Chapter 155: Not Enough Downtime
Though the Arks had cleared everything that was within line of sight of the town, the break in the attack was soon coming to an end, as other monsters realized that there was something here that did not belong.
Kalli opened a link to the computer systems on the Arks and pulled up a satellite map of the region.
Which reminded her how ignorance really was bliss.
But on the positive side, they were about to have no shortage of bacon. That had to count for something, right?
The Swineherd Demons that had fled during the volcanic eruptions were returning, and from everything that Kalli could see, the Arks were not in any shape to defend themselves, much less the whole region.
They were made for floating safely in space, waiting for a disaster to end, not for fighting monsters on the surface.
In fact, it was only human ingenuity that had misappropriated their defensive functions to fight even this well. But now that they had managed to overheat the reactors, everything would depend on the heroes of Marimgar for the next wave, unless the Kalkan Heroes left their vessels.
"Everyone, get what you need to purchase, and I will head out to the perimeter to place more laser turrets.
With the reduced mana cost, now that they’re primarily driven off electricity, it shouldn’t be an issue if I put another dozen out, right?"
One of the warriors held up a shield.
"No issue at all. I get a mana back every five seconds, and bonus strength from the rare grade shield. I can cover a turret all by my lonesome."
The other warriors nodded. Even if they didn’t have an item to help them, they got back enough mana in a minute to keep up with the reduced usage of a turret. A dozen more would still be barely twenty warriors on turret duty.
So, they could just pick ones with shields and no rifle related skills to defend the turrets until the enemy was challenging them for the wall.
"Why another dozen?" One of the mages asked, going for the prudent questions.
"Three per quadrant, evenly spaced. That should be manageable for both the power grid, and the heroes mana supplies, while providing a decent amount of cover fire for the heroes themselves.
If possible, I recommend burying the power lines. If someone trips on one and breaks it, we could be in big trouble."
"Way ahead of you. We used earth magic to bury them when we ran them."
Kalli headed for the wall, while the last few heroes who needed to turn in quests went for the statue. At a steady jog, she only had to estimate the distance between turrets to keep them evenly spaced.
They could actually place more, now that she had all the points from the first wave flooding in. Between her heroes, and the members of the Kalkan team who were on the ship with a statue, she was not short on points today.
There would be many more who wanted to turn in quests later, once the attacks were over. But for now, she would spread the points and keep some in reserve, in case there was something that they had overlooked, and they needed to change their strategy on short notice.
The heroes who were still on the wall watched as Kalli circled the base, adding turrets every hundred metres or so. That filled in the gaps between the existing stations, though they could have hoped for more of them.
Even if just because they were easier on mana than anything else they had.
Temple took up a jog beside her as she worked her way around the south side.
"What are those things you put on the dorms? The damage is amazing. Can we get more of them? Or were they rewards for the completion of the Second Trial?"
"We could get more, but they use a massive amount of electricity, and if we add more along with the wall turrets and the buildings, we’re going to start getting blackouts. The new power plant is amazing, and could support every person in the region, but those turrets use as much power as a small city."
The Paladin frowned. "Seriously?"
"Seriously. They’re 100 megawatt draws on the power grid, plus two mana a shot. Sure, they deal a massive amount of damage, but they’re still energy weapons."
"Got it. I’ll settle for these laser turrets instead.
The food has come on time, the healers are holding steady, and taking a nap now in preparation for things to get bad again. The rest of us should be good by the time that the next wave gets here.
Do you have more information on them?"
Kalli shook her head. "Not much. It looks like the same Clan of Swineherd Demons and their Armoured Boars that left with the eruptions. So, we have an idea of the strength level we will be facing.
However, I don’t have a proper count on numbers. Tens of thousands at least.
It’s a much smaller force than the first group that swarmed the base, but there is a much higher chance that they’re going to be able to deal with the walls. The boars have pretty decent range on their charge, so if they can get a run up a ramp of corpses, they could very well make it on top of the wall."
The Paladin’s mind began to spin through plans, while Kalli fought to avoid making a joke about smelling smoke from all that excess thinking.
"We will come up with something, don’t worry about it. I don’t know if we can alter the Air Defence Batteries, but if things get desperate, they can aim right outside the walls and clear a section of enemies."
They both knew that was a terrible idea, especially with the river on the side that the enemy was coming from.
But it was an option.
"Alright, I will let everyone know that the Kalkans are down for some time, and we’re up to hold the area while we harvest our bacon seeds."