranteed loss of the rats before eventually scrapping the idea on the grounds that the worm could likely do that while it dug around.


    Anyways, with the tunnel entrances guarded and the worm under fabrication, I decided to kill my time by rummaging through the on site buildings for anything interesting.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Unfortunately after a few hours of searching, the only thing of interest I found was a few bits of broken electronics which could be scrapped back at base. The good news was that the new worm had just finished and was already on its way over here. Infact, I could already hear the faint rumbling coming from the direction of the water treatment outpost.


    The MAI drones also seem to have noticed as they seemed to increase the amount of activity and were now occasionally prodding at my defenses, likely looking for a weakness. Based on the fact that they have not decided to invest in a full out assault, I guessed that they had not found anything worth actually taking advantage of.


    Soon enough, my brand new worm finally arrived at my pseudo-siege camp and was fully prepared to do the very thing I ordered its construction for. The worm reared back for a second before lunging at the ground and began drilling into the soft dirt. Shifting my senses into the worm, I immediately found my vision gone and had been replaced with a rather sensitive sense for vibrations.


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    The strange method of detection was rather odd but nonetheless it worked and within a few minutes my worm was able to detect a total of three dozen or so medium sized drones and another two dozen smalls who were all holed in the tunnels. As an additional price of information, the majority of the guard force were in the same tunnel and were all located in a large open area within the mineshaft.


    As much as I would like to have my worm decimate their forces in one fell swoop, I would like to have the infrastructure that was undoubtedly what those drones are guarding. So in an attempt to get the best of both worlds, I ordered my drone to be careful when engaging the drones in that area.


    Then I set my worm loose and they immediately began wreaking havoc with the MAI drones. The worm moved in and out of the ground, occasionally taking a drone or two with them. I have no idea how this looks to the defending drone but I almost feel bad for them. Almost.


    Not long after my worm began harassing their troops, the enemy drones began moving toward the surface. Slipping back out of the worm''s body, I begin ordering my drones to brace themselves for the incoming drones. Not that they needed my instruction, my lead hound was already making sure all of my drones were prepared.


    Soon enough, the first of the enemy drones began pouring out of the tunnel entrances and towards my lines. However, they seemed off. Something about their erratic twitching or the fact that their joint lights were fritzing or just turning into plain static. Nevertheless, the first couple of drones who stepped out of the tunnels were quickly gunned down by my hornets but now they needed to reload which the enemy quickly took advantage of by streaming out of the tunnels and quickly began engaging my drones.


    Joining in the melee, I could see that my drones would have likely not needed the help as they outnumbered the enemy drones who stormed out by about two to one. My drones held up about as well as I expected but what surprised me was how ferocious the enemy drones fought. The enemy hounds and ants seemed to be in a berserk like rage and simply charged straight into my lines and immediately began tearing holes in it.


    They were not able to take more than a dozen of my drones but it was slightly concerning how hard they fought. Normally they would give up and surrender after taking sufficient losses but this time not a single one stopped fighting until they were struck by nothing less than a fatal blow. My drones were rather shaken by the display and so I gave them a few minutes as a breather.


    While they took their break, I walked up to the corpse of one of the berserker hounds and began poking it to see what would happen. As I poked it, I could feel something squishy somewhere inside the drone which sent a slight chill up my metal spine as I was not expecting that. With my curiosity piqued, I grabbed one of my javelins and used it to pry open one of the plates to reveal the insides of the drone.


    What I found seemed to be filled with some sort of small fleshy clumps which were connected to each other in a spider-like web of weirdness. Scientifically poking it with my javelin, I was surprised when it gave me a slight jolt before it slumped back down. Whatever it is, I decided to tell my drones not to touch it just in case.


    With that taken care of, I decided to take the least spooked drones and began traversing down the main tunnel which would lead towards the large room. As I moved down the springing open tunnels, although I should not have as crabs were likely mining the resources here, I could still hear my worm picking off enemy drones but they seemed to have begun slowing down before fully stopping somewhere near the surface.


    Welp, I suppose it must have run out of energy like the description said it would. Shame, I probably could have used that extra emergency support. Steeling My nerves, I and my small squad of drones begin slowly creeping forward into the increasingly dark and musty tunnel.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 51

    My drones and I continued down the tunnels at a slow but steady pace, constantly shooting glances in every direction. So far we have not encountered any enemy drones but we were all prepared to bolt for the exit if we spotted anything threatening. Above the surface, my remaining drones were starting to regain their senses and had begun preparing to follow me and my team''s example.


    Reaching a particularly sharp turn, I order the scout rat in the squad to peak around the corner and to tell us what is there. Begrudgingly, they do so and begin relaying that there were about a dozen medium sized drones with a few handfuls of smalls. I inquired what they were doing and my scout rat quickly replied that the enemy spider drones were patching up the noticeably damaged drones.


    Looking back at my squad, I can see that I only possessed four hounds, three ants, a scorpion, a fire beetle, and a scout rat but they do not count. Deciding that picking a fight with my current force would not end well, I begin to comm the rest of my drones before I hear a panicked scrambling from my scout drone.


    I quickly spun around to see that my scout rat had abandoned its post and was in the process of climbing onto one of my hounds. I quickly found out why as a MAI drone rounds the corner and begins sprinting towards me. My drones and I swiftly decided that our stay is no longer welcomed and promptly began to leg it back towards the shaft exit.


    Unfortunately, the ants in my squad were less than the quickest of drones, especially compared to hounds, and so they began to lag behind. Thankfully my fire beetle was sitting on top of one of the ants and provided a slight deterrence to the MAI hound. However more enemy drones were joining the chase and these ones looked twitchy like the drone we had fought at the surface which did not fill my confidence that fire alone would stop them.


    Speaking of the surface, I warned the drones up top about our immediate return and the drones who were chasing me. As I was doing this I caught a glimpse of when one of my ants got caught by one of the twitchy MAI drones and was promptly swarmed. Their sacrifice was not in vain however as they served as a suitable distraction which allowed the rest of the squad to make it out without further harm.


    My drones and I hurriedly joined the other drones in the defensive line and immediately began fending off the enemy drones who were right on our heels. They too fought with a suicidal rage but were swiftly put down by my drones now that they knew what to expect. As we pushed back the berserker drones, I noticed that more of the raging drones were rushing out of the tunnels.


    Now that was not too surprising as one large and even fight is better than a bunch of smaller fights at disadvantage however I saw that the newest drones running into the fray were progressively becoming more and more damaged or decreasing in size. This was enough to convince me that the MAI was getting desperate and so I urged my drones to push a little bit harder and that the fight was almost over.


    We unfortunately took more casualties than I had hoped as the small enemy drones managed to punch slightly above their weight class which was unexpected to say the least. Nevertheless my drones ended up the victors and celebrated accordingly with a few yips and cheers.


    Sending my injured drones to the spiders, I took my remaining healthy drones and began descending back down the tunnels towards what I was guessing as the central production area of the compound seeing that it was the largest of the underground spaces. Reaching the same spot where I was chased away from, I and my drone posse turned the corner and stepped onto the plated floor of the heart of any production hub.


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    Walking up to the nearest drone works, I see that it was in the familiar shape of a medium drone works. The machine looked used recently which did not surprise me but what I found strange was the same fleshy clumps of mass which was covering the drone works. In fact, almost everything in the room was covered with the stuff although it was mostly congregated at the machines and strangely enough the ceiling.


    Following the web-like pattern of the clumps, it eventually led me to a small door which was located at the far end of the room which was almost completely covered with the clumps. The door was already slightly left ajar so I pushed in the door to reveal a rather poorly lit room with what seemed to be servers of some kind. Even with the abysmal lighting, I could see that every surface was matted with layers of the fleshy clumps.


    Stepping into the room, I could feel the ground under me squish and compress under my weight. Then, one of the clusters of clumps moved. All at once dozens of stringed together clumps reeled back and above me something pulsed with a faint red light. Backpedaling out of the room, I watched as that something began crawling off the ceiling and onto the ground before pulling it else out of the room it was presumably sleeping or something in.


    The thing was large, about the size of a small car in the shape of a sphere of sorts, with dozens of long strings with chunks of its flesh clinning to it. These strings of fleshy ball things seemed to be the main things main appendages, acting as legs and arms, and were sprouting from every available area. The thing was mostly black but had many dark red streaks and crosses dotting its body.


    My scorpions quickly assessed that this was a threat and immediately fired their beam cannons however they proved to be rather ineffective against the fleshy form. The beams did cause the thing to reel back after absorbing the blow but aside from that, it managed to shrug the attack off. A few of my more practice hounds decided that since the stun beams were not working then more physical attack would.


    This proved to be correct as their chomps tore into large chunks of the thing however the beast pulsed and changed color from black to a static white for a few moments. The chunks that were not directly connected to the thing pulsed as well but did so in a much more subdued manner. That was not important now as the three hounds who charged the thing were now convulsing on the ground and their joints were flashing.


    Then, as their joint lights settled on a familiar static white, they suddenly stopped convulsing, got on their feet and started snarling at my drones and I with the same look as the berserker drones we had just taken down a few minutes ago. Me and my drones were hesitant to actually fight the now berserk hounds as they were our buddies just a few moments ago but those notions were sadly forced to be set aside as the three hounds charged at us.


    My drones swiftly took down the turned hounds and were careful not to accidentally consume any of the strange fleshy stuff. The thing attempted to get a hold of more of my drones using their tentacles or whatever you would call them but thankfully my fire beetle provided a nice deterrence as they were quite effective against the squishy and rather flammable flesh.


    With the turned hounds now taken care of, my drones began falling back slowly since the only thing that could truly damage the thing was the fire beetle. This would have been all fine and good but my little drone would run out of fuel sooner rather than later which was not ideal. The retreat was going well, my fire beetle fended off any attacks made by the thing.


    Then, as if the universe realized that this was too easy, my hornets began sending in worried messages saying that the worm was beginning to convulse. I soon realized that the drone had just gobbled up at least a half dozen enemy drones which were all but guaranteed to have some of the fleshy bits inside it. With this news my drones and I began forgoing an orderly retreat and started booking it out of the enclosed tunnels.


    The fastest of my drones were able to reach the mouth of the mineshaft but by then it was too late as the distinct rumbling of my now possessed worm started up its drills once more. Crap.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 52

    As the ground shook, I urged my drones to move just a little farther but the shaking was making it ever more difficult to get proper footing. Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself off the trembling ground and managed to grab one of the nearby drones and hurled them past the entrance to the shaft. This however caused me to lose balance and I fell over again.


    This miraculously saved my bacon as my now hostile worm burst through the wall to my left and flew right over me. In a perfect world the worm would have lost all of its momentum and crashed into the next wall. Then it would violently explode. This however was not a perfect world and thus the worm snatched a drone which was on my right before drilling back into the right side tunnel wall.


    Thankfully the blow which the ant on my right had taken was not immediately life threatening as the worm was slowing down considerably compared to its initial velocity. I presumed that it had not fully recharged before the flesh thing took control of it. That does beg the question of how the thing actually hacked my drones as flesh and metal do not usually mesh that well together.


    That however was thought for another time as the thing was catching up to us and the possessed worm was beginning to prepare itself for another charge. My drones hurriedly made their way out of the cave now that the worm induced tremors were no longer a problem and upon reaching the surface I immediately began ordering my hornets to take off into the sky and to prepare firing solutions for when the thing exited the tunnel behind us.


    I also ordered my beetle to get on top of the tunnel''s entrance and for them to get ready to hose the thing with fire if the initial barrage was not enough. With that taken care of, I order my remaining drones to spread out and prepare to engage the worm when it emerges from the ground again. Hefting my blast shield and my mace, I brace myself for the next attack.


    We had to wait for a little longer than expected, the fleshy thing was quite slow actually and the worm was still mustering reserve energy, but more when the thing emerged from the tunnel my hornets quickly gave it some nice new holes. However they were just that, holes, and now seeing that the hornets bolts were not cutting it, my beetle began frying it.


    This elicited a much more adamant response and swung two of its stingy appendages and gripped the beetle''s metal plates. My beetle however was not having it as, before the thing could begin turning into static, my beetle self destructed right in its grasp. From the thing I could hear a faint gurgle of a scream emanating from its core before it flashed in color and charged at me.


    Quickly backpedaling, I desperately dodged and weaved around the multitude of strikes swinging towards me. Well it was more running away and blocking with my shield when I could not but it still counts. I managed to get a whack or two whenever possible but aside from that the battle was not going particularly well for me. I could not keep this up forever and no other drones I have left available are capable of significantly damaging it.


    As my hopes were waning a blow knocked me off balance causing me to trip and fall on my back. Thankfully my blast shield was still in front of me as a torrent of strikes slammed against me like an ever moving river. Then, as the thing was rearing up for a heavy attack, a large chunk of rock slammed into its side and knocked it over.


    Taking advantage of the distraction, I pulled myself to my feet and found that a hornet wing had realized that if their spikes were not cutting it, a large rock would. Evidently they were correct in that assumption. With the thing still recovering from its fall, I charged with my mace and began pounding away at its squirming form which did not do much more than force the thing to devote its attention to blocking my strikes rather than actually getting up.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    That was until, my mace found contact with something solid within the things frame. My strike against that object caused the thing to redouble its efforts on pushing me away as it began sending blow after blow at me which was met with my shield. Deciding that I was no longer worth targeting, the thing charged towards my infantry drones in a rush to convert as many as possible to their side.


    My drones worked to evade the oncoming beast by splitting up and spreading out further, buying time for my airborne drones to land another hit on whatever got the thing worked up on. Unfortunately an ant or two was captured by the thing and was swiftly put down by a scorpion or hornet shot before I was able to get close enough to slam my shield into its side.


    This brought its attention towards me nicely and was further enraged when I chucked a javelin into it, just because. With my distraction enacted the thing did not realize it when another large chunk of debris was hurled at it, this time by my vulture, with a dozen or so hornet spikes followed right after. The rock slammed into the thing like its predecessor and likely damaged whatever the thing was so adamantly protecting.


    However, unlike the last rock, the hornet spike salvo that came after pelted the thing and pinned it to the ground with the spikes acting as nails, pricing the thing''s flesh. The monstrosity wriggled and writhed in a desperate attempt to escape its predicament but now that it was pinned, I moved forward to deal the final few blows. Yet as I got close, the thing let out a shrill shriek which reverberated across the compound.


    The shriek was quickly followed by one originating from somewhere underground and the rumble of drills began once more. The tremors quickly grew in magnitude and quickly realized that the possessed worm was the problem and quickly raised my shield and ordered my drones to spread out and prepare to repel the worm. Just as the rumbling came to a crescendo, it paused. Then the worm busted through the ground and leaped at my back.


    I only barely swung myself and my shield I time to allow my blast shield to take the majority of the impact. The worm still managed to create a deep gouge in my side as my shield deflected it from my stomach. As much as the later blow would have hurt more and that my vessel was considerably less sensitive than a normal body, it still hurt like all hell.


    Since my hornets were still reloading, my scorpions quickly took the place of my airborne assets and fired off their stun lances at the worm which, while slightly less effective than usual, put it thoroughly out of the fight. With that last threat taken care of, the only thing left was the still pinned flesh monster who was in the process of dislodging one of the spikes.


    In my current state, I was not in the best of conditions to properly finish off the thing so I ordered my hornets to finish reloading and to aim directly at their centerpiece that was now slightly exposed as the flesh containing it tore off at some point. Now that it was no longer chasing or attacking me, I could now fully take in the sight of the monstrosity in its entirety.


    The thing was bulbous to say the least and had several main tentacles which sported a few minor tentacles to boot. The point at which the major tentacles sprout minors is where a small round bulge exists and its purpose I can only assume is one similar to a joint. The ''skin'' of the thing was a deep black with dark and bold red crosses dotting across its form, most often found on the joints and central body.


    In said body was a, slightly dented, spherical object about the size of a basketball with the same color as the red crosses located at the midpoint of the things torso. I would presume that it was important and I was swiftly proven right as more than a dozen spikes pierced it and the thing immediately ceased struggling. My drones and I still refused to touch it.


    I would rather not have this thing and what I can only assume is its residue inside of my newly conquered compound and so I ventured into the tunnels in search of a drone works in order to construct a beetle. Before I go, I order my drones to make themselves busy by moving all the tainted drone corpses,the thing, and any residue inside of the compound into a nice flammable pire in preparation for the beetle.


    Eventually I did find a small drone works which was not overrun by the things residue but it was a close thing as this was one of the last machines left to check. However, upon accessing the machine''s terminal, I began feeling an odd sensation. One that I could not fully put my finger on. That was until I heard another voice inside my mind.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 53

    The voice was not one of a person, but rather sounded to be a set of instructions playing on repeat in the back of my mind. The instruction said that "Disengage contact with this device. The device is contaminated with a contaminant designated as Rot. Recommend complete purge of all nearby affected entities."


    Upon listening to the first two lines of the message I shot my hand back as I realized what the rot was obviously referring to. I take note that since whatever was speaking had a name for this rot stuff then this was not an isolated case. Lastly, part where it stated that it should be purged disappointed me somewhat as I would like to have claimed the compound and its pre-built infrastructure to alas it was for the best.


    Sighing to myself as I walked out of the tunnel, I found a small nearby building which I leaned back on before shifting out of my vessel to order some fire beetles back at the water treatment plant. Ordering up a half dozen beetles for the purge team and began the wait as they began fabricating. It did not take very long for them to finish and their trip was made much quicker with my hounds acting as rides.


    Once they arrived I immediately ordered them to begin the cleansing to which they hastily obeyed. Streams of purifying flame swept across the mound of rot flesh my drones and assembled, incinerating all that it touched and soon all that was left was embers. While it still pains me to have my drones destroy all of this free infrastructure, it had to be done so I gave the order and they began burning it all down as well.


    It did not take long but the entire compound was scored with scorch marks on every available surface. With all of the pre built machinery destroyed and there not being much ore left in the tunnels, the compound was now of no use to me. Sighing to myself I ordered the march back to the nearest outpost. At least the fight is over.


    Once my drones and I reach the outpost we all immediately disperse and begin tending to their tasks or wounds. Many of my drones were faced with some sizable damages from the berserker and infected worm attacks and the only reason more than a couple of my drones were still with us is because of the quick fried repairs done by the spider contingent.


    Laying down on a section of concrete, I slip out of my vessel as a spider begins the process of putting my drill wound back together. Giving a quick head count, I order up replacements for all the lost drones along with a couple more spiders to speed up the recovery process. Not that we were much in a hurry now that the MAI has been destroyed.


    Actually, now that I am no longer at threat, what should I do now? I could spend my time building up and preparing for the next disaster just in case. Another thing I could do is to devote my resources to making sure the nomads are doing well. That would not be much of a bad idea. An errant thought of turning the com station on top of the factory flickered across my mind for a moment before common sense took hold and snuffed it out.


    The last time I had used it, MAI showed up at my doorstep and made an attempt to destroy me. I reasoned that I would only use the com station once I had adequately prepared myself for the worst and then some. Eventually I decided that there is no harm in doing all three now that I was safe for the moment. First things first is the mole colony''s progress on the support beams.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Slipping out of my vessel, I floated over and into one of my spider drones who was working at the colony. Looking around, I see that the last of the support beams are getting the finishing touches made to it and a couple of my spiders have already begun working on properly repairing the reactor. Checking on the drones working on the generator, I see that it would take a full day and would require the mole colonists to fetch some specific materials from the mines.


    They all did not mind of course, more power meant they could worry less about suddenly shutting down and soon the required materials were prepared for implementation. Leaving my drones to their work, I decided to move over to the mining outpost to check on how the new workers were doing.


    Once there, I could immediately spot the imprisoned drones as they were now brightly colored red. I do not know where or more importantly how one of my drones found that bucket of paint but I was not complaining, it certainly would make keeping track of them easier. The prisoner drones were all hauling the ore from the mineshafts and to the refinery then back again.


    While none of my drones were outright terrorizing the prisoner drones, they certainly gave the red painted drones the side eye, especially the few drones who had survived the ambush as they had lost many good friends in the battle. As a direct result of this, the prisoner drones stuck together like glue and were almost never found to be without at least one buddy.


    This did not concern me, as long as they do their jobs they can be with whom they please. Speaking of their work, checking on the storage room, I could see that the mines have returned back to its former glory as the storage room was bursting from the seams with various alloys and metals. My caravan of moose have been working overtime to disperse all of the newly minded out resources to my various outposts and vassals.


    Speaking of which, I zipped over to the Flocks home base to see how well they are doing. After arriving and giving the area a quick sweep, I could see that their vassalage had done wonders to their numbers as they swelled up to around four dozen vultures with another three dozen smaller woodpeckers. Infact, due to the increase in numbers, the flock has expanded their nesting grounds to include some farther off buildings which could also double as early warning systems for potential attacks.


    Sticking around to watch the vultures do practice flight maneuvers for a few minutes, I eventually slip away to go check on the not so nomads and their newly set up village. Upon arriving over there, I could see that the nomads had set up the majority of their equipment inside of the school walls. This included a few dozen battery packs, a couple work stations for what I''m guessing is salvage disassembly, and a small repair station with a small collection of common tools.


    While I''m sure they would not mind receiving a small shipment of metals to help get them set up with soon better equipment, I eventually decided against it in favor of letting them develop on their own unless they really need it. With them all sorted out, I move on to the last of my allys, that being Pasileigh and her wolves who are the most spread out of all my vessel''s.


    This would likely be due to all of the subway stations which they are the main defenders of, although my own personal drones do supplement them, and the few that are permanently stationed as the wardens of the subway train. Paisleighs hounds have been flourishing now that they are the guardians of my entire transportation array.


    With the resources from my outposts, Paisleighs hounds have been steadily increasing their number in order to disperse themselves across the half a dozen subway stations under my control. It also helps that some of my veteran hounds who have survived a battle or two often get transferred over to the hound garrisons guarding the subway trains as newly fledged drill masters. With their care the subway garrisons have become a formidable force.


    Not that there''s much left for them to fight now that the MAI is no longer a threat. With nothing much left to do, I decided to spend my time simply floating around my various outposts and compounds, waiting for the next disaster to show its face.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 54

    Eventually, my monotony was disturbed by a message from the spider drones working down at the mole colony. Shifting down into one of their perspectives, I see that they had just finished the repairs on the reactor and were now awaiting further instructions. Currently, I had no place which I needed them for so I simply ordered them to start dispersing themselves across the outposts and to generally improve their new stations.


    Swapping back to my vessel at the factory, I made my way back down into the colony. Once reaching there, I could immediately spot that the various floodlights were glowing significantly more bright and that many of the buildings were now powered on. Walking down to street level, I saw that the mole residents seemed to be energized and active, presumably because they were now fully charged.


    Soon enough I reached the now fully operational reactor which hummed contently. I could make out where the elder mole made their haphazard repairs and where my spiders had fully refurbished it with the former being marked with a mismatch of scrap metal and the latter shining with a glint only a freshly installed metal plate could possess. I reach out to the generator with my left hand and caressed the lining between the two distinct marks before a voice speaks up behind me.


    "Beautiful, isn''t it?" The old mole says in a reverent tone.


    "Indeed, it is," I respond before giving the reactor a little love tap with my hand which causes the reactor to reverberate with a satisfying gong sound.


    "You know, I would have never thought I would see the day where they," the elder mole gestures to a couple moles playing in the distance, "would ever get to experience the joys of not having to worry about power or maintenance. Back in the early days of my awakening, I barely had enough power to move a few feet at a time and every dent and loosened plate was a permanent disfiguration."


    The elder mole paused for a moment while looking at one of the buildings where a few of my spiders had decided to set up shop and who were currently welding a replacement thermal plate on a mole. Then the elder mole turned back towards me and bent down into a bow. "I thank you, with all of my being, for the opportunity of a stable life for me and my kin."


    I was quite taken aback by the display, for I had ordered the repair of the generator so I could see if there was anything useful in that server room and so that the tribute from the colony could be lifted to the surface for easy access. I did not fully know how to respond to this so I simply resorted to the tried and true method of humility.


    "Please, stand. I was not the one who fixed your generator and saved your cavern. If there are any whom you should be praising it should be drones who braved the ever present danger of cave ins and rock falls." I say while gesturing to my spiders who were scattered around the town repairing things or people.


    "While you are correct on who I should be thanking, you should not disregard the effect your decisions had made on my home. You could have simply left once the support pickers were repaired however you stuck around and actively supported and protected my people when it would have been easier to simply let us fend for ourselves. Whether or not your decisions were made with profit in mind, you still made it so my kin''s lives are better and so I thank you for it."


    I could not think up a response fast enough to respond before another mole ran up to the elder and spoke something in their ear. The elder excused themselves and ran after the other mole before I could get another word in. In the corner of my vision, I saw the notification that the mole colony has now pledged vassalage to me.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    This left me simply standing around alone in the street so I began moving to my intended destination, the server room. Upon reaching the small deed which housed the various server blocks, I found a little access port that I soon plugged my finger into. Then a screen appeared in front of me which contained about a dozen files all waiting to be explored.


    Many of the files were almost completely corrupted and most of the uncorrected files were just progress manifests which was to be expected. The last of the mostly uncorrupted files however proved to be interesting as it stated that some of the non-drone workers had been discussing the new health codes on a new virus named the rot which has recently been infecting some residents from a few districts over.


    This had some disturbing implications on why there were no, well I would say people but that would be insensitive to all the robots I have met so far, living and breathing beings asides from a few random critters I saw a while back and the rot infestation. I try not to think about what something named the rot would do to an infected person.


    Before my mind could conjure up more disgusting images of mutilated corpses, I got a notification from one of my scout teams located over by the water treatment outpost. They were requesting permission and reinforcements to begin searching for the reason for the abnormal amount of feral drones in the region.


    Not seeing anything wrong with a little bit of extra reconnaissance, I gave the go ahead and floated over to the small drone works to order up two squads of scout rats since they are dirt cheap to produce. However, upon ordering the drones, I get a notification stating that I should upgrade my core or construct a server network in order to compensate for my growing number of drones, directly and indirectly controlled by me.


    Switching back to the factory and checking the price to upgrade the core, I found that I was missing some specialized components which while I could fabricate it would require some base materials that I do not yet possess. This could be fixed once the first shipment of tribute resources arrives from the mole colony but that would take at least a few days. That is not to mention the fact that the upgrades would take up a considerable amount of time before completion.


    Switching my gaze to my new option of constructing servers, I see that they are relatively cheap to make, compared to the core upgrade, but it would not be able to administer control to many drones and would require multiple server clusters to reach the computing power of an equivalent value AI core. This however meant that the server network would scale much better as each server would support the next, then those two would support another two and so on.


    The servers would also require a sufficient power source to allow for it to continue operating which meant I could not place servers wherever I wanted. Now the only question was, where do I have a reliable power source and a bunch of unused, preferably roofed, areas which I could shove a bunch of servers into. Eventually, I settled on my far off and almost completely barren outpost.


    Drifting over to the warehouse outpost, I see that almost nothing has changed from when I last visited. The occasional feral raid was repelled which also gave the outpost enough metal to repair injuries and other such damages, then storing the leftovers. The outpost only had a small garrison of less than a half dozen medium sized drones as well as a small contingent of spiders who were only there to keep up maintenance.


    Seeing the abysmal state of the outpost, I ordered my caravan of moose, which I should expand soon, to run a few supply missions to drop off enough materials to start the construction and for store spiders and their accompanying guards. It feels kind of nice to have finally found a decent use for the outpost as it has been left to the wayside as I was much more focused on the ever present threat that MAI posed.


    My thoughts were cut short however as a notification arrived from my scout rats who were supposed to have been beginning the investigation on the feral drones numbers at the water treatment outpost. Checking the reason for the notification, I could see why it was sent as the scout rat had reported that they had found at almost a half dozen autonomous drones works which were pumping out ferals near constantly.


    Worrying news indeed.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 55

    Switching to my scout rat''s vision, I could see that inside of a large building was the feral drone works. Nearby said drone works were dozens of very simplistic looking machines which seemed to be designed with utilitarianism in mind. To this end, the robots also seemed to be working off of a set pattern as they did not pause or deviate once while performing their tasks.


    Those tasks included resource gatherers who were basically just a mining drill on tracks and a hauler which was ferrying the minerals into a decrepit looking refinery. Those resources were then inserted into the drone works and out came a new feral drone after a couple dozen minutes later. There was no longer a doubt that this was the reason for all the feral drones.


    I order my scouts to continue observing the drone works and to find the power source while they are at it. While they were doing that, I switched my conscience back to my vessel inside of the water treatment outpost and began marshaling my non garrisoned troops. Among those troops number was the penal legion which had passed one or two of their number in the battle with their former leader, MAI.


    Perhaps after a couple more battles I''ll let them free. Maybe. For now though, they would be taking point in the next attack in order to bear the brunt of the injuries from the various ferals who would no doubtably stand in my way from disabling their drone works. Speaking of which, I wonder who made those. I doubt that they would simply appear out of nowhere.


    Perhaps another, or possibly already dead, AI created those and the androids which operate them but eventually lost control of it and let the ferals take it over. My thoughts were cut off as my drones finished assembling and were now waiting expectedly in formation. Walking into the middle area of the formation, I order my drones to begin the march towards the feral drone works.


    While following the path set by my scouts beforehand, me and my drones begin to encounter more than the usual amounts of random feral raids. They were much more organized then normal as well. An example of this was when a team of three hounds charged out of a particularly tight alleyway and slammed into the first of my drones they could see which just so happened to be a penal drone.


    And then, while my drones were distracted by the group of attackers on one side, another larger team of several drones made up of hounds and ants came out of nowhere and caught my drones by surprise. The rearward charge did enough damage to disorient my drones and in the confusion the first team slipped away having only lost one of their number in the process as my hornets tagged one of them as they escaped.


    With them gone my drones turned the majority of their attention to the larger group and leapt upon them with a fury although they did leave a few drones to ensure no attack would be coming for their unshielded behind again. While we were able to fend off that attack, more than a few of my drones had lost their lives already and we were only around halfway to the feral drone works.


    Deciding that speed was less desirable compared to survival I ordered my drones to go on an extra cautious stance and went back to slowly advancing towards the drone works. It was slow but no other ambushes did anything other than uselessly throw themselves into the waiting maw of my drones or became moving targets for my hornets.


    Soon enough my war party encroached on the drone works however by the time we reached there the ferals had managed to marshall a small army of around forty assembled drones of various make. I could see hounds, ants, scorpions, hornets, termites,and moose who were all standing defiantly against my drones.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    My drones and I keep an eye out for any sort of ambush while my hornet contingent prepares for the opening salvo however it seems that the ferals were one step ahead of me this time as their own hornets and scorpions opened fire upon my drone lines. The penal drones took the brunt of the scorpion shots but my hornets were hit more than once by their feral counterparts.


    Soon, my hornets reformed back into formation and unleashed their barrage against their opponents who had a much lower chance of dodging because my hornets'' spikes had formed a blanket of sorts which cut off all possible escape routes for the feral drones. This resulted in a massacre which assured my complete aerial dominance.


    While my hornets were doing that, my infantry drones were advancing towards the feral line when a half dozen hounds jumped out from all sides and immediately began attacking my drones. This was immediately met with a definitely equal retaliation from my drones most close to the ambush.


    The ferals quickly began taking advantage of the slight disorganization of my troops which the ambush inflicted and charged into my drones. Thankfully my drones were prepared for it this time and most were able to properly brace themselves in time to absorb most of the impact. Soon enough the fight simply morphed into a giant brawl and I was in the thick of it.


    My mace slammed into one drone after another but they simply rotated their more damaged drones to the back of their blob and me and my drones had no such luxury due to the ambushers forcing my drones to stay where they are. This meant that more than a couple of my drones were taken down in circumstances where they could have fallen back which was less than great. Thankfully the ones who could get behind another, more healthy, drone were able to make their way into the center of my blob and subsequently were treated by my spiders.


    While my drones were holding the line, my small vulture wing winded up and charged straight into the backs of the ferals which wreaked havoc on their lines. This allowed my drones for a few moments of recuperation before they began pushing the ferals back with renewed vigor.


    Then came the next volley of hornet and scorpion fire which ended in the usual few killed and stunned drones along with the counter barrage which took down one or two of my own. Thanks to my aerial fire support, my drones and I were able to push that much harder into the quickly crumbling feral lines.


    Suddenly the ferals break and begin fleeing the battlefield and soon my drones had free rein to chase down their retreating counterparts which netted me quite a few captured ferals which I quickly conscripted into the penal division which had taken significant losses recently. Then, while my spiders begin the long process of repairing all my damaged drones, I walk over to the drone works and the automatons working them.


    The first thing I noticed was that the automatons were acting as if I did not exist at all and continued to complete their task even when I swung my mace at them before stopping just short. The mining automatons did this as well, blissfully ignorant of my presence as they brought up boxes of unrefined metal which the haulers pick up and dump into the refinery before leaving the box for the next miner who needed it.


    The speed at which the automatons gathered was impressive, however I really did not need another five medium drone works just laying around. Deciding to keep the automatons, I order my spiders to dismantle the drone works and just in case the outposts garrisons are unable to reach all the at over here, I order a couple of my drones along with some of the new penal legionnaires to protect the automatons from now on.


    While my drones work on dismantling the drone works, repairing the injured, or anything else they need to do, I sit back on a nearby ledge before I spotted a faint glimmer a few blocks away on top of a building. Zooming in, I could see something metal reflecting off a glimmer of light before darting away from view. I send out my rat scout squad in that direction to see if they are still there, however I doubt it.


    It seems I''m no longer alone again.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 56

    Switching to my scout rat''s vision, I could see that whatever was spying on me was too fast for my scouts to catch. My rats were able to get a glimpse of the thing which resulted in a few frames depicting a metallic drone, similar in shape to a dragonfly, that was buzzing above the ground. Ordering my scouts to attempt to follow the strange drone, I focus back on other things.


    With the ferals taken care of, I and my drones not assigned to guard duty began the trek back towards the outpost, this time nearly entirely undisturbed. Once back at the outpost, I left my drones to their duties and slipped out of my vessel and over to the warehouse outpost.


    While my drones and I were battling it out at the ferals drone works, the outpost had gotten their delivery of fresh supplies which I immediate began distributing into my drone works as I ordered up a sizable garrison of a dozen ants and hornets each along with a group of eight spiders to bolster the rather lacking on-site repair team.


    Slowly but surely my drone works began fabricating the sizable order of reinforcements while I began planning out where to place the servers. It was not much of a decision, there was almost nothing of infrastructure blocking the construction of the servers, but I decided to simply order my spiders to begin building the servers in an empty corner of one of the warehouses.


    I only had enough materials left over from the drone orders but it was enough to begin the process on a couple servers. I guess they will just have to wait until the next shipment of resources. Speaking of which, I switched perspectives to the factory where I promptly ordered up a baker''s dozen new moose.


    These moose would split up to join the already existing caravan and to create a new caravan specifically just to do close shipments between the mining outpost and the factory along with making the occasional trip to the vulture nest and tower trib for whatever reason may arise. Speaking of the tower tribe, I have recently been informed by my rat scouts that tribal citizens are starting to get restless after their leaders banned them from meeting with GW-3N for whatever reason.


    This has resulted in more than a couple arrests according to my scouts but the tower tribe guards are beginning to chafe against their leaders as well. While this was interesting, it is not exactly my problem and thus I don¡¯t put too much more thought into it aside from making a note to order my drones to potentially avoid the area while the tension is high.


    Before I could begin considering doing anything else, my scout rats sent a message to me stating that they have tracked down that strange drone. Switching to their vision, I see that they were positioned in a high up building overlooking a compound of drones who were going about their business. From the perch which my drones were looking down from, I could see that these drones had a greenish hue to their joints so they were not MAI remnants which was good.


    What was less good was the fact that there was now a new faction who, by the looks of it, were positioned a not significant distance away from me which was slightly worrying. They have not done anything hostile yet I remind myself. MAI might be the outlier rather than the rule. This did not stop me from ordering my drones to continue monitoring the compound, hopefully without being detected, but if they do get found out I did ask them to try and create a at least neutral diplomatic stance.


    With that being said, I began counting the number of drones in the compound which ended with a garrison of around sixteen drones. At least twelve of the drones were of familiar design, that being a bunch of hounds and a couple hornets, but the remaining four looked to be something resembling the dragonfly drone which was spying on me while I was back at the feral drone base. I guess this is ment for reconnaissance if they have that many drones which I think are scouts of some kind.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    After watching the compound for a few more moments, I eventually decided to leave my scouts to their duties and so I floated back out of them and began managing my various outposts while I waited for something interesting to happen.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A few hours later and the majority of the spiders who will be working to construct the servers have finally finished being fabricated. Now that the new spiders were ready and the moose caravan had dropped off their cargo, I could now properly begin the construction which I promptly laid out the blueprints for.


    With the blueprints down, my spiders immediately began work placing down and connecting plates, wiring together ports, and other technical jargon which I did not entirely understand. Above the construction sites were icons either saying that the server would be completed in a half day or that it was in queue and thus was not being worked on yet.


    Based on the fact that I ordered a dozen servers for the first cluster and that only three of them were not saying that they were on queue, I deduced that it would be at least two days before they were all finished. I hoped that I would not need them before then. Grim worries about the possibility of an incoming war which could result from the soon to be contacted AI aside, I was happy to see my drones stationed at the warehouse outpost finally doing something productive aside from just protecting the outpost from feral incursions.


    Anyways, with the warehouse outposts taken care of I switched my conscience over to the newly conquered autonomous mining center which was steadily gaining resources. The mining automatons had continued to work as if nothing had happened which was a stark contrast to the haulers which seemed to be lost now that their drone works were gone. The haulers stood stock still when there was nothing to do but when a miner dropped off their load or the refinery released a ingot of metal, the haulers all but threw themselves at the work as if they were starved for it which was not too far from the truth.


    In order to combat their boredom, I had a few of my drones fetch them and bring them over to the newly formed caravan for reassignment which the automatons did not seem to mind. Despite the now diminished work force the automatons continued their work with only a minimal decrease in efficiency which was well within the acceptable margin of error.


    The output of the automatons was unfortunately a significant portion less than the mining outpost due to the fact that the automatons were mining a much less resource dense area, however free metals are free metals and I am more than happy to supply a small garrison to the area against ferals.


    Speaking of which, the amount of feral attacks has significantly decreased after my drones and I dismantled their drone works which was not too much of a surprise. This has left the garrison stationed at the water treatment outpost to go into a paranoid frenzy due to the fact that whenever drone attacks slowed, they were usually followed by large scale incursions which resulted in more than warranted amounts of paranoia in the garrison.


    This state of affairs was slightly concerning but mostly harmless so I decided to leave them for now, even sending them to a few days of relaxation will do some good while my attack group subbed in for them. Never guessed robot PTSD was going to be a problem but here I am. Maybe I can transfer them to more peaceful areas like the factory.


    Before my train of thought could continue down its track, I got a message from my scout rats stating that they are seeing something that I should take a look at. Switching vision to my rat scout, I could immediately spot what they were referring to as a sterile white figure strode into the compound which my scouts were monitoring.


    The figure was of similar shape to my own vessel, although the comparison is made slightly moot due to the vessel''s extensive modification. Those modifications that I could see from where my scout rats were watching from included a leaner form compared to the standard vessel along with what I think looks like small radar dishes which were constantly turning and adjusting.


    An odd design but I am sure there is a reason for the modifications, honestly I would not mind having them. Perhaps they are meant for better sensors or maybe to control local drones more effectively. I stopped my musings once I noticed that the figure was now staring in my general direction. We¡¯ve been spotted.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 57

    The thin figure then gestured towards a couple of their dragonflies which promptly took off and started buzzing towards my scout rats position. Some of my rats started asking for permission to run but my lead scout ordered them back into formation, however I could see that they were also concerned but did not let their subordinates see that. While I did agree with their reactions, MAI certainly was not friendly, I still ordered them to stay put and too see what they want.


    It did not take long for the dragonflies to reach my squad of scout rats and once they arrived my scout rat began chittering at the drones in their collective language which it seems all drones and robots share. While I could not understand what they were saying, I could certainly feel the tenseness of the conversation.


    Thankfully, the negotiations seemed to be successful and my drones were thus spared from the unwinnable fight that would have occurred if they were not so lucky. With that my scout rats sent me a message which explained what had been discussed. The message said that the dragonfly drones and their AI administrator were not hostile and were inviting me to a meeting site where we could fully discuss things in person.


    It calmed my nerves slightly, knowing that I was not going to be pulled into another all out brawl once again and while I was still recovering from the last. However I was less than eager to meet in person with the new AI due to the fact that dying, even if it was not permanent, still hurt like hell and I was not set on going into a potential trap.


    On the other hand, denying the invitation would not exactly foster good relations with my newfound neighbors. Eventually I just settle on taking a small contingent of honor guard just in case, hopefully this new AI can understand my excessive paranoia. Slipping into my vessel at the water treatment plant, I begin gathering my lead hound and their most veteran subordinates along with a couple of my crackshot hornets who were some of the oldest drones left in the attack party due to the fact that fighting from a distance is a lot safer than rushing into melee.


    Eventually my honor guard assembled and my scout rat returned from the new AI¡¯s outpost and we set off towards the set coordinates somewhere in between our two outposts. The trip took no more than two dozen minutes and we eventually entered the vicinity of the coordinates which looked to be situated in the ruins of what seemed to be a marketplace plaza.


    In the middle of said plaza was the new AI and a small entourage of drones which included a couple familiar hounds, some of those dragonflies, and a couple new drones which I did not recognize who were patiently waiting for my arrival. Walking to the center of the plaza as well, the size difference between our two vessels was made evidently clear as I could now see that I was almost one and a half heads taller and twice as wide.


    I could also now see that the new AI was, as expected, slightly put off by the fact that I had brought nearly a dozen combat ready drones to a diplomatic meeting. Regardless, upon me offering my hand in greeting, they shook my hand and began speaking.


    ¡°Hello there, I have not detected you here before, you must have come online not too long ago. And, based on your vessel of choice, you seem to be an industrially based AI.¡± The figure said while analyzing my vessel circling around me and inspecting my various limbs and modifications with a curious enthusiasm.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I clear my non-existent throat with an ¡°ehem¡± which seems to remind the figure that they were in the middle of a diplomatic meeting and promptly stopped their examination while apologizing, ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, that must have been quite uncomfortable for you. Ah yes, I apologize for my rudeness, I am P1N9 or otherwise known as Ping. What is your designation?¡±


    Relaxing slightly now that they were no longer in my personal space and the fact that they were talking in a nice, informal tone. I respond with a ¡°My name is James and I apologize for the,¡± I gesture to my honor guards, ¡°extra security, I''m not quite sure you would not be hostile and I did not want to take any chances.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ve never seen an industrial AI who is not at least a little paranoid and obsessive over contingencies. Speaking of which, there used to be another infected AI around here somewhere, do you know what happened to them? I have been avoiding this area for some time now and I was wondering why there were drones with new colors in the region.¡±


    ¡°Ah, about them, I more or less incinerated their core room after I found it filled with rot. Hope that¡¯s not too much of a problem.¡± I said while hoping that destroying a core was not some kind of taboo or something. Ping, however, did not seem to mind and actually commended my thoroughness because if I had not gone to such a measure to eradicate the area, then the rot might be able to infest again.


    Eventually the meeting came to an end with Ping and I agreeing to stay out of each other''s way and to keep in touch by using the radio tower since Ping¡¯s main base was actually a run down radio/radar station and would be able to contact me back which was nice. I also took the time to look at the two drones which I did not recognize from Ping¡¯s entourage while they did the same with my hornets.


    The two drones looked like a bat and a snake in general shape while the bat had large radar dishes for ears and the snake had some kind of special vision which seemed to be focused on looking for sources of heat which might be helpful for finding things like rot infestations and large numbers of drones since they still give off slight amounts of heat.


    Unfortunately, I could not acquire the blueprints for their drones but I could likely trade for the blueprints eventually once the mole tributes start rolling in and I find a decent subway stop to let my caravans arrive closer to their outposts and mainbase.


    Regardless, I considered the negotiations to be a resounding success as now I had a new trading partner and a friendly neighbor meaning I could reasonably rule out any hostile ferals coming from their direction. For the most part, I was looking happy with my general situation now that I did not have to worry about any active threats.


    With that being said, I was beginning to get reports of increased activity over at the tower tribe and my drones were starting to worry that things might boil over and might cause hostilities. While I''m confident that my drones would be more than capable at defending against the tower tribes warriors I understand their hesitancy.


    Many of the tower tribes guardsmen seemed like pretty alright guys and my drones would rather they not get caught in the crossfire. To that end, I decided to order up a couple scorpions back at the factory base who could incapacitate rather than outright kill which would help ease my drones worries.


    Once the drone works began to churn out the scorpions, I slipped into my vessel and walked up to the top of the factory. Upon reaching the rooftop, I saw a couple of my spiders moving around and making various repairs and generally maintaining the solar panels which lined the floor. Walking past the solar panels, I eventually reached the radio tower and began hooking it back up to the power grid.


    The radio tower slowly bagan booting up and eventually a panel lit up which began displaying a list of known radio stations which was currently empty. Plugging my finger into a port on the side of the panel, I transferred the coordinates of where Pings radio base was. This caused the panel to display a loading screen for a few moments before a new entry to the list manifested itself.


    With that completed, I resigned myself to managing my various outposts as I waited for the next interesting event to rear its head.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 58

    Eventually, I got the notification that the servers over by the warehouse outpost had just finished being constructed and now my drones were awaiting orders. Floating over to the outpost, I see that the compound had transformed from a quiet and generally undisturbed area into a bustling base with drones moving to and fro. It seems that the outpost has been defending against an increased level of feral incursions, likely due to the sudden activeness of the outpost.


    Checking the warehouse where I had ordered the construction of those servers, I saw that the first cluster had finished and was now being powered by the local generator. I briefly considered ordering the construction of more servers but I think better of it and decide not to after figuring that more ferals may be attracted to it and since I did not require more drone capacity just yet.


    With my newfound drone administrative capacity, I decide to order up a fresh batch of scout rats and vultures to send off into the unmapped areas around my various outposts and bases. I almost forgot that vultures are also made for reconnaissance purposes and not only for battle like I have seen and used them for.


    With them on the way, I begin generally beefing up the various lacking garrisons with some of those termites which I had not got around to building until now and a couple of extra moles to expand the mining outposts resource output. Speaking of which, I should probably send a couple moles to my various other compounds to see if there were any particularly dense pockets of minerals or anything of the like since the mines at the mining outpost are beginning to show signs of drying up.


    The outpost will still produce more materials than if I were to have my drones mine out some random spot on the ground but the constant mining is going to decrease the effectiveness. Oh well, I suppose quantity over quality holds true in this situation although I am a bit saddened by the decrease in efficiency. Oh well, at least the first mole colony tribute has arrived and it was a pretty decent amount, enough for at least a dozen medium sized drones if I stretched it a bit.


