My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 169: Gyn's Legacy

Vaskra grinned as the cover was finally removed from the structure. This was the signal that it was finally completed. She stared at the majestic sight that was a mass of crude metal that been stuck together. All sorts of magical enchantments glowed across its body. With this, securing the port would be far easier. Even if the enemies had ships stationed in the waters, they would be completely outclassed!

"Now bear in mind that this is only a prototype. We weren't able to gather everything that was needed for the complete version that Gyn left behind." The goblin beside her smiled proudly at their achievement.

"Somehow, looking at this, I feel like we suffered a heavier loss than we initially thought when Gyn died," Vaskra replied sadly as she considered the loss of such a genius. This was a word that was extremely rare to be used to describe one of their kind.

If Gyn had lived on, there was a high probability that he would have made great contributions towards their war efforts. His vaguely drawn schematics of partly finished machines and ideas had already saved the lives of countless monsters. On top of that, they had also made life easier for them in the towns and cities they had taken control of.

"You're not wrong there." The goblin sighed dejectedly, he personally wished that there was more of Gyn's inventions to work on. His ideas were simply revolutionary! The ones he had left behind would certainly become the stepping stone that would lead them into a brighter future! He did grimace when he thought about the more inhumane creations that the mad goblin had jotted down. 'Who knows, maybe they'll have some use yet.'

"How long can it stay active?" Vaskra asked curiously, this information would be crucial to the operation.

"Hm, hard to say really. We've fully charged the crystals, but we don't have much to base an estimate from. Conservatively speaking it'll last maybe a week before the stored mana runs dry. Of course, it can go longer if you have mages with you capable of recharging it."

Vaskra thought about this carefully as she recalled the maps that she had seen. Judging from here to the island on those maps then a week should be more than enough. However, that would also depend on how fast this thing could go. Realistically speaking, if her visions were anything to go by, then their mages would need to conserve their strength for the fight ahead of them.

She nodded in satisfaction, pleased that her plan could now be put into action. It would definitely be better to put this to proper use during the night. With any luck, the heroes would have no idea what was happening until it was too late to save their miserable hides. 'All I can do is prepare and get some food. Maybe rest some more. The journey is sure to be tiring.'

For the rest of the day she had the troops recover as much of their strength as possible. This was a little hard for them due to the excitement that they all were feeling. The only ones that appeared slightly nervous were the treants. This was expected since they would naturally feel ill at ease if they could not have their feet on solid ground.

Vaskra ended up spending a lot of time in her tent, persuading the treants that everything would be ok. All the while she had to listen to the boisterous merrymaking of the rest of the camp. In the end, she never got the chance to get a little more sleep, though this was partly due to her own nerves. Eventually, the curtain of night drew itself across the sky.

All eyes in the camp watched as the last flickers of sunlight slowly disappeared. As one, they packed up their belongings in total silence. They were so quiet in their operation that one could even hear the sound of the small insects coming to life for the night in their surroundings. When she saw that everyone was prepared, she gave a hand gesture to signal the beginning of the assault.

The Treant named Foli was in charge of leading the army in her absence. According to this female Treants own estimations she roughly lived through seven hundred summers. As a race, they had no concept of time aside from the changing seasons, and they never really felt the need to keep track of how old they were. In the rare cases where they had to communicate the passing of time, they used the number of summers as their unit of measurement.

This was mostly because most of their race would enter a type of hibernation for the winter, only to awaken again in the spring. There was an exception to this rule, and that was the Treants known as Evergreens. They could stay active all year round, and the protection of the Treants forests would fall to them while the rest of them went to sleep.

Foli just happened to be an Evergreen herself, earning her a high social rank within their species. The fourteen-foot tall figure of Foli moved with incredible grace as she moved across the land without making a sound. The trolls, orcs, treants, eljein and goblins unfortunate enough to not be accompanying Vaskra followed behind the hulking mass.

A hero would describe it as a monster army taking shelter underneath a wandering forest from a distance. Which was simply ludicrous no matter how anyone would try to persuade someone otherwise. The only heroes who even knew for certain that the treants existed were Phillip and his army. Since they were the only ones who had survived an encounter with them.

Vaskra often questioned them why they had never taken part in the great war. The only reply she had received was that it was of no benefit to them or there forests at the time to get involved. Things were different this time around. The heroes and humans alike had made it clear that they intended to cut down all of the forests which angered the treants to no end.

"Shall we set sail Lady Vaskra?" A goblin excitedly asked beside her.

"Give them a head start first. Then we'll head out." Vaskra turned and eyed Gyn's invention with a look of longing. This thing that Gyn called an "Airship" would be the stallion that carried her into battle