Chương 160: Pest Removal

We had to wait another hour. I was hoping the gophers would appear soon, just like they had when we first visited the well, but it took time for them to even realize what we'd done—that we'd just put a massive hole in their territory, for taking water and 'stealing' it. Considering how full this pond was, though? Cuthward was absolutely right. We could increase our production of potion-water tenfold and still have so much left-over that it would still be sustainable.

The pond was two feet deep now, and it had slowed down, but the water level was still slowly rising. It was silty, too. We couldn't see the bottom of the pond even if we wanted to. Still, the green hue of the potion shone through. Its faint glow was enough to see by, even as the sun set. Of course, we also had the light of Welkinmere to go off of, and a few of its other moons, which hovered in the sky nearby, reflecting pale light.

With all this potion base we had, this Domain could be one of the wealthiest in the nation, but it wasn't. And that was by design. We sat in silence, holding our weapons tight. My fingers rested over the crossbow's trigger, and a bolt sat in the firing groove, ready to use. Even though I was at the front of my raft, I made sure to keep my fingers off the trigger. Back on Earth, I'd only held a gun once or twice. This wasn't like that, though. There was no trigger guard, and especially no grip.

The trigger was a long rod of wood sticking out below the crossbow, and if I pulled it up, then the weapon would fire. It was easy enough to keep my fingers away from.

"Are you sure this will work?" Romance whispered. He sat on the raft beside ours, holding his sword and spear at the ready. Elf was beside him with an axe, and their squad's archers stood behind, longbows already strung.

"Pretty sure," I whispered back. But I couldn't deny that the anticipation was getting to me. Maybe the gophers sensed a trap. But they had ruled the underground for decades, now. Enforcing their will whether the locals liked it or not. They were overconfident. As I watched and waited, a ripple ran across the water. The pond's clay walls shook—it wasn't just our rafts shifting.

"Get ready!" I called.

"Are they coming?" Cuthward yelled. He stood at the top of the pond, with the rest of the unarmed civilians, out of harm's way.

"Looks like it!" I replied. Then the ripples stopped. No more jolts ran through the ground. I scowled, and my stomach sank. What if I'd underestimated my opponents? I could visualize things all I wanted, but that didn't help with my overall, long-term strategy. The gophers might not arrive. What if we'd done all that for nothing? Was this going to be my first official act as thegn? Just digging a pointless hole— Then the clay resumed its shaking, this time with twice the intensity.

Mud tumbled down the ridges at the top of the pond, splashing in at the edges, and waves formed, rocking the rafts. I rose up higher, using my legs to absorb the movement while keeping my upper body stable—it kept my aim steady. The first gopher broke through. The clay wall shattered behind me, and the beast blasted in without hesitation. It expected to find a tiny well. What else did it expect? Though it travelled with speed, it had no ground beneath it anymore, and my estimation of its trajectory was perfect.

It fell in the center of the pond, landing in water that went up to its belly. Flailing its legs, it opened its mouth and let out a single chirp before our arrows rained down on it. I fired my crossbow bolt, and I was pretty sure it connected, but it was hard to tell amidst the rain of arrows. The gopher may have been a Titanium, but there was nothing it could do against so many projectiles. I guess that was why, in a world of Path-walkers and dark lords and all that magic, you still needed an army.

With enough numbers, we could slay much more powerful targets. An arrow flew over the gopher's body, racing toward us, and Brawl swatted it out of the air with a heavy backhand.

"Perhaps it was not such a great idea to stand in a circle and shoot, brother."

"We've kinda got a Polish firing squad going on here, don't we?" I muttered. Louder, I shouted, "Keep your shots low! Aim for the center of the pond. And don't use a resonance Skill unless you absolutely have to!" This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. A murmur of agreement circled the army. At the same time, Sage asked, "What kind of…firing squad?" I winced.

"Uh, nevermind. It was a joke from my old world. If you really want to know, I can explain later, when we get back to the barracks. For now, keep our eyes on the target." The shaking hadn't stopped, and the water was still rippling. I reloaded my crossbow, and everyone else nocked arrows. Another gopher blasted through the walls, and a heartbeat later, a second followed. We lobbed arrows at them. After that, there was no reprieve.