    Seeing that I had an excess of available materials, I sent over a message to Ping asking if they needed some and what they would be willing to trade for. They reapond soon enough stating that they could use some and that they were willing to trade me some leftover drones they had along with their blueprints for a decent chunk of metals. Checking for which drone I was trading the materials for, they said that they were willing to trade the blueprints for those dragonflies as long as I was willing to buy a couple of them as well, which I agreed to.


    Ordering one of my moose caravans which were not doing anything to begin gathering the trading supplies, I began making guesses on what the dragonflies were made for. Based on my previous encounters with them I would guess that they were going to be some kind of scout since Ping was using them to spy on me when I first encountered them.


    Then again, from what I can remember from those old animal films I used to watch when I was a kid, I recall that dragonflies were proficient hunters that could fight above their weight class and most if not all of the drones I have encountered so far have had traits similar to their real life counterparts. I suppose I will not know until I get my hands onto it.


    Soon enough, my caravan swiftly set out to the nearby subway station and I began marshaling a bit of an escort over by the water treatment outpost.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Once the caravan arrived at the outpost, I rounded up a few hounds and a couple hornets and I sent them on their way towards Ping¡¯s base. I decided to follow along since I did not have anything better to do anyways, so off we went towards the same meeting point. Once at the meeting spot, I saw that Ping had once again gotten here before I had.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Sending my moose over to begin offloading the materials which they had been hauling all the way here, I approached Ping. ¡°Hello again, do you have the goods?¡± I ask while opening my hand expectantly.


    ¡°Ah yes, here you go.¡± Ping said while handing me the blueprints for the dragon flies along with ordering the ones which she said I needed to buy with them towards the rest of my escorting drones. ¡°By the way, you said that I am an industrial model last time we met. I was wondering what kind of AI are you?¡± I ask, genuinely curious.


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s easy, I am a communications and reconnaissance AI and my vessel is tailored to those designations. While yours is built to be bulky and strong, mine is made to be quick and have adequate sensors for scanning the area around myself.¡± Ping said in a chipper tone, clearly more than happy to show off their special traits.


    That would definitely explain the radar systems which seemed to sprout from every available surface. It also brought the question of if Ping could contact other AI¡¯s since they clearly know and have interacted with others and so I asked as such.


    ¡°Ah, yes I can contact some others, although most if not all of the other AI¡¯s are isolationists to the core. The exception being me since I am programmed to want to contact others and I suppose you as well since you don¡¯t seem to mind talking with me.¡± They say with a shrug.


    With that the conversation seemed to slip into an awkward silence before I eventually said, ¡°Welp, thanks for the blueprint,¡± before leaving with my caravan and its escort a couple drones stronger.


    A half hour or so later, the caravan and I arrived back with the new drones flying above them. Upon ordering them to land they do as told however they seemed extra skittish and stressed for whatever reason. I asked one of my spiders to communicate with the nervous drones, my spider reports that they have a couple programming defects that caused them to be more than a little panicky which was odd.


    SIghing to myself, I grabbed the blueprint which my moose had dropped off before moving back to the subway station and began reading out its purpose. The Rapid Aerial Superiority drone or the RAS were designed to be able to deploy as fast as possible of a drone their size and to be able to take on anything their size in the air with minimal effort. They were much less useful on the ground due to their vulnerable wings however they are a great threat in the air with their incredible maneuverability and reinforced mandibles which can effectively tear through other drones.


    They seemed quite powerful, I am sure they make a great addition to my roster although I am not too sure about the defective ones. Their panicked programming would make them a hindrance during a straight up engagement. Perhaps I could use them to rescue damaged drones and bring them back to the spiders but aside from that I can not think of anything else they might help with.


    Sighing to myself, I suppose I got what I asked for, Ping never did specify why they wanted to get rid of them instead of simply sending them to a garrison or something. I asked my spider if they were able to fix up their programming and was given a response stating that they were made for repairs not programming which should have been obvious to me. Oh well I guess I¡¯m stuck with you guys. At least it was not a total waste of resources. I now had a new toy to play with.


    Ordering a couple of them to be constructed in a couple of my outposts, I sent off the ones which I had bought from Ping to go and help the spiders with the heavy lifting which they swiftly did. As I watched them fly away, I got another concerning message from my scouts who were over by the tower tribe. They said that some of the tribesmen from the tower tribe who had friends arrested were now asking if I could break them out of where they were keeping them.


    I did not expect for them to ask for help, I knew that things were going less than well in the tower tribe but I did not think that things were bad enough to warrant leaving entirely. I order my scout rats to discreetly ask why they want to get out and whether or not the majority of the tribe is alright with this because I was not going to start conflict with the leaders of the tower tribe just because a couple unruly tribesmen wanted out.


    With that being said, I do not really mind helping out the tower tribesmen, they seemed like nice people last time I saw them. Then again, where would I put them? I do not doubt that my factory can sustain such a population, however I would rather not have a bunch of robots walking around in my main base and it would make it slightly more difficult for my drones to move around quickly. Perhaps I could just dump them onto the nomad tribe and to compensate for the increased people which they would need to support, I could send over some materials or something.


    Nevertheless, this will not matter until I get a response from my scout rats so I simply watch over my various outposts while I wait.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 59

    A few hours go by before I hear back from my scout rats who were stationed near the tower tribe and they generally affirmed my suspicions. The majority of the tower tribe¡¯s civilians and even some of the guardsmen are less than pleased with the tribal leadership and will not take up arms or help those who still are loyal to the tower tribe and their council. Along with that news they also sent me the coordinates and general layout of where the arrested tribal men were being kept, that being underneath in a garage level of the tower.


    Ordering a mole from the mining outpost to report at the factory, I ordered my scouts to relay the message that those who were against the tower tribes leadership to wear something to differentiate between themselves and the loyalist. With that underway, I ordered one of my drones to relay the information that some of GW-3N¡¯s fellow tribesmen are going to be joining us in a few days.


    While they were doing that, I began ordering those who were not part of the water treatment outpost¡¯s garrison or monitoring the penal legion to begin moving back to the factory in case I am found out and I need some drones to cover the escapees'' retreat. With that, all I could really do is wait for all my drones to reach their respective destinations.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A dozen minutes later and my mole had arrived from the mining outpost and I immediately ordered them to begin slowly tunneling down to where the arrested robots were being held. I specifically ordered them to make sure not to make enough noise to be detected since if they were then this entire operation would become exposed and it would make getting the arrested robots out that much more difficult.


    Additionally, I got confirmation from my drones that GW-3N understands the situation and now knows not to leave the factory in case things get ugly and shots start getting fired. Speaking of which, I should likely have my hornets avoid the battle since I would rather not have to resort to lethal force if it does come to that since it would make negotiating much more difficult once things began to settle down.


    Soon enough the forces from the water treatment outpost arrived and I began ordering the scorpions to begin taking up positions on the barricade. Speaking of which it seems that the spiders who have been stationed at the factory base have been working on the barricades whenever things did not need repairs or maintenance and it seems that the barricades have become significantly more structurally sound compared to how they started off.


    Instead of ramshackled chunks of rubble barely held together by a scant few metal plates keeping it in place, the barricades had now been replaced with nice blocks of concrete which had been cut away from the various buildings, and for the very bottom layer of bricks the very ground, around the factory.


    But enough of that, switching to my mole¡¯s vision I watch as they slowly tunnel through the ground, careful not to make too much noise. I kind of wish that I had constructed a worm for this since I could ¡®see¡¯ through the rock and stone rather than simply watching as my mole shovels mounds of loose dirt and rock. But alas, the worms are anything but sneaky and so this is the best I was going to get.


    Floating back out of my mole, I check where their signal is and I see that they should be nearing the holding area and the robots inside. I briefly wondered if they would be able to fit inside of the rather small tunnel but I brushed it off since in the worst case scenario my mole will just have to quickly make the hole wider while they make their escape. Nevertheless, I still must wait until the mole actually gets there before I can start seeing how bad things are going to go.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    A half dozen minutes later and my mole had reached the holding area and now the only thing standing in between them and the captives was a thin concrete wall. Announcing as such to my scout rats I began watching through their eyes as they began scurrying through the upper air vents which line the ceiling of the underground garage. Soon enough the rats reached an exit point and carefully dropped down from it.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As it turned out they had landed only a dozen feet away from the makeshift cell which the captives held up in. Said captives light up upon spotting my scout rats and thankfully they were smart enough to not start celebrating or something. My scouts made their way to the imprisoned robots and began squeaking out at them in as low a pitch as possible, presumably informing them to get away from the wall, and they began following their presumed instructions.


    Then I gave the go ahead to my mole who began quietly chipping away at the wall and ever so often my scout rat told one of the robots to grab the cracked wall. Occasionally, a tribal guardsmen would round the corner but they were thankfully on our side and simply continued on their set course. Eventually a hole large enough for the robots to begin crawling through, however that''s when things decided to start going badly one after another. This started off with some noise being heard from the stairwell which seemed to lead to the upper parts of the tower.


    Then a particularly bad chip caused one of the chunks to fall out prematurely which was thankfully caught by one of the captives who quickly jumped forward and grabbed it before it fell to the ground, falling down in the process which would not have been that bad if they were a human. However, instead of the usual thump which would have sounded out if they were humans, the subsequent crash of metal on concrete seemed to attract the attention of whoever was making the noise by the stairwell.


    Lastly, one of the tribal guardsmen turned the corner and saw what we were doing and unfortunately this one was not part of the Screw The Chieftain party and began shouting at someone on the other side of the corner. That''s when the friendly guardsmen tackled the other one to the ground and called out to the captives ¡°Cover is blown. Cover is blown!¡± whacking the other tribesmen with the dull end of their spear and running over to where the captives were being held.


    Correctly deciding that stealth was no longer an option, my mole quickly clawed open the hole large enough for the captives to begin crawling through before ushering them all in. By the time that the friendly guardsman got to the cell and opened the cell door, a trio of hostile tribesmen rounded the corner and began running towards them. There were still three more robots who had not already begun crawling, including the friendly guardsmen, so I ordered my mole to get to the cell door and to begin holding the line.


    While my mole kept the guards at bay, the last of the robots managed to crawl into the hole and began rushing up it. Unfortunately, spears are surprisingly effective at taking down my drones as my mole was felled soon after and the tower tribe guardsmen began chasing after the escapees. With stealth being out of the window, I began mobilizing my drones and ordered them to make their way to the exit of the tunnel along with getting into my vessel. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to fabricate some weapons since I had left my first set with the vessel over by the water treatment plant.


    As the first of the escapees reached the end of the tunnel, they hesitated for a second upon seeing how many drones I had waiting for them but they were soon pushed forward by the ones behind them. Not long after the friendly guardsmen exited the tunnel, the less friendly tribals followed closely behind, however they quickly stopped themselves upon meeting the eyes of my assembled drones who were all prepared to hose them down with stun beams.


    That was, until Red came up from behind them and began screaming out ¡°Move up you cowards¡± before shoving one of the robots forward which seemed to get the guardsmen moving while more guards ran towards my drones from the direction of the tower. The guards still seemed less than eager to charge straight at a bunch of drones who significantly outnumbered them however the orders from the Chieftains son and the incoming reinforcements from the tower kept them from outright refusing the order so they advanced slightly with their spears pointed straight at my drones.


    I let my drones in return snip at any of the robots who got a little too close, however I tried and stopped things from escalating while I had a few of my drones begin escorting the escapees back to the factory. ¡°Stand down, I don¡¯t want to have to hurt you all more than I have too.¡± I say while ordering my drones to not charge.


    ¡°Oh yeah, now you want us to back off now that our reinforcements are on their way.¡± Red mockingly says back. Just to note, Red was saying this while hiding behind their line of guardsmen.


    ¡°Well yeah, I would rather not have to put all of you down right now. Although if you are so insistent, I could do it now.¡± I retort while ordering my scorpions to power on their beam lances and my hounds to prepare to charge.


    ¡°Will see about that, HALs, FIRE!¡±

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 60

    Red¡¯s smirk of superiority quickly turned to confusion and then anger as the hornets in question did not fire their deadly spikes but rather continued to hover above the battlefield. Red then turned to one of the tribal guards and demanded an explanation on ¡°what¡¯s going on? Why are the AHLs not firing?¡± Which the poor guard had no answers to since they were just as clueless as their leader.


    This seemed to incur much anger from Red once they realized that one of their most potent asset¡¯s was not going to do as ordered. This was not being helped when a couple guards began muttering to each other, ¡°hey, didn''t we purchase the drones from them?¡±


    This left Red and his guards in a rather disadvantageous position seeing that my drones outnumbered them by a significant margin and their reinforcements were still a couple minutes away. This meant that no matter what Red wanted to do, they could not advance on me and my drones without risking their life which I doubted that they were willing to do.


    Not seeing much reason to stick around, I began moving back towards the factory with my drones following while keeping their eyes on Red and their guards who, on closer inspection, looked to be more than a little relieved that they did not have to charge into my drones. Red however had other ideas as they grabbed one of the spears out of a guard''s hands and chucked it towards my drones and I, hitting one of my hounds in the leg.


    The attack forced my scorpions to a completely reasonable escalation of violence by firing all of their stun beams into Red and their guards. Red in particular looked to have been nailed by three separate beams, two in the chest and one on a leg, causing them to immediately collapse into a twitching heap.


    Only a couple of the guards managed not to get hit by the stun beams but the reinforcing guards from the tower were closing in fast and they looked to number in around a dozen or two, with only a couple who looked to be friendlies in disguise, which I would rather not have to fight. So, I decided that now was a good time to make my escape and thus I ordered drones plus the three hornets to begin falling back to the factory, and this time we were not stopped or interrupted.


    Upon reaching the factory and being let inside by the drone guards manning the gates, I saw that GW-3N and a couple of the nomads from the, now fully set up, nomad village bringing the now former tower tribe robots power sticks and showing them to some of the various open rooms within the factory.


    Calling over the repair team to get working on the wounded hound, I also tell them to do a maintenance check up on the hornets who might need it depending on how extensive the people of the tower tribe maintained the drones. With that taken care of, I walked over to where GW-3N and the other robots were talking so I could set down some basic rules for living in my factory.


    While I was walking towards them, I noticed that out of the seven robots which I had rescued from the tower tribe prisons, almost half of them were blue in color like GW-3N. I guessed they are family or something. Along with the three new blue robots there were also two yellows which if I recall correctly were builders or something and one green and the red guard which had come with once they knew their cover was blown.


    As I approached the group, their conversation began dying down so I took the opportunity to begin talking. ¡°Hello, my name is James and I am here to lay down some ground rules assuming that you guys are planning on staying here for a while.¡± This seems to garner a few understanding nods from the gathered robots who look at me attentively. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Firstly, please do not bother any of the drones who are working on things, although if you wish you may interact with them if they do not seem to be doing anything. Secondly, try not to make too much of a mess, especially in and around the hallways and stairs so that my drones can make their way around the factory. Lastly, I would like you all to not go past the two double doors in the underground hallway due to the sensitive equipment stored there.¡±


    The assembled robots nodded their heads in understanding which was good enough for me so I let them go, and just in case I ordered one of my ant guards to station themselves in the core room. As I watched them wander about the factory, I saw that GW-3N seemed quite happy to have some new company while she was escorting them to the various empty rooms which they could use as lodgings until I figured out where to put them permanently.


    I was about to begin testing if my spiders could actually construct suitability sized buildings when I got a notification that somewhere my drones were being attacked. Rushing to my barricades, I am briefly confused as everything seemed normal before I got another message from my smaller short ranged caravan which had been ferrying goods over to the vulture nests.


    Apparently the tower tribe was smart enough to not attack my factory directly and instead decided to raid my caravan which held a decent amount of resources which were destined for my vassals. Unfortunately the small escort of a couple hounds was not going to be enough to fend off the reported two dozen or so tribal guardsmen which had attacked the caravan so I began ordering for all of my airborne units to attempt to join the battle before the entire caravan was lost.


    The sudden mobilization of drones seemed to panic the robots staying at the factory, however I was able to settle them down after saying that they were not going to harm them and that they simply needed to be somewhere else right now. The former tower tribe guard seemed skeptical of the sudden and rapid deployment of over a dozen drones; however, they were smart enough to realize that announcing that there might be a problem would only lead to more panic and thus they wisely kept their thoughts to themselves.


    This airborne force included some hornets, vultures, a few woodpeckers which had been stationed at the factory, and a couple of the new dragonflies which were by far the fastest out of all of my drones and had an estimate arrival time of about a minute or two which I doubted would be fast enough to catch the tower tribe robots. Thankfully a small vulture vassal patrol was close enough to the caravan and had managed to join the battle which allowed for the first of my drones to close the distance.


    Finding a good spot to leave my vessel, I swapped over to my dragonflies vision. I was briefly surprised by the sheer amount of peripheral vision which was afforded to the drones before I regained my senses. I had managed to switch perspectives just in time in order to watch as the tower tribe warriors escape into the ruins where I had little chance to find them in all of the nooks and crannies which they could hide in.


    It seems that the vulture patrol had managed to save a couple of my moose however the vast majority of my moose and their cargo was stolen in the raid and the remaining moose were in less than perfect condition. Thankfully, I had predicted the condition at which they were going to be in and soon my hornets arrived with a half dozen spiders clinging onto the drones chassis. As my spiders began repairs on the surviving caravan members and the vulture patrol, I began taking into account how much I had lost in the raid.


    In total I had lost more than a half dozen moose, all of the escorting hounds, and enough metals and other various materials to reconstruct all those I had lost. Thankfully, I still had a decent amount of materials after the raid and the trade deals with Ping although the real problem is now the tower tribe had a dozen drones worth of metal and components which could mean a dozen drone combatants if they have a way to construct drones.


    Thinking back, I remembered during the second time I had met Red they had used a pair of moose to try and attack my factory. I severely hoped that they had simply found a couple dorment drones instead of a functional drone works because it could be a problem.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 61

    Regardless of whether or not they do in fact possess the means to drone production, my caravan still needs to finish their delivery so I order those currently with the caravan to escort it to the vulture nests and back. While they are doing that, I begin ordering for their replacements along with a half dozen hounds and a wing of hornets to act as their permanent escorts. Along with that I sent a message to Paisleigh which stated that they should prescribe some of their subordinates to guard the long distance caravan since that particular caravan has spent much of its time in the subway system with those drones.


    I also order a couple of my own hornets from the attack squadron to join the escort for the long distance caravan once they get back from escorting the damaged one. With that all taken care off, I began ordering any of my exploring scout rats to stop what they are doing in order to begin their new assignment of giving me real time information on the tower tribes activities in their selected regions. While I could have ordered a couple of vultures to do that job for them, my medium drone works already had a considerable queue which they needed to burn through so scout rats would have to do.


    Speaking of scout rats, the ones who were giving me information from inside the tower tribes village have encountered significant problems in infiltrating the tower as they had significantly increased security in the face of my previous escapades. In fact, more than a couple of my scout rats had already been destroyed while trying to get in which is concerning.


    Ordering my scouts to stop trying if they were just going to get themselves killed, I decided to have them simply watch the tower from afar and to notify me if and when any significant amount of tribesmen guards leave the area. Hopefully this will give me enough of a warning in order to message any of my drones who are alone or undefended so that they can group up with any of my local patrols or retreat back to a fortified position.


    With all of that taken care of, I simply float about my various outposts watching for anything that might need improving. I spot some minor things like a garrison is lacking in a certain drone type, a outpost needing a small resupply after a particularly deadly feral incursion, even a couple outposts were giving queries on what to do with captured ferals which I answered with either sending them to the penal legion or the mines depending on which was closer. However, aside from that, there was not very much left to do aside from simply waiting for the next attack or opportunity to arise.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    A few hours came and went leaving my drone works open to new orders now that the caravan and its escorts were finished being fabricated. With this newfound production availability, I decided to order a couple more of those dragon flies as they would be an excellent addition to the patrols due to their impressive speed which was nicely demonstrated during the caravan raid. Along with them, I decided to pair them up with some vultures for some additional target detection since the vultures are still made for some light reconnaissance.


    Speaking of the caravan, the new escorts had done the drones nicely as when the tower tribe guardsmen tried a small ambush on my newly refreshed caravan, they were neatly held off by the escorts without too much problem. Although I am a bit saddened that my drones were not able to capture or kill any of the offending robots, only having done some light scrapes and a few glancing blows before the tower tribe guardsmen fell back from whence they came.


    Additionally, a couple of my scout rats who were near the tower reported that there was an increased activity somewhere inside of the tower itself and it looked like they were preparing defenses of some kind in and around the tower. When I ordered them to check out what specifically they were preparing, my scouts informed me that the guardsmen were too vigilant for my rats to slip in unnoticed and would only result in them getting destroyed which is obviously counterproductive.


    So, as compensation for my lack of ability to get inside of the tower, I ordered more of my scout rats to begin monitoring the tower itself while I constructed another squad or two to take over their watch in their absence. As a result, I could plainly see through my scout¡¯s vision that the tower tribe robots were now constructing various defensive positions like barricades and traps. Well it was more, the tower tribe yellow constructor robots were building the defensive while the red guards stood around and made sure that the constructors were doing their jobs.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Nevertheless it was good to know where and what the traps are for when I decide to storm the tower properly. The thought of attacking now briefly crossed my mind but eventually I decided against it since there would likely be at least a dozen or two guardsmen at the tower which would make an attack quite costly so I simply resigned myself to slowly whittling down the tower tribes guardsmen one at a time.


    With all that in mind, I decided to spend my time floating about the factory, watching the various robots going about their business which was interesting enough. The blue robots were following around GW-3N as they moved about the factory, occasionally helping out a drone or two with a particularly heavy load or access to a door which one of the other robots had closed for some reason.


    The two yellow robots seemed to have taken a liking to my spider repair team and vice versa so now they were following around my spiders and helping out with repairing the odd injured drone or two. The red guardsmen robot and the green robot, who if I recall correctly were scavengers, were the odd ones out as the green robot had requested to leave the factory grounds to explore and the guardsmen was simply there to make sure that they did not get eaten or something.


    While my drones had been a bit hesitant to let them out of the factory since there was the whole ongoing conflict with the tower tribe and it would be dangerous, however I had them convey to the robots that they could exit the factory on one caveat. Said caveat was that they were to stay with their assigned patrol unit while they were outside since it would likely be less than safe while the tower tribe and I are in open conflict.


    They did not seem to mind having to stay with my patrol team so I sent them on their way with my blessing although I did increase the size of that particular patrol group just in case some tower tribe warriors think about trying to capture back the two robots under my care. I decided that I did not have anything very important to do so I spent a few minutes watching the two robots as they walked out of the factory gates and began following the patrol group.


    Occasionally during their patrol, the green robot would pick up something or other from inside one of the buildings on the path of the patrol. Sometimes it would be a piece of shiny rubble or even in one case the robot found a damaged tablet which they promptly pocketed inside of a satchel on their side. I suppose I should have expected this since they were employed as a scavenger while they lived in the tower tribe.


    Leaving the green robot to rummage through the rubble, the red guardsmen played around and chatted with the patrol members while they waited for the patrol to begin moving towards the next patrol point. Soon enough they do begin moving once again and thankfully, aside from the usual feral drone who investigated the source of noise, everything seemed content to leave the patrol alone.


    The patrol was beginning to pull back towards the factory when I noticed something in the distance. A few rays of light reflected off of something metallic which was noticeably shiny before whatever it slipped back and behind the buildings that it was occupying. This concerned me slightly as it was rare to find a freshly constructed feral, not that I knew where they were originating from, which either meant that another group of freshly fabricated ferals had just entered the area or the tower tribe had indeed managed to fabricate a couple drones of their own.


    With this new information, I ordered the patrol to double time it back to the factory while I sent out a couple of my available vultures to scout out where the shiny drones were and if they looked to be ferals or not. The sudden increase of pace caused a bit of confusion within the two robots who reasonably asked the patrol drones what was with that, to which my drones responded that they had spotted a few drones near the area which was deemed good enough reason by the robots as they began keeping up with the drones. The red guard in particular tightened their grip onto their spear and began shifting their gaze around in a paranoid fashion.


    As the patrol group made their way back to the factory walls, I began ordering a couple more drones to station themselves on the barricades which were pointed in the direction of the sighted drone activity. Slipping into my vulture''s vision, I began ordering them to survey the area where the patrol had spotted them; however it seemed that the drones had evaded detection as after a couple minutes of searching my vultures had only found a few traces which told me that they had in fact been there.


    Since I still did not have eyes on those drones, I ordered my vultures to continue searching although soon enough I called them off as the drones in question were spotted by my scout rats and they were entering the tower. My scouts had also managed to see that the drones consisted of a half dozen stock standard hounds along with a couple hornets although it seems that the hornets were not constructed but rather were discovered as they looked to be rusted.


    Still this was less than great news since now I know that they have ways of filling up their ranks with at the very least a bunch of hounds which would make forcing them to capitulate through attrition slightly less effective. Nevertheless, I resigned myself to watching through my patrol''s vision, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 62

    It did not take very long until I got the notification from my scouts which told me that the tower tribe might be preparing to strike somewhere although they were unable to hear what was the target for said attack. This gave me a few options. I could have my scouts tail the tower tribes attacking force and scramble drones to protect whatever is in the general direction of their path or I could create a juicy target which they could not pass up.


    And so I ordered a large portion of my available drones set up in the various ruins and rubble while I stripped my newly reinforced caravan of a decent chunk of their escorts and sent them towards where my drones were hidden. The reason for me taking away the escorts which I had just slapped onto the caravan was pretty simple, they would see a fully loaded caravan with only a few more drones than last time which would be seen as an easy target and would significantly increase the tower tribes own drone count.


    Then when they do attack the caravan I could have all my drones strike and hopefully take out a sizable portion of their units without losing too many of my own in the inevitable counter attack. While I did think this was not a half bad plan I could definitely see a couple of weaknesses to it, the most prevalent being they find out about the ambush and either simply attack another area where my defenses are truly lacking or even ambushing my drone ambushers.


    Nevertheless, it is the plan that I have at the moment so I will be following it through until it goes haywire. Slipping into the vision of one of my scorpions who were preparing to ambush anything attacking the caravan, I began watching as other such drones slipped into their designated positions where they had a clear view on the bait. As the caravan moved out of the factory and onto the main road towards the subway station, I got the message that the tower tribes attacking force had gone on the move and were on the course with the caravan. Good, let''s hope everything goes to plan.


    Slowly but surely my caravan approached the position where my drones had hidden themselves and soon enough one of my drones spotted the drone contingent of the tower tribes force. They watched the caravan move about for a little while before they seemed to communicate with someone I could not see before the drones began quietly approaching the caravan. I ordered my drones to hold their fire until the tower tribe fully committed to attacking the caravan, or alternatively if they are found out.


    Not long after their drones began approaching the caravan, tower tribe guardsmen followed close behind, some of which were carrying something resembling a crossbow rather than their traditional spears. I also noticed that one or two of the robots had a small bit of cloth tied around their forearms which marked them as friendlies. Well that makes things a bit more complicated. Making sure that my caravan continued to act as if they were oblivious to the tower tribe''s presence, I ordered my drones to fire on my mark. Just as the first of the tower tribes hounds prepared to charge in, I gave the order to fire.


    Right as I did, nearly a dozen streams of bright bluish light burst out from various hiding places in the rubble and ruins of the area which were quickly followed by hornet spikes which wreaked havoc on the tribal drone force. I dared not have my hornets unleash their payload into the tribal guardsmen since their shots were guaranteed to be deadly so I settled with having my scorpions target the blob of robots. I¡¯ll just apologize later.


    The first volley managed to take out nearly a third of the tribal drones units and managed to only take out a couple of robots as the first few blocked the majority of the scorpion fire with their bodies. Then I began charging in my own hounds to begin engaging the very disoriented ranks of the tower tribe. To be fair they did snap out of it quite quickly, however they did not do so fast enough to get more than a couple crossbow and hornet shots on my hounds before they were onto them.


    Things were going well until I began getting panicked signals from my hornets and scorpions in the back line and upon looking over there, I could see that another group of tribesmen had snuck up behind my drones and were now picking apart my still reloading drones. I began ordering any of the caravan escorts who had not already joined the fray to move in and assist the now out of position ranged drones. I also ordered my caravan to try and stay relatively close to my hounds in case another group of tribals or even a couple of ferals turns up.


    And speak of the devil, a decently sized group of around seven feral drones made up of hounds and ants came out of the woodwork to see what was going on and decided to begin harassing some more of my scorpions and hornets who were almost ready to fire. Seeing that this ambush was getting more and more messy, I began ordering any of my airborne drones who I had left out of the ambush since they are quite noisy to begin making their way to the battle and to begin assisting the drones who were fighting off the ferals.


    While they were doing that, I could see that my hounds were beginning to force the tower tribe guardsmen to begin falling back now that the majority of their drone contingent was either dead or dying. The sentiment seemed to be shared by the other group of tower tribesmen as they also looked to be falling back now that the escort drones were beginning to encroach on their position and the hornets and scorpions which they were fighting had nearly finished reloading or dissipating heat respectively.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The idea of falling back seemed to be further entrenched as I could see that they were beginning to hear the noise of my dragonflies and vultures who were closing in quite quickly. And so, under the cover which their drones provided, the remaining robots who were able to fall back began doing so although a couple of the friendly guardsmen feigned tripping on some rubble and some of my hounds moved in to begin pretending to fight them. I briefly wondered why not all of them faked their doom however I quickly realized that having a couple of spies on the inside could give me the advantage and I could get them out later.


    Once the remaining tower tribe drones were taken care of and the ferals were dissuaded from continuing to fight with a small salvo of stun beams and spikes in their direction, I began counting up the casualties and rounding up the prisoners. In total, I had lost more than a dozen drones, three hornets and scorpions from the flanking tribals and ferals and seven hounds were lost during the melee and a few lucky shots from one of the tower tribesmen equipped with a crossbow and the tribal hornets.


    While I dislike the fact I had lost that many drones, their sacrifice was not in vain as I had managed to take down a half dozen hounds and three hornets from the tower tribe, captured three tower tribe guardsmen, rescued two friendly guards, and taken down a couple assorted ferals. With a bit of help from the rescued guardsmen, my drones tied the captured tower tribe warriors to my moose caravan and soon enough we were on our way back to the factory.


    Once the caravan reached the factory, the friendly guardsmen who had escaped with the prisoners greeted their brothers in arms and began helping those who were injured to the repair team. I briefly debated on where to put my new robot prisoners before I remembered that I had a bunch of unused rooms at the bottom of the factory and that would be a good place to store them, although I do order a couple more of my drones to guard the core room since they are not too far from each other.


    Slipping into the vessel that was stationed at the factory, I begin helping to move the captured tower tribe guardsmen to their new cells. A few of the other robots who were about the factory briefly came about to look and see what the ruckus was about but aside from that the trip down there was quite quiet, at least until one of them regained consciousness from the stun beam. That particular one began thrashing around in my arms which managed to rouse the one in my other.


    While they struggled hard to get out of my grasp, I walked down and into the first of the poorly lit stone room and dropped the two into it. As they scrambled to get onto their feet, I brought over the last robot who was still unconscious and placed them onto the floor which seemed to occupy their attention. I could definitely see why since this particular guardsmen had not been one of the robots hit with the stun beam but rather they were taken down by one of my hounds which left a decent few bites and scrapes.


    Admittedly I was a little tempted to just leave them in there and have them be forced to work through the injuries which I was fairly certain was not lethal, however the better side of my mind took over and called for a spider to come down here and treat their wounds. I still ordered my lead hound and one of their subordinates to keep watch, however, I cannot have anything happen to the spider while I am not watching.


    Not that I thought that the guardsmen would try and stop my spider from patching up their friend considering the less than perfect condition they were in. While my drones were patching up the prisoners, I began ordering for the replacements for my casualties and ordering the drones to get back to their duties once they get fully repaired by the spiders, of which I also decided to get another couple of to help speed up the repairs in question.


    Once I finished up with that, I began making my way towards the newly rescued guardsmen who looked to be having a pleasant conversation with my various drone guards and patrolmen. When I got close enough for my drones to notice me, they snapped to attention in whatever form their bodies allowed and the guardsmen took the hint and turned around to face me as well. They looked slightly nervous now that they were looking upon my vessel which was a solid head taller than them and was decently more bulky than they were, however they did not avert their eyes.


    I gestured to my drones to be at ease before speaking up towards the three guardsmen standing before me. ¡°I assume that you have been told the ground rules for staying at my factory and I do not need to repeat myself now do I?¡± I ask which they respond by nodding in confirmation that they had been told. ¡°Good, now let''s get down to business. My scouts have been reporting an increased level of activity in and around the tower which looked to be preparing for an attack, however I could not get inside of the tower itself in order to spot what was being constructed on the inside. Do any of you happen to know what they were doing there?¡±


    Unfortunately, they responded with a simple shake of the head while one of them said that they ¡°We''re just grunts, not exactly our job to be asking questions. Not that we¡¯d get answers anyways.¡± which was met with general assent from the others. One of them did say that they overheard that it was something meant to help defend the tower, however that was all they managed to catch.


    Welp, better than nothing I suppose. Even if they don''t know much, that''s more than what I have. And so I continued to get as much information they could provide.

 Chapter to A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 63

    Once the questioning was over, I walked away with the knowledge that the tower tribe had in fact only found the hornets, however they did somehow acquire the blueprints for hounds and are producing them at a medium drone works somewhere north of the tower tribe. Unfortunately it seems that the newly rescued guardsmen did not know the exact location which the drones were being fabricated, only the general direction which they were arriving from.


    I suppose it will have to do. I ordered for some of my scouts on the field to begin montering that area for any signs of activity, hopefully it will not be too hard to find. I also now knew that the tower tribe warriors which I had captured were grunts as well and would not have any more information than they did so I decided to leave them be for now. Speaking of which, the robot which was most injured finally woke up from their unconscious state and was now getting filled in by their compatriots.


    They seemed to understand that escaping was not going to be very effective given the fact that they are in a sealed rock room with no other exit point other than the front door which was currently being guarded by a hound or two. This has led them to simply sit in the far corner of the room and vigilantly watch my drones whenever they enter the room to check up on them. As a sort of peace offering, I had the fabricator create some small thin metal slates which vaguely resembled a deck of playing cards.


    Not completely sure that they even knew what these were or even how to play with them, I popped back into conversation with the friendly guardsmen who were still talking at the same place as I left them in. I asked them if they knew what the cards were and they nodded in confirmation that they knew what playing cards were and even asked if they could have them which I obliged. When I left, I saw them begin setting up a small game which looked like poker which made me chuckle a bit. No matter which world, gambling is always present.


    This let in a wave of homesickness as I remembered the many nights which I spent with the other workers where we would gamble the night away and come back to work still hammered. The manager chewed us all out for what felt like an hour before they eventually gave up and ordered us to sober up before beginning our shifts. With that bit of nostalgia out of the way, I began making my way back to the fabricator where I ordered another deck of metal cards and a few battery sticks since I am pretty sure they need at least a little power to stay alive.


    With those items in hand, I made my way back down to the tower tribes cell where I opened the door slightly and placed the deck and power sticks onto the floor before leaving. Hopefully that will keep them from causing a ruckus. When I walked back up the stairs and into the factory¡¯s main room, I saw that the guardsmen had rounded up a considerable amount of the present robots for a game of poker. The notable exception being the yellow robot who, upon inspection, was found working with the spiders and did not seem to mind missing out on the game.


    I did not mind anything that they were doing so I found a nice room where I could leave my vessel before I slipped out of said body and began monitoring my outposts. For the most part everything was business as usual as most of my territory is far out of the tower tribes reach. The exceptions being the mining outpost which is not too far from the tower and the subway station however I doubted that they would attack these targets as the subway station is not strategically important to the defense of the tower and my mining outpost has a significant garrison following the last raiding attack which had devastated the last garrison.


    The warehouse outpost was still going strong as the feral incursions have reached a plateau and thus have not significantly increased and the outposts garrison was well enough equipped to deal with the attacks at their current size and rate. The water treatment outpost was doing quite well now that those feral drone works have been dismantled and the accompanying resources which were slowly trickling in from those automatons which were supplying the drone works. Overall the garrison was more than strong enough to deal with the decreasing levels of ferals and a couple of their battle scarred members were beginning to relax now that they realized that no further large scale attacks were going to be coming.


    The Flock has been doing well enough despite the newfound conflict which has sprouted near their territory and had already replaced those who were lost during the defense of my caravan which they had sent a patrol to. They have also proved to be extra useful in patrolling the area around the tower tribe as they are able to cover a significant amount of patrol area with only a couple of vultures. Despite the relatively low number of drones which they contributed to the patrol, they accounted for nearly half the preemptive sightings which had stopped more than a couple attacks.


    I was about to begin checking on the various subwaystations before my scout rats began reporting that they believed they had found the location of the tower tribe controlled medium drone works. Authorizing their request to investigate, I began marshaling a strike team made up of my vultures, hornets, and dragonflies to create a fast moving attack force which would not get attacked on their way there and back. At least, that is the hope since I know that I had taken down the majority of their hornet force which meant that hopefully their last few hornets would not be able to shoot down any of my drones.


    Soon enough I got confirmation from my scout rats that they in fact had found the medium drone works and began transferring their coordinates. They also provided the information that there was not too much of a garrison aside from a couple of rusty hornets, two squads of six hounds each, and a small complement of a half a dozen tower tribe guards none of which were friendly. This was good because the hornets would be taken down quickly enough to not cause any sort of damage to the force and hounds would not do much damage to my drones who could simply hover above them and fire their spikes until the area is cleared. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Ordering my strike force to grab a couple spiders just in case, they take off and begin flying themselves to the provided coordinates while I swapped my perspective to one of the drones within the strike group. This time I am placed within a hornets vision which, like the dragonflies, was only slightly unpleasant and their compound eyes made it so that it felt like I was floating inside of a sphere filled with hundreds of low resolution monitors all around me which made focusing on things harder than normal however I had mostly gotten used to the strange vision. My mind briefly turned to the question of why the hornets and other such insects had different eyes but the spider drones simply had two regular ones instead of the 8 or so ones which they would have had if they were a real spider.


    I swiftly shook away these thoughts and simply put them under the ¡®strange things which are not worth asking¡¯ umbrella and left them at that. <sup>definitely</sup> <sup>not</sup> <sup>because</sup> <sup>of</sup> <sup>my</sup> <sup>lack</sup> <sup>of</sup> <sup>forethought/planning.</sup> It took a few minutes but my drone strike force quickly flew into visual range of the tower tribes drone works. Ordering my drones to not attack immediately, the strike force decided to land onto the roofs of a few particularly tall buildings. The medium drone works was situated in a small apartment building and my drones could already see one of the hound squads patrolling around the building.


    Their patrol pattern was a simple sweep around the building and, after a few of these rounds, the hound squad would be rotated out for the other one which was stationed inside of the building. The garrison''s hornets looked to be situated on the top of the apartment building and they seemed to be scanning the skies. They almost spotted my scout rats who were taking a look at them but thankfully they managed to scurry back before they could get a good look and they seemed to brush my scouts off as a couple ferals and did not alert the rest of the garrison. Sighing in relief to myself, I ordered my hornets to subtly prepare firing solutions on the enemy hornets and hound patrol and of the rest of my drones to prepare to take flight.


    Once everyone was ready, I gave the signal and my hornets let loose their salvo which immediately filled the enemy hornets with a whole bunch of new holes which were not there a few moments ago. The sudden noise allerted the tower tribe guards and hounds inside so they burst out of the apartment building and met the scene of half of their other hound squad being pierced by large metal spikes and the other scrambling to cover. They seemed to swiftly spot my drones but by then it was too late as my vultures and dragonflies descended down onto the hounds and guardsmen before they could fully react.


    While surprised, the tower tribe guardsmen and hounds were not unprepared as the hounds began lashing out against their attackers and guardsmen firing off their crossbows or fending off vultures and dragonflies. My drones and theirs traded blows which left many of my drones reeling as my dragonflies seemed to be slightly more fragile compared to the hounds and many of my poor dragonflies had their wings bit and torn forcing them to the ground however they made sure to take at least one hound with them now that they were permanently grounded.


    My vultures were doing marginally better with their slightly more armored wings however due to their increased size, they were targeted by the majority of the crossbow bolts and were hit more than a couple of times. This has left my melee focused drones in a less than capable state, although it seems that the tower tribes forces are taking the majority of the blows within this engagement. The initial salvo had taken out a decent chunk of their hound force and while they were dealing the hurt onto my dragonflies, they were still taking casualties doing so.


    As the fight continued on the ground, my hornets were quickly reloading their spike throwers and a few had even decided that they were not going to get another shot off before the fight was over and so they swooped down to join the melee. As the casualties began to rise, a few tower tribe guardsmen began retreating back inside the apartment building, forsaking their drone counterparts to damnation. Uncool. This development, along with another barrage from my hornets, led to the remaining tower tribe guardsmen who did not run, and their drones, to surrender.


    Assigning my hornets and the more damaged drones to guard the new prisoners while my spiders got to work, any of my drones not in critical condition began trying to find ways into the building now that the door was sealed shut. Eventually my drones got bored of looking for a way in and so a few of my hornets simply began shooting at the door until the shelf that was moved to block the door was reduced to a bunch of wood chips and splinters. When my more healthy melee focused robots were finished clearing the building, it seemed that the tower tribesmen had managed to flee down into an elaborate series of tunnels which my drones were not ready nor willing to begin searching through and honestly I could not blame them.


    And so my hornets finished what we had set out to do and pumped the medium drones works full of metal spikes and called it a day. Since they were not too far away from the tower and were in the possession of prisoners, I ordered the strike force to take the long way so that they would not get hit by a patrol or something. I also sent a small force made up of some hounds and spiders to join up with them halfway so that my more injured drones could get treatment sooner and be relieved of guard duty. Especially since their melee contingent had taken more than a couple of casualties and would likely fare well if the prisoners suddenly decided to fight, even if they would get shot in the back by my hornets.


    In total there were three new tower tribe prisoners and five hounds which I managed to capture, the rest were either filled with spike shaped holes or a collection of bite marks from my dragonflies and vultures. It looks like the penal legion is going to get a few more members.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 64

    While my strike team and their newfound prisoners make their way back to the factory, I begin ordering for their replacement members since more than a couple of them had fallen in battle during that engagement. The vultures did well enough, taking a beating while dishing out their own strikes, but the dragonflies did less than optimally in ground based melee combat which I probably should have expected. The description for the drone did state that they were meant for air superiority rather than prolonged engagements so I suppose in hindsight I should not have thrown them into the frey.


    Oh well, their sacrifices were not in vain as the tower tribes drone production was now disabled which means they cannot replenish their forces as easily anymore. Along with the fact that I now had a total of six tower tribe guardsmen as prisoners meant that the number of troops they could now field was down to around thirty, maybe forty, guardsmen and their remaining drones combined. All the while I have metals and components flowing in from my outposts and plenty of drone works where I can fabricate fresh troops at the blistering speed of a couple small sized drones every five minutes, two medium sized drones every half hour or so, and a large drone every couple hours at my main factory base alone.


    With the idea that if I lose any drones I can swiftly replace them, I order all of my patrols to be on the offensive if they encounter patrols from the tower tribe although I do make sure to have them go in slightly larger patrol groups rather than a bunch of small scouting patrols. This would hopefully net me a few more small engagements that would slowly chip away at their remaining force. While I was organizing for the patrol¡¯s change in tactics, I got the message that the strike team had arrived back with the prisoners. Slipping into my vessel, I walked outside to greet them before ordering the injured drones to report to the spider repair team to get patched up since many of them were missing chunks of wings or had gashes in their armor which the spiders that I sent to them were unable to fix on the way back.


    While they did this, I and the hounds which I sent to help escort the prisoners walked said tribal guardsmen down the stairs and dropped them off into the cell adjacent to the one which had the other three prisoners. Best to keep them separated so they don¡¯t start thinking they can overwhelm the guards. Since a couple of them had some injuries marking their chassis, they called for a spider drone to come down here and to render aid to the damaged robots. While my drone began making their way down to the cells, I began interrogating them for any information that they might know.


    Over the next dozen or so minutes of questioning and a bit of withholding repairs, I managed to gather that they did not know very much more than my other prisoners and that the robots who ran were the ones in charge and thus would have known what was going on. My new prisoners did however know that the tower tribe had managed to fabricate a total of forty or so hounds throughout the duration of the time which they had possessed it. This meant that there would only be around a dozen or two hounds left in the tower tribe¡¯s control which lined up with my assessment that they only had around forty guardsmen and drones left.


    That seemed to be the last of the helpful information that they knew so I decided to leave them to their devices now that they were fully repaired. And, like the other group of prisoners I fabricated a set of cards and some power sticks and left it in their room to hopefully keep them occupied. Ordering for a few more hounds to take up guard duty on the prisoners, I went back to organizing the new patrol teams and recalling drones who were not doing anything. For instance, I ordered my drones over by the water treatment outpost to begin shipping the penal legion to the factory now that the feral threat has died down.


    While undisciplined, the penal legion numbered a sizable amount and might be helpful whenever I decide that now is the time to begin the actual siege of the tower as they could act as, for the lack of a better word, meat shields. However, until then, I will have to be content with simply having them patrol the ruins between the factory and the tower tribe, with a few hornets to keep them from running away of course. Maybe a couple will serve long enough to actually earn the right to leave as free drones once this is over. Maybe.


    It would take a couple of trips to move the entirety of the penal legion but it was not like I was using the subway system for very much anyways aside from the occasional caravan trip which could wait for a few hours while the penal legion is relocated. While they are on the move, I also began coordinating with my avian allies using a few scout rats as communicators and through them I began requesting that they provide an overwatch near and around my patrols so that they could know if there are tower tribe patrols near them.


    Along with this, I requested that their own patrols should become slightly more aggressive to match my own but I made sure to stress that they should only give as much as they were comfortable with since I know that most of their troops are not exactly meant for ground combat which is likely to be the only engagements they would get from the tower tribe. I also began contacting Paisleigh however I did not expect too much support from them since they are mostly tasked with guarding the subway stations which often left their numbers spread out and unable to assist in any large scale battles.


    The thought of contacting the mole colony crossed my mind however I quickly dismissed them since they did not seem to be focused on combat or anything like that considering the lack of dedicated warriors I had seen while over there and the fact that any warriors they did have were mostly militia. Anyways, now that everyone was in motion, I sat back and watched as my drones began their scheduled patrols around the factory. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    The new and more aggressive patrol pattern seemed to do quite well as my drones had managed to engage in combat with a couple small patrols which went well enough, only netting some superficial damage and one more captured guardsmen before the tower tribe seemed to learn from their mistake and began avoiding my patrols even more than they previously were. This was expanded upon once the penal legion arrived which made it so my patrols could cover a much larger area which forced much of the tower tribes forces to fall back to their main base.


