RISE OF THE SWARM

Horizon stood back at his base, observing the fruits of his labor. A large holographic screen floated in front of him, and on its glowing surface, his brand new outpost was displayed. It was significantly smaller than his main base, but this was a deliberate choice. Its primary function was to serve as a mana mine, a simple resource extraction point. He didn't need it to be large or complex, just efficient and secure.

The outpost spanned a total diameter of 50 meters. Large, incredibly thick manasteel walls rose to a uniform height of five meters around the entire perimeter, effectively shielding the interior from external threats. On top of the formidable wall, numerous machine gun turrets were installed, each one primed and set to a default setting to fire automatically at any unauthorized living thing that approached. On the inside, very few facilities were built, but each one was utterly necessary for the outpost's core function.

There was a repair dock, stocked with a team of assembly drones that were always ready to fix anything that broke or sustained damage. A single landing pad was also installed; from here, a transport drone would be regularly sent from the main base to collect the valuable mana oil. Finally, a compact assembly chamber was built. This chamber's purpose was the manufacture of hunter killer drones, which would then be sent out into the dense forest to collect organic material for processing.

In the very middle of the compound, the large mana extractor hummed with immense power as fresh material was dumped into its intake chute. This load consisted of a group of deer with large metal antlers. Horizon watched the process begin with deep satisfaction; he finally had a secure foothold on this strange and hostile world. It was a critical first step.

With a simple flick of his wrist, the holographic screen vanished into nothingness. It was time to move on to other pressing matters. His grand plan was to build a powerful army, but for that ambitious goal, he would need lots and lots of raw materials. A brand new screen instantly materialized in front of him. This time, the image displayed was a live feed of the valley situated right next to his main base.

He had already managed to excavate a large part of that valley, effectively turning it into a semi-functioning quarry. The valley was thankfully full of the raw minerals he desperately needed, enough for his causes, but of course, nothing ever came for free. While mining, his drones had encountered serious and persistent problems.

It turned out the valley was also home to those very same creatures that had attacked him when he first arrived in the area. They fought his drones fiercely over the raw minerals, which coincidentally were also their primary food source. A prolonged and fierce battle had occurred between the automated drones and the serpentine insectoids, but the enemy forces always kept on winning. They were simply stronger, faster, and possessed an intimate knowledge of the layout of the land, which gave them a significant tactical advantage.

These unique creatures bore similar characteristics to common ants. They dug massive subterranean tunnels underground, with their network spanning impressively large distances throughout the region. Horizon had already tried snuffing them out by systematically destroying their tunnels, but that tactic didn't even faze them. They just built new ones with shocking speed to replace the destroyed ones. It didn't help matters that the one he had fought previously was merely a worker class drone. The warrior versions of these creatures were much larger and harder to deal with. He had already suffered great losses under their sharp, powerful claws.

To truly deal with them permanently, he needed to find their central leader. He theorized it was located somewhere deep in the heart of the colony, but so far, he had found no success in locating it. It seemed their leader was much more clever and elusive than he had initially anticipated. But no matter; he viewed them as just a small roadblock, one he would eventually overcome with superior strategy.

Suddenly, a sharp, urgent warning signal blared across the main screen. Horizon's curiosity peaked immediately. The warning was coming from his new outpost, or to be more specific, it was a distress ping from a single hunter killer drone assigned to that outpost's operations.

He clicked the flashing warning sign, watching it fade away into the interface. It was replaced by a string of status reports, images, and words. The text began detailing what the drone had encountered just before it went offline.

<At exactly 0900 hours, a hunter killer drone designated HK-47 discovered a profound anomaly in the local geology of the landscape. It had encountered a cave entrance, but according to all previous land scans and geological surveys, there should be absolutely no cave in that specific area. It fired its advanced scanner again for confirmation, but the sensors reported the same confusing thing. There was no cave there according to the data. But its own optical sensors showed clearly that there was in fact a cave there. The drone then conducted a full diagnostic scan on all of its internal systems, but the readout confirmed none of its systems were malfunctioning. It made a decision to go into the cave to investigate further. After it crossed the threshold and entered, all further communication was completely blocked. After exactly 23 minutes, we received a fractured distress call from that same drone. Attached to the call was a single video file.>

"Play the video recording now," Horizon commanded.

The screen instantly switched to the drone's first-person point of view. The feed was initially pitch black, an inky darkness. The only sounds were the slow, rhythmic dripping of water from somewhere on the cave ceiling. The drone then switched seamlessly to its night vision mode, its environmental sensors blaring a warning. Strangely, no life signs could be detected at all. But along the rough walls, clusters of blue luminescent stones could be seen embedded deep into the rock.

Mana stones. Pure and concentrated. Horizon's eyes glowed with intense interest and anticipation.

The drone then turned back, attempting to retreat to where it had just come from, only to find that the previous entrance was now completely gone. It had been replaced by a long, seemingly endless cave corridor stretching into darkness. It began walking forward cautiously, its sensors still blaring uselessly, searching for any signs of life or a possible way out. The deeper it went, the more the cave seemed to get wider and wider around it. Thick, ancient cobwebs also began filling the available space. It got stuck in a few of them, but the strands were no match for its sharp, metallic claws.

Suddenly, the main cave passage split abruptly into five different, smaller tunnels. The drone, after a moment's processing, picked the farthest one to the right and continued its search protocol. It was then it encountered its first enemy: a small green bipedal creature. A goblin, Horizon recognized instantly. In its hand was a crude wooden club. The drone didn't hesitate. It unfurled its integrated gun arm and immediately fired a burst at it. The goblin, now littered with bullet holes, fell down to the ground quite dead. But something entirely unexpected then occurred. The goblin's body began rapidly decomposing at an impossible rate, instantly being absorbed by the ground beneath it, only leaving behind a single, small green crystal.

The drone, now unsure what to make of this, continued forward. The narrow corridor soon opened up into a large cavern with a wall lined completely with thick cobwebs. Its scanners blared loudly again, this time signaling immediate danger. The drone quickly unfurled its weapons systems to full combat readiness.

From the shadowy ceiling above, multiple giant arachnids, each one the size of the singular drone itself, descended on silken threads hanging from their abdomens. They screeched horribly, their sharp fangs dripping with a glowing green venom. The drone let loose its full payload, successfully killing multiple spiders and turning them into the same strange gray goo. But it was quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. The screen faded to a harsh static as the drone was finally destroyed.

Horizon searched quickly through his vast memories and data banks. The captured adventurers had possessed some knowledge about this phenomenon; what the drone had encountered was clearly a Dungeon. A separate pocket space cut off from the real world where monsters dwell and strange rules apply.

It seemed the pesky serpentine insectoid problem would, unfortunately, have to wait for now. This new discovery took absolute priority