It was like water sloughing out an old pipe—a few sporadic glugs, then all at once, the gophers attacked. If I hadn't known better, I would've said the clay walls were exploding. Dirt blasted inward, falling at the pond's edges and raising the water level further. It splashed my back, but I kept my eyes on target, firing bolt after bolt. The gophers had encircled us.

They planned to attack from all directions, but they hadn't planned for such a large well, and they still all fell in the same killing zone at the center. Bodies stacked up, and their blood leeched into the water, turning it a sickly shade of brown. After a few minutes, we slowed down. We were running out of arrows. I maneuvered my raft closer to the bodies to retrieve some, careful not to get too close to the center. There had to be fifty dead gophers already. Thankfully, our regular arrows floated.

I scooped up unused, missed shots from the water and passed them around to the nearby rafts. Because we'd slowed down our shots, some of the gophers survived. When they reached the water, they attacked the nearest target—which, right now, happened to be me. I slammed one with the back of my crossbow, then slung the weapon over my shoulder and swapped to my spear. My shield, still strapped to my forearm, was ready.

The gopher lunged again, but I bashed it in the nose, then rammed my spear down its throat, triggering a resonance Skill to make the job faster. Since I had over a hundred Presence, I could afford to use it, even if I was setting a bad example. The rest of the soldiers should have saved it for more important purposes. From there on out, I stuck with my shield and spear. If these gophers got too close, they could nip at Brawl's legs, and he was still weak to attacks that came that close to himself.

Once they got inside his flail-swiping range, he would struggle to hit them. As the arrow barrages slowed down, more and more gophers survived the initial attack. They rushed to the edges of the pond, moving alone, but for some squads, they were too fast. One caught a Dupe's leg and dragged him off the raft, then pulled him under. I couldn't see if he drowned or if the gophers killed him some other way, but his dead body rose to the surface a few minutes later.

We also lost a few of the mortal workers who had come to help us. To them, the gophers must have moved like a blur. They surged up to the edge of the rafts and jumped, aiming for our necks, and they succeeded on three other accounts—all against the unarmoured, mortal men who helped us dig the hole. I had gotten used to the screams of Dupes. These men all sounded different, and the first time I heard it, it sent a chill down my spine. But they didn't give up.

They stood in formation, like us, fighting to protect their home. Then the surge of giant gophers stopped. Their bodies filled the pond, and our rafts barely floated anymore. Rather, they perched on a pile of soaked bodies.

"What are they doing, brother?" Brawl asked.

"Anchor, what do you see?" I asked.

"Did we get them all?"

"They're all gathering in the walls," Anchor explained.

"They're slowing down before they arrive." My eyes widened, and my stomach plummeted. The gophers were getting wise.

"Push the rafts to the center of the pond!" I yelled.

"Get away from the edge! Prepare to fight them hand-to-hand! Archers, move to the center of the cluster. Everyone else, stay at the edge, shields ready!" I used my spear to push our raft, navigating to the center of the pond, where we formed a clump, facing outward with the formation I described. The gophers poured out the pond walls, descending slowly so they wouldn't land in the killzone, hoping to find us at the edge, our backs turned to them. When that failed, they charged toward the center, where we waited.

"This is it!" I shouted.

"Use whatever you've got! Resonance Skills and all!" I wasn't sure if this was actually the end of the wave, but we had to be getting close. How many more gophers were out here?

"How smart are they?" I asked my squad softly.

"When a monster or a wild creature gets that strong," Sage replied softly, "they also begin to gain consciousness. Most monsters don't become truly conscious in the way men do until around Gold, though."

"So they're smart enough for basic maneuvers and surprise attacks." They rushed to the center of the pond, front teeth bared, claws glistening. I never let my Focus fade. Although I concentrated on my targets, I kept my awareness wide, making sure our formation didn't crumble. When we lost someone, I gave an order to keep the gap full. Spears stabbed, shields blocked. Swords whistled through the air, cleaving gophers' heads, and axes chopped, bashing bone.

Our archers did what they could, and when gophers tried to jump down in the middle of our formation, they shot it before it could land. Brawl's flail batted away massive swathes of them. At midnight, the swell finally ended. Dead gophers littered the pond, bleeding everywhere, and their bodies piled so high that we could walk across them as if they were solid ground. We waited in silence. Minutes passed, and no more gophers attacked. Finally, I leaned on my spear, panting, then said, "That's it, then.

They're done."