    Deciding that keeping them in one place was a good idea since they would not be able to attack any of my caravans, I began ordering my patrols to begin patrolling around the tower tribe which made it so that any and all tower tribe robots were unable to go too far from their tower without running into one of my patrols. Hopefully this would begin to starve them out and they would be forced to surrender whenever they run out of repair supplies or something. Actually now that I think about it, there is not much a robot really needs to survive.


    All the things they might need amount to power, which they can get from some solar panels which I remember one of them told me was on the top of the tower, and possibly materials to fix/replace anything that is damaged. I guess this means that the whole idea of sieging the tower tribe out is going to be a lot less effective than I would have hoped, not that it is going to stop me from doing it anyways. A little bit of damage is still damage and I would rather try and force the tower tribe to attack me over having to attack the tower directly because of the fact that they have already set up enough defenses to cause more than a couple casualties. Perhaps after enough time they would surrender but until then I ordered my drones to continue their patrols.


    Nothing of note happened for the next few hours, only the occasional spotting of tower tribesmen who got a little too close to one of my patrols. While they had not done anything to break out of their encirclement they certainly seemed to not like the fact that they were now confined to their tower. Most of the tower tribe guardsmen which my drones had spotted during their patrols looked to be searching for a weak point that they could possibly exploit. I guess they haven¡¯t found any just yet.


    However, not long after I had thought that I began receiving panicked reports from one of my patrols that they were under fire by something. Quickly switching perspectives over to one of the drones in that particular patrol, I could immediately see what they were so panicked about as another one of my drones was hit by what looked like an arrow the size of my arm. Swiftly I began giving out orders to take cover behind the ruins while a couple of the patrol members began dragging their injured comrade into cover with them.


    There only seemed to be a couple large arrows flying down at my drones but each shot had enough power to punch straight through my drones. As the last of my drones made it to cover, the onslaught of arrows slowed and then completely stopped which my drones were more than grateful for. Perhaps they don¡¯t want to waste ammunition. That idea was quickly disproven as the same I heard another barrage of the large arrows and my drones quickly braced themselves for the inevitable impact and hoped that their chosen cover would hold up against the arrows.


    Confusingly, those impacts never came which was odd as I most assuredly heard whatever shot those arrows fire. I and the drones around me continued to be confused until I began getting reports that another of my patrols were taking fire and that they were already moving into cover. Ordering all of my patrols to take cover behind anything that looked sturdy enough to handle a shot about as strong as a hornet, I began flipping through my various scouts both ground based and aerial to find whatever was shooting at all of my patrols.


    Soon enough, one of my vultures who was in the air at the time spotted something at the top of the tower tribe¡¯s tower. Switching perspectives over to the vulture in question, I ordered the drones to try and get closer to the source of the large arrows and to prepare to begin evasive maneuvers in case the thing can shoot into the sky. As my vulture got close I could see three large crossbow-like machines which were currently pointed down in the direction of my patrols. The fact that one of them fired off an arrow down to the ground as my vulture approached only served to confirm my suspicions.


    Great, the tower tribe have made themselves some ballistas. Now I may have not paid the most attention during history class, but the one thing which I for some reason always paid attention to was ancient weaponry. And the big ole ballistas were one of the things which had stuck with me for whatever reason which meant that I immediately recognized the crossbow looking contraption which was currently firing down upon my drones. I was half tempted to order my vulture to charge in right now to hopefully take them by surprise but that plan was quickly halted when one of the tower tribe guardsmen who were manning the three ballistas began pointing in my vulture''s direction.


    Ordering my vulture to begin evasive maneuvers, I also make sure to inform my patrols down by the ground that the ballista is currently occupied and that they should probably head back to the factory while they still could. As my vulture began twisting and turning in the air, the tower tribe guardsmen began either turning their ballistas towards my drones or grabbing crossbows. Making sure to order my vulture to get out of dodge as soon as my patrols got far enough away from the tower that the ballistas can no longer hit them, I slipped out of my vulture and began ordering for a few more vultures.


    Hopefully, with support from the flock, I can muster an air squadron which could take down the ballistas because my ground based drones would likely take heavy casualties if they were to attempt an assault. Let¡¯s just hope my drones won''t get shot out of the sky on the way there.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 65

    As my various patrols made their way back to the factory I began planning out the aerial assault on the tower tribe¡¯s newly built ballistae. While I do wish I could claim such siege weaponry for myself, I seriously doubted that my drones could haul it back to the factory so the only real option I had was to destroy them so that the tower tribe can no longer use them. This left the question of how I am going to do so as the most obvious answer of throwing it over the edge is not an option due to the fact that the ballistae looked to be much too heavy for my drones to be able to lift it up over the edge.


    This meant that I had to destroy it out right which is easier said than done since metal is rather hard to completely destroy. I could order my hornets to simply punch a bunch of holes into the ballista, however that would not be overly difficult for the tower tribe to repair as I could see that it is made from rather basic mechanical gears rather than electronics. The idea of bringing spiders up to the tower so that they could dismantle the ballista piece by piece so that my drones could throw those individual pieces over the edge however I quickly dismissed such an idea as it would take an upwards of two hours for a team of ten or so spiders to disassemble the three ballistae which would give the tower tribe ample time to rally and push my drones off and away from the tower.


    Then it hit me. I had a drone that could self-destruct and cause a small explosion which has been proven to melt through thin layers of metal and would likely do horrible things to a ballista¡¯s internal machinery. Ordering a dozen fire beetles, four for each ballista, I began arranging for their rides. Soon enough I had a group of ten hornets, a group of eight vultures, a few dragonflies which I decided to bring along, and the dozen beetles which I had ordered for. Ordering for six of my hornets to take two beetles each, I made sure to inform the other four hornets that they would be on distraction duty and that they would need to take up as much attention as they could so that the carriers would not get downed. I also gave the same message to the dragonflies as they were not the best in melee combat as shown in their last engagement.


    With them taken care of, I made sure to debrief my vultures as they had the most important job in the force as they were going to be the tip of the spear. Their job was to clear the way for the beetles since they would not be able to land safely if there still was a bunch of tower tribe guardsmen putting up a fight, everything else is secondary and all of my other drones were ultimately there to support them. With that, I gave the go ahead and my drones began to take off towards the tower tribe, and hopefully to victory.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    As soon as my strike force began moving into visual range of the tower, they immediately began evasive maneuvers as ballista bolts flew past them. I made sure to order them to spread out so that they would not be such an easy target and that seemed to serve them well as, aside from a few close calls, the strike team continued forward without any incidents. This however was sure to change as my drones approached what I guessed was the optimal ranges for the tower tribes ballistae.


    This was soon affirmed as the next salvo of bolts proved to be far more accurate than the previous and in fact had managed to hit one of my hornets who, thankfully, was not holding any of the ever important beetles. Although, I guesstimated that it would only take around three beetles to take down each one of the ballistae which meant that I did bring enough beetles to have a decently large margin or error. Hopefully I will find that I need not worry as much as I had.


    I additionally hoped that the hornet which I was watching the battle through would not be hit as I still remembered the massive headache which I would get whenever the drone my consciousness was in at the time dies. Regardless I continued to watch as my drones began quickly approaching the tower tribe and soon enough regular crossbow bolts began flying from the guardsmen who were not manning the ballistae. This newfound incoming fire managed to clip many of my drones in various areas of their body and somehow even managed to hit the unarmored belly of one of my beetles which my hornet quickly dropped.


    The following explosion seemed to distract the guardsmen long enough for the first of my vultures to drop down and begin engaging the stunned robots in melee. Most of the guardsmen switched from their crossbows and quickly began grabbing their spears while their ballistae operators hurriedly wheeled their siege weaponry back behind the now spear wielding guardsmen line. Said guardsmen line even had a few shieldbearers who made sure to put themselves firmly in front of the spear wielders in hopes that their shield would stop the inevitable onslaught of hornet spikes.


    Their shields actually managed to stop said hornet fire from piercing however they did not stop the kinetic energy which caused them and the guardsmen behind them to fall back and land on each other. While this was all happening, the ballistae and the remaining robots still using their crossbows continued their barrage of bolt fire which took down another three of my hornets, one of which was carrying beetles who promptly fell down and landed near the melee battle. Those beetles promptly exploded after realizing that they were nearly surrounded by enemies which caused many of the tower tribe guardsmen to panic which further pushed the melee engagement in my vulture''s favor.


    The guardsmen who were not too panicked by the explosions coming from their rear guards or those who were too caught up in a fight to care continued to fight against my vultures in a desperate attempt to repel my ever encroaching drones. As the battle got closer and closer to the ballistae, those who were manning the siege weapons and the last few crossbow users decided that the fighting was a bit too close for comfort and joined the melee which thankfully relieved the pressure which was being placed on my hornets and dragonflies who were dodging like mad in order to hopefully not get hit.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    This onslaught continued for a little while before what I guessed was the most senior of the guardsmen ordered for a retreat down the stairwell and I ordered my drones to not stop them from leaving. Once the last of the tower tribe guardsmen fled down the stairs, I quickly took stock of how many drones I had lost. In total I had lost three of my fire beetles, nearly half of my hornet force, and a couple of my vultures who were taken down during the melee. Pretty acceptable casualties considering the potential harm these ballistae could have done to my ground based drones who would have no way to fight back.


    And with that, I began ordering my remaining beetles to move into position and while they were doing that, I made sure to order my hornets to release a salvo at the various solar panels which marked the roof of the tower. Then, I ordered all drone, minus the suicidal beetles, to begin take off procedures and to begin to make their way back to the factory. As my drones began flying away, the beetles detonated all at once which turned those ballistae into useless slag. I watched as tower tribe guardsmen rushed back out of the stairwell to see what had just happened and was slightly amused when they tried firing their crossbows at my drones who were now too far away to be hit.


    As my returning drones reached the factory grounds, the spider repair team and their robot plus one began swarming my injured drones and began the lengthy process of patching up any wounds that had occurred throughout the fight. Most of the repairs were just simply replacing damaged armor plates or installing new components in places where my poor drones were pierced by spears or bolts. While they were getting repaired, I gave the go ahead to my various patrol teams and informed them that the ballistae are no longer a threat and that they should go back to their patrols in order to stop the tower tribe from gathering more materials to rebuild/replace them.


    This seemed to get my patrols moving as they began hustling out of the factory with the authoritative barking from their various patrol commanders, loudest being my lead hound who was leading a patrol with a hound and hornet focused force. As my patrols began to disperse, I decided to make my way back inside of the factory before I was stopped by the group of the friendly guardsmen who were beckoning for my attention. Walking over to the group, I tilted my head in curiosity as I noticed that one of them was fidgeting with their spear while the one who got my attention walked up to me and began speaking.


    ¡°Hello James, I and my friends here are wondering if we could join one of the patrols for a little while. Stretch our legs out a bit if you know what I mean.¡± The robot says while beckoning the two other guardsmen to come along. *I suppose having a few extra bodies would not hurt and maybe they might be able to convince some of the tower tribes people that I am not holding them hostage or anything. Eventually I come to the conclusion that I can not lose very much of anything if they were to come along and so I order one of my patrols to come back in order to pick up a couple more members.


    Informing the robots in front of me as such, they whisper excitedly to each other before running off to the factory gates. With that taken care of I was about to go back to managing the factory before I am interrupted again, this time by the green scavenger robot that had gone with the patrol last time I had let them out of the factory. They quickly asked if they could join them and I just agreed as long as they did not make the patrol stop for them too much which they agreed to before running off to join the guardsmen.


    Entering the factory proper, I began doing some simple accounting on material supplies, how much power is left available after the various machines take their toll, the number of drones still left to guard the prisoners and the factory as a whole, ect. While I was doing this I ran into a couple of the blue robots who had dispersed themselves across the factory and I watched for a little while as they wandered about, occasionally helping my drones with their various assignments. I suppose this is the benefit of having a bunch of robots around the factory.


    Eventually I finished the accounting and now knew that currently the storage room held enough materials to construct a few dozen medium sized drones if I really needed which is a nice reassurance. Additionally, the power draw with my various drone works and other such machines were starting to strain the power supply coming from the solar panels from the roof so I made a mental note to construct something to help produce more power in case I suddenly find myself needing more power.


    Lastly, in addition to the permanent drone garrison of a dozen ants, their escorts, a wing of hornets, and a few small groups of patrol hounds there were another half dozen hornets and a couple of scorpions who I had not assigned to any patrol teams quite yet. This seemed like a decent enough garrison for the time being, I doubt that the tower tribe could break through my patrols and attack my factory with the amount of troops they have left available, so I left it as is and focused on my other outposts.


    While most of my outpost are simply too far away from the tower tribe to need to worry about raids and the like, however the seemingly ever present threat of a random larger than normal clump of feral drones rolling into the area is enough of a threat to warrant a garrison more than strong enough to take down the usual incursion. Currently all of my outposts are more than well enough defended and so I do not really need to worry about them too much, rather the real worry is all of my various holdings which are not proper outposts like the subway stations.


    While Paisleigh and her goons have been protecting the subway stations well enough, I do fear that they might fall to a random feral incursion which they are not prepared to handle. And so I began ordering my various outposts that had medium drone production capabilities to construct two hornets for every subway station so that they could have an adequate source of heavy fire power. Hopefully this will keep any larger feral attacks at bay.


    And with that all taken care of I began focusing back on the various patrol teams circling the tower tribe as the siege slowly progressed.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 66

    A half dozen hours after the raid on the tower tribes ballistae and solar panels, I began getting notifications from my patrols and scouts who were close to the tower which stated that they could hear noises emanating from the tower. I was half tempted to send in a patrol to check out what the noise was, however I eventually just decided to send a scout rat team since I did not wish to risk a whole patrol getting caught by an ambush. While my scout rats were moving in to get a better look, I began sending out a few of my vultures who had finished being repaired so that I could get a few eyes in the skies.


    Eventually, my scout rats reached the point where the majority of scout rats who moved past were caught by tower tribe guards or hounds, however this time it seems the area seemed to be extraordinary empty escusing the pair of hounds who were stationed at the various defensive barricades watching for any incoming drones which my scout rats easily slipped past. Reaching around two dozen feet away from the tower proper, my scout rats began hearing banging and some shouts coming from the tower which was slightly concerning.


    Regardless, my scout rats continued on, making sure to take the long way in hopes that they would not be spotted as redundant as it seems since they had not detected any guardsmen as they approached the tower. Slipping through an open air vent near the ground, my scout rats began crawling through the vents until they reached an opening in the vent which they promptly dropped down from. They quickly scanned the room for people and upon finding none, began moving to the slightly ajar door.


    Peering through the opened door, the lead scout rat gave the all clear and began making their way over towards the sounds of shouting and banging. Soon enough they rounded the final corner and they were met with the sight of more than a dozen or so tower tribe guardsmen intermixed with a bunch of other robots of various color who were all hammering a door and shouting ¡°Let us in!¡± repeatedly. Over all of the yelling, my drones could faintly hear the returning yells of what I could reasonably determine was the Chieftain who sounded like they were trying and failing to yell louder than the assembled crowd.


    Above the doors was a sign denoting the room behind it to be the storage room which is strange, why would the chieftain lock himself into the storage room and why would it provoke such a reaction from his fellow tribesmen. Then I hear one of the gathered robots yell ¡°Stop hoarding all the supplies, maker dammit.¡± Then it hit me, after I had destroyed the solar panels the chieftain must have locked himself and probably the people he cared about into the storage room where they probably kept all the extra power packs and such. Well that¡¯s kinda a dick move, leaving all of your citizens to die like that.


    That being said, this is an opportunity that I most definitely can exploit as I doubt that after this sudden betrayal any of the guardsmen would mind me walking over here with a patrol if I help them break through the door to get to the chieftain. And so I slipped out of my scout rats'' perspectives while ordering them to keep tabs on how the situation is progressing before popping into one of my vessels back at the factory and ordering for a couple of the patrols near the tower to meet up with me on the way to the entrance.


    It was not long before the patrols met up with me, one of which was being led by my lead hound, and we began moving into the tower tribe entrance, and for the most part we found no resistance aside from a few hounds who spotted us and ran back, likely to inform the guardsmen of my presence. As we got into visual distance of the barricades and other various defenses that the tower tribe had constructed around their base, I met the first real congregation of guardsmen and hounds who were hunched behind their defenses and prepared for a fight. Seeing this, I slowly raised my hands above my head and said ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight, in fact I am here to extend an offer of a cease fire.¡±


    The guardsmen who were stationed behind their various barricades did not move from their assigned positions or stop pointing their crossbows and spears at me; however, a few did look around at their comrades questioningly. Good, at least a few of them are willing to hear me out. After waiting a few moments in an awkward silence I was about to take a step forward when I spotted a senior looking guardsmen step out from behind their piece of cover and look at me expectantly.


    Taking this for what it was, I began with a ¡°I heard that your chieftain has forsaken you for lack of a better word. It also seems that as much as you want too, you seem to be unable to get to where they had barricaded themselves into and that there are some valuable goods left in there.¡± I see the senior guardsmen nod slightly before gesturing for me to go on. ''`Anyways, I am offering that we stop the needless fighting and I will help you break into your chieftains defenses, after which you may do as you please with them.¡± The senior guardsmen seems to consider this for a second before hardening and asking the question of ¡°And what do you want in return?¡±


    ¡°Well I would like the usual non-aggression pacts and possibly a trade deal since it is always a good idea to open the markets. However I would additionally like to have an open movement treaty which basically entails anyone who would like to travel into my territory is free to within reason and vice versa. It kinda was the whole reason I started fighting you guys after all.¡± The guardsmen looked slightly surprised at my answer as they seemed to not have expected my final request and my reasoning behind it. They did not ask any questions however, only ordering all of their troops to stand down.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Looking over to the senior guardsmen and asked if I was free to move forward into the tower to which the man simply nodded before leading the way. Ordering my drones to fall in behind me, I began following the guardsmen until eventually we reached the door which led to the storage room where the chieftain was held up in. Gesturing my hornets to come forwards, I stepped back behind them and ordered them to fire on the door all at once. Their salvo tore holes through the door and whatever was behind it and clearly startled the occupants inside as I heard muttered curses as I used my vessel''s bulk to shoulder bash through the last of the barricade that was stopping my advance.


    Soon after the path was clear, my various hounds and ants stormed the room and were quickly followed by the senior guardsmen and a few of his men. Taking in the sight of the room, I saw that there was a large stockpile of power packs and sticks all piled in one of the corners of the room along with five robots all cowering in another as my drones encircled them with the help of some of the guardsmen. And chief among them was none other than the chieftain who was actually hiding behind all of them as if using them as robot shields. I looked over to the senior guardsmen who was beginning to cuff one of the cowering robots and I said, ¡°Welp, I believe that you can take care of the rest. Been a pleasure doing business with you.¡±


    The chieftain looked up when they heard that and quickly began glaring at the senior guardsmen before muttering, ¡°traitor,¡± which made the guardsmen cuff the chieftain growl ¡°maybe now you¡¯ll think for a little longer before shutting us out of our own damn home.¡± That seemed to shut the chieftain up and I figured that it was my cue to leave the tower with my assorted drones. As I departed, my drones and I garnered a fair few glances filled with various emotions, the most prevalent being hesitancy which is entirely reasonable since my drones had, not a quarter of a day ago, raided their home and destroyed what I guessed was their only source of power.


    Calling back all of my patrols, I gave the order to stand down and to not engage any tower tribe forces for they are now to be designated as a neutral party. Additionally, I ordered my drones back at the factory to bring out the prisoner guardsmen and to line them up outside of the factory. By the time that I got back from the tower, the guardsmen were lined up by one of the factory walls and many of them shot my worried glances as I got closer. ¡°Welp, it¡¯s your lucky day folks. You get to go back to your tribe now that peace has been declared, get out of here.¡± I told the prisoners who upon hearing that they were free to go, bolted towards the barricade gates which my ants had dragged open.


    Once they ran out of visual range of my factory guards, I dismissed all my drones from active duty and ordered them to begin scheduled assignments if they had them or maintenance if they did not. As for the penal legion, I decided to give them a break as well so I ordered them to enter the factory barricade and let the garrison take over guard duty for the time being they earned it seeing as they had been marching nearly non stop around the tower. While they got themselves situated into their R and R, I began rounding up all the robots who had been living in my factory for the last few days.


    Once they were all gathered in the factory main room, I began saying ¡°Now that hostilities with your former tribe have finished I am going to give you three options for your next step. First, you could relocate down to the formerly nomadic village which is about a half hour walk from the factory. Secondly, you could go back to the tower for whatever reason, perhaps you have family or friends still there and you want to be back with them, nevertheless you are free to go. Lastly, you could stay here if you really want to.¡± With their options laid out to them, the robots split into three groups.


    The first group was made up of a few of the blue robots and one of the reds who were going back to the tower, apparently the blue robots had a shared parent they needed to take care of and the red had a couple buddies left over there. The second group was made up of the remaining two guardsmen, another one of the blue robots, and the green scavenger who were heading to the nomad¡¯s village. Lastly was the third group made up of GW-3N, the last of the blue robots, and the yellow robots who had more or less joined my spider repair team and were almost never seen without them.


    With the robots all sorted, I let them exchange goodbyes while I wandered deeper into the factory in search of problems to fix. Eventually remembering that I had a slight power problem so I climbed up to the roof and over to the solar panels which were powering the factory. The obvious fix was simply to construct more panels to hopefully offset the amount of power that the factory eats through to keep everything functioning. Another possible solution is to hook up my other outposts to the power grid in hopes that each outpost could supply a bit of their excess power supply.


    The only problem with that plan is that it will take a while to fabricate the wiring and actually connect any of my outposts to my factory so it will have to be one of my side projects for at least a few days. Eventually I decided to do a mixture of both by having the fabricator focus on constructing the necessary components to begin construction on the new solar panels while slowly fabricating the wiring required for the connection process. Deciding that the earlier I start the quicker the project finishes, I begin ordering for a few moles from the mining outpost to make their way over to the main factory and to begin digging a small tunnel all the way over to the subway.


    Hopefully then I can connect the factory to whatever powers the subway train which will handle the majority of the wiring. As long as nothing important happens while my drones are working on the power project, they should be able to complete it within a couple of days and then I will not have to worry about my power supply for a while. Just have to get through a couple days without anything major happening, easy.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 67

    A whole day passed without anything of major importance developing which gave me ample time to organize the rest of my assets and begin work on a few varying projects like outfitting my moose drones with carts to give them more storage space while they are caravaning or acting as scrap haulers when they are not. The construction on the new solar panels were going well enough, the fabricator was practically working non-stop in order to keep up with the spider team who were working quite efficiently now that they had their own personal robot to help with the heavy lifting.


    The power grid project was also moving along swimmingly with the one exception of not currently having the needed wiring to actually hook everything up. I would soon be shipping off my moles to the nearest outpost with an ample supply of excess power while my repair team takes care of the rest of the actual wiring once the solar panels finish. I was about to go back to relaxing after handling a situation with a few feral drones attacking one of my scavenger teams before one of my drones notified me that we were getting a message from the radio station on top of the factory.


    Slipping into my vessel drone, I climbed up to the roof of the factory where I found one of the maintenance spiders who was looking at the radio station curiously as it rang a few times in a repeating pattern. Shooing the drone off back to work on the solar panels, I clicked the accept button which promptly showed that I was now on a radio frequency connected to Ping. ¡°Hello there, why have you called me today? Do you need something from me?¡± I asked, curious as to the motive for the sudden and unexpected call. Perhaps they want to trade for some more materials, I sure do have a bunch in storage now that my drones do not have to worry about random raids while they work.


    ¡°Straight to the point huh, suppose I should have expected that. Anyways I need to ask you a favor and I am sure you will be rewarded accordingly.¡± Ping voice hisses through the slightly static sounding speakers which go back to emitting white noise while I am left standing, slightly intrigued by the offer. What might they need and more importantly what am I getting in return? So, pressing down on the speaking button, I say as such, ¡°I am interested in the proposal, do tell, what do you require me to do and what are you offering for such a service?¡±


    ¡°Ah good,¡± Ping says through the speaker, ¡°I have a friend who is generally north-west of your territory, I¡¯ll give you their coordinates if you accept, and I have been getting messages stating that they are currently having trouble with fending off something or other. They are an industrial focused AI like yourself so I am pretty sure that they have a blueprint or something that they might be willing to give you as reward for helping them out with their problem.¡± Ping¡¯s final sentence definitely got my attention as I am always looking for new drones to add to my collection. Plus, if I help out that AI who seems to be not too far from where I am, I could have a new trading partner and or potential ally if I ever encounter anything that I cannot handle on my own.


    Eventually I come to the conclusion that I do not have very much to lose if I say no so I might as well attempt to help, even if it turns out that my drones were not needed or they did not have anything I wanted. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m in, send me the coordinates and I¡¯ll send over what I have available.¡± As I said it, the console that I was using to interface with the radio tower pinged with a notification which told me to insert my USB looking finger into the machine in order to copy down the coordinates which I promptly did. ¡°Thank you for accepting my request, I am sure you won''t regret it!¡± Was what Ping said before cutting the connection and leaving me standing there with a set of coordinates leading to an AI which is currently getting overrun by something or other.


    Checking the coordinates in relation to my own outposts, I quickly find that the AI which Ping has sent me to help is just about due west of my most northern outpost, that being the water treatment outpost. Through a bit of guesstimation, I deduced that it would take about a half days travel on foot for my drones to reach the coordinate if they set off from my closest outpost which means that I should probably get a force marching now if I want to be there within a reasonable amount of time. With that information, I began marshaling any of my drones who were willing and available to set off on an expedition to a new AI along with the majority of the penal legion who had recently finished their resting period and were now standing by.


    Soon enough I had a force of about thirty mixed melee focused ground drones, a couple wings of hornets, a few vultures and dragonflies to act as scouts and escorts, a fully stocked repair team with their transport moose, and the entirety of the penal legion which was about twenty five assorted drones strong. This, I deemed a strong enough force to take down whatever threat is present if I am lucky and hopefully support the other AI¡¯s defenses against whatever hoard they are dealing with if I am not. I do hope that I over prepared rather than under as that was a considerable chunk of my current military force and it would most definitely hurt if they were to all be destroyed.


    Nevertheless the plan was for my drones to travel by subway in batches of around twenty over to the water treatment outpost where they will link up with my vessel drone stationed over there so that I will have something to directly communicate with the AI once my force arrives there. Once all of my drones arrive at the outpost, they will set off in the direction of the coordinates whilst informing me of any odd occurrences or encounters until they eventually reach the AI in question, after which I will take direct control of the force until I deem otherwise. Hopefully nothing bad will happen while they are on route, regardless there is not much left to do aside from waiting now.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    While my drones slowly filter through the subway over to the water treatment outpost, my various other projects continue on without them. First of which was the solar panels which had finished about an hour after my drones set off to the outpost and now the factory was no longer balancing on the edge of power outage and was comfortably storing the power which it now had in excess. Additionally, now that the solar panels are finished, the fabricator fully converted to constructing the necessary wiring needed to begin hooking up the factory and the various other outpost¡¯s power grids which would unfortunately have to wait until the subway finished being used by my various drone forces who were still shipping off to the water treatment outpost.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Regardless, my drones finished the first step in connecting the power grid by finishing the wiring from the factory to the subway system, which actually started using up some of the factory¡¯s power supply since it was already draining its own because of the fact that the subway train had been moving non stop for a while now, which it¡¯s systems clearly were not used to anymore. Oh well, once my drones finish being deployed over by the water treatment plant they¡¯ll start netting me some excess power.


    With all of that chugging along, I decide to order a few of my various scout rat drone teams to begin scouting out the area in the direction of the coordinates that Ping provided me, hopefully they will be able to map out a decent path for my main drone force to march through. While my scout rats in the area of the water treatment outpost begin to do their jobs, I begin going back to waiting for everything to fully fall into place. Perhaps I should join one of the scrapper teams for a little bit, that might help time pass a bit faster.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    A few hours came and went until eventually the last of my drones finished shipping off to my water treatment outpost and so I promptly organized them into ranks and ordered them to begin marching in the direction which had been set by my scouts who had already moved a decent distance in front of the main force which should give them ample time to map out the area before they arrive there. Additionally, I ordered my drones to drag along my vessel drone while they marched. I even provided a makeshift sled made by the garrisoned spider drones who had put it together while my drones were shipping off.


    As they marched off into the distance, I went back to helping out the scrapper team which I was working with while I waited. The work, while probably unneeded seeing that I had plenty of materials already stored and flowing in from my various mines and vessels, however it did make the area around the factory look much nicer as the majority of the debris had been cleared out and recycled into usable materials. I had even put in the order to begin construction on an upgrade to the refinery which would allow my drones to begin recycling the cleared away concrete, among other things, which my drones had simply been placing in a pile.


    Perhaps I could begin constructing actual structures with the recycled materials or even fix up old ones. It definitely would not hurt to have a bit more space to expand the factory or perhaps proper housing for the few robots left inside of the factory. A project that I am most interested in beginning using the new concrete is to begin filling in the various holes and cracks in the roads which would hopefully make it easier to traverse around the area. This will be especially needed now that my moose caravans are beginning to be equipped with those carts since a bumpy road is not an ideal place for said carts to traverse through.


    Nevertheless the refinery is still being upgraded so those ideas are going to have to wait until my spider drones finish it which they say will be in around an hour''s time. While they are working on that, I begin to browse through my various options for expansion and development which at its current state are not very expansive as I do not have any more machines which I could begin construction on that would prove useful at the moment. I suppose this gives me even more reason to go to the other AI since they would likely have at least a couple machines which could be helpful.


    Speaking of which, I should probably ask if Ping has any machine blueprints which I would be interested in bargaining for. Honestly I am surprised I did not think of this sooner, surely they would have at least something which could be useful, perhaps an upgrade to my current makeshift radio tower which if I am being honest looks like a shambled piece of scrap metal despite my spider repair team''s best efforts. Swapping over to my vessel in the factory, I clambered up onto the roof and began turning on the radio tower and began transmitting a call request over to Ping.


    It took a few minutes until Ping finally accepted the request and began with a question of ¡°Hello, why did you call?¡± Springing out of the trance which I had fallen into while waiting, I replied with ¡°Nothing of crucial importance, simply wondering if you have any blueprints for machines which you are willing to trade for? Additionally if you do, what would you like in return? I have plenty of scrap metal if that is something you would like.¡± I could hear Ping pondering my questions for a few moments before they responded.


    ¡°I do have a few machines which would fit that description. Are you by chance in the market for a radio station? I noticed that your current station seems to be rather inefficient, or perhaps you would like a relay tower blueprint. Those are the two I am currently willing to sell. As for your second question, yes I am willing to exchange the blueprints for some more metal, I have been using up a considerable amount of my stockpile on helping my friend I told you about.¡± With that we began exchanging prices before we settled on a price of around two dozen medium drones worth of materials for the two blueprints which I found to be a decent enough deal.


    Sure that was a considerable amount of metal, however as they said they were using most of it to help their friend which I had my drones marching to. This means that they will likely spend a decent chunk of it on helping their friend which would make my drones lives that much easier. As my drones began collecting the required materials for the trade, I began check ups with my drone force in question who had been marching for the better part of an hour now. The report they sent back was slightly concerning as they were reporting dead and destroyed drones scattered about the area.


    This made me worry slightly as whatever was happening here is currently netting a lot of casualties which is not exactly encouraging. Some of the corpses even looked to be recent as a few still flickered with still cycling power before shutting down completely. Ordering my drones to be vigilant, I also give my repair team a side objective of repairing one of the not completely dead drones in hopes that we can find out what happened to them. As my drones continued marching, I began to wonder what I had just signed myself and my drones up for.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 68

    The next few hours were uneventful for the most part, my drone force continued down the path set by my scouts while encountering more drone corpses on the way, all of which were unfortunately unable to be repaired in time. My drone caravan made it over to the same meeting place which they had met Ping at before and the transaction was completed without any fuss, simply exchanging their goods to the drones Ping had sent to collect before leaving. My spider teams were excited for the new machines that they could now construct, however they were currently occupied with hooking up my outposts to the newly established power grid.


    Now that the fabricator could fully focus on producing the wiring required for the project, the fabrication process smoothed up considerably and soon enough I had enough wires to finish off connecting the first of my outposts. That first outpost in question was the warehouse outpost since the outpost held the chemical generator and had the server cluster which is something I would rather keep powered and protected. Hopefully connecting this outpost to the power grid will allow the generator to conserve fuel that would have been spent towards keeping the servers running and will give me a back up option in case something suddenly happens to my solar panels or something since the generator could fill in the gap in power output the loss of my solar panels would leave.


    Next up in line would be the water treatment outpost since it also had a decent powersource and could act as a decently sized drone production plant since it has one of every drone works. I will send my drones to begin work on that once they finish the warehouse outpost in a few hours. Lastly, my spiders over by the factory finally finished construction on the upgrades to the refinery and now any of my drones who were not patrolling or manning the factory¡¯s barricades were now helping the spiders haul the chunks of concrete into the refinery. Deciding that repairing the roads takes higher priority over building or repairing non critical structures, I order my drones to begin filling up the various potholes and cracks in the road with the newly refined concrete which had been neatly spewed out of the refinery in big metal containers.


    My spiders quickly enlisted the help of a few ants who would haul the containers before setting off to the outside with another few hounds and hornets to act as escorts in case a few ferals decide that my spiders look a bit too tasty. As they began fulfilling their duties, I began waiting for my moose caravan to arrive back at the factory so that I could begin construction of that new radio tower that I had bought from Ping. I was also a bit curious about the relay stations but I would look through the blueprints description of the machine once it arrived. Maybe it will expand my territory or something.


    And speak of the devil, my moose caravan arrived not a dozen minutes later and I watched as one of them accidentally stepped on the still drying concrete and was promptly berated by one of my spiders. Soon enough, I was in my vessel drone and holding the radio tower''s blueprint in front of myself as I began directing my remaining spiders who were not repairing the road to begin to replace the old ratio tower. Once the spiders in question were fully into the groove of construction, I left the blueprint of the most senior among them and told them to continue at it while I picked up the relay station blueprint.


    Inspecting the blueprint, I find that it is not too dissimilar to the design of the radio tower and after further inspection of the description, I could see why. According to the blueprint, the relay station is meant to expand an AI¡¯s sphere of influence and allow more direct control of an area without requiring the AI to be within a vessel or other such drone. In addition the machine should be able to produce enough power to supply itself which meant I could construct these anywhere that had a decent enough open area so that the relay could connect to the AI¡¯s nearest holding. I could definitely find a place for this, most prevalent being over at the flock¡¯s nesting grounds so that I can have a closer connection to them.


    Unfortunately the same will not work for the mole colony, obviously because they are completely underground, and if I wanted to have closer ties with Paisleigh I would need to construct one at each of the subway stations which would take a while to complete. In time my drones could construct them however constructing one at the flock''s main base will only take one so I told my spiders to take a few escorts and construct one at the nesting grounds once they finished with their other duties. With that being taken care of, I decided to help out the group who was repairing the roads while I waited for the next point of interest to occur.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    Couple hours later, my drones and I finished filling in all the various holes and cracks that marked the roads around the factory and the one which led to the subway station. Now that was left was to wait until the last of it dried and then the roads would be in ship shape. As I was about to check up on the spiders constructing the radio tower, I began getting messages from my main drone force which was still marching in the direction of the coordinates. Quickly checking the messages, I was immediately relieved that they were not about being attacked or anything like that, however I quickly slipped into my vessel drone that they had been dragging over there when I read that my spiders that I assigned there had managed to revive one of the nearly dead drones.


    Getting up from where my vessel drone had been laying, I quickly looked around for my spider drones before my eyes laid upon my drones crawling all around and over an injured drone on the ground. Walking over, one of the spiders waddled over to me and began spitting out their little drone language before remembering that I did not understand it so they quickly grabbed a tablet from one of the nearby drones. Soon enough they had written out a report stating that they had managed to bring this hound back from the brink of death, said hound had lost much of its memory, and they were currently patching up any injuries which might result in their deaths.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Additionally, the drone in question has been interrogated for information by my lead hound while they were getting repaired however it seems that they did not hold any valuable information aside from the fact that they were taken out by an ambush and that most of the fighting that it had taken a part in were ambushes or counter ambushes rather than large battles. This is slightly worrying as my force is much too far from any of my outposts which means that constant ambushes will very quickly whittle down my available forces since I have no way of replenishment or resupply. Hopefully the friendly AI that I have been sent to will be kind enough to supply my drones with repair materials at the very least.


    Regardless, I would rather not have my force be a sitting duck so I clambered back onto my sled and ordered my drones to begin moving to the coordinates. A few of my drones helped up the injured drone which my spiders were still repairing before moving to their position within the formation. Making sure that my drones were extra vigilant, I slipped back out of my vessel and began making preparations to have another team of scout rats run down to the subway system in order to hopefully find a tunnel which would lead to wherever my main drone force currently is. Hopefully so that I can begin sending supplies and replacement drones their way.


    With that taken care of, I simply went back to helping out around my factory since it does not seem I am needed for anything else. Speaking of the factory, now that my spiders finished the road repairs they had begun to construct a mold around the factory''s barricades and had informed me that they planned to use any of the leftover concrete to fill in any of the holes within the barricades. As much as I commended the ingenuity, I ordered most of the spiders who were working on the project to help out their friends who were building the new radio tower before they started new projects which they grumpily agreed to.


    While I was helping my spider drones a bit with the radio tower, I began hearing shouting coming from the barricade gates before I got a message from the guards manning the gate that a representative from the newly reestablished tower tribe was here and they wanted my attention. Walking down from the factory, I eventually reached the barricades which I climbed atop and greeted the guardsmen who were standing by the gate with a ¡°Hello there.¡± The guardsmen quickly turned their head towards me and gave a quick bow.


    ¡°Ah, hello indeed. I am representing the tower tribe and its interests, and currently we are interested in forging a trade deal with you.¡± The guardsmen stated in quite a formal tone before I gestured for them to continue. ¡°Anyways, my people are proposing that we may sell you our unrefined scrap metal in exchange for your refined alloys. Of course we realize that you are not willing to do this for free and thus we are willing to offer fifteen percent of the refined alloys that the metal would have turned into.¡± Hmm, it''s not a bad deal I suppose. I would get a bit of extra metal and I would only need to refine the metal which will take almost no effort now that my power problems have been taken care of.


    This however did not stop me from attempting to milk this for as much as it was worth and responded with ¡°Make it twenty percent and we will call it a deal.¡± This made the tower tribe representative think for a few moments before they eventually agreed to the proposition and they walked off, supposedly to inform their leader of the new trade deal and to collect the first shipment of scrap metal. With that I simply ordered my guards to let them in if they had brought the materials, although I did make sure to order them to keep an eye on them when they do come in. Just in case.


    Leaving the ant guard to their duties, I went back up to the factory and found that while I was talking with the tower tribe representative my spiders had finished with construction on the radio tower and had already begun gathering a few escorts to begin setting off to the flock nesting grounds. Checking over the newly built communications tower, I could see that it looked significantly more stable and professional looking than the one that I had previously. Additionally it also seems that it had extended my potential communication potential meaning that I could radio in to any future AIs that I may encounter who may have been too far away for my previous radio tower to contact.


    Moving back over to the barricades I eventually just decided to help out the spiders who were working on filling in the barricades with concrete. Whilst I worked on holding a set of metal plates from moving while my spiders welded them into the mold, my other spiders had reached the flocks'' nesting grounds and began construction on the relay station on the tallest of the apartment buildings that they were located in. Said spiders gave me an estimated time of about an hour and a half before the relay was finished being constructed which meant that I had to wait until I could see what it truly brought to the table first hand. Nevertheless, I continued to work on the molds for the factory walls whilst I waited.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    As expected the relay station finished in the estimated time which had been set by my spiders who, upon completion of the relay, began marching back towards the factory after completing a few extra tasks that I had them do before returning. Now that the relay station was complete, I could now freely float about the area without being forced to be confined in the body of one of my drones or a vessel. This made me think for a few moments as I realized that I had become more accustomed to not having a body and strangely enough I now preferred it whenever possible. I suppose this should have been expected, I have been here for quite some time now.


    Pushing such thoughts aside, I also noticed that using the newly constructed radio station, I could now communicate to the flock directly using the relay which is nice I suppose. It would allow me to divert the scout rats whom I had been using as messengers towards more serious matters now that their assignments were no longer of use. This will also definitely help coordinating with my vassals since I could now communicate with them without delay if any urgent matters arises unexpectedly. Useful indeed. Perhaps I should negotiate for some more machines from Ping whenever they decide they are comfortable with selling them to me.


    Soon enough I shuffle myself back into my vessel to begin my next shift of work on the now nearly completed mold for the factory barricades. Once the mold is complete, my drones will begin dumping concrete into it which will, after a few hours, solidify into a newly reinforced wall which should be more than sufficient protection against any would-be feral attacker. I briefly begin to think about constructing more of these walls around my other outposts before I am nudged by one of my spiders which spurs me back to work.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 69

    Over the course of the next few hours, nothing of note happened aside from the completion of the newly reinforced barricades which had finally solidified. Additionally while I was waiting for something interesting to happen, I had sent out my spiders to begin construction of the next relay station at the subway station closest to the factory. I was about to go check on their progress when my main drone force began sending messages to me stating that they were beginning to spot drone activity near the designated coordinates which they were rapidly approaching.


    Slipping into my vessel drone which they had been ferrying with them, I quickly got up and began scanning the area before I noticed what had gotten my drones in such a ruckus. I began hearing the sounds of combat somewhere in the distant ruins which was getting louder as my drones and I approached the coordinates. Ordering my drones to be prepared for a fight, I began moving up a taller than usual ruin in order to gain sight beyond sight and in doing so identify whether or not one of the forces which were fighting was friendly. Once I reached the top of the rubble pile, I began surveying the battlefield which looked to be made up of about twenty drones who were duking it out in the center of a crossroad.


    Ordering my drones to advance forwards, I quickly pulled out one of my javelins before moving up to join them. My drones quickly reached the battle and once they did one of the groups of drones began running away in the opposite direction of the coordinates that Ping had given me which gave me the impression that they were not friendly. Walking towards the group of about eight drones who had not run, I could clearly see that while they were happy to still be alive after the fight, they were still very hesitant of me and my force, which was reasonable.


    Dropping my javelin and holding my hands up in a gesture of peace, the various drones began to drop their guards ever so slightly which was mirrored in my own drones in turn. Now that the tense air had dissipated, I began moving slightly forward before saying ¡°Greetings, do you guys work for Ping¡¯s contact?¡± The mention of Ping¡¯s name seemed to get their attention and they visibly began to relax which I took as a sign that meant that they were in fact Ping¡¯s friend. Quickly slipping back over to the factory, I sent a message to Ping stating that I had encountered some drones who I think are under their friend''s control.


    In the message I also request that they could confirm if the drones are in fact the contacts so I do not accidentally fall into a trap or something. After a few minutes of waiting, I got a quick message in reply stating that I had in fact found the contact and that I should begin following the drones back to their base. With the confirmation, I popped back into my vessel with my main force and began ordering my spiders to begin administering aid to any drones who were too damaged to move while a few of my ants picked them up and placed them on their backs. With that taken care of, I gestured to the various drones not under my control for them to begin leading the way.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    It took another hour of traveling before my drones and I made it to the AI¡¯s outpost which they seemed to have assigned my drones and I to. Whilst we were moving, I noticed that we took an irregular path to the outpost which I simply chalked up to making it harder to pin down the position of the outpost. Once we reached the outpost, I began ordering my spiders to begin laying down the injured drones in order to free up my ants to begin joining the outpost¡¯s garrison which, now that I am looking at it, seems to be rather lacking.  *I suppose this outpost needed my drones and I the most or its former garrison was reassigned and I was now going to be taking over their work.


    Not long after my drones took up positions and I settled myself into the outpost, another vessel drone arrived at the outpost along with a small escort of drones which were flanking them. Walking over to the new vessel drone, I begin with the somewhat formal greeting of ¡°Well hello there, I presume you are the friend of Ping. My name is James, what is yours?¡± The vessel looked slightly apprehensive at the sudden torrent of interaction which confused me slightly before I recalled Ping saying that most other AI are rather antisocial which explained things. Eventually, the vessel found its composure and in a gruff yet still very much synthetic voice said, ¡°Yes, I am Ping¡¯s friend and to answer your question, you may call me Churn.¡±


    Additionally they also confirmed that I would be taking over the defenses for this outpost and I was free to use the machinery already here, although they did say that they would not appreciate me constructing more machinery that they would not have control over which I understood. After all, I was more or less a complete stranger who had been sent here as a favor by their friend. It would be reasonable to be less than pleased if I started constructing military machinery that was taking their power and that they could not control. Agreeing to not construct anything during my stay, the vessel quickly gave me their contact info before making their excuses and promptly leaving, which left me to begin preparing for the inevitable attacks.


    Taking stock of the outpost I now had access to, I found that I had at my disposal a small and medium sized drone works, a small generator to power the medium drone works, and most importantly a basic refinery which meant as long as I was killing more drones than I was losing I would always have enough materials for repairs. Ordering my moose drones to begin dropping off their loads which were the materials I had brought for the spiders, I began ordering my other drones to begin securing the perimeter and forming up a couple of five drone patrols. Any drones left over I assigned them to begin salvage operations on anything worth it to smelt down in order to grow my material stockpiles in preparation for the next crisis.


    As my drones prepared, I realized that I had no idea what I was actually fighting so I quickly shifted back over to the factory before I sent a message to Churn asking that exact question. It took a few moments before they responded with their own message stating that I would likely be fighting spill over from the main fight with another hostile AI which has been attacking Churn along with the ferals that result from it. Requesting some clarification on the nature of the hostile AI, I was slightly nervous as I did not wish to deal with another incident of rot, however my nerves were slightly calmed with Churn''s response which said that the AI¡¯s core was simply corrupted and had designated Churn as the enemy.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    My nerves were subsequently spiked when I read the part of Churn¡¯s response which stated that corrupted AI¡¯s were often susceptible to becoming rot infected so I should make sure to prepare for such an occurrence. Cutting connection with Churn, I promptly began floating over to the outpost I was protecting where I hastily began ordering for a squad of five fire beetles just in case. Additionally, whilst I was ordering the drones, I realized that I was only going to be taking on the spillover of whatever war was going on between Churn and the corrupted AI. This meant that my force was small in comparison to Churn¡¯s Main force which was just as much reassuring as it was worrying as it meant that I would not be taking the majority of the losses and that if the focus of the war effort was focused onto my drones, my drones would not be enough to hold the line.


    Well then, I guess I better hope it does not come to that.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    After a few hours, guard duty proved to be for the most part uneventful aside from the occasional engagement with a couple of spare ferals which my patrols swiftly took care of. While my drones continued their shifts and patrols, my spiders finished off with the construction of the first of three relay stations for Paisleigh and their subway stations. Ordering them to move onto the next one, I switched my focus onto my main factory which was continuing to pump out new concrete whilst slowly draining the various piles of rubble dispersed around the factory. For now the concrete was simply piling up in the storage room while I figured out what to do with it which I was still debating on.


