People gathered around the collapsed wall, their siege-like formation facing the fortress. Though calling it a siege was appropriate given the star-shaped fortress with its fully covered roof.
Yet instead of an army inside, there was just one Heavenly King conducting guerrilla warfare against humanity through so sche. It felt odd calling this a siege.
Looking online, these jagged star-shaped structures were called trace italienne fortresses. Apparently regular dieval rounded walls would crumble when hit by cannon fire, with the stones shattering and walls collapsing.
So they built them with multiple angles and thick walls to defend against cannons, though this made them easier for infantry to climb... but being a fantasy ga world, everything was ssed up. Han Se-ah, the viewers, and I searched the internet for trivia about fortresses hoping to find hints about conquering it, but nothing useful turned up.
Brick walls that dispersed cannon impact (made of tal instead for strength)
Vulnerable to infantry approach (covered with tal up to the roof)
Deep wide moats for increased lethality (had mid-boss instead of moat)
Cross-fire from corner bastions (only had one Heavenly King for troops)
This wasn't so Holy Roman Empire - all the information we found was useless. Besides the star shape, not a single detail matched.
"Why would they put a roof over the walls? What were they thinking when building this fortress?"
"Well... they say Demon Lords traveled between worlds. Maybe there was a world where even regular soldiers could fly?"
"Ah, a fortress like this would make sense in a world where all infantry were airborne troops."
The mages whispered about the Heavenly King's fortress that defied common sense. The self-proclaid knight conducting guerrilla warfare, the trace italienne fortress's bizarre design - it all seed like research material to them.
So both viewers and mages racked their brains trying to figure out how to conquer the fortress, both in and out of ga. The simple conclusion they reached was to bring stone dwarves to examine the walls and gate, and destroy the foundation if needed - crude but potentially effective.
Whether simple or crude, we had a workable solution to act on. Fortunately, our request to borrow the vibration stones was imdiately approved without rejection or side quests.
"Sothing about catching Demon Lord's army, right? We've always helped with that, squishies!"
"Hahaha, thank you."
The stone dwarves were a rchant race selling weapons and armor to the multi-racial alliance fighting the Demon Lord's army even before being kidnapped to the tower.
They weren't pacifists hiding away, asked to give up racial treasures for war - they were war rchants who sold swords, armor and bombs. No way they'd refuse lending siege weapons to attack a fortress. ＲΑŊộ𝐛Êṣ
Of course we had to pay a rental fee since these weren't ordinary weapons but treasure-grade magical tools managed by the stone dwarf city... but the mages naturally handled that part.
Using isekai underground dwellers' cavern-making mana stones to try lting an isekai Demon Lord army's unknown alloy fortress? Let's fundraise imdiately!
The mages' passionate attitude had them ready to sell even their robes and underwear to raise money. Like how n go crazy when robots and dinosaurs combine into cha-Tyranno, they went wild at the combination of other-world races and alloys.
"I thought he might attack, but it's surprisingly quiet."
"He's cunning, so he probably won't strike when forces are concentrated."
"You don't think he abandoned the fortress to attack another camp?"
"...No way. There's not enough ti for that. We've surrounded the area too."
Under the mages' expectant gazes, Master Bobo aid the vibration stone launcher they'd brought up from the underground city to floor 60. The device that had carved through dark caverns began burning the fortress with red light like a scene from a sci-fi movie.
But of course, the fortress gate stood firm as if made of no ordinary earth and rock. Nothing like how it lted cavern stone like butter.
"Oh my, that alloy looks quite, hmm, delicious."
"Co to think of it, stone dwarves eat rocks and ore..."
Unlike the murmuring spectators at base camp, the stone dwarves and mages moved slowly and thodically like conducting experints.
The laser targeting the wall's center slowly moved down, up, and sideways trying to lt the fortress gate and walls before finally aiming at the dirt ground below.
Unlike the immovable gate and walls, the plains' soil instantly lted away under the vibration stone's attack. Like leaves blown by a fan, the ground was instantly excavated to reveal the buried fortress wall. Clearly they weren't planning to let us in easily.
"Damn, how far down does it go? At this point half the fortress must be buried, right?"
The fortress walls rose about 10m above ground - roughly the height of a berserker ogre's head, so about 10-11m. The problem was that digging with the vibration stone revealed walls buried just as deep underground.
So the vibration stone launcher aid at the front had to tilt down and down, digging a deep hole. Since the laser beam fired straight, the ground in front of the wall was a ss.
The one fortunate thing was that despite their symtry obsession, they hadn't sealed the bottom with tal too?
"We'll need to modify this into a smaller version like last ti. Gotta dig under the fortress then tunnel upward. Can you squishies wait a bit longer?"
This was definitely going to take ti.
※
The vibration stone delivered looking like so sci-fi space antenna to lt the fortress gate. But obviously we couldn't move a device larger than a ballista into tunnels to break through the ceiling, so it needed to be miniaturized first.
Between the mid-boss's escape, gate closure, exit blockade, and boss monster's guerrilla tactics, their intent to stall for ti was clear.
Not just to , but to the party mbers, mages, and viewers too.
"What do you think he wants anyway?"
"Yeah. No fortress is truly impregnable - he'll have to fight eventually no matter how much he hides."
"It feels sketchy how he's trying to buy ti sohow."
-Maybe he's hiding cause he doesn't wanna die after tasting the holy sword? lololol
-Nah seeing two 6★s on floor 60 he's like peace out ttl
-???: Enemy difficulty seems weird, buggy ga? Gotta bail first
-I'd bail too if enemy tank had holy sword doing defense-ignoring damage you crazy bastard lol
-So the enemy hits with defense-ignore damage, I counterattack and take reflect damage, and might get struck by lightning too? Is this even a ga?
If it was just guerrilla tactics we could laugh it off as "what a weird guy, more realist than duelist." But with every gimmick from mid-boss to Heavenly King pointing in one direction, suspicions kept growing.
But what sche could a dark knight who could only create weapons with dark magic - not a mage or alchemist - possibly be planning?
Neither the viewers nor the spectators at base camp, the stone dwarves and mages hired by Charlotte, nor the late-arriving priests and temple knights had any idea. No one knew what this Heavenly King was really about.
All we knew was that he'd do anything to win.
"The tunnel preparations are all done, hero squishy!"
"Got it, Master!"
So all we could do was charge in headfirst.
How could we guess the answer without any hints no matter how much we thought about it?
"Wow, you did all this in such a short ti."
"We dirt-eaters better be able to do at least this much, squishy!"
Master Bobo and the stone dwarves had already dug a gently sloping 12m tunnel under the fortress, packed firm enough for people to walk through.
Entering the tunnel that supported feet surprisingly firmly for loose prairie soil, I saw they'd long finished stabilization and even beautifully embedded light stones. It looked more like a tourist cave than a siege tunnel into an enemy fortress.
"From here you can dig forward with this tool. Left about 3m just in case that Demon Lord army guy tries sothing."
"Thank you, Master."
As I descended into that surprisingly pretty tunnel then started climbing at an angle, there was no interference from the Heavenly King that Master Bobo had worried about. My precautions holding a shield in one hand and miniaturized vibration stone in the other proved unnecessary.
Enjoy the chappy!
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