The night was silent, broken only by the echoes of the forest the rustling of leaves made by unseen creatures as they fled from the aftermath of Horizon's slaughter in fear of them being the next victims. The golden eyed baboons lay in ruin, their corpses littering the ground, their blood tainting the ground below.
Horizon stood motionless, his tendril retracting back into his body. His red eyes glimmered in the darkness as he assessed the battle, the energy and weapons spent by the drones were too much, a flaw of their design one he couldn't rectify just yet.
The assembly drone hovered above, its thrusters emitting a low hum, as it circled above still in combat mode in case of any sudden surprise attack. The mining drone, still anchored to the ground in turret mode, retracted its canons with a series of mechanical clicks, its hydraulic legs unfolding to resume its previous spider like stance.
Horizons' internal system pulsed with confirmation. Horizon looked towards the thick thicket ahead. He raised his hands as two balls of silver detached themselves from his body, hovering right above his hands. A red dot appeared in the middle of the of the sphere, it expanded and contracted as if focusing.
Horizon lifted into the air, launching them into the air above. They whirred into action as they went ahead.
Horizons' vision shifted, now displaying the sentry drone's view. The whizzed through the sky, surveying the land ahead. The landscape ahead was rather peculiar, the tress grew taller and more robust but lessened in number drastically. The trees eventually stopped appearing completely the land, switching a large rocky outcrop that sloped into a ravine. His sensors flared, mineral signatures spiked in his HUD.
Iron. Copper. Traces of titanium, and something other, something denser.
The drones marked the terrain, creating a map. Horizon deactivated the linked vision, now seeing through his own optics. He signaled the drones to follow him as they made their way to the rocky outcrop.
The trio stopped upon reaching the outcrop. The two sentry orbs Horizon had sent out earlier rushed back to him, melding back into his body. He absorbed the information collected by the drones, which contained a detailed layout of the area.
A decent place to start operation, Horizon thought.
"Begin operations." He said to the two drones.
The drones whirred to life, the miner drone lumbering over to a large boulder, pulling out it's drill and laser cutter, immediately beginning to cut into the rock, extracting any useful ore, the assembly drone descended beginning construction for a rudimentary forge, where the collected ores could be smelted.
But before long their process were halted.
The ground trembled as a large crack appeared. The drones immediately ceased their activity, switching back to offensive mode. The miner drone's hydraulic legs, clamped back into the ground, its turret blazing to life, aiming at the crack. The assembly drone flew high into the air its machine gun turning online, two missile pods unfolding from its undercarriage.
Then it emerged.
Its black chitinous plates, black as the surrounding night, gleamed under the triple moons. Six-segmented limbs, each ending in sharp, brown scythe-like claws, dug into the rock as it lodged the rest of it's body free. It was a hideous fusion of insect and reptile, its lower body covered in overlapping black scales.
On its back were large rocks that had blue veins on their surfaces. But most striking were it's eyes, six in total, three on each side of its face, they burned like embers in the dark. From it's mouth, a second set of jaws unfolded, dripping viscous purple venom. A red forked tongue wiggled in front of its face.
It's spread out its arms wide letting out a loud screech, a sound that warped the air. Distorting it in visible riples
Horizon didn't hesitate.
"Engage."