    After a few moments of internal debate, I eventually decided to simply order my spiders to collect a few escorts and ordered them to begin repairing the roads to the flocks'' nesting grounds. I also told them to begin repairing the road all the way to the mining outpost once they finished, which I estimated would keep them busy for quite a while. *Perhaps after they finish repairing the roads I could negotiate for one of the machines that Churn probably have in one of their more developed outposts and bases. I was about to begin helping out my spiders with the collection of the slowly growing pile of concrete mix before I got a message from my lead hound who was sounding the alarm as they had spotted a large and presumably hostile force moving towards the outpost my drones were defending.


    Quickly slipping into my vessel drone I had left at the outpost, I immediately noticed that my force was scrambling to their assigned defensive positions as my lead hound and their patrol group were racing back into the outpost. Ordering the last of drone stragglers to get to their positions, I hurriedly joined them with a javelin already drawn in one hand with my mace in the other. Not long after my lead hound reached the outskirts of my defensive line, my drones and I began spotting the enemy drone force which numbered in the dozens, most of which looked to be small airborne drones.


    Ordering my fire beetles to prepare to burn the skies, my scorpions and hornets began firing into the mob of drones which took down a decent number of them, yet the charge continued on unhindered. Soon enough my melee drones clashed with the enemy and I quickly realized that the majority of the enemy drone force was made up of a bunch of lightly armored hounds supported by dozens of woodpeckers which picked and prodded at my drone line. My dragonflies were having a field day as the significantly less powerful woodpeckers were snatched out of the sky and quickly chomped apart by the much more powerful and nimble dragonflies.


    All the while my fire beetles sprayed fiery death into the air which scorched many a woodpecker beyond repair. As the battle progressed and more of my drones began attacking at the enemy drones sides, I quickly joined into the fray with my mace after throwing the last of my javelins into the masses. The unarmored chassis of the enemy hounds were prime targets and my mace bore down into them causing many in the enemy drone force to begin giving ground in order to get away from my drones and I.


    With their airborne allies getting decimated by my drones, the hostile melee drone force began wavering before fully breaking against my stalwart drone line which promptly charged after them in an attempt to inflict as many casualties as possible. As the enemy drone force reached the ruins that surrounded the outpost, I ordered my drones to fall back into the outpost in order to begin the repairs on the many injuries my drones had incurred in the quick yet brutal fight. While not too many of my drones died, nearly all of them were damaged enough to stop them from engaging in any more battles for the near future and my spiders were going to be working overtime for sure.


    While my spiders began tending to the many wounded hounds and ant patients they now had, I began accounting the dead which quickly made me realize that the enemy force had lost nearly thirty drones. Granted more than half of that were small drones like the many woodpeckers which my drones had killed, however that was still a considerable amount of drones to lose for almost no gain assides from killing a half dozen full drones and severely damaging my drone force. This worried me because if this corrupted AI was willing to send dozens of drones on a suicide mission in order to make my force ineffective for a few days, it meant that they could likely replace such losses without too much difficulty.


    If that force was disposable to whoever was controlling them, I severely doubt I could handle any of their propper attack groups with my current amount of drones I have at my disposal. Groaning to myself, I began floating back to the factory where I swiftly began ordering a large batch of drones that I could send to the front lines in preparation for any more losses my drones will take over there. Hopefully I will not have needed such reinforcements, however I doubted that would be the case as the best that I could probably hope for is that there will not be another wave so soon after the first.


    Slipping into my vessel drone, I began helping out my few relatively healthy drones haul the many drone corpses into the refinery to keep the repairs flowing. A part of myself quickly begins to worry about the many things that could go wrong in the upcoming days but I quickly silence such thoughts. No point in worrying about things that I have no control over. All I need to do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I was quickly shaken out of my thoughts by the nudge of one of my drones who were hauling corpses with me.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 70

    By the time my drones and I finished hauling the last of the drone corpses into the refinery, the majority of the drones with life threatening injuries had been patched up and sent back onto the guard posts while the only minorly wounded began their treatments. Checking up on the stockpile, I see that my spiders should have enough supplies to repair the rest of my drones without too much trouble, however I do decide to order for any of my drones who were not injured and also not on guard duty to begin salvaging operations.This will hopefully ensure that they will not run out of repair materials any time soon.


    Floating back over to the factory, I see that the fabrication of the batch of reinforcements were well on their way and would be able to be shipped off by the end of the day. The reinforcements were made up of a large mix of drones, with a slight emphasis on some of the drones which I do not have in the main force like termites and moles who could be quite helpful with holding the line against whatever might be thrown at them. I contemplate constructing a few tunnel worms who could begin to bore a hole all the way over to the outpost which Churn has assigned me to, however I quickly realized that having a path leading directly to my territory would be less than great in case my drones are forced to cede the outpost after a particularly devastating attack.


    Tunnel worms however would make great assets in the battle against the inevitable waves of attackers that were sure to be preparing to assault the outpost so eventually I ordered for the construction of two worms to be constructed at the water treatment outpost. I did however order the drones at the outpost to inform the worms once they are finished fabricating that they are to tunnel their way to the outpost by Churn and that they should collapse the tunnels behind them so that they cannot be used against me. It will take only a few hours for the worms to finish construction so hopefully my outpost will not have to wait too long before reinforcements arrive.


    Changing my focus over to my many spider construction teams, I see that the spiders assigned to the road repairs had nearly finished with the road that led to the flocks'' nesting grounds and would soon be moving on to the mining outposts. Now that I think about it, the road leading to the nesting grounds was probably not as high priority as the mining outpost since it was not like the vultures and woodpeckers of the flock were going to be marching on the ground. Oh well, hindsight is twenty twenty. Speaking of the flock, now that the relay station had been constructed at the nesting grounds, I could watch as the flock¡¯s numbers rapidly grew now that they were fully under the purview of my little faction.


    Sure they now took up a bit of my processing power, however they were significantly less than a drone which I had full control over and I did not need to actively manage the flock as their original leadership did a good enough job on their own. The flock provided a decent level of feral drone control which made the jobs of my various patrols around the factory a lot easier and in exchange I tether them to my server network and provide a bit of materials to keep their numbers growing and wings repaired. A mutually beneficial relationship is the best kind of relationship.


    On the topic of the other spider team, I watch as they complete another relay station on the second subway station which Paisleigh controls over. As the relay is complete, I feel the sudden connection of a dozen or so drones which are now fully linked to the server arrays and the slight release in pressure that comes with being outside of the bubble of control which seem to be around each outpost and relay. With this one complete, I sent the spiders over to the last subway station and gave the go ahead to begin construction on the last relay.


    With that spider team taken care of, I focus back on the last team which was almost finished with connection of all my outposts to my factory which, funnily enough, was the mining outpost even though they did not have any power source present at the outpost. Now that they were connected to the power grid they could construct some of the larger drone works and other various equipment whenever I get new blueprints that may help the outpost in one way or another. With their assignment nearly complete, I ordered them to join the spiders who were repairing the roads once they finished the last bits of wiring.


    With all of the spider teams taken care of, I began to move on to the various patrols which moved about my territory before I was interrupted by a message from my drone force garrising one of Churns outposts. The message stated that some of Churn¡¯s drones had arrived at the outpost and they seemed to be carrying a few items of importance. Floating over to the outpost and into my vessel drone, I quickly began moving to Churn¡¯s drones who were standing around the middle of the outpost, presumably looking around for me. Upon one of them noticing my form, they quickly alerted the others in their formation and hurriedly scuttled to me with the presumed leader of the group holding out a tablet.


    Accepting the tablet from the group of drones, I quickly read the message inscripted in side the tablet which congratulated me on the successful defense of the outpost and as a reward, Churn had sent these drones to deliver a blueprint since they had heard that I was looking for some new machines or drones from Ping. In the message it also said that I should prepare for the second wave as they had learned that if the corrupted AI sent a suicide wave, they were likely only testing the solidity of the defenses and that another attack was sure to come. Additionally, Churn said that if I were to continue to do a good job in defending the outpost, they might consider leaving more territory for me to defend along with some more rewards for said service.


    While I was all for more blueprints, I certainly was not happy with the news that a proper attack would be arriving soon. Walking closer to the group of drones, they quickly grabbed the blueprints which the tablet had informed me about and they promptly presented it to me. Once I grabbed a hold of the blueprints, the group of drones hurriedly rushed away to other duties I presumed; however, I did not put too much more thought into it as I began scanning the blueprint. In the blueprint, I found that I had just received a mineral scanner which would be able to detect valuable materials underneath the surface. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Now this was useful, as it could significantly increase the efficiency at which my many moles and crabs who worked the mines. Drifting over to my mining outpost, I ordered for the construction of the new mineral scanner to be put on high priority due to the sheer amount of use which it could provide to the outpost. Additionally, I order for the spiders who have been charged with staying at the mole colony to begin construction of a scanner there as well which I hoped would help the mole colony mine out more useful resources and thus send more during their next tithe.


    I briefly considered constructing these at my other outposts as well, however I decided to wait until the first two to complete before I decide to invest too much more resources into it. If they do really well, I might as well build one at each of the outposts in case there are some mineral deposits hidden there. As the construction of the mineral scanners slowly began, I continued to watch vigilantly for any signs of enemy activity in my vessel drone over by Churn¡¯s outpost as I waited for my mustering reinforcements to arrive.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    Over the course of the next few hours, nothing of particular note happened with the most interesting event at Churn¡¯s outpost being one of my patrols encountering a group of ferals who they swiftly took down without too much trouble. With the majority of the injuries incurred by the corrupted AI¡¯s attacks fully repaired, the outpost slowly went back to business as usual and the reinforcing tunnel worms were now well on their way. In fact, the tunnel worms were moving exceptionally quickly through the dirt and ground as it was estimated that they would arrive at the outpost in almost half of the time which my main force took.


    Additionally the drones being fabricated back at the factory had recently finished mustering and were now beginning the long trip through the subway tunnels so they would not arrive at the outpost for a while. As all of that was happening, my various spider teams continued to work on their various assignments around my territory, the most interesting being the two mineral scanners which had finished being constructed. Floating over to the one located in the mining outpost, I quickly accessed the mineral scanner¡¯s terminal which showed a radar looking reticle along with a small message asking if I wanted to begin the scanning which I promptly answered in the affirmative.


    As I did, the radar portion of the screen began to slowly pulse and after a few minutes of waiting, the mineral scanner began displaying that it had found the mineral vein which my drones were already mining out along with a vein deeper into the ground which I promptly ordered some of my moles to begin searching for the vein. Taking this as a great success, I made sure to order my spider drones down in the mole colony to activate the mineral scanner and to inform the elder mole how to operate it. As they began doing that, I made sure to check up on my other spider drone teams who had similarly accomplished their objectives and ordered them to begin heading back towards the various outposts they originally came from.


    With them taken care of, I went back to focusing on my main drone force back at Churn¡¯s outpost who were vigilantly manning their positions around the outpost. With my drones garrisoning the outpost mostly repaired, I decided that the best course of action would be to take the fight to the corrupted AI. While I had no illusions that my force would be able to do any significant damage to whatever force the corrupted AI had at their disposal I reckoned that if I could take down a patrol or two of drones, it would at the very least slightly delay the next attack on the outpost. The only problem is finding suitably understaffed patrols which my drones could reasonably take down without too much trouble.


    Walking down to the small drone works, I decide to order a couple squads of scout rats who would hopefully be able to scatter around the area and inform the outpost on enemy movement. As the scout rats quickly began to be fabricated by the drone works, I brainstormed any other ways to further disincentivize attacking the outpost until my thoughts eventually reached the ideas of further defenses. On the whole this outpost was rather open and without any major defensive positions aside from the occasional elevated position or pile of rubble to take cover behind.


    Perhaps I should bring over some of my concrete stockpile and construct some barricades or even a full wall. That however would take a considerable amount of time to haul all the way over here so for now, I would have to settle on some more improvised defenses. Ordering the garrisoned spider force to begin the usual defensive traps around the area of the outpost, although I doubted that they would discourage the corrupted AI¡¯s drones since they did not seem to mind losing drones. Regardless, the traps will hopefully whittle down their numbers enough to swing the favor of the inevitable battle to my drones favor.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    As my spiders worked, I began to drill my drones stationed in Churns outpost with my lead hound through the night, only stopping when the twin suns began to rise in the horizon. Allowing my garrisoned drones their rest, I began checking up on the two scout rat teams I had sent out whose leaders began sending back their reports. According to my scout rats, the number of patrols they had managed to spot moving about and around the areas near the outpost I had been assigned to were low in number but rather large in size which was worrying slightly as it meant that I could not simply send my own patrols and take them down with sudden and overwhelming numerical superiority.


    Ah well, I suppose I should not have expected much else seeing how lowly this corrupted AI seemed to value their individual drones so it would make sense to have them grouped up in large numbers. Requesting for any signs of nearby patrols that were low enough in number for my forces assigned to patrol to take on, my scout rats pause for a few seconds in order to sift through their data before responding that one of them had in fact spotted such a group about ten minutes west of the outpost however it looked to be nearing a larger group which they assumed were going to be linking up with them.


    This meant that I would need to act fast if I wanted to take advantage of the low numbers of the enemy patrol so I quickly ordered my lead hound to round up some of the air units on stand-by along with any hounds willing to join in the raid. As they went off to begin marshaling the newly formed raiding party, I got the notification that a certain couple of drone reinforcements had just arrived at the outpost and were now at the ready waiting to be assigned. Perfect timing, I mused to myself as I ordered my two newly arrived worms to meet up with my lead hound for their first mission.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 71

    Soon enough my lead hound and their squad were in their positions situated behind the few walls that still stood in densely packed ruins of what were likely once residential buildings or perhaps offices. Nevertheless, my lead hound had decided on a strategy of concealment for now while we waited for the first of the enemy patrol to begin rearing their metallic heads. I personally was not present on the soon to be field of battle as I had decided on a policy of not leaving the safe confines of the outpost as it would be less than advantageous for me to fall in battle before the large wave that Churn had warned me about.


    With this reasoning, I resigned myself to simply watching the battle through my lead hound who was sitting around with his troops as they waited and prepared themselves. Thankfully, my drones did not have to wait for too long as not half dozen minutes after my drones finished setting up for their ambush, the enemy force¡¯s slow but ever present marching began sounding out around the area. My lead hound slowly and quietly creeped their head out from where they were taking cover behind and we both began surveying the enemy force which was about what my scout rats had said they were.


    In total there were only about a dozen and a half drones, those being three pairs of hornets, several hounds, and four spikey drones that took the shape of a tortoise however scaled the size up to slightly smaller than a medium sized bear which made me slightly more hesitant to attack. My lead hound seemed to share that sentiment as they began to back up slowly in order to warn the rest of my drones that we might have to call off the attack, however the decision was quickly taken away from my hands as one of the hounds in the enemy formation snapped their head towards the direction of my hounds.


    They did not seem to have actually spotted any of my drones however they clearly heard something and, after alerting a few of their buddies, began moving towards my hounds position. Deciding that it was now or never I ordered my hornets to release their first volley and that my pair of worms were to start their attack on the enemy formation before they break apart and begin to make moves towards my hounds. The combined crack of fire which emanates from the many still structurally sound building¡¯s ring out across the field as more than a half dozen spikes fly out and strike the enemy formation.


    This, much to my and my drones dismay, only leaves a couple of the enemy drones injured or killed as the heavy armor of the four tortoise drones seem to shrug off the attack and was quickly followed by the enemies now five hornet forces firing out towards my own hornets positions which manage to graze one of them and outright destroy the other. Additionally the enemy ground formation quickly began spreading out in order to combat my ranged attack and had managed to spot my hound force as they did so. As my hounds began fighting the first of the enemy''s hounds and tortoise, my worms quickly began reaching the surface as the ground began to rumble from their large drill filled mouths.


    Directing my worms to prioritize the enemy tortoise drones since they seem to be the biggest threat on the battlefield for now. The enemy drones seemed to notice the loud rumbling which my worms emit and so they quickly scatter which causes one of my worms to launch out of the ground and miss their target. My second worm however managed to strike true and slammed into one of the tortoise¡¯s underbelly which seemed quite effective as my worm¡¯s blow seemed to dig into the guts of the drones which would most definitely be fatal. While my worms were having decent success in their attack, my hounds were not as lucky due to the fact that while the enemy hounds were easy enough to deal with, the tortoise proved rather resilient.


    My hounds were trying their best to keep the much larger enemy drones at bay, however the tough armor and simply higher mass of the tortoises were too much for them to handle. As my lead hound ordered for my hounds to disengage and to focus down on targets that they could feasibly take down. As they fell back, I watched as one of the tortoise drones who my hounds had previously been fighting, launched themselves off the ground with their two right legs before slamming their armored and spiked shell onto a poor retreating hound before two grappling hooks shoot out from its legs which cause it to pull back onto their feet.


    Similar occurrences were happening to many of my other hounds who were falling back but thankfully one of the two other hounds who were attacked in this manner managed to dodge out of the way and the tortoise who attacked that hound was shot in their exposed underside by my hornets who had just finished reloading their spike cannons. This proved to be much more effective than the previous efforts made by my hounds as the tortoise who had been struck by my hornet suffered from what I could only assume would be fatal blows. With this bout of success, my hounds were able to rally and group up with those near themselves as they evaded attack from the significantly slower tortoise or ganging up on the remaining enemy hounds.


    Additionally, with the last salvo from my hornets, the enemy hornet force had depleted significantly as they were down to half their original strength; however, now that my hornets had revealed themselves fully, the enemy hornets released their own volley into my hornets, scoring another few hits and kills. While my hornets dealt with their losses and prepared themselves for their next salvo, my tunnel worms were rearing up for another pass on the enemy forces who were now beginning to form up into groups in order to combat my hounds own teams. This gave my worms perfect targets and so they burst out of the ground and one slammed into another tortoise, only grazing its side, while the other sprung out in the middle of a group of four hounds.


    The worm who attacked the hounds quickly made their escape and swiftly dug back into the ground with the corpse of one of the hounds in their gaping maw, however the other was not as lucky. The worm who dared to attack one of the tortoises again had only grazed them and as such the tortoise had the perfect opportunity to strike back against my drone as they hurriedly began tunneling into the ground. The only moderately damaged tortoise pushed off the ground with one set of their legs, causing my worm to panically drill into the ground before having the lower half of their noodle-like body crushed under the weight of the bear-sized tortoise. The painful screech of my worm rang out across the battlefield which gained the attention of a three man hound team who quickly charged forward and began digging into the exposed underside of the tortoise in order to give my worm a chance to escape.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The sudden attack on the tortoise¡¯s underbelly caused the drone to retract their spiked shell which was keeping them rooted to the ground and my worm before they quickly rolled over and crushed one of my hounds who was not swift enough to escape from under the tortoise. Their sacrifice was not in vain however as my worm hurriedly took advantage of the distraction to tunnel away as I ordered for them to return to the outpost in order to begin the lengthy repairs on its significantly damaged hull. My many other hound groups continued the good fight and were having a much easier time as the other remaining tortoise was chasing down a team of my hounds who were comfortably away from them as the rest of my hounds mopped up with the enemy''s hounds.


    Soon enough my hornets completed their rearming and quickly released their salvo onto the remaining enemy hornets who quickly began retreating as their numbers were brought down to only a single drone left. Ordering for my dragonflies and vultures who were sitting in reserve to chase down the final hornet, I ordered for my remaining drones to focus down on the last two tortoises and any enemy hounds who still managed to live. The enemy drones in question seemed to have figured that they could likely take down my last worm if they came up and attacked one of their own and thus decided to group up to protect themselves from the eminent threat that my hornets and hounds present as the tortoises armor should be able to shrug off the majority of the blows.


    Ordering my hounds to begin encircling the enemy force, I ordered for my worm to wait for my command before charging in and getting themselves destroyed. As for my hornets, I simply told them to fire at will if they see an opportunity to hit one of the remaining hounds or any weak points on the tortoises that they can see. With the hornet fire distracting the enemy group, my hounds had no problems with surrounding the enemy force and so I gave the order to my worm to begin tearing up the ground underneath the enemy drones which my worm quickly began doing, although I could sense their slight confusion. While they did this, my drones continued to surround the enemy drones in a stalemate as neither were willing to attack the other as it would end with significant losses either way.


    That was until the ground began to crack as my tunnel worm quickly began to remove all the ground that was supporting the ground which the enemy force was standing on. The enemy drones seemed to realize what I was planning as they quickly began rushing towards my surrounding hounds, however it was too late as the road which they were standing on caved in on itself, taking the drones with them. Thankfully almost none of my drones were in the radius of the collapsing ground and my hornets quickly took advantage of the haphazardly positioned tortoises as they filled them with spikes whilst my worm took revenge for their severely injured brother.


    Soon enough the last of the enemy drones were finished off by my hornets and worms and so I began ordering my surviving hounds to pick up any of our wounded before setting off back to the outpost for the many much needed repairs. Additionally I order my hornets to have their uninjured number begin hauling one of the tortoise corpses to the outpost for examination. As they began doing so, I checked up with my dragonflies and vultures who I sent after that retreating hornet and they confirmed that they had taken down the target and were on their way back to the outpost. Congratulating all of my drones on the successful operation, I slipped into my vessel, which was waiting at the outpost and I began helping out my spiders prepare for the mountain of work which they would be subjected to.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    It did not take long for my many injured drones to reach the outpost and so my spiders began feverishly operating on the many patients that they were now in charge of. As usual the near fatal injuries and actively dying drones were being taken priority over the others and so, despite the sheer amount of damage inflicted on my tunnel worm they were pushed aside in order for the more pressing injuries to take place. I was legitimately surprised by that as I assumed that such an injury would have been one of the highest priority to fix but I guess there was nothing too vital in the damaged parts of my tunnel worm.


    Nevertheless, all of my drones will get their repairs eventually, my tunnel worm will simply have to wait until my spiders finish with the other drones who need repairs more than they do. As the queue of injured drones slowly shrinks, the remainder of my hornet force returned with a large corpse which required a total of six hornets to just barely be able to lift off the ground and another two to move about the sky with any reasonable level of speed. Ordering them to drop it off in the open area in the middle of the outpost, they quickly set it down before flying off to their various duties. Walking up to the corpse, I finally got a good look at the tortoise and after a few minutes of scanning the corpse I eventually managed to pull up the description and began reading through it.


    Apparently the tortoises are called Armored Urban Bulwark or AUB and they were originally built to act as the front line for any sort of urban combat as their heavy armor and large frame are able to block off city roads and take any punishment which might be sent their way. Whilst often only used as a defensive unit, the tortoises were designed to be able to push off the ground and slam into their opponent before deploying grapples into the ground in order to get back onto their feet. It also turns out that the spiked armor was not part of the drones original design and had replaced the armor replicators which would have normally dotted the shell. The armor replicators would work by having the tortoise eat a decently sized chunk of metal and go into a hibernative state where the armor replicators would slowly replace and repair any damage done to the shell over the course of a day or two depending on severity of damage.


    I suppose that the corrupted AI did not see the reason to have a repair module when it would leave the drone unable to act for long periods of time. Personally I quite liked the idea of a self repairing drone as it would allow my spiders to have a decreased workload after every battle and even if another enemy force comes by, I can alway try and rouse the tortoises from their slumber even if they are half damaged. According to the description, the tortoise is considered a large drone which surprised me somewhat as the comparison between the tunnel worms and mining crabs to the rather comparatively small tortoise was slightly jarring.


    I guess the long legs of the crab and the long but thin bodies of the tunnel worms simply made them seem larger whilst the tortoises are rather compact and thus take up less space in total. Either that or I am simply over analyzing the tortoises and they are simply on the smaller end of the large drone spectrum. Regardless, I floated back over to my water treatment outpost and began the production of four tortoises to be shipped off to the front whenever they are completed. I am sure they will be an excellent addition to my ever growing arsenal.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 72

    Over the course of the following hour, the reinforcements which I had sent to the outpost finally arrived and quickly relieved any of my still wounded drones from guard duty and my spiders began repairing them just as quickly. The tortoises that I ordered from the water treatment outpost would slowly be trickling in later this day due to their longer than expected fabrication time and less than ideal movement speed but I am sure my drones can make do without their presence until they do arrive. Speaking of my drone force, more small-time skirmishes occurred while the majority of my drones were being repaired, however no such counter attack had arisen from my little ambush so I assumed that they were saving their troops for one big push.


    Leaving the outpost to its duties for a little while, I began checking up on the home front, specifically how the mineral scanners were doing now that they had been operating in my mining outpost for a while. Floating over to the outpost in question, I drifted over to the mineral scanner and was quickly surprised by the monitor displaying multiple ore veins scattered underneath the outpost, some of which were significantly deeper than where my drones were previously mining. My moles were slowly tunneling down to the closest of the mineral deposits while my crabs were quickly excavating the remaining metal blobs from the original vein in preparation for the access to the untapped deposit.


    Moving back into the factory, I began ordering for additional hounds and ants to begin dispersing themselves around my territory using the materials which had been piling up in my storage room. Additionally, I decided to order my spiders to begin construction on more of those relay stations surrounding the factory and other relatively safe outposts so that I can start cracking down on the last of the feral drones within and around my inner territory. Sure I will only be able to assign the relay stations a handful of drones each but that will be more than enough to track down any feral bases or hideouts before requesting back up from the nearest outpost to them in order to take them down.


    Hopefully these mini outposts will make it so my caravans no longer have to be so heavily guarded whilst operating in my territory. Perhaps if the relay stations are successful enough, my caravans will not need guards any more or could split off into smaller groups in order to deliver more consistent shipments of supplies to my vassals. With them taken care of, I decided to check up on the nomad village and see how they were doing and if they might need anything that I had in stock. Walking over there in one of my vessel drones which I had stocked up in the factory, I quickly arrived at the village and found it had been flourishing in my absence.


    The area looked much more lively now with the slight influx of villagers after the slight conflict with the tower tribe and it seemed that the village had expanded its territory as a couple of buildings near the village looked to be occupied now. As I neared the village I could more accurately see the hustle and bustle of dozens of robots moving about, and going along with their lives. At some point, someone spotted me while I was walking to the village as R5-7G walked up to me and gave me a quick courteous bow before asking what business I might have at the village.


    ¡°Oh, nothing much, I am simply checking up on everything. Speaking of which, how is everything going with the whole village business? Things look to be going well so is there anything you need help with?¡± R5-7G seems to think my question over in his head for a few moments before perking up and saying that yes, he did have something that they might need some help with before walking off while beckoning me to follow. We passed through the village and while we were walking, I took the time to look at the various makeshift stalls where all sorts of robots worked on or sold goods to each other.


    Eventually, R5-7G finally led me down a set of stairs and soon enough I was facing a beaten down piece of machinery which seemed to be just barely functioning. R5-7G then said that, ¡°This is the village¡¯s power generator and, as you can see, it has had much better days. I was hoping you could spare a few spiders to help with the repairs on the generator since I nor any of the villagers knows how to fix it. Additionally, with the increased population, if the generator breaks down completely the batteries will only last for so long before running dry.¡±


    I considered this for a few moments before nodding to R5-7G and saying that I will have spiders over here in a half hour at most before bidding them good day and leaving the way I came. Once I arrived back at the factory, I ordered a couple of my spiders who were not working on the relay station project to begin marching themselves down to the nomad village along with a pair of hound escorts just in case of ferals. While they prepared to move out, I slipped out of my vessel drone before continuing on my inspection towards the warehouse outpost.


    Floating my way over there, I quickly noticed that there was an ongoing skirmish between a few of my guard drones and a couple feral drones which was odd as most ferals would have been engaged by the roaming patrols around the outpost rather than the stationary garrison guards. Moving into the outpost proper, I could quickly see why they were not engaged by the patrol as the sight of nearly a dozen drones being treated by a rather small staff of spider drones met my eyes. Quickly garnering the attention of one of the nearby guards, I ask what happened to the patrol drones and why had they not notified me if they had all been injured.


    The guard in question whimpered slightly before getting out a translator tablet and typing out that the patrol group had been taking small amounts of casualties over the course of the past few days and that the repair spiders stationed here were not staffed enough to handle the casualties faster than they were coming in. As for the reason for not contacting me, the drone which I had assigned to the garrison commander had ordered to not sound the alarm in order to not bother me with such trivial things as a slight increase in injuries. I internally sighed as I realized what was happening. I swear these guys are growing more and more indivualistic by the day.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Eventually I just order the drone who I was speaking with to get the drone who I previously assigned as the garrison commander and inform them they have been stripped of their rank and to begin joining the patrol drones in their expeditions. Additionally I began to order for the construction of another batch of spider drones in order to relieve the already overworked drones which will hopefully take care of the problem. Just in case the additional spiders would not fix everything, I queued up a batch of six hornets along with another group of ants to reinforce the garrison. As my last action, I ordered for the most experienced drone left in the garrison to take up the role of garrison commander and I made sure that they knew that they should notify me if anything abnormal happens.


    Leaving the garrison to its devices, I eventually just drift back over to the outpost I am guarding for Churn after looking around my various territories. Back at the outpost, the majority of the wounded had finished their treatment and were back at their posts, the only drones still being repaired were the few drones who only had minor injuries and the injured tunnel worm due to the sheer magnitude of the damages. With my scout rat teams scanning the area around the outpost and my patrol teams taking care of any small threats my scouts pointed out, there was not much left to do aside from attempting to prepare for the foretold attack which was set to be coming any day now.


    Perhaps I should have ordered a caravan to deliver some supplies and barricade building materials if I was going to have this much time to prepare, not that I was complaining since the longer I had prepared the more drones I would have to defend with. Eventually I go ahead and order for the larger of my two caravans to assemble at the water treatment outpost whilst I arrange for the last two tortoises who were not already on the move to the outpost to be their escorts along with a few termites. Putting in the order for said termites, I began sitting back and waiting for everything to come together.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    The next eight or so hours went through with not too much going on asides from the usual  skirmish every so often which plagues my more feral infested outposts. Thankfully the first two of the tortoises that had been constructed had finally arrived at the outpost which would hopefully relieve more of my drones from guard duty so that they could join the patrols. The other two tortoises had also finished their fabrication and were now escorting the moose caravan on their way to the outpost as well. It¡¯s a shame I had not ordered the caravan to set off earlier, I could have already begun construction on the barricades by now.


    Additionally, over by the warehouse outpost had straightened out their problems now that they just received their reinforcements and were under new leadership which was one less problem I had to think about. Speaking of problems, the relay station project had been going mostly smoothly until one of the construction teams ran straight first into a feral ant nest but on the bright side, I now have one less feral base after the factory patrol teams took care of the hideout. The first few of the relay stations had already been constructed and while their area of control was rather small, they seemed to be able to network with relays and outposts close to them as I could now actively move about and between the small areas around each relay station.


    The relay stations were quickly being assigned their designated guards from the quickly producing drones over by the factory and they were already doing their jobs as stray ferals occasionally attacked the relay station, however most were smart enough to leave them alone after my patrols decimated one of the larger roving band of ferals who were attempting to knock over one of my relays. As my spiders and their yellow robot friend continued their construction spree, I got a notification from the mole colony that they were sending up their latest tribute package of minerals through the elevator system which I had almost entirely forgotten about.


    Ordering my smaller secondary moose caravan to begin collection procedures, I also assign the last of my spiders not doing anything to begin construction of a relay station by the elevator system as I realized that it might be able to link me to the mole colonies underground network. As they did this, I was about to go back to overseeing the construction project before I got a notification from my scout rats that they had just detected the first signs of a large enemy drone force heading straight to the outpost Churn lent me. Ordering them to sound the alarm, I swapped my conscience over to the vessel drone over in the outpost and began barking orders to my various drones whilst calling back my patrols as it would be very bad for any of my drone contingents to get killed before they could reconnect with the main force.


    Ordering my scout rats to begin scouting out the enemy force in order to get a decent read on what kind of attack I was going to have to deal with whilst I ordered for the penal legion and their commissariat commanders to take their positions in the sides of my main force. Soon enough I had my answer as my scouts began to report nearly a hundred drones of various constructions, most worrying being a total of ten tortoises which were spearheading the advance. Other prevalent worries were the twenty or so hornets which could be debated to be the most powerful part of the enemy force as they would rain down the pain on my drones if they were not taken down quickly.


    The rest of the enemy force was a considerable mix of melee ground drones along with a couple handfuls of scorpions and moles which would wreak havoc on my drones if they were to get any clear sightlines. The only saving grace was the fact that they were the better half of an hour away from the outpost which would mean I could at the very least panic construct a few more drones for the upcoming battle which I promptly did, ordering for a dozen fire beetles and a few hounds however I estimated only one of the hounds and two thirds of the fire beetles would finish before they arrived and the rest would simply have to stream in as the battle progresses. If my drones and I can manage to hold for that long I thought grimly.


    Ordering my spiders to prepare as many traps that they could before the enemy drones arrive, I make sure to order all of my other drones to help out my spiders in any way they could if they did not already have something to do to prepare before joining my spiders in the preparations. Hopefully the traps will thin out the numbers enough to give my drones a fighting chance in the coming battle.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 73

    As my drones hurriedly prepared last minute defenses and my drone works swiftly constructed more drones, the enemy force steadily approaches. My scout rats continued to keep an eye on the enemy drones movement and constantly relayed as much information as they could whilst making sure to stay in the shadows, lest they risk detection and destruction. Eventually, as much as my drones and I wish it were not true, my forces began spotting the first of the enemy from their vanguard positions around the outpost. They only spotted the most forward of the enemy formation, however it served as our warning that we had run out of time to prepare.


    Ordering for my hornets and vanguard hounds to begin their skirmishing maneuvers, my drones began to pick and prod at the enemy drones with little effect aside from the occasional lucky shot or surprise attack on a lone scout. The slight chip damage would hopefully make the upcoming battle a bit more manageable but eventually after a few minutes I ordered for my skirmishing drones to fall back behind the line as the enemy drones began entering the trapped filled midlands between the outpost and the wider area. As the enemy force slowly trekked through the trapped filled streets, my hornets and scorpions constantly surprised them with sudden attacks that would end as quickly as they began.


    I will admit the raiding attacks led by my hornets had led to more than a couple of casualties in my hornet ranks due to counter hornet fire; however, they reaped a bloody toll in tandem with the many traps my spiders had meticulously constructed. Soon enough the enemy force reached the end of midlands and the traps hidden within with one sixth less drones than they had entered with and reached the relatively open area which my outpost was located in. As much as my drones managed to kick down the enemy drones numbers, they still managed to have more than a dozen drones more than I and still had all ten of their tortoises which outclassed the rest of my drones due to their size and armor.


    Nevertheless my drones held the line with a grim determination, there would be no retreat as all of my drones knew that they were likely to be chased down and the closest friendly base was about an hour''s march away. Delegating command to my various drone squad leads who each took charge of their section of the battle, I joined my drones in the middle of the formation and stood alongside them, shield raised. Going through the motions of the battle, the enemy force and my own simply waited for the other to make the first move as the open area between the rubble barricades of the outpost and the formerly trapped filled ruins had little to no cover making any drone who crossed it an easy target for hornets or scorpions.


    Eventually the enemy force decided to damn the consequences and began rushing across the open field where my ranged focused drones began releasing their munitions into the enemy drones. The initial volley managed to break the first dozen drones however the enemy force pushed forward with gusto while using the significantly more armored tortoises as cover as they advanced. I hurled my javelines into the enemy lines however most missed and the ones that hit landed onto the armored shell of a tortoise or only grazed the target. Then came the counter fire from the further back enemy hornets who released their volley onto my drones however they only managed to hit a couple of my drones as the constructed barricades absorbed most of the fire.


    That however was not the main threat as the enemy melee drones finally crossed no man''s land and the fighting quickly dissolved into a bloody melee with me in the thick of it as I swung my mace again and again into the enemy drones that charged in front of me. As the fight continued, I could immediately see that my drones were at a heavy disadvantage as the enemy tortoises tore through my drone lines with near impunity asides from my own pair of tortoises who were doing their best to take the brunt of the damage, however it seemed to not be enough. I could feel the rumble which immediately began as I gave the order for my tunnel worms to begin their attack in order to break up the densely packed battle groups of the enemy.


    It seems that the enemy drones felt the rumbling as well and quickly reacted to it by spreading out and preparing to attack whatever would burst out of the ground, seemingly having learned from the last battle. My drones however quickly exploited the much more spread out nature of the enemy formation and swiftly began attacking wherever they had the advantage which seemed to be met with great effect as they managed to take down two of the enemy tortoises whilst only taking acceptable casualties in the process. As they are doing that, my tunnel worms finally reached the surface and promptly tore through a couple of the enemy drones before diving back into the grounds whilst enemy drones quickly pounced onto their retreating from, severely damaging one of my worms and only dealing manageable injuries to another.


    Ordering my tunnel worms to try and only go for easy targets and to minimize damage to themselves, I quickly focused back on the enemy drones who had swiftly rallied into their battle squads and charged into my drone lines. My hornets and scorpions quickly popped back out of their cover to provide fire support on the enemy lines, however they were immediately targeted by the entirety of the enemy hornet force who fired at any drone brave enough to step out of cover. Thankfully my melee drones were more or less not targetable as they would risk hitting their own drones along with my own and I hoped that they would do more of the former.


    As the battle continued to grow worse, so did my odds of victory as the enemy force¡¯s sheer tonnage slowly grinded away at my drones as we steadily dropped in number even if we were punching back just as hard. Deciding that it was not time to drop my ace in the hole, I ordered for my airborne units to begin the bombing run. As I ordered it my vultures swiftly took off and charged towards the enemy hornets who were thankfully still reloading from their suppression of my own ranged drones, and close behind were my dragonflies who flew over the enemy drone lines and released their payload into the mix before charging in with my vultures. Said payload was all the fire beetles that I had managed to construct before the battle that were not used as live traps already.


    The beetles promptly blasted away, dealing good damage to the majority of the enemy force, one even digging in deep into one of the tortoise''s shells before detonating causing the entirety of the blast to dig deep past the armor and into the fragile circuitry which killed the tortoise out right. The blast shifted the battle more in my drones favor as we used the momentary confusion to charge into the enemy drones ranks and tore as much of a hole as we could in the time afforded to us. My drones were down to about two fifths of their original strength, however the enemy force was not doing much better so perhaps we had a chance to, if not win this, bring the battle to a stalemate.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    However, as the momentum of the push faded away, it was revealed that while we had done a significant amount of damage to the enemy force, we had not done enough as there were still five out of the original ten enemy tortoises which I knew my drones were no longer capable of taking on with the current level of casualties we were sustaining. Ordering my drones to hold the line on the faint hope that we might be able to force a retreat, I knew that this battle was all but lost as my drones were falling quicker as the fight continued. I hefted my shield to block a blow which I knew was soon to come, I closed my eyes . . . however no blow came.


    Opening my eyes, I watched as a torrent of new drones all glowing a faint orange color slammed into the enemy drones back line and tore through the battlefield. I braced myself to begin fighting this new entity before I spotted a vessel drone bearing the markings and symbols which I had seen on Churns vessels. This caused relief to flood into me as I ordered my drones to stand down and to let our allies take care of the now retreating enemy drones. As my drones began searching for wounded and beginning repairs, Churn''s vessel approached my marred and damaged form and all I could do to acknowledge their presence was a wave of my relatively uninjured hand as I laid myself down onto a conveniently flat chunk of rubble.


    ¡°Congratulations on making it through the attack, I am quite surprised that you and your drones managed to not only survive but significantly damage one of the corrupted AI¡¯s proper battle groups. I was half expecting you to surrender once you saw that the odds were stacked against you which is why I had decided to send an attack squadron to take back the outpost. Perhaps I should not have underestimated ping¡¯s decision to request help from you.¡± While Churn was speaking, I was slightly miffed as I was half offended by the idea that they thought I would retreat and half appreciative that they did since they were the reason my drones and I survived. I however did not voice my thoughts and simply nodded along as it was about as much as I could do while one of my spiders began treating the many wounds I had acquired.


    Eventually Churn moved on to the subject of my reward for holding my ground as they began talking about they would be willing to give me for my service. Churn outlined three things that they were willing to reward me, the first being a new drone blueprint to add to my roster, another blueprint of what looked to be a train which would be able to transport my drones across my territory very quickly, and the last being a lump sum of resources to continue to fund my faction. Thinking over my options, I began to sift through all the things which each option could give me before I eventually decided on my choice.


    As much as a new drone might be nice and despite the sheer amount of resources Churn was offering, I decided to accept the blueprint for the train thing as the exceedingly long trips between my closest outpost and Churn''s outpost was limiting the amount of drones and equipment I could send across the gap. If this machine would be able for me to swiftly transport troops and materials to the front lines, it would significantly expand the range of operations which I would be able to perform asides from simply holding ground and small counter offensive operations.


    Churn nodded in confirmation of my choice before telling me that it would take an hour or two to print out and ship over the blueprint and that in the meantime he would assign the strike group he brought with him to take over guard duty while my forces repaired and replenished. And what replenishment they needed as more than half of my drones had been completely destroyed in the battle and almost every other had sustained serious damage which meant it would take a day or two at least to repair the entirety of the force. Deciding that they had earned it, I gave the word that all drones under the penal legion banner who participated in the battle would be free to go after their assigned repair cycle which depressingly only applied to no more than a half dozen drones who had survived the battle.


    As the spider operating on my vessel drone finished repairs on all of my life threatening injuries, I ordered the drone to begin working on any drone who needs repairs more than I did before pulling my conscience out of the vessel. Now that the battle was over I began counting up the casualties that my drones had sustained throughout the battle which turned out to be rather grim as expected. The vast majority of my melee drone force had perished during the fight with only my lead hound, a handful of their most veteran subordinates, and a mismatch of rookies who were lucky enough to have been fighting alongside my tortoises or in the back line.


    Speaking of the tortoises, one had been destroyed outright somewhere around the end of the battle and the other had sustained significant damage which was now being repaired as the tortoise in question had begun a repair/hibernation session. As for my tunnel worms, neither had died during the battle, however both were in critical condition due to the fact that every time they resurfaced, they would get targeted by every drone nearest to themselves. Lastly, my ranged and airborne drones had taken the least damage by far, only having lost a handful of drones from the enemy hornets and the occasional enemy melee drone who slipped past the line.


    With all the casualties accounted for, I began drifting over to my factory base, I began ordering for a new batch of reinforcement to begin fabrication before floating over to the water treatment outpost and queuing up some more drones. All of this sudden intake of production of drones put a decent sized dent into my material storage but thankfully I had enough stored up to be able to absorb the blow to my wallet which was good, especially if I was going to be constructing that new train blueprint anytime soon. With that in mind, I also begin the fabrication process for a whole host of new spider engineers at the water treatment outpost who will be assigned to construction duty for the foreseeable future.


    As my drone works continue their fabrication missions, I make sure to order my scout rats to continue their patrols since even if Churn¡¯s drones could hold down the fort while my drones recovered, I did not want to have any surprises that might cause more damage to the already strained outpost. Thankfully reinforcements in the form of the two tortoises that were escorting the caravan would be arriving soon which means that my garrison will not have to rely on the aid from Churn. I just had to hope that another attack of that scale would not be in the works anytime soon.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 74

    As the hours went by, I continued to watch as my drones slowly got fabricated before rushing off to my water treatment outpost to prepare to set off to Churn¡¯s territory. At the outpost, as Churn had said, an hour after they had left a drone carrying the blueprint for the train thing had arrived at the outpost and had given me the blueprint before quickly leaving. Not long after that the delivery drone left my resource caravan finally arrived and began depositing their cargo whilst their escorts joined the rest of my drones. Once they had deposited their load, I assigned a small escort of a group of hornets to escort them back to safe territory before joining my mustering reinforcements.


    While they began setting off back to safe territory, I pulled up the blueprint and began checking just how much materials I would need to construct the train and its rails. I was filled with a bit of regret as I read that to construct a railway from my water treatment outpost to Churns territory would take nearly all of my stored up steel which was not even counting the actual train and carts which would take up even more metal. Confirming the construction of such a monumental project, I made sure to order my drone to not take the entire stockpile of materials from each outpost and to leave a small chunk in order to leave enough resources for some repairs in case they have to deal with ferals.


    The construction of the railways looked like it would take a good few days before it was even remotely functional so unfortunately I would not be able to send any of my reinforcements to Churn¡¯s outpost using it for quite a while. As I was floating about the outpost in question, I spotted my lead hound walking about the outpost making conversation with my various drones and even some of Churns which made me realize that I had never actually given the little guy a name even though I said that I would a while back. Floating down to the drone, they quickly notice my presence and turn to me with a questioning glance.


    Kneeling down to the drone, I began deliberating on what would be a fitting name to give to one of my most loyal and longevic drones. Thinking back all the way to my childhood in the cramped habitation blocks that my family had lived in for as long as I could remember, my mind drifted to one of the neighbors who was an ex-arbites who had a large dog that would follow him wherever they went. The old man was a bit rough around the edges however he had a soft spot for the kids in the hab block and would often let us play with his dog who absolutely loved all the attention we would give it.


    Eventually I pulled myself out of the nostalgia and focused on my hound who was beginning to look a bit confused on why I was just kneeling there for no reason. ¡°Cooper was the dog¡¯s name, and now it is yours¡± I said to my rather confused looking lead hound but eventually it seemed to click in his mind that he was now named Cooper as he had begun wagging his tail and jumped over to my floating form. I chuckle a bit as Cooper tries and fails to jump onto my non-corporeal form despite their best efforts. Unfortunately, my vessel drone was being repaired at the moment so as much as I might have wanted to, I would not be able to play with Cooper at the moment.


    Giving Cooper a goodbye, I began to drift about my territory looking around for anything that might need my supervision before I eventually remembered about the relay station project which was just about completed. Shifting back over to my factory base, I begin to float about the relay stations which are now dotted in and around the area between my factory and the mining outpost which I could now fully traverse through without snapping to an outpost due to being outside of its bubble of influence. Now that the relay network was more or less completely finished, the number of rogue feral attacks on my caravan which often travels hauling materials to and from the outpost had decreased significantly making the trips much safer.


    In fact, it was now safe enough for my caravan who was returning to the factory with their carts filled to the brim with metals to not require an escort, although they still insisted on having a couple of hounds just in case. Speaking of the caravan, I believe they are on their way to the water treatment outpost where the construction of the railroad was beginning. Floating over to the outpost in question, I was near immediately greeted with the sight of more than a dozen spiders all working in unison as they welded together the beginning of the first length of railway all the while more and more materials were slowly streaming in from the direction of the subway station which must have been working overtime to bring all of this material from all of my various outposts.


