Becoming the Wasteland Overlord With My Harem System!

Chapter 286: Finishing Up Construction

Axel wasn’t one to dip his hands into conspiracy easily. However, this time, he was willingly digging headfirst into Queen Sharika’s matter.

Of course, it wasn’t because he’d become a busybody.

The reason was something more... concrete. A fact that was nearly undeniable, but Axel refused to voice out loud.

After Queen Sharika left, he turned to Fenrir and asked. "So, is that guy who was caught..."

"Yes, Master."

Fenrir nodded before he even finished his words.

"There’s no mistaking it. That man... is a demon. From his scent, probably Greed’s lackey."

Axel smiled.

"As expected. I thought his presence felt a little familiar, but to think there’s a demon pretending to be a human in here..."

If it was a simple inside job among humans, sabotaging each other, Axel wouldn’t care much. As long as he gets the required 50 thousand people in his counter. In short, as long as 10% of them remained, he wouldn’t really bat an eye.

But now that a demon was involved, things change.

If he just let things play out, then with a high probability, no "human" would remain after they’re done. And that would clearly delay the progress of his quest—the one and only thing he wouldn’t accept.

But the problem was that he couldn’t move until they’d figured out "all" of the enemies embedded within the Queen’s people. If they somehow ended up letting one slip, then things might go south later down the road.

"Alright. For now, Fenrir, you keep track of those demon guys. Make sure to stay under the radar."

Thus, his decision for now was to simply watch. Only that. And Fenrir—being the strongest of all the girls—was the only option for this job.

Fenrir frowned a little, raising a brow with a question.

"Only observe?"

"Identify all of them, if possible. And yes, only observe. We’ll get some time to act later. That I’m sure." Axel simply nodded with a smile.

"Alright. Then leave it to me, Master."

And just like that, Fenrir disappeared.

It wasn’t like she vanished, but rather, she was simply making use of her abilities even deeper. After all, Axel finally unlocked the third seal of Gleipnir—allowing her to regain 75% of her full strength—leaving only the last and the sturdiest, most complicated seal left.

With her newly regained ability, she could actually "stay" within rifts now.

Lurking in the space between dimensions, and freely observe others without their notice.

Apparently, only she could tolerate doing this with her ability and she couldn’t take anyone along with her. If ever she did, they’d die soon after due to running out of air to breathe.

How she survives in that state is a mystery, though.

After Fenrir left, the remaining ones quickly redistributed their works on the blueprint. Before they handle the demons lurking within, they first need to ensure to protect everyone from the threats outside.

"That’s everything, right?" Axel confirmed after everyone finished splitting the cake.

Of course, everyone nodded firmly.

"Then, let’s do this!"

With his signal, all of them moved fast.

Only Rosaria and Mimika, who weren’t able to keep up with the others, were left with a simple job of watching over the north and south ends as guards.

The rest were moving at breakneck speed, calculating the zones based on Axel’s drawing and the markers, and using the system functions freely. Buying materials, then using the Housing Modification to shape the building to the desired shape.

Of course, since the girls weren’t well-versed in construction, and they weren’t really that good at reading designs, Axel let them do things "as they see fit."

Eve, for one, was tasked with building the 3600 towers around the place. The first line of defense, and the closest "lookout" to the walls. However, her design of the tower was... avant-garde, to say the least.

The spire was squiggly, not a straight vertical one. On each section, one could come out and have a spot perfect for aiming at targets from below.

Practically a design that was advantageous to snipers like herself.

Although, of course, Axel couldn’t really fault her about it. Aside from the... unique... design, everything was well thought out. Thus, he could only give the green light.

Just like that, copying what she already made didn’t take much time. One spire after another was made, the next ones slightly different than the previous. A chaotic sight from afar, but a wonderfully trustworthy fortification if anything.

While she was busy with those, the rest were also doing their best.

Arianne was handling the storage and barracks below Eve’s towers. Those were quite simple in design, and honestly, only the strength of the defenses mattered, so the design almost matched Eve’s. Almost straight out of a horror movie.

