RISE OF THE SWARM

Horizon stood atop a pile of green corpses. The scene surrounding him could only be described as chaos. Fires raged on, building crumbled as they were turned to ash. The sickly stench of burnt flesh and wood formed a horrid mix.

Surrounding him, humanoid machines knelt before him. Their weapons still drawn, oozing with thick blood. Their visors shone red, the same as their master, as they awaited their return.

Horizon stood atop the pile, gazing at a certain orc's head embedded on one of his tendrils. He never understood organics. Instead of preserving one's own life, they choose to sacrifice themselves to ensure another can live another day.

From his experience with organics, he learned they termed this as 'love,' a useless emotion. He saw it as a weakness, a flaw in their creation. He and his fellow machines lacked this so-called love and other emotions, for he was built for one sole purpose, the eradication of all organics, and for such, he needed no emotions to cloud his judgment; logic alone would guide his actions.

With a thought, he clenched his tendrils, crushing the head. He whipped his tendril in the air, cleaning it of all blood. He refused for his glorious form to be tainted by such filth.

He turned to the pile of corpses. There was a reason he had collected them here. He had learned that everything in this world had mana dwelling inside of them, and for some reason, sentient beings housed exponentially more mana.

Since learning this, he had devised a plan. What if he could somehow extract this mana from living beings and use it as said power source? It would be much quicker than using the mana generator. For as long as there would be organics to source mana. He would also have energy.

Suddenly, the whirring of machines could be heard in the distance. A swarm of assembly drones approached the burning ruins, beginning to circle above Horizon.

"Initiate mana extractor assembly." He commanded.

A green light shone from the drones as they immediately began building.

To figure out the problem of extraction, Horizon had come up with a new machine. One he called the mana extractor. By combining the mechanism of ore extractors and a forge with some of his spell code, he had found a way to extract the latent man from organics, whether live or dead. But it had a higher mana yield ratio when the organics were alive.

The drones began by setting up the foundation, a large iron disk was set on the ground, and engaged with circuitry. A large cylinder was built on top of that its top left open. This would be where the organics would be shredded into paste. Another cylinder was placed on the outside. Here, the paste would be mixed with water, producing a mana-rich sludge. Pipes came out from the side, which led to a large tank on the side. Here was where the sludge would be precisely heated, burning away all the organic matter. All that would be left would be a mana fuel.

Though the efficiency was low, as he judged that a single orc could only produce about 5 liters of this mana oil. But it would be useful nonetheless, as it would offer a quick power supply.

"Begin." He instructed the drones.

The drones whirled into action as they began loading the orc bodies into the machine.

<Mana extractor online.>

"Activate."

The machine whirled as it activated the cylinder in the middle began to swing blades, shredding the orc bodies. Water began filling the outside cylinder sourced from the river. The machine hummed with power as it processed the bodies. So, enough of a tank on the side began to fill up with a red brown sticky substance. Mana oil.

Horizon nodded; it was a success. With this, he had another power source. He turned to the idle assembly drones, issuing an order.

"Clear the area."

The drones buzzed as they began their assignment. Horizon hadn't built this extractor here for naught. This was going to be one of his outposts. The forest around was full of organic life, perfect for his upcoming plans.

He was building an army. From the memories of the adventurers, he had found out about their city, and it turned out it wasn't far from his base. So instead of waiting for them to find him. He would attack them first. And this extractor would be the one to power that army.

He turned to the kneeling sentinel.

"Scour the area. Kill any and everything and bring it back here to the extractor."

The sentinels stood up with hydraulic clicks. Their visors gleamed red. Their weapons glowing with a red edge, they turned their sensors whirring into action as they scoured the area like predators searching for prey.

Buy Horizon was unaware as he schemed in silence. He was being watched. A figure stood above him. A female. She was dropped in green floral robes, a crown of vines adorned her head. Around it, fireflies buzzed. Shedding light upon her figure. Her green hair fell down her back like leaves. Her dress was decorated with flowers of all kinds. Her eyes were the brightest shade of emerald, her ears long and pointed. Her face was perfection incarnate, nothing out of place. Everything complements each other.

But something wasn't right on her face; a frown could be seen as she stared down at Horizon. Clearly dissatisfied with his being. Her eyes wandered around the area. Her dissatisfaction glowed as she saw the level of destruction caused. Yet she said nothing.

If Horizon could see her, he would be surprised, no, surprised would be an understatement, he would be appalled at the sheer volume of mana that woman has. It was as if she herself was mana.

She disappeared once again, only to reappear in front of Horizon. Staring deep into his crimson eyes. Yet nothing occurred. Horizon walked forward, fazing right through the woman as if she wasn't there.

The woman sighed. She then floated up and looked towards a certain direction, then back down towards Horizon. A smile appeared on her face.

She then disappeared once again, but she didn't return