5 Chapter 5: Siege

It had been the fifth day since his arrival in this world. Vulcan gazed at the massive fortress behind him. It could be seen from afar, as the walls were thick and high, and a metal gate had been created thanks to how versatile the factory was. Unfortunately, he had to delay the production of some Automatons, but it was worth it to have better protection.

His army now numbered 301. He looked at how the sentries on top of the walls each had a plasma spear and sword, as well as a nano stim to help them in case they were injured.

Thanks to the store, he was able to buy the blueprints on how to make them with the factory. The bad news was that the store only offered those blueprints. It had categorized the items into four groups; weapons, transportation, body modifications, and Miscellaneous. The stims fell under miscellaneous while the other was self explanatory. Those were pretty much it that were shown to buy, everything else was empty. He was honestly disappointed; he was hoping for a blueprint on how to make a futuristic gun, or at least a vehicle, but nothing. The cheap system was making him work for it.

He also managed to find another iron vein on his third day and bought another small factory, which helped him increase his army more. He had sent some hunting parties to get more levels and EP, but it turned out to be more fruitless.

He didn't know if it was because he had overhunted and the prey had moved to a different territory, or the fact that more of those annoying goblins kept showing up and taking his kills. Either way, he had two choices: send a detached company of sentries and build an outpost somewhere farther away, or hunt the goblins down and get rid of them for good. He leaned toward the goblin massacre more, so he chose that. But he chose to hunker down and gain more troops for good measure. He had a defensive high ground position; if they came looking for trouble, he was fine with wiping them out.

With that, he went inside the fortress and into a large chamber where several Automatons were working on what looked like clothes-making. When he was Henry, he had enough time to waste, so he filled his head with useless knowledge he never knew would actually come in handy. He was making some cloaks to help disguise his appearance.

Sooner or later, he would maybe find some sort of settlement, and he didn't want to scare them with his appearance. He would check things out and test the waters of this world. Like, what race dominated this planet? How did their government work? Did they hold prejudice against him because he was a machine? That sort of thing.

He would wrap his limbs in these dark bandages and a cloak. Hopefully, they didn't have a metal detector. He laughed at his own joke. Like that, he inspected the place and even helped out to relieve his boredom since he couldn't sleep.

While playing chess with another steel sentry, Vulcan noticed something a patrolling sentry had seen while passing by the edge of the cliff face. Looking below, he saw a large number of hobgoblins and goblins climbing the cliff. His entire army rushed in droves to the cliff side.

"Fuck yeah, finally some action. Stupid goblins, don't you know that I hold the high ground," he said as he rushed to the armory, and a sentry passed him a set of weapons.

He soon arrived by the cliff side and saw several sentries tossing boulders the size of bowling balls at high speeds down the cliff. The projectiles hit their marks since their accuracy was unmatched. Larger boulders were soon added to the mix, and they crushed the invaders with ease.

Vulcan was having the time of his life throwing boulders and watching the goblins' heads and bodies burst open like watermelons. Just then, a sentry was pierced by an earth spike right through the chest. Several other sentries were also struck down. He was then struck by one in the chest, but the earth spike just caused a small dent. It annoyed him either way, and he looked for the culprit.

Just next to a group of hobgoblins with wooden shields, a goblin that had a weird staff made out of bone stood out. He grabbed a boulder, calculating the distance and everything, and threw it with all his strength. The thing broke the sound barrier and hit the goblin square in the head. Its head exploded into pieces while its guards looked at its body in surprise.

[Hobgoblin Mage lvl 27, 1,100 EP collected]

"Damn, they even had mages," he thought.

As long as they kept them at bay, it would be an easy victory. The sentries who had been destroyed were pulled out of the fight and given stims to recover. It was a perfect strategy, and he was just glad these goblins were such idiots to rush him like this.

As if to douse his confidence with cold water, a loud crack was heard below. The trees started to shake violently, and loud impacts, as if something huge was approaching, could be heard. He looked down below to see a creature that was a giant abomination and towered above the trees approach the cliff. It picked up one of the larger boulders that was hurled down below and flung it back upwards. A sentry that couldn't evade in time took the hit directly and was obliterated into tiny pieces.

Soon, two more of the giant abominations appeared from the tree line and either threw back the large boulders or tree trunks at them. The tides of battle were slowly turning since they had to take cover whenever those things or the mages threw projectiles at them.

Vulcan had a brilliant idea, and it was going to be a crazy one. Two other steel sentries formed up with him, spears ready to go. They waited for the perfect opportunity when the things had to gather more rocks to throw.

"Now!" he said to himself.

They took off sprinting towards the edge and jumped off the cliff onto the large gathering below. More precisely, towards the giant abominations. One of the things had recovered and was throwing a rock towards one of the sentries that was airborne. Just as it was going to receive a direct hit, Vulcan sliced the boulder in half with his spear. The thing was caught by surprise as the sentry landed on its head and pierced its skull with the spear. The others also managed to hit their targets.

While clutching onto the spears, the giants stumbled and collapsed dead on the forest floor, crushing several goblins. This move had put fear in the goblin horde and made them cower before the large golems standing on top of their dead tamed beasts.

Working in perfect tandem, Vulcan and his sentries took out their swords, jumping again onto the invaders. They cut down his enemies with ease. No matter how big or bulky they were, the plasma weapons cut them down indiscriminately. Since they were among their own, the goblin mages couldn't hit them; otherwise, they would kill their warriors.

Just as it was getting exciting, a loud horn could be heard behind the goblin horde. The goblins retreated, regardless of if they have climbed the cliff halfway up. The sentries jumped down to take down the ones who didn't manage to retreat in time.

Vulcan stared at the creatures running away, not giving chase. He didn't know if they had an ambush ready in case their vanguard failed the invasion. He just gave orders to clean up the mess quickly. He knew they would be back, but by then, it would be too late. They would have to hit him with all they had in order for him to actually feel some pressure.

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A distance away, the remaining goblins regrouped and took a rest while a hobgoblin Mage, adorned in ornate gear, approached a towering hobgoblin warrior.

"Akto. Metal golems are strong. Defeated rock beasts too fast. We report this to great chieftain at once," said the Mage, while the warrior stared off into the distance where the battle took place.

He then glared down at the Mage, who cowered in fear.

"Argo bring dishonor to goblin clan. If not great Mage. Argo would be dead goblin. We hurry back to clan. MOVE!" With that last shout, the rest of the goblins followed along.

They would return to their clan with news of the metal golems who had intervened with their plans of conquering the human lands.