Chapter 600 - Silver's Mission - Part 1

"How am I supposed to attach this to vertical farming?" Therdul mumbled, the most basic idea he had immediately thought of was to simply plant a pillar in the center of all the plants. But that seemed like a brutish solution, they had both agreed so earlier. 

"I think we should just do that for now. If we can at least showcase the viability and also get the first crop rotation." Erik said.

Therdul had hoped that each hydroponic tower could be magically enhanced to the specific plants being grown. However, this would certainly work too. It just felt like such a rush job. 

'Not sure if the nature element substitutes or adds more micronutrients. We will likely need to find a way to supplement the water, I hope Ceph and Maia found a simple way to transport water. Doesn't seem like we will have time to bring over pumps and the like.'

Mulling over his ideas and wondering which plants to choose, lettuce was obviously one of the obvious choices. Strawberries and tomatoes were two others. As were a couple of similar plants unique to the world and the kingdom. Naturally, magical herbs were also a big topic. Alas, they were now in a rush and would go with what was easiest.

"Hey, isn't that Silver?" Therdul was confused seeing her running towards one of the temples, recalling that she had gone with the others the morning. 

"It seems that Eldrian suspects that we will soon be under siege again," Erik mumbled, sharing the message from Eldrian with an explanation of what he had realized.

"Shit, but if they charge towards here they would lack a supply line," Therdul mumbled. 

"There are plenty of villages they can raid, it seems Eldrian also thought of that, he asked me to go inform Aspen on all this. We will be evacuating most of the local villages, which is why he wants to rush the vertical farming. We will need to feed near a million people soon."

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Therdul nodded. That certainly was a tall order, and he was unsure if he was up to the task. However, it was now clear why it was so urgent.

They would use the brutish way for now, but as they worked Therdul would continually try to find more eloquent solutions. 

***

Silver was shocked by the sight welcoming her as she arrived at Diades. The temple was in ruins, dead bodies could be seen crushed under the collapsed roof and walls alike. 

While she was used to such sights of war, seeing the small body of a little girl clinging to her mother nearly caused her to momentarily tear up. 

'I can't believe it's already so bad.' Rushing out of the ruined temple, she quickly backtracked as a number of goblins rushed past her. A few seconds later four orcs followed cracking their whips, pushing the goblins forward. 

Craning her neck around the corner, she watched as the goblins died in throes to the spells and arrows of the defenders behind a temporary wall created from the nearby debris. She couldn't even see the defendants, only the start of the flight of their arrow or spell hinted at their location.

Waiting until the goblins were all killed and the orcs had left, probably to push another group to their deaths, she rushed into the street. Hand's in the air, hoping that she would not be killed on the spot. Careful to not trip over the corpses littering the road.

She stopped dead in her tracks as an arrow landed before her feet. 

"I'm a Chosen!" She shouted, understanding well that with devils and their ability to shapeshift that it was near impossible for them to simply believe someone's appearance or their words. However, titles were not something that could be faked. 

"What are you doing here?" The archer who had shot the warning shot asked, revealing himself from his hiding spot. 

"I-I..." She couldn't see all the other archers, but she could feel the danger she was in. It was shocking just how well the centaurs were able to camouflage themselves. 

"I've something that might help!"

"Help? You think you can help us?" The centaur sneered, they were simply trying to make the cost to the orcs as expensive as possible. The city was already lost. 

"Yes! No! I can't help. But what I brought might!"

Intrigued and confused, the centaur indicated for her to move closer. "Well, what is it?"

Nodding, Silver concentrated for a bit and summoned one of the two cannons she had brought. Seeing it, everyone looked at her, confused. 

The cannon certainly appeared to be a state-of-the-art contraption. It was clear to all that it was made through the combined efforts of a specialized group of craftsmen, led by a formation master. 

Yet, no one understood what this hunk of metal was supposed to do. Nor how it might help their situation. 

Flinching as thunder cracked through the city, Silver looked to the source and was left speechless as she watched a magic tower lay waste to a section of the city. Debris flew everyone and flames spread freely, from the reaction of the people around her it was clear that they were used to this.

"How is this supposed to help?" One of the other archers asked, but Silver was too shocked at the terrible circumstances of the city to reply immediately. The follow-up wasn't all that nice as they thought she was wasting their time. 

"Just, let me show you!" By this time, another group of goblins was being chased towards the barricade. Why the enemy would use such a barbaric tactic she could not fathom, it felt like if the orcs simply grouped they would be able to storm the barricade with ease. 

"If they group the magic towers focus on them." The archer who had launched the warning arrow said, "How is this going to help?"

Swallowing nervously, she loaded the cannon and took aim. The modified cannons made by the city were far less mana expensive, but this was an inner-cannon. Seeing her take out a mana crystal, everyone was shocked. 

'I hope the orcs are a big enough problem to make it worth it.' She prayed as she fired, understanding well that the number of cannonballs even in Kynigo was limited.

Turning to the direction of the charging goblins and orcs, everyone slowly returned their attention to this girl and the contraption next to her. 

Of the fifty goblins, only a few were still alive. Yet it was clear that she had not aimed at them. Her target the orcs. All of whom were Tier 5, and none of whom were alive anymore. 

Where the cannonball had landed there now stood a crater. The equipment of the orcs scattered about, along with the parts of them that had survived the explosion.

A few centaurs slowly lost control of their jaws as they stared in shock at the destruction that this little girl had just brought on the enemy. 

Sure, the explosion was not equal to that of the magic towers, but it was somewhere between a Tier 6 and 7 spell, possibly even Tier 8. And she was able to load and fire in just a few seconds, it would take a mage a lot longer. Possibly half a minute or several minutes to summon a spell of similar effect.

This particular group wouldn't even have stood a chance if the orcs weren't being so careful. Only one in the group was Tier 5, and while there was a total of twenty hiding about. None of them believed they could defeat the four orcs that had been leading sending the goblins to their deaths.

Which naturally made the destruction of the orcs even more of a miracle to their eyes. 

AN: Hey! Chapter 600!