Chapter 48: A Rare One from Eleanor

Remember that a dormant volcano is not an extinct one, it is just a volcano that did not erupted for the past 10,000 years but is still expected to erupt in the future, furthermore, the signs of the eruption are just really sudden, it can be that you are happily strolling inside this place and the next day there is an increased earthquake activity within the area of the volcano and then the next day the magma underneath will start to rise up and so on and so forth, I am sure these people will die just with that.

They are immune to fire, but not to magma, that's two different things.

So when I saw this place and how these monkeys are quite literally living in a ticking time bomb, I immediately planned to find a permanent way to clog up the magma in here, like I said it's a fantasy world so I'm sure there is a way to even use impure world resurrection, I mean I probably can use it, just needs some practice. Going back to the topic at hand, the good thing about this idea is that, it aligns with my goals of creating a city within (and outside) the volcano, so even before knowing that these primates are going underneath a magma chamber to get these metals, my thoughts has been in the idea to completely seal off that chamber, now I just have to make it so that the metal deposits will not be affected by it.

Well, before all of that though, we still have a defensive war we have to fight and it is not an easy peasy matter because I am not used to being on the defensive side, I always go for the offensive you see (Author: She is a top), so what I have been thinking is to how to smash them to pieces even though a defense aims to just drive them away, so I just made that thinking be my main point of defense.

Hmmm, even so, the most troublesome are the goblins and the orcs, first of all, the goblins have the number, plus they will be brainwashed so that means they will get the berserker buff and will make all of them as strong as a goblin chief, and then there are the orcs that are already strong as it is and are just weak because they are shitheads, but then, that also means they have good battle instincts that they are using instead pf actual intelligence, so basically their strength will not be hindered by the brainwashing because they don't think to fight, actually the brainwashing is quite the upgrade for them if you think about it.

But still, even though I am quite uneasy because of my lack of experience or knowledge about defending (the Chinese warring states period are my references in my strategies and I don't read defensive heroism that often), I will still do it, I have Ellie to help me after all, and also a vow that I have to fulfill.

A vow that I made unconsciously the moment I made Philo that almost caused my life in the wolf invasion, a vow that I may found cheesy when I am still Emilio, but is now the perfect representation of my drive to live.

_I will protect my people, even if that means flipping the world upside down._

This promise will start by razing the Five-Pronged forest to the ground.

"Gotta prepare for that child, though."

[3rd Person POV]

Sophia is serious about her words, she even gave up her pride just to properly defend her two bases.

The reason is simple, her number is too short to defend and attack at the same time, so she has to choose between the two options and build up her strategies with her choice, she also considered that the only member of the alliance that needs a proper food base is the bat queen because she's responsible for the brainwashed army of goblins and orcs.

The rest decided to all go their ways, The mantises and the Oni and his ogres decided to attack the volcano directly, and according to Arachne's intelligence, the owner of the third layer will be attacking Sophia personally.

All of these factors will directly make Sophia defend with her mightiest warriors without a second thought, after all, she is not being underestimated already.

That was also the reason why all of the leaders involved in the alliance were preparing extensively against her, or at least most of them.

In the airspace of the five-pronged forest.

Five pink-colored bats flew up and down repeatedly as if performing an absurd yet majestic mating dance, everytime they descended, they would shout a certain rhythm that they invented specially for goblins and orcs that are the aim of their weird "aerial show", the bats are low in number, that's why they intended from the start to create an army of brainwashed unnamed goblins and orcs, they cannot choose other species that are at least not as intelligent as an orc because controlling them requires direct mental link between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized, and that is not quite ideal because they all are planning to directly join the battle.

They cannot also brainwash the named people of Sophia, doing so will compromise the numbers of their army, Actually if they tried to, the fighting force that can be gathered is just a hundred, that kind of number is just a mob and not an army anymore. At first, it might sound good in terms of ego bloating to defeat an army of a hero prospect with just that number, but reality will not lean toward this delusional thinking.

There will be no one that will defend the backlines in which the command center is, and because they also have to concentrate to maintain control over thousands of soldiers, it is not an option.

One must note that Arachne did not mention her children in the meeting, so the bats did not consider their existence. Thus they gave up their little desire to bloat their ego and decided to do the most practical thing to survive.

The five pink bats continued to flip goblin villages upside down and raid orc settlements again and again, with only one thing in their minds, the community-type monsters must win this war, for this is their only chance to retain their lives.

While they are doing this, Eleanor is watching them making a weird aerial show, unlike Sophia, she cannot have a "Live Feed" of what they are exactly doing but given the roars of monsters every time they dive, it is apparent that the Illusory bats are capturing monsters to put up an army.

_Apparently, they are brainwashing orcs and goblins to create a People Sea Tactic using them._

Eleanor remembered what Arachne had said, but was still quite shocked because she couldn't hear the shouts of the pink bats that were supposed to be the source of their illusions.

"Hey, Mr. Goblin, can you hear something coming from those bats?"

Eleanor asked a goblin who was opening the containers of the remaining landmines that failed to see action in the war against monkeys. The goblin