Sowhat surprisingly, the eting with Ruslana and Zelvash was so fast and nonsense-free that Sylver spent the entire 10 minutes waiting for sothing to go wrong.
But nothing did.
Sylver explained to the two that the area he planned to house them in was too dangerous and that there wasnt a good place to house them at the current mont in ti.
Frankly, neither of them seed all that concerned about it.
In Ruslanas words, they had food, water, a safe place to sleep, the children werent dying from disease, and their biggest complaint was that Eirish was difficult for the adults to wrap their heads around.
When Sylver told them that they were going to stay at Rons Rest until he returned, Ruslana honestly looked a little relieved. Zelvash seed miffed, and tried to ask to co along with Sylver, and bring 8 dark elves with him, but thankfully took no as an answer.
***
Can I ask you sothing? Lola asked as she walked out of the portal Bravo had created.
Bravo had the rare ability of being able to read the room, and left Lolas office without either of them having to ask.
Im going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assu youre not going to ask about the thing I said youre better off not knowing? Sylver asked.
Lola rolled her eyes, and sat down on her chair, as Sylver sat down in the seat on the other side of her desk. Aside from a few new paintings that showed Lola smiling and shaking hands with various n and won, and an odd rat-looking creature, not a whole lot had changed.
The workshop had been rebuilt, but other than the walls being a bit thicker and sturdier, to Sylvers poor mory it was all the sa. He vaguely recognized so of the people quietly working away, but apparently becoming a little taller, and disappearing for 5 years, was enough to make people forget who you are.
No. If you think its better I dont know, then its better I dont know Regarding the Krists
Lolas voice trailed off as she moved her hand over the desk, and a small tallic box appeared on it.
Sylver moved it closer to himself and very carefully opened it up.
Inside he could see 2 light grey cylindrical pieces of tal, that were ever so slightly thicker on one side, like a carrot.
He extended his mana towards the two tal rods and applied pressure on them while he searched for a way inside.
When that didnt work, Sylver picked one up with his hand and then tried to snap it open. For sothing this small, and thin, the amount of pressure Sylver had to exert until it broke into two didnt make sense.
The quiet clink he heard as the other rod snapped into two inside the tal box, also didnt make any sense. Sylver was careful initially, as he inspected the interior of the tal with his mana, but when he couldnt feel anything, he tried to tear the piece apart using magic, if only to get so kind of reaction out of it.
Just when Sylver thought he was about to feel sothing, the tal half turned into extrely fine sand in his hand. No matter how hard Sylver sifted through the sand with his mana, he couldnt find anything, he wasnt even entirely sure if the thing was tal or not.
Going by the fact that your shadow has already reached the door, you couldnt find anything, Lola said.
Sylver glanced behind himself and saw that in his anger, he had accidentally pushed his shades away from him, and pulled them back in place.
When he turned back to look at Lola, a second open box was on the table, with an identical pair of tallic rods.
How many of these do you have? Sylver asked as he did his best to get as much of the sand into the first box, and then took one of the rods from the second.
About 20 on my person, and nearly 1,000 down in storage. The military sent these to everyone with so much as an F rank [Appraisal] skill, but even Leke didnt get anything, Lola explained, as Sylver used [Arcane Insight] on the rod in his hand.
[N/A]
He tried to use it on the rod in the box.
[N/A]
Why exactly are the Krists such a threat? Sylver asked as he put the rod in his hand back into the box he had taken it out of.
Quantity. They win through sheer numbers. Hundreds, upon thousands, of bodies throw themselves at swords, spears, arrows, magic, and eventually the blades dull, the tips bend, the walls break, the mages get tired, and thats it. Whoever can, runs away, and the rest either die or are converted into one of the Krists, Lola explained.
Sylver could do little but nod.
Throwing bodies until the opponent just plain and simple couldnt swing their sword anymore was a ti-consuming, but effective, strategy.
Not to ntion the sabotage from the inside Sylver added.
That too. Most of the adventurers that go to fight them, do so with a suicide capsule. Initially, they used poison, but after soone saw a Krist shaman rip a womans tongue out, and then shove his hand down her throat to scoop out the liquid, everyone started to use explosives. Sa material as the ones you summon, except the trigger is magical, not chanical, Lola said, with an odd tone that sounded as if she was telling a joke.
I miss when wars were a battle of attrition to see which army would starve first. Things were so much simpler back then Sylver said, as he closed the lid on the box, and leaned back in his seat.
Lola waved her hand over the two boxes and made them both disappear.
