NOVEL WEB Chapter 11 - Probing
Dungeon Day 22 - Continues
The first thing Dan wanted to ensure happened was that he got all the enemy monsters in one go. Dan wasn't sure if the shard could somehow survive through a monster by transferring its mind, and he didn’t want to find out. Another possible issue was how exactly he would absorb the shard. He hadn't thought about it, and he quickly searched through his options and knowledge but couldn't find how he would absorb another shard.
So, he reached out to the World Crystal and was informed that he needed to come in contact with the shard and absorb it. This meant he had to put down all enemy minions or convert them to his side. Currently, that was fine, as he should be able to overpower this particular shard and its minions but depending on the strength of future shards and their monsters, things could get complicated. Once again, though, that was a problem for future Dan, and he focused on the coming fight.
The real issue was that if he attacked the tree directly, all those monsters would die over there, not within his dungeon area. However, the tree was too far away, and it would be too risky to try anything but a full-scale invasion to eliminate the shard in one go.
His first thought had been to bring the beasts of the enemy shard into the cave and shred kill them there, but doing so might tip off the shard. And if the enemy shard got worried, it might leave for another area and be more careful, making it even harder to find. From there, it could build up a bigger army and pose an actual issue.
A two-prong attack was also ill-advised for Dan, at least with his current limited forces. There was a small chance that either front could be outmaneuvered or just straight-up outmatched in combat, leaving him open. This problem was based on how intelligent the shard was, which so far Dan didn’t think was that smart, but it could just be playing the fool.
Being so indecisive wasn’t good, and Dan got his bosses together to bounce off opinions, and he was glad he did.
“Boss, I recommend we just take out the shard in one fell swoop.” George had spoken out first in his rather gruff voice.
“Why do you think that, George?” Dan had questioned the ape, curious to pick the gorilla’s brain.
“Well, boss, I know you are going to miss all of that mana, but the reward in exchange for missing the mana will solve most of your issues. If I remember correctly, you will claim the land once you take over a faction, correct?” The gorilla said in a more refined and scholarly voice.
“Yeah?” Dan answered questioningly as his brain was starting to connect the dots.
“So, once the shard is taken, you will get all of the land under its control. Then, once it is under your control, we can hunt in any part of that land, allowing you to get the mana instantly. Additionally, if we get into conflicts with other factions and they attack us, we will have a much larger area to plan with.”
Thinking about it for a minute, Dan did find a possible flaw in the gorilla’s logic.
“Alright, George, but what if the shard isn’t one of the factions?” Dan’s counterargument was weak, but it was still a real possibility.
“The chance is there, boss. I will admit that even if it is small. However, if we are playing the odds, there are nine factions to conquer and eight shards. Which all adds up rather nicely.”
“Hmm, very well, George, we will give it a shot. Good job.” Dan answered and saw the gorilla’s chest inflate with pride.
After the meeting came the actual planning. They would need a good plan to address the concern of the shard escaping into the mind of another beast. So, as part of the plan, Dan decided to poke the hornet's nest, at least a little bit.
He started by giving the go-ahead for two of his eagles to harass the birds of the tree. It was nothing crazy, but enough to be an annoyance.
Watching from Eagle the hawk's eyes as she flew high in the air, Dan saw as the eagles would fly by the enemy's air space. The first few times, it had been ignored, but once it had become a consistent annoyance, the crows got riled up and began chasing the eagles as they flew by. The crows never actually left the immediate area of the tree, but it was good enough for Dan, at least for the time being. Additionally, the eagles weren’t constantly doing so and would fly by a couple of times an hour, which helped put the rest of the mind-controlled animals at ease.
Eventually, Dan did increase the harassment. As the day was coming to an end, he commanded the two eagles who had taken a rest at the base camp to go ahead and give the crows a small blast of wind. The eagles had no actual wind ability but could control the wind slightly. So, both did another fly-by, except they controlled the wind just enough to startle the crows. They didn’t actually get damaged, as that would require a skill, but feeling a random blast of wind would be concerning.
The crows, or rather the shard, hadn’t actually done much after that. However, Dan wasn’t sure if it was because night was approaching or because it was planning something else.
Dungeon Day 23
After yesterday's events, Dan observed the tree through Eagle’s eyes yet again to see if the shard had been spooked enough. However, the enemy camp had just stayed the same. There wasn’t any build-up of forces or increased defenses. The damn thing was either confident or very stupid.
Deciding to spice things up even more, Tesilim ordered the eagles to do some actual skirmishing. Meaning Dan wanted them to take out one of the crows.
The act had been relatively easy: a quick dive, a flash of talons, and bam, a dead crow.
The bird hadn’t even known what happened, and it even took the camp a second to realize what had happened. Dan imagined the cut connection took a second to register, and when it finally did, the whole camp went into a furry. All of the birds began crowing as they flew into the air and circled around the tree. Meanwhile, all land-based troops were on full alert, looking into the forest and scanning the skies every so often.
Getting the desired effect from the enemy with his eagle's kill, Dan decided to move to the next phase of the plan—more death.
It took around an hour for the enemy camp to calm down again, but it eventually did. And as soon as it did, another eagle struck yet another unaware crow. The camp didn’t give chase that time, but it finally let the shard know something was up, as it began having proper lookouts.
After the second attack, one or two crows always flew above the tree. Dan wasn’t sure when it happened, but the shard had gained a few more crows along with a few other birds. If he had to assume, it had been during the night. Still, it didn’t change the fact that things were getting heated.
For the rest of that day, Dan just told the eagles to harass the flying patrols but not to kill any of them. Dan wanted the shard to recall its beasts and for them to be all nicely placed in one spot before he struck.
Dungeon Day 24
Apparently, one of his stationed hawks had been contacted by another bird.
That had come as a surprise as the other bird wanted his hawk to contact Dan and request a meeting with it. Dan guessed that the same hawk flying in the same area for a few days would set off some alarms. The hawk in question was the one near the giant rock, and if Dan’s guess was correct, then it was a druid who had spoken with his hawk.
Dan wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet with this druid, but he figured he had nothing to lose and told his hawk to ask the other bird what it wanted. He also thought about switching around his spy hawks but decided against it. The likelihood of someone else noticing that the same hawk had been flying around was almost nonexistent. In fact, the only reason his hawk was noticed was probably due to the instincts of the normal birds living on the giant rock.
Moving on from the druid business, Dan got back to inspecting the dead tree, which had seen some changes overnight. The shard had definitely recalled more of its animals, though definitely nowhere near the amount that Dan thought it had access to. However, progress was progress, and Dan planned to step up the harassment. He wouldn’t actually show all his forces, and the ones he did show would go the long way around to throw off any possible pursuers.
Dan decided to send two of his bears, each with one of the two eagles that had been harassing the crows. And instead of going directly northeast, one went up north first before turning east towards the dead tree. Meanwhile, the other bear and eagle went east first before heading north, then finally doing a U-turn and heading back west towards the dead tree. Additionally, and also unknown to the bear and eagle combo, a panther followed each of them. Dan had decided not to tell the skirmishers as they might accidentally acknowledge the panther and thus give it away.
Anyways, the bear and eagle combos got to the tree and were told to be loud and obnoxious. Dan didn't want them to engage directly, at least not yet. He had given directions for the bear to roar and knock down a tree or two, announcing its presence some distance from the enemy while the eagle would screech and fly high above the camp. Then, hopefully, if the shard was smart enough, it would link the eagles to the two newcomers, showing that another apex predator was encroaching into its territory.