221 - - appointment day

The work proceeded rapidly.

First of all, we were able to transport a considerable amount of redwoods at once, thanks to three large wagons provided by the "bearers of the burning fire" such as Barconia.

The fact that the threat of the Lord of the Lake of Blood had been eliminated was well publicized during the recent festivities, and this had attracted lumberjacks in droves, which had also boosted the supply of lumber.

Thor and his men used part of the price of slaying the dragon to buy them up in bulk.

In this area, however, they were able to use their preferential treatment as heroes.

The large amount of redwoods transported from Bossalia were brought to a fort on the shore of the swamp and piled up.

This fortress protected the horses from the miasma-laden winds, and it was also of great importance that it was no longer necessary to make a day trip.

Since the fort was open to the public, the other factions had their own rooms to use.

It seemed to be especially popular among the younger members of the Thunder and Rage group, who seemed to be having a lot of fun standing guard on the ramparts and keeping watch in the watchtowers for no reason at all.

However, we had to be careful not to gather too many people at once, as it might attract monsters.

And somehow, the name of the fortress had changed to Mu Citadel.

The young men of the Purple-Eyed Tribe were buoyant, but their hard work in building the path through the swamp was of great help to us in this operation.

Carrying the countless logs placed at the fort, the members of the Thundering Clan hurriedly made their way deeper into the swamp.

Of course, there was the threat of fog, but it was not an obstacle as long as the windmen of the Storm Peak Alliance read the atmospheric currents and chose the right time of the year.

Swordsmen, flame wielders, and shieldmen were also on their escort.

Working together in this way, the red tree is carried deep into the swamp.

Then the logs were tied together one by one by those who had free hands.

Thor and his men were building a huge raft, or scaffold.

Beyond the abandoned underground prison, probably the main battleground against the Witches of Lore, there was hardly any solid ground left.

Thor suspected that the reason for his many defeats was that he had challenged them in a place where he could not move properly.

It was also important to break the connection with the mud.

As long as the witches and their bastard children, the mud-poisoned giants, are in contact with the swamp, their bodies will regenerate indefinitely.

If they do not break contact with the swamp, they will not stand a chance.

It was also a foothold for that purpose.

While everyone was building the scaffolds, Thor and the others were hunting blue-striped serpents and swamp spiders as a last-ditch effort.

The branch skills of the tree of skills are such that the training of the lower branches generates the middle and higher branches.

However, the more excellent the skill is, the stricter the conditions for its occurrence are, and it cannot be acquired unless two or more lower branch skills are in a perfect state, or a specific branch fruit characteristic is obtained.

In addition, the ability to grow a branch to the end depends largely on the talent of the individual.

In addition to the effort of steadily earning skill points, it was a severe world that required natural talent.

To return to the story, although skill points can be freely allocated by Thor's , the amount of points does not increase, so the conditions necessary to grow a new branch cannot be met.

Fortunately, the other factions have been busy building scaffolding, leaving the hunting grounds free.

Thanks to this, for two weeks Thor and the others were able to continue their hunting while also practicing their magical skills.

Thor's skills are now level 10 with and .

In addition, has been pushed up to level 7.

Of course, this can be temporarily raised to level 9 by diverting points from completed skills.

However, in this way, the true power of level 10 could not be attained.

Sora reached level 9 in and , and level 6 in .

At the moment when reached level 5, a new branch skill was generated.

It seems that the condition for sprouting was that the two branch skills were in a perfect state.

The girl who had obtained more weapons breathed a sigh of relief before the big battle.

Yuril had his usual , , , and his developed , , .

All of them are now at level 9.

Moreover, although both of them are still at level 1, the top level , a single inhibitor, and the top level , a cooling range type, can be used twice each without replacing them with .

Lastly, as for Mu, I was able to bring up , , and to level 9 just in time.

And he has newly learned in addition to and .

This is a magical technique that creates a net of electromagnetic waves in the surrounding space, temporarily paralyzing the target it touches.

I don't think I will be using it much this time, but at least it seems to be more useful than .

In addition, the owner of the original armor shop at the end of the alley has prepared the equipment just in time.

Thor's body is wrapped in leather armor made of the belly skin of a blue serpent with dazzling silvery scales.

On his back is a blue cloak made from the back of the serpent.

At his waist is the single-edged sword made of silver that he had secretly requested. It was made by the Toluk Weapons Studio.

In addition, he has a spare machete made from the fangs of a rotting dragon, which he wears behind his back.

Sora weaves a robe of swamp spider silk, and wears blue snakeskin gloves and boots.

Around her neck hangs a necklace of shining blue jewels.

A band of snakeskin was wrapped around her shins.

It is said to be what is called a "maki lekkaku" (wrapped leg band).

This prevents mud from getting in, and makes it easy to pull one's feet out even in muddy conditions.

It may not look like much, but all of Thor and the others were wearing these.

In exchange for the red tree, the girl had some of the buried wood turned over to make a new walking stick.

According to the girl herself, she was even more focused than before.

Yuril has also changed into the robe of the swamp spider.

However, the design differs from that of Sola, and this one has a sleeker silhouette.

She wears an eye-catching outfit with a crown on her forehead, which ties up her silver hair, and a necklace of crystalline stones.

If she were not holding her favorite short priest's staff in her hand, she could be mistaken for some noblewoman.

Lastly, Mu is dressed in a white weasel's kimono.

Ramow, seeing his son's masterpiece, kept groaning and nodding his head with a faint blur at the corners of his eyes.

The only thing was that he was yawning afterwards, he said under his breath.

He was wearing a small crown of lightning and leather shoes of thunder beasts over his clothes.

The border between the two was fastened with a leg band to prevent them from falling off.　

Similarly, Bettina and the others seemed to be in perfect condition.

Thanks to the many beatings they had suffered at the hands of the orcs, they had learned many new things.

The group, clad in black steel armor, smiles encouragingly.

Waiting for everything to be ready, Thor and the others decided to take on the lore.

Coincidentally, it was exactly six months to the day that Thor had told Dadan and the others at Choyuya.