With her Werebear strength, Sierra provided the tree trunks and persistently worked on the exterior of their fortress.
Sharanga had a special task all on her own. She started working on traps specifically for the black ctenosaurs. Sierra ordered her to modify the traps that was originally for the Maneator.
Adder had been visiting Betul village daily, aside from building their escape routes and transport system. He wanted to see how the villagers were.
As the villagers of Betul were used to strangers brought by their past experiences with various traders, they were more welcoming when Adder visited them.
The fact that he brought food also helped him earn their trust. Adder found that they did not lose hope.
The Betulites believed that one day they will be freed from the Brandals. The one armed man kept reaffirming their beliefs by continuing to visit their village everyday.
Five days passed, and their fort along with other preparations were finally completed. Everyone gathered around to admire their architectural prowess.
Constructed: Otaczac Wooden Fort
Built with the raw materials from Otaczac forest, this fortress is well camouflaged.
Effects:
* Increases defense by 50% when inside the fortress.
* Increases range by 50% when attacking on sentry platforms.
* Increases health restoration by 100% when resting inside the fortress.
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With her Werebear claws, Sierra etched out the word Amitié on the front gate.
Adder stood beside Sierra and asked what that word meant.
"Oh, this means friendship. We've only met recently but I feel like I've known you guys for a long time."
Ichaival opened the gates and said that he will conduct the grand tour of their wooden fort.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our home away from home. If you would notice the six main trees. These are our pillars that support the walls. There are also ladders on each of these pillars for us to climb onto the canopy platforms. I'd also like to acknowledge Sharanga, because she taught us an interlocking way to build the wall enhancing its defenses. Next let me tell you about this special feature. On top of the platform as well as on the center of our base we have an emer..."
Thyrsus abruptly interrupted Ichaival's tour when he was alerted by Thyr that the Brandals have made their move.
"It's time! The Brandals are here."
Sierra nodded and issued the orders.
"Quickly! Strike team run to your positions. Defense team get ready to give ground support."
Jinggu, Sharur, Ichaival, and Thyrsus climbed to the top of their wooden fortress and started running through the canopy platforms that they've built on top of the other trees.
Each member of the strike team jumped and grabbed a hold of their zip-line bar holders.
There was a network of well hidden mini zip-lines all over Otaczac forest. This gave the strike team the great mobility they needed in order to compete with the speed of the black ctenosaurs.
The strike team got into their well concealed positions in front of Betul. Thyrsus informed the rest of his team that the Brandals would arrive in ten minutes.
The defense team quickly followed and were stationed one kilometer behind the strike team. Sierra hoped that their strategy would work and the defense team won't get to see any action.
Everybody was tense. They waited for the Brandals to arrive when suddenly Sierra received a call from Laernea.
Sierra canceled the call, but the Lioumerean kept on calling her again. Sierra finally answered her on the fifth call.
"Laernea, We're all kind of busy right now. What's so important that you have to call?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry. You see. It's about, Smoke. He doesn't seem to be himself. It's like he wants to destroy everything in his path."
Sierra looked deeply troubled, and for a split second she forgot that the Brandals were coming.
"I'm sure he's alright. If he wasn't he would have told me. Anyway, I have to go. I'll contact him when I have some free time."
Sierra finished her call with Laernea. She needed to focus on the Brandals. She didn't know what exactly was happening with Smoke, but she was sure that he could manage it.
Over their party channel, Thyrsus announced that the Brandals were in range. Immediately, Sharur and Jinggu launched their spiral piercing fire bolts and two of the bandits fell off their mounts.
The fallen bandits revealed their lifebars to be (85,916/91,416 HP) and (89,620/95,120 HP) respectively.
The raiding Brandals stopped on their tracks and did not proceed to enter Betul. They looked around their surroundings, craning their necks to get a 360 degree view of what happened.
Their leader wore an eye patch covering his right eye. He was a Human with two short swords on his back, a whip on his waist and multiple throwing knives attached on two belts worn from his shoulder to his waist.
"What was that? What happened?"
"Roubar and Roubado have fallen from their black ctenosaurs."
The bandit leader went to his dismounted companions, took out his whip and whipped the two bandits, damaging them for 1,200 points each.
"Roubar! Roubado! I told you to stop playing around when we're on a raid."
"But, Canalha, we weren't goofing off. Someone shot at us from the forest."
Roubado pointed to where the fire bolts came from. Canalha quickly turned to the direction of the forest and took two piercing fire bolts to his chest.
Canalha flew off from his black ctenosaur and tumbled to the ground. The rest of the bandits quickly took out their swords and knives and made a protective circle around their leader.
Canalha, stood up, and took out the two bolts from his chest. His lifebar was at (173,208/185,000 HP).
"Cavalry Knights don't use fire bolts. Boys! It looks like we finally have ourselves some resistance here. Alright, You four go into the forest and look for the source of these bolts. You two idiots, get back on your ctenosaurs."
The bandit leader grabbed a hold of his own black ctenosaur and climbed back up.
"Aaaaaahhhh!"
THUD!
"Whooooohhaaaaah!"
THUD!
"What's going ooooooohhooaaaannn!"
THUD!
"Waaaaahhh!"
THUD!
A bandit briskly reported that the four scouts sent to look inside the forest were caught in a sophisticated trap.
"How could they have fallen for a trap? All of us have high levels of 'Detect Trap' ability."
Painful and agonizing screams were heard from the captured bandits as the rain of arrows and bolts kept on hitting them.
Canalha looked at the number of bolts and arrows and guessed that their attackers were no amateurs.
"Fall back. Retreat. I don't want to risk getting trapped like those imbeciles."
"But Canalha, your nephew, Patife was also captured."
"Was he? I guess I'll have to tell my sister, that he fought valiantly against a Cavalry Knight. Alright! Move out. Everyone return to the Keep."
* * * * * *
Using his falcon's vision, Thyrsus saw that the Brandals were running away into their secret path.
"Sierra, we've managed to kill four of the bandits and the rest of them are retreating to their hideout. Ichaival and I are about to get the loot while Jinggu and Sharur will cover us."
"That's great news! I knew Sharanga's spiked traps would work wonders."
The brunette WoodElf smiled. Her cheeks and pointy ears turned bright red.
"Thanks for the compliment. I was actually inspired by your claws. I thought that the traps shouldn't just hold them in place. It should also cause some damage over time. With those sharp spikes, giving them 'bleeding' statuses was easy."
Vijaya gave her twin sister a high five.
"Great job, sis!"
Sierra commanded the strike team to return to their fort.
"We'll have a friendly race to see which team gets home first. Let's go, defense team!"
All of them were in high spirits. Their first guerrilla warfare was a great success. They only needed to wait for the next scheduled raid.
In the next two days, the residents of Fort Amitié were busy preparing for their next encounter with the Brandals.
* * * * * *
It has been exactly a week since Smoke told Sierra about the finals of his Swordsman to Knight Tournament. Adder and the rest of the Hunters had left earlier for Betul.
All the Hunters except for Ichaival. He had left right after their first victory against the Brandals. He said that needed to buy something in Salah.
Sierra was alone on the ground floor of their fort while the OrkElves were watching from their sentry posts. She decided to give Smoke a call just before he fights at the finals of the Swordsman to Knight Tournament.
"..."
"I said I'm fine. Honestly. Anyway, how is your search for the village? Have you found the exit to the labyrinth?"
Sierra thought that Smoke was clearly not fine. She didn't want to add to his problems, so she decided to tell him a little white lie.
"I'm still waiting for Adder's report. You know how he likes to be thorough. I think we will find the exit in two days, worst case maybe four."
"Don't hurry on my account. I'm still trying to get the recommendation to enter the labyrinth as well. It looks like my original estimate for this quest was wrong."
Sierra couldn't agree more and not only on his part but on their search for the exit as well. Not to mention their self imposed secondary objective of wiping out the Brandals.
"I know! I had a gut feeling from the moment you told me that you expected us to be done in a week. Anyway, don't worry about it too much. I'm still having fun on my end. I'm learning a lot of new things in my Werebear form. You know, just in case it will take us longer to break the curse."
"That's great. Not that you would be stuck in that form, but you getting better at your Werebear form. I hope you know what I meant."
"Yeah, I do. Smoke, please talk to me if something is bothering you."
"Don't worry. I've really got it handled."
"Alright, stay safe. I don't want to hear you having any mental breakdowns. Take care!"
Sierra finished her call with Smoke. After hearing his voice, she felt that Smoke was still not okay. She stared at the sky when she heard Jinggu sound their alarm.
"The Brandals are coming! There are about thirty of them, and they also have four blanketed wagons with them. We still have about five minutes before they get here, but Sharur and I can already hit them from here."
Sierra couldn't understand how they could have found their hidden fortress and how they managed to get past Sharanga's traps.
"Jinggu, Sharur, I want the two of you to escape right now. Find Adder in Betul and tell him to contact Smoke."
The twin OrkElves stood their ground. Their mother had taught them to stand against evil no matter what the cost.
"I'm sorry, Sierra. We can't follow those orders. We're gonna protect you to our dying breaths."
The OrkElves started hitting the bandits. They managed to knock two down and readied for their next round.
However, the Brandals were unfazed and pressed on towards their fort. Two more bandits were knocked off their mounts as another set of fire bolts came at the raiding scoundrels.
Sierra thought that she could by them some time by going outside the fort and confronting them head on. The Brandals were now merely a hundred meters away.
As fast as she could, Sierra opened the wooden gates, she rushed outside and let out her loudest roar. She unleashed her double slash attacks on the first black ctenosaurs that she met.
The mounted lizards had (97,123/110,000 HP). The other black ctenosaurs also took a swing at Sierra but only managed to do a damage of 700.
While black ctenosaurs' riders used their swords and did a similar damage of 800. The Brandals were shocked at how low their damage was.
Sierra's lifebar shown that she had (234,700/242,200 HP).
Canalha shouted on top of his lungs.
"Boys, don't worry about your low damage. If all of us continue to hit her she'll be dead in the next few minutes!"
The shocked Brandals quickly recovered after hearing their leader's encouragement.
In a flash, Sierra was surrounded by Brandals. The OrkElves continued knocking them off their mounts but the bandits would simply get back on in only a few seconds.
