Chapter 122: Siege weapons
Yenya's eyes were red as she was on the verge of crying, and she looked emotionally shattered. Garnt approached her with a determined expression, while she kept running in his direction with her tears starting to leak like a broken dam.
"Yenya," he called out gently, "we're here to help. We'll rebuild together."
Yenya turned to face him, and as soon as their eyes met, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She broke down, pouring out all the frustration and heartache she felt at seeing the fruits of her hard work crumble before her.
Garnt, understanding the weight of her emotions, didn't say anything at first. He simply embraced her, offering a comforting shoulder to lean on. Yenya's sobs echoed in the desolate surroundings as Garnt held her close.
After a moment, Garnt spoke softly, "I know it's tough, Yenya. But we'll get through this. We'll rebuild, and it'll be stronger than before. You've done an incredible job here, and we won't let it go to waste. Rona's choice was right to choose you as the leader of this place and it is because of you that all of these people are safe now."
Yenya wiped her tears, nodding gratefully at Garnt. "Thank you, Patriarch. I put so much into this village, and to see it like this..."
Garnt interrupted her, "We can't change what happened, but we can shape what happens next. We'll rebuild, and I'll support you every step of the way. You and villagers are more important than buildings or these hot springs."
As they found a more private space away from prying eyes, Yenya composed herself. "What should I do now?" she asked, her voice filled with uncertainty.
Garnt thought for a moment and then said, "First, we gather everyone. We'll need to assess the damage and prioritize what needs immediate attention. But more importantly, you'll need to organize the guards and warriors. We can't predict when another threat might appear, and we need to be prepared."
Yenya nodded, grateful for Garnt's guidance. "I'll do my best. Thank you for being here, Patriarch."
Garnt smiled reassuringly, "Of course, I will be here for you, after all, you're my wife's favourite student,"
[Garnt! Look at your blueprints.]
While he was busy talking with Yenya, suddenly he heard Eva's voice which sounded much more excited than he thought. He knew something good must have happened, so he quickly scrolled through the system and entered the place where he could watch his system only see some words that he didn't understand at first.
Blueprints:
>Ballista (7000)
>Trebuchet (7000)
>Gunpowder (9000)
"What are these things, Eva?" Garnt asked, hoping to get the basic idea, as he always does. Eva started to explain, and her voice sounded excited.
"Garnt, these are siege weapons, powerful tools that can be instrumental in our defence against the dinosaur threat. Let me break it down for you."
"First up, the Ballista," she continued, highlighting the corresponding blueprint. "It's a massive bow-like weapon that can launch projectiles over long distances with incredible force. We can mount them strategically around our settlements, providing us with a formidable ranged attack against approaching threats, including that dinosaur."
Garnt nodded, starting to grasp the concept and he knew this might be one of the most useful things he got in a long time. "Alright, what about the Trebuchet?"
Eva moved to the next blueprint. "The Trebuchet is a siege engine that uses a counterweight to launch heavy projectiles even further than the Ballista. It's excellent for hitting large targets or creating a powerful impact in a specific area. With a few well-placed Trebuchets, we can significantly damage the dinosaur's scales or incapacitate it from a distance, but it won't be accurate attacks."
Garnt listened attentively, realizing the potential of these weapons in their defence strategy. "And the Gunpowder?"
Eva's excitement reached a new peak. "Gunpowder is a revolutionary substance that can create controlled explosions. That tool I was talking about needed this substance, but for some reason, it didn't appear so I can't talk about it. But even gunpowder in its rawest form is useful enough."
Garnt was excited to try all of these things, but he knew he needed time to finish these new weapons.
"Should we call these people back to our main village for now? Or should I just ask them to stay in the caves for now?" He kept thinking about how he was going to proceed with this situation and decided to go with the second option.
It took them a few days to make sure everything was back to normal before starting to rebuild the hot spring village. Meanwhile, Garnt began making plans to create more new blueprints.
