Chapter 147: Clearing the Trail
The morning sun barely crested the snow-capped peaks when the military brigade lined up in the central courtyard of the settlement. Unlike previous marches, there were no heavy sleds or defenseless civilians in the formation this time; only thirty riflemen equipped with scale armor, lead pouches, and powder horns, accompanied by the twelve construction leaders and thirty volunteers ready for heavy labor.
Kellar walked toward the porch of the main residence, where Elia and Liora awaited him beside the ten children selected for the educational mission.
"We will head out tomorrow at dawn," said Elia, adjusting her fur cloak as she observed the gleam of steel and bronze from the brigade. "The ten police officers and the builders already have the sleds loaded. Everything is in order, my love."
"The old road circles the entire Lizard Forest to avoid the beasts," said Kellar, locking his gaze on the thicket in the distance. "That adds nearly six unnecessary hours to the trip. Today I am going to clear that forest completely so that tomorrow you can cross in a straight line without danger."
"Be careful in the thicket, please," said Liora, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Kellar’s neck in a quick, warm embrace. "I will see you at the fortress as soon as you open the path."
"Count on it," said Kellar, pressing her against his chest for a second before turning toward the police officer in charge of the next day’s escort. "Listen closely. Tomorrow you will keep the convoy at the edge of the forest until you see the three smoke signals from my vanguard. If you do not see the signal by noon, do not risk the people; take the long route around the valley."
"Understood, Great Shaman!" said the police officer, striking his chest with his fist in a firm salute. "No one will advance without your signal!"
Kellar walked toward Ignis and leaped onto the back of the massive bear, whose heavy breathing condensed the cold morning air.
"Brigade, march!" shouted Brak, raising his short sword toward the horizon. "Target: total clearing of the Lizard Forest! Clear the path for the tribe!"
The troop left the palisades at a double-time march. After two hours of continuous advancement, the frozen plain where the tribe had logged the first section fell behind. The formation halted right at the boundary where the frosted pines transformed into the gnarled trunks and dense, dark vegetation of the beasts’ territory.
"Until today, everyone circled this place like cowards for fear of ambushes," said Kellar, pointing to the tangle of trees from high atop Ignis. "Today we turn this shortcut into the main artery of the tribe. First and second squads, to the front! Fire at will upon any movement!"
"Team leaders, attention!" shouted Lennis to the volunteer workers, drawing a felling axe. "Begin clearing the road behind the firing line! Remove all trees down to the root! Keep your eyes open for poisonous snakes among the leaf litter—prioritize safety over speed!"
"To work!" shouted the thirty volunteers in response, making the first strike of axes against frozen wood echo through the air.
The riflemen penetrated the gloom of the forest. Not five minutes passed before the snapping of branches and menacing hisses echoed through the underbrush.
BOOM! BOOM!
The initial salvos of the muskets thundered between the trees, tearing holes of smoke and fire through the density of the frozen jungle. Immediately following, Ignis let out a deafening roar that shook the snow from the treetops, charging straight into the first dens.
The forest sprang to life in an instant of total chaos. The smaller, weaker creatures fled in terror at the roar of the guns, but the shadows were quick to stir. The largest scaled lizards that had survived Ignis’s previous raids slithered through the underbrush with open jaws, advancing en masse directly toward the squad.
Ignis charged the first two giant reptiles with the force of an avalanche, crushing their skulls against the frozen ground with a sharp strike of his claws. The creatures, over three meters long and covered in stone-hard scales, tried to encircle the massive bear, but the beast shook them off like dry twigs, leaving a trail of entrails and stained snow in his wake.
High atop Ignis’s back, Freya remained perched on Kellar’s shoulder. The small creature opened an eye watching the chaos with disinterest, fighting slimy reptiles was clearly beneath her dignity.
Kellar, on the other hand, began channeling his shamanic mana. He extended his hands and unleashed a cascade of flames that spread through the twisted, frozen vegetation. The magical fire devoured the treetops, turning the underbrush and burrows into a suffocating inferno that forced the remaining lizards out into the open, straight into the riflemen’s line of fire.
Seeing the forest burn and hearing the thunder of gunpowder combined with the axes of the builders felling charred trunks, Kellar let out a sly laugh.
"In my previous world, environmentalists and scholars never stopped repeating that humans were the cancer of the planet," said Kellar, watching the wild landscape burn to pave the way for civilization. "And look at this... here I am, burning and destroying an entire ecosystem just to save six hours of travel."
Brak, who was decapitating a lizard trying to flank their position, let out a rough laugh upon hearing the shaman’s words.
"I have no idea what a ’cancer’ is, but we will destroy anything that stands in our shaman’s way!" shouted Brak, wiping the blood from his blade.
"Keep up the fire!" ordered Kellar, throwing another fireball into the center of the thicket. "Leave not a single reptile standing!"
As the vanguard advanced, cutting a path through the flames and gunpowder, Kellar did not limit himself solely to destruction. Thanks to his [Alchemy] skill, his eyes instantly identified the properties of the native flora and the glands of the slain reptiles.
"Hold fire on that section," ordered Kellar, pointing to a patch of purple-leafed bushes and the carcasses of several venomous lizards. "Extract the venom sacs from the jaws and harvest the roots of those plants. Pack everything carefully into the workers’ wagons."
Lennis and the builders, though surprised by the order amidst the combat, complied immediately. Kellar’s skill provided him with precise data on the chemical composition of the toxins and their potential applications for creating antidotes, healing ointments, or concentrated compounds for the tribe.
"Even in the middle of a purge, nothing goes to waste," said Kellar, watching the wagons fill with valuable reagents while the straight road toward the Mountain Fortress began to take shape over the cleared land.