Lightning Strikes Twice
Time remaining: 45 minutes. You have slain 10 monsters and incapacitated 1.
Thanks to the ballistae and spear throwers, the kill count had climbed nicely.
“Good. Nine left. If this keeps up, I might be able to wipe out a few more.”
Just then, a signal came from atop the tower. Owensytn crossed his arms into an X, again and again.
“Looks like they’ve run out of spears. Tch. Tamer unit, keep your distance and wait for orders!”
There was no choice but to order a temporary retreat.
Foghog breath steamed heavily from their nostrils. Every time their shoulders heaved, the ice crusting their hulking bodies cracked a little more.
Should I just launch the full assault right now?
Ho-yeong’s plan, boiled down, was this.
(1) Leave the watchtowers in the air.
(2) He and the minotaur cavalry would take point as the tanks and meet the enemy head-on.
(3) The rest of the force would attack from behind the Foghogs.
There are nine of them moving right now. Too many to handle head-on, but... while they’re all turned into frozen meat, we’ve got a real chance!
Instead of the finishing move he’d prepared, Ho-yeong decided to go for a fast break.
- Fogh, fog.
Then the Foghogs began behaving strangely.
“What the hell are they up to?”
They were gathering around #004, the one that had been knocked down by the bundled spears and could no longer move.
They pressed their noses to the fallen comrade and kept blowing breath into him over and over.
Don’t tell me they’re healing him?! So they can do actual healing, not just self-healing. But even if that one gets better, all it does is add one more body. What’s the point of that?
Ho-yeong watched, puzzled.
Each Foghog was dangerous in its own right, certainly. But in a situation like this, where they were half-frozen by the cold, one more or less shouldn’t have made much difference.
“What the hell.”
His prediction was wrong.
- Fogh...ugh!
What the beasts restored was not the wound, but the strength.
- Fuhit!
The fallen one gathered up the breath it had received from its comrades and blew it out with all its might. Hot steam wrapped itself around the Foghogs’ bodies.
Having poured out all its strength, Foghog #004 collapsed from exhaustion.
“What, is this some kind of breath-sharing nonsense?! They’ll try anything.”
- Ukkik. Ukkikik. (His Excellency did the same thing with Sicoop-nim.)
Watching the ice melt away, Ho-yeong clicked his tongue.
Foghog #004 has been completely incapacitated.
The alert in the status window never made it to his ears.
- Fogh-ugh!
The curtain of cold spread across the field lifted, and the place was filled instead with pounding hooves and howls.
“Tch. So that’s your last stand.”
Ho-yeong had been thrown off for a moment, but only for a moment.
“Fine. Better this way! I can still use the original plan.”
He settled on carrying out the old strategy without hesitation.
“Vulcher, take off! Move in the opposite direction!”
Ho-yeong scanned the sky from within the air. Beneath the thunderclouds, a low bank of dark rainclouds was showing its edge.
Good. Just a little longer.
After circling around and drawing the Foghogs out for some time, Meyril and the mages, who had been waiting at a distance, finally sent the signal Ho-yeong had been expecting all along. Burning torches waved in a ring.
“All right, let’s go down!”
As moonlight pierced through the cumulonimbus and spilled onto the tower, Ho-yeong descended as well.
“Come on! You pigs!”
Seeing the tower touch the ground, the Foghogs charged with all their might. They didn’t realize it, but they were running straight into the same spot where the cold zone had formed earlier. The ice fragments there had melted from their breath into droplets of water.
“Now!”
Ho-yeong raised his sword, and the moonlight concentrated on the tower spread out evenly.
“Go, Thunderbolt!”
With a thunderous roar, lightning crashed down in several forks.
The citizens watching from atop the distant walls held their breath as if they themselves had been shocked. The bombardment of colored flashes went on and on.
“Incredible...”
“It’s like a rain of lightning!”
Only after the bolts had already struck did the delayed cries of awe finally burst out, as if thunder were trailing behind the lightning. The sheer force nearly drowned out the real sound of thunder as well.
- Fogh...ugh.
The Foghogs could only twitch their massive bodies over and over, unable to move.
Ho-yeong was still smiling, sword raised.
“That’s more like it.”
Lightning gathered in whatever tall, pointed thing stood before it. A lightning rod worked on that principle, despite its name suggesting it was somehow dodging the strike; in truth, it was more like a thing that took the hit in your place.
