My Kingdom Building Done Right!
Chapter 253: The Enemy Before You Is Not Always The Greatest Threat
For two days and two nights, the Grimjaw Forest burned.
The fire left great devastation. What was once a lush forest had become a charred wasteland.
Smoke was still rising from the ground, creating a thick blanket of haze that covered the fortress of Aslan Soleil.
Fortunately, the Aslan Tribe, the Ravage Tribe, and their guests were safe. The smoke couldn’t penetrate inside the mountain, and the strong winds prevented it from getting close the Hidden Valley.
In the past two days, the Darkmane Tribe had busied themselves in building their siege weapons, which they would use to break the walls of their enemy.
Right now, time wasn’t on their side. But they understood their situation. Fighting while the forest was still suffering from the aftermath of the fire would not be advantageous to them.
With that, the only thing they could do was launch their projectiles from a safe distance, hoping they could at least breach the defenses that stood in their way.
However, since the smog remained thick, they couldn’t even see their targets.
Because of this, they did what they needed to do and increased the number of their catapults.
These catapults were not ordinary. If anything, they were magical, powered by the totems of the shamans of the Darkmane Tribe.
This same catapult had made things difficult for the Kingdom of Britannia’s army back when they had tried to invade the Borderlands. Its range of over a thousand meters was a huge hurdle to breaking their defenses.
This was one of the reasons why the Darkmane Tribe was confident that they could break the towering walls protecting the Aslan Tribe. It was strengthened by shamanic magic, increasing its range and penetrating power.
As long as they protected their siege weapons, it would only be a matter of time before the defender’s proud fortress fell to the ground.
While the Darkmane Tribe was busy at work, Leone was staring at the mission objectives that had appeared in front of him a few minutes ago.
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[Territory Mission 2]
[Requirements to upgrade to Rank 3: 1/10]
[Second Mission: Defend Aslan Soleil For Seven Days!]
[Difficulty Rating: Hell Mode]
[Remaining Defense Time: 167:54:00 Hours]
[Mission Objectives]
— Defend the Fortress of Aslan Soleil for seven days.
[Rewards]
— Rewards will depend on how the Aslan Tribe performs in their territory defense.
[Bonus Rewards]
— [???]
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[Mission Failure Conditions]
— The fortress is completely destroyed before the time limit ends.
— Half of the members of the Aslan Tribe die.
— Half of the members of the Ravage Tribe die.
[Failure Consequences]
— Territory Rank will reset to zero.
— All your vassals will lose their blessings.
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Note: The enemy before you is not always the greatest threat.
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Leone stared at the second mission needed for his territory upgrade with a solemn gaze.
He understood that he needed to win against the Darkmane Tribe to complete his mission.
But the warning message at the bottom of the mission unnerved him. He believed it was hinting at something that might affect the outcome of the battle.
"Daedalus, what do you think about this mission?" Leone asked the grimoire that hovered beside him. "For some reason, I feel uneasy reading its contents."
"You should be," Daedalus replied. "This is the first time a mission difficulty rating has appeared. The mission must be far more difficult than everything you’ve had so far. I will even go as far as to say that complete annihilation is a possibility."
The young man looked at the grimoire, wondering if it was joking. Yet, Daedalus wasn’t using the playful tone it used whenever it made jokes. If anything, its tone was the gravest he’d heard, which meant that he must take this matter seriously.
"What do we need to do?" Leone inquired. "Do you have any advice?"
"The mission is vague, but it also gives us a strong hint," Daedalus replied. "It implied that aside from the Darkmane Tribe, we might face another threat. A threat strong enough to destroy our fortress and kill our people.
"I suggest we increase the number of our mounted crossbows, ballistas, and catapults. We must deal with what is in front of us right now. If anything unexpected happens along the way, then we will just deal with it when it comes."
Leone nodded because there was indeed no use worrying about things that weren’t there. Although he and Daedalus could guess what kind of threat they would soon face, there was really nothing they could do about it.
In any case, the siege weapons and the defenses of the Aslan Tribe was its bread and butter against external threats.
If anything could break past them, Leone would just deal with it on the fly.
"What is everyone doing?" Leone slowly stood up. "I might need to discuss this with my vassals."
"Kael and the majority of the warriors are in the Hidden Valley as usual," Daedalus stated. "Though, they seem to be practicing a war chant."
"A war chant?" Leone arched an eyebrow.
"Yes, a war chant," Daedalus nodded. "It’s something to raise the morale of our warriors before the battle."
"I guess that’s a good thing. Are the others with him?"
"No. Ulric and Jason are keeping Hagen, Malik, and Conrad company," Daedalus replied. "Hagen had repeatedly asked if he could have a tour of our underground facilities, but Ulric refused every time."
"And our enemies?" Leone asked.
"Building their siege weapons," Daedalus answered. "Now that a mission has appeared, the chances are that they will attack either today or tomorrow. Well, I’m leaning more on tomorrow since the smog outside is still too dangerous for normal people to tolerate."
Leone sighed. "Pay attention to them. If they even take a single step within the boundary of the burned forest, inform me right away."
"Understood." Daedalus nodded. "For now, let’s talk about the additional platforms we will add to the mountain. We can place more siege weapons on them. We can also use the balconies of the first, second, and third floors to add repeating crossbows and ballistas. I’ve already received permission from Logan to use the balcony on his villa for Otto’s use."
Since Logan’s villa was at the highest point they had carved out of Grimjaw Mountain, it was the perfect spot for sniping.
"Good." Leone crossed his arms over his chest. "I will also assign Castor and Pollux to guard over him. He will be using that Super Rare Ballista that we bought, right?"
"Yes. That is also one of our trump cards." Leone smiled faintly as he opened the catalogue for the Skybreaker Ballista
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[Skybreaker Ballista]
Type: Siege Weapon
Grade: Super Rare
Price: 30,000 BP
A massive siege weapon designed to eliminate heavily armored targets and monstrous creatures. Unlike ordinary ballistae, the Skybreaker Ballista fires colossal bolts the length of a spear, allowing it to pierce through multiple enemies with a single shot.
[Maximum Range: 800 Meters]
[Weapon Effects:]
— Armor Piercer: Ignores 50% of a target’s physical defense.
— Linebreaker: Bolts continue traveling after the first impact, striking enemies standing behind the primary target.
— Monster Hunter: Deals +100% damage against monsters and deals +200% damage to giant monsters.
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This was one of Leone’s trump cards in this battle. Although the range of this weapon was only eight hundred meters, it didn’t matter since the one who would be controlling it was Otto.
Any ranged weapon Otto used would have their "Range Limit" voided. What did this mean? It meant that Otto’s Prestige Class, Horizon Archer, would allow him to fire the Skybreaker Ballista without a care for its limits and hit targets that he could see!
As long as Otto could see them, he could hit them!
Originally, Leone had prepared this against the Guardian of the Darkmane Tribe, which was the Manticore.
If the Manticore were to appear in battle, then Otto would prioritize attacking it first until it was subjugated.
Leone and Daedalus had spent days preparing for this war. They had reinforced the fortress, stockpiled supplies, and even armed the mountain with enough siege weapons to make seasoned generals hesitate before launching an assault.
But neither dared to shake off the mission’s final warning.
"The enemy before you is not always the greatest threat."
For the first time since he received his second mission, Leone hoped that the Darkmane Tribe would be the only enemy that they had to face in this war.