For a few days, he had no idea of leaving the hot spring village, so he stayed with Yenya and her people inside the cave, making sure they realized that he was ready to face anything together with them.
"Garnt, are you sure you don't want to go back? I can manage things here," Gundo tried to convince him, but he just looked at her and smiled. "It's almost over. Ayra also want me to finish my work before coming back, so don't worry about it, mother,"
Gundo just sighed knowing he was still stubborn and looked at the people and how the whole atmosphere of fear around them turned into hope, once Garnt arrived and helped them.
[It's your chance. You have two days to make a move. Once you two go back to the main village, his attention will be fully on his wives and Guni. If you miss this chance, I won't ever support you again.]
Eva gave Gundo her final warning and she looked at Garnt with a blush.
"Tonight! Tonight, I'm going to confess, so don't worry." She was breathing heavily like an old man, and quickly ran away so she could calm down. "I need to isolate Garnt, so others won't hear us. Forest is too dangerous, so the only option is when he is bathing."
[Oh~ that's great. Under the chilling night sky, Gundo and Garnt are in a hot spring with their bodies warming each other. Now that's a good romantic scene.]
"Hehe! Do you think so? I'm glad, now I have to get ready so I will leave for now."
***
"This is the fourth syringe. I hope this one won't be a failure like last time," Amel said anxiously as he kept looking at the muscular woman beside him, who was on the verge of dying after getting beaten up by Moga. "By 'failure,' I mean death. If she goes insane after this, it would be much better. After all, I don't think I can control this woman."
"Truly she is the toughest woman we met until now,"
"If Moga wasn't here, she would crush our skulls with her bare hands."
Amel's normal hunters muttered, knowing things were not looking good for them. They didn't understand why Moga was still looking at them like they were his enemies, but they understood one thing: Moga in front of them wasn't a normal human by any means.
*Growl *Growl
The low growls emanated from Moga, his eyes gleaming with a feral intensity showing he was indeed not in his right mind. The atmosphere in the dimly lit forest became charged with an unsettling tension as Amel prepared the syringe.
"This is an experiment. I can't just go face to face with Garnt without knowing how much he improved both skill wise and technology wise, so I will first send this woman to see how he reacts." Amel wasn't intelligent enough to come up with that idea, so it belonged to none other than the system that was advising him.
"Let's hope this one works," Amel muttered under his breath, carefully injecting the serum into the woman's arm. As the liquid entered her bloodstream, a momentary silence enveloped the place. The hunters held their breath, anxiously awaiting any signs of change. They didn't even know what Amel did, but they knew and felt it was something interesting.
"What kind of DNA did you inject this time?" The advisor woman who was standing next to Amel looking at things with a neutral look on her face questioned.
"It was a giant bear that Moga hunted. I was lucky enough to take some blood from its heart and extract DNA for this syringe before it died. I don't think this woman could possibly stay sane after this, and I wish that wouldn't be the case otherwise this might backfire on us," Amel muttered and waited for some results.
The woman's body twitched, and her eyes flickered open. She let out a guttural groan, her muscles visibly tensing beneath her skin. The air around her seemed charged with an otherworldly force as her transformation unfolded.
"So this is how I transformed?" The advisor looks at things with a calm look, but the same cannot be said for others.
Amel and the onlookers observed in both awe and trepidation as the woman's physique expanded, her limbs stretching and contorting in a surreal dance of metamorphosis. The subdued lighting in the room revealed the emergence of intricate patterns across her skin, akin to tribal tattoos coming to life.
The woman's eyes, once a human gaze, now flickered with a wild look that couldn't be explained. Her body continued to twitch uncontrollably, each movement accompanied by a crackling sound, as if the very air was protesting the transformation.
"It's happening. We should just keep our distance in case she has gone crazy. If she has, we can ask Moga to lead her in the direction of Garnt's village. Then, we can spy on how things progress. This is truly a genius idea. I can't wait to see what is going to happen."