All eyes turned to the sky in fear, anticipation, and silence. After a few seconds, a strange metallic sound began to approach. The soldiers retreated in fear, aiming their weapons at the sky. Suddenly, about fifteen robotic bees emerged and began to fire their guns and launchers at the soldiers. The soldiers ran to take cover from the barrage of fire, while others stood and raised their hands in a defensive posture to form an energy shield around them. The shots and projectiles hit it and vanished, but their impact was so strong it pushed them backward. The soldiers returned fire and began to run around the square for cover. They didn’t understand what was happening or what these flying metal things were, but they would find out soon enough.
The soldiers began to use their most powerful weapons to repel the brutal raid. One soldier produced a cannon from the palm of his hand that fired heavy rounds that penetrated everything it hit and began to fire at them. The heavy shots followed one another from his palm like sniper bullets. Others produced small rocket launchers from their wrists and began to shower them with a barrage of projectiles. Still others fired armor-piercing bullets at them, while the war machines fired bullets and projectiles together as they positioned themselves far from the danger zone.
The bees dodged their shots and fired back, causing some soldiers to fall. But the fire was too heavy, and it began to hit them one after another, causing them to fall to the ground and explode into pieces. But before they all fell, some of the bees began to fire plasma bolts that would turn anyone they touched into ash. The soldiers were terrified by what they saw and began to fire randomly and heavily as they fled from the range of these destructive shots. Eventually, all the bees fell to the ground, and the square was filled with the wounded, the dead, the destroyed machines, and the terrified soldiers.
Eyad was holding the creature in terror and fear as he watched what was happening. The creature began to move its body forcefully, trying to escape its bonds. Eyad held it tightly, saying firmly, "Stop moving!"
The creature looked at him with fearful eyes and said in a strange language, "Tasa tasa ilika."
"I don’t understand a thing, you bastard! I told you to stop moving!"
The creature repeated its words and began to point its head toward the forest. Eyad didn’t understand anything, but he knew that if he let it escape his grasp, he would be severely punished. He held it with greater force. The creature said again in a trembling tone, "Tiloroto... Gaia."
The creature began to tremble violently and shake its body. Eyad reprimanded it. "I told you to stop, you damned thing!"
Suddenly, Eyad heard the sound of metallic footsteps advancing through the forest. The other soldiers must have also heard the same sound, thanks to the super-hearing feature in their suits, because they stood in fear and tension, aiming their weapons toward the forest in preparation to receive whatever was coming, whatever it might be. The creature looked at Eyad, fear evident on its face again, and repeated its previous words.
"Believe me," Eyad said to it, his eyes bloodshot with anger, "I don’t understand you. But I know that something bad is coming."
Amidst the frightening sounds of footsteps scraping against the ground, emitting an annoying and frightening metallic screech that struck terror into their hearts with every step, one of the soldiers shouted in panic, "It’s the robots! It’s definitely them! We’re done for!" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝙣𝙚𝙩
Protests and whispers began to spread among the soldiers. Fear began to creep into their veins and shake their very beings. The time had come to see their awaited enemy. Since they had left Atlantis, they had been anticipating this moment, and it was bound to come sooner or later.
The soldiers retreated in fear and anticipation. One of the soldiers said, to raise their morale, "Men, what’s wrong with you? We came here risking our lives for humanity. Are you going to retreat and be afraid now? We are not afraid of these damned metal things! We have shot down their aircraft, and we will shoot them down as well! We have the power to repel them, and we will eliminate all of them, find the captain, and return victorious to our homes! I don’t want to see this fear. Men stand firm no matter how strong the storm is against them. Men do not retreat in the darkest of situations. Let’s win and return to our families and our people as heroes, or die here like men!"
Some of the soldiers cheered to raise the morale of their comrades, and the cloud of fear began to lift from their hearts a little.
The creature began to repeat, shaking its body violently, "Tiloroto Gaia."
"Man, are you stupid?! I don’t understand you, I don’t know who this Gaia is, and I don’t care. I know you’re definitely afraid of the robots, but don’t worry, we’ll crush them. Of course, you don’t understand what I’m saying. What a fool I am; talking to you has lowered my intelligence level."
Eyad held the creature firmly and secured it. The creature accepted its fate and calmed down. From the depths of the forest, the sounds began to get much closer. The most terrifying of them was the sound of footsteps indicating that something very large was moving, as it caused a strong tremor with every step it took. After a minute, hordes of robots charged out of the forest and drowned them in a barrage of projectiles and bullets. The soldiers exchanged fire with them and began to take cover behind the rocks and bushes in the clearing. Meanwhile, Eyad pulled the creature behind him and they hid behind one of the trees in the forest that Ali had headed to before. He stood watching the battle with his senses sharpened, while the creature mumbled incomprehensible words. Eyad gestured with his finger for it to be silent, but it did not fall silent.
The battle raged with force and ferocity between the robots and the humans, and many casualties fell on both sides. The robots continued to advance, firing and pressing the humans to retreat, but they were easy prey for the humans. They intensified their fire on them, taking down some of them while others still stood. The soldiers felt that the battle was balanced, and that the faster and more accurate would be the victor. But they did not know that this was only a small part of the robot army. Suddenly, several giant robotic spiders emerged to the right of the soldiers and began to pounce on them with their legs, their weapons, and their plasma bolts. The soldiers began to break apart and retreat before this destructive force.
"Retreat to the forest!" one of the soldiers screamed. "Retreat immediately!"