Chapter 330
"Status of the assault?""The enemy has fortified the underground passages with traps and is prepared for a final stand.""So they're holed up."
Admittedly, the time spent dealing with Grundt was my own fault—a detour. But considering we eliminated a potential source of future trouble, that time wasn't entirely wasted.
The bandits outside and the Serpent Dragon Kin unleashed by Grundt had been mostly cleared out.
Now we just needed to secure the underground ruins of the main fortress and either defeat or capture Boldrinde to conclude this phase of the operation.
However, the remaining enemies were different from common bandits—they were knights and covert operatives serving with strong conviction, so their resistance would be fierce.
Even with our stat advantage, breaking through wouldn't be easy if they fully utilized the terrain and traps.
I headed toward the knights stationed near the ruins' entrance, hoping they'd made progress while I was occupied with Grundt.
Barricades blocked the underground entrance, with signs of magical tools and ballistae having been deployed. They had clearly breached the entrance itself, but the challenge lay further in.
"Bogle, what kind of traps is the enemy using?""They've noticed physical damage isn't very effective, so they're relying heavily on poison. Using toxins in confined spaces is normally risky, but their covert operatives are employing them skillfully. Several of our knights have been affected. Fortunately, there have been no fatalities—they've recovered and returned to the front lines.""Poison, huh."
The Edelgard troops do have status resistance, but that only reduces susceptibility and mitigates damage—it doesn't grant complete immunity. To make them truly secure would require specialized equipment.
Unfortunately, the gear we issued the knights is curse-specialized for the upcoming confrontation with Azhdaha, leaving poison as a vulnerability.
After checking the situation with Bogle, who was commanding at the front near the entrance, it seemed the narrow confines of the ruins prevented a full-scale assault, allowing the enemy to hold their position effectively with small numbers.
Hearing there were numerous poison specialists and that some of our troops had been forced to temporarily withdraw was concerning. While they had recovered, the risk of further casualties from a frontal assault made the cautious approach understandable.
Amina's Hymn works against curses and undead, but it's ineffective against poison.
"Any other passages?""None. Any passages large enough for troop deployment have been collapsed by the enemy and saturated with poison. We can't approach them.""How much of that stuff did they bring in...?"
I felt a wave of frustration at their shameless reliance on poison, but quickly refocused on finding a solution.
"Destroying the ruins from above seems excessive."
The quickest methods would be using Lady Esmeralda's or Nell's maximum firepower to collapse the space above and bury everyone alive—a brutally straightforward tactic where survival would be unlikely. The main drawback was the difficulty in confirming kills, so I set that idea aside.
But the term 'brute force' reminded me of an amusing incident from my FBO days, during a large-scale PvP siege.
It began when a certain player boasted on social media that their meticulously self-built fortress was impregnable. They provocatively claimed that no player or weapon could ever breach it, baiting players from all corners. Many took up the challenge.
The stronghold was indeed formidable—constructed with rare materials, manned by powerful NPCs and golems, and designed with sound architectural and tactical principles. One had to respect the builder's effort.
However, this player made one critical oversight. It was something you wouldn't normally consider a weakness. But when you issue a blanket challenge, you must be careful with your wording. FBO had its share of players who could only be described as... exceptionally dedicated specialists.
That post was precisely the kind of fuel that ignited their passion. Let me get straight to the result:
The total time required to conquer that player's proud fortress was 4 hours and 27 minutes.
The creator had apparently believed it could withstand over a thousand Class 10 players for a month and was fully prepared for assaults from the front or the air. Yet, they overlooked one crucial vector.
The underground. To be fair, the player thought they had secured it too: multiple layers of special armor, reinforced bedrock, subterranean-active ghost monsters, and protective earth magic—they had invested in every conceivable underground defense.
But in this world, things rarely go perfectly according to plan. This world has its exceptions, known as specialists.
This time, I'll emulate the strategy one of those specialists employed.
"Bogle, I need to borrow about thirty men. Is that possible?""Of course. Lord Liberta, you seem to have conceived a plan.""You could call it brute force, but I believe this variety is more suitable here.""And what is your intention?"
Hearing 'brute force,' Bogle looked puzzled but didn't object, allocating personnel from the patrol teams securing the perimeter.
What that specialist did was remarkably simple.
"If there's no path, we create one.""Create a path?"
That player was a specialist who had perfected one single, hyper-focused action.
"Have all men equip shovels. We're digging a route straight down."
