“A massive Crawler swarm is coming. Left unchecked, it would be a catastrophe capable of devouring the entire forest.”
About five days after being informed of the Crawler mass emergence by the Elves.
Having traveled through the night, we had made it safely back to Isvall.
Now we had gathered the town’s key figures in a room at the newly built administrative office for an emergency meeting.
“Crawlers — the ones that appear on roughly fifteen-year cycles?”
“Yes. Thirteen-year and seventeen-year, to be precise.”
“Then it shouldn’t be too serious, should it? I recall hearing that when they last appeared, the Orcs happily ate through them.”
One of the Kobolds said it in a perfectly relaxed tone.
This was the elder from one of the other settlements, if I recalled correctly.
Immediately, several of the older Kobolds nodded in agreement.
“The thing is, those Orcs appear to have been driven out of the Crawler emergence zones by the Goblin King’s invasion.”
“On top of that, this year is the first time in two hundred and twenty-one years that the thirteen-year and seventeen-year cycles coincide. Based on Crawler data obtained from the Elves, I ran the calculations……The projected maximum size of the swarm is one billion.”
The merciless number Makina delivered.
Everyone gathered there went slack-jawed.
A billion was too large a number to visualize.
Honestly, I wasn’t fully grasping it myself.
The Embance Kingdom’s total population was said to be around ten million — so one hundred times that.
All I could really understand was that it was a staggering, forest-swallowing number.
“Th-that’s an incomprehensible figure……What on earth do we do?”
“We have fewer than a thousand people. Even for Crawlers, we’d be buried!”
“We’re……done for……!”
“We just got the town to a prosperous place, and now this……!!”
“Enough!”
Alicia’s sharp voice cut through the Kobolds as they broke into panic.
They went silent instantly, as if doused with cold water.
“……I overstepped.”
“No, it’s fine. So — our response to the Crawlers will be coordinated with the Elves.”
“With the Elves!”
“One of the Six Kings — perhaps things will be alright after all.”
Hope returned to the Kobolds’ faces.
The Six Kings banner clearly carried enormous weight for the creatures of this forest.
“The basic plan is for Elven mages to use area-destruction magic to wipe out the Crawler swarms. However, that magic has various conditions for activation and can’t be used in rapid succession — so the knight order needs to defend while they cast. We’ll be participating as that defensive force.”
“I, Alicia, will be leading five hundred Lancelot-types into that engagement.”
She was probably proud to be entrusted with commanding a force of that size, even if it was golems.
Alicia said it with a slightly boastful air.
Misha followed up:
“I’m heading out with a hundred Talos-types to set up fortifications!”
“How reassuring! And what about Ganz?”
“I’m staying back. I’ve been assigned to Lord Viktor’s protection.”
“Which means……”
Everyone’s eyes shifted to Makina.
The times Makina left Viktor’s guarding to others almost always meant she was deep in research.
What kind of golem would she produce this time?
Everyone seemed keen to know.
As if to meet their expectations, Makina gave a small cough and said:
“……I’ve determined that Elven magic alone will be insufficient to eliminate the Crawlers. To ensure more reliable elimination, I intend to develop a new golem.”
“What kind of new golem?”
“A replication-type golem — something I’ve been researching for some time.”
This was what she’d said she’d research when the dungeon was discovered.
Too dangerous if it went out of control, so only research had been sanctioned.
The Kobolds apparently didn’t follow, however — they all tilted their heads.
“Replication-type? What is that?”
“Exactly as it sounds — a golem with the property of multiplying continuously. I’ve prepared a prototype, so please observe.”
With that, Makina clapped her hands.
A Demeter-type waiting outside the room wheeled in a large insect-shaped golem on a cart.
On the cart alongside it sat a mound of earth and a small figurine with a magic stone embedded in it.
When had she made these……probably working quietly on the way back.
“What is this……”
“Watch.”
Makina clapped again, and the insect-type golem began to move.
It first used its front legs to extract the magic stone from the figurine, then began compacting the surrounding earth.
Before everyone’s eyes, a clay figure almost identical to the golem took shape.
Finally, the magic stone was pressed into the clay figure——
“The golem — there are two of them now!?”
A golem virtually identical to the original had appeared.
From a distance, you couldn’t tell which one had just been created.
It was multiplication, in the most literal sense.
“As you can see — given magic stones and earth, the replication-type can increase its numbers indefinitely and overwhelm enemies. However, at present the production speed is still slow and the individual size is too large, so further refinement is needed.”
“And that’s the research you’re starting now?”
“Exactly.”
“But will it be in time? How much time do we have before the Crawlers emerge?”
One of the Kobolds raised the concern.
Makina paused briefly before answering.
“Approximately one month. Whether development will be ready in time is, frankly, touch-and-go. We should also be reinforcing the defensive walls in parallel — to hold out as long as possible regardless.”
“Then that’s our plan. Everyone — do your part to protect Isvall!”
“Yeahhh!!“
The assembled voices rose together at my words.
And so we began preparing for the Crawler assault.