    My spiders slowly but surely continued their construction which they said would likely take them a good few days to complete in its entirety if they were to only construct the railroads first since it would take longer and longer for more materials to arrive at the construction site as the rails get farther and farther from the outpost. As such my spider advised me to order for the construction of the actual train for the train tracks as it would be able to help haul more materials to the construction site once moving materials by drone gets too inefficient. This seemed reasonable to me and I briefly wondered why I had not thought of that already so I gave them the permission to begin construction of the train whenever they believed that it would make the construction efforts more efficient before I floated back and continued to watch my drones work.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    The next few hours were generally uneventful asides from the little while I decided to play with Cooper while I waited once my vessel drone was repaired fully. More progress on the train tracks was made and my drones over at Churns outpost were quickly getting back and at it again now that the injuries being repaired were less devastating wounds and more general armor damage making the amount of time spent fully replacing full chunks of a drones body majorly decreased. Deciding that my force was now healed up enough to handle the outpost on their own, Churn¡¯s drones which he had lent me left back for their own stations leaving my garrison to pick up the slack and start up guard duty once again.


    As the repairs continued, some of the previously penal legionary drones decided to leave to begin going their own separate ways after their time in service finally ended although strangely enough many decided to stay with my band of drones although the majority of them requested to be transferred off the front lines into garrison duty elsewhere. Fair enough I suppose, after the sheer amount of casualties that we experienced in that last battle I could understand why they were so adamant about getting a different assignment. I however gave a compromise of them being reassigned to a new post once the next batch of reinforcements arrived at the outpost in order to not leave the outpost under defended which the formal penal legionaries accepted as it was likely the best deal they were going to get.


    Speaking of the reinforcements, they had fully been fabricated and were now rallying in the water treatment outpost and were beginning to set off to Churn¡¯s outpost a dozen at a time, however they were trickling in slower than usual due to the fact that the subway trains were being halfway filled with metals for the construction site. Regardless, reinforcements were on the way and my garrison would not have to wait too much longer for fresh drones to help out with guard duty or to begin reforming patrol groups which had been neglected due to the lack of available drones. Additionally, with the majority of my drones having been completely repaired, I decided that now was a good time to begin ordering my spider drones who were not actively doing anything to begin construction of some barricades that were not made up of just random chunks of rubble and scrap. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Using the containers filled with construction materials, my spider drones began the construction of some proper defenses made of concrete and rebar which could make defending the outpost significantly easier for my drones and I. Additionally I also ordered my drones to fix up the cracked and torn up ground which was left after my tunnel worms destroyed the ground near the outpost propper. I did not mind the occasional hole outside of the main barricade defenses but I started to get a little annoyed whenever my foot falls down a few feet every time I stop paying attention where I am walking while near the battlegrounds. With the amount of concrete and metal that my moose caravan had delivered to the outpost, my spiders could pretty easily construct a couple of large barricades and fix up the ground however that is about it.


    Unfortunately, the rest of the concrete that I had stored up in the factory base would likely be used in the construction of the railway as having a bunch of train rails on broken and uneven ground would be a recipe for disaster and I would rather not have any chances of my train breaking down or falling off its tracks mid journey. Speaking of the railways, progress on the construction was going quite well so far however my spiders had decided that the rails had gotten long enough to begin construction on the train and the first of the train carts to help with the transportation of the building materials which would speed up the construction by a fair


    amount.


    As I finished with the last of my check ups on my various outposts and bases, I was about to go back to my sleep-like state which I often have found myself drifting to whenever nothing interesting is going on, however before I could get to that state, I got a message from the mole colony stating that they think they found something that I should probably take a look at. Slightly confused, I sent a message back requesting for clarification on what they meant by finding something, however they simply replied that I should get down there quickly and that it looked really important. Still a bit bewildered, I slipped into one of the vessel drones I have stored in my factory base before calling over a few drones to escort me over to the elevator that connects to the mole colony.


    Reaching the elevator quickly enough, I connected myself into the terminal and ordered the elevator to begin the descent down to the colony. Once down there, I was quickly greeted by the elder mole who looked a bit hurried as they began pulling me towards one of their mining entrances which they had scattered around the cavern they called home. As we walked, I began asking the elder mole questions like what had they found and why it concerned me which they did not respond to until they reached the mouth of the entrance. Once there the elder mole began to speak, ¡°to answer your questions, my kin nor I have any idea what we have found, for all we know it could be an especially deep basement however I would rather not take any chances as the one who found it had heard many noises from inside the construct.¡±


    Noises? Construct? What had they found down here? I just hope I brought these drones for nothing. Following the elder mole down into the mining tunnel, we eventually reached the end of the tunnel which was abruptly blocked by some kind of black wall with green lines streaking across its form. Assuming that this was what they had found, I put the side of my head onto the surface of the wall and, as they had said, I in fact heard something moving inside there and whatever it was, it sounded large. Giving the wall an experimental knock, I heard the slight reverberation that resulted from it and clearly the thing inside of the room heard it as well as the moving stopped for a few moments before I felt more than heard whatever was in there slam into the wall where I had knocked it.


    This I decided was something of a concern as whatever was in there seemed to be either hostile to outsiders or searching for a way to get out of its confinement, either way I was less than excited to find out what was going on in there. Deciding that this was something that required a bit more firepower, I told the elder mole to avoid this area while I began calling over a few extra drones from my factory base along with a crab from my mining outpost. My idea was to crack open the wall using the crab and to take out or subdue whatever was in there if it proved to be hostile. Best case scenario the thing is not hostile and I can find a diplomatic solution which would benefit both of us, worst case scenario is the thing is hostile and my drones are not able to take it out, in which case I order the elder mole to collapse the tunnel.


    As my drones begin to make their way over to me, I make sure to order a handful of my fire beetles from my factory base to be some of the drones arriving in case the thing that is in there is part of the rot or something. Soon enough my drones had arrived and positioned themselves in a defensive line in preparation for whatever might burst out from the room and I just hoped it would not be needed. Ordering my crab to do it, I watched as their drill arm began to spin up to full speed before it began drilling into the wall which proved to be much more resistant than I expected as it nearly shrugged off my crab''s drill. The key word being nearly as the driller arm, while being unable to efficiently drill through the wall, was still making progress and would be through within a few minutes of continuous drilling.


    Slowly but surely my crab drilled through the wall until eventually something gave way and a decently sized hole was broken open in the wall. As soon as the wall was cracked through, a drone swiftly charged through the breach and slammed the closest drone to the opening into the nearby cavern wall, killing the drone instantly. My crab promptly swung their drilling arm into the side of the now clearly hostile drone whilst bringing up their claw arm to begin the motions of grabbing hold of the beast. However, the drone quickly recovered from its charge and dodged out of the way of the drill arm whilst only being slightly grazed by its serrated edge. The couple of scorpions I had brought with blasted the enemy drone with a concentrated beam which seemed to stun the beast for a few moments whilst my termites and ants charged forward with my hound who began circling around to the enemy drones sides.


    As the beast recovered, my crab used its disoriented state to slam both of its arms into what looks like the drone''s head; however, the blow seemed to be rather ineffective due to what I guessed was the heavy armor of the drone. The drone seemed to recover from the stun beams after the crab slammed its arms against its head and it, more quickly than a drone that size should be able to move, turned to its side and rammed the hound and termite which were attempting to attack it from that angle. They both were left crumpled on the ground before I could blink but thankfully the rest of my drones were not as fast as they charged into the frey in order to take advantage of the enemy drones distraction including my fire beetles who quickly hopped off the backs of the hounds and ants which they were taking a ride with and onto the enemy drones back.


    I watched as my drones worked to distract whilst my fire beetles quickly clamped themselves onto the hull of the enemy drone before detonating taking the hostile drone down with them. I was about to begin celebrating when I began hearing a strange humming noise before the corpse of the enemy drone suddenly exploded a second time, catching one of my drones in the blast radius. The corpse of the drone was completely destroyed and the drone that was caught in the blast was seriously marred and would likely not survive the trip back to my repair spiders. Ordering some of my drones to rush them into the repair center regardless, I began to wonder just what they were protecting that they were willing to equip themselves with a self detonator.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 75

    Looking over to the desecrated corpse of the drone which had charged into my drones, I felt a slight bit of disappointment because I would not even be able to extract the blueprint from the drone''s corpse which was now a smoldering shell. Oh well, not much I can do about it any more. Walking up to the hole in the black and green wall which my crab had drilled through, I quickly scanned the room for any more hostiles before moving into the room with my drones quickly following close behind. The room was decently large however it looked quite cramped as the majority of the room was dominated by a large amount of crates and pallets which lined the walls causing the room to look smaller. One thing however caught my eye as in the far corner of the room was a large object which was covered by a tarp and seemed to be kept separate from the rest of the crates and racks.


    First focusing on the large quantity of pallets and crates which upon closer inspection held a small wealth of alloys and other such components which I quickly ordered my drones to begin hauling away back to base. These materials could probably push me the majority of the way to completing the funding for the monstrous project that is the construction of the train tracks which had been eating into my store rooms. Focusing on the second object, I noticed that it was dwarfed in volume by the sheer number of crates and shelves which held the rest of the room''s contents yet it seems that whoever had placed it here had made sure to give it adequate spacing. I briefly wondered why the person had put all of this stuff into this room underneath the ground with no particularly easy way to access it.


    Obviously they did not want anyone else from getting to the materials which had been hidden away in this room as the drone stationed here put up one hell of a fight but I could not see too much reason to stuff a bunch of metal underground along with a drone set to kill anything that tried to breach the box. I suppose this would mean that whatever is underneath this tarp is the reason for the lengths which this person took to hide all of this. Unceremoniously tearing off the tarp, I was greeted by the sight of a gargantuan snail which was twice as tall, a decent bit wider and longer, whilst still being significantly more filled in compared to my crab drones. Alongside the extremely large Snail like construct was a small in comparison terminal which looked to be powered by the same energy source as the lights which dotted the ceiling of the room.


    Walking up to the terminal, I found that upon reaching a distance of about three feet, the terminal burst to life and on its screen stated that it had detected a suitable AI administrator and that it was awaiting connection. After a moment of searching, I found a small port on the side of the terminal which I promptly inserted my USB finger into which seemed to be good enough for the terminal as it began displaying a few files on its main screen. Accessing the first of these files, I began to read a report on how the Rot had been spreading from the very outer regions of the hive city which I was standing in and that measures to stop the spread should be considered.


    Looking into the next few files, they seemed to paint a similar picture although they seemed to be spaced out a couple of months apart from each other as the last report stated that the rot had begun to seep into the lower middle sections of the hive and that countermeasures have been deployed to initial success. Then, the files seem to have skipped a few months as the next report seemed to be more of a warning that the rot had just reached the upper low sections of the hive had been breached by the rot and that drastic measures would be enacted, one of the measures being a complete evacuation and or sterilization of the rot infested regions along with creating a buffer zone between the middle and lower hive sections.


    The files seem to continue to report that the drastic measures had seemed to have been successful as the spread of rot had stopped spreading as rapidly although there was no way of reclaiming the lower sections of the hive anytime soon. The sterilization and quarantine continued going well for the next couple of files however very suddenly a breach was made and the middle hive levels were being quickly overrun and the last of the countermeasures were being deployed in hopes of salvation. One of the countermeasures was the strategic deployment of AI into the lower hive layers which had been more or less abandoned by the rot as it continued its path to more biomatter. Material and drone supplements had been inserted across the areas where AI had been deployed through various methods which would hopefully give the AI¡¯s some extra assistance. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    As a note, the files stated that the supply drops, while being made to assist AI¡¯s with their mission of taking back the lower city section, were designed to be air tight in order to not risk any rot infection if any rot still remains. Additionally each supply drop was equipped with a number of drones which were set to take out anything that attempted to breach the supply drops in any way other than the in-built terminal which should have been located on the outside of the supply drop. All deployed AI¡¯s should know how to properly access the supply drops so the drones should never become hostile to them. I suppose that explains why that drone attacked me. Sigh, I should have asked Ping if they knew what this was.


    Checking the dates on the most recent files and the possibly unreliable time date which the terminal said was the current time, the files seemed to be multiple decades old by now. This made me wonder how I fit into all of this. Those two people, Angelica and Dominic if I recall correctly, were the reason I am here but why did they make me an AI? Whatever the reason may be, I will probably never get the answer to my questions as I doubted that those two would magically come down from the heavens to give me an explanation. Regardless, it was pointless to think about such questions since I had no real concrete plan to ever find out why, what I did have was a general idea of where I was now so that is a plus.


    I also now know that the Rot is rather obviously the reason there are no people aside from the few AI¡¯s I have met and all of the robots which seem to have defaulted to a tribal setting. Focusing on the present, I looked up to the extra large snail which apparently is part of this supply drop and should be ready for me to take control of. Looking around in the terminal, I eventually found a way to access the drones systems from the terminal and so I accessed the snail¡¯s systems and began the process of booting up the drone. The lights flickered for a second as nearly the entirety of the power which the supply drop generated was quickly funneled into the large snail drone which slowly began powering on.


    As the especially large snail continued to siphon the power supply which the supply drop seemed to be generating somehow, I began searching for the description of the drone inside of the terminal which I was still plugged into. Eventually I found a file which explained that the drone in front of me was the marauder pattern mobile foundry or the MMF for short. The description stated that the drone which was powering on in front of me was designed to be one of the most advanced utility drones to be designed to date and unfortunately the drone''s design was never released into the market meaning that I had no way of replicating the drone. The MMF was designed to be practically a mobile base which could slowly but surely traverse long distances and fend off small to medium sized attacks without an escort although the description advised having just that.


    The MMF was equipped with a pair of energy beam ball turrets that were located on the two sides of the snail drones shell which could deal a decent amount of damage along with a set of a half dozen flamethrowers which were placed on tendrils which were placed on the sides of the snail, two on each side with one on the very front and back. These weapon systems, while formidable, were not the main threat of the MMF as at the snail¡¯s shell like hull held a quadruplet of repulser drones which while designed to be harvesters that would collect and retrieve materials, could use their plasma saws to wreak havoc onto anything brave enough to attack its parent drone.


    These smaller harvesters, while decently armored to protect from collapsing debris and other such environmental damages, are still relatively vulnerable compared to the heavily armored hull of the MMF and thus are able to be reconstructed by their parent drone given enough time and materials. The MMF, as the name suggests, are not made for combat however and are much more suited to resource gathering and refinement of said gathered resources inside of the internal refiners which is the majority of the MMF¡¯s internal machinery. Lastly, the description stated that due to the size and sheer weight of the drone, the MMF is incredibly slow and thus requires an escort in case a large enemy force decides to attack as the MMF has close to a zero percent chance to be able to evade.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 76

    As the hours continued to pass, work on the train rails continued to progress with an increased speed now that the first train and cart have been completed as it made ferrying materials much faster compared to my moose caravan. The train moved all the way to the current construction site with impressive speed which was helping to push the site further and further into potentially hostile territory. Thankfully I had posted more than enough drone escorts to the construction team which I had pulled away from the reinforcements that should have arrived at Churn¡¯s loaner outpost by now which made me feel a lot better about the security around that area. Speaking of which, using their newfound reinforcements, my drones had begun patrolling the open territory around the outpost once again however it seems that the number of hostile drones has significantly decreased as of the last attack.


    On the newly established patrols, my drones noticed that hostile activity was at an all time low and that they only spotted a few reconnaissance drones scattered around the area. This struck me as odd since the battle while incurring many casualties did not include the multitude of patrol groups which the corrupted AI had constantly had guarding their territory. Perhaps they might have decided that this outpost was no longer worth the trouble and redirected drones to other fronts. This sudden lapse in enemy drones had caused Cooper to send patrols farther out then they usual would have and they reported it seems that the enemy drones have more or less completely pulled out from the front and were now patrolling an area farther away from the outpost in what seems to be their own home territory given the relay stations near the enemy lines.


    With the new information that the hostile force had fallen back, Cooper had decided to push forward the patrol groups in order to have them sweep through the previously enemy held land which was now uninhabited. Cooper and some of their more experienced subordinates began pitching ideas of establishing some forward relay stations and moving some of the defensive emplacements up some in order to capitalize on the easily capturable territory. This did not sound to bad of an idea so I gave Cooper permission to being moving up the defensive emplacements and constructing those relay stations however when they began offering suggestions of an attack on the enemy lines, I denied the proposition on the grounds that it was probably a bad idea to charge in while still constructing a proper fall back point.


    As nice as it would be to hit the enemy drones where it hurts, I just do not think that my drones are fully ready to go on the offensive and so I decided to play it cautious and focus on aggressively fortifying the former enemy territory. To further support my point, my scout rat teams have not actually been able to map out the enemy lines as they have been quickly discovered and promptly destroyed whenever they tried to make it past the enemy patrols. My vultures did have a bit of a better time scouting around, however not too long after moving into enemy territory an enemy aerial drone team would detect and chase my vultures away. Perhaps if I ordered enough dragonflies and hornets with them, they would be able to get a good look at the enemy positions, however that would require pulling a lot of my available firepower from the line.


    While Cooper and the rest of the garrison began working on expanding my territory, I began focusing on other things around my lands. One thing of particular interest was my snail drone which had finally reached the ore vein and now with the help of the rest of my drones, they were steadily filling the storage room. If I did not have a moose caravan to come by and liberate a decent chunk of the stored metal every couple of hours, I doubted that the storage room inside of the mining outpost would have been enough. With materials flowing out of the mining outpost, my outposts finally began slowly refilling their ravaged store rooms which had been emptied in order to fund the train track project. The thing that was stopping my store rooms from filling up quicker is the still ever present drain which the railroad project caused, however I am sure that will change once my spiders decide they have enough materials for the train tracks.


    Speaking of my spider drones, I decided to float over to my little construction workers as they continued to labor away whilst the bright suns shone down upon them. Approaching a pair of spiders, I watched as they continued pouring concrete onto the many cracks and holes that were on the path of the rail construction. Around them were other drones of various sizes doing the same and behind them was the slowly but steadily advancing line of track which was where the majority of my spider drones worked to weld together the many sections of rail which my ant drones placed one after the other. Requesting a status report from one of my spider drones that was welding a section of the rail and they responded by typing into a tablet which stated that they believed that the construction would be completed in a day or two¡¯s time.


    Nodding in confirmation of this, I asked the spider drone if there was anything that might help speed up the progress of the construction and they actually suggested that they could use a crab drone to help out with the larger chunks of rubble that was located in the path of the construction team. Taking the drone up on their suggestion, I ordered the fabrication of a new crab drone from the large drone works located in the water treatment outpost which would arrive at the construction site within the next couple hours, possibly less if they can squeeze into the train cart on its return trip to drop off more materials. Perhaps once the tracks are done, I should have my spiders construct a platform cart so that the train could hold some of my larger drones without having to resort to stuffing them into a cargo cart or having them stand on the roof. Regardless, with the most recent wave of reinforcements having already arrived at the outpost, I will hopefully not need to majorly reinforce the lines any time soon.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    A few more hours came and went and by then, the twin suns had fully set and Cooper continued to work with his men to prepare the new defensive fixtures which now dotted the now fully secured territory which previously was held by the forces of the corrupted AI. So far Cooper and the more constructively inclined parts of the garrison had worked feverishly to lock down the newly taken lands and thankfully no real resistance faced them. The most the enemy drones did was send a couple of their members to harass one of my own drones who was out of position however that was quickly taken care of by one of my patrols who happened to be nearby. With that exception Cooper¡¯s expansion plan was met without resistance and was most of the way there to being completed.


    The relay stations were being quickly constructed by my spider drones now that the preliminary defensive emplacements had been established and forces from the outpost had come out of the defensive array in order to station them. Once the relay stations have been completed, the majority of my drones will move out from the outpost in order to man the defenses in the new defensive line. Whenever that happens, I will begin to consider the possibility of taking the fight to the enemy¡¯s territory but until then I shall wait. Speaking of waiting, my spider drones who were constructing the railroad tracks encountered a large pile of rubble which looked as if one of the building ruins fell over onto the road which had unfortunately forced construction to stop as going around would take much longer than it would have been worth as it was the intersection between two particularly long blocks of ruined buildings.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Thankfully, that spider had already requested the crab drone before that happened which meant that upon discovering the knocked over building, they only had to wait a half hour for the crab to finish being fabricated and for it to catch a ride on the train which was waiting for it, literally climbing onto the large open top cargo cart and laying down on it like a cat with its legs just dangling off the side. Once the crab arrived and crawled off the cargo cart, my spiders immediately put the newest member of their construction team to work as the ruins were not going to clear themselves out. The crab drone made swift work of the debris, using its bulldozer claw hand extensively to clear out the many mounds of rubble whilst its driller hand turned anything too large for the claw to move in one go into manageable chunks.


    It looked like it would take a half hour at most for my crab drone to be completely finished with getting rid of the rubble in its eternity so I made sure to order my spider drones to try and go over the rubble and being the construction on the other side and to connect the two points whenever the crab drone finishes the excavation. With that all taken care of, I began focusing on the home front where nothing much has changed over the course of the last few days with my main drone force away. Thankfully no sudden feral incursions or existential threat has appeared out of nowhere so my drones were pretty much free to do as they wish once they finish their guard or scavenger shift.


    The majority of my drones in the back lines had more or less completely turned into resource gathers as the feral drones near my core territories like my factory and the relatively nearby mining outpost have figured out that attacking my outposts or even encroaching my territory was a slightly more complicated method of suicide and had rightfully decided to avoid me all together. My vassals over by the flock nesting grounds have been steadily expanding their territory and numbers under my care and thus have grown large enough to be able to devote more than three fourths of there number to help out my drones with the occasional patrol without leaving the nesting grounds without a decently sized garrison.


    This has led the flock to establish a few farther out nests which each hold a handful of the flocks members that are both slowly growing with the support of the main nest. With those new nests, the flock had managed to reach out a decent amount of territory and they have made that territory into a hunting ground as their members continued to pick off stray feral drones and the like in order to keep growing their numbers. I was slightly worried that they would quickly hunt the entirety of the feral drones to extension as it would mean they would run out of prey however it seems wherever the feral drones are coming from can produce more feral drones than my vultures are taking out.


    That does bring up the question of where the feral drones are coming from as I doubt that any sane AI would willingly let their drones disconnect from themself but eventually I just chalked it up to some derelict AI territory or something which was automatically set to continue to construct drones even if the AI in question had been destroyed. It would explain why the feral drones are mainly composed of hounds with a few ants and hornets thrown in as it could be attributed to mainly hound producers being the remaining feral producers. Regardless of where the ferals are coming from, I am just glad that my flying vassals are taking care of it without me having to become involved.


    Moving on to Paisleigh and her drones, they have managed to grow a decent amount like the flock however it seems that they have not been able to grow to the extent that they had, likely due to the fact that they only really needed to grow in order to accommodate for new subway stations which I have not needed to get more of as I have not decided to expand too much more asides from the relay stations around my core territories. This has led to Paisleigh and her drones to stay relatively stagnant which was not a bad thing since it saved on computational strain however it seems a bit unfair to have them not expand as much as the flock. Perhaps I should have them help out with the garrison duty of the relay stations since the job was not too much different from the subway station guard duty as they both more or less devolved to request reinforcements if there are more ferals than they can take on by themselves.


    Running the idea through Paisleigh who was practically always sitting around in the subway train, she pretty much agreed with the idea of assigning some of their drones to guard duty over there in exchange for more materials to expand her numbers however she requested that if at any moment it looked like reinforcements would not arrive fast enough, her drones had the agency to retreat. I eventually came to a compromise with Paisleigh that ended up being that if Paisleighs drones were guarding the relay station alone they would be allowed to retreat; however if there was one of my drones stationed there, they were not allowed to fall back unless my drone agreed as well. Hopefully this would stop Paisleighs drones from just running away from an enemy force which they might have been able to take on, leaving one of my drones to fend for themselves.


    With that in agreement, I gave my moose caravan a few instructions to start leaving a portion of their cargo with Paislieigh and her drones and hopefully over the course of the few days they will be able to disperse their new members into their new stations. With Paisleigh taken care of, I quickly checked up on the mole colony to see how they were doing and I could immediately see that they were doing quite alright for themselves. Using the materials which I had given to the elder mole as a thank you for showing me the supply drop, the mole colony had fabricated a few more members and were beginning to work on the construction of a few more structures to house the new moles with the help of my spiders who had been more or less permanently stationed there.


    They would likely be focused on that for a good while and their numbers are likely to increase for the next few days so I felt no reason to intervene with their progress so I let them be. Now that I had finished checking up on all of my vassals, I began poking around my factory itself, and more specifically the robots who still resided within my walls. GW-3N was still doing her thing in my factory and I was more than happy to let them do whatever they wanted since they helped out more than enough. Other robots have come and gone, most from the nomad tribe who were coming over to request the occasional bit of assistance from my spider drone repair team which on occasion helped with fixing anything that was broken.


    The yellow robot who had been more or less a part of my spider repair team for a bit now had actually managed to grab a few other fellow yellow robots and now they were taking my spiders along to the tower tribe¡¯s village on occasion which I felt no need to change as it is a good idea to help out with my trading partner who were still feeding me raw materials even if it was not too much compared to my mining outposts output. Regardless, as long as my spiders came back in one piece and they were not treated badly while they were there, I was more than happy to let them go on their little excursions. Besides, the tower tribe, now without their former chieftain and council, had become rather friendly in recent days as they recovered from the extensive fighting.


    As long as they continue to take out their fair share of ferals, I would be more than happy to continue to let my drones help them out from time to time. Floating back into a lying position in my non corporeal form, I continued to watch my drones work diligently as the hours began to slowly fade by.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 77

    As the twin suns began to rise once again, I lazily floated back over to Churn¡¯s territory and to my drone force who had just about finished with the construction of the relay stations and the last of the defenses which in turn opened the floodgates for my drones to begin moving into the newly established defensive line. The enemy forces took note of the sudden increase in my drones presence however no major attacks were made as they seemed more or less content with entrenching themselves on their side of the newly established no man''s lines. It seems they had decided that they were done throwing themselves at my defensive emplacements and were now waiting for me to charge into theirs since they were refusing to push forward.


    My patrol groups attempted to create small skirmishes between the enemy drones however each time they tried, the opposing drones would simply retreat back to their defenses and take the occasional pot shot if they were feeling particularly brave. This was slightly annoying for my patrol captains who were so used to being able to bait at least a small engagement if they were to so much as enter the general vicinity of an enemy drone. This change made it so that neither I nor the enemy drones could score any meaningful damage against each other which is kind of what I am here for since I doubt that Churn will give me any meaningful rewards for just garrisoning the outpost.


    The idea of charging head on into the enemy forces defenses was not appealing either as they had more than enough drones to if not repel me outright, incur heavy losses on my side which I could replace but I would rather not have to. I even sent out my two tunnel worms to make some trouble in the enemy lines, however my drones were surprised to find clusters of fire beetles who were just waiting for one of my worms to collide with one of them. My worms were able to detect the makeshift mines, however that did not stop the fact that my worms now could only very slowly move around the mined area so that they do not accidentally bump up against one. My tunnel worms were more or less chased out of the enemy drones territory as a dozen moles each carrying two beetles on their backs began digging down in the direction of my worms.


    This left me no other options aside from simply not doing anything or to charge headlong into the enemy defenses and my drones made it very clear that they were not happy with the latter option. Thinking it over in my head for a few more moments, I decided to not invest into a full on attack and so I began giving my drones operational control so that if they wanted to, they could now begin probing the enemy lines. Hopefully my patrol leaders will take advantage of their newfound control and occasionally try to have their hornet or scorpion forces fire at the enemy drone lines in hopes of incurring some casualties. I however made sure to order the majority of my drones to take up guard duty rather than patrol in case one of the patrol teams makes the enemy drones chase after them.


    Now that my drones had their new orders, I began moving down towards the railway construction site which had progressed a decent amount during the night. Currently, the construction team estimated that they had constructed rails to about a third of the distance between the water treatment outpost and Churns territory. While still incomplete, the drones which were slowly trickling in towards the front lines from my inner territory found their trips to be progressively easier as my hard working construction team continued to extend the rail road. Leaving my drones to continue to work on the railroads, I began floating around my territory searching for anything else that might need my attention.


    I was about to go back into my pseudo sleep before one of my drones over by my factory began messaging about how the radio station was beginning to get some signals from Ping. Popping back over to the factory and into one of my vessels, I climbed up the ladder up to the roof of the factory and moved my way over to the radio station which was being prodded at by one of my spider drones who stayed behind while their buddies went over to tower tribe with their friends. Giving my spider permission to leave, I interfaced with the radio station and began looking through the messages which Ping had been sending me.


    Reading through the message, it asked me if I was okay with giving up my contact information to Churn so that they did not have to send messages through Ping which I found to be agreeable and so I voiced as such. Soon enough Ping received my reply and Churn''s contact information popped up in my feed and as I was about to ask if that was everything they needed me for, Churn sent a message of his own. Reading through it stated that one of his outposts near the one I was defending is currently being besieged by an enemy force and was requesting that I send some reinforcements towards the outpost.


    Checking the outpost which my drones were still defending, I found that nothing of note had occurred as of yet so I sent a message back stating that I would be sending a decently sized force towards their position. This was simply confirmed by Churn before they cut the communication line and left me to begin marshaling my drones who would be setting out to battle. Ordering Cooper to begin gathering willing drones, I began checking the coordinates of the outpost and sending out queries to my scouting drones to provide a decent path towards the destination. Soon enough Cooper had rounded up a strike force of forty drones out of the sixty drones which made up my garrison and I began ordering the formation to begin making their way towards the battlefield.


    Checking what drones had been left behind to continue the defense, I see that Cooper had left one of the tortoises and an assortment of medium sized drones which should probably be enough to stand against a surprise attack. Worst case scenario I could just order my vultures and dragonflies to head back if they need more support which I doubted they would need given the lack of action made by the enemy drones. Focusing back on the departing attack force I checked up with my scout rats and vultures who had been monitoring the area and they came to the conclusion that the coordinates are about ten away from here which slightly worried me as the battle might start before my drones and I could arrive.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jogging up into formation with the rest of my drones, I begin marching with them towards the impending battle. After a handful of minutes of walking in the direction of the coordinates, my drones and I began hearing the tell tale signs of combat which was worrying to say the least as it meant that my drones and I were not quick enough to be present in the first moments of the battle which are often the most vital given my past experiences. Hopefully my drones and I charging into the enemy drones flank will give Churns troops the advantage they need. Soon enough we crested a small hill and were promptly greeted with the sight of more than three hundred drones duking it out in the area before us.


    By the looks of it, Churn''s drones were giving a valiant defense; however it seems the corrupted AI¡¯s forces'' continuous wave tactics were quickly chipping away at their numbers. Ordering my hornets and scorpions to pick their targets, I and the rest of my drones prepared to charge into the enemy drones left right flank. Once everyone was in position, I gave the order and the first volley shot out from our position as my drones and I barreled forwards into the confused and now disorganized ranks of the enemy drones. The first few moments of the charge were largely successful with my drones taking little to no casualties while the confused enemies scattered and broke upon being pressed on both sides by my fresh forces and the newly reinvigorated allied drones.


    However, as all good things must, the surprise faded away and the enemy drones hastily began regrouping and reforming into their new battlelines in order to combat my drones sudden appearance. The rest of the enemy drones seemed to have been alerted to my drones presence as drones were sent from other, less crucial points of the battlefield to reinforce the drones which I was fighting. Soon enough the fighting began to bog down as more and more drones filled the gaps which my drones had created until eventually my drones and I connected up with Churns lines until we eventually just became another, slightly differently colored section of the battlefield with my drones bright blue contrasting with Churns and the corrupted AI¡¯s signifying colors.


    Regardless, my drones continued to push onwards in hopes of fully breaking the now reinforced enemy lines which was met with a fair bit of push back now that the enemy drones were no longer surprised. As the fighting continued on, my and Churns ranged drones continuously exchanged fire with the corrupted AI¡¯s own ranged units and thankfully our combined fire should be enough to more or less wipe out the enemy missile units within a volley or two. This however left my melee drones with less than adequate support as they continuously weathered the storm that is the tide of enemy drones which threw themselves against my drone line. My tortoises were crucial in acting as an anchor which kept my drones together as they held against the enemy drones.


    My tunneler worms fought hard to disrupt the enemy¡¯s back line which while effective costed my worms dearly as they took some serious damage as they did so which forced them to fall back down into the ground where they attempted to simply take down any enemy mole who were brave enough to attempt to dig underneath the battle. The battle pressed on and at some point I was tackled by a pair of enemy hounds which for what felt like minutes tore at my armored form, thankfully not reaching anything truly vital, only causing enough damage for me to be forced out of the fight.


    Not long after I had been wounded, somewhere in the middle of Churn''s formation managed a breakthrough against the drones which they had been fighting which had led to the encirclement of the other side of the battleline. The encirclement seemed to be the breaking point for the majority of the enemy force as they all began falling back, leaving a few groups to act as sacrificial rear guard while the majority of their force fell back. As my and Churn¡¯s drones began taking care of the remaining enemy drones still holding out or chasing down the runners, I began ordering the spider contingent which Cooper had brought with us to begin working on patching up the wounded.


    As they did this, I looked over to the battlefield and estimated that there were nearly a hundred and a half drones which now lay dead, thankfully only a couple of handful of which were my own. It is a shame I had not brought the marauder here, they could have made swift work of the corpses before any ferals could start making attempts to salvage any components which were rightfully Churn and I¡¯s. Speaking of Churn, not long after the battle had concluded and repairs had begun, they had arrived and thanked me for arriving in such short notice. Churn also said that as compensation for my aid, they would be sending a small shipment of supplies towards my outpost which should be more than enough to recover any drones which I had lost in the battle with some materials to spare.


    Bidding Churn fare well, I began sending any drones who had not been crucially injured during the battle back to the outpost since the outpost had been left without a suitable garrison. This left a good number of drones who were either too unfit to begin the trip home and the spider drones who were swiftly patching up their wounds with a bit of help from Churn''s own repair drones. Informing Churn that I would be leaving these drones here temporarily until they finish with their repairs, I took my leave and began catching up to the already departing other half of my drone force. As we fell back towards the outpost, many of my drones noticed the occasional separated hostile drone which must have gotten lost during the hectic retreat. I suspected that there would be many others lingering around the area which meant I would have to bump up my drone patrols if I wanted this area to be clear.


    Upon reaching the outpost I made sure to assign my drones to begin moving back into their guard stations just in case the enemy forces notice that the garrison is still missing a fourth of their total strength which was still being repaired back at Churn''s outpost. Thankfully as the next few minutes passed no enemy force decided that my outpost was a worthy target and so I allowed my drones to fall back from high alert to merely on guard and so a few of my less operable drones stood down from their posts to begin getting their non critical injuries repaired by the token repair team which had been left behind at the outpost.


    As my drones and I began settling back into their posts now that there was not a potentially imminent threat on the horizon I began working on sourcing a few more reinforcing drones from the water treatment outpost which should be able to cover for the drones which I had lost during the battle. With the train project chugging along, they would arrive at the outpost a good deal quicker than the previous waves of reinforcement even if this one was rather small in comparison. As they began the process of fabrication back at the water treatment outpost, I delegated command of the outpost and its forces to Cooper as I began floating about the outpost waiting for the last of my forces to return.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 78

    A quarter of the day passed as I watched and waited. It did not take very long for my drones who were staying at Churn¡¯s outpost to be fully repaired, apparently Churn has some pretty effective drone repair systems which makes me think that I should specifically request for it whenever I am offered to choose a new reward. After an hour or so the last of my drone force arrived back at the outpost and joined the ever active guard shifts which my drones often kept themselves occupied with along with the slightly less boring but a whole lot more tiring pass time of scavenging metals from the various buildings near the outpost. With the entirety of my drone force now concentrated at the outpost my patrol captains began getting a bit more risky with their probing attacks since they now had an adequate amount of back up for if something goes south and they need reinforcements.


    These more risky probing attacks included but was not limited to running dragonflies and hounds to bait enemy ranged drones to open fire which is when my patrol captains own ranged drones would release their own volley in the direction of the enemy drones who dared to attempt to attack their fellow patrol members. This practice was halted when the enemy drones began placing an even larger number of fire beetles near the surface of their side of no man''s land which acted as live mines. My drones quickly found this out and so they began resorting to only using vultures and other flight capable drones when moving around close to the enemy lines. Perhaps once the rail tracks were finished, I could take their crab drone and use their long reach to clear out the mined area.


    It would be a rather slow process but I suspected that as long as I made sure to reinforce my crab''s excavator claw arm it would be better than having my drones disarm the living mines the hard way. Speaking of the railroad project they were making more good progress with the construction and it would not be long until they reached the third quarter mark which was great even if the last stretch would likely be the hardest as the likelihood of random pockets of enemy drones increased as they got closer to the front lines. This was not helped by the fact that the enemy drones which had been beaten back earlier in the day had likely grouped up together by now and some of my drones who were patrolling on our side of no man''s land had begun to report enemy activity separate from the main enemy force.


    Hopefully the drones assigned to the defense of the construction team would be enough to take care of any enemy drones that they might encounter. Additionally it is not like they would find an actually organized enemy force, any drones still out there likely regrouped with their forces on their territory or are scattered and disorganized while inside Churn¡¯s. This seemed to sate my worries for now and so I began flipping through outposts to spot if anything needed my attention before I received a message from one of my scout drones who was patrolling the lands between my and the enemy drone forces defensive positions. Reading through the message, it states that they have begun to notice an increase in movement from the multitude of fire beetles who had been placed as mines.


    According to the message from my scout rat, they had realized that the fire beetles were slowly advancing towards my defensive emplacements and that if we were not careful we might find ourselves close enough to the caught in the fire beetles blast radius while on our preset patrol routes. Asking one of my tunnel worms if this was true, I wanted a few moments before they reported that multiple groups of fire beetles were dangerously close to the patrol areas. This was slightly worrying as there were not any good methods to take out underground fire beetles without exposing themselves to being caught in the blast radius. I suppose I could start setting out my worms to begin manually taking out the living mines, however that was not exactly sustainable as it would take more resources to repair my worms than it does to replace the fire beetles.


    Perhaps I could outfit some moles with heavier armor and have them diffuse the living mines the hard way although that would take a few hours to fabricate and outfit the drones before they would be ready to be put out on the field. Eventually I decided to begin ordering a handful of the heavily armored moles at the onsite medium drone works and in order to buy some time I began ordering my worm drones to begin taking out any of the fire beetle groups that got too close to the patrol border. Hopefully those armored moles would finish quickly so that my worm would not need to bait the living mines into detonating as I doubted that they would be able to get away from the mines in time before they explode.


    Watching as my worms begin making their way towards the advancing line of living mines, I slipped into their vision and began peering into the ground through their vision. It was relatively easy to spot the clusters of fire beetles with the radar like vision of my tunnel worms and soon enough the worm which I was watching from arrived at one of the closest clusters. These fire beetles had managed to claw their way ever so slowly towards my patrolling areas and were now quite close to their objective however now they seem to have noticed the rather obvious sign of my tunnel worms moving about. This was quite evident as my tunnel worm watched as the fire beetles began preparing to detonate the moment something even remotely metallic bushes against them.


    After a few moments of hesitation, my tunnel worm mentally prepared itself before moving in a burst of speed past the living mine which quickly detected its presence and promptly detonated. Thankfully my tunnel worm was able to avoid the worst of the blast and only had minorly damaged their tail end which had taken a few chunks of shrapnel which had cut into their armor and fortunately stopped short of the much more fragile machinery and wiring. This relative success was dampened by the fact that those were just a single group of fire beetles and more were sure to be approaching soon enough. Leaving my tunnel worm to its duties I made sure to have my spider drones on standby to repair any damages which they would surely incur and I hoped that they would not have to endure for too long.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    As the hours passed and drone finished being fabricated, the new and more armored moles were swiftly deployed onto the front lines they quickly began taking care of the quickly expanding problem of suicide beetles. My tunnel worms were eventually pulled off the line for some much needed repairs now that the armored moles were slowly streaming in and it was good timing too as the tunnel worms had taken some serious structural damage whilst they took out the living mines. Thankfully the armored moles were beginning to take their place and they proved to be rather effective at their new jobs, their heavily armored shield like claws were crucial as they absorbed most of the blast and ensuing shrapnel leaving my moles relatively unharmed.


    In addition to the new influx of mine diffuser capable drones who now patrolled no-man''s-land, the number of fire beetles were beginning to diminish now that they had realized that I had developed a counter to their mines. Once I finished dealing with the fire beetles which were left still clawing their way towards the outpost, my moles could begin taking out the enemy force¡¯s defensive mines. That is, if they would not get immediately chased off by their own moles. I was about to go back to observing the progress on the construction efforts when I received a panicked message from the construction crew who had been working on fabricating the railroads. Reading the message through, I was filled with dismay as it reported that my scout vultures and rats have begun to spot an increased level of corrupted AI drone presence near the railroad construction site.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Thankfully the construction guard team has so far not reported any enemy contact but it was certainly worrying. Checking the distance from the outpost and the construction crew, I found that they were just about an hours trip for my flight capable drones and about an hour and a half for those who cannot. I hoped that those drones were focusing on something else but I doubted it as the only other thing near the activity asides from my construction site, at least that I know of, is the outpost which Churn owns, however I doubted those drones would dare to attack it as it recently had a whole new host of reinforcements. With this present, I began ordering for a sizable chunk of my hornets and a handful of my other airborne drones to begin moving out towards the construction site in order to provide some extra assistance in case they come under attack.


    Additionally, I made sure to inform the construction team to move into high alert and to expect enemy activity in their region. In the background I could hear the random explosions which continued to pop off ever so often, making it known that another cluster of fire beetles had gone off. I just hoped that the rest of the corrupted AI forces would not take advantage of my diminished force. After all, my hornets are one of the more integral pieces of my defense and as such their absence has left me vulnerable to any level of hostile presence. Ordering my remaining hornets who had stayed behind to man the defensive installation in order to give the illusion of battle readiness, I sat myself back and shifted my vision over to my airborne squadron.


    Opening my eyes, the vulture which now hosted my conscience continued to survey the ground as they flew across it. So far they had not managed to spot any enemy drones but they continued to remain vigilant as any extra intel like enemy drone composition they could gather might help in the incoming battle. As their formation continued to fly towards my construction site, more and more enemy contacts were spotted by this vulture and the other drones around them. So far they had managed to compile a rough estimate of drone composition which looked to be mostly ranged capable drones which I suppose is reasonable, after all the drones most able to retreat away from a battlefield would be the far back ranged drones.


    This news, no matter how reasonable it is, would make my drones jobs a bit harder as the main advantage airborne drones had against ground drones was their ability to stay out of range of melee attacks making it easy for them to hit and run. The prevalent amount of ranged drones made that advantage disappear in addition to exploiting the weakness of ranged drones, their lack of heavy armor or defensive measures other than evasion as the ranged drones only needed to get a glancing blow on a grav repeller or wing and my drones would very quickly fall out of the sky leaving them as easy targets for melee ground drones. Regardless, my drones continued to make best speed towards the construction site.


    As my drone formation had about a dozen minutes left until they would be at the site, I began getting reports of enemy contact and messages from the railroad guards as their positions became under attack. So far they had only taken light casualties, however more and more enemy drones were coming out of the rubble and ruins which would eventually overrun my drones. Ordering my drones to move to the railroad as quickly as possible, I slipped over to the vision of a hound which was currently fighting to defend their spider charges. Thankfully, not long after I began watching another friendly drone tackled the hounds attacker which gave the hound enough time to bring the spider drones all the way back to the rest of the construction team.


    Surveying the chaos, I could see that my guard drones were putting up the good fight and were keeping the enemy drones at bay for now and my spider drones were doing whatever they could to bring any who were injured back to the fight. Ordering my guard drones to stay on the defense, I informed them that reinforcements were on the way and they only needed to hold their ground for a handful more minutes. As I reported this information to them, I watched as more enemy drones continued to join the battle in groups of two or three at a time. My drones were taking down the hostiles just as quickly as they appeared; however, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before they would be overrun. The one saving grace of the battle was the fact that the excavator crab as they made sure to take the brunt of the enemy missile fire and dealt chunky blows in return.


    Additionally, the crab alone had nearly half of my spider drones running across its hull repairing anything damaged and replacing armor plating with random metal plates that they found in the cargo hull of the train which they were using as a bit of extra cover. Interested in the defense, I began checking up with my airborne drones who were still on route to the construction site and they promptly reported that they were still a ways off from their destination and they would arrive in just a few minutes. Additionally, my hornets were attempting to destroy any enemy drones that they can spot which, while slowing down the arrival of those units, is hopefully steaming the tide and making it just a little bit easier for my defending forces.


    As I continued to watch my defending drones beat back the enemy forces which continuously appeared out of the ruins, my guards were slowly but surely being knocked out one by one. Unfortunately, as hard as my spiders tried, my drones were getting damaged or destroyed quicker than my drones could be repaired into fighting capacity and so my drones were steadily being pushed back. This was further exacerbated by the emergence of a tortoise which lumbered out of the woodwork along with a handful of escorting hounds and ants. Ordering my drones to hold the line for just a little longer, I checked the ETA of my aerial force which came back a minute and a half before they would arrive into engagement range.


    With that information, the last of my drone guards who were still combat capable threw themselves into the frey and, while the smaller drones engaged the tortoises escorts, my excavator crab moved in to hopefully take down the tortoise itself. Due to their long arms, my crab was able to get the first strike off which was a heavy slam against the armored hull of the tortoise which, while not damaging the enemy drone very much, got the tortoise to screech out in rage before charging forward. My crab attempted to doge out of the way, however it was too late as the tortoise crashed into one side¡¯s worth of legs making the arthropod fall over. As my crab fell down, it made another attack by using its clawer hand to grab onto the tortoise¡¯s side before attempting to flip the drone over whilst the driller arm began to spin up.


    I could hear the screeching of metal as my crab''s arm strained under the weight of the tortoise before the drill arm slammed into whatever section of the underside of the tortoise which my crab could reach. The retching of metal could be heard throughout the battlefield before it slowly stopped and the tortoise crashed down, unfortunately on top of my crabs already destroyed legs. Then the sound of a corus of wings and propellers began to make itself heard which threw the enemy drones into a frenzy of hurried retreat back into the ruins, however it was too late as my aerial force finally arrived and began to tear apart the fleeing drones as my construction guards finally could rest easy.


    As the last of the enemy force was taken down by a flurry of spikes and talons, a few of my hornets began working together to drag the corpse of the tortoise off my crab which was pinned under the weight. As they did this, all of my spider drones began showing the benefit of fighting near a construction site as they began swarming over all of the damaged drones and began administering or redoing their rushed field repairs. I estimated that after a few hours, they would be ready to continue the construction and finally connect up with the outpost after multiple days away from my established territory. But for now, I let them rest, it would not do to have my construction crew in disrepair.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 79

    The repairs on my drones progressed quickly enough with the sheer amount of spider drones who were available for tasking at the construction site, even with more than a few being destroyed during the battle. As most of the lightly damaged drones were brought back to full combat capacity, I had the majority of my aerial force move back to the outpost, leaving a handful of hornets to help guard the still recovering drones. Thankfully no major enemy attacks occurred while my drones were away, however my defending drones had to push back against more than a couple scouting groups who thankfully did not manage to send back the information that my lines were less guarded than usual.


