“The question is why they want us all here and what’s going to happen?”
Asked Vascillius. I shrugged my shoulders.
“I think that’s perfectly clear. They’re going to remove us in one go. Monsters are generally night creatures, if I were them, I’d be looking to attack tonight when everything favours them.”
None of them countered with other ideas, which bothered me a little.
“You’re just accepting what I say?”
“Yes, we think you’re perfectly right. The question is whether there is any chance of us getting out of here?”
“With the number of people, we have here, running wouldn’t be an option, besides I’m willing to bet we’re already being carefully watched.”
Their solemn repose to my statement echoed my sentiment.
“I’ll go and see if there are any goblin troops in the vicinity.”
“Are you going into the forest?”
Vascillius asked, concerned I would put myself at risk. A substantial clearing lay between the mesa outcropping and the surrounding forest. Any attempt to approach the forest became a suicide run if monsters were watching us.
“No. I have a skill capable of monitoring the area. It will take me a moment though.”
There were only two passages in the cave. The first was the way Hana and I came in the previous night, the other spiralled upwards to a hole in the cave roof above us. The end of the passage led to the top of the cave roof and from that perspective I could appreciate the fortress like nature of the cave and why the griffons originally liked it. The sheer cliff walls of the mesa surrounded us, dropping about twelve meters onto rocks below. The height gave a good command of the entire approach to the cave entrance below. The approach to the cave entrance was fortunately filled with large slippery boulders making the entrance difficult for monsters to broach. In fact, the same situation surrounded our mesa cave on all sides, making the mesa easily defensible.
The view from the top was admirable, but another problem immediately presented itself. The twenty quare meter rooftop meant we had far too few adventurers to defend such a wide area and the flat top made it near impossible to find cover from arrows fired from below.
Contemplating the problems we faced was good, but I needed to focus on the reason for me being there. Closing my eyes to help me better focus I used my scan skill to pick up any surrounding monsters. From my vantage point I found I could only penetrate about fifty meters into the forest around us, but it supplied me with more than enough information.
“I’ve picked up multiple teams of monsters.”
I related the unfortunate news, albeit unsurprising information to the rest of the team who anxiously awaited my return. I marked out the various goblin teams and their positions on our ad hoc sand table on the cave floor. Matheus whistled to himself and then frowned.
“You sure about this?”
“Perfectly. You’ll know more than I will about the significance of those group placements. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out we’re surrounded and judging by the number of goblin scouts watching us, we’re not going anywhere without them knowing.”
Despite my dire report, Matheus, an adventurer veteran, didn’t look intimidated in the least. I would be willing to bet he had military experience from somewhere.
“If we must fight, better from our vantage point. Could you tell how many were out there?”
He asked me, delving into the specifics, meaning he had committed to us defending the mesa.
“From what I could detect…over three hundred and fifty, excluding ten ogres.”
Vascillius didn’t look too well.
“Shane. That’s one big-ass army for our group to handle. I doubt we even have enough arrows to dent that number of goblins. We can hopefully make it difficult for the goblins to get to us… but ten ogres...”
Matheus wasn’t mincing his words. Our arrows meant little to Ogres, the tanks of the monster world would shrug them off like biting flies to a human.
“Bah! What are ten ogres? I’ve already killed two ogre generals.”
I commented dryly, while suddenly finding a reason to clean my fingernails. It wasn’t like me to boast, but those guys seriously needed some hope. Naturally, I conveniently slipped on mentioning a few minor but key details.
“Please don’t joke at a time like this.”
Said Hana as she stared at me suspiciously. She never knew me when I conveniently dispatched two ogre generals, one with a rock and the other with two hot spheres of iron. I sighed because nobody believed in me anyway. Heck, I would battle to believe it myself.
“What if I can take out those ogres for you?”
“Then I’d say you know something we don’t.”
Matheus was right. It was time for me to come clean about what I could do for them, but I needed them to trust me, and ensure their future cooperation.
“I can deliver a way out, and I’ll show you how in a moment. First, I need your word that everyone here will not speak a word of what you see me do to anyone… and I mean anyone.”
I pointedly eyed everyone around me until Vascillius asked the obvious dumb question.
“What if we don’t cooperate? You’re as vulnerable as us in this situation after all, you’ll need to fight to survive just like us?”
Despite his misgivings, I could bribe them with something they never dreamed of acquiring in their lifetimes.
“Then none of you will get one of these from me…Hana, show them your storage ring and how it works.”
She looked a bit hesitant at first but reluctantly opened her storage for everyone to inspect. The teams goggled the pocket dimension storage and after everyone had a good look at she put it away.
