321화 Very Dangerous Folks (2)
People looked at Ghislaine with a dumbfounded expression.
Even now, they were securing their territory while setting up barricades and building defensive walls. But suddenly, what was this talk about building a fortress?
Building a fortress in the woods was unheard of. Even if one were to concede a little and think it was for defending against the occasional monsters, that wasn’t the case here.
They hadn’t even reached their intended position yet. It was excessive to build a fortress in a place that wasn’t a stronghold or a route of advance.
Gillian asked for confirmation again.
“I understand there’s still quite a distance to our destination. Are you really talking about a fortress and not just a defensive wall?”
“Yes, it’s temporary, but it still needs to be at the level of a fortress. I want everyone to participate without exception.”
“It’ll take some time to build a fortress.”
“We have to do it quickly. With this many people, it should be enough.”
“…Understood.”
For now, everyone moved according to Ghislaine’s orders. They had learned from experience that it was better to follow the lord’s words in this forest.
Moreover, there was the added reason that it was pointless to oppose someone who wouldn’t listen anyway.
As thousands of soldiers and laborers started moving, the fortress quickly began to take shape.
Thud! Bam! Thud!
The sound of people chopping wood echoed continuously. As they moved to expand their territory, the area around them quickly became an open space.
Still, there was plenty of timber. They had cut down an enormous amount on their way here and were still doing so.
Moreover, the trees growing in the Forest of Monsters were incomparably larger and sturdier than those found elsewhere. Stacking them several layers deep could yield barricades that had durability on par with a decent stone wall.
Ghislaine called the dwarves, looking at the outskirts of the fortress that was beginning to take form.
“We need to build watchtowers for arrow attacks.”
Galbarik nodded. While using wood to create the fortress would allow for defensive walls, it wouldn’t allow them to fight from the top.
The plan was to raise platforms to make them serve a similar purpose as castle walls, yet their usefulness couldn’t help but be inferior.
Thus, they needed to create watchtowers and similar structures to effectively respond to outside attacks.
“Of course, a fortress needs those. We’ll set up watchtowers around it…”
“No, not like that. We need to build them densely right behind the wall. At this size, I’d estimate we need about… one hundred.”
“One hundred…?”
At those words, Galbarik’s face went pale.
The lord, possessing mysterious knowledge, would never undertake such tasks without reason.
He was someone who preferred direct destruction whenever possible. Yet here he was, worrying about building a fortress and defense.
Just what kind of enemy was he preparing to fight? The premonition was already bad.
Ghislaine’s words didn’t end there.
“We’ll also make catapults. And they need to be in the dozens. Precision doesn’t matter. They just need to be able to attack this area. It doesn’t matter if we use them once and discard them. Got it?”
“Ah, understood.”
Just as Galbarik was about to step back, he cautiously asked with a tense expression.
“My lord… are we facing an enemy that’s very dangerous this time? I don’t think I’ve seen you prepare like this before.”
The others might feel a bit tense even with such preparations, but they weren’t overly worried. The lord had dealt with everything until now.
However, Galbarik had worked the most with Ghislaine, so he understood that the current preparations were anything but ordinary.
“There isn’t a safe creature in this forest.”
Ghislaine didn’t elaborate. There was no need to make people anxious by explaining things now.
After all, with an objective in mind, they would inevitably clash with any interruptions.
If they knew now, the laborers might get nervous and try to back out. It would be too late to explain once the fortress was complete.
“I’ll let you know when the preparations are finished. Until then, I hope there is no sense of unease among the people.”
“…Understood.”
At Ghislaine’s somewhat heavy words, Galbarik nodded and turned to leave.
Before he could walk away, Ghislaine called out to him again.
“Galbarik.”
“…?”
“It needs to be built very sturdy. Got it?”
At those words, Galbarik grinned widely.
“I’m a dwarf. Crafting is what I do best on the continent. The elves can’t compete with me.”
Satisfied with his confidence, Ghislaine smiled back. It seemed the pride of the dwarves had been a bit bruised by the elves’ achievements.
As promised by the dwarves, the fortress was built to an impressive degree of sturdiness, almost unbelievable for something made of wood.
The mages too were now skilled enough to rival anyone on the continent when it came to construction. They took on time-consuming tasks such as refining materials and inscribing magic circles.
With their combined efforts, the speed of construction was remarkably fast.
What took more time than expected was the making of the catapults. The dwarves focused their heads together to create simple catapults.
“We need to gather all the monster tendons we’ve captured.”
“Recently caught ogres should work well.”
“We said precision isn’t necessary. Our goal is to make as many as possible.”
Catapults couldn’t be produced by simply rolling in laborers. They required engineering knowledge, meaning that mostly the dwarves would be making them.
Laborers and soldiers could only help with minor tasks on the side.
The dwarves scraped and gathered monster tendons and lumber to complete dozens of simple catapults.
Galbarik scratched his chin as he looked over the completed catapults.
“Hmm… Are these really good enough?”
Honestly, they were too shabby to use in war. Their range and accuracy were considerably inferior to standard catapults.
Fundamentally, catapults were weapons for attacking castle walls. Their range needed to far exceed that of enemy arrows, and they had to possess high accuracy and destructive power.
But these were haphazardly made from hastily gathered materials, barely possessing half the functionality of a regular catapult.
Even so, this was a job that only a dwarf could handle, but Galbarik still wasn’t satisfied.
“How about requesting a proper catapult from the chief officer? We can ask Perdium.”
“No need for that. Besides, it wouldn’t amount to many anyway, right? What’s important now is the quantity.”
“It’s just that the performance is somewhat lacking.”
At Galbarik’s words, Ghislaine decided to test the simple catapult. Though it lacked the performance of a proper one, its destructive power was still quite acceptable.
