In the next hour, we reached the village we were going to. The village lay before us, nestled amongst the rolling hills and lush greenery. The sun was setting, casting a warm glow over the scene. The people of the village were going about their business, collecting resources outside the walls. However, as soon as they saw us approaching, they panicked and ran for the safety of the village gates. Some of them were not fast enough and were captured by my minions. They had never been attacked before, so they didn't have any security protocols in place. The villagers were running towards the main gate, and we headed in the same direction, our army at the ready. A few resource collectors from the village were captured, and I ordered my swordplay minion to stop them.

A battle was about to begin, and the enemy would fall before us. We reached the main gate of the village, but there were no archers or soldiers on the walls. It looked like an easy battle to win, but I knew they were cooking up some other scheme behind the wall. My intuition told me that something was amiss.

In front of the army were my brute force minions, their formidable strength and size intimidating to behold. The minions with the iron wall stood behind them, their metal armor glinting in the sunlight. Behind the brute force minions were the warrior minions, their swords drawn and ready for battle. And behind them, stood a group of archers, their bows at the ready. All the swordsplay minions were following them, and all the remaining archers were at the end. I controlled my army from the back with a small group of swordsplay and archer minions.

Now, I wondered what they might be cooking up inside, if they were not on their walls. What were they planning? Chloe, my trusted advisor, told me to take down the door and attack the people, but I didn't want to lose my minions for a surprise attack. Waiting a little while was better.

My archers stood ready for anyone to come up and attack them. However, no one came on to the walls. Soon, I saw some pipes coming up on the walls. The intelligence variant pointed me towards them.I ordered my army to step back a little to save them from any threat those pipes possessed. I ordered my brute force minions to make a shield wall and wait for their next attack. The pipes were now all over the wall, and then they started spitting fire. My minions were safe due to the shield wall created by the brute force minions. The fire was intense, the heat emanating from it was palpable. But it was not able to hurt my army. I was impressed to see such an amazing display of fire without any magic.

I wanted to see how they were making this fire and how they were able to create this rain of fire. Only I was able to make this because of my magic minions, but how were they doing this? They were attacking me, but their attacks were making me happy. I was smiling, intrigued by the technology they possessed.

Chloe looked at me while I was smiling and asked, "Why are you smiling? We are under attack, and you are sitting here smiling like you are winning."

"Ha ha ha! Actually, it's my victory. See, they are creating fire without any magic, with their technology. They have been able to create fire same as my magic minions do."

"What are you saying?" I replied with a sly grin, "We have much to learn from these people. And I intend to find out how they do it."

As the battle raged on, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement

When I take these people under my wing, think of the kind of technology they will create for me with my advanced technology. They will make me stronger than ever, they will make my minions stronger than ever. The smile is for the future that awaits us.

"You haven't won yet. You will have to defeat the army in front of you before you can claim those people and their amazing technology," Chloe reminded me.

"Don't worry about that. I am going to win. I just want to see what they can do. Let them exert all the force they have, and once they understand they cannot defeat me, they might surrender themselves," I replied confidently.

They had stopped with the fire attack, and when I saw this, I knew I had to do something about it. I opened the advanced control menu and told my defensive minions to get ready. There was a brief pause in the fire for about five seconds. I ordered my minions to attack during that pause and attack with the fastest winds.

In the next few seconds, the fire stopped, and my magic minions began their show. Strong winds started blowing, and the next thing I knew, they were attacking with fire, but it backfired. They had stopped the fire attack, and now I was waiting for their next move.

The winds were blowing very fast now, and there was no chance that they would be able to get on the walls and attack my minions. I was able to see that the pipes were not visible on the wall anymore.

Chloe came near and told me to begin the attack now. But I wasn't ready to attack yet. I had learned something from their previous attack and had an idea. I ordered my minions with the iron gate to step forward.

The whole of the iron gate wouldn't fit through the door, so I told the minions from either side to stop behind. I told three more brute force minions to hold each piece and go through the door. Now, I had to wait for an attack from the other side.

After a few tries, the minions went through the gate. The two remaining sides moved forward and joined the other three pieces. The villagers weren't able to install their iron wall because I hadn't given them much time. They had brought one piece near the wall but that was it. They weren't prepared for me to enter so early.

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