Volume 13 Chapter 4 Ant’s Kingdom Part I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Kondrad’s Perspective
When we got to the foot of Nirei River where Alphonse and the fight are happening, half of the Soldier Ant Men were already dead, but looks like a few allies also got killed.
”Don’t let the Scout Ant Men get away, no matter what! If we miss that one, they’re gonna swarm us!”
I remembered from the Monster Hunting report that Scout Ant Men can call in buddies with some kind of summoning ability.
With my lead, the soldiers started focusing on killing the Soldier Ant Men more than the army ants themselves.
Then, the chaos in the army ants’ control began to show.
Seems like, when the soldier leader Ant Men get taken down, the army ants get all confused on who to attack.
”Good! Focus all your fire on those Soldier Ant Men!”
The soldiers kept stabbing and thrusting their spears and swords into the tough shells of the Soldier Ant Men.
Looks like a Scout Ant Monster, feeling outmatched, started running away alone, and then the army ants moved to block us from chasing.
Uh oh… if this keeps up, they’ll escape.
”Chase! Don’t let any Scout Ant Men get away!”
The soldiers also rushed after the fleeing Scout Ant Men, trying to take them down, but suddenly, they vanished into thin air.
”They disappeared!”
”No, it looks like they just slipped into a hole.”
Alphonse calmly responds.
When I got closer, I saw a recently dug, camouflaged burrow hidden by grass on the slope. The entrance was about a few meters wide, and the deep tunnel inside looked endless.
”…Messenger to Lord Garvey. The alert level is Elite. Looks like our neighbor is an Ant Person. Send an urgent message to Ane and Lady Charlotte too ── we’re intruding into their territory.”
”Sir Kondrad… Sorry. I never thought it’d come to this…”
”No choice. This is the Southern Region. Anything can happen. It’s not Alonso’s fault.”
I’ll give the soldiers instructions to evacuate the dead and the wounded.
The damage was minor, but the death of a well-trained soldier spoke volumes about the enemy’s strength.
* * *
*Marietta’s Perspective
Lord Garvey is now in charge of the fortifications, and he’s quickly giving out instructions.
I immediately returned to the supply unit’s workplace and instructed the laborers and guards to hurry up with the unloading.
”Lady Marietta… we can’t go any faster…”
An officer overseeing the unloading came over to argue that my instructions were unreasonable.
I understand they’re tired from marching, and the fatigue of the officers and soldiers is piling up, but I decided to ignore it due to the emergency.
”If you don’t want to end up as bones on this ground, work like you’re ready to die. The delay in unloading puts your comrades’ lives at risk. Empty wagons should go down to the valley, load up earth bags, and bring them back. And I’ll help with the unloading too!”
Saying that, I rolled up my officer’s sleeves and started carrying a sack of food from the wagon.
”Lady Marietta… if they find out we made you, the king’s consort, work, we’ll lose our heads. The commander should just give orders while overseeing everything. If the guys find out we made our commander do manual labor, we’ll be laughed at by everyone in Abyss Vena! Keep working until you drop!”
One of the laborers quickly took the sack from me and started unloading the wagons in a steady flow.
”Understood. Then, allow me to take command.”
Half of the wagons’ cargo was already unloaded, and the ones that were emptied were sent down to the valley with only the drivers.
The main unit’s soldiers are supposed to help with loading and carrying the earth bags once they get there, so for now, I decided to focus all our manpower on unloading.
”Everyone except the drivers, focus on unloading.”
The workers followed the orders, swarming the carts one after another, hauling the goods to the lock-in place.
The stacked supplies, along with consumables and bullets, were kept sheltered under simple tents made of tarps to protect them from the rain.
The first wave of carts that returned from piling up sandbags at the foot of the mountain started to come back.
”Carts that have returned with sandbags, go to His Excellency Garvey and receive your instructions.”
I pointed out the destination to the returning carts with my finger.
* * *
*Garvey’s Perspective
Carts piled with sandbags steadily arrived and began gathering at the planned site to form a wall.
Carts designed to be used as a wall were stripped down to just their box-like cargo beds, with wheels and axles removed, and placed as the first tier along the territory.
The height of the cargo beds was about one meter and around 7 meters long, reinforced with iron plates, so they had the Minister of Public Works Seema’s seal of approval for strength.
The first tier was fixed in place with thick stakes, ensuring the wall wouldn’t collapse, as it served as the foundation.
Then, dirt was piled on top of the arranged cargo beds and compacted down.
Alongside constructing the first tier, a path for carts to ascend to the second tier was also being prepared.
”Once you get to the second tier, don’t forget to drive in the connecting fittings properly!”
As the first tier progressed and the path to the second tier was being constructed, some carts were redirected to the second tier.
Once the second tier was completed, it wouldn’t be easy to jump over, effectively keeping monsters at bay to some extent.
So, while building the first tier, the second tier was also being stacked up.
To prevent the second tier from shifting and falling, fittings were attached to connect it with the first tier, keeping it fixed in place.
”Hurry up! It could happen at any moment that a monster attacks! Hurry! Hurry!”
Make the horse carts with the sandbags go to the castle wall, where they are building.They are already building the castle wall on the other side.
The whole wall will be around 2 kilometers, starting from the Nirei Bridge. It will be 4 meters tall. They want to build such a big wall in just one day and night.
That’s the main thing the Southern Region’s hunting team is trying to do.
”If we build the wall in Coco, we can just stay inside and beat back the monsters. Even if a huge monster army surrounds us, the Black Wing will bring us supplies by air. So, hurry up and finish the wall!”
I give instructions and check how the wall is going.
It’s been a few hours since they started, and the first tier of the wall is done. They’re halfway through the second tier.
