Chapter 160: Building an Army [1]

Edgar walked back into the Fortress with a new plan already forming in his mind.

The settlement was slowly returning to normal after the battle.

Edgar ignored the activity around him and headed directly toward the Defence Tower of Souls.

As he approached the tower, he noticed two enormous figures standing nearby.

The two Nightmare Giants were waiting silently beside the skeletal structure, their massive bodies casting long shadows across the ground.

Edgar stopped and looked at them. ’So these are the other two.’

Several giant Nightmare corpses were still scattered around the area, although most of them had already been dragged toward the Tower of Souls.

Their bodies were covered in deep wounds from the previous battle, and some had been almost completely torn apart.

Edgar looked over the remains before glancing at the Soul Guardians working around them. ’There are enough corpses here to create quite a few more Guardians.’

That alone made the battle worthwhile.

The stronger the enemies became, the more powerful the army he could create from their remains would become.

Edgar watched the Soul Guardians continue feeding the corpses into the tower before turning around.

There was still something else he needed to do.

---

Edgar returned to his room and sat down on the sofa.

He pulled out several pieces of parchment and placed them in front of himself.

His fingers tapped against the table as he thought about the previous battle.

The Watch Towers had been effective, but there was a major problem.

They were too slow.

The Nightmares had attacked from several directions at once, and although the Ballista could kill them, Edgar couldn’t manually control every weapon during a battle.

’What I need is something that can attack large numbers of enemies without rest.’

He picked up the quill.

After thinking for a moment, Edgar began drawing.

The first design was a large circular frame with several launch mechanisms attached around its center.

Instead of having a single Ballista bolt, the weapon would hold hundreds of smaller bolts that could be fired rapidly.

Edgar added rotating mechanisms beneath the structure and several channels that would automatically move new bolts into position.

He also added a small compartment for Nightmare Stones. ’If I connect the Nightmare Stone to the firing mechanism, it should be able to increase the speed.’

The weapon would essentially become a rapid-firing defensive Ballista.

Instead of killing one Nightmare at a time, it could fire dozens of projectiles in quick succession.

More importantly, Edgar wanted the weapon to be able to rotate.

That would allow it to attack enemies approaching from different directions.

He continued drawing until the design became increasingly complicated.

The final version looked nothing like the simple Ballista used by the Fortress soldiers.

It was larger, heavier, and covered in several mechanical components.

At the center was a rotating chamber capable of holding numerous bolts.

Edgar stared at the design. ’I’ll call it the Storm Ballista.’

It wasn’t as powerful as his higher level watch tower, but that wasn’t its purpose.

The weapon was designed for one thing. Mass destruction against large groups of enemies.

Edgar placed the finished blueprint beside him.

Then his attention shifted toward the second problem.

Gravity.

He picked up another piece of parchment and began drawing.

Instead of making one large gravity rune, he decided to create several smaller ones.

Six circles with six separate zones.

Each one would be placed around the Fortress at carefully calculated positions.

’If I can make them activate simultaneously, anything entering the perimeter will be affected.’

Edgar drew the first circle before marking the positions of the other five.

The circles would overlap slightly, creating a large defensive area around the Fortress.

If the Nightmares entered one zone, Edgar could activate it.

If they escaped into another, he could activate that one as well. ’And if I can eventually connect them...’

Edgar’s eyes narrowed.

He could potentially turn the entire battlefield into one enormous gravity trap.

But first, he needed to make the individual runes stable.

He spent another hour modifying the designs.

Others consumed far too much energy.

A few even collapsed before they could activate.

Edgar continued working until he finally placed the quill down.

He leaned back against his chair and stared at the two blueprints. "That should do."

---

After another short rest, Edgar left his house carrying the blueprint.

He walked toward the open area outside the Fortress while several workers looked curiously at the strange drawings in his hands.

Edgar ignored them and opened the system interface.

A familiar translucent screen appeared before his eyes.

---

⟨New Weapon Registered⟩

Name: Storm Ballista

Type: Defensive Siege Weapon

Description: A rotating multi-projectile Ballista capable of rapidly firing enchanted bolts.