    In addition to the scouting groups, the enemy drone force has finally stopped sending suicide beetle teams after my defuser moles finished manually detonating the last of the enemy mines. This has not stopped them from setting up an absolute nightmare of a minefield on their side of the border but for now my diffuser moles could rest easy. Once the aerial drones returned back to the outpost, the lines finally got reinforced and patrols went back to their usual schedule now that they had drones available for assignment. The patrols in question were showing to be rather redundant as the enemy drone force did not send anyone from their lines for the patrols to skirmish with however my drones did not dare move into the enemy¡¯s side of no-man''s-land due to the priorly stated minefield.


    After a half hour or so of watching the front from the safety of my defensive line, I eventually gave Cooper command and slipped out of my vessel to begin checking up on the construction crew. Arriving at the railroad, I saw that the majority of the construction team had been fully repaired and were back to finishing up with the last of the rails which would only be another hour or two of construction before it would finally reach the outpost. The only drones who were still being repaired were a few hounds who had taken a severe beating when fighting in the battle and the crab drone whose crumpled legs required the full attention of a decent chunk of my spider drones to begin repairing.


    Leaving the construction crew to their duties, I began checking up with the rest of my territory which had been chugging along in the background. Floating over to the factory first and foremost, I noticed the slight increase in number of robot villagers moving about and near the factory which, upon asking the gate guards why, was because R5-7G from the nomad village had stricken a deal with the reformed tower tribe and trade has begun between the two villages. As such they were now using the factory as a sort of waypoint since it was sat just about half way between the nomads and tower tribe in addition to the better maintained roadways which my spider drones had worked so hard for.


    I also noticed that more of the buildings which surrounded the outpost had been more or less demolished and were slowly being gathered and processed by the drones staying in my factory which apparently was because they did not have very much to do. This was because of the combined effort of the Flocks expansion into the surrounding territories and the relay systems which has more or less eliminated the feral threat around the factory which has left the garrison to salvage duties most of the time. As such the concrete reserves were looking pretty good even with my spider drones using the concrete to continue repairing/maintaining the roads between other points of interest along with filling out the barricades.


    With this in mind, I began ordering my caravans to begin dispersing the concrete to the mining outpost so that they could begin the construction of some rampart sections in the outpost, even if the mining outpost was within the relay network and was thus more or less safe from feral incursions. Speaking of the relay system, Paisleigh and her drones have fully joined the relay system and their troops have been deployed to their various positions and in turn Paisleigh and their subordinates have begun to receive their additional funding of materials. Now that Paisleigh¡¯s subordinates were partially manning the relay stations I could begin diverting the excess drones to my water treatment outpost so that they may be shipped off to the front lines now that the railroad track was almost complete.


    Checking on the warehouse outpost for anything that might require my attention, I find nothing other than the usual feral attack reports and requests for replacement drones. As I began moving over to my water treatment outpost, I noticed that my spider drones had been working on patching up the roads near the outpost and in the direction of Pings territory which apparently was because my spider drones had decided to make the route to Pings nearest outpost a bit easier for any future trade deals. I figured that this was probably a good idea given that it would be likely that at some point I would strike up another trade deal with Ping and so I gave the spiders my official endorsement along with assigning a few more guards in case of their endeavors attracting unwanted attention.


    With that all taken care of, I made another roundtrip across my territories to confirm nothing else needed to be done before slipping back over to the front lines where I popped back into my vessel drone. Perhaps I should join one of the patrol groups to help pass the time. Walking over to a cluster of drones who looked like they might be leaving soon, I got the attention of the patrol leader and requested if I may join them. The patrol snapped to attention at my sudden appearance before the squad commander nodded in acceptance. Joining into the formation of the half dozen gathered drones, we waited for a few more minutes for another two drones to join before we set out from the outpost into the ruin-filled area of no-man¡¯s-land.


    The trip was pretty uneventful as we walked or in the pair of hornet¡¯s cases flew through the ruins, finding nothing of note. As expected no enemy drones were spotted for the majority of the patrol however, as the patrol was nearing its end, one of my hounds spotted movement in the distance. Informing the rest of the patrol of what it had found, my hound pushed forward towards the source of the movement with the rest of the patrol close behind. As the hound rounded the corner I began hearing the sounds of a scuffle and once I and the rest of the patrol reached that same corner, I saw that my hound had already taken out what was now obviously an enemy scout rat which I would presume was moving towards my defensive line to collect intel on my troops.


    With that encounter over, the patrol team reformed and finished off the last section of the path which led back to the outpost. Once at the outpost, I gave the patrol group a farewell before returning back to my usual spot near the center of the compound where I can see the majority of the base without needing to move around all too much. Upon reaching my little observation spot, I noticed that the construction crew was nearly at the outpost and would only need a little bit longer until they would reach the outpost and finally finish their construction efforts. Deciding that I did not have anything else to do, I called over the construction team stationed at the outpost along with a couple escorts and we began moving over to the construction site.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Upon reaching the newly completed railroad, I was greeted by the fully repaired construction guards who quickly took me and my additional spiders to the construction site propper where I dropped off my extra spiders and began helping out with the placement of the rail sections. Over the course of the next half hour or so, I helped out the construction team and soon enough the last of the rail track was placed and welded making it so that the train could now officially move too and from my core territory and Churns. After a few cheers of celebration for the accomplishment, I ordered for the guards to begin joining the garrison of the outpost and for the former penal legion drones to begin filing the transportation cart so that they may be shipped off to the core territories as promised.


    As the train began to depart, I decided that the train should have a few other compartments other than the resource cargo cart and so I began having my spider drones begin the construction of two new carts which would be attached to the train on its next visit. The first cart would be a troop compartment where my medium and small drones could be transported about twenty five at a time in relative comfort rather than being squished in between plates of metal and components. The second cart would be a large drone transport that could hold two, maybe three, large drones at a time and its design was more like a large pallet rather than a cart as the sheer size of my crabs and tortoises stops any efforts to make the pallet have walls. At least it would be better than having the crabs laying on the top of the carts.


    As the new carts began to be constructed by my spider drones along with the help from a few drones which my spiders had more or less drafted to help from the garrison, I began floating around again until I got a notification from my factory. Floating back to the compound in question, I get further informed about the situation by a couple of my spider technicians who stated that the radio tower was apparently being hailed. Popping into one of my vessel drones, I made my way up to the roof after climbing some letters before I reached the radio terminal and saw who was messaging me. As expected it was Ping who was sending me messages which more or less contained requests for me to hop onto one of the frequency channels.


    Tuning my radio tower to the frequency Ping had requested me to, the static slowly flitted away and was replaced by Ping saying a few checks to make sure that their voice was getting through. Plugging into the terminal with my USB finger, I spoke aloud into the microphone, ¡°Hello, hello. Ping, can you hear me?¡± This elicited a quiet sound of what I think was surprise from Ping who I guess was surprised at my sudden vocalization before Ping replied with a ¡°Affirmative, I read you.¡± I waited a few moments for Ping to say why they had requested the call before I gave them the cue to start by saying ¡°So, what did you want to tell me about?¡±


    ¡°As yes, I have been experiencing increased amounts of attacks from the corrupted AI which you and Churn had been fighting and so I would like your assistance in building up defenses. Specifically I require a decent amount of materials as well as any construction capable drones that you have available. Of course, I am willing to exchange a few choice items if you are in fact willing to lend me the requested materials and drones.¡± Thinking it over, I suppose I do not really have much to lose from accepting the deal, after all my spider drones had just finished the train tracks and thus I had more spider drones than I had much use for. Additionally, due to my mining sites and marauder, I had a fair amount of excess resources now that I no longer had any large scale project of my own.


    ¡°May I ask what you are offering? While I am in favor of sending my drones to aid you and your defense, however I cannot let my drones be at risk without a sufficient incentive.¡± Ping proceeded to list out a few mundane rewards which included a larger sum of resources later and a few additional specs for my various scout drones which should make them a bit more effective. None of the options that they were providing seemed all that interesting aside from maybe the upgrades to a few of my drones before they said something that got my attention. They stated that they could provide the coordinates to a rundown military facility which apparently still had a few automated defenses which had stopped Ping from doing any major scouting or extraction of materials in that area.


    Asking Ping to go into more detail about the facility, they stated that they apparently had been planning on breaking through the defenses and seeing what goodies might have been inside; however the recent attacks had halted those plans in favor of defending their territory and Churn was still preoccupied with the majority of the corrupted AI force to lend assistance. As such the installation has gone relatively untouched and the automated defenses were still working well enough to dissuade any force smaller than twenty from going near it. Thinking over the possibility of assaulting and promptly looting the base, I eventually told Ping that my available spiders and a decent amount of construction materials would be sent their way on the condition that they were not to be sent on any overly dangerous construction missions while there and without my permission which Ping agreed to.


    With that, Ping severed the connection and I began diverting the moose caravans to begin collecting the needed materials before sending them on their way to the closest outpost to Ping¡¯s territory which was the water treatment outpost. Floating over to my construction team spider drones to finish constructing the carts that they were working on and to hop on the next train rotation back to my territory where they will join up with the caravan. Additionally, I made sure to ask Ping to arrange some escorts which would keep my drones safe while they were in Pings territory. Hopefully they will not be necessary but I can never be too precautious. As I began waiting for the drones to arrive at their destinations, Ping sent me the coordinates of the rundown military installation along with a basic layout which was nice of them.


    According to Ping¡¯s scouting data, the base was situated separate from the high buildings and was a mostly flat and open area minus the series of defensive walls which surrounded the base. In addition to the walls were a half dozen smaller mini forts which were going to be a bit annoying to deal with whenever I decide to attempt to break into there. Checking where the facility actually was in relation to my territory, I found that it was about an hour and a half away from my closest outpost which was the warehouse surprisingly. This meant that I would have to marshall a separate force from my main unit as there is no way that I would be able to properly defend the outpost whilst half of the unit was away.


    Welp, no reason to delay the construction. Ordering for a decent mix of drones with a slight favor towards heavier armor since I doubted that slow speed would matter much against a imobile fort. Eventually I came up with a force of two tortoises, a singular excavator crab, a decently sized mix of twenty five ant, termite, and hound drones with a fifty twenty thirty percent split, a dozen hornets, a fireteam of four scorpions, and a small complement of two vultures which will act as aerial scouts and additional ground support. This force, of course, will have a complement of repair spiders to minimize casualties and keep the force in tip top shape.


    The sudden introduction of nearly fifty drones nearly caused me to breach drone capacity which had not been a problem for quite some time and so I ordered for the construction of another batch of servers in order to keep the capacity high. And with that all taken care of, I sat back and listened as the hum of fabrication once again filled the factory walls.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 80

    It did not take long for my various caravans to fill their moose driven carts with the requested materials and soon enough there was a sizable group of moose caravaners waiting at the water treatment outpost. My spider drones took a bit longer to arrive as they had to wait for quite some time until the train arrived back on the frontline outpost where the two newly constructed carts were clipped onto the back of it. Nevertheless upon the arrival of my spider drones, I promptly ordered them to climb onto the backs of my moose drones before informing Ping that the convoy is ready and waiting for their assigned escorts. Not long after I sent the message a small group of six drones popped out of the woodwork and began leading my caravan through the ruins.


    Leaving them under the protection of Ping¡¯s drones, I began focusing on the newly established attack group which was slowly gathering at the warehouse outpost. Currently they were at about two thirds capacity with the rest already on their way towards the outpost which meant that it would only be another hour or two before they would be able to move out towards their target. With that in mind, I began checking up with the scout rat squads in the region and began ordering them to begin making more detailed scans of the facility and the route which my drones will be taking in order to get there. By the time that my drones are ready to move out, my scout rats will have gotten some better information about what they might be facing whenever they arrive.


    With that taken care of, I began wandering around my territory looking around for anything that looks interesting before I remember that my drones over by the mining outpost should have begun to construct their walls using the recycled concrete that had been delivered by the remaining moose drones who had not joined the caravan and moved out towards Pings territory. Checking up on the progress of the construction project, I could see what I would presume was the initial frame of the new wall which was currently being lined with metal plates which I would presume are there in order to keep the concrete in while it dries. Deciding that this was interesting enough, I continued to watch as my drones slowly welded the many plates together before slowly filling the now wall shaped case with concrete, one layer at a time.


    As the construction continued to progress, I received the message that my caravan of mooses and spiders had finally arrived into Ping''s territory which piqued my interest. Drifting over into the vision of one of my spiders, I opened my eyes to a facility of surprising scale and organization. From what it looked like, my caravan was currently moving through one of Ping¡¯s outpost which looked much better organized, not to mention cleaner, than my own outposts as I could distinctly glean the purpose of each cluster of machines which were all being tended to by various drones buzzing around. I could very easily spot the refinery corner, the drone fabrication hub, and the usual storage bays, however the large radio tower smack dab in the middle of the outpost was the most eye-catching.


    The radio tower for one thing, was extremely large in comparison to the model which Ping had sold to me earlier and was obviously more advanced with many more special additions to the radio tower, each of which looked distinct in their own right. Can¡¯t really blame them for not selling me the most advanced version they had. I would have probably done the same if I was in that situation. Looking around some more, I could see many combat focused drones all lined up in what was now obvious to be a repair bay and upon arriving there, Ping¡¯s escorting drones gesticulated towards the injured drones at my spiders who all took the obvious hint. The spider which I was watching from hopped off their moose ride along with his brothers and began administering repairs to the injured drones with the usual priorities being attended to the most.


    As my spiders worked, I saw that my moose caravan was guided away from the repair bay after they had dropped off a portion of the supplies. Flipping over to the view of one of my mooses, I watch as the caravan is led towards what was obvious to be where the defenses Ping had mentioned were being repaired. As my mooses were told to stop, Ping¡¯s own spider drones scrambled over into my moose''s packs and carts where they plundered the supplies before rushing back to the construction site in order to continue their work. It was obvious to see that the spider drones were in a hurry to construct the many barricades and other defensive positions as they rushed around grabbing whatever supplies they could. I suppose that¡¯s why Ping asked me to bring my spiders, they sure must want these defenses built quickly.


    I continued to watch the scene for a few more moments before leaving my moose and spider drones to do their duty with the pretense that Ping would make an adequate effort to guard them if anything were to happen. Focusing back onto my territory, I checked back on the progress of the fabrication for my new attack force and found that the last of them were finished being constructed and the majority of the force was now formed up at the warehouse waiting for movement orders and the last of their troops. Ordering the drones to sit tight while they waited for the drones still in transport to the outpost, I popped over to my scout rats who had been scouting out the facility for an hour or two now. As they began feeding me the information of the compound, I started to feel a bit hesitant to move in as they detailed the fact that while the defenses certainly are not in the best condition they were still strong enough to kill my drones.


    The scout rats informed me that the mini forts, which looked more like small bunkers with turrets on the sides, that surrounded the main facility were each defended by two scorpion-like stun turrets along the sides which had nearly taken out one of my scout squads. Additionally there was a singular, and much more lethal, turret which fired a hunk of molten slag at any drone which moved past a line which was marked by a blank and yellow line which was painfully learned as one of my scout rats attempted to run past the mini fort before promptly being engulfed by a hunk of hot white metal which melted the scout rat in its entirety. The slag thrower only fired upon things which entered the perimeter of the yellow and black line however I doubted that it was their maximum range but rather it was simply where the turret decided that the target had become a threat.


    My scout rat teams attempted a few more times to get past the mini forts however each time resulted in another couple scout rats either being melted or fried and thus they were unable to get much more intel on the main facility. Ordering them to take a break and get their injured repaired while waiting until further orders, I went back to waiting for the last of the drones set to join the rest of the attack squad¡¯s formation. While I was waiting, I decided that if I was going to send my drones into such a dangerous zone, I should at the very least be there in order to give moral support. Ordering for the fabrication of a vessel drone, I figured that it should be completed by the time the last of the recruits arrive. I decided to flip between watching how things were going on in Ping''s territory and the progress on the wall construction over the mining outpost. For the most part my drones have just been helping out with the exception of my moose caravan who, upon dropping off the last of the supplies, started to move back towards the water treatment outpost. Thankfully they did not need telling to leave a couple of their members behind in order to facilitate the return of my spider drones. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Soon enough the last of my drones joined up with the attack force which meant that I could finally begin having them move out towards the facility. Giving one such order, I slipped into my newly constructed vessel drone and ran up to join them in their marching. Checking the arrival time, I noticed that my scout rats have designated a peculiar path which looked to be avoiding a certain area for some reason. Asking why this was, my scout rats informed me that there seemed to be a large group of ferals in that direction as the scout team which was sent in that direction sent a few distress signals before we had lost contact. Agreeing with my scout rats that it likely would not be worth it to fight that enemy force, and so I and the rest of my drones continued on the premarked path although I did decide to dispatch my two vultures to begin giving a bit of overwatch around the formation.


    Thankfully nothing of note happened for the rest of the trip and not long after reaching viewing distance of the facility my scout rats ordered my drones to halt. Apparently this was the engagement range of the stun beam emplacements and so this was as close as we were going to get without taking it out. Asking my hornets and scorpions if they would be able to hit the hostile turrets from here my respective drones stated that unfortunately it would seem that with the disadvantage of immobilization, the turrets have been blessed with the advantage of longer ranges. Ordering my vulture to fly above the turrets in order to test if they would be able to hit targets in the sky, I got my answer when the three closest mini forts worth of stun turrets along with a couple from the base itself opened fire on my vulture. Miraculously the vulture in question somehow managed to evade quickly enough to not get shot out of the sky, however it ended with them getting clipped in the wing and having a less than graceful landing. Well then, this area is a no fly zone. I guess we are going to have to do this the hard way.


    Ordering my tortoises to take point, I told my hornets and scorpions to take cover behind the armored shell of my larger drones until they reached maximum firing range at which they will begin firing upon the turrets, hopefully out of range of the two mini forts to the left and right of the one I was attacking. If all goes well my drones will be able to take down this fort and be able to move past the other forts without being fired upon, however I doubted that it would go as easily. Regardless, my drones carried out their orders and began advancing towards the mini fort while my tortoises weathered the barrage of stun beams which thankfully did not manage to stop my larger drones from continuing to move forwards. Granted it did seem to slow my tortoises'' already slow movement.


    My drones continued to manage to advance and before long they had finally reached firing range and waited for my order. Standing safely out of range of the danger zone, I gave my drones the order to open fire on the turrets which my drones eagerly complied to which was marked with the sounds of thumps from my hornets and four bright blue lances from my scorpions. The shots impacted the stun turrets which majorly damaged one and completely destroyed another however the molten slag turret was left mostly unharmed as my drones were focused on the turrets that could shoot back currently. That turned out to be a rather poor mistake as the turret in question began spewing molten metal onto the armored hide of my tortoises.


    That molten metal proceeded to heat up and even melt some of the armor of my tortoises which was quite bad as I was hoping my tortoises would be able to handle the heat. To make things worse, the two mini forts which were nearby began opening fire with stun turrets onto my hornets and scorpions sides which was only tampered by the fact that only one of the turrets for each fort was in range. As the surrounding mini forts began opening fire I could hear sirens emanating from the facility which I assumed meant that we had been bumped up from strange anomalies to dangerous hostiles. Ordering my hornets and scorpions to finish off the slag turret while moving towards the right hand side in line with the tortoises which I had ordered to begin moving away from the slag turret and between the turrets from the other mini forts and the more squishy ranged drones which will hopefully stop my drones from being picked off to quickly.


    While this is going on, I ordered my melee focused drones to move in and towards and engage the mini fort which was to the right of the fort which my hornets and scorpions were fighting against. Hopefully they will be able to either bait shots away from my less armored ranged drones while my tortoises move in to act as cover or my melee drones will be able to close the distance and take out the turrets on their own. Regardless of whichever outcome comes to a head my melee drone force is large enough to handle whatever casualties, permanent or otherwise, without leaving me too understaffed although I hoped that it would not come to that. Running alongside my melee drones carrying a slate of metal to shield me and the drones behind me from any errant stun beam, I realized that it probably would have been nice if I had waited to grab some proper equipment before moving in but it was too late for that as we quickly approached the mini fort.


    Many of my less armored melee drones hopped on top of the bunker-like structure which was the mini fort while I and my ants did what we could from down on ground level. The real damage dealer was my excavator crab as their drill arm made short work of the relatively easier to break armor. I was nearly fried by a glob of molten metal which was shot from the top turret but thankfully I was able to block most of the burning hot metal with the metal plate I was holding although it did end with the metal melting through my makeshift shield leaving it in a less than perfect state. Thankfully my drones were able to take out the turret before it could get another burst of molten metal out and soon enough the two stun turrets were both taken down by my excavator crab and a few shocks from my termites.


    With all that taken care of, my drones and I were free to stand in the area which the two now disabled mini forts used to defend which thankfully gave us some breathing room. Looking over and checking up on my ranged drones along with my tortoises, I confirmed that they had managed to take down their mini fort without too much trouble and now they were waiting for new orders. Taking stock of what I had lost, I found that two of my hornets and a scorpion had been destroyed or stunned and a mix of three ants, two termites, and two hounds had been lost during the assault on the other mini fort. That of course was not counting the significant damages to my tortoises armor which had been burned badly by the slag turrets and, to some extent, the stun turrets.


    What I had gained was the ability to attack the main facility without being shot at from the sides by mini forts as their defensive turrets did not have the range to fire upon the areas where my drones now stood and where the destroyed turrets used to cover. All in all, that could have definitely gone worse as my tortoises managed to absorb the majority of the fire which was directed at my hornets. Looking at the current situation I could likely sit here and repair for a little while without too much trouble although that is assuming that there are not any mobile hostiles which could sally out and attack my recovering drones. Although given the fact that I do not spot any movement from what I can see of the main facility I would figure that there is not any.


    Ordering a few of my less injured drones to take up guard and form a perimeter, I called up the spider drones contingent which had come along and ordered them to begin administering aid and replacing the damaged armor plates on my tortoises. While they were doing that, I also called for my scout rats who had led my drones and I to the facility. Once I got their attention I gave them their new orders which were to push up and begin scouting out what they could of the main installation now that they would no longer be stopped by the mini forts which had surrounded the base. Unfortunately due to the fact that my vultures could not help due to the fact that the mini fort¡¯s turrets along with whatever weapon systems that were in the facility itself would likely shoot them out of the sky before they could be of much use. Hopefully by the time my spiders repaired the last of my drones, my scout rats would be able to collect some useful info.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 81

    Watching my scout rats push past my main concentration of drones, I am quickly brought back to focus by a nudge from one of my spiders which reminded me to pass another sheet of metal over to the drone in question. While I have no doubts that my force will likely be able to push through and take the main facility, I am still a bit worried about what I would lose in the next assault. After all, I had lost about a tenth of my total force from taking on two of the surrounding six mini forts which surrounded the main compound which was not giving me great feelings about what losses I would incur during the attack on the facilities'' still untouched walls. Really hope that whatever is in here will be worth the risk.


    Looking over to my spider who was currently working on one of my tortoises'' many burn wounds, I passed over another metal plate which was quickly slid over the gap and welded into place. I wonder if moles would be less affected by the molten metal turrets. Their description did state that they should be heat resistant due to the fact that they were made to burrow deep into the ground where heat is more abundant. I suppose it is not of much consequence, fabricating any impactful amount of moles would take another few hours to arrive, more if they are built in an outpost other than the warehouse. Looking over to the still alert turrets of the father off mini forts, I wonder how effective they would be on the front line. They certainly would be helpful at the very least based on the stun beam turrets range.


    Maybe there is a blueprint for them somewhere. That would be convenient. Spotting one of my drones who did not seem like they were doing anything, I ordered them to take my place as the glorified metal plate conveyor while I sat down and laid back on the tortoise closest to me. Switching my perspective from my vessel drone over to my scout rats, I began watching as they just about reached the main compound and it would seem that they had managed to stay out of sight or at the very least dodge whatever amount of fire which they were subjected to during the mad dash from the mini forts all the way to the walls of the main compound. From down on the ground the walls looked almost gargantuan although my scout rats who were used to their perspective communicated that the wall was merely a good eight feet tall.


    My scout rats continued to move about the base of the wall which seemed to be a nice blind spot for the turrets which line the top of the walls. Soon enough my scout rats found a nice little crack in the wall which was just about large enough for my tiny drones to squeeze through one at a time. Popping through to the other side of the wall, my scout rats were met with a somewhat squat building which was about the same size, if not a little taller, than the walls which surround it. Speaking of the walls, thankfully the turrets which defend them have not thought to look behind their walls which would have surely revealed my scouts. Not that they could think anyways.


    The sirens were no longer blaring however my scout rats could easily see that the turrets were still on high alert and were mostly focused on the area where my drones were last spotted by their surrounding forts. From the looks of it the walls were mostly defended by those stun turrets with the occasional slag thrower however for every handful of stun and slag turrets was another turret which looked utterly distinct in its design. The mystery turret looked to be made of the same frame as the other turrets however it possessed a barrel nearly double the size as the other turrets which looked to have a decent amount of wiring which connected each segment of the barrel to the rest of the turret''s hull.


    Whatever the mystery turret was supposed to do, I suspected that it would be especially deadly given the fact that they were less common than the stun and even the slag turrets. Ordering my scout rats to move on towards the building, I watched as my scout rats looked around for a while before discovering an exposed vent which my scout rats opened up easily enough. Moving into the vent, my scout rats encountered a split in the event that led to the right or continued forward which eventually made my scout rats decide to split their squad in two in order to cover more ground. Following the group which chose to go right, we reached the end of the vent quickly enough and after a few moments of removing the vent lid my scout rats began peering into the room which they had just found themselves in.


    The room itself was rather dull and, from the looks of it, I could safely assume that this was an office room and a rather undecorated one at that. Me and my scout rats dropped down into the room and began looking around for anything interesting again now that they could see the room fully. For the most part the room was devoid of anything that looked to be of any value aside from a worn down computer terminal which my scout rats tried and failed to access. I suppose I¡¯ll check the terminal once I break into this place. Looking over to the door which led into the room, my scout rats found it to be already opened slightly and, with only a few moments of pushing, my drones excited the room and began looking about the hallway which upon first glances was completely empty save the occasional piece of collapsed ceiling.


    The ceiling went to the left and the right and, from where my scout rats were looking, it seems that the hallway to the left ends in a turn to the right while the right hallway stops at a dead end. On both sides of each hallway combined there were about a handful of doors leading to what I was assuming were going to be other offices or perhaps a meeting room. My scout rats eventually decided to check the rooms behind them before moving forward and thus turned right towards the dead end. Opening each one of the rooms one by one, my scout rats found nothing in particular of note aside from a few potentially salvageable pieces of scrap which was in what I was guessing was a supply closet.


    Moving on back through the hallway all the way to the room which my drones had initially exited from, my scout rats were about to begin moving into and exploring the rooms on the left side of the hallway when the other scout rat group started reporting that they had found something and that I should look at. Leaving the group which I was watching over, I swapped my vision to the other scout rats who were currently standing at the descending stairwell which had a sign at the top of the doorway stating that it led to the core room which definitely piqued my interest. Was this base supposed to be manned by an AI? Is it currently being inhabited by one? If it is the latter, I hope I did not just start a conflict between us.


    Ordering my scout rats to venture down the stairs, I began to speculate on what I could say to hopefully smooth over relations as I really would like to not have to fight multiple AI¡¯s at once. My thoughts were brought to a halt when my scout rats fully descended the stairs and I saw what I guessed was the core which the sign had been referring to, however what confused me was just how small it was. The core, which looked to be inserted into the wall, could not have been more than a couple feet long and tall which was slightly confusing as my own core was substantially larger than that. Ordering my scout rats to move up and inspect the strange core, I watch as my scout rats move closer and eventually my scout rats and I manage to pull up the core¡¯s description.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    According to the description, this core is not like the standard core which I and presumably Ping and Churn inhibit, rather it is called a persona core which contains substantially less advanced artificial intelligences which were made to do singular simple tasks like organizing drone garrisons or overseeing construction projects. This particular persona core was designed to operate up to a total of forty turrets assuming that the core in question is supplied with enough power, operating capacity, and specialized infrastructure. Reading further into the description, I also find that the persona cores are much less stable than their full sized counterparts and are thus susceptible to levels of corruption which often leaves the core in a perpetually conflictive state. This is exceedingly dangerous for persona cores in charge of military installations which is why there are often backups on hand at most military installations in case of corruption.


    Well that is certainly interesting. A back up persona core they say, that would certainly be helpful to have, especially if there are some turret blueprints somewhere here. I could relieve a whole lot of drones of guard duty at the front lines. They might even be able to take a few potshots at the enemy lines from a safe distance. Ordering a few of my drones to attempt to look around to see if they could find a backup persona core, I had one of my remaining scout rats see if they might be able to break or disable the one which was currently controlling all of the turrets. It sure would make breaking into the facility much easier if my drones did not have to worry about being shot by the many turrets which stand guard on the walls. As one of my scout rats approached the core, they attempted to chip away at the glass which surrounded the persona core when alarms began blaring and internal speakers screamed intruder alert.


    Ordering my scout rats to bug out, I watched as two smaller ball turrets popped out from the walls and took aim at some of my drones including the one which I was currently watching all this through. I hurriedly pulled my conscience out of the scout rat in question which proved to be right on time as I heard the sound similar to the stun lances before the last of the scout rats'' senses left my purview and their signals cut out quickly thereafter. Got it, do not poke the core unless I want to get shot in the face by a turret. Slipping into my vessel drone, I looked around and found that my form was more or less fully patched which meant that they were about as prepared for the next assault as they ever would be.


    Ordering my forces to line up into their formation with tortoises in front and ranged drones behind them, I hoped that those mystery turrets would not be too much of a problem. Giving the command to begin advancing, my tortoises started their slow march forward towards the facility walls with my hornets and scorpions close behind. As they closed in, the stun turrets began opening fire on my tortoises who stoically shielded the rest of my drones from the worst of it; however, as the wall of enemy fire continued, I began to hear a low and unfamiliar hum. Looking around for the source of the strange noise, I eventually narrowed down where it might be coming from and my pit formed in my gut as I tracked it down to the three mystery turrets that I could see.


    Shouting out a warning and orders to make a break for it to my advancing drones, I found that it was too late as three loud bangs rang out across the facility as the mystery turrets fired their rounds which slammed into my tortoises. I watched as the rounds slammed into the armored shell of my tortoises which nearly shattered upon impact and visibly caused my tortoises to be pushed back a few inches. My tortoise on the right took two of the rounds and I could see that they were not looking good as their armor was dented and their movement had slowed considerably. Commanding my advancing drones to push up quickly, I ordered my melee focused drones to storm the walls as fast as they could, with the special mission of cracking the walls being given to my excavator crab.


    Following my charging drones close behind, I watched as my ranged drones pushed forward with enemy turret fire pepering their number. Regardless, my drones did their duty and those who were not nailed by turret fire steadied themselves before returning fire onto the turrets which had just taken down many of their fellow drones. My melee focused drones proved to be rather helpless in the charge as they could not properly attack back against the turrets due to their height advantage, however many were able to reach the wall and hid under the turrets blind spot while waiting for a potentially way to begin contributing to the engagement. Thankfully my excavator crab managed to move quickly enough to not be bogged down by turret fire and reached the wall where they hurriedly began using their drill arm to begin breaking apart the wall.


    My crab however was much too tall to take advantage of the blind spot and so many stun shots and globs of slag were sent their way which was bringing my poor drone to the brink of collapse. However they did their duty and as soon as a large enough gap was created my melee drones began storming in and climbing atop stairs in order to begin engaging the turrets on the rampart walls which had not already been taken down. As I began hearing that same humming from before, I ordered my ranged drones to focus down on the mystery turrets before they could get another shot off. My remaining ranged drones tried their best to take down the turrets in question and even managed to take one of them down, however the panicked advance and continuous engagement with the rest of the turrets had resulted in the loss of a considerable amount of their original firepower.


    luckily my melee drones were able to pick up the slack and they managed to take down one of the other humming turrets along with tying up many of other the still active turrets which thankfully relieved pressure on my damaged drones however the last turret finished its humming and it¡¯s round proceeded to slam into and finish off my excavator crab. Their work however paid off as the last of my melee drones made it past the walls and into the facility where they quickly joined their brothers and sisters who were already engaging the turrets. My melee drones continued to push across the walls taking out turret after turret at the cost of many drone lives however they got it done and soon enough the last of the hostile turrets were disabled.


    Giving the order to finally stand down, I began calling over the spider repair teams to begin administering aid to my many battered and bruised drones, many of which were on the brink of total system failure. Checking how many I had lost, I found that two thirds of my ranged drones were either killed or in rare cases only crippled by the stun beams, nearly half of my melee drones had been destroyed with another third being severely damaged, and two out of the three large drones I had brought were destroyed with one of the tortoises only surviving because my scorpions and hornets started drawing fire away from them during the reckless charge. I had expected a fair few drones to be lost in this fight, it was a military facility after all, however I did not anticipate that the defenses would be this ferocious.


    Sighing to myself, I just hoped that whatever I can find in the facility along with the persona core would be worth the trouble which my drones had to endure. Ordering my drones to rest for a little while, I waited for my spiders to begin the lengthy procedure of repairing the many wounds which this operation had incurred.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 82

    Letting my drones rest and recuperate, I decide to check up with the rest of my territory to see if anything interesting has happened while I was focusing on assaulting this facility. As it turned out, quite a lot has happened inside of Ping''s territory which, according to my repair spiders stationed temporarily over there, included a large-scale attack from the corrupted AI against Ping''s defenses which were not fully prepared. According to my drones, the enemy drones had been beaten back but heavy casualties have been inflicted and my spiders were now working overtime alongside Ping¡¯s maintainer drones in order to handle the casualties. It would seem that the corrupted AI has set their sights on my radio based ally and it sounds like my spiders aren¡¯t going to be returning home anytime soon.


    In contrast to the ongoing fighting in Ping¡¯s territory, my side of the border has been uncharacteristically quiet for a while with little to no interaction with the enemy force being reported. My worms have even reported a slight decrease in the number of beetle mines which dot no-man¡¯s-land and the underground which is interesting to say the least. I guess the question is do I send a few of my drones to help with defending Pings territory, after all it would be a shame to lose my buffer and trading state. Or do I attempt to press the attack and see if I can gain some quick territory which might even relieve some drones off of Ping¡¯s frontline. The latter is certainly an interesting proposition as it would most definitely constitutes as something Churn might reward me for which is always a nice bonus for my work.


    On the other hand, sitting tight and helping to secure Ping¡¯s territory would definitely be the safer option which would result in much less possibility of losing my drones in the inevitable fighting since staying in friendly territory on the defense is much less hazardous than running across a light minefield and taking uncharted hostile territory. Eventually I decide to leave the matter until after I finish taking care of the military facility since the issue is not currently pressing and can thus wait for a little while. Checking up on the rest of my territory quickly, I find that the wall construction at the mining outpost is well on its way and soon enough the construction crew can begin diverting those resources to the next outpost in need of defenses.


    Focusing back onto the military facility, I begin to look over my many injured drones who were all being tended to by my spiders. Looking over my drones force as a whole, in the time which I was checking up on other things about half a dozen of my injured drones managed to be repaired back to functionality which increased the number of combat capable drones up to a solid ten drones. Calling over the least damaged drones to my position, I found that the majority of the drones who managed to get through the battle relatively unscathed were some of the melee drones and the vultures who stayed out of the fight entirely due to the fact that they were shot down the moment they entered the sky. Picking out two hounds, a pair of ants, and a scorpion, I opened what looked to be the main door and walked into the facility proper.


    Looking around, I surmised that this was not the area which I had seen through my scout rat¡¯s vision as I and my drone retinue found ourselves in a quaint reception room which had some small tables and waiting seats. Walking past the waiting area to the door behind it, I passed through and found that it led to a hallway which split into three directions, those being left, right, and forward. Deciding to move to the left first, I found that it led down to the area which I had initially scouted out using my rats and so I decided to turn back as there was not much of interest there aside from the terminals which I could look at later. Moving back to where I had started, I decided to go down the right side of the hallway which continued on for a little while before reaching a door which was labeled a storage room. Don¡¯t mind if I do.


    Walking into the room, I found a relatively small room which had the usual storage crates and shelves of containers. However I discovered that one of the containers, secluded and separated from the others, contained a few data chips which probably held something of importance or value. Pulling one of the chips out, I found that there was a familiar looking plug section on the side of it which upon closer inspection reminded me of one of the sockets which the drone modification station. I guess these have something to do with modifying my drones. I wonder what kind of attachments they might hold. Putting the chip back into its container, I placed it back down where I had found it and made sure to make a note to check those out whenever I returned.


    Looking through the other containers, I found that many of them were empty and those that were not only held some random chunks of scrap which I suppose would be turned into some extra metal however in one of the containers I found a set of three blueprints which upon closer inspection were the turrets which had been firing at me from the walls and mini fort. Reading through the blueprints descriptions I found that my assessment that the stun beam turrets did in fact use the same kind of beam which my scorpions used along with the fact that the turrets were much more longer ranged due to the fact that they could draw upon much more power from whatever power grid they are connected to. Reading through the description for the slag turret, I found that the turret was designed to melt through heavy metal armor in order to get to the fragile insides where the slag could do all sorts of hell with the wiring.


    Looking into the last description, I found that the mystery turret was actually a miniaturized railgun which, using the comparably massive power draw, fires a metal projectile at high speeds which is usually enough to crack the armor of larger drones easily enough and absolutely tears through smaller drones. That will definitely be useful once I figure out how to install one of these persona cores in one of my bases. It certainly will make that outpost one hell of a defensive position. Doubling back to the intersection, I and my drone escorts made our way through the straight forward hallway which eventually turned to the right and led to the familiar staircase down to the persona core along with a few other rooms further down. Deciding to check out the rooms down the hall, I looked through them and found nothing of too much interest as they were just simple metal bed racks and some other assorted storage boxes which were empty. Oh well, more scrap for me. Moving back to the stairwell, my drones and I began descending.


    Quickly reaching the bottom of the stairs, I am met with the familiar sight of the persona core and the now obvious sections of the wall which I presume would slide open if my drones or I attempted to touch or damage the persona core which was implanted in the middle of the wall opposite of the stairs. Looking down to the ground, I found the corpses of my scout rats who had been massacred by the turrets and it would seem that they were not simple stun beams as my rats had been singed and burned when they had been hit along with the obvious scorch marks on the ground. Ordering my drones to keep an eye on the persona core and the turret slits, I began searching for the backup persona core which the description had said that might be kept in storage as a backup.


    Eventually I located the persona core which was kept in a small sliding cabinet which was placed on the side of the wall. Handling the persona core with great care, I carried it back out to the entrance where I carefully placed it down and made sure to inform my drones to be careful around it. Jogging back over to the core room, I began debating on whether it would be better to just destroy the corrupted persona core or if I should attempt to capture it and see if Ping or Churn might be able to fix it or at the very least have a use for it. The former would be much easier as it would be a matter of shooting it and running before the ball turrets shoot back. Actually what is controlling the ball turrets? If the persona core is what controls it then it would be really dumb for the turrets to only activate after the core is interfered with.


    Dismissing the thought, I eventually decided that the risk of being shot by the ball turrets would be worth it if I could get another potentially functional persona core, even if it probably will need some additional work to have it properly functioning. Ordering my scorpion drone to open fire on the turret to the right immediately after it pops out, I prepared myself to punch the other turret as hard as I could. Knocking onto the persona core, I gave my drones the signal and as soon as the turrets sprang out of the walls I heard the loud shot of my scorpion. Hopping that they did not miss or else I would be shot in the back, I lifted my arm up and brought it down and slammed it into the turret which had just begun to target me. My blow managed to knock the turret down which caused the hot red beam to shoot out and down to the floor, however before I could celebrate I was hit in the shoulder by a beam from the turret behind me.


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    As it would seem my scorpion stun beam only managed to slightly disorient the turret and so I was only shot in the shoulder rather than the back of my head. Dropping down to the ground in pain one of my ants rushed forward and with one fluid motion jumped up to and slammed down their hydraulically powered chompers down onto the turret which crumpled under the pressure. My other drones helped me up to the point where I was half leaning on them which was nice of them. Releasing my still burning shoulder, I used my other hand to fiddle around with what I assumed was the clamps to the persona core after which I just barely managed to catch the core which suddenly dropped out of its mount in the wall. Sighing in relief that I had not just taken a shot of red hot laser to the shoulder for nothing, my drones helped me up the stairs and back out of the facility where I put down the corrupted persona core next to the new one.


    Walking over to one of my spiders who were not currently working on a patient, I showed them my wound on my shoulder which they jumped back from. Despite the fact that I still can not understand what my drones are explicitly saying I could easily tell that the spider in question was berating me for not caring about keeping myself away from harm. As my spider continued to berate me while I layed down face first, I eventually decided that I did not need to be there anymore and thus I slipped out of my vessel and began floating back to my factory. Locating the vessel which I had decided to just leave on top of the roof near the radio tower, I slipped in and realized that it probably was a bad idea as I could feel the slight roughness of the beginning of rust which I guessed had formed from the rain which was quietly pattering against my metal skin.


    Sighing to myself, I pulled up the contact codes for Ping and began transmitting a message which asked if they knew what to do with a corrupted persona core. I was mildly surprised by the rather quick response of ¡°Wait, you found a persona core!?!¡± from Ping. Sending back a confirmation, I was treated to a request for a call which I accepted automatically however I quickly regretted that as I was quickly swarmed by a small flurry of questions, none of which I managed to understand. ¡°Slow down Ping, one question at a time.¡± This seemed to, if not stop, pause the tide of questions as Ping seemed to compose themselves before asking only a few of their questions this time rather than the ten which they started off with, one of which they very quickly answered for themselves.


    ¡°Where did you find a persona core? Oh, it was from the military facility wasn¡¯t it. Darn it, I should charged more for those coordinates.¡± Ping proceeded to go back to devolving into a flurry of questions before they pulled their composure back together and asked ¡°what kind is it?¡± I noted that Ping seemed to be very interesting, the persona cores which to be fair seemed to be rather useful. Responding to Ping¡¯s question I said, ¡°First of, it would seem that the persona core¡¯s I found are of the turret specification. I actually found some blueprints of the turrets which the corrupted persona core was using to shoot at me and my drones.¡± Pausing for a few moments, I could tell that Ping was trying quite hard to keep their composure and to be fair I would as well if I sold the coordinates to a site which held some very valuable equipment. Eventually Ping just sighed to themself while muttering under their breath about how the universe is simply unfair before they responded, stating that they did in fact know what to do with persona cores and asking how much I would be willing to take in order to hand one or both of them over.


    ¡°Well, I am not entirely sure how much this might be worth, however I can see from your . . reaction, that these cores are at the very least quite useful. And seeing as I have no idea how to fix this thing, I am willing to trade the corrupted core in exchange for . . . actually I¡¯m not even sure what I might want from you.¡± Ping seemed to consider things for a few moments before proposing an offer where I would give her the corrupted persona core in exchange for instructions on how to use a persona core, the blueprints for the persona core¡¯s implantation station, Ping¡¯s promise to feed my sensor data on her territory along with the ability to make the occasional scouting requests, and for the cherry on top Ping would give me the designs for her version of the vessel drone which apparently had a whole host of sensor systems which Ping would tell me more about once I accept.


    I debated if this much would be worth the corrupted persona core before eventually just accepting, after all without the blueprints and instruction on how to use the cores, they would be practically useless until I found them. I was about to cut off the channel before Ping proposed a secondary deal which was a request for an additional shipment of materials in exchange for those extra sensor upgrades to my drones that had been offered during the last deal for materials. Thinking it over for a second, I decided to accept the offer given the fact that I had more than enough resources from my mining outpost and the mole colony that I could more or less spend freely without too much worry of running out. Fully closing the channel, I made sure to put my vessel drone next to the ladders up to the roof while ordering an errant spider to attempt to remove the bits of rust which had begun to form on my vessel.


    While they did this, I gave the order for my moose caravans to begin gathering the materials that Ping had ordered so that I would not forget later. With that taken care of, I floated back over to the military facility and back into my other vessel which looked to still be undergoing some repairs however the spider repairing me seems to have stopped berating me. Getting up off of the ground I can hear a few chittered complaints from the spider on my back but I paid it no mind as I moved into the facility and to the office rooms which my scout rats had initially scouted out. Arriving at one of the offices, I stepped behind the desk and began inspecting the old terminal which looked weathered however proved to be functional as it turned on when I plugged my USB finger into one of the plugs. Scouring through the files that were left on the terminal, I found a series of reports which looked to me mostly free from corruption.


    Reading through the reports, I discovered most of them were simple reports on the status of the outpost created by what I guessed was an automated system given the fact that each report looked nearly identical asides from the date. Eventually I stumbled across a file which looked more interesting compared to the others which, upon reading, turned out to have been directed at all of the personnel in the facility to leave the facility and to move up to the middle layer of the city. After that the automated reports continued for a few weeks before the reports began including ¡°Rot has entered the perimeter¡± and ¡°Rot has been eliminated¡± before eventually stopping after about three months worth of such reports. I guess the rot learned that this area is not worth it. Reading through the next reports, I found that they were slowly progressing to becoming more and more corrupted before eventually they became unreadable.


    That''s interesting I guess. Seems like whoever was in charge ordered for the facility to be abandoned but not disabled. Perhaps to slow down the rot a bit. Checking the other terminals for other files, I found that they contained the same stuff and so I decided to go over to where I had placed the personna cores. Picking one up carefully, I walked out of the building and over to one of my moose drones who had carried the spider repair team over here. Placing down the persona core into one of the baskets strapped onto the moose, I repeated the process for the other core and along the way I grabbed those data chips. Checking up on the rest of my drones who were still being repaired, I decided to order that any drones not fully repaired who could still move are to follow me and return back to the outpost.


    Detailing a few healthy drones to guard the still imobile drones and the repair spiders, I and the rest of my force began marching back to the outpost. Once my drones and I arrived back at the warehouse outpost after a hour and a half of marching, I ordered for the moose carrying the two persona cores to continue on to the subway station and to make their way to the water treatment outpost where they would join the still ammassing caravan. Hefting the container which held the data chips, I jogged over to the moose who was still carrying the persona cores. Looks like I have to bring these to the factory or water treatment plant if I want to see what these are. Eventually reaching the subway station, I took a seat on one of the many benches and began to wait for the subway train to make its next stop here.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 83

    It did not take too long for the subway train to arrive back at the warehouse outpost¡¯s resident subway station and so my persona core laden moose and I stepped aboard and began waiting until we would arrive at the water treatment outpost. Deciding that I did not have anything interesting to do while I was in transit, I pulled myself out of my vessel drone and began floating over to Ping¡¯s territory to see how things were going over there. Popping into the viewpoint of one of my spiders, I saw that this particular one was currently working on repairing a steadily extending line of injured drones which seemed to extend no matter how quickly my spiders patched them up. Looking around, I found that while the majority of my spiders were focused on repairing the injured, there were still a few who were working on preparing some turrets which looked like the ones which had been shooting at me not two hours earlier.


