Chapter 148: Red Forest, Red Harvest
Near dawn, a few hours before sunrise, the flames of the shamanic fire died out amidst the residual smoke and charred wood. What was once a dense, impenetrable reptile nest had been transformed into a straight strip dozens of meters wide, cleared from trunk to trunk with the frozen ground packed down by Ignis’s heavy steps and the constant work of the axes. The thirty riflemen maintained a defensive perimeter along the edges of the clearing, while Lennis and the thirty volunteers finished piling green firewood and damp bushes at the highest point of the cleared pass.
Kellar dismounted from the massive bear and walked toward the newly built pyre. Without wasting time, he channeled a spark of mana and ignited the base with a controlled flame. Dense, greenish smoke—a product of the reptilian vegetation—began to rise into the sky in three thick, perfectly separated columns, visible for several kilometers across the frozen plain.
"There is the signal," said Kellar, watching the trails elevate through the morning clouds. "The convoy will advance along the straight road as soon as the sun fully illuminates the valley."
Kellar turned toward the western mountain range, where the vegetation took on a dark, ominous crimson hue. The Red Forest rose before them like a wall of bloody trunks. In the past, Kellar and his hunters preferred to skirt the area at a full run to avoid provoking the territory of the Red Monkeys—devastatingly territorial beasts that attacked from the canopy by launching explosive resin berries.
With Freya’s sheer presence the monkeys had never dared to approach or attack, staying strictly within its territory. However, circling that forest added another eight unnecessary hours to the journey toward the fortress.
But fleeing or taking detours was no longer part of the Overlord Tribe’s doctrine. Furthermore, Kellar’s previous explorations had confirmed a vital discovery: the wood of those trees secreted a thick, black, highly flammable sap with a density similar to concentrated crude oil. An indispensable industrial resource that Kellar had no intention of leaving in the hands of beasts.
Currently, the scouts from the Mountain Fortress extracted resin from the trees on the periphery, but Kellar was certain that the taller trunks at the center held a far superior, much more valuable concentration.
"There is no rest," said Kellar, mounting Ignis’s back once more. "The twenty riflemen from the mountain should already be positioned on the northern edge of the forest. We close the pincer today."
"Troop, assault cover formation!" shouted Brak, drawing his blade. "Watch the treetops and keep your muskets ready!"
The brigade of thirty riflemen marched into the crimson thicket just as the first rays of sunlight stained the canopy. The heavy scent of resin and sulfur filled the air. Not ten minutes passed before the first sharp shrieks echoed from the heights. Dozens of agile shadows with fire-red fur moved between the thick branches, baring their fangs and clutching fist-sized fruits.
Their intentions were clear: if the humans took another step, it would be war.
Freya stood tall on Kellar’s shoulder, her fur bristling as she locked her gaze on the upper branches. Ignis let out a low rumble that shook the bark of the crimson trunks.
"Did you think I came here unprepared for you?" said Kellar, letting out a cold smile as he extended an open hand toward the canopy. "Let the blood flow! Poison Curse!"
Not since the Black Skull ambush had Kellar deployed his curses. He was unsure how effective they would have been against thick-scaled reptiles, but these soft-fleshed primates were the perfect test subjects.
A haze of greenish smoke spread rapidly through the treetops. The shamanic poison penetrated their airways instantly; the monkeys’ shrieks turned into agonized gasps as they convulsed and fell dead from dozens of meters above, slamming into the frozen ground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The surviving monkeys, blinded by panic and fury, began throwing their resinous berries. The fruits exploded upon hitting the frozen earth, showering shards of bark and dense fire, launching their all-out attack as they descended in swarms.
"Firing line, raise your barrels!" shouted Brak, taking cover behind a petrified trunk. "Bring down any that survive the gas!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The brigade’s coordinated salvos echoed through the red trunks. Lead projectiles tore through the high brush, shredding the primates in mid-air. At that exact moment, from the opposite end of the forest, the echo of distant volleys confirmed the arrival of the twenty riflemen from the Mountain Fortress, trapping the pack of Red Monkeys in a relentless crossfire.
Several kilometers away, as morning broke, the police officer in command of the logistical convoy kept his eyes locked on the horizon until he spotted the three columns of smoke in the distance.
"The Great Shaman’s signal is up!" shouted the officer, raising his fist toward the sled drivers. "We advance through the straight pass! Vanguard squad out front, keep the wagons in the center!"
Elia and Liora, seated on the main sled alongside the ten selected children, crossed into the entrance of the former reptile territory. As they passed the boundary, the entire convoy slowed its pace, overcome by a mix of awe and astonishment at the sheer scale of the landscape before them.
"By the great bear god..." whispered Liora, bringing a hand to her chest as she took in the scene. "Did... did Kellar do all of this in a single night?"
The straight road cut through the vegetation from side to side with the precision of a clean blade. Where a dark, impenetrable swamp had once stood, infested with dens and foul air, only a packed, cleared highway remained. The inner river, overflowing and raging from the destruction of the terrain’s natural dams, surged violently between charred trunks, dragging broken branches and the scaled carcasses of the slain beasts. The stained mud and the haze of residual smoke bore crude witness to the absolute cruelty of the battle.
One of the children on the sled leaned over the edge, eyes wide open.
"Look at the ground!" exclaimed the boy, pointing to the shattered remains of the nests. "The shaman’s fire swallowed them all!"
"Kellar did not just open a path..." said Elia, looking down the strip flattened by Ignis’s heavy steps and the relentless work of the vanguard. "He erased the entire nest from the map so that no one in the tribe ever has to fear crossing this valley again."
"Stay alert, keep up the pace!" ordered the police officer, grinning with pride as he surveyed the open trail. "At this rate, we will reach the fortress before noon!"
What once required a dangerous detour of nearly a full day around the bog transformed into a smooth, safe, and triumphant journey across the ruins of the beasts.