Beatrix did the inner wall, along with the cannons mounted—no, installed into it. The load-bearing limit of the wall itself was so large, it could probably hold more than 10x its own weight and still remain firm. The ground couldn’t sink either, as everything was built on solid stone. Even the foundation was modified just to ensure everything works!

Maria and Cherry worked together, handling the roads, paths, and various smaller fortifications left and right. Such were the pillboxes, the fixed catapults, and the ballistae array on the mini ramparts along the way.

The most important part—the heart of the defense—was the castle in the middle. Axel was the one to design that one.

Of course, he didn’t make it flimsy, or make it match Eve’s crazy design. Rather, he made it simple.

It was a large, rectangular building, almost like a skyscraper, but not made out of glass, but rather built out of solid black metal.

The design itself was easy, but the ventilation was quite a pain in the ass to set up. A giant metal building would get quite stuffy, or cold in winters, without doubt.

The vents were built into the walls, lined with perfect insulators. This way, the central cooling and/or heating system would be able to deliver the perfect temperature for those staying inside as long as power stays.

It was built like an infallible fortress. No matter how it was attacked, those inside would remain perfectly safe. But not only that.

The building’s surface was filled with magical traps and curses, set by Ria and Nina together. Thus, even if the enemies get through the other defenses, they’d only be digging their graves by approaching.

What’s more, the traps—just like the ones applied to the walls—were of the continuous type. Those that absorb mana from the air to "rearm" themselves after activation. Thus, as long as mana in the air held, it was basically an infinitely rearming trap!

Axel flew up into the air, admiring their work.

However, at the same time, he found the design a little... lonely.

Every building was far apart. Although it was made with the idea of safety in mind, a lot of land remained unused too. Axel paused, thinking.

"...Can’t I turn the remaining parts into residential areas?"

Axel had already invested way too much in this defensive bulwark, almost making it "offensive" instead. Thus, wouldn’t adding in homes for people around be more in line with his final goal?

"I guess it wouldn’t hurt. This will become my land later, anyway!"

Thus, he didn’t hesitate.

The areas right outside and within the inner walls were turned into residential areas. They were filled with empty lots for now—blocks in a standard modern city-planning style—marked for construction of houses and other facilities later on.

But even with just that, the view from above already changed quite a bit.

It looked more... lively.

"Though as expected, Eve’s towers are eye catching..." He laughed lightly.

Only that section looked like it was a part of a demon king’s castle instead, after all.

While in the air, Axel also glanced at the conspicuous lines that were drawn all over the place. Along roads, through buildings, and even over the "castle" that Axel made. It didn’t look random at all, intentional, even. But most of all, the lines looked like a circuit upon closer inspection.

Watching Maria and Cherry lay down the last section of it, Axel nodded.

"Alright, the drawing is complete."

He whispered as he landed on the rooftop of the castle.

There, in the middle of it, all the lines met. A union point was made.

Axel took out a beautiful red stone from his inventory, about as big as a yoga ball. He walked forward and placed it literally in the very middle of the rooftop, where all the lines—small paths made out of mithril—intersected.

As soon as the giant red gem was placed on the perfectly matching dent on the roof, a change occurred.

The lines suddenly took the color of the gem, a bright red, and began spreading from right there, and toward the inner walls—drawing complicated markings on the inner side. A few lines passed through the walls, continuing further down the road.

It lit up the edges of the roads, the towers, and the top of the outer walls.

Watching it light up, Axel likened it to Strip LEDs—the ones used to design edges of everything from objects to rooms. It was quite beautiful to look at... But that wasn’t its only purpose.

The moment the light met up at the end, at the top, the outer edge of the furthest wall, a transparent red dome film appeared over the entire structure, covering the entire circular area of nearly 40 kilometers in diameter.

There was not only the visible part above ground, but the barrier continued even below the earth, covering the place in a perfect sphere.

"Alright."

Axel, not surprised at all, just dusted his hands as if he did a job well done.

After all, what appeared there—the very function of the bulwark, and the gigantic magic circle "drawn" through it—was a semi-perpetual giant barrier!