I miss when my biggest worry was that I mixed up the delivery dates. The cats havent been, shall we say agreeable, with the fact that I took over, but they do what theyre told. The Cord is a lot harder to handle, the people only in it for the money have been fantastic, but the ones that do what they do for fun, those kick up a fuss like you wouldnt believe, Lola explained, in an attempt to steer the conversation away from the topic she herself had brought up.
Im sure Roo has a handle on things. Lycanthropes are very protective of their territory, even more so of their partners, Sylver said casually and was disappointed at the lack of surprise in Lolas voice.
Did he say sothing to you, or are you just guessing? Lola asked.
In case you forgot, I can read souls. Werewolves are a bit tricky, especially the recently infected ones, the animal blood muddles everything up, but he does that thing they all do, where he follows you with his head, and not just his eyes, Sylver explained.
He had studied the curse, and for a brief period of ti lived among them, as a guest, and even more briefly, as a leader.
Yeah Hes cute, and I love how loyal he is, but after Olds Lola adjusted herself in her chair.
Do you want to talk about it? Sylver offered.
Lola considered his words and then shook her head.
These things happen His parents were part of the Council. And while old Lola would have remained optimistic, possibly to the point of idiocy, Lola the Silver Lichs partner cant afford that kind of optimism Lola explained with a smile that didnt go anywhere near her eyes.
You didnt
I didnt. I considered it... But I couldnt go through with it. What if Im wrong? Not to ntion, even though it could have been a trap from the very beginning, I still have feelings for him. The smart thing to do is to wipe out the Council, and then Ill know for sure if it was a ruse from the start, Lola said, in a tone that sounded way too similar to a certain necromancer she was friends with.
Good plan But you t Olds before I left the dungeon? Sylver asked.
I t him during the ti it took you to fly from the dungeon to Arda. Which Look, Ive got everything under control, tell youve got so dark magic solution for the Krists, Lola said, and with a wave of her hand summoned a sheet of paper and a pen in front of Sylver.
Kill them until they die? Sylver offered laly.
Ill pass that along to the military, it will revolutionize how wars are fought, Lola said with a faint smile in her voice, but not her face.
If theyre a genuine threat, Ill fly to their island, and figure sothing out. But honestly, Arda is so well protected right now that even I would struggle to break through. A bunch of mind-controlled mortals wont stand a chance. Zombies, maybe, but people that die from running out of air? Just surround Arda with a vacuum or sothing, or pour carbon monoxide on them, theyll drop dead before they get anywhere near the walls, Sylver offered and was surprised by the fact that Lola looked surprised.
Seriously? Sylver asked, as the woman took the sheet she had offered Sylver, and started scribbling sothing down on it.
We tried poison, but they were immune, how did I watch you knock out a group of n using dry ice, and not think of this? Lola mumbled to herself.
Sylver leaned back in his seat and briefly closed his eyes.
Theres that what the fuck was it called. Ash-sothing Its at the tip of my tongue, light yellow rock, slls like rust, but-
Ash-foam? Lola guessed.
Thats it, ash-foam. Mix it 1-part white cherry pits, 10-parts water, 5-parts ash-foam, mix it until it turns dark yellow, heat it up, pour about half a cup worth into a pressurized bottle, and after it cools down, pure carbon monoxide grenades. Or big barrels, and just throw them from the walls, I guess, Sylver explained, as Lola stopped what she was writing, and started noting down the recipe.
Theres a catalyst to speed up the process its either osmium, copper, or zinc. I cant rember, but its one of those three Maybe chromium, but try osmium first Ask Bruno, theres a chance hell know. Maybe Faust too, cultivators are always brewing one pill or another, he might be a bit more knowledgeable about alchemy than I am. Honestly, just get a handful of mages, and have them do it manually, its not that hard, Sylver said, as Lola kept writing on her sheet without looking away, and summoned a fresh one to continue writing.
While were on the subject, a nice big moat is always a huge pain in the ass to deal with. You have to build a bridge out of corpses to get the zombies to the wall, even worse if its filled with predatory monsters, but dont use anything poisonous, always go for the simple big teeth that tear flesh away types. Get Bruno to make aquatic serpents, to swallow enemies whole, Sylver offered, and saw that Lola wrote what he said down word for word, but crossed out aquatic serpents.
Lola stopped writing and looked up at Sylver.
I dont think a moat is possible, the elevation is all wrong Lola said.
You know what, theres a spell for burning corpses, I saw that girl I was with use it once The Pixie party. If you modify the frawork a bit and spread ash-foam around the walls, you could make the corpses produce carbon monoxide, get a self-sustaining cycle going Sylver explained, as Lola summoned him a sheet of paper and gave him his own pen, as she moved her own to the side, and got a fresh sheet, to write a letter on.
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