Even at half the capability, getting hit by it would still flatten a human.
Ghislaine smiled with satisfaction as she patted Galbarik’s shoulder.
“This is enough.”
“Really, are you sure?”
“Yes, what’s important is the numbers, right? We need to overwhelm them.”
What could Galbarik say when the client approved? He and the dwarves nodded their heads with dazed expressions.
As everyone poured their all into their tasks, most of the preparations were completed within a few days.
They couldn’t help but admire the grand fortress they had built.
“Wow… it looks incredible.”
“I really think we could hold off a horde of ogres.”
“It seems like a waste to have it here in the forest.”
Even without proper internal facilities, it was sturdy enough to block something.
Its height was exactly how Ghislaine wanted, and the wall was thicker than most castle walls due to the timber being layered multiple times.
On top of that, countless watchtowers and catapults were placed around. It seemed they could withstand even tens of thousands of soldiers.
Of course, they would be helpless against fire arrows, but if they were dealing with fire-using monsters, the lord wouldn’t have built something like this.
Having checked the fortress several times, Ghislaine issued a new command.
“Clear an open space in front of the fortress. We need to secure our line of sight.”
During the construction, almost all the surrounding trees had been felled. But just a little further ahead, the trees were still thickly clustered.
With so many trees, their effectiveness in attacking monsters would drop. Dense trees would block arrows and catapult fire.
Gillian, understanding this, estimated how far they needed to clear and asked.
“How much space should we secure?”
“Enough that our fire won’t spread through the forest.”
“Understood.”
That would mean they needed to clear an enormous area. Immediately, the soldiers and workers went outside the fortress to start cutting down trees.
Thud! Bam! Thud!
Gigantic trees fell and were moved inside the fortress. They were clearing a significant area, making it impossible not to encounter monsters.
“Kreeaak!”
There were monsters they had encountered since coming here and new ones as well. Yet the soldiers easily dispatched the emerging monsters, relying on their overwhelming numbers.
After creating an open area, the soldiers advanced a little further. And they encountered more monsters again.
“Kreeeek!”
It was the disgusting-looking Grexes. Those few didn’t hesitate to close in on the soldiers once they spotted them.
With claws raised menacingly, they scuttled like spider legs. The soldiers’ expressions soured when they saw this.
“Yikes, they look even worse alive?”
“I told you they aren’t very tough.”
“Let’s kill them quickly and get back to work.”
Pew!
The Grexes didn’t get close to the soldiers. The elves waiting behind them shot arrows, piercing the creatures before they could approach.
“Wow, these guys really are weak.”
“They don’t even look different from regular people.”
“Still, their claws are said to be sharp and hard enough to dig into the ground, so let’s be careful.”
Now, even if the soldiers thought the enemy was weak, they didn’t underestimate them. They remained tense and pushed forward, clearing trees.
“Kreeeek!”
With spine-chilling screams, more Grexes appeared. The frequency of their appearances was increasing.
Once again, the soldiers easily dealt with the monsters and discovered something new in the spot where the Grexes had been.
“What is this?”
“It’s a hole?”
“Did they dig it?”
The soldiers curiously looked at several holes on the ground. It was the first time they had seen holes being dug in this forest.
“Step back!”
As the soldiers approached the holes, Lumina rushed over with the elves.
She and the elves began shooting arrows directly into the holes.
Papapapow!
“Kreeeek!”
A chilling scream echoed from below the ground. For some reason, Grexes had been hiding inside the holes.
When attacked, the Grexes began to crawl out from the holes. However, every one of them was promptly struck down by the elves’ arrows as they emerged.
“Okay, that’s done. Let’s fill these holes and fall back.”
At Lumina’s command, the soldiers filled the holes with dazed expressions and retreated.
After reporting this incident, Ghislaine issued a new command to Gillian.
“We’ll stop advancing here. Now, get rid of the fortress’s entrance.”
“The entrance, you mean?”
“The part made for the entrance will have lower durability. Fill that area even thicker. Leave only the back door for supplies.”
“Does that mean you won’t be advancing any further from here?”
“Now, everyone will stay inside and wait. Those who are needed will use ropes to come and go.”
They would isolate themselves in the forest. Just how powerful was the enemy for them to take such a defensive stance?
Kaor, who had been fighting a lot of monsters in the Shadow Mountain Range lately, asked.
“Are we preparing as if a Monster Wave is coming? Is there something like that in the Forest of Monsters?”
“Similar. We built the fortress to face many monsters.”
“Hmm, so when does it start?”
“That’s something we have to decide now. The preparations are all complete.”
“We decide when the Monster Wave occurs?”
Kaor asked again, looking incredulous. Just how could they trigger a Monster Wave?
[In our investigation of the Grexes, we uncovered new facts. A mage, miraculously having survived among the wiped-out scouting team, discovered where the leader of the Grexes resided. The leader was at an interior spot, in the coziest area. We called it the ‘Queen.’
The Queen was feeding on the food brought by the Grexes and laying eggs, which the Grexes had hidden deep underground.]
Ghislaine nodded as if there was indeed a way.
“Yes, we can decide. We just need to force it to happen.”
“No, how can we force it? Do monsters listen to us?”
[The Queen only peacefully consumed food. Though accompanied by Grexes for protection, it was unclear how they were surviving in this rough area with such weak fighters. We hypothesized that the Queen might have some special ability.]
Facing Kaor’s question, Ghislaine addressed everyone around.
“If they don’t listen, we must make them listen.”
“How?”
“There’s a way.”
[Thus, we decided to carry out an experiment. Mages and excellent knights abducted the Queen and dragged her to the camp.]
With a chilling smile, Ghislaine continued.
“We’re going to kidnap Queen Grex.”
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