Special Feature: Nightmare Stone-powered firing mechanism.

Required Resources:

White Nightmare Stones ×1,000

---

Edgar stared at the requirement. "One thousand?"

He wasn’t particularly surprised.

The weapon was much more complicated than an ordinary Ballista, and the system probably considered the Nightmare Stone-powered mechanism a major part of its construction.

Edgar looked toward the warehouse.

He had already spent a considerable number of stones upgrading the Fortress, but he still had enough remaining.

The coming battle was more important than saving them.

Edgar took a deep breath. "Create."

The system immediately responded.

A powerful wave of energy erupted in front of him.

WHOOM!

White light spread across the ground as thousands of tiny particles gathered together.

Metal began forming first.

A large circular frame appeared piece by piece, followed by the rotating base and the enormous firing mechanism.

Several long bolts appeared inside the weapon while strange runes covered the surface.

The entire structure continued assembling itself until the Storm Ballista finally stood before Edgar.

It was enormous.

The weapon was almost twice the size of an ordinary Ballista, with a rotating circular frame containing multiple launch mechanisms.

Several Nightmare Stones were embedded into its center.

Edgar walked around it slowly. ’This is much bigger than I expected.’

He placed his hand against the weapon.

The moment he did, the system displayed another message.

---

⟨Storm Ballista Activated⟩

Maximum Rotation: 360°

Firing Mode: Rapid

---

Edgar raised an eyebrow. "Let’s test it."

He moved toward the edge of the Fortress and selected an empty area beyond the trench.

The Storm Ballista immediately rotated as a faint glow appeared around the bolts.

Edgar gave the command.

"Fire."

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

A storm of bolts erupted from the weapon.

The projectiles tore through the air at incredible speed before striking the distant ground.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The earth exploded beneath the impacts.

Dust rose into the air as several deep craters appeared across the field.

Edgar’s eyes widened slightly. ’That’s much stronger than I expected.’

The weapon wasn’t simply firing normal bolts.

Each projectile carried a small amount of condensed energy that exploded when it struck something.

Edgar looked at the remaining ammunition. ’And it can fire rapidly.’

That was exactly what he needed.

During the next Nightmare Tide, the Storm Ballista could continuously bombard the enemy while the Watch Towers dealt with stronger targets.

Edgar nodded with satisfaction. "This should make things easier."

He turned away from the weapon and looked toward the empty land surrounding the Fortress.

It was time for the second part of his plan.

---

Edgar walked toward the first location he had marked on the blueprint.

The area was several hundred metres away from the Fortress Wall.

He crouched down and picked up a stick.

Then he began drawing.

The first gravity circle slowly appeared across the ground.

The design was much larger than the small rune he had tested earlier.

Several layers of symbols formed around the outer circle, while a central section was left empty.

Edgar placed a Green Nightmare Stone in the center.

’This should be enough.’

He wasn’t going to activate it yet.

The purpose of the first experiment was simply to determine whether the larger structure could remain stable.

Edgar finished the outer markings before standing.

He looked toward the second location.

He continued moving around the Fortress, carefully measuring the distance between every circle.

The work took considerably longer than he had expected.

Each rune needed to be positioned correctly.

If one was too close, their gravitational fields could interfere with each other.

If one was too far away, an enemy could slip through the gap.

Edgar spent nearly an hour simply adjusting their positions.

By the time he finished, six enormous circles surrounded the Fortress.

They were almost invisible beneath the dirt, but the faint markings could still be seen if someone looked closely.

Edgar stood on top of a small hill and looked at the entire arrangement.

’Six gravity zones.’

A faint smile appeared on his face.

If his calculations were correct, the Nightmares would have to pass through at least one of them before reaching the Fortress.

And once they stepped inside... Edgar looked toward the distant forest.

’They’ll be trapped.’

But there was still one problem.

He needed to make the runes powerful enough to affect creatures far stronger than ordinary Nightmares.

Edgar slowly clenched his fist. "The next step is making them stronger."

He looked toward the six circles again before turning back toward the Fortress.