novelraw Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
As December came, the monsters began their full-scale southward march.
We left only the minimum force necessary to manage the territory’s castle and farmlands, and concentrated all remaining troops at the Northern Gate.
From then on, we spent every day intercepting the endless stream of monsters pushing south.
This winter was a season where monsters were especially rampant.
Compared to previous years, at least twice as many monsters crossed over the northern mountains.
“Ogres! Celine takes the lead. First and Second Units, provide immediate support!”
“Cease fire. Crimson Comet, advance! All of you, follow me!”
Large and medium-class monsters such as Ogres and Mountain Crocodiles frequently attacked the gate.
“Emergency! Multiple Heavy Gorillas approaching. Exact numbers unknown.”
“Damn it, what’s with this crap again at dawn!”
“Everyone, grab your gear!”
The smaller monsters came crawling down in groups at all hours, wearing us out constantly.
Especially when a swarm came pressing down at dawn, the sweetest hours of sleep, that day was as good as ruined.
We rotated shifts to give the troops proper rest, but in the noisy chaos of the gate, nobody could really relax.
“This winter is……”
“Too easy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Easier than expected.”
Even though monster raids had more than doubled compared to past years, the feeling among the troops was—ironically—one of stability.
And with good reason.
This wasn’t exactly a soft land.
The Johnson Knight Order had defended Johnson Territory steadfastly until now, but making it through winter had always been precarious.
Most knights would be injured, barely clinging to life as they fought to the brink of death, just barely holding the Northern Gate.
Rotations and proper rest?
Honestly, seeking rest at the Northern Gate during winter was too much of a luxury.
If nobody dropped dead, that was already considered fortunate in this season.
But this winter, the circumstances were different.
Though there were occasional sleepless nights, rest was guaranteed, and thanks to that, the knights weren’t feeling excessive fatigue.
Exaggerating a little, it was hard to even imagine a scenario where the gate fell.
Of course, something crazy might happen suddenly, but one couldn’t live constantly calculating for that.
Even though the monsters’ attacks were fiercer than ever, the reason we could defend with ease was because our strength had multiplied several times over.
Just last year, barely thirty knights of the Johnson Knight Order held the gate, but now we had several times that number stationed here.
With the Johnson Knight Order, the Crimson Comet, and even the Lion Tribe warriors all gathered in one place, it was a spectacular sight.
Just look at the commanders.
There was me, Rudick, Irene, and Leisha.
On top of that, Limond and Celine provided support, making six commanders in total.
Since Irene was injured and couldn’t stand on the battlefield, Celine marked her closely, but even counting that, it was still more than double compared to before.
With the increased number of commanders, the duty rotations became far more generous, and the defense of the gate was much easier.
And the state of the gate itself was something else.
The walls, already reinforced by the Golem School builders, were sturdier than ever, and the newly built barracks even had heating.
The new warehouse was filled with all kinds of food supplies.
There had never been a more luxurious defense.
Moreover, with the territory’s finances improved, even the potions that once had to be stockpiled for sale could now be freely used.
Considering the effectiveness of these potions, it was like each of us started with an extra life.
It was regrettable that we didn’t have a Priest, but that wasn’t something we could change immediately, so it had to be accepted.
With enough soldiers gathered here, even just using potions in time drastically reduced fatalities, so it seemed this winter would pass with minimal losses.
With things calmer at the gate, we could do a lot more.
For example, Irene had been sticking close to Leisha, engaging in light sparring.
Having absorbed too much mana at once, Irene still hadn’t recovered from her injuries, but training with Leisha—who sparred without using Aura—was proving quite useful.
Though it would take more time for her to fully recover, once she completely mastered and absorbed the mana within her, she would become even stronger.
‘At this rate, Irene might reach Master before Rudick does.’
In terms of sheer mana alone, Irene had long since surpassed me.
Granted, my Aura was notoriously short-lived, but the sheer amount of mana she had absorbed this time was overwhelming.
Which was also why her body still hadn’t fully recovered.
Of course, Rudick wasn’t idle either.
He was busy training the newly recruited knights.
Because of that, he barely had time to spend with Celine, and when I offered to handle the knight training so he could tend to other matters, he flatly refused.
He said it was crucial to instill discipline early on.
And he wasn’t wrong—he had been the one handling all the knight training so far, so in that area, he was more reliable than me.
Still, it was true he was pouring precious time into the knights, so I should think of a way to do something for him.
As for me, I actually had it a bit easier.
I even had time to return to the castle now and then, checking if the residents were adjusting well, and whether the newly appointed administrators were doing their jobs.
—The atmosphere in the territory doesn’t seem bad.
‘Yeah. Calmer than expected.’
The mood in the territory was reasonably good lately.
The settlers must have been uneasy—after all, this land’s reputation wasn’t exactly light.
But aside from the occasional monster crawling to the castle gates, life had been peaceful, and such disturbances were daily fare even in Haken.
Especially with the monster byproducts flowing steadily into the castle, trust was building.
We were hunting monsters in droves, yet the castle remained peaceful. That alone reassured them.
And around that time—
Peter, momentarily freed from mana crystal grinding, visited the fortress.
He came to deal with the Variant Crocodile still occupying a corner of the fortress.
“What, you just left this lying here? Are you out of your mind?”
“What else was I supposed to do? Even if we’d hauled it to the castle, would we have been able to process it properly?”
“At least we could’ve preserved it.”
