Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 140: Section 112: Moonlight (Part One)_2

Chapter 140: Section 112: Moonlight (Part One)_2

......

That night in the wilderness, they made camp.

Malin, as usual, began to set up the defense, noting that the captain of the mercenary squad seemed to want to say something, but he ultimately remained silent.

Was it doubt about his own abilities? Malin wondered, but doubt was indeed warranted, after all, the one giving orders in front of him was a child, and any rational adult would engage in such skeptical behavior.

First, Malin set up a very common pressure plate trap near the forest close to the camp, using materials found in the forest itself—branches dehydrated with a spell, then sharpened with a dagger, tied together with vines, and covered with brush to conceal the trigger mechanism.

He used no metal or leather. The middle-aged man watched until Malin tested the trap and the sharpened branches that formed the ’stakes’ suddenly shot up to a height of about one meter and sixty centimeters.

The middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead and silently began assisting Malin.

There were fifteen pressure plates in total, all placed at strategic positions favorable for action.

Then Malin started setting up pit traps—a circumference of 40 shoe-lengths and about five centimeters deeper than ankle height with a dozen or so very sharp, pointed sticks at the bottom, which Malin had specifically reinforced with a spell.

By now, the middle-aged man was becoming restless—he kept looking at the soft leather boots on his feet.

There were about 40 of these pits, in every direction, all similarly situated in the tall grass areas close to the camp—if one wished to launch a surprise attack on the camp, the best approach would be through these tall grass areas. Malin chose not to clear the tall grass but to set these traps instead.

"Are you really not going to clear that tall grass?" asked the half-human, who, as a thief, had his eyes gleaming while looking at Malin.

"No need. The tall grass is flammable," Malin replied with a smile. "We’ve turned the ground near the camp into mud. If enemies attack at night, we can use the Fireball Spell to ignite the grass. I am curious to see if those lurking surreptitiously in the grass are really unafraid of being engulfed by flames."

Next was the defense of the camp itself—the outermost layer consisted of a simple caltrop barrier made from collected sticks, which Malin hadn’t bothered to strip of thorns but instead smeared with poison obtained from the half-human.

It was not a fatal but rather a volatile snake venom, and instead, a lasting plant toxin that could cause intense itching.

Behind the caltrops was a large open area with Malin’s directional landmines set in the center.

Although the mercenaries did not understand, they recognized the ’this side toward enemy’ sign. With Malin’s explanation, no one dared to underestimate these small rectangular engineering tools anymore.

Lastly, the wagons, cargo carts, and at least twelve Earth Elemental guards formed the camp’s wall.

The tents that appeared faintly visible between the walls were actually unoccupied; everyone slept in a reinforced cave dug out in the center of the camp. Malin and Faye had reinforced it with holy spells and set up an Anti-spiritual Array.

Alone, Malin climbed a large tree on the east side of the camp and constructed a small observation post within the foliage.

The middle-aged man initially thought this too risky, but after seeing the Milani and Fio—especially Fio transformed into a small sprite—directly attract a swarm of killer bee spirits as summoned creatures.

Watching the usually fierce giant insects form a mocking alphabet, the middle-aged man scratched the back of his head and could only follow Miss Faye back to the camp.

......

Watching the camp start to cook dinner, Malin sat on the small platform of the observation post, chewing the jerky Maya had made.

The observation platform was a small structure naturally grown from the tree trunk with Fio’s power, concealed with branches and dense leaves. Except for a small part of the platform possibly visible from the direction of the camp, it was challenging to notice. Malin had adjusted the camouflage pattern slightly with a spell, making the observation post nestled in the middle of the tree canopy even more difficult to spot.

After eating the jerky, Malin installed his short-barreled rifle, twisting the heavy but very reliable silencer onto the muzzle.

This silencer, through the use of a spell formation, eliminates the sound of gunfire and muzzle flash, can be effectively used for more than 200 shots. Although the average cost of each item reached 400 gold, Malin still produced ten.

He sent five to his uncle and kept five for his own use, today was the day they would come in handy—if indeed there were uninvited guests.

As Malin’s observer, Milani was responsible for monitoring the situation, while Fio was in charge of leading his newly recruited subordinates to sweep through this small forest—to prevent any bold fools who might also choose this tree.

As the moon rose above the horizon, the bright and gentle moonlight illuminated the land. Although Malin had seen it many times since coming to this world, he was still captivated by the pristine and brilliant moonlight. The plains under the moonlight, unspoiled by electrification, had an extraordinary beauty, and the moon in this different world was truly larger.

At that moment, Fio sent a message that one of the Killer Bees under his command seemed to have sensed something, but it found nothing suspicious after investigating.

After some thought, Malin decided to have Fio expand the search area.

Sometimes, accidents aren’t just mere accidents as they appear to be.

......

As the scout of the Robber Group, the Gnome managed to slip outside the patrol range of the Killer Bees; as soon as those massive creatures flew away, he quickly ran towards a nearby thicket and dived in.

Through tall grass and shrubbery, he saw his deputy: "That was a close call. What’s with that nest of Killer Bees? They’re not supposed to be in that area!"

"Who knows, they seemed to be patrolling. Maybe they’ve moved."

"Maybe. Let’s go and see the boss."

The Half-human and Gnome moved through the woodland, crossed through the crowd, and saw their boss, the leader of the Robber Group, the giant Cohen.

"How did it go?"

"A little hitch, but we can confirm that it is our target, five carriages, a freight car, and the emblematic elemental creatures. They seem very strong, boss. I think it’s dangerous," said the Gnome honestly. His instincts told him that anyone who could summon so many elementals and use them as a wall was definitely not an easy target.

They might be powerful, but the Sardin Robber Group was not yet capable of combating at least a team of High-Rank Transcendent Apprentices.

"According to the intelligence, that’s just the target along with a group formed by Apprentices of the Goddess of Harvest Church. If our Robber Group can complete this kidnapping mission for the Dark Guild, everyone will get at least a thousand gold. Don’t you want to live like a normal person?"

"But boss, there are several tough ones in the group." The Gnome’s instincts told him it was too dangerous, and this operation was likely to end in a very tragic failure.

"Haven’t we already agreed, Jock? After this job, we disband, and everyone goes back to their hometown to live the life they love. You also said you’d use the money to marry a beautiful Gnome girl," Cohen said, looking down at the Gnome scout of his group. "Think about everyone, every person is driven to become a robber out of desperation, no one is born bad, and nobody wants to be a villain for life... Jock, after this one, you don’t owe me anything anymore."

"...Okay, Cohen, you’re right," the Gnome sighed and then extended his hand.

The giant and the Gnome shook hands, and then their fists met in agreement.

"My personal opinion is to attack from the south, with encirclements from the other two sides," Jock crouched down and drew a rough map of the camp in the mud while Cohen looked at the diagram: "Why disregard the east side?"

"There’s a nest of Killer Bees on the east side." This answer stunned everyone for a moment, but Cohen raised an eyebrow: "Odd, shouldn’t they be further away?"

"Never mind the thoughts of insects, Cohen. With them there, we can concentrate more of our men to invade the camp. Our target and those apprentices are not on the same side, so we might be able to strike a deal with the apprentices if possible; we just take away our target."

"If the apprentices agree, we won’t risk our brothers’ lives, but if they refuse, then there must be bloodshed," Cohen considered before speaking.

"Then I have no issues. I’ll go with my deputy to dismantle the caltrops, and then I’ll signal you guys. When you get the signal, charge," the Gnome said, standing up and tossing aside the stick in his hand. "Cohen, I hope the path you’ve found for us is not a dead end."

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