“Ah, this is what I call a lightning spear. It makes the lightning come for you.”
The spears stabbed all through the Foghogs’ bodies had drawn the lightning down.
“There wasn’t a single tree around, so I was worried at first. No cover at all. But then I thought about it differently, and it turned out to be a blessing. No lightning was going to get stuck in some tree instead.”
The open field worked against the Foghogs. The tallest, sharpest things around were the bundled spears stuck in their own bodies.
“And their magic resistance won’t help either. They’d warm up from breath, freeze in the cold, then thaw again. How would they stand a shock after that?”
The fact that their bodies were thoroughly wet only made the lightning even deadlier.
- Fok...ugh...
Even so, the Foghogs were still alive. Their stubborn vitality was enough to make anyone marvel, but Ho-yeong only shouted louder.
“Second lightning, go!”
At his command, the mages led by Meyril began their chant again.
Purple lightning spread in branching paths.
“No way!”
The citizens, already expecting another rain of thunderbolts, recoiled in shock.
“The lightning’s shooting up from the ground?!”
The bolt that should have struck from the sky was surging upward from the earth instead.
* * *
When he had held the strategy meeting with the mages, he had said:
“The rest of you, except for Macdonaf, focus on gathering mana. What do you call the clouds that bring showers and lightning? Right, cumulonimbus. Thanks for telling me, Meyril. Anyway, I’ll buy us time until Meyril brings that cumulonimbus here.”
Meyril, after hearing the plan, offered a good suggestion.
My lord, you said earlier that you’d use mana water to stop the monsters with ice and cold magic, didn’t you? Then you can use that to bring about a second lightning strike, too. A bolt that shoots upward from below, I mean.
A second lightning strike? From the ground up?! Is that even possible?
Y-yes. It’s a phenomenon called a return stroke... To put it simply, when negative charge descends close to the ground, it draws positive charge upward from the earth...
Ho-yeong couldn’t follow all of Meyril’s explanation, but he caught the important part.
Uh... so, basically, a place with lots of droplets makes it easier to attract a thundercloud, and by using the ice fragments that fell to the ground, you can make the lightning shoot up when the cloud comes later? Please tell me I’ve got that right. My head feels like it’s going to explode.
You understood it well, yes.
Then we can squeeze a lot more use out of the cold zone, two or three times over.
* * *
- Fogrgrgrgrgk....
The Foghogs, struck by lightning from above and below, hung limp.
“How about that! Knowledge is power. This is the power of sharp-minded mages!”
All Foghogs have been incapacitated.
“Not a single one died in all that? Tough bastards.”
He was marveling at their damnable vitality when time itself stopped.
He flinched, thinking there might be another bad piece of news, but then...
The congratulatory chime telling him the stage had been cleared made him let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Phew. Huh? Wait, we cleared it already? We haven’t even killed them all.”
Of the two victory conditions, you have satisfied “eliminate or incapacitate all Foghogs within the time limit.”
“Ah, right. We didn’t actually have to finish every last one off. I’d forgotten for a second. Anyway, cleared! Woo!”
While he was relaxing and celebrating, the briefing continued.
Casualties: 0 injured, 0 dead
Monster losses: 0 injured, 0 dead
Number of monsters converted: 0
You have gained 200 EP as a rank reward. Remaining EP: 1,400.
You have gained 100 KP as a kill reward. Total KP: 820.
The Border Count’s feat in defending Rainpa with bizarre tactics such as aerial watchtowers is widely publicized. You have gained 300 RP. Remaining RP: 1,500.
Because he had cleared it with an SSS rank, the EP and RP rewards were quite generous.
There are also special rewards. Would you like to claim them now?
“Hmm... no. I’ll take them after I finish those guys off. Can’t just leave the monsters hanging now that the stage is over.”
Understood. Please note that these rewards can only be claimed within the territory of Rainpa City and within three hours. If the time limit passes, the special rewards will drop at random. Also, as the stage has ended, the penalty for conversion prohibition has been removed.
“So that means I can convert those guys now, right?”
That is correct. The EP required to convert one monster is 100. However, for #005, who is pregnant, an additional 100 EP is required.
“Pregnant? Then the babies born later would come out converted too, I guess. Like mandragoras. Still, 100 EP is a bit steep.”
The cost was higher than he’d expected, and Ho-yeong hesitated.
