[V11C7] Buildings are Another Human Talent
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the AbyssAfter witnessing the last moments of the Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm, from the shadows, a werewolf with black fur — Finn — ran to the north edge of the Wedge Tower’s campus.
(Ms. Röhm…)
As far as the humans were concerned, Röhm was a despicable traitor.
However, her passion for educating the Apprentices was genuine, and Finn knew just how far she went to allow those Apprentices to escape.
Even if no one else would remember her, he would make sure to preserve her memory.
(And… What Ms. Röhm told me earlier…)
Only now did Finn understand why Röhm had entrusted him with those words.
It was because she also considered Finn to be one of the Apprentice Mages she wanted to protect.
“Hey, Finn, you whelp! You’ve got a job to do, where do you think you’re going!?”
One of Finn’s older brothers called out to stop Finn from running away. He was a Werewolf much larger than Finn.
Finn shrunk away shyly, prompting a growl from his brother.
“You know, I heard some human kids came sneaking up from underground.”
“Huh…?”
“Humans are supposed to get poisoned by the thick mana and die, aren’t they? But it sounds like these kids are running around like they own the place. It’s gonna be a huge problem if the other humans manage to pull off the same trick to get in here. You’ve got to hunt them down the moment you spot one, got it?”
As Finn ran behind his brother, he looked around at the surroundings.
Before he knew it, the rose vines that started at the south gate now covered the walls all the way to the north side.
However, unlike the south gate, the vines on the north side, away from their caster, had next to no offensive capabilities. All they did was stretch out and suck up mana.
(But even if they’re just sucking up mana, that’s already a huge threat to us.)
If things went on like this, all of the mana density they’d built up through the crystal contamination would fade away. If that happened, the Monsters would not be able to survive much longer. It would force them to rely on the Crystal Rivets again.
It was no wonder, then, that the Monsters were desperate to tear apart the vines. Those who were confident in their strength gathered around the south gate — intent on taking down the caster, the Thorn Witch.
(It’s all unfolding exactly as Ms. Röhm said it would…)
After they had taken over the Wedge Tower through the crystal contamination, the Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm, spoke to Finn.
“This situation doesn’t exactly put the Monsters at an advantage, you know?”
“W– Why not? The whole campus is totally controlled by Monsters and everything…”
The mana density in the Wedge Tower’s campus had risen dramatically, to the point that humans could no longer survive there.
Thus, there was no need for the Monsters to rely on Crystal Rivets any more. They could fight with all of their strength.
No matter how you sliced it, everything seemed to point overwhelmingly in the Monsters’ favor. Yet regardless, Röhm spoke with the expression of a teacher informing her student.
“Why is this situation not advantageous to the Monsters, you mean? That’s because Monsters have no experience with siege warfare.”
“…See-j war-fare?”
“You see, whenever humans hole up in castles or fortresses for a battle, they make good use of the buildings they’re in. They will shoot arrows from behind the walls, or pour boiling oil on enemy soldiers as they try to scale those walls.”
If she had said this to him before his time pretending to be human, he would probably have just given up and said “I don’t get it.”
But thanks to the Wedge Tower, this Werewolf has learned how to learn. He tried changing his perspective. What if he was on the attacking side?
(I see, so you would either have to tear down the wall or find some way to climb up it. No matter how you do it, the attackers will be left exposed… On the other hand, the ones holed up inside can use the buildings as a shield and fight in complete safety.)
Buildings were amalgamations of human talents and ingenuity.
Monsters may have been adapted to natural environments as their hunting grounds, but fighting in buildings is completely foreign to them. The majority of the Monsters occupying the Wedge Tower at the moment would get completely lost inside a building.
The idea of using buildings to their advantage wouldn’t even occur to the Monsters. Rather than consider using the walls for cover, they would just leap out and fight their enemies in the open.
“I’d be willing to bet on it. If the humans come and attack, at least half of the Monsters will jump out from the walls without any kind of strategy and try fighting head-on. They won’t even think of using these buildings to their advantage.”
