anwhile through the hive mind connection, Ben watched as his Krell Scouts scoured the region. Three of them reported back quickly. Nothing. Just similar nests—smaller outposts, occupied by standard Ravagers but nothing new.
But the fourth scout… It had found sothing different. Sothing interesting The first thing Ben noticed through its vision was the water sparkling clear. It shimred faintly under the dim underground light, almost glowing.
'Finally a real water source.' Then, his eyes locked onto the Ravagers surrounding it. There were Brutes, their thick armored bodies moving like living fortresses. There were Spine Ravagers, perched on the surrounding rock formations, their long-range spines twitching in response to movent. And then— The small ones. The sa variant he had mistaken for the Alpha back at his stronghold.
Ben's jaw tightened. 'More of them? This an they're not the alpha?'
It made sense. There should only be one true Alpha. They were the leaders of the pack, the ones controlling the swarm. That ant the ones he had seen—the smaller Ravagers that had seed smarter—were nothing more than commanders. Like his Krell Supervisors. A step below the real leader.
But then— His eyes caught sothing else. A new type. Its carapace shimred with a bluish tint, sleek, almost tallic. It moved differently. This wasn't another Brute. Not a Spine Ravager. And definitely not a commander. Its body was smaller, slimr. The armor looked more brittle than the others, but even through the Krell Scout's senses, Ben could tell This thing was dangerous. A new elite variant.
His gut tightened. 'Is this their true nest? If so—That ant the real Alpha was here.' His Krell Scout crept forward, eyes moved, trying to pinpoint the true leader. But before it could even find anyting… Darkness fill everything.
[Your Krell Scout has perished!]
Ben's vision cut out instantly. A deep frown creased his face. 'What the hell just happened?' The scout didn't even sense anything. No attack. No movent. No warning. Just— Gone.
The Krell were fast, their senses sharp. Whatever killed it had to be sothing beyond their perception. His thoughts churned. 'Was it the real Alpha? Or sothing else?' Ben mulled over it for a mont, but ultimately, it didn't matter right now. Because he had a bigger problem.
That army. The numbers. The sheer size of their forces. If they marched now—His base wouldn't survive. His gaze flicked across the stronghold. Number One was still directing Krell across the battlefield. So were sorting materials, while others focused on construction.
The repairs on the base? Almost complete—96% done. But the true defenses? The outer walls. The pitfall traps. The heavy fortifications he needed to keep them out. Barely 10%. Ben clenched his fists. 'I need more ti.' But ti was sothing he wasn't sure he had. 'Should I make more Krell Workers?'
More hands would speed up construction, but once the walls were done, they'd be dead weight. Logistics, trap resets—that was all they'd be good for. And too many of them ant they'd drain resources faster than they were worth.
His rough calculations told him everything he needed to know. Three days. That's all his food supply would last without a resupply. If the Ravagers launched a full assault before then, he was screwed. Ben shoved the thought aside and threw himself into the work.
The outer defenses needed to be prioritized. it had to be strong enough to withstand an all-out siege. Ben start working with each block set into place, he reinforced the structure. The stronghold walls stretched outward, forming a second layer of defense.
After he completed it he move to the next step—the towers. Each one rose ten blocks high from the wall, giving an elevated position for the ballista crews. But height alone wasn't enough. He needed a way to get up fast.
A ladder was too slow. A staircase took up too much space. He needed sothing simple and efficient.
Ben sketched out the chanism in his mind. A wooden platform, large enough for a Krell Scout, connected to two thick fungal fiber looped over pulleys at the top of the tower. A counterweight system using Grimslate blocks would balance the lift. The design was simple. A Krell would pull a release lever, dropping the counterweight, which would pull the platform up in seconds. To lower it, they'd just reset the weight manually using a crank system.
It was basic, crude even—but fast and efficient. Ben grinned as he watched the first test run. The platform shot upward smoothly, stopping exactly where it needed to. 'Perfect.'
Now ca the next task—building the ballista. For that, he needed materials. As this would be larger than a standard crossbow, using Grimslate alone would make it too heavy. Instead, he'd use mushroom fiber for the majority of the fra—light, flexible, yet strong enough to endure repeated shots.
Ben moved to the outskirts, eyeing one of the massive fungal trees. He swung his axe, carving through its thick stalk. With a final crack, the towering mushroom collapsed, sending spores drifting into the air.
The mont he cut into it, he felt the density. Despite looking soft, the interior was solid as wood. Not as strong as Grimslate, but with reinforcent, it would do. He dragged the chunks back to the workshop, slicing them down into precise beams. The fra needed to be sturdy, yet not overly rigid—flexibility was crucial for handling the tension of the drawstring.
For reinforcent, he transford Grimslate ingots into tal bracings, reinforcing the joints and stress points to prevent the fra from splintering under pressure. The real challenge ca with the reloading chanism.
Ben tapped his fingers on his chin, running through possible designs. A crank system was too slow. A single-use drawstring would take too much ti to reset.
Then he rembered the Savage Spines. Just like on the crossbow the elasticity was strong enough to snap bolts forward at high speed—if he could integrate it into the firing chamber, the ballista could have an auto-reloading system. He set to work, embedding the spines into the launch chanism, connecting them to a lever-based trigger system. Once fired, the spine would snap back into place, automatically pulling the next bolt into position.
Ben gave the lever a test pull. The spine flexed, held its tension, and snapped back instantly. A grin spread across his face. "Nice."
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