Foghogs... they’re definitely useful in a lot of ways. But if I convert them all, I might run into trouble later when I need EP. And how am I supposed to feed them? Looking at those bodies, they look like they’d eat more than elephants.
Once food supply entered the picture, his worries came first.
Time will resume in one minute. Please decide carefully how many monsters you will convert.
As if celebrating the world brightening again, cheers rang out.
“Waaah! We won!”
“We defended Rainpa!”
The guards hugged each other in delight.
“The battle isn’t over yet!”
Ho-yeong set their scattered discipline back in order.
“The monsters are still alive. It’s not over until we finish them off!”
After summoning the warriors and Rainpa guards in one place, he went on.
“Those who want to finish them off, step forward!”
Even though the Foghogs were blackened by fire, they still twitched. The guards shrank back at the sight; even subdued, they had seen the monsters’ terror with their own eyes, so that reaction was only natural.
“Hmph. Scared of beasts lying on the ground? Leave them to me! I was getting itchy just standing around.”
“Likewise.”
The adventurers, by contrast, stepped forward as if they had been waiting for this.
“I’ll go too!”
Owensytn, the guard captain, steeled his resolve.
“We’ll go as well!”
Emboldened by him, the guards surged forward after him one by one.
“Good. Everyone, bring out your courage! And bring out your weapons too.”
Watching them grip their long spears with trembling hands, Ho-yeong felt oddly pleased.
“Priests, please grant these tough bastards the protection and blessings of the River Saint.”
To prepare for any mishap, he had the priests cast shields and various buffs.
The priests, who had had little to do until now, were overflowing with divine power.
“Your task is very simple. Finish off the fallen Foghogs. Aim for the forehead or the heart. But leave alive the one lying there with a spear in its neck.”
“Yes, sir!”
He had decided to convert only the pregnant #005.
“Charge!”
“Aaagh!”
The soldiers, protected and strengthened by the priests’ blessings, rushed forward with renewed force.
“Shrakhim, you stay here.”
Ho-yeong grabbed Shrakhim, who had been about to sprint off with them.
“Me? Yes, sir. But why aren’t you going in person, Count of the Border Region? If you were the one to finish those monsters off in style, your achievement would shine even brighter.”
Shrakhim asked in confusion.
“True enough, it would. No matter how well you fight, the last hit is still the highlight.”
“Then why...?”
“Because they should get a chance to shine too. The spear throwers and mages contributed plenty, sure, but the rest of the men have only been waiting as reserves.”
Ho-yeong was giving the guards and warriors their own chance to stand out.
“For the guards, they came to defend their home. If they only did menial work and never got to swing a spear even once, they’d be disappointed. So I’m sending them in for the finishing charge. Let them keep their faces before the citizens watching them.”
“So that was your deeper meaning. I see...”
Shrakhim thought back to what had happened in the Kihara domain.
Back then too, the Border Count ordered our brothers to finish off the Hogryphon. It was to preserve our dignity in front of all the people of Kihara Barony. This is the same as then.
His respect for the Border Count grew even stronger.
An extraordinary man. Anyone would want to stand out, and yet he doesn’t keep the credit for himself, but gives it to others.
Noticing Shrakhim’s gaze, Ho-yeong gave a faint smile.
“You worked hard too, Shrakhim. I didn’t realize you could handle the ballista that well. You were almost as good as Drinad.”
“It was nothing. My contribution is nothing compared to that dwarf girl over there.”
Shrakhim glanced toward Sera, who was swinging her twin axes with enthusiasm.
“Oh? Have you developed feelings for her already? That’s a rather wistful look. In that case, maybe I should scout that young lady for Tamer Territory.”
“No, that isn’t it...”
“Well, we can think about that later. For now, let’s rest a bit.”
Ho-yeong leaned back against his shield and lay down, using the kill count chiming in the status window as his own ASMR.
“Flying around all over the place and shouting my head off has left me exhausted. Ugh... my back. I’m still sore from falling off the horse because of Lilian. I told her to run the territory well while I was gone, and she went and ran the lord right off his horse instead.”
As Lilian’s face came to mind, he started wondering how everyone else in the territory was doing.
I wonder if the mandragoras and the other monsters are all right... They’ve started getting on my mind like the dogs we keep in the logistics center. I haven’t even been gone that long.
He wanted to rush back to the capital as soon as possible. That way, he could return to Tamer Territory sooner.