The supply team, who finished unloading the carts, also came with Marietta. They started getting the pulleys ready on top of the wall for the third tier.
”Lady Marietta, we’ll lift the empty horse carts for the third tier. It’s easier to lift the sandbags later, and the pulleys won’t break as easy.”
”I understand. I’ll put up the metal parts first and fix them.”
Marietta understood what I meant and started building the third tier.
The empty horse carts went up with the pulleys. Then, Marietta told them where to put them on the wall. They hammered in the metal parts to connect them.
With this height, big monsters can’t get in. The wall is way better now.
Akves, who was making sandbags down below, came back with the soldiers.
Now, only Ane’s Cavalry, with a thousand people, Charlotte’s roaming group, with 2 thousand 5 hundred people, and Kondrad’s thousand Soldiers are outside the wall.
Five thousand soldiers and a thousand supply team members are working hard to build the wall.
As the sun went down, the second tier was done. The iron gate was put on the Town part for the gate. The third tier was halfway built, and they filled it with sandbags.
At that moment, 3 red signal flares shot up from the base at the same time.
The 3 reds meant “enemy forces approaching in large numbers,” signaling that the monsters we had missed were coming back in a huge swarm.
They were here… damn it… I wished they would at least wait until the third tier was finished… But then again, they’re monsters; they don’t care about our schedule at all…
I called out to Mira, who was overseeing the construction of the castle wall with Marietta.
”Mira! Looks like the enemy is here. Sorry, but we need to speed things up! Once the 4th tier is up, hurry and set up the AK-MK02 (Meat Chopper)!”
Mira listened to my instructions and started stacking the 4th tier, the highest level.
And when the 4th tier was up, the AK-MK02 (Meat Chopper), which had been broken down into gunner seats and the main body, was being hoisted up.
This was the magic gun that the General had pushed Lady Aida to gather for us, providing 8 units for defense.
I felt like I wouldn’t waste the General’s thoughtful gesture…
I was really grateful for the souvenirs the General obtained for us through some trouble.
~New monster~
Monster Name: Soldier Ant-Man
Hunt Rank: D (One rank up in groups)
Type: Insect
Features: A humanoid monster produced by a matured Queen Ant over the years.
It has a strong jaw like that of a soldier ant, along with a tough exoskeleton that halves physical damage.
Weak to magic.
The humanoid Soldier Ant-Man can command up to 60 soldier ants and will analyze and attack the weakest character in a party.
Monster Name: Cavalry Ant-Man
Hunt Rank: C (One rank up in groups)
Type: Insect
Features: A humanoid monster produced by a matured Queen Ant over the years.
This ant-person rides a soldier ant and is armed with a round shield and a sword.
The round shield has a magic damage reduction effect, but only Cavalry ants can equip it, so be careful.
If the soldier ant it rides dies, their combat strength halves.
Super smart ant-man, when it senses danger, runs away right away, but if even one gets away, it brings back a whole army of around a hundred warrior ants.
Cavalry ant-man is only as strong as the warrior ants.
Monster Name: Royal Guard Ant-man
Hunt rank: A (goes up one rank in groups)
Type: Insect
Feature: Ant-man monster born from an aged Queen Ant.
Its skin halves magic and physical attack damage, making it hard to take down.
True to its name, it patrols around the Queen Ant and attacks plants and animals within a certain range.
Armed with a special shield and sword, it’s a real pain.
The special shield reduces attack damage from combat skills.
Just like the Cavalry ant-man, it’s very clever, and if it sees trouble, it runs away immediately, but once you let it escape, it returns with a thousand to 5 hundred bowman ants, magic-using ants, cavalry ants, soldier ants, and warrior ants.
Monster Name: Bowman Ant-man
Hunt rank: E (goes up one rank in groups)
Type: Insect
Feature: Monster created by Queen Ant.
Armed with a bow.
Strong at long range, but weak as soon as you get close.
Its skin halves magic attack damage and doubles physical attack damage.
If you get close and punch, it goes down quick.
Monster Name: Magic Soldier Ant-man
Hunt rank: B (goes up one rank in groups)
Type: Insect
Feature: Ant-man monster born from an aged Queen Ant.
Its skin nullifies magic attacks but doubles physical attack damage.
It’s super strong against magic, but if you get close and hit it, it dies fast.
However, most of the time, magic soldier ants are under the command of soldier ants or royal guard ants, so they rarely appear alone.
Monster Name: Soldier Ant-man
Hunt rank: S
Type: Insect
Features: Led by the Queen Ant, the Royal Guard Ants, Archer Ants, Magic Soldier Ants, Cavalry Ants, and Soldier Ants form a group when they move above ground.
You mostly see them during nest division.
These antmen are super aggressive and attack anything that moves.
Monster Name: Scout Antman
Hunting rank: F (if in a group of 4 or more, rank goes up one level)
Type: Insect
Features: A type of Soldier Antman armed with daggers.
Also known as the Assassination Antman, they are deployed at the same time as the Royal Guard Ants.
Their skin is black, helping them blend into the darkness, making it hard for even experienced adventurers to notice them.
The dagger is coated with colorless, odorless, and tasteless poison; just a small wound can paralyze you (strong).
To Cure Poison, you need healing magic with the effect of Medical Knowledge II, but they prefer to attack weaker targets like Healers with healing spells or Thieves who also scout, knowing they can outsmart them.
At the first sign of danger, they flee like a startled rabbit, and within minutes, they return with a swarm of Royal Guard Ants (no more than 5 hundred).
They always operate in groups of 4, so it’s said, “If you see one, assume there are 3 more.” They’re a real pain of a monster.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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