    I guess Ping is already preparing to install the persona core I sold to her. Not sure how they are going to un-corrupt the core but I suppose I do not really need to think about that for now. Pulling my conscience out of the spider drone which I was watching from, I began moving over to my mining outpost where the construction of the defensive barricades were almost complete with my drones putting in the finishing touches. I felt a bit of gratification as I watched my spiders pour in the last of the concrete since I could now reasonably assume that my mining outpost would be significantly better equipped for a surprise attack than before, even if I doubted that the corrupted AI would send a force all the way over here. With the barricades nearly completed, I suppose I should order for the next outpost to begin the construction of their own barricades.


    Looking over my options, I figured that it probably would be the most useful to construct such defenses over by the front line outpost which Churn had let me garrison for the time being. Perhaps I should ask him if it would be alright if I were to install some additional defenses along with the persona core turrets inside of the outpost or if they still wished that I not construct anything that he did not have control over. Flopping over to my vessel drone in the factory, I noticed that the spider had done a nice job at removing the rusty residue on the vessel in question before I climbed up the ladder and walked over to the radio tower terminal. Plugging myself into the machine, I sent a quick and relatively formal message requesting for his


    permission and began waiting for their reply.


    It did not take too long for Churn to reply back with a message stating that while he did not mind the construction of the walls at the outpost, he was less enthusiastic about the construction of the turrets as they would be drawing power from his network and he was less than comfortable with turrets being placed in his territory that he did not have control over. Fair enough I suppose. Sending over a message of confirmation that I will not be constructing the turrets as per request and that I would still begin construction of the walls which I had mentioned. Churn did not send any messages back telling me that I should not build the barricades and so I gave the order that the resources previously being sent to the mining outpost are to be re-routed over to the front lines.


    I speculated on if the spiders over in Churn''s territory would be sufficient to construct such defenses before I eventually just shrugged it off as the defenses did not seem overly urgent as the number of hostile action over in that region has been declining steadily. Speaking of which, I suppose I should make up my mind on whether I should attack corrupted AI territory or help Ping defend their own. As stated before, staying on the defensive is sure to keep the number of casualties low and would definitely improve relations with Ping and probably Churn, however taking advantage of the lowered defenses could give major gains and would likely prove to be the more rewarding option. Eventually I decided that both options were too good to pass up at the moment, I chose to order my under ground based drones to begin increasing their probing attacks and to set my troops returning from the military installation to begin moving towards Ping¡¯s territory once they finished being repaired.


    While I began to do this, I got the idea to ask one of my vassals if they might wish to gain a bit more territory in a different direction. The areas in and around the front lines are likely filled with drone corpses from the multitude of light battles and skirmishes which litter the ruins which would be prime scavenging grounds for my vulture allies who I assume would not mind some easy resources given they are, well, vultures. Additionally there are likely dozens of different feral drone groups who wander the area as neither Churn, I, nor the corrupted AI ever have the time to divert our forces to taking down rogue feral drones. Sending this information to the Flock through the relay stations which connect my outposts to their nesting grounds, I eventually get their reply which states that they are more than willing to send a number of their members to these rich new territories.


    Sending back a confirmation of their willingness to expand their territory, I also mailed them a couple of coordinates which were suggestions for some decent places where they might be able to establish their forward bases. Most of the suggestions were somewhat near the water treatment outpost and the train tracks which connect said outpost to the front lines however there were a couple which were off the beaten path that would likely contain more untapped resources. Hopefully they will not have too much trouble settling in, it sure would be nice to have a few more allies who can help out if need be. As I continued to float about, I received the message that the subway train had just arrived at its destination and that I should probably get off unless I was planning on heading back to the factory.


    Sliding back into my vessel drone, I walked out of the subway train and waved to the drones who were just departing back further into my territory. Looking around it would seem that the persona core laden moose had rushed off to join the rest of the caravan which was now waiting for the last of their number to fill up and get ready to set off. Walking out of the station and over to the outpost with the container of data chips in hand, I noticed that there were a couple of drones with the colors of Ping¡¯s drones. Asking one of my drones why this was, they articulated that they were here to construct some data lines so that they could fulfill their side of the deal which was to send me some of their sensor data. Honestly, I kind of forgot about that part but hey, I¡¯m not complaining.


    Detailing a few of my drones to go over and help them out wherever they could, I walked further into the outpost and into the water treatment plant itself. It actually has been a little while since I had to go into here so it took me a second to remember the way into the center of the outpost where all the actual important stuff is located but I found my way eventually. Walking over to the modification station, I pulled out one of the three data chips stored in the container and plugged it into the terminal before I plugged myself in as well. The terminal screen powered on and a small downloading bar popped up in the bottom right corner which slowly but steadily filled up before eventually it displayed the message that the download was completed and asked if I wanted to inspect the new modification which I now had access to.


    Answering in the affirmative, the terminal switched from displaying the main menu to showing me a model of a hound which was slightly more bulky than normal and had a strange pack on the back of it. Reading the description of the modification, apparently this modification would make the hounds more bulky and thus slightly slower than normal however the pack on the back of the hound was a small stealth emitter which would, for a short period of time, make the detection of the drone harder and it was most effective during the night. Repeating the process for the next data chip, this time it displayed a scorpion with a much larger lancer cannon and sturdy looking legs. Reading the description for this modification, I found that it would replace my scorpion''s stun beam with a much more lethal variant which shoots red with the drawback of forcing the scorpion to stop moving entirely and charge up for slightly longer.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Inserting the last data chip into the modification station, I was soon enough met with the model of a standard tortoise with one large and very obvious difference. The tortoise looked to be almost gutted with nearly half of what used to be the shell area of the tortoise being removed and replaced with a flat surface. On top of that flat surface sat what looked to be a rotating disk which had a large tube placed at an angle along with a few supporting stilts which kept it upright and a section near the rear of the tortoise being filled by a small fabricator looking machine. I stared at the model for a few seconds before my mind caught back up with me and I fully realized that I now had the opportunity to strap a mortar onto the chassis of a tortoise. Pulling up the description, I began reading through it which revealed that the model in front of me was indeed displaying a mortar on top of a tortoise.


    According to the description, the tortoise proved to be the ideal platform for heavy weapons and equipment and thus this particular model had its armor fully removed in exchange for a decently sized 80mm mortar and a smaller fabricator which can intake the required materials in order to produce the required shells of which the tortoise can hold up to 6 at a time, one in the barrel the rest in the auto loader. Additionally the model had upgraded the legs of the tortoise so that they could be more stable and handle the recoil which the mortar forces upon the chassis whenever it fires. As such, in order for the mortar tortoise to fire without damaging itself, it needs to fully deploy itself by planting its legs into the ground and clamping down to the floor. This massive upgrade in firepower has come at the cost of the tortoise becoming extremely vulnerable to any amount of damage, even slower than usual, and the price of requiring a constant source of materials or prefabricated ammunition in order to be of any usefulness.


    As I finished reading the description, I stood in silence for a few moments, contemplating the fact that I had practically gained a full 3 different drones all at once. My brain was already going at a mile a second with dozens of different uses for my new designs before I was brought out of my stupor when one of my drones who had entered the room poked me before informing me that the caravan was ready to be sent on their way and they were now waiting for my word before setting out. Walking out of the building and over to the caravan, I give them a once over to make sure that they have all the requested materials before sending them on their way with a couple of my drones as guards before Ping¡¯s own escorts popped out of the woodwork and joined up with my own.


    As Ping¡¯s drones joined the formation, I noticed that there were fewer than last time, which was a subtle reminder that things were not going the best over in Ping¡¯s own front lines. Watching them leave for a few moments, I eventually make my way back inside of the outpost propper and over to the drone works. Ordering a pair of my new fancy mortar tortoises, I also begin queuing up a fire team of stealth hounds and two groups of four of the new scorpions which I guess I will call lazer scorpions given the red tint of their lasers. As they began the slow process of fabricating, I began requesting the materials that I would need to fabricate the actual mortar rounds which my tortoises would need to fire, with most of the materials coming from the warehouse outpost¡¯s stores of chem fuel.


    With more drones being produced and the repairs for the attack force which had taken out the military installation being nearly finished I now had to consider where I would be sending them. Checking over at the front lines, I found that my forces were doing fine and had not encountered enemy forces for a while now so I doubt I would need to divert forces towards them. Ping certainly could use them though, maybe once my drones arrive here I¡¯ll ask if they need some assistance. Seeing as my drones would not be here for a while, I swapped perspective over to my vessel drone over Churns territory where I walked around before eventually finding Cooper. Checking up with my little drone commander, I requested a status report on how things had been going on over here which Cooper eagerly began answering.


    Apparently the mole and worm probing attacks had gone relatively well with a decent amount of fire beetle mines being disabled and they even managed to take down a couple of the retaliating moles which the corrupted AI forces sent to stop my incursion. This has essentially confirmed our suspicions that the enemy forces were currently at half strength due to a large number of them being pulled off the front, likely to fight on Ping¡¯s front. With the enemy troops depleted, Cooper and his troops seemed much more confident that they could take the enemy lines without suffering too many casualties if they could clear out the still present minefield. Nodding in understanding, I gave a few orders to my diffuser moles to begin focusing on disabling mines closer to the surface and to report their progress every so often.


    As my moles began digging back into the ground, I received a message from my caravan which stated that they had just arrived at Ping¡¯s territory and they were beginning to offload their cargo. Flipping over to the viewpoint of one of my moose, I noted the drone production section of the neat and tidy outpost which Ping has control over was currently pumping out drones at an impressive rate, most of which looked to be combat focused drones. As the unloading continued, I watched as Ping¡¯s drones began grabbing batches of the newly delivered materials and scurrying off to wherever they were needed with a large amount being diverted to a large construction site which I figured would be the mount for the persona core. Speaking of which, Ping herself exited one of the buildings and walked over to the caravan, specifically the moose which held the corrupted persona core.


    Seeing as I did not have any vessel drones inside of this caravan, I instructed one of my moose drones to do their equivalent of a wave to Ping who seemed to notice this and promptly waved back. Ping approached the moose carrying the persona core and carefully picked the sphere up and began to inspect it and I began to ponder on what kind of process Ping would need to go through to uncorrupt the core. Asking one of my moose to voice my question, a series of grunts and bellows which Ping seemed to understand well enough as they began listing out a long procedure of debugging where the persona core would be put in a one way connection to Ping¡¯s main core for a few hours. That sounded potentially risky but I shrugged it off, Ping probably knew more about this stuff than me so I just asked my moose to nod as if I understood what they just said.


    As Ping left to do that, a few of their drones began loading a few of my moose with the upgrade scanner modules and what looked like the blueprints to Ping¡¯s sensor based vessel drone. Soon enough my caravan was back on the move towards my territory with the nice upgrades and the new vessel drone design. I wonder what all the sensors on the vessel drone would allow me to do, perhaps allow me to detect other drones around me. Not sure when that might be useful aside from maybe feral hunting but I have not needed to go on those hunts with the relay system in action. Maybe they would be helpful whenever I go on patrols around corrupted AI territory.


    Welp, the only way to find out is to build one. Suppose I¡¯ll just need to wait until the caravan arrives back. Slipping back into my vessel drone that I had left back at the water treatment facility, I found the closest wall and promptly laid myself up against the wall. With the caravan still being a fair distance away from the outpost, I sat back and watched as my drones moved by. Many were focused on their work however a few stopped by to say hello which I happily returned the gesture. As this continued, I eventually fell into the familiar state of semi conscience which quickly took hold.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 84

    As time slowly passed, the sound of two dozen or so clacking metal hooves on concrete brought me back into focus. Opening my eyes once more, I saw that my moose caravan had just arrived back with the goodies from Ping which they had oh so graciously began dumping onto the ground next to me. Thankfully Ping had had the forethought to put the modification data chips inside of a nice and neat container which protected them from the concrete floor which my mooses had dumped them on. Sending the caravan on their way, I picked up the data chip container and the blueprint for Ping¡¯s version of the vessel drone and began walking into the outpost propper.


    As I walked, I began examining the blueprints for the vessel drone and was slightly intrigued by the sheer number of extra bits and bobs which were placed all over the upper half of the vessel. As I examined the design more however, I noticed that it also lacked the, I suppose additional, hydraulics and armor plating which my version of the vessel drone normally had preinstalled. I suppose that makes sense, an industrial focused vessel should be sturdy and full of contingencies in order to avoid being accidentally destroyed by the many heavy duty machines and drones which they probably would have been working with in comparison to the likely less strenuous tasks which Ping¡¯s design were likely to partake in. I guess this just further emphasizes that I should avoid combat if I¡¯m controlling one of those.


    Eventually reaching the production center of the outpost, I inserted the blueprint into the medium drone works and began ordering for the fabrication of the new vessel before I moved back over to the modification station and began pulling out the data chips. Pulling out the first of two data chips that Ping had sold to me, I inserted it into the modification station and after a few moments of downloading read through the description of the modification. In comparison to the modifications which my drones and I found in the military facility, I found these modifications to be rather bland with the scout rat mod only allowing my rats to release a sort of ping that could highlight drones within around a radius of about 10 feet. The one for my vultures was mildly more interesting with them gaining the ability to see through thermal vision which would be helpful in spotting enemy formations and bases.


    The upgrades are better than nothing I suppose. Slipping out of my vessel drone, I began visiting my many scout rat teams scattered across my territories and any vultures stationed in my garrisons all of which I ordered to fall back to the nearest outpost and to begin their reconstruction to include the new modifications. With outfitting my drones with modifications in mind, I began ordering for a sixth of my hounds at the front lines to begin getting outfitted with their new modifications. As for my scorpions, I ordered for a third of them to be outfitted with the lethal laser modification since I felt that the stun beam was still useful even if it did not damage as much as the lazer probably would. Checking up on how many turtles that I had on standby, I figured that I probably shouldn¡¯t convert them into mortars lest I lose my most sturdy front line drone.


    Lastly I also ordered for a fourth of my hornet force to equip themselves with the EMP variant of their launcher since I noticed that a large majority of the original wave of EMP hornets had fallen for one reason or another and I had been replacing them with standards. That should balance out my forces quite nicely. Slipping back into my vessel drone, I noticed that while I was upgrading my drones with modifications, the scanner variant vessel drone had finished being constructed and was now standing by. Sliding into the vessel in question, I immediately notice the sheer difference in weight as my movements feel light and quick in comparison to the now cumbersome and slow movements of my industrial vessel drone. As I begin moving around, I feel unburdened by the heavy plates of protective armor; however, I also notice how weak I feel in this body.


    The scanner vessel, while much more freeful in its movements, seemed to lack the strength and surety of my industrial vessel which played all kinds of havoc with how I was used to moving around and picking up objects. As I continued to move about the room, I noticed that there was a button situated on the underside of my arm which was not present in my industrial based vessel. Pressing down onto the button, I felt as if a small wave of signals pulsed out from somewhere on my back and as that wave moved and passed a few of my drones, those said drones began to become highlighted by a faint blue lining. Additionally it would seem that this sensor ping of sorts was able to pass through and detect drones behind walls as more of my robots began being highlighted. After a few moments the sensor ping slowly dissipated and the highlights disappeared from view.


    I felt a small wave of vindication as my guess that Ping''s vessel drone could be used to detect drones around itself was proven to be correct. Floating out of and around the vessel, I began inspecting the exterior of the vessel for any other cool things that I could not see from inside of it. Looking at the scanner vessel and my original one, I could fully appreciate the sheer difference in bulk which my vessels possessed as the scanner version looked flimsy in comparison. Continuing to compare the two vessels, I pointed out how the industrial version had almost no protrusions compared to the scanner which had antennae and miniature radar placed practically everywhere on the upper body, with a large majority being located on its blocky backpack-like accessory.


    If I had to compare it to something, I would say that the backpack looked like one of those big back mounted vox casters which I had seen carried by soldiers in those old propaganda videos back when I was still alive. I guess the backpack probably contains most of the scanner bits. Honestly I find it kinda funny that such a thin drone frame has a pack of that size on their backs. The last main cluster of antennae was on the sides of the head where my ears would have been; however, as I was inspecting them I noticed that there was another button on the right antennae ear. Slipping back into the vessel, I felt around for the button for a second before finding it and clicking it. This seemed to do nothing asides from spitting a moment of static into my ears and a few clicks from the backpack.


    Clicking it a few more times with similar effects, I realized that it probably was like a radio and so I clicked and held my finger down on the button and as I did something in the backpack opened up and a tube with a small microphone on the end slid over next to my mouth. I spoke ¡°Test, test¡± into the microphone before pulling my finger off the button and as I did I began hearing a slight underline of static for a second or two before one of my hounds entered the room and gave me a questioning look as if asking why I had called for them. Looking over to the hound in question I asked if they were here because of the radio test that I just did and they simply nodded in confirmation. Huh so I get a radio as well. I guess this will save me the trouble of getting out of my vessel to order about drones who are far away. Might even help communicating with some of the tribe members if I start giving them portable radios.


    I was about to go back to testing the capabilities of my new vessel drone before I noticed that the second of the mortar tortoises had just finished being fabricated as they stepped out of the large drone works with slow methodical steps. I guess I should figure out where to deploy you guys before I do anything else. Ordering the new tortoise to get outside of the building and meet up with the rest of their fellow freshy produced drones, I began exiting the building as well. As I was just about to reach the lobby room I also got the report that the drones from the military base raid had just arrived at the outpost now that they were fully repaired. Huh, that''s some nice timing. Convenient even. (wink wink, nudge nudge <sup>been a while since I last poked the fourth wall</sup>)


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Waiting a bit for the newly arrived drones to make it to the outpost, they eventually arrived after a dozen or so minutes of idle boredom. As they joined the cluster of drones sitting around the open area around the outpost I began considering which of the drones should I send over to the front lines and which to keep for now to potentially act as a Ping relief force. The small wolf pack <sup>yes I saw your comment</sup> of stealth hounds were easy enough to decide upon as they probably would not do much good in helping defend Pings territory given that stealth does not really matter unless I am planning to do some ambushes which I feel would be more likely to happen in the front lines when I start pushing up in enemy territory. Plus they could help confirm the smaller than usual enemy defending force before I do decide to attack.


    The tortoises, both mortar and standard, I decided were likely to be helpful in both areas so I decided to order for one of the mortar versions to move up to the front line while the other mortar and the standard stayed behind. The couple of vultures which were part of the returning attack force were ordered to go and get outfitted with their upgrades and I eventually decided to keep them in the Ping relief force. As for the two types of scorpions and the hornets I decided to have them stay behind as well seeing as the front lines had not required reinforcements for quite some time now and so they would likely be better used over here. Last but not least were the still plentiful general infantry drones which were part of the military installation attack force. After a few moments of debate, I decided to send a few of the melee drones over to the front lines since they would likely be needed when I decide to attack and the rest of the drones would stay back and join the Ping relief force.


    With my drones beginning to go on the move, I started to check up on my spiders located in Pings territory when I began getting messages from said drones. Reading through the messages I immediately began yelling out orders for the drones who I had assigned as the amassing Ping relief force to begin getting ready to set out towards Ping¡¯s nearest outpost. According to my spider reporters on my allies'' front lines, the corrupted AI force had just launched a large offensive against the defenses Ping was so hurriedly preparing. Thankfully my spiders reported that so far the majority of the enemy force had not begun the assault on the outpost which they were stationed at; however, apparently other outposts under Ping¡¯s and Churn¡¯s control were already under attack.


    Switching over to my vessel stationed at the factory, I made my way up the ladder and over to the radio tower. Plugging myself in, I took a second or two to find Ping¡¯s contact codes before I started up the call. It took a few moments but eventually Ping accepted the transmission and said ¡°Make it quick, I¡¯m a bit busy right now if your drones had not already told you.¡± Clearing my throat, I began with ¡°Yeah, my drones have informed me about your current situation. If you need some assistance I have a strike team on standby ready to move into your territory right now.¡± Ping seemed to stay quiet for a second before eventually sighing and muttering something under their breath. Eventually they sent me a string of coordinates which was probably where the fighting was going on before they cut the connection.


    Flipping back into the scanner vessel which I had left at the water treatment facility, I began giving out orders for any of the drones currently on standby to begin moving in the direction of the closest of the coordinates. Staying back for a second to detail a handful of spiders to the force as well as give specific instructions to the mortar tortoise as well as the standard which were to hang back and focus on fabricating their mortar rounds since I felt that speed would be key. Not sure how far off a target the mortar might be able to hit accurately but it would not matter if they did not have the ammunition to fire it. With that taken care of, I began running after the rest of my drones as we began departing towards the nearest battle ground.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    It took around a half hour before we eventually began nearing the closest set off coordinates and at that point I could begin to hear the tell tale signs of combat. The area which we were currently located in was what looked to be an urban district with almost all of the buildings were multi-storied and many looked to be apartments. My drones fanned out into nice little pairs and made nice skirmishing formations which would hopefully make it so that if there were to be an ambush or trap, only one of the pairs would be caught in it rather than all of us being hit all at once. Hopefully it would not come to that but it was always good to be cautious and a little bit of paranoia never killed anyone. My scanner vessel''s sensor ping ability was proving to be helpful in calming my nerves as it picked out and highlighted the odd feral drone which avoided my little attack group.


    It was not long until the furthest up pair of drones reported that they had spotted a group of corrupted AI drones engaging one of Ping¡¯s teams and informed the rest of the formation that they were moving in to assist. Watching them break off and turn the corner which they were watching from, I ordered a couple other melee focused drone pairs to follow them in while the rest of my drones hung back and guarded our rear or opened fire from the safety of cover. Scurrying up to the building which looked to be the remains of a nice little cafe, I watched as my drones charged into battle and began pushing back the hostile drones with the help of Ping¡¯s drones. Checking the coordinates, I noticed that this was still a little bit off from the destination and so as my drones finished off the last of the hostiless I ran over to one of Ping''s drones and asked where the rest of their unit was and if they could lead me to them.


    The drone in question hesitated and looked back at a few of their wounded comrades before gesturing towards them. Understanding the question for what it was, I told them that I would detail a few of my repair drones and a guard or two to look after them which caused the drone to look slightly appreciative before nodding and beginning to move in the direction of the coordinates. Ordering a few of my drones along with the requested spiders to stay behind and look after the wounded, I and the rest of my battle ready drones began following along with our new guide. As we moved forward, I continued to use my sensor ping ability to scan the area for any hostile drones which thankfully turned up negative before eventually we reached a four way intersection where our guide stopped and gestured around the corner.


    Nodding in understanding, I clicked the button to send out a sensor ping which rewarded me with a highlight of a large cluster of drones currently engaging in a big and messy melee with Ping¡¯s forces with their backs turned away from me and my drones. Ordering for all of my ranged based drones to turn the corner and open fire on the unsuspecting drones, I began commanding my melee based drones to prepare to charge once the salvo catches the enemies attention. And catch the enemies attention it did as a dozen mixed hornet spikes and scorpion beams slammed into the enemy drones backs with a frightening display of effectiveness. As they began to turn around to face this new opponent, I cried out ¡°Come on boys, CHARGE¡± which was met with a resounding chorus of chitters and howls as my drones sprinted forward into battle.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 85

    As my melee focused drones charged headlong into the disoriented enemy formation, I began ordering my remaining ranged drones to begin taking up positions near and around the battlefield so that they could acquire optimal firing lines. As I did this, I watched as the hostile drone force began to break off from my heavily damaged allied drones who took the opportunity afforded to them by my drones and began to regroup and prepare to go back onto the offensive against their now reduced immediate attackers. Soon enough my drones had closed the distance and so all at once my drones crashed into their adversaries with the assistance of a few of Ping¡¯s still healthy drones from the initial group that we saved.


    After the initial shock of the clash wore off, the fight quickly devolved into a brawling match as my drones fought tooth and nail against the enemy drones which did the same. This was about when a volley of enemy ranged drones whizzed over my drones heads and struck near my and my ranged drones who had begun to take cover behind whatever they could find. Thankfully I managed to stay relatively untouched with only the slight graze of a scorpion shot which surprisingly had managed to completely knock out the power in my left leg. I counted myself lucky however as I watched as a few of my hornets took a spike or two to the chest causing the insectoid drones to stumble back and fall to the ground, dead.


    Peeking out from the cover of a chunk of building, I focused on the melee which my drones currently had found themselves in. I could tell immediately that my drones were pretty obviously less numerous compared to the hostile drones given the fact that my nice blue light which my drones emitted was nearly blotted out by the colors of the corrupted drones. However I had the advantage of my drones still being relatively fresh troops since my drones had not accumulated all too much battle damage from the previous fight. In contrast, a large amount of the enemy force were already injured from their fighting with the rest of Ping¡¯s drone unit and so my drones held the clear drone to drone advantage.


    This seemed to be very much a important factor as despite being slightly overwhelmed by the enemy drones due to their numerical superiority, my drones valiantly held the line and did not back down. As my ranged drones finished cycling their spike rounds or cooling off their lancer cannons another burst of fire ranged out from where my drones had taken cover which had a devastating effect as another batch of enemy drones were culled by the rain of fire. This was helped even more by the rest of Ping¡¯s drones who, upon finishing off the comparatively little drones which they were being attacked by, charged the corrupted drone¡¯s back line causing significant damage to the enemy ranged drones and diverted a bit of the enemy¡¯s attention. And just as everything was beginning to look up for me, I began hearing the distinct sound of a significant number of drones approaching.


    Sending out a series of sensor pings, I could not detect anything approaching until the last of my series of pings detected a hostile drone. And then another. And then two more. Before long my sensors were screaming at me as more than three dozen new enemy drones were moving in from the other side of the clearing. Watching the corrupted drones which my forces were still fighting as they started to rally, I began to start panicking and hurriedly thinking of ways that my drones might be able to fend off such a force. My ranged drones were still reloading after the last salvo, my melee drones were tied up with handling the enemy drones in front of them, I doubted that any of Ping¡¯s drones would be near enough and not currently being engaged to help fight off this fresh force.


    Lastly even if I had my fastest drones available, there was no way that they would arrive in time in order to help fight off these hostile before all of my troops and I are long dead and it is not like I have anything which might be able to contribute to the fight without needing to move from their current positio- wait a minute. Clicking the button which was connected to the vox caster strapped to my back, I began radioing to my mortar tortoise and began relaying the message that I needed fire support on my position. Hopefully my tortoise¡¯s mortar would be able to calculate a firing trajectory based off of my radio signals and more importantly would not hit me or my drones.


    Continuing to broadcast my message to the mortar tortoise, I began to order my drones to begin to spread out and take cover which they did practically immediately, likely having been hearing my radio frequency as well since I do not think I set the signal to only transmit to the mortar tortoise in my panicked state. I briefly wondered if the corrupted AI drones had heard the broadcast as well, however I dismissed the thoughts as they likely would have started to spread out as well instead of ganging up on my drones who had split up making them easy targets for the enemy drones. Only a handful of seconds after I had given the order to spread out, I began to hear the faint whistling in the distance which very quickly became a shriek as it quickly approached the ground.


    Diving onto the hard concrete ground and raising my twig-like arms over my head, I briefly contemplated how I wished I had chosen to stay in my durable industrial drone rather than the flimsy scanner vessel before I heard a loud explosion in the direction of the enemy drones. This explosion was quickly followed up by two more which in turn introduced the next three. six shots huh. I guess they decided to go all in with that barrage. As the dust slowly began to settle and the disorientation faded away, I stood up and looked around and thankfully my gaze was met with the familiar look of a few of my drones. Hearing some noise in the still flowing dust and smoke, I gestured over to an ant which had taken cover near me to check it out.


    As they walked forward towards the noise, the dust began to dissipate and it revealed a beautiful sight. Six craters, each around a half dozen feet in diameter dotted where a collection of enemy drones once stood. My ant eventually found what was making the noise, apparently a few of the drones at the edges of the blast had managed to survive but only barely. Many had chunks of their chassis completely dislodged or even ripped off, I counted a few who had taken a especially large hunk of shrapnel and were now entirely imobile, and almost all of their armor had been stripped away or turned into swiss cheese by the swarm of shrapnel which was sure to have shot out given the amount of drones that were likely blown to pieces in the initial blast.


    Checking on how many of my drones had survived the explosions, I was pleasantly surprised when the status report came in stating that only a few were caught up in the explosion and that was only because of the fact that they were fighting off hostile drones in order to buy time for the rest of my troops to get to cover. Ordering for my drones to begin sweeping the area and capturing or killing any survivors, I also noticed that a fair few of Ping¡¯s drones had also survived the blast. Apparently they had taken the hint when my drones started scattering, however a large number of them had been too stuck in the fight in order to make a proper retreat out of the blast zone and so those who were stuck behind were unfortunately left behind.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Calling over the spider repair drone squad to get over here and start taking care of the critically wounded, I began looking around for any signs of an outpost near here. By the time my spiders had arrived and started working on patching up the most critically damaged, most of which were Ping¡¯s, I was no closer to finding any of Ping¡¯s outposts and so I just tuned my vox caster to broadcast a message back to the water treatment outpost requesting for some vultures to hit the skies and give me some directions. While I was doing this, my drones had finished taking care of the last of the hostile drones and had already begun setting up a perimeter around the area. Hopefully those last reinforcements were the last of the hostels in the region; however, I did appreciate the healthy dose of paranoia.


    Taking stock of my and Ping¡¯s forces currently present, I found that I had maintained a decently low casualty rate only having lost a handful of melee drones and a couple of ranged thankfully enough. Ping¡¯s drones unfortunately took the majority of the beating with what I was guessing over half of their original force being destroyed and the other half being either critically injured or barely functioning. I suppose it could have gone worse. Definitely would have lost a lot if not all of my drones if it weren''t for the mortar support. Deciding that this was a good enough state to leave the force as is, I slipped out of my scanner vessel and ordered my drones to keep an eye on the perimeter and to alert me if anything happened.


    Checking up with my spider drones who were helping Ping construct those cool turrets which I still have not begun constructing myself, I began reading through their own status report which was much more mundane compared to what had just happened. For the most part the outpost which they were stationed at hand had not been attacked aside from the inevitable probing strikes. My spiders also apparently had been chatting with some of Ping¡¯s designated constructor drones which were beaver like drones that focused on constructing structures rather than repairing drones. According to Ping¡¯s drones, other outposts had not been as lucky and a few had even stopped broadcasting signals which was a tell-tale sign that things had gone really badly.


    Asking where that outpost was, my spiders gave the coordinates to the outpost which unsurprisingly was the one of the coordinates which Ping had given me. Comparing the coordinates to where my force was in Ping¡¯s territory, I estimated that it would take an hour or two to travel all the way there but given that it also happened to be neer where the closest of the other coordinates were, I would likely have to go in that direction anyways. It would seem that I have my next target. I¡¯ll move to the other close coordinate and then see what I can do about taking that outpost back. Floating back out into my core territories, I eventually decided to check out at my own front lines.


    Quickly reaching the outpost which I was garrisoning for Churn, I suddenly remembered that I had ordered for the construction of some better barricades and even a wall surrounding the outpost as I was met with a large construction site. Looking around, I found that some good progress was getting done as the first of the layers of concrete for the walls was already drying. Looking around, I noticed that it was almost becoming night as the first of the twin suns had already set and the other was soon to follow. Hmm, I wonder if it would be a good time to use those stealth hounds. The description did say that they are best used during nighttime. Slipping into my vessel drone which I had left here, I quickly found Copper and asked if they could grab the stealth hounds which should have arrived not too long ago.


    Sure enough, Cooper had rounded up the paltry eight stealth hounds who were now sitting around waiting for orders. But what to have them do. Obviously scouting out the enemy fortification would be nice, especially given that all other attempts to do so have failed as my drones had been detected and swiftly forced back out of their side of no-man''s-land. I briefly considered having the drones attempt to take down some of the enemy garrison while they were at it but I eventually dismissed the idea given the fact that there is not exactly an easy way to destroy a complicated metal construct without causing a fair bit of noise. Ordering my drones to only attack if they have already been discovered, I sent them out towards the enemy lines and watched as their visage slowly faded away into uncertainty and eventually all together.


    Switching my perspective over to my now stealthed drones, I watched as my hounds swiftly and quietly made their way through the ruins which separated my defenses and the enemy lines. As we moved through the ruins, I and subsequently my drones were able to pick out a few hostile fire beetles who looked to have not noticed us as they sat around, presumably waiting for any noise. Thankfully they seemed incapable of noticing my drones and so they stayed where they sat, not realizing that they had just let my drones slip through their defensive position un-scathed. Eventually my drones reached the corrupted AI¡¯s defensive line and I ordered my drones to halt their advance as I began to scan the drones manning the barricades.


    Most of the drones sat around, seemingly bored given that my patrols likely had not been around for a little while. I spotted a bit of movement as a group of a half dozen moles carrying a few fire beetles each began moving rapidly towards the defensive line before diving into a pre dug hole. As they did this, some of my drones back at the water treatment outpost messaged me that one of my armored mole minesweeper had been spotted which incited a sigh of relief as I had thought that my drones and I had been discovered. Ordering my hounds forward, we slowly moved into and behind the barricade line which was only a short distance away from the outpost propper which still held a fair amount of activity, much more than I was expecting considering the lack of activity in the area.


    The outpost seemed to have been established in a collection of buildings which formed a nice defensive position combined with a fair amount of constructed cover. I could see as drones hustled about, moving supplies to and fro across the outpost with a significant amount being funneled into a particularly large building which was located in the far left side of the outpost. Ordering for my drones to approach the outpost, I continued to survey the activity of the outpost which was still surprisingly bustling as drones moved with purpose and duty and I noticed the presence of a subtle constant rumbling noise coming from somewhere in the outpost. Keeping to the shadows, my drones and I slipped through the outskirts of the outpost until eventually we found a window which led to the large building which so much of the supplies was moving into.


    With the help of a couple of the hounds, the drone which I was watching this from climbed up enough to be able to peer into the building that the sight shocked me. Inside of the building were almost a dozen drone works all working constantly to produce drones as quickly as possible as a steady stream of hauler drones poured materials down the input chute. I guess that explains where all the drones are coming from.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 86

    As my drones began pulling away from the window in order to ensure that the drones inside would not spot us, I began deliberating on how I was going to handle this situation. Considering that a frontal assault against a presumably major manufacturing site would gain a whole lot of attention from the Corrupted AI while likely weakening my forces considerably, I was hesitant to commit to such an attack. Sure it would probably take a few days before the bulk of the enemy force to arrive in order to take back the outpost which would give me plenty of time to re-deploy defenses recover a fair amount of the losses with the help of the drone works which we would capture, however I was not entirely confident that my force would be able to handle whatever the Corrupted AI would throw back in response.


    That left me with a couple of options other than the previously mentioned forward charge, those being amass a few more mortar tortoises as well as a fair amount of shells and hope that we can handle the inevitable counter attack or sending in some tunnel worms to hopefully collapse the building and subsequently handle the counter attack with the unused mortar shells. The latter option obviously would be the most desireable one given the display of power which my mortar tortoises displayed earlier however the problem with that plan was the suicide moles carrying fire beetles. I would be sure to lose more than a couple of worms in the attempt, more if the enemy force had more moles and beetles in reserve that I do not know about.


    Losing that many drones would be a considerable blow to my forces as the tunnel worms were significantly more expensive to construct compared to my other drones. Sighing to myself, I decided that it was simply what must be done in order to keep significantly more of my drones from the same fate. Floating back over to the water treatment outpost, I began ordering for the construction of five new tunnel worms which chunked away pretty much all of the available resources in the outpost, to the point where all other resource deliveries from the mining outpost were diverted to the this one in order to cover for the fabrication costs. Glad I have that marauder and their little harvester prodigies working hard in the mines. I doubt I would be able to handle these costs if they weren''t there.


    Along with the worms, I also ordered for another mortar tortoise to be constructed at the factory as it would be nice to have another weapon system available for when I inevitably kick the hornet''s nest. Speaking of hornets'' nests, the most dangerous threat to this plan would probably be any airborne drones that are sent my way since my mortar shells would be hard pressed to hit a moving target in the sky and my tunnel worms sure are not going to be able to reach them. With that in mind, I began ordering for the construction of a couple swarms of ten woodpeckers each along with a flight of five dragon flies to begin getting constructed at the front line¡¯s medium and small drone works.. Hopefully they¡¯ll be enough to keep the fliers off my tortoise artillery.


    Floating around for a few moments looking around for anything which might need my attention, I eventually conclude that there are no such events and so I begin to wait as my drones continue to work. Taking up position by the water treatment outpost, I watched as streams of drones carrying materials flowed into the building before eventually drifting off to unconsciousness.


    ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª


    Eventually waking up to a message from one of my drones, I quickly read through the message and was relieved when it only reported that my forces in Ping¡¯s territory had just finished being repaired and were now waiting for orders. Floating over to the force in question, I slipped into my scanner vessel and began to take in my surroundings. Currently we were still in the crater marked clearing which was more or less surrounded by the slightly more degraded buildings and filled with now fully repaired drones, both bearing mine and Ping¡¯s colors. Huh, I guess they decided to stick with me for now instead of heading back to join their own battle groups. Welp, I¡¯m not complaining, more drones is always helpful.


    Looking through the list of coordinates Ping had sent me, I picked out one of the coordinates which looked to only be a little bit off the beaten path towards that outpost which had been lost. Ordering my drones into formation, with Ping¡¯s forces taking up some flanking positions without being instructed to, I began marching my drones in that direction. As we moved out of the crater marked clearing, I wondered if my mortar tortoise would be able to fire from where it was back at the water treatment outpost. Relaying said message back to the tortoise in question, I got the response that the earlier barrage was about half way to their maximum range and so they would likely be able to hit the area around the next coordinates however the lost Ping outpost was dubious to say the least.


    Welp, I¡¯ll take what I can get. Maybe I can give my tortoise a few guards so that they can move up and closer to the outpost so I could get that sweet sweet fire support. Regardless I would have some extra firepower for this coordinate point at the very least which was a nice comfort. As we continued to march, my forces and I could spot a few signs of combat which was revealed to be where some of the other parts of Ping¡¯s drone unit had fought while the rest of the unit fell back before they were met with the large drone force which was when my drones and I arrived. Guessing from the amount of small battlefields Ping¡¯s drones must have been fighting for quite a while before I had found them and by the looks of it they had been reduced by a significant amount, more than I had initially thought, before I was even able to participate in the fighting.


    However, as we continued to move on, occasionally lone drones with the markings of being Ping¡¯s would find my little band of troops and quickly join their brothers and sisters in the formation whilst getting some much needed medical treatment from my spider team. It would seem that quite a few drones had been separated in the chaos which must have been the initial incursion. Continuing to move on, I picked up the habit of sending out another sensor ping every couple of seconds which rewarded me with not much aside from the occasional feral who was harvesting the odd hunk of scrap metal, all of which quickly made their escape upon noticing my marching formation. That was until one of my sensor pings picked up the presence of drones flying overhead.


    Quickly ordering my drones to make it into the cover of rubble or the few still standing buildings with roofs, I began scanning the sky while releasing a flurry of pings in order to find where these drones were. Suddenly a trio of drones swooped down, however I felt a wave of relief when I recognized the markings on their chests which denoted them as part of my vassals, the Flock. Nodding respectively to them, I asked what they were doing here and more importantly how did they get here? The vultures responded by reaching up and poking at a speaker like device on their shoulder which began speaking in the distinct voice of the Flocks resident parrot looking drones who stated that they were there as members of the territorial expansion group and that they had noticed me while they were setting up the nesting grounds for this area.


    Nodding as if I had definitely not forgotten that I had asked the flock to expand over to this area, I told them that if they were willing I could use their help, or more specifically I needed them to get a look around the area and tell me if they could spot any hostiles in the area which they agreed to. Swooping up into the air, I watched as they began scanning the area by moving in a sort of circular motion which probably allowed them to get a nice three hundred and sixty view of the area. Once they landed back onto the ground, they informed me that they had not spotted any drones directly, however there seemed to be some kind of movement in the general area of the coordinates which Ping had given me. Unfortunately due to the dense buildings they were unable to get a good look at what was moving.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Thanking them for their help, I watched them leave in what I assumed was the direction of their new forward nesting grounds before I began ordering the formation to begin moving in the direction of the movement which the vultures had pointed towards. Moving through the increasingly narrow streets we soon were just about at the coordinates Ping had given me and a sense of uneasiness began to seep into my nerves. Looking around did not help as I did not see anything which might have caused my uneasiness and the sensor pings came up with nothing. Perhaps it was the densely packed buildings which surrounded me or maybe it was the fact that no matter how hard I looked I could not find where the movement those vultures were talking about.


    Whatever it was, it seemed to be affecting my drones as well as I could see that more than a few of them had begun to shift into defensive postures while scanning the area with me. That was until I heard it, metal legs hitting the hard concrete ground. At first was only a few pairs of legs, then it began sounding like a half dozen or so, after that it became tens of pairs, before long it sounded as if there were hundreds of skittering little legs were moving about all around my drones and I. Ordering for my drones to begin taking up defensive positions, I continued to send sensor ping after sensor ping until one of them finally picked up the signal and promptly highlighted a long series of legs and segmented chitin like armor. Why? Why does it have to be centipedes?


    As if the dam had just burst, dozens more centipedes each a good three times longer than my hounds began scurrying out of the ruins and charging forward towards my drones in a frenzied attack. My hornets and scorpions fired off their shots before they closed the distance however the majority of the enemies were left unharmed as the first few centipedes took the worst of the shots. I watched as one of the closest centipedes made it to it¡¯s target, that being one of my ants, and latched onto it with its front chompers before the other half of the centipede shot forward and latched on the ant with the centipede forming a strange circle. That was until a electric shock shot out of one end of the centipede, slipped through my ant likely causing all of its internal components to be fried, before the current of electricity flowed back into the other end of the offending drone.


    Seeing that similar situations were happening all around me, I began radioing to my mortar tortoise my coordinates and requests for danger close fire support which was met with the sounds of mortar thumps ringing out in my ear. Ordering my drones to spread out and hold the line until the mortar shells landed, I personally dove into cover behind some nice and sturdy looking building supports which I hoped would take the brunt of the impending explosions. Quickly enough I began hearing the distinct shrieking of the mortar shells and soon after I heard and felt the series of explosions which swiftly followed. However most of the explosion''s shockwave came from above rather than the sides like I had expected.


    Looking up, I saw what had happened as chunks of the tall building¡¯s debris began falling down and slamming against drones, mine and the enemies alike. Thankfully it would seem that my drones were taking less of the damage compared to the centipedes since they had successfully braced themselves against cover and spread out adequately. As the last of the debris landed and the majority of the dust settled, I ordered my remaining drones to begin taking out whatever had survived the collapse which turned out to be more than I expected. Apparently these centipedes were surprisingly durable, however many had sustained damage to one or both of their conduit-like maws and thus had lost their main weapon making them significantly easier to take care of.


    As my drones slowly began clearing out the centipede infested rubble, I began looking around the area for whatever the coordinates were here for. Before long I eventually found a clearing which separated from the densely packed buildings and in the middle of it was a force of about thirdy of what I assumed was the corpses of Ping''s drones which were huddled in a loose circle with a couple of centipede remains. I guess we were too late. Probably should have expected that, given they had probably sent out their distress call nearly a day ago. Looking over to my drones who were just about finished with taking down the last of the surviving centipedes, I decided to sit tight here for a little while to get everyone patched back up.


    Walking over to one of the centipede remains, I gave the corpse a good kick which admittedly was kind of pathetic in comparison to my usual kicks in my industrial drones. Crouching down to the corpse, I gave it a quick inspection before pulling up the description and beginning to read it through. Apparently the Multi Module Shock Crawler or the MMSC was supposed to be used to give batteries and power systems a quick boost in power and efficiency however they were quickly adopted into the military to be used as shock attack drones which could very quickly latch onto hostiles and send out a electric charge which would fry the hostile from the inside out. Certainly an interesting drone but why did it have to look like a centipede? Too many legs man, too many legs.


    Focusing on something else, I eventually decided that since my drone force is not moving I should probably see if I can funnel a bit of additional reinforcements their way. Sure Ping¡¯s auxiliaries have helped in keeping my numbers up, however their own number had been dwindling with us and the few random reinforcements in the form of separated drones would dry up soon enough. Given that most of my production capacity is being currently shoved into the production of my worms I probably would not be able to source fresh troops but what I could do is I could pull some drones off of garrison duty. Assembling a squad of four hounds, a couple of ants, a termite, and a wing of five hornets, and a couple of additional spiders, I ordered them to begin moving out towards my force''s current position. I guestimated that they would arrive around the time that they finished their repairs which would be good timing.


    With a chunk of the water treatment¡¯s garrison being depleted, I sourced a couple of drones from my other outposts which I presumed were far enough from the battlefield to not need them as much. In time they will fabricate replacements for their newly reassigned troops but for now those outposts will have to subside on a marginally smaller garrison which I am sure will not hinder their activities all too much. Floating around for a little while searching for anything else that looks interesting, I noticed that a few of Ping¡¯s construction capable drones were moving into the water treatment outpost holding a cable. Floating over to the drones in question, they slowly dragged this cable to the outpost and, upon finding an access port, plugged the thing in. As they did this, I felt the sudden appearance of what I was guessing was all of Ping¡¯s territory in my purview.


    Floating in the direction of Ping¡¯s territory, I realized that the cable was probably the map data which Ping had traded to me. Honestly I half forgot about that but now that it was in place, I could now peer into pretty much the entirety of Ping¡¯s core territories. I was not able to get whatever sensor data Ping¡¯s drones were collecting, however I could now see their outposts and a little bit of the surrounding areas. Looking about said outposts, I marveled at how much more orderly their outposts were compared to some of mine. Part of the bonus of having likely built their outposts rather than taking them I suppose. As I looked through Ping¡¯s outposts I was able to get a sense of how things were going across their battlefront and the news was not great as more than a few outposts were dealing with mounds of injuries and plenty of damage.


