Chapter 140.1. Northern Stronghold
Moving north from the plains, we encounter another city in ruins. The collapsed buildings, burnt-out homes. Shops with shattered shutters and interiors stripped bare of even shelves. It's a sight that fills one with emptiness.
But it's different when you realize it's a familiar ruin. The distribution of monsters in the northern area seems different from around Amatsugahara Corporation; these are enemies we've never encountered before.
Upon closer inspection, the asphalt is cracked, with lush green trees towering above. Ivy crawls up the buildings, and houses get covered in green like moss. The surroundings are noticeably greener than around Amatsugahara Corporation.
Takeda Shingen, an elderly man commanding the northern forces, looks around and sighs tiredly.
"It's quite different once you move a bit away. The variety of monsters is entirely different."
He murmurs as armored vehicles and soldiers on horseback surround him. There are about thirty of them. They have sturdy faces, bows on their backs, and spears in hand.
"Yes, Shingen-sama. It used to be a residential area a little away from the city center, but things change over time."
Baba, standing in front, rubbing his chin in concern.
But Shingen doesn't think this fits into the category of change.
"I don't remember seeing such big trees in the past."
"Eh! But I can walk, Shingen-san!"
"Sada, you haven't been called Ooki anymore, huh? Honestly."
It's clear that Sada, who's been recently dubbed "Ooki-kun", is aiming for a laugh. After all, the trees in the distance look strange. They're much larger than those growing around the dungeon. Their trunks are about 30 meters in diameter and stand 50 meters tall.
They give off an impression of being overly thick trees. The branches are unnaturally thick, yet they don't extend their foliage much horizontally. They are unnatural giant trees.
What's even stranger is that the roots are wriggling and moving. They crush the asphalt and expose the soil.
On these branches, there are caterpillars about a meter long and grasshoppers clinging, eating leaves. At higher places, there are poisonous butterflies about a meter tall, with vividly colored wings.
"They're Treants. C-rank monsters, slow-moving with high endurance. But their characteristic is gathering lower-ranked monsters to act together. Large locusts, crawlers, and poison butterflies are all around the F and E ranks. But lurking in the shadows of buildings are D-rank scythes called Sword Mantises, and on the buildings are D-rank Concrete Spiders that build webs and catch prey with their paralysis poison fangs."
The recently protected girl wearing a modified kimono, Amano Yukihana, confidently shares. It's suspicious that she claims to be protected.
This girl is quite strong. Although she's different from Sakimori, she's still quite formidable, at an unprecedented level.
Since the Sakimori hasn't told him, it's just speculation, but she's likely a warrior secretly raised in some district. Probably not from within the inner city. If it were, someone would have intervened. There are rumors that Sakimori is a secret operative from the inner town, and Yukihana is one of them, but Shingen knows that's nonsense. He's known him for a long time, seeing him steadily grow stronger. There's no way he's a secret agent.
Well, now Sakimori is strong, and he's our boss. Since the boss doesn't explain it, we obey silently. It's better not to know things we don't need to know.
Accompanying this squad is an instructor and attendant. They're advisors.
"This area seems to be populated by insect-type monsters. They seem easier to defeat than goblins."
"Yes, indeed. If we can hit them with locusts or bats, they should be easy to defeat," agrees another.
"As long as you stay away from the Trents, there's no danger. If you defeat the monsters that gather around them, you can hunt quite a few, but there are too many poison carriers here. And I didn't expect there to be people who would use them."
There's a community in a slightly distant place. Walls are built, rudimentary guard towers are set up, and men wearing dirty clothes and carrying rifles are stationed there.
It used to be a school. It was a newly built school before walls were erected in the inner town. It's a school-like prison with thick walls designed for defense against monsters. People already know it'd get confined within the inner town. But construction never stopped. Perhaps they were afraid of being discovered confining themselves within the inner town, or they intended to earn as much money as possible. Occasionally, such sturdy facilities exist.
Many people seem to live there, and they got involved in our expedition during our dungeon conquest. They asked us who we were while we were conquering the dungeon, and when we answered, they argued not to encroach on their territory.
And it led to a dispute. With the existence of lucrative dungeons, the availability of core stores increases. Hence, disputes arise. It was an accident.
Nevertheless, once it turned into a dispute, we thought we could subdue them and bring them under our control, but it wasn't that simple.
"They're causing trouble again!"
Shingen narrows his eyes and shouts loudly, waving his hand at his subordinate's words.
"Don't bother with the dolls! Deal with the monsters gathering around!"
Slowly, wooden dolls appear from the corner of the ruins lined with decaying houses. They hold burning wooden sticks in their hands. Smoke billows, and behind them come locusts and caterpillars, crawling slowly.
The wooden dolls have war flags attached to them, with crests drawn on them with magic. It's irritating; there are six circles. It's 6 mon coins.
That's the crest of the boss who rules this community. The 6 mon coins are also a well-known crest.
In other words, it's the crest of the Sanada family. They're the ones who incited the wooden dolls in front of us. They're using monster incense to summon monsters.
With a buzzing sound, locusts fly over, and Baba's subordinates, led by him, aim with their bows.
"Archers, shoot at your discretion!"
Baba gives instructions, and his subordinates release arrows. Even though they are elite, they effortlessly draw their bows, and the low-ranking locusts are no match for them. They're about as capable as the large rats near us.
Then, caterpillars, despite their sluggish appearance, start crawling at a speed equivalent to an adult's full sprint.
However, the caterpillars are no match for the archer squad either. They continue to shoot arrows in succession, shooting them down. But from the shadow of a dilapidated building, glass bottles come flying. With a clattering sound, smoke billows out of the bottles.
"Ahaha!"
"Cough, cough!"
"Gehehe!"
While the subordinates cough, arrows fly toward us. With a whizzing sound, they approach.
However, those arrows are blocked and fall down, hindered by the power of the Shadow Serpent.
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