“And if we had? Do you think you wouldn’t get distracted by it? Researching this would be far more fun than simple tasks like mana crystal refining.”
“Ugh, well… that’s true.”
“But from the territory’s perspective, mana crystal refining was the most important task.”
“Bah, whatever. Hold on. Let me check its condition first.”
Peter scolded me as soon as he arrived.
Judging by his reaction, this seemed to be quite a valuable research subject, but at the time, securing mana crystals was more urgent, so I didn’t regret my choice.
Alchemists could be surprisingly scatterbrained.
If you put a fascinating research subject in front of them, their efficiency in repetitive tasks like mana crystal refining would plummet.
“This is better than I thought. The blood hasn’t clotted yet. But how did you even catch this? From the looks of it, it must’ve been packed with mana.”
“Pretty decent, huh?”
“Lord, you’ve grown a lot.”
“I was always taller than you. Anyway, so it’s still usable for now, right?”
“Yeah. But the most important part, the heart, can’t be used anymore. If we’d been a little faster, we could’ve salvaged some prime material. Shame.”
“Well, can’t ask for everything.”
The stronger a monster was, the longer its corpse resisted decay.
That too must have been one of the mysterious phenomena of mana.
The Variant Crocodile was no ordinary monster, and thanks to that, its blood hadn’t clotted yet, allowing the alchemy workshop to extract various things.
The most vital part, the heart, was already ruined, but that was inevitable.
It was a loss we had already expected, so it wasn’t too regrettable.
The important thing was—what could be made from this corpse?
“So what can you make out of it?”
“Needs more investigation, but most likely a Fire Resistance Potion. Its hide and bones could also be crafted into equipment.”
“Equipment, sure, I figured as much. But Fire Resistance Potion… what use is that?”
“Well, that’s for you to figure out. If we had the heart, I could’ve made an elixir that permanently boosted fire resistance. That’s a pity.”
“Potion or elixir, neither seems particularly meaningful… Fine. Do your research.”
I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, but the result was oddly underwhelming.
A Fire Resistance Potion.
Useful if we ever faced something like the Variant Crocodile again, but such creatures were rare even in the Monster Mountains.
Still, such potions had virtually infinite shelf life, so if we brewed them now, they would surely prove handy one day.
After all, there was no guarantee another Variant Crocodile wouldn’t show up.
“Wait, you can make elixirs now? You said before you couldn’t.”
“Well, I’m still not entirely sure, but my alchemy seems to have improved a little. So if I get the right materials, I’d like to try.”
“You mean your skill has leveled up?”
“Grinding mana crystals like a madman messed with my senses a bit. When I tried other things, they definitely felt different. Don’t know why, but I’m sure I’ve gone up a stage.”
“That’s great news. Means you can make even more special potions than before, right?”
So there really was some kind of proficiency hidden in alchemy.
Peter said that after supplying mana crystals nonstop to the Golem School builders—who burned through them like water—his level had risen.
The higher his level, the greater the success rate for special potions. A tremendous boon.
“Thanks to that, I stocked up on plenty of special Suppository Potions.”
“Oh, those.”
“What? You got a problem with them?”
“Not a problem, but… it’s kind of depressing. The effect was incredible though.”
Suppository Potions—capable of instantly saving a dying patient on the brink of death.
An excellent item, but still… unsettling.
Of course I’d use it if necessary, but I’d prefer not to.
And it made me even more cautious, because using one meant I was on the verge of death.
At the very least, I didn’t want to ever need it myself.
‘Anyway, elixirs, huh. If Peter’s gotten stronger, maybe something like this is possible?’
Before the Great Cataclysm, there had been elixirs and pills that aided mana absorption or increased Aura capacity. Could such things be made again?
‘Aura deficiency really is a serious problem.’
Fighting the Variant Crocodile had made me realize just how lacking my Aura was.
I had to squeeze every drop of mana in my body just to land one blow.
If my Aura Blade had been even half of Leisha’s, I wouldn’t have collapsed from exhaustion after stabbing it.
And Irene wouldn’t have had to cover herself in its Flame Blood in my stead.
Of course, thanks to being drenched in the Variant Crocodile’s Flame Blood, her level had risen by about half a step, but that was only because Phoenix turned out to be an even greater armor than expected. The situation itself had been extremely dangerous.
We couldn’t expect such luck again, so if I didn’t want a repeat of that, I had to raise my own capabilities.
The problem was, it was easier said than done.
Whether it was the training method of the Bear Tribe, or me personally, or perhaps just the Johnson Territory’s method of cultivation, I didn’t know—but my Aura capacity hardly increased at all.
“Since we’re talking about elixirs, is there one that can increase Aura?”
“Elixir to increase Aura? Well, there is one to increase mana…”
“What? Really?”
“The recipe exists. But the materials are hard to obtain, and even if you get them, success isn’t guaranteed. Even before the Great Cataclysm, this was considered high-level alchemy.”
“I see.”
Of course it wasn’t going to be easy.
The recipe existed, but the ingredients were rare, and the names alone made me sigh.
On top of that, success wasn’t guaranteed even if we tried. It wasn’t something to attempt lightly.
Maybe I just had to stick to training hard.
—Still, isn’t Aura deficiency better than just being plain deficient?
‘That’s…’
I sighed at the rabbit’s questionable attempt at comfort, when Peter suddenly brought up something interesting.
“Instead of that, why not ask the Lion Tribe warriors? Just looking at them, their Aura levels are insane.”
He meant I should ask the beastmen, not the humans.