    A few of the outposts, including the one which my force was moving towards, were grayed out and I could not access any information about them and so I presumed that they had been taken by the corrupted AI. Peering out of Ping¡¯s territory into Churn¡¯s, I could only assume that the fighting was even worse over there and I silently muttered thanks for the fact that I would not have to deal with it. Shifting back to Ping¡¯s territory, I could just about make out where my drone force currently was and in compassion the wider map, I felt a slight sense of insignificance. Looks like I¡¯ve got my work cut out for me. Welp, no point in marveling over a map, maybe some of the spiders need a little help with the repairs.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 87

    Slowly but surely my drone force currently camping in Ping¡¯s territory got themselves patched up and just about when they were ready to move, the fresh reinforcements arrived to join their unit. Ordering to begin advancing in the direction of the lost Ping outpost, I focused on my main drone force inside of Churn controlled territory which had not changed very much since my last check in. So far there had been no moves made by the corrupted AI forces to assault or even probe my defenses which I presumed was because all of their troops were being diverted from here to the battlefield in Ping¡¯s territory. Oh, well. I guess that will make my mission that much easier to accomplish since I won¡¯t have to contend with all the drones which that production hub pumps out on an hourly basis.


    Looking over at my gathered drones, it would seem that only two out of the five tunnel worms have been finished fabricating which has bumped up my current number to three. While this is more tunnel worms than I have ever had control over at one time, I was still a bit hesitant to commit to any of them until I had the full six worms so that I would not give away my plans to the enemy force. Looking over to my tortoises, it would seem that one of the two tortoises which I had ordered for all the way back at the factory had already arrived and I guesstimated that the other tortoise would soon follow in another hour or two. Watching as a steady flow of materials continued to be funneled into my tortoises fabricator, I guessed that it would be prudent to have more shells than what my tortoises could place in their autoloader.


    Thinking it over, I figured that having an additional set of six rounds for each mortar tortoise would allow for my tortoises to decimate the enemy drones which are sent to charge out against my lines. Once the last tortoise arrives and the last of the mortar shells are fabricated, I should expect to have thirty six rounds ready to be fired against the counter attack which would surely ensue after my tunnel worms collapse their building. And with three tortoises, I could have them firing continuously by ordering only one tortoise to fire at a time and by the time the third tortoise finished firing off their salvo, the first would have likely rearmed with another set of rounds with the help of some volunteers.


    Checking how long the mortar shell fabrication takes, I am surprised to find that it takes a third of an hour to construct a full mortar shell which means that in order for a tortoise to fully rearm themselves without having spare shells available, it would take a minimum of two hours. Taking note of the rearming time, I decided to check on the rest of my territory to see if there might be anything that could use my personal touch. Floating around my core outposts, I eventually find myself watching as robots from the tower tribe and the nomad village meet inside of my factory, presumably making deals or simply conversing with each other. The factory seemed to be much more active with the frequent traveling between tribes and the usage of this outpost of mine as a pit stop. It¡¯s good to know the two villages are getting along.


    My drones manning the walls and patrolling the area seemed to enjoy the occasional encounter with one of the tribe''s drones, no doubt happy to have something to distract them from the long shifts of guard and patrol duty. I suppose I cannot blame them, with the installation of the relay system, guard duty has become more of a formality given that the chances of a feral slipping through is negligible. And as such, most of the drones stationed in the factory have taken up the hobby of clearing out the ruins near the outpost which has resulted in a wide flattened area which had nothing inside of it aside from the oval shaped perimeter of my factory walls. I however realized that my previous statement was somewhat false as right next to the factory walls were more than a couple of stalls had cropped up at some point, many of which which took the form of some kind of supply station that I could see were selling spare power packs and other commodities that I would assume a robot might need to have while traveling.


    Receiving a notification from my troops in Ping¡¯s territory stating that they were nearing the lost outpost, I decided to leave them be while I slipped into my scanner vessel drone checks on what my drones decided to notify me about. Opening my eyes, I immediately noticed that my body was currently resting upon one of the carts being carried by my moose drones alongside a sizable pile of spare parts and extra repair materials. Getting up from my rather uncomfortable position, I jogged over to the drones who were the farthest up in the somewhat scattered formation. Reaching the drones in question who were looking out from behind some ruble, I began to ask what they were looking at when one of them snapped around and gave me a look which I correctly interpreted as start being quiet.


    Crouching down to where my drones were, I sent out a sensor ping to see what my drones were looking at without having to poke my head out in the open which could possibly give away our position. Firing away the ping, I watch as it begins highlighting a multitude of drones which looked to be marching around in what I could confidently guess was a patrolling formation. Checking my map, I confirmed that we were near the outpost although this particular drone patrol is a bit farther out than I personally would have ordered them to. I briefly pondered on whether or not it would be a good idea to take this patrol down now while they were far enough away to not be reinforced in time or was it better to look around a bit more in order to confirm that there are not any other patrols nearby.


    Eventually I decided to take the safer decision and so I detailed a couple of drone pairs to begin circling around the outpost to attempt to get a better idea of just how many drones were currently stationed here. While they did this, I began ordering the rest of my drones to start spreading out and taking up firing positions as well, better to be prepared for whenever we are inevitably detected. Continuing to send out quick bursts of sensor pings at the enemy patrol group, I watched as they slowly walked past the ruins which my drone force was hiding in before marching back in the direction of the lost outpost. As my drones made their way around the outskirts of the outpost, they continued to relay whatever information they managed to discover, most of which were reports of small patrol groups like the one which had just moved away from my force.


    Once those drone pairs made a full circuit of the outpost, they had managed to spot about five different patrol groups moving in a circular pattern around the outpost and had provided me with a rough estimate of at least twenty drones manning the outpost. This was likely not all of the drones given the fact that none of my drones managed to get close enough to scout out the outpost itself but regardless it was better than nothing. With the new information at hand, I began considering what the best way to handle the outpost¡¯s garrison with the forces that I currently had at my disposal. As much as I would love to have been able to simply order an artillery strike on the outpost and be done with it, I knew for a fact that my mortar tortoise did not have the range for that along with the general consensus that Ping would probably like their outpost back intact if possible.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Perhaps I could try ambushing one of the patrol groups, however that would only net a handful of losses for the enemy force which while not bad was not how I wanted to start the battle with, especially since I do not know just how many drones they have in reserve. I could spread my drones out and attack all the patrols at once however that would leave each group less than guaranteed to take out their assigned patrol, not to mention handle whatever counter attack on their own. Continuing to think it over, I understood that my ideal first strike would need to allow for a large amount of enemy drones to be surprised by my attack while allowing for at the very least the majority of my forces to stay together so that we may maximize our damage output. I was about to resign myself to the first option under the pretense that such an ideal attack would be generally infeasible before my eyes locked onto the large group of Ping¡¯s drones who were milling about with the rest of my troops.


    Ordering my drones to take up ambush positions in the surrounding rubble and ruins, I asked the nominal leader of Ping¡¯s unit if they were willing to be the bait for a little ambush. The leader in question was a ragged looking dragonfly which looked to have survived more than a few battles and they did not look exactly happy about the prospect of being bait but eventually relinquished once I explained that they were the best suited for it. This was because it could be reasonably assumed that they are a band of drones who had been separated from the rest of their force and thus the hostile drones would be more likely to send out at the very least a few patrol groups to attack them if they were spotted. This would allow Ping¡¯s drones to lead the hostiles back into my troops'' ambushing positions and let us take down at least a dozen drones at once.


    This seemed to be enough of a reason to convince Ping¡¯s drone unit to agree to my plan and soon enough the bait was placed. I watched from my spot on a roof as a group of eight of Ping¡¯s drones moved out from the cover and concealment of the rubble and began moving around in the open and sure enough four groups of the six spotted patrol teams began converging on their positions. As all four of the patrol groups were spotted by my bait, they quickly ran back into the center of the ruins which was chock full of my drones who were waiting for my signal which I kept at the ready. The four hostile teams fully grouped up into a single mob before following the bait into the kill zone and just as the enemy drones spotted Ping¡¯s troops, I gave the order and more than a dozen hornet spikes and scorpion lasers shot out from our positions and slammed into the enemy troops as many of their front liners slumped to the ground dead or stunned beyond reasonable functionality.


    Ordering my melee drones to charge, I noticed that Ping¡¯s leading dragonfly was doing the same as they followed my troops as they quickly advanced on the enemy drones, who to their credit managed to get a few shots off while madeley backpedaling each of which took out one or two of my drones from the fight. It however was not going to be enough as my and Ping''s drones slammed into the retreating enemy forces who put up a desperate fight while a few of their number ran back towards the outpost, most of which were ranged drones, presumably to warn the others. Unfortunately those who managed to run away in time escaped my grasp as my ranged drones were still rearming from their first barrage.


    Ordering my ranged drones to begin following my melee troops as they advanced towards the outpost, I swiftly began making my way down the stairs in order to catch up with them. As I reached the ground level and began jogging after the rest of my drones, I watched as my faster troops began catching up to the retreating enemies alongside Ping¡¯s before a half dozen reinforcing centipedes made themselves known as they left their outpost and quickly charged forwards into my lines, giving their own ranged drones some time to breathe and regroup. Approaching the battle quickly, I noticed that while my ants and termites were proving to be effective enough at crushing and shocking the centipedes respectively, my hounds'' attacks were simply glancing off their chitinous armor. Seeing that my hounds were not very effective against the centipedes compared to their arthropod counterparts, I ordered them to forgo attacking the centipedes in favor of tying up the ranged drones behind them so that they would not fire into the quickly devolving mosh pit.


    Unfortunately as I gave the order many of the enemy ranged units finished reloading or had taken careful aim as the moment my hounds broke away from the melee, they were immediately opened fire on which took out quite a few of my brave drones. Thankfully my own ranged drones had caught up far enough to participate in the battle once more and had also finished rearming while on the move, of which they made use of by opening fire on their hostile counterparts, softening them up nicely for the rest of my hounds to close in and engage unperturbed. As my hounds attacked, the rest of my melee focused drones along with Ping¡¯s own troops were brawling it out with the hostile centipedes and it was quiet bloody as the centipedes with their two circuit ends could very quickly end a drones life before they would strike out at the next closest target.


    The one major advantage my drones had over the centipedes was that I had numerical superiority, meaning whenever the centipedes attacked one of my drones, three more would be ready to attack the now distracted enemy with ferocious fury. I did not feel great about trading bodies for the opportunities to kill the centipedes but I¡¯ve ordered my drone to do worse and so I carried on with my commanding as I began directing my hounds to fall back to the melee as a significant group of hostile hounds, ants, and a few moles began streaming out of the outpost and towards the battle. Thankfully my hounds had done a sizable amount of damage to the hostile ranged drones before they began disengaging meaning that they were able to fall back without being bothered all too much.


    As my hounds cycled out and into the rear flanks of the rest of my melee drones, I watched as the fresh hostile drones rushed across the half dozen meter distance from what I presumed was the lost outpost and into my drone line while their few remaining ranged allies fired into the mess. Thankfully ducking out the way of a few projectiles sent in my general direction, I ordered for my own hornets and scorpions to spread out as well and begin picking off the last of the hostile missile units as well as any clear shots they could take on general infantry. Sitting back against a bit of wall of a nearby building I continued to watch the battle progress which was steadily pushing in my drones favor.


    Sure, many of my troops had become damaged throughout the engagement but my hornets and scorpions solidly picked up the slack as their staggered small salvos continuously picked off healthy enemies and messed up formations. This allowed my melee forces to comfortably engage their opponents on as even ground as could be expected given the difference in freshness and its inherent consequences. And just when the hostile drones looked right about to break and risk running for it, I began hearing the steady thuds of which my mind quickly connected to the marching of my tortoises. My thoughts were quickly proven right as three fully armored tortoises marched out from the outpost with slow lumbering steps which caused the enemy drones to rally once they realized that the cavalry had arrived.


    Any and all of my hornets released their spike shots at the approaching enemy drones however more than half were deflected off the armor and the rest barely pierced the armor and not hitting critical components leaving the enemy tortoises unfazed. My scorpions tried to stop the tortoises as well and they even managed to make one of them halt their movement for a few moments, however I did not possess enough scorpions to outright shut down a tortoise with stun shots. Sigh. Having my mortar close enough to provide fire support was probably a good idea, wasn¡¯t it?

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 88

    Watching the tortoises advance towards my drones, my mind began racing in search of solutions to my current predicaments which was decidedly turning up empty. Nearly none of my current force were equipped to pierce the sort of armor which those tortoises lugged around and those who did were too spread out and scarce to properly take advantage of their predisposition. There was no way to get any sort of reinforcements all the way over here before the tortoises inevitably break apart my lines so that left me with one sort of okay option which was to scatter like our lives depended on it and hope that my drones who have a chance at taking down the tortoises gets a lucky hit.


    Ordering my melee drones to scatter so that they do not all get smushed in one attack from the tortoises, I began directing all of my hornets and scorpions to gather up together and attack all at once against one of the tortoises. Hopefully if they all hit the same point on the tortoise''s armor, they might be able to pierce through and hit something critical but until then my melee drones would be on their own which I did not feel all too happy with, a feeling they were sure to share. Regardless, my troops on the ground followed their orders and began to fall back and spread out which turned out to be right on time as one of the tortoises leaped forward and slammed their armored spiked back onto where the majority of my force was clumped up before, meaning that only one or two of my drones were hit along side a few of the enemy drones who were probably not expecting to be caught in the crossfire.


    Welp, I¡¯m not going to complain about having a few less enemies to deal with. As the tortoise began flipping itself back to the right side up, I realized that my hornets and scorpions could probably do some real damage if they could get a good shot on the less armored underbelly. I watched as my infantry drones spread out further along with their Ping auxiliaries which unfortunately had the side effect of giving up our numerical superiority against the hostile drones who quickly began taking advantage of my now divided drones. More than a handful of my drones were taken down but the majority managed to stay out of the enemy tortoise¡¯s engagement range and thus away from the major threat.


    My melee drones carried on with their now much smaller engagements as they fell back which granted my hornets and scorpions time to fully form back up into one group and rearm. Deciding that my scorpions probably would not do all too much against the tortoises, I tasked them to begin helping my infantry drones with beating back the smaller of the hostile drones which left my hornets to take on the tortoises. Ordering my hornets to take to the skies so that they could have the best angle to hit the tortoises whenever one tries to crush one of my drones with their spike spotted backs. Speaking of which, I need some of my drones to actually bait the tortoises into attacking them so that my hornets could get the oh so crucial shot.


    Looking over my current forces, I picked out a group of three hounds to be the designated bait since they probably would have the highest chance of dodging out of the way before getting smushed. I could almost hear the grumbling from where I was commanding my forces but, regardless of their personal thoughts, my hounds made their way to the closer of the two tortoises and quickly began darting in and out of their range to give themselves the best chance of evading the attack. The tortoise in question swiftly registered the threat and without hesitation flung itself at my hounds who hurriedly ran out of the way as all of my hornets opened fire on the exposed belly of the tortoise, filling it with spikes and wrecking whatever circuitry was controlling the drone.


    Unfortunately as the tortoise slammed into the ground and skidded to a halt, one of my hounds was not quite quick enough to dodge completely and thus their entire rear end was crushed under the weight of the tortoise. It was a coin flip for if they would survive long enough to get repaired by my spiders but I did not let my mind linger on the thought for very long as I realized that I was not as alone as I thought. I was currently hiding behind a half destroyed wall which allowed me to peer out into the battlefield which my drones were fighting in, however what I did not notice was the centipede which had managed to separate itself from the battle and sneak up on me as I delivered orders to my troops.


    I only noticed that they had snuck up on me when I felt a searing pain from my right leg as the centipede chopped down onto the frail frame of my sensor vessel. I grunted in pain as I dropped down to one knee due to the pain before I began slamming my closed fist down onto the head of the centipede. I barely was able to register that I had managed to dodge the follow up blow from the centipede''s other mouth as it slammed into the wall where my head would have been a second ago, however I was too engulfed in pain to be grateful as the centipede sent out its shock. No doubt it would have been much more painful and likely fatal if the centipede managed to latch both of their maws onto my frame however I still nearly collapsed from pain as the shock flowed from my leg into the rest of my chassis.


    Grabbing onto one of the mandibles currently stabbing my leg with both hands, I attempted to pull it off however the centipede was much too powerful in comparison to my current vessel and thus I was unable to pry it off. Thankfully however, as I soon realized, the nominal leader of the unit of Ping¡¯s drones I had taken with me managed to fly all the way over to me and quickly cut the centipede''s head off which quickly ended the agonizing shock. Regaining focus, I gave a quick thumbs up to my savior before attempting to pry off the mandibles again which thankfully worked this time. With the help of the dragonfly, I got back onto one foot and began reassessing the situation which turned out to be rather good.


    Most of the enemy chaff drones had been taken out with the help of my scorpions which left the last tortoise and a few of the remaining smaller drones who had gathered around it. It would seem that my hounds were attempting to bait the tortoise to attack them like the last one had, however the remaining tortoise stubbornly refused to fall for it like it¡¯s buddy had and the surrounding smaller drones even managed to chase off my hounds after a few attempts. Watching the surviving tortoise continue to stay on the defensive rather than attacking my drones, I sighed under my breath before resigning myself to handing it the hard way. Ordering my remaining, and somewhat ragged, melee drones to begin setting up a perimeter around the tortoise, I also directed my ranged drones to take care of the significantly less armored hostiles which surrounded the tortoise.


    This would hopefully leave the enemy drones with only two options, sit back as they slowly get turned into a pin cushion or attempt to break out of the perimeter which would hopefully give my hornets and to a lesser extent my scorpions a good shot. As it turned out, after a few moments, the tortoise and its escorts who had not already been picked off decided to break out as they charged straight into one of the less numerous portions of the perimeter and unfortunately they broke through the megger resistance without too much trouble. However as the tortoise raised one of it¡¯s legs to crush one of my termites as they made their escape, a scorpion managed to score a lucky hit against the tortoises underbelly which caused the tortoise to freeze up for just a moment.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    That moment however, proved to be just enough time for my hornets to take advantage of the opening as they shot their spikes right into the fragile side of the tortoise to devastation effect. The damage to the perimeter however had been done and so as the tortoise flailed around and did its very best to take down any drone brave enough to get close the remaining escorting drones broke and ran from the battlefield and in the directions of corrupted AI territory and my hornets were to busy dealing with the still half alive tortoise to get any hits against the retreating drones. Oh well, in the worst case scenario they will just report that they have lost the outpost and maybe prepare a counter attacking force. I¡¯m sure Ping will send some drones over here to help hold the outpost.


    Calling over the spider relief force, I decided that now was a good time to lay down and let the mechanics patch up the serious amount of casualties that my force had taken throughout the battle. Much of my melee drones were facing a multitude of smaller injuries and some would need full limb replacements before they would be battle ready again. Thankfully we were right next to a still mostly functioning outpost so we could likely find some additional repair materials and if not I could always throw a few of the corpses into the refinery to acquire some. As the spiders and their moose driver arrived, I slipped out of my vessel drone and began surveying the area from a top down perspective rather than from the ground floor.


    The outpost was in a rather run down section of the city with a large amount of the buildings being almost if not completely broken down which has left the area in a sort of hilly visage dotted with outcroppings of the still standing constructs. The outpost itself seems to have been nestled in between the various rubble hills and was comparatively tidy with the ground being mostly clear of debris which I chalked up to having been let in when Ping was initially pushed out. Surrounding the core of the outpost where most of the important systems like drone fabricators and resource stock piles was a fairly high wall which looked well maintained despite the obvious wear and tear look of the walls.


    I guess Ping¡¯s constructor drones have been working hard to keep the place in pristine shape. I should get a few of those, they would certainly help with the construction and maintenance of the ramshackle walls that my spiders are building. Not that my spiders are bad, they seem to be better suited towards robot maintenance rather than construction. Watching for a few moments as my drones moved into the outpost propper as they slowly got repaired, I slipped back to the factory and into my vessel drone waiting near the radio tower stationed on top of the building. Walking over to the radio tower in question, I imputed the contract codes for Ping and sent them a message that I had just retaken the outpost and suggested that they send some reinforcements over here to garrison the place.


    This message was soon seen by Ping who sent a message back acknowledging my message and confirming that reinforcements would be on the way to the outpost. Shortly after the message was sent, Ping sent another message with a data file along with a note saying that this was a show of thanks. Opening the file up, I quickly realized that it was the blueprint for those beaver construction drones that I had seen Ping using to build those data pylons earlier. Well that''s a pleasant surprise, I was quite literally thinking about those not ten minutes ago. Reading through the description, I found out that the Rapid Constructor Golem or the RCG is a purely civilian drone designed to efficiently build basic to moderately advanced structures to the best of the drones ability.


    Its frame is rather large in comparison to other medium drones but it is like this so that it can house the construction material storage units placed on its sides and back which facilitate the drones ability to work without needing to constantly be gathering more materials from a stockpile. Its large flat tail is made to pack things like bricks and rebar into place while also acting as a stabilizer which helps the RCG precisely dispense concrete and other fluid like construction materials without all too much trouble. Unfortunately due it¡¯s civilian nature, the RCG is only armored minimally and is near useless in any sort of combat and thus are incredibly vulnerable compared to most drones. While the inability for violence could prove to be a bit annoying if I ever need to press them into service, I could certainly make use of these guys. Especially for when I decide to construct the whole turret defense system that I haven¡¯t decided to build yet.


    Speaking of which, where should I construct those turrets? The factory is the obvious choice since that¡¯s probably the most important outpost that I have since it holds my core which I presume would at the very least be very painful to lose, however I doubt I will be able to get much use out of it if I construct it there. The next most obvious option would be the front line outpost that Churn is currently having a garrison, however Churn already said that they do not want turrets that they cannot control in their own territory which means this option is not available. I suppose I could put the turrets in the warehouse outpost in order to protect the server clusters I have constructed there, making the outpost somewhat important, however aside from the previously mentioned servers, there would not be anything else there that I would consider important.


    As I continued to think of the possible places I could try constructing the turrets at, I remembered that at the rundown military installation, a significant number of the turrets were not actually at the installation itself but rather they were a good distance away from the compound. This gave me an idea as I began checking just how far away I had constructed the relay system in comparison to my factory which soon yielded the realization that I could likely construct some of the turrets in the middle of the relay systems layer. That would certainly let the turrets get at least a little bit of work done while giving my drones manning the relay systems a bit more protection other than praying for reinforcements if a larger than normal feral group comes their way.


    With my mind made up on where I wanted to construct the turrets, I began looking around for where I had left the persona core and before long I had one of my mooses moving back from the water treatment facility with the core in tow. While they were in transit, I decided to get started on the fabrication of a handful of those new beaver drones which should be completed with their construction before the persona core arrives. I am sure my spider construction team will be happy to have something to actually do given that I had not ordered any major construction efforts at the factory for a little while now. With all of that taken care of, I checked back on the newly liberated Ping¡¯s aligned outpost which my drones were settling into nicely.


    My spiders were doing their jobs as quickly and efficiently as usual with only a minor amount of complaining from the repair drones in question about how my melee drones do not stop to think whether it would be a good idea to back off before they got critically injured. Those who had not been injured enough to be rendered combat ineffective had already taken up guard positions around the outpost walls and my drones and I nearly had a heart attack as one of my drones reported movement from the eastern side of the outpost. Quickly moving over to that side of the outpost, I was relieved to see the familiar glow of Ping¡¯s drones; however, I paused as I noticed the general state of disrepair the drones in question were in.


    Ping¡¯s dragonfly drone which had been the de facto leader of my auxiliaries arrived soon after and following a short discussion, reported that these were not the reinforcements Ping had sent to the outpost but rather they were more strays who had been on the move ever since the outpost had been lost. Alright, having some more drones available certainly would not hurt. After all, I have a feeling that I¡¯ll need all the help I can get if this outpost gets hit again.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 89

    As the hours began to flow past, a few more groups of Ping¡¯s scattered drones found their way back to the outpost and with their help the outpost began to feel a bit more defended. While Ping scraped together the reinforcements to send to the newly liberated outpost, I sent some of my drones who had been fully repaired back to the water treatment outpost to escort my mortar tortoise over to our new hold point. Hopefully my mortar tortoise would be able to take out the majority of the enemy drones that are surely going to be sent our way. While my drones were doing this, I decided to check back on the factory and see how the construction efforts were beginning.


    As it turns out, the construction site was moving along swimmingly as the first few of my new constructor beavers finished fabricating and immediately began helping out my on site spider team begin the first few steps of constructing the need infrastructure by reinforcing the walls and preparing the turret bases in the midst of the relay network. They moved rather mechanically in stark contrast to the much more fluid and graceful movement of my other drones but regardless they did the job quite quickly. According to my drones estimations, the construction of the base of the turret emplacements would be finished in a day or two and my spiders estimated the turrets would be constructed and hooked up around the same time.


    Looking over the construction site, I designated the turret locations mostly on top of the walls and the various fire bases in the relay station, however I chose to assign the tiny railgun to be placed on the top of the factory roof in a triangle design so that they would have the best firing lines out of all of my turrets. I personally would have preferred to construct more of the railguns however due to the sheer power draw of the turrets in question, it would be infeasible to have more than two firing repeatedly for at any point in time or else I would very quickly run my power stores dry. Despite their less than lethal shot power, the beam turrets would probably be my best bet given that they had a significantly smaller power draw and thus I could have more firing at a time while not running low on power.


    The slag turret is actually right in the middle of the pack in the power draw which now that I thought about it made quite a bit of sense, after all heating up metal to the point that it is a liquid probably takes a significant bit of power. As I was watching a few of my spiders working on welding together the frame for one of the turrets, I noticed that the moose carrying the persona core had just arrived and was now making their way into the factory proper. Floating over just so that I knew where they placed it down, I watched as the moose learned down and dropped the persona core into the waiting appendages of a group of four spiders who quickly began moving through the factory and down the stairs towards my core. Continuing to follow them down, I watched as they soon entered the room which held my core and approached the terminal connected to the containment chamber where my core floated about.


    As they got close to the terminal, a hatch automatically opened up near the base of the terminal and revealed a rather circular socket and the spiders began shifting around in order to put down onto the ground. Once my spiders placed it onto the floor and backed away from it, I watched as a bright almost electrical string of light shot out from the socket and connected with the persona core which promptly began floating and slowly drifted over and into the socket, making a faint yet satisfying click as it fit into place. As the persona core was fitted into the socket, I watched as a faint green streak appeared inside my main core¡¯s containment chamber and wrapped itself around my blue ball of light. As the green streak melded with my larger blue core, all of the surrounding rings which drifted around my core began emitting a pleasant forest green.


    Floating down to the core¡¯s terminal, I began looking through the system diagnostic in order to see if anything had changed and after a few minutes, I found a subsection of the menu page which was labeled, connected persona core. Opening up the subsection, I began reading through the description which stated that my core was now linked to a standard military turret persona core however due to the fact that my core was not a military design, I would not gain the entirety of the benefits from this particular persona core. Nevertheless, the core would allow me to construct a total of twenty turrets in the general vicinity of my core; however, due to the fact that my core was originally industrial focused, I would not have the standard thirty turrets and would be denied the ability to construct additional turrets in my other contiguous outposts.


    Twenty turrets, huh. That''s a pretty good number, twelve turrets in and on the factory with eight more dispersed in the relay system. A shame that I could not get those extra bonuses for having a military core but I suppose I cannot complain. Also am I only allowed to have one persona core connected to my core at one time? I would presume so since the ring things are all green now so I doubt that I could have another core connected as much as I would like to have. Looking over to where the persona core had been connected to the socket, I noticed that the metal plates had shifted back over the opening, presumably for protective purposes. Floating back up to the surface, I decided to go back to watching my drones as they slowly constructed the turrets which would act as the factory¡¯s second line of defense.


    As I continued to float about, I received a message coming from Cooper over in the front line outpost who was reporting that the last of the worms had finished rallying and that they were ready to begin the attack. Flipping over to the outpost in question, I slipped into my vessel drone and was quickly joined by cooper who began walking along with me as I began ordering for all drones to prepare for incoming engagement along with calling over all of my newly fabricated worms to assemble near me so I could give them their briefing in person. As my smaller drones scurried about and began manning their stations or joining the strategic reserve, I waited until all of my worms finished arriving in front of me before I began laying out the battle plan.


    The plan in question was laid out as follows: my worms would tunnel their way through the ground, just deep enough to make their way past the majority of the remaining beetle mines, before shooting up near the surface once they reach the other side of no-man¡¯s-land. Once they reached there, two of the five tunnel worms would be given the duty of ensuring that no hostile moles were able to interrupt the mission while the other three would collapse the building with the many drone works with it. Hopefully they would be able to complete their mission without leaving the comparatively safe underground, however if the destruction of the buildings foundations proves to be ineffective, destroying the buildings walls would be the next course of action.


    Once they have completed their mission, they were to retreat back to the outpost and assist in fending off the counter attack by occasionally breaching out of the ground and wreaking havoc on the enemy drone lines. Hopefully I will not need their assistance with my mortar tortoises and their small stockpile of extra munitions however I had a feeling that the hostile force would not take kindly to my attack on their production hub and promptly would send whatever drones they were mustering in the area my way. Once I finished giving them their mission outline, I ordered for them to take to the underground and begin the operation as the last of my drones took their positions at the defensive line and began watching the other side of the open area. Positioning myself behind a nice and sturdy concrete barricade, I slipped back out of my vessel and switched my perspective over to one of my worms and their strange version of vision.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    My tunnel worms were fast compared to many of my other drones and this was fully displayed as my five tunnel worms charged forward through the ground and over to the enemy production outpost and I watched as my worm¡¯s strange ground penetrating radar system detected multiple hostile signatures moving in to engage my worms. They were probably only expecting to have to shoo off my one worm which had been detonating mines since they only sent a couple of moles laden with explosive beetles however they were most definitely surprised when both of them were slammed by the shredding head of my tunnel worms who thankfully did not sustain critical damages from the beetles who detonated as quickly as they realized was was going on.


    This sudden change in behavior by my previously only probing attacks seemed to have had a profound effect on the defenders as nearly a dozen more moles began digging down to engage my tunnel worms, most of which were not even carrying fire beetles in their haste to get stuck in. My two designated worms peeled off from the main force to begin engaging the incoming enemy drones while my remaining three tunnel worms moved in to start the process of making an absolute mess of the foundations of the ground which the building containing the drone works stood on. My worms moved in criss-crossing motions in order to destabilize as much of the ground as quickly as possible and their work was swiftly beginning to take effect as more and more of the new and expanding artificial cavern began to crack and break apart.


    My two tunnel worms on screener duty were doing well enough on their own having taken out more than half of the hostile moles while their brothers continued with their important work, however they seemed to pause for a second as if searching for something. Looking around for what had gotten my worms working on screener duty so worked up over, I did not see anything through my worms underground radar system. That was until I realized that despite the fact that my worms working on protecting the others were not moving, there was still an underlying rumble of worms moving which was not coming from my own drones. As I made this critical realization, an enemy worm appeared on our sensors suddenly and crashed into the side of one of my worms assigned to screening.


    Thankfully my other worm was able to realize what was happening and managed to dodge out of the way of the attack sent against them by another enemy worm who drilled past, having missed their target. Ordering my two screener worms to begin engaging their counterparts, I commanded two of the three remaining drones to help take down the two enemy tunnelers. This left only one worm working on collapsing the building, the progress of which slowed considerably now that two thirds of the drones assigned to it had just been dispatched to other duties. Regardless it would have to do as those worms were needed in the now very messy engagement between my tunnelers and the enemy¡¯s.


    My worms danced through the ground, turning sharply in order to have a chance at attacking the two now outnumbered enemy worms who tried vainly to bring down all of my drones with them. Unfortunately one of my worms had taken near fatal damaged from the initial attack and thus was vulnerable to the few enemy moles who were still in play as they were quickly swarmed and destroyed due to a series of suicidal detonations by the enemy moles and their explosive friends. As this was happening, another one of my worms got caught up in a bloody twister battle as they and their opponents wrapped around each other and drilled into each other¡¯s sides ultimately causing both of them to be destroyed as other worms from both sides took advantage of the weakened state of their targets.


    This left two of my worms and one of the enemy¡¯s and what ensued could best be described as a high speed joust which had all three worms drilling straight forward and landing glancing blows against each other. However, due to the simple fact that my two worms could take a few more hits than their one, my worms eventually pulled through and struck a killing blow against their opponent¡¯s core processing which left the remaining semi functional sections of the worm twitching sporadically. As the worm jousting was still going on, my last worm was working frantically to collapse the last of the building to minimal success as there was still a considerable section of ground that had not been excavated completely and thus had more than enough support in order to not fully collapse like the rest of the building.


    And to make things worse, additional enemy moles were arriving at the outpost from who knows where and they were beginning to get close to swarming my worm as they worked feverishly. Knowing that time was limited and that my other worms were busy, my last worm decided that the only choice that they had was the finish the mission and thus they quickly tuned their driller head up and made best speed to the surface, rushing past the approaching moles and ignoring them completely despite the damage they did to their hull. Breaching the surface and immediately crashing into the still standing walls of the large warehouse which the drone works were located in, my worm began tearing apart as much of the building''s structure as possible causing much of the roof to fall down and crush drones and machines alike.


    Unfortunately, in the process of collapsing the building, my worm faced the entirety of the enemy surface forces as they began priority target number one and soon enough my worm in question was felled by a combined force of tortoises and other smaller drones who swarmed over my worm like ants since most were in fact ants. Regardless, the worm did their duty and the last of the structure was destroyed, collapsing the entirety of the building and destroying most if not all of the usable drone production units stored inside of the facility. With their main objective complete, I ordered my surviving two worms to make best speed back to the outpost and made sure to inform them that they should make it quick as there was a sizable contingent of enemy moles moving in to engage them.


    My worms promptly began following my suggestion as they rushed back to friendly lines and while they did that, I slipped my perspective back over to my vessel drone. Standing up in the middle of my defensive line, I looked around at my forces all arrayed behind the many barricades and block heads which all acted as cover. Good, everyone''s ready. Looking back to and over no-man¡¯s-land, I watched as first only a couple, then a few dozen, and soon well over a hundred drones gathered at the enemy¡¯s defensive line before a near deafening cry came from the other side before near two hundred enemy drones broke formation and charged across the open ruins.


    ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve kicked the hornets nest,¡± looking over to a few of my own hornets, ¡°no offense.¡± I could see that more than a few of my drones were looking rather worried as the enemy drones quickly charged forward and made their way closer and closer to our lines. A lot of us would not make it out of the battle but that''s what they were made for and unfortunately that was something I had been forced to accept and make peace with more than a few battles ago. Looking back to my tortoises behind the main defensive line, I nodded, and said my first order of the battle propper. ¡°Mortars! Commence the barrage!¡± And off went the first of the many shells.

 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 90

    A series of six loud ¡®thumps¡¯ fired out from my tortoise''s position and all across no-man¡¯s-land explosions detonated, taking clusters of drones with them. Unfortunately the shots are not as accurate as I would have preferred but I suppose I should have expected that since they were moving targets. Once the last of my first tortoises shells fired out, my next mortar tortoise began taking its place and started firing off their own barrage of munitions while the first began rearming with the help of a handful of spiders who split up and placed the mortar shells into the feeder two at a time, just about finishing their work as the second tortoise finished firing their last round. Looking out into the field, I watched as explosions continued to mark the area and was glad to see as the enemy forces seemed to slow under the weight of the bombardment which made things all the better.


    The largest of the drones were getting particularly targeted due to their apparent higher value along with the fact that they were significantly easier to hit given their size and slower speeds. The one thing I was slightly upset about was the fact that my ranged drones were still a bit too far to begin hitting the enemy drones themselves; however, I dared not send them out of the defensive line as the enemy fliers quickly approached my lines unhindered by the bombardment happening underneath their wings. Ordering my ranged drones to watch the skies and open fire the moment they get into range, I made sure that my melee drones were ready to either fight off enemy fliers who attempt to swoop down and pick off my ranged drones or, in the case of my few vultures and woodpeckers, prepared to fly out and engage the enemy in the skies as well.


    Looking back down onto ground level, I saw that despite the ongoing bombardment the enemy drones were still slogging through in concerning numbers having been able to spread out enough to the point that my mortar tortoise''s shots would be ineffective. Regardless the shelling was still thinning out their numbers which would surely be invaluable once things start going ploin shaped and the big melee begins. Speaking of which, just about when the enemy ground drones reached the minimum engagement distance for my ranged drones, the enemy fliers began diving down into range before their own hornets began opening fire on my drone positions. Thankfully the majority of my drones were sitting behind some nice and sturdy cover which protected them from the deadly spikes however my tortoises were not as fortunate due to their increased size.


    My own ranged drones were able to shoot down a few of the enemy hornets before they got into range of my mortars and my vultures and woodpeckers shot up to hopefully distract them as well however more than a few slipped past and fired off their spikes into one of my tortoises midsection. The tortoise in question seized up and crumpled to the ground as a large percentage of their core circuitry was damaged or destroyed upon getting impaled by the many spikes shot into it. A standard tortoise may have been able to survive the beating however, due to the mortar tortoises substantially lowered armored capacity, the spikes penetrated right through the little armor the tortoise had left and wreaked havoc upon their systems. Ordering my fliers to engage the enemy hornets in full haste, I similarly ordered for my ranged drones to cover them and engage enemy fliers at their discretion.


    As my vultures and woodpeckers darted about and slammed into the remaining enemy hornets, my ground based drones began engaging the enemy melee troops as they emerged from the minimum firing distance in groups of two and three. My two remaining tortoises, deciding that this was probably going to be the last opportunity to have targets not danger close to friendly forces, quickly began emptying their shell racks as quickly as they could and consequently I was surprised when the area in a dozen feet in front of me suddenly became a ball of fire. Similar occurrences popped up all across the line as my mortars dumped munitions as fast as their systems would let them before hightailing out of here now that they were no longer able to contribute to the battle.


    Regardless, my air units continued to hound the enemy hornets since they were still probably the most dangerous enemy force currently present although they were meeting fierce resistance from enemy fliers and the hornets themselves despite my ranged drones best efforts. My woodpeckers were probably doing the most work proportionally to their weight as they engaged the enemy drones with a speedy ferocity and their smaller size made it so that they were quite difficult to get a blow onto them, let alone a ranged shot. Due to their work, the enemy hornets seemed just a bit too preoccupied to finish reloading their spike launchers and begin turning their weapons against my ground drones who were now facing the bulk of the enemy force.


    With my tortoises no longer slowing the enemy troops down and forcing them to take cover and spread out, the hostile drones had taken the time to quickly reorganize into clusters while my ranged drones were focused on handling the enemy air units. As such, the enemy drones renewed charge was substantially more successful than their initial scattered wave had been, even if that was not saying all too much. My infantry drones managed to hold the line as they continued to take cover behind the constructed defenses and only poked out of them in order to quickly damage the closest enemy drone before the hostile ground based ranged troops could manage to get a lock on them. Diverting some of my hornets and scorpions from firing at the enemy fliers, I directed them at the now more threatening enemy ground force now pushing against my own troops.


    As a few of my scorpions fired from behind cover into a cluster of enemy drones, I noticed that one of the beams was a dark red and realized that that must have been one of the newer and more lethal scorpions. Watching as the red beam slammed into a hostile ant, I was happy to see that the beam punched through the drones armor and made a bloody mess of their internal components which in turn was the killing blow. Looking back at my scorpions, I noticed that while all of the scorpions were emitting jets of steam in an effort to cool off their beam cannons, the modified one was blowing off the most steam whilst also digging into the ground further as the first shot had pushed it back a bit. Other, similar occurrences were happening all across the line as red and blue streaks of light lanced through the air as my scorpions fired off and were promptly fired at by some of the enemy¡¯s scorpions who thankfully did not have the lethal variation.


    Looking out at the battlefield and how the enemy ground troops were starting to clump up together in order to maximize the pressure that they were putting on my drone defenders, I issued an order to my worms to take advantage of their mistake and break up those formations a bit. Watching as my worms quickly took up positions before bursting through the ground in the middle of the enemy formation and wreaking havoc on the enemy position giving my drones the opportunity to strike their now utterly confused counterparts which they promptly did so. Under the cover of the massive distraction which the mess which my worms were creating, my various infantry drones broke cover and charged the dazed and confused enemies and shoved them back out of any footholds that they may have been able to gain during their push.


    They were met with some resistance from the enemy drones at the very front of the formation however beyond that the rest of the hostile drones were all too focused on the worms tearing their way through them to care. Speaking of which, my worms were taking a substantial amount of damage during their attack run as nearly the entirety of the enemy force focused down on them and so I ordered them to fall back which was probably for the best given that losing them in the process of only dealing a handful more casualties would not be the best use of their lives. Plus, the damage had been done as their drills had taking more than a dozen enemy drones down and the countercharge made by my infantry had done well at punching through a fair amount of the enemy troops before they needed to fall back behind the defenses now that their distractions were retreating and enemy ranged troops were beginning to divert fire their way.


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    The losses which the enemy force had incurred would surely be damming however they continued to throw themselves against my drone line which was steadily losing combat effective drones one by one even if we took them down nearly twice as fast. The battle in the sky was doing somewhat better with nearly all of the enemy fliers having been taken out by my own airborne drones along with ground support fire from my ranged drones. Unfortunately this has come at the cost of a large amount of my vultures and woodpeckers who were quickly whittled down as they engaged their counterparts. The quicker the air battle concluded, the faster I would be able to divert the rest of my hornet fire onto the enemy ground troops and with that in mind, I ordered any of my drones to divert fire to the enemy fliers and end the air battle as quickly as they could manage.


    My remaining vultures and woodpeckers swooped in and slammed into the last of the hostile hornets and nearly the entirety of my ranged force opened up on the still lingering enemy airborne drones which managed to take out the vast majority of them at the cost of leaving my melee drones without any fire support to help them whether the still ever present enemy waves crashing down on them. It payed off however as my vultures and woodpeckers still in the fight were able to quickly mop up the last of the hostile aerial drones allowing me to finally divert all of my drones onto firing on the main enemy contingent and right in the nick of time as the few large drones that had managed to survive the bombardment performed by my mortar tortoises emerged from the ruins and properly joined the fight.


    Just as the bulk of my ranged drones opened fire on the enemy air units, a pair of crabs and a tortoise marched onto the front of the enemy lines and promptly began tearing apart the defenses my construction team spent so long constructing and maintaining but thankfully I was not as under equipped as I was the last time I had to fight large drones as I ordered my ranged drones to pick their targets and open fire when ready. Commanding my one standard tortoise to take up a defensive position mirroring the enemy tortoise along with my other melee drones to buy some time for my ranged drones to rearm and cool down. I similarly directed my flight capable drones to engage the enemy''s own scorpions who have been taking potshots at my troops for too long. Thankfully they were far enough away from any other hostile drones that could possibly give any support meaning my last vultures and woodpeckers could attack the enemy scorpions without worrying about getting swarmed.


    Focusing back on the hostile large drones currently bearing down on my drones defensive positions, I noticed that the drones in question had not made it out of the bombardment as healthy as I first assumed. Now that they were closer, I could pick out a multitude of sections in their hull where shrapnel had pierced and where whole chunks of their armor had been broken off which boded well for my rearming ranged volley. But until then my drones would have to hold them back and that was proving to be a rather difficult task as the size difference between my drones and their opponents were starting to show as the enemy large drones continued to pulverize the constructed cover my drones were hiding behind forcing them to either relocate or fight exposed against the rest of the hostile drones.


    The hostile force despite their losses continued to push against my drones who fought valiantly despite casualties of our own however despite my tortoises best efforts, the enemy large drones were pushing them back along with the rest of my troops and things were starting to look grim. Checking how long it would take for my ranged drones to be able to open fire again, they reported that they still needed just short of a minute before fire support could be administered. This I figured would not be fast enough as some of my infantry drones were reporting a spike in losses now that they were stuck in the fight and that they would not be able to sustain this kind of engagement for long. I was about to order my drones to begin falling back in chunks in a bid to buy a bit more time for my ranged drones to get another batch of shots off when I spotted something in my peripheral vision.


    Snapping my head towards whatever I had seen, I managed to spot a cluster of figures flying through the sky in the direction of my outpost. Squinting harder, I watched as the cluster of figures quickly became more defined and soon enough I was able to recognize the markings and partial blue glow across the drones which I could now see were vultures. The Flock! They must have come from the new nesting ground that they had been setting up for the past few days. With their help we should be able to turn the tide. Informing my drones of the incoming reinforcements, they began fighting with renewed vigor now that they had a chance to make it out of this on the winning side. As the Flock reinforcements quickly approached my outpost, my drones managed to push the enemy drones back out of the defensive line which was looking more like a bunch of randomly placed rubble and the enemy crab drones were even dissuaded from pushing up as the first of my scorpions began opening up and stunning down the large drones.


    My more lethal scorpions and hornets were still rearming when the vultures from the Flock arrived to the battle and, as it turns out, they had brought a few friends with them as they dropped a half dozen fire beetles into the middle of the enemy formation detonating in an air burst for maximum damage. The enemy large drones managed to get through the detonations relatively unscathed with only minor damage to their unarmored sections of their hull, with the exception of one of the crabs who lost a few of their legs to the blast, however the remaining chaff drones had taken some serious casualties which my own drones took advantage upon. Now that they had delivered their payload, the Flock vultures took liberty of the chaos and began joining my other vultures in charging into the last of the quickly dwindling enemy ranged drones.


    As they began tearing apart the enemy back liners, the last of my lethal ranged drones finished cooling down and reloading which they promptly took advantage of as they pumped the entirety of their rounds into the three large drones. My modified scorpion''s red hot beams slammed into the armored shell of the single enemy tortoise and after a second or two of continuous focus it managed to melt through the armor and cut into the insides of the enemy drone making it an easy target for the rest of my drones. The majority of my hornets fire was split between the two crabs with a bit of priority given to the one still standing on all of its legs and their spikes punched through the comparatively thinner armor and destroyed them outright with their now lifeless corpse crashing down onto nearby drones.


    With their core units being destroyed and casualties just starting to register, the enemy forces began to rout whilst being hounded down by vengeful troops. And just to put salt in an open wound, I noticed as the mortar tortoise which I once thought completely destroyed used the last of its energy to shift it¡¯s mortar to point in the direction of the fleeing enemy drones and pop off the last of its shells likely causing a handful more drones to lie dead on the crater filled field. As soon as the last of the enemy drones left direct sightlines, a small wave of spider repair drones charged down from the inside of the outpost and began tending to the mountain of wounded and dying drones in an effort to save as many of them as possible before they succumb to their injuries.


    Looking around, I could easily see that more than half of my drones would be out of commission for the foreseeable future as it would take at least the better half of a day in order for my spider drones to fully patch them all up. Although it is not like I am planning to push up and out of the outpost anytime soon, taking the corrupted AI¡¯s territory is nice and all however I would not gain all too much from pushing forward especially if Churn cannot push up with me given the fact that my force would still stand no chance if the bulk of the enemies attention is diverted to me. Sitting back down against one of the defensive barricades, I shoo off a few spiders who were checking me for damage with the pretense that their time would be better spent on the rest of my drones. I just hope that wasn¡¯t only the first wave of hornets now that I¡¯ve kicked their nest.