Using buildings to their full potential, laying traps, or even using weapons — No matter how much you tried to explain that such things were necessary, the vast majority of Monsters would not listen to a word you said.
Precisely because Monsters had such an overwhelming strength advantage, they had no need for technology or techniques. If anything, there were far more Monsters such as the Primordial Beast who delighted in overpowering these technologies with raw strength.
To be honest, a part of Finn felt that way as well. The urge to take down weaklings with a show of force was one of a Werewolf’s base instincts.
“And you know, when you’re fighting a siege, there’s one thing that you absolutely have to have.”
“Oh, I think I know this. Is it…… food?”
“Correct.”
The Wedge Tower had ample food stores. However, those stores only contained food for humans.
Some Monsters could only consume raw meat. Some couldn’t be at their best unless they had a certain kind of herb. Others subsisted off of human flesh, minds, dreams, and the like.
Those would all have to leave and go hunt for their food.
And to leave the Wedge Tower’s campus would require affixing a Crystal Rivet and weakening oneself.
Even with all the hassle involved with using the Crystal Rivet, it did not guarantee that they would actually find any prey.
As they spoke, Monsters were sustaining themselves off of the corpses of Wedge Tower mages who perished in the battle the other day, but it would be hard to call that anything close to sufficient.
It wouldn’t be long before they ran low on food. When they did, the Monsters would start fighting each other for the scraps.
“Meanwhile, the Wedge Tower’s mages have connections with the surrounding villages, allowing them to regroup and resupply when necessary.”
At that rate, the Monsters had no choice but to stake their hopes on the Western Wall disappearing within the next few days.
On the other side of that wall, there might be places with high mana concentrations. There might be comrades to be found. They might have access to all the prey they could hope for.
They could only believe in such an uncertain hope because every Monster understood one thing:
—They were on the way to extinction.
The Monsters fled from the Crystal Territory to resist that extinction.
Finn fell silent, when Röhm whispered into his ear.
“I know most Monsters don’t care much for tools, so I doubt they will pay attention to every tool lying around in the Wedge Tower. So…”
The details Röhm spoke in his ear made Finn blink with astonishment.
Röhm’s face showed an ever so slightly devious smirk.
“I was in charge of supplies for the Guidance Office, remember? Of course I know where those kinds of things are.”
“But Ms. Röhm… That’s…”
Finn tried to say something, but Röhm covered his mouth with the palm of her hand. The crystal embedded in that palm let off a flickering light.
Having had one of these impaled into the sole of his foot, Finn knew just how painful it could be. Even as a Monster, Finn found it so, so painful he could hardly bear it. The whole time he felt the urge to holler and cry in pain.
“…I don’t have much time left. Even if I manage to beat Fritz… Soon enough, my body will reach its limit.”
Thanks to the Crystal Rivets, Röhm was able to patch the holes in her damaged mana organs, once again enabling her to use magic.
However, the price for that were the crystals that would inevitably consume her body. Just as they had done to the Wedge Tower around them.
Röhm’s body was succumbing to crystal contamination, and death was fast approaching.
“It’s your choice. Will you use the things I hid to help the humans, or will you destroy them to help the Monsters? …If you want to side with the humans, offer them this, and it just might save your life.”
Once Finn and his brother made their way to the north end of campus, around where the Third Spire: Water Bubble was, he climbed up the northern wall and assessed the situation.
Already, the Wedge Tower was completely surrounded by humans.
Finn recognized some of the Wedge Tower mages present, but there also were plenty of armored soldiers he had never seen before. They must have had reinforcements come in from somewhere.
(Over there is Saint Helena… and there’s Rikard…)
Finn’s eyes darted around, searching for any sign of the Apprentices. Yet, as far as he could see out there, there was no one who looked like any of his fellow Apprentices.
But there was one who caught Finn’s eye.
There was a man with an X-shaped scar on his face, with a fang hanging from a thread around his neck. Dammer — the man who stole Finn’s pride.