Chapter 279. New Defender.

I kept tabs on my resource reserves as I waited to see if I’d have enough to buy everything I wanted before the consortium changed their inventory and raised their prices. While I waited, I tried to efficiently maneuver my troops to get them cycled through the barracks and upgraded as quickly as possible. I started by sending out the troops on guard duty inside the cavern, I had them replace the various squads on trade route duty.

As the trade route squads returned, they were sent immediately to the barracks for training, then to the quartermaster’s hut to get issued their latest gear. My lizard pits were also training new lizards at a pace of two every few hours. One would head toward the marketplace, and the other to train and gather equipment before being randomly assigned to one of my warrior squads by the system.

For the lizards in the marketplace, the workers there placed them in their harness to help pull the wagons and waited until a full team of two had been trained before they headed to their new assignment. By the time the day was over, I had enough resources to purchase the tier two, rank zero mercenaries from the consortium. Once purchased, the squad marched from the trading consortium fort and headed down the trade route toward my cavern.

The purchase didn’t disappoint, and I found that I had gained my first cavalry unit. Mounted on massive wolves, my mercenary squad was a band of six goblin riders. Five of the six were armored in heavy chainmail with steel plates reinforcing vulnerable areas. The wolves themselves also wore armored harnesses to give them some protection.

Armed with long lances and steel shields, the five heavily armored riders were an imposing bunch. The last rider, and his mount, wore lighter armor. The goblin had studded leather and held only a leather whip in his grasp. I wasn’t sure how effective this last rider would be, but the system granted me a brief explanation about what I’d just purchased.

Drughat’s Fangs. A well trained and equipped squad of goblin wolf riders stands ready to crush your foes. Five of the riders are equipped as heavy cavalry, and they are led by a beast master that can summon creatures to attack your foes and has spells to heal and enhance the other riders’ mounts.

It was a great purchase and would give me a rapid reaction force that could respond quickly, and powerfully, to threats. Even just walking down the trade road, the wolf riders were easily moving at triple the pace of one of the trade caravans. The group might even give my minions a run for their money in a straight up fight.

The mercenaries and the mercenary replacement tent had both been great buys, but time was starting to run out when I had enough to purchase the defensive upgrade package. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the upgrade, and once I sent the resources over to the consortium for the purchase, the defensive structures tab in my interface flashed, revealing the new option.

Defensive structures.

1. Watchtower. Build a simple wooden watchtower that grants enhanced vision over the area. The watchtower will also make nearby creatures less likely to attack in the area it covers.

2. Goblin minefield (4). You can now order your work teams to deploy one of these minefields at any defensive structure you possess. Only one minefield can be placed at each defensive structure. The mines are inactive until you choose to activate them in your headquarters. When active, a safe path through the minefield will be marked for any friendly forces that need to pass through.

I had minefields, four of them. First off, I assigned work teams to deploy them in front of both entrances to the cavern. The kobold work teams, now boasting ten workers each, headed toward the quartermaster’s hut to collect the mines. Somehow, the system had transferred them directly there from the consortium and I didn’t have to wait for a caravan to deliver them.

Instead of hauling them out by hand, the kobolds exited the quartermaster’s place pushing a trio of small carts that were stacked high with wooden crates. Two workers pushed each cart and the remaining four struggled behind them, each one carrying another crate of mines. As soon as they reached the entrances, the kobolds got to work.

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The mines weren’t exactly what I had expected. I was assuming that they’d be something similar to what I’d seen during Major Finley’s training about mines and modern defenses. Instead, these looked like metallic spiders the size of a small dog. The workers simply dug a hole outside the defensive wall and buried each of the mines.

I had two more minefields to deploy, but I could only deploy them around defensive structures, and only one per structure. Other than the two walls protecting the cavern, the only other defensive structure I had designated on my map was the guard tower protecting the tariff station at the dungeon. There was no way to tell where the threat to my zone would appear at, and I was hesitant to install the mines near the dungeon area in case they turned out to be wasted there.

A quick check in the interface showed that I could order the minefields to be redeployed to a new location, but the process was a slow one. I had the option of building a new watchtower somewhere else, but that would take time and resources to build, and then I’d have to upgrade it manually. The system had only bumped all my existing structures to rank five and wouldn’t do that for any new construction I built.

With only a few days before the final stage of the challenge, I didn’t have much time to decide. I went ahead and ordered a minefield at the watchtower protecting the tariff station, crossing my fingers it would do some good. After I got a look at the next batch of consortium offerings and their inflated pricing, I could decide if building another watchtower would be a better option.

I tried to place one randomly, just outside my cavern, but the system prevented it. Apparently, they could only be placed at certain strategic locations. A series of dots appeared on my map, showing where I could place towers. It restricted them to one outside the main gate of my confederated factions, and one on each at the best defensive spot on the longer trade routes.

The closest location wasn’t too far from the cavern, just past where the forest started along the elf trade route. It was within sight of the cavern and was also where the road from the human faction joined up. That would be the spot when I had the resources to spend on it. For now, it looked like I’d have enough for only two of the three tier zero, rank five mercenaries before the consortium offerings changed.

I purchased each mercenary group as soon as I had the funds. They weren’t anything special, unlike the wolf riders, and were identical to the human squad that I’d already purchased. When the clock ticked over, I checked on the new consortium offerings.

Gavelox Trading Consortium.

Current Inventory. Please note that the inventory and stock levels will change every 3 days.

1. Mercenary contract, Tier 1, Rank 5 (3).

2. Mercenary contract, Tier 2, Rank 5. (1).

3. Defensive upgrade package (1).

4. Goblin war machine.

Checking on the prices. It appeared that the consortium wasn’t kidding when they said they were going to bump the cost. The lowest tier mercenary contract was now four silos full of resources. That price also applied to the defensive upgrade package. I didn’t have any information on it and was a bit worried that it would be more mines that I couldn’t deploy until I built towers.

As far as the tier two, rank five mercenaries, the highest tier I’d seen offered, they were ten silo’s worth. The crazy sounding goblin war machine was another ten silos. The final phase of the challenge was about to begin, and I couldn’t afford what the consortium was offering. For now, I’d keep tabs on my own marketplace, and build that watchtower.

There was also one more place I could spend my resources, it was at the sorcerer’s hut. It hadn’t cost that much to bump the summoning for the final stage by one tier. As an experiment I dropped the same 10% of a silo full of resources into the summoning meter. It increased the same amount as before, which meant it would only be just over half a silo to hit the highest tier.

I funneled the resources in, a few caravans arriving pushing me over the limit to max out the summoning. Once the summoning bar hit rank five, it flashed, and I received a system prompt.

You have granted generous resources to your sorcerers, enabling them to summon the most powerful guardian of the kobold kind. A new habitat for your summoned guardian is being created. While you will have no direct control over this guardian, it will do its best to protect the kobold cavern and your headquarters.

The cavern shook as changes occurred somewhere above us. I pulled my vision to the outside of the cavern and could see a massive cave that had been dug out above our entrance, near the top of the mountain. Everything had been done by the system, so we didn’t have to worry about a cave in or rubble blocking the entrance. Another system prompt showing who the summoned guardian would appear when its habitat was completed.

At the beginning of the final stage, your sorcerers will summon Doshkath, Scourge of the Desert. This powerful young red dragon is distant kin to your faction. Awakened from his slumber by the coming apocalypse, Doshkath has pledged his support to the Kobold Empire. Doshkath is a Tier 5, Rank 0 elite creature.

The Gavelox Trading Consortium could keep its overpriced mercenaries, I was going to have a dragon protect me from the apocalypse.