Defeating those automatons was a bit more… complicated than Ashton would have wanted. Not because they had weapons or armours to challenge him. But because of their exceptional ability to adapt to the fight while it was still going on.
Every time Ashton killed one of them, the others learned from the experience of their fallen comrade and quickly changed their strategy to counter the intruder. For example, as soon as they got aware of Ashton's superior agility, they immediately stopped confronting him head-on.
Instead, they began deploying traps everywhere and no matter how careful Ashton was, he was bound to step foot on one of those, and hellish pain would follow. At least he assumed it would have been hellish pain considering he was still feeling some pain despite [Pain Resistance] was at level 10.
The more the battle was drawn out, the worse it got for Ashton. Soon it came to a point where Ashton decided it was best to ignore the automatons and just stall for some time. At least till [Valhalla] was off the cooldown.
In theory, if new fighters were introduced in the fight, the automatons would have to 'reset' their target and quit focusing on Ashton. Which should confuse the automatons long enough for his summons to destroy them all.
"At least there's enough space for me to run around…" Ashton mumbled before sliding between the legs of the automaton in front of him, "and here I was thinking I'll keep them in pristine condition for Baiter to research. Nothing ever goes as I planned in the accursed world, do they?"
While running around, Ashton was readily pulling out some crucial gear from his inventory to use them against the automatons. The prominent among them was the Mask of Vampirism. If it hadn't been for the mask's [One With The Shadow] skill, he wouldn't be having a good time running around as he was.
The mask's teleportation ability was indeed helpful, but so was the immunity it provided against psychic attacks. Ashton was still wondering how the hell were those metallic bastards able to psychic attacks when they didn't even have a 'human' brain, but he was too busy running around to stop and ask one of the automatons.
Suddenly an automaton sprung out of the ground, swinging his modified blade at him from a low angle. Ashton was not expecting those bastards to be hiding underground. As a result, the attack came to him as a surprise.
However, he quickly recovered from the shock and parried the strike with barbarous force. He then went to chop its head off, but the automaton popped another blade from the left side, in an attempt to slash his abdomen.
Ashton immediately let go of the twin sword he had in his left and grabbed the automaton's blade instead. Before thrusting it backwards, right through its head. The automaton had no chance against Ashton's self-harming move.
The automaton collapsed on the floor, its head dangling backwards like a pendulum. Ashton kicked his body away before taking a breather for the first time.
"This ain't good… ain't good at all," he mumbled while staring at the gaping hole in his left hand.
Although he felt little to no pain and the blood was already striving to dry up slowly, things were not looking good for him. He was realising how stupid he had been to cancel [Valhalla] before checking if there was someone or something behind the walls or not.
However, he couldn't just stand there thinking about his choices. If he wanted to think, he could start thinking about why the hell did he keep getting into situations like these.
The automatons were slowly catching up to him. Not to mention that more of them could be hiding around. Just as he thought so, two more automatons ripped the floor apart as they jumped out of their hiding place.
However, rather than using their blades, they bombarded Ashton with grenades that exploded right before his face.
Ashton tried blocking as much shrapnel as he could from harming his face, but he found little success. The sudden explosion was proved to be too much and… he lost an eye right then and there.
His entire face was covered in his own blood. Blood that got into his only remaining eyes, messing up whatever vision he had left. The automatons attacked once again, stabbing him everywhere, while he weakly tried to fight back.
The following moment, everything turned dark… it felt like he was being dragged into the depth of hell. He felt defeated… no, he WAS defeated. He had lost to some metal scraps. His parents would have been proud.
He fell to the ground… lifeless. At least that's how he appeared to be. There were no signs of movement in his body… at least till the automatons approached to check him.
"Intruder… had been killed." One of the automatons spoke in its electronic voice, "All headhunters are requested to collect the destroyed fighters and proceed to stasis chambers-"
Before the automaton could complete its procedural announcement, a whip wrapped around its neck and ripped its head off in one swift move. The remaining automaton immediately went into action but was tackled down as well.
On top of him was an enraged Ashton who appeared to have lost his at that moment. He quickly picked up the blades and drove them right through the automaton's heart. The automaton was completely unprepared for the sudden attack and fell immediately.
"YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT! YOU DARE DISFIGURE ME?" He roared at the top of his lungs while repeatedly stabbing them, but his voice… it sounded nothing like him, "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS THINK IT'S EASY TO REPLACE AN EYE? Why am I even shouting at you… I shouldn't have trusted this fucker with our body in the first place."
He was sick and tired of their traps and foul plays. It was a war and everything was fair, but Ashton simply couldn't take it anymore or maybe it wasn't him who felt like that… but his alter ego.
"Fuck this… where the hell am I either way? Shit… I need to fix this bastard's eye first. There you go. You should be thankful to me, Astaroth, for fixing your eye. But I guess you can't hear me…." Astaroth sighed before taking a look around, "Where the heck did this bastard fell to eh?"