AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 151: Special Arrows

and thats it.

Diana and Toni stared at Tael, considering if Lew was getting crazy or just torturing the boy, while Karl calmly took another bite out of delicious steak. Their friend was facing a financial crisis, but Karl seemed too focused on his food to care. Diana was about to flip on him when the Alchemist decided to speak.

Instead of trying to get funds to pay for the plan, you could try to reduce the costs For example, if the bunkers dont need to be well-built, you could borrow the tools from the Ministry of Construction. Of course, theyll give you a hard time, but you would get the tools nonetheless Then use your own people to excavate and build the place, you think they cant do it, just ask Alfeur one senior constructor borrowed, either way, you dont need to pay for an entire construction team

Tael was about to object, but he realized the idea was actually feasible. Later, it would be better if they could get a construction team to rebuild the place, but for now, it had to be enough.

Moving the army to the Tunnel is even easier, the place has enough space and installations to satisfy their basic needs. You could train outside and if you need to build other facilities, just do it slowly. Now, the surveillance system is a little complicated You could cut down the costs by processing the metal at the other side of the mountains, maybe Kellers blacksmith could help you with that. That leaves you with installing, drawing and the resources cost. We dont mention installing, Samia could choose some big sturdy trees and secure the tools on top of them

For the resources, you basically need LQ lightning, MQ wind and energy crystals. You have to find a solution for the lightning crystals yourself because theyre already insufficient for our current needs. But, you could exchange the other crystals in AP with the Adventurers, you could even use our potions and concoctions for the trade. We still dont have enough to start trading, but you could get some with Mary Ill do all that can to throw in a few Runes for free, but you still have to pay for the rest, mother wouldnt allow otherwise.

Tael breathed in relief as he finally saw a way of paying for the plan. The details would sure take a couple of weeks of his sleep, but this was an uncontested victory. Karl didnt dwell on the financial problems any longer, he turned to Diana and asked:

When are you leaving? Ah This mission is gonna be dangerous You didnt saw their speed D

Diana felt a surge of confusing emotions. She was happy that he was concerned, but also a little offended by the lack of trust in her abilities. Karl observed the awkward response but failed to understand her feelings. Toni and Tael exchanged a helpless look before interfering.

Are you excited to test that weapon?

The strange silence was thankfully broken and Diana's expression softened.

"I The team is a little apprehensive, especially the archers We trained a lot, so, I guess it's gonna work out fine."

Karl laughed awkwardly while taking something from his pouch. He struggled to hide his embarrassment as he placed a wooden token on Diana's hand.

"I know you won't need it, but I would be relieved if you could take this Is an emergency tool, you just need to power it with a MQ crystal. Just be sure to don't point it towards any friends..."

***

A group of 16 soldiers, circling a team of ten workers, moved steadily through the snow, checking on their surroundings, ready to act at the slightest movement. The construction team struggled to keep the pace, but they couldnt afford to move slower. The plant energy on top of the mountains was so strong that the trees resisted the snow as if the harsh climate was nothing.

"Boss We identified several signatures in a ten kilometers radius, 24 to be exact Should we

Diana tried to keep a straight face while hearing the report from the operator. This time around, they decided to track abnormalities in the environmental plant energy instead of plant crystals. They were also using remote-tracking through stand-alone locators installed in the mountain path. At their center of operations, the technical staff was checking the readings and transmitting the information in real-time to the operator in the team.

Unfortunately, Karl's theory about the Treants was probably right. They should merge into the trees or stay in a state of hibernation, preventing them to appear in the usual tracking. To solve this, the Alchemist built a plant energy locator, which would point out small locations with a higher density of plant energy than its surroundings. The only problem with the locator was that it would only point out the number of locations and not the number of Treants, so they could be facing more than 24 enemies.

Even so, the team continued to advance until they finally arrived at the place where the repeater was installed. Diana gave the order to secure the perimeter while the construction team carried their work. Two workers focused on excavating next to the first hole while the others cut down a few trees nearby. Using the wood builder, they quickly constructed a tall structure to place the new repeater.

After adjusting the positions and installing the tool, the workers changed the circular Array on top of the hole, secured the Alchemy marks on top and at the side of the wooden tower before connecting everything. The marks shined and a light blue barrier spread from the ground until it covered the tower.

The workers started to organize their tools to leave when Diana asked them to move to the center and stay quiet. The soldiers moved to the usual tree layers formation, quickly circling the workers. She received another report and asked the operator to move to the back.

The strange silence lasted almost ten minutes when suddenly, two tree-like creatures emerged from among the trees. The snowy ground started to shake as dozens of roots emerged.

First defense, move!

Before Diana finished yelling the command, the six defenders moved forward to form a line of shields in front of her. The roots struck in their direction but were stopped by a shining blue barrier that appeared on the air in front of the shields. The Arrays on the shields, each being powered by a MQ energy crystal, combined their effects to form a stronger bubble shield.

The Treants didnt give up, even more roots emerged trying to strike the barrier, but it held. At this time, the ground beneath their feet started to shake too. Fortunately, Diana reacted fast enough and commanded everyone to move back. Soon, new roots emerged from the place they were standing seconds earlier. The roots also started to appear from the sides, but she commanded the attackers to cut them down fast enough. Apparently, the further the roots were from the Treant's body, the thinner it would be.

The group kept moving back and facing more roots as new Treants appeared from the forest. Either they were testing their strength before or too low to get here. The soldiers started to slip and miss until one had his leg cut through by a root. Diana couldnt wait any longer and gave the command.

Six shining arrows whistled through the air and traveled straight to the Treants. Small vortexes of energy formed around the tip of the arrow, until it suddenly blew. The small explosions affected a radius of one meter, ripping the tree bodies as if they were leaves. The Treants made several creak sounds but continued the root attacks.

Diana yelled a command and another six arrows flew to explode against the creature's body. Finally, one Treant fell lifeless on the ground and missing a good chunk of its body. On the surface, the Treants acted as nothing happened, but the attacks visibly increased. Another Treant fell before the tree entities finally started to retreat into the forest.

Everybody breathed in relief, but their relaxed posture was soon broken by Diana's orders. They had to leave the place fast and take the Treants' bodies with them. The mission had been a success and they even got to test the new energy explosive arrows. She looked at the explosion marks over the tree bodies and had a gut feeling they would soon be testing it on Humans.