A Class 10 character specialized exclusively in excavation. They conquered the fortress using this incredibly niche 'subterranean tunneling' build. They started digging from outside the surveillance perimeter, went deep underground, and executed a sharp vertical ascent directly beneath the castle walls.
Normally, issues like oxygen, bedrock density, cave-ins, or groundwater would hinder such an attempt. This specialist overcame all obstacles with a staggering digging speed of 30 meters per second. They min-maxed their character purely for excavation, taking less than a minute to tunnel a kilometer—it defied all convention. Using this method, essentially boring through earth at highway speeds, they created a fatal breach right under the fortress's foundation.
That legendary specialist isn't here now, but we can borrow their ingenuity.
We have trench shovels ready. I temporarily slung my scythe-spear on my back, took a shovel, and found a suitable starting point.
If an ordinary person tried to tunnel into enemy territory, it would be a slow process likely ending in detection. Logically, this approach seems impractical, and a head-on assault might appear wiser.
But when a group of individuals with Class 8 and Class 7 physical capabilities all start excavating simultaneously...
Their arms transformed into high-speed excavators capable of incredibly precise work. Ten men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, relentlessly digging into the earth, and a tunnel began to form at an astonishing rate. A passage wide enough for ten men abreast would provide more than enough room for a decisive assault.
I joined the center of the line, digging forward even faster than the others.
The ten men behind us worked to clear the displaced soil and shattered rock we produced, while the remaining ten reinforced the tunnel walls to prevent collapses and used wind magic to ensure a steady air supply.
"Hahahaha! Dig! Keep digging! Don't stop!"**"YES, SIR!!"**
The time we lost on Grundt—we'll make it up right here! Sometimes, a straightforward, forceful approach is the best one!
A Class 8 physique is no joke! The ground was just dirt and rock. Player-made fortresses might have bedrock reinforced with mithril or underground mines, but this old ruin had no such defenses. With shovels enhanced by Magic Edge, we could cut through almost anything.
The earth yielded more easily than pudding, the soil felt lighter than cotton candy, and our arms moved so fast they left afterimages. The men pushed forward without pause, driving the tunnel downward on a sharp angle until...
"Lord Liberta! We've hit the underground ceiling of the ruins!""Perfect! Break through!"**"YES, SIR!!"**
In roughly ten minutes, we had reached our target. This is what they call overpowering with raw stats.
Wiping the sweat from my brow with satisfaction, I exchanged high-fives with the knights beside me.
Preserving the ruins? Irrelevant in an emergency like this. Without hesitation, the knights reinforced their shovels again and began tearing into the ruin's ceiling. The structure was sturdy, clearly designed to support underground spaces, but it was no match for their determined assault.
The rock was carved away as cleanly as scooping ice cream, while our mages used earth magic to reinforce the new opening and prevent collapses.
"Move in!"**"OOOOOH!!!!!"**
We opened a hole large enough for three men to pass through comfortably. A quick check with a scrying mirror showed the coast was clear, and magical tools confirmed the absence of poison.
Light orbs illuminated the passage as Genjiro and his red-armored warriors poured in, followed closely by the knights. Soon, the sounds of combat echoed from within, mixed with shouts of surprise from enemies bewildered by our unexpected point of entry.
Hearing the familiar battle cries, I smiled wryly. This should decisively shift the momentum.
Logically, digging a tunnel should be the more time-consuming method, and it's certainly not standard knightly doctrine. I'll admit, I got carried away by the momentum.
But now, once we secure the main entrance from the inside, capturing Boldrinde should be a matter of time.
"Bogle, our forces will likely attack the enemies at the entrance from behind shortly. Coordinate your assault with theirs when it happens.""Understood. I must say, I never imagined we'd breach their defenses this way. It seems my own thinking was too rigid.""Most people wouldn't consider it, right?""Absolutely not."
Emerging from the tunnel, I found Bogle waiting with a wry smile. When I asked if he should be commanding the entrance assault, he assured me his second-in-command had it well in hand.
"Shall we not join the fray?""It wouldn't be right for us to hog all the glory. We'll hold here until Boldrinde is located."
We left the task of securing the path to the main keep to the knights and Genjiro's group, taking a moment to rest. It would likely only be a brief respite.
Claudia complained about not getting enough action, but I told her to stay put until the drawback from her Heavenly Fist wore off.
There would be plenty of fighting for everyone later. Now then, I wonder how Boldrinde will react to this turn of events.