“That space is nearly a pace and a half long and wide. Think how that could influence your adventuring in future? You can carry more equipment with you, keep your clothes dry, carry more water, more food, and return with even more quest materials for more reward. And remember that none of that stuff inside weighs any more than that ring on Hana’s finger.”
I let that sink in. But I decided to push them over the cliff with a working example.
“Heck, merchants will be falling over themselves to hire you, because you can both carry extra goods and protect the wagon trains. The options are endless, and all I’m asking for is your word. How you give that to me, I leave with you.”
It was blatant bribery from my side, but then I could afford to, and I needed to. It was preferrable to being endlessly harassed by people once I returned home. I didn’t expect for one moment that my secret would stay one for long, but if I could delay the inevitable, then I would. Their team discussion of my offer ended far sooner than I expected.
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“We accept your offer. We would be stupid not to. We’ll not ask you for the rings until we return home, and in return you’ll have a parchment from us confirming our silent solidarity.”
That was fine with their counteroffer and I agreed with their proposal with one important caveat.
“I’m going to give all of you your rings now as an expression of trust. I need you to use these rings to help us prepare this cave.”
My altruistic offer came at a personal cost because it used valuable EE I needed in preparation for attacking those ten ogres. But it made future value sense because why should we trudge dozens of times up a hill to carry a few measly rocks when you could simply throw a large haul into a pocket dimension and run up a hill with no weight penalty. Handing out those rings saved us valuable preparation time and there were still a few arrangements to be made. It was only then that Hana quietly came up to me and whispered in my ear about a particular concern.
“Next time you want to showcase my private storage to everyone, please let me know in advance so that I can first hide all my personals.”
I mentally kicked myself for the huge faux pas I just made. She must have felt immensely embarrassed with everyone ogling her stuff. Those adventuring teams must have been stunned to see me do a dogeza in front of my slave and wondered about the strange relationship between Hana and me.
After Ara created the rings for me, I handed them out to the two leaders to issue between their subordinates. I showed them how to use it and warned them the storages could only open a few times and they needed to plan and use them wisely.
Matheus became the battle coordinator for our collective groups as he had the most battle experience between us all. He immediately started organising people to collect large piles of rocks outside the cave ready to be thrown into the pocket dimension storages and transferred to the cave roof. The idea was to use these piles as free missiles ammunition after our arrows ran out and besides, any one of those rocks could be as deadly as an arrow if it landed on a goblin’s noggin from that height.
“Right, listen up. Once we’ve carried enough rocks, we’re going to block this passage that it’ll be impractical for them to dig them out again. Since ogres can’t fit into the cave entrance, we can be assured they make for the roof. Don’t waste your time focusing on monsters trying to get through a blocked cave entrance, focus instead on those trying to access to the roof.”
Matheus tried to emphasise on prioritising on worthwhile targets and not wasting time on pointless battles. He focused on Hana, giving instructions for her role in the upcoming battle.
“Hana, you and the other three archers each take up one side of the cave roof, commanding a fourth of the surrounding area. Your priority is to kill goblin archers while protecting Shane as he takes out the ogres. Goblin archers can easily reach our position on the roof with arrows, but if you target them, they’ll either need to take cover or retreat. Every arrow is precious, don’t fire unless you’re sure of hitting. How good is your aim?”
It may have seemed a superfluous question, but he needed to know.
“I am good at sniping from a distance. I can pretty much guarantee hitting a goblins head at fifty paces, even when they are mobile.”
“Good. You will need some cover while you set up your shots, we will need to place some large boulders up on the rooftop for you and the other archers.”
“Perhaps a pile of boulders midway along each of the four sides?”
I suggested.
“Good idea. As for secondary targets, Hana, your priorities following the goblin archers are the ogres and only then the goblin troops. Once they’ve figured out we’ve blocked the passageway it’s very likely the monsters are going to provide ladders or some other method for climbing. It’s critical the monsters do not get to put those ladders up. I want one fighter per side with the spare two tanks, myself and one of Vascillius’ team to act as spares in the centre. The tanks will jump in where necessary then return to the centre once you’ve relieved the situation.”
Then came the clincher.
“If the goblins to manage to climb to the top, then our fighters take over and the archers swap to using swords. If we’re overrun on the roof and we’re forced to retreat, I’ll make the call. Move into the cave as quickly as possible. We’ll fight them along the roof access where we have a better chance of limiting their numbers. With good planning and some luck on our side we stand a chance of giving these monsters a lesson they’ll never forget.”
There was one thing he hadn’t mentioned yet.
“Shane has a way of defeating the ogres. He’s going to focus on them. Your jobs are to keep the other monsters away from him and keep them distracted enough from noticing him. Is there anything you would like to add at this point Shane?”
“Yes, thanks Matheus. The weapon I’ll be using is going to be very loud and something you have never experienced before. It will sound like a lightning bolt hit the ground next to you and the sound of a thunderclap right next to your ears. When I use it you will also see a bright light, feel intense heat, and a strong gust of wind. Try not to lose focus at that time because the goblins will be more unprepared than you for those events and there will be a golden opportunity to easily kill a few goblins while they are distracted. That’s all I wanted to say.”
“Um. Okay, thanks Shane.”
“Sorry Matheus, there is one more important thing I need to mention. The weapon I am using requires me to get the ogres as close to us as possible because the weapon has a limited range, so I’ll only shoot once I’m assured of a shot.”
“Can you perhaps show us how this weapon looks like, or how it will operate?”
“Sorry Matheus, it’s not that I don’t want to show you, but the weapon is so dangerous that I don’t dare even show you how it fully operates before the time because it may also warn the monsters of the side effects in a way that isn’t going to work in our favour. Please trust me on this, even if I show you the weapon, it might not prepare you for what’s coming.”
Hana came up with an interesting analogy to our situation.
“So, your weapon is something like an axe, all innocent on the face of it, yet dangerous in the right hands.”
I nodded, it seemed to make some sense to them. Matheus put his hand on my shoulder.
“Well then Shane, we trust you in that. Ok everyone, let’s get to business.”
The teams carried on with their allocated tasks. A while ago Ara and I faced a dilemma; how to incapacitate an ogre in one hit. Sure, there were lots of possible ways, but how to do it with the resources I had on hand. I could build a massive ogre dispatching catapult capable of launching a bolt and given a month to do it in. But how the heck to do it in a few hours though? There would be a few of you saying things like get Ara to build a gun, or a massive crossbow and believe me I mentioned those same things to her. Each one of them lacked either the resources or knockout power. A gun was a fantastic piece of modern engineering but just where did I find gunpowder? One of the ingredients, carbon, I could find easily. What about sulphur or saltpetre? Where the ogre’s going to wait while I found ways of getting those items? Besides, I needed the power of a large calibre shell, something like a 505 capable of knocking an elephant onto its butt or rather with the punch of a panzerfaust.
Ara came to the rescue, we might not have gunpowder, but the creation core could split water into compressed hydrogen and oxygen quite efficiently, without the need for an external hydrolysis process. That meant we had a means to combine hydrogen and oxygen under pressure and the moment the two met each other…bam! The result looked like a panzerfaust in that it had a long tube and a bulbous warhead at the front. The handheld tube contained pressurised air, which would launch the warhead at the target. The warhead ignited when the activation pin at the front hit an object, causing the pin to punch a hole through a divider wall separating the liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Of course, I had little to no idea how Ara managed to do that. She told me that because both gasses were stored in the warhead at the same pressure, the dividing wall between the gasses didn’t need to be strong at all. No explosives or electronics needed to activate anything.
“Shane, we have a slight problem. I only had enough resources to make eight devices.”
With at least ten ogres out there, and every chance each one of them would attack, I sat with a problem on how to quickly defeat the remaining ogres. It wasn’t the end of the world, thanks to Ara and my newly developed transfer storage, I had another way to deal with those monster tanks. I needed to get outside the cave for a short while though.
“Uh Matheus, do you have a moment? Can I save us some time by collapsing entrance tunnel closer to the time? It will save us a lot of preparation time which we can spend on other things.”
“Are you sure? If we can’t do that in time, then we’re well and truly exposed to their ground forces.”
I understood why he was concerned, and quite frankly I would also be if I were in his position. I thought a small demonstration was in order, after all, talk was cheap. With my hand on the ground, I raised a small section of the floor to about one-brick height.
“Ha, ha, ha. Well, I’d never thought I would ever see something as interesting as this. Okay, you got the job. I’ll let you know when to start. How much time will you need?”
“I’m nearly done, but once I’m done we might not be able to use the main entrance again.”
The implications were clear. After that battle, the only way someone was leaving the cave was via the roof.
“No problem, after today, I doubt adventurers will be able to use this place again. Wait for my command when the time comes.”
With a collapsed entrance the only way to get to the cave inside the mesa from the outside would be by a long ladder, or too fly. Since adventurers were unlikely to be able to do both those things, the chances were that the cave would stay unused in the future. I walked away, happy that I could contribute to our survival and totally oblivious to the fact I just created a new slip, trip and fall hazard on the hazard ID. Poor Vascillius tripped over something while he carried a particularly heavy rock.
“Oomph!”
He landed flat in the dirt and rolled over, looking perplexed he shouted.
“What the heck! How did that get there?”
I quickly left before someone had to answer him.