Chapter 12
Monsters could be seen surrounding the whole base. This was day one of the Blood Moon apocalypses.
As soon as Ayumi's message came through, all the people were forced to stay in their houses. This was to prevent them from getting in the way of our defensive operations.
It would seem that most of the older generation people and the elves had experienced the Blood Moon apocalypses before. Several people, including the elves, volunteered to help and defend. We told them that there was no need to help with defence for now.
The first wave of monsters came at around three in the afternoon. Roughly a thousand of them advanced towards our base. From the camera feeds, I could see monsters like goblins, kobolds, and even a three-eyed deer.
We didn't have any tactics except shooting them if they got too close. The mortars and howitzers dealt immense area damage, and within two hours of non-stop fighting, the monsters all retreated.
We managed to kill nearly 3/4 of the number of monsters; their corpse was laid scattered everywhere. I went around each armoury and replenished the ammunition and extra weapons if some broke or jammed up.
The logistics units were busy transporting ammunition around and sorting out the food for the people. For now, we gave them frozen meats to cook to get rid of some of our stock, and if we needed more food, we could dig into our reserves of MRE. But since the Blood moon was only going to last for a week, there should be no need.
I gathered all the civilians and told them that we successfully defended against the first wave but that it wasn't over. I installed sirens throughout the base and said that they needed to return to their houses immediately should this go off. Those who do not listen would be arrested.
I then dismissed everyone for them to do their work as if everything was normal. The hunting group was sent to bring back all useable monsters to be processed or analysed.
For the farming group, there was a big problem. All the growing crops needed sunlight for photosynthesis. Our solution was artificial lights with a specific wavelength that plants can survive under. It has been placed as a top priority in the workshop.
After killing so many monsters during the first wave, I had also levelled up. I was now level 6, and my unit limit had increased by three hundred.
At the start of day two, I began by creating more units, adding ten more mortars with thirty more units. Typically the mortars require six crew members, but we only needed half the amount since the units can do more than the average human.
I also expanded the base to nearly double its original size, with new walls, more towers, and a heavier gate. Each new tower had an M2 Machine gun mounted on top.
I created two hundred more units armed with rifles and another fifty with M60 Machine guns.
Our "newest" weapon is the TM-46 mines. Anti-tank mines made by the soviets, I ordered fifty of these to be placed outside the base. They are marked on a map so that after this is over, they can be easily located and retrieved. The TM-46 mines have a metal casing making them very easy to find with metal detectors. Which is something that I doubt the monsters would have.
The second wave of the monster began around noon; the siren went off, and the people rushed home whilst the units got into positions. There were twice as many monsters as last time, and this time, a new enemy showed a bit of a problem.
There was a giant tortoise around three meters long, with a large shell that deflected bullets, and the artillery had not much effect. The rest of the monsters were still massively affected by our weapons.
The giant tortoise was slow but highly durable. With each step, the ground shook, but then the monster's underbelly exploded. That was the doing of the anti-tank mines we had placed earlier.
With the fall of the giant tortoise, the rest of the monsters retreated. This time we managed to kill only half of the monster forces. We retrieved the tortoise using the chinooks since we estimated it to weigh nearly two tonnes.
The people were then allowed out of their houses, and we repeated the same thing. I went around replenishing even more ammunition, grenades and guns. We also placed twenty more anti-tank mines.
My level was now 8, and my unit limit was increased by two hundred.
On day three, we received several reports from the espionage units from the Empire of how well they were doing against the monsters. The information reported that the Empire had suffered over thirty thousand deaths, including soldiers and civilians, lost two major towns and dozens of lost villages. They are currently experiencing immense food shortages.
The Empire had enough grains stored, but they weren't given to its people. Instead, the Emperor is selling them at extremely high prices. Not only that, taxes were increased, the reasons were for the army. But the army themselves was slowly losing power as well. So I think even kids can figure out where the money is going.
At that point, I was shocked at the actions of the Emperor. The Empire was falling apart; people were dying and starving. Only the Emperor's pockets were happy.
This was a pretty good opportunity for us to come out. No, not that kind of way, you know what I mean. With the Empire and probably other countries losing their power, it's the perfect time for us to emerge as a nation.
Even though we probably have the power to take down a middle-aged army with ease, the public would see us as monsters just like another Blood Moon Apocolypse.
We needed allies who have good reputations amongst the people, which would increase the public's opinion of us.
Many monsters were edible, whereas goblins and trolls apparently tasted just as bad as they looked. I had the spies gather information about territories suffering considerable damages and food shortages but ruled by respectable and honest lords.
I plan to give them food aid; in return, they will declare allegiance to me. This was how I was going to reveal our identity. If several lords join me, the power of the Empire will decrease significantly, but that's if the monsters or their Emperor's greed doesn't destroy it before the plan is put fully into action.
I increased the number of mining drills, additional warehouses, and another food factory with twenty worker units. In terms of ingredients, we only had the meat. Our crops had only just started to sprout, so there were no vegetables except a few crates that we had already stockpiled.
Moving on, I created twenty Bell UH-1 Iroquois, which is a well-known utility helicopter suitable for many different roles, such as ground attacks or logistics transport. It was also known as the Huey.
I also created several M40 Recoilless rifles as our newest weapon against the giant turtles. Our artillery was effective as long as they landed a direct hit, but they weren't consistent. The M40 Recoilless rifles were used as an anti-tank weapon and should deal some damage to the giant turtle.
Wave three eventually came; this time, there were several giant tortoises. They attacked as tanks whilst the monster army of three thousand hid behind them. I began to see a pattern of the monster army, and I was not too fond of it. The newest type of monster were these large boars with decently tough bodies and very fast legs.
For the first time, we suffered casualties. Several units were destroyed by the boars when they rammed into them. Eventually, our outside defence barricade had to be abandoned.
As long as our machine guns focused fire on them, these boars would be ripped into shreds. Third-wave was successfully repelled. I replenished ammunition and replaced the broken units with a few new ones.
My level was now 10, and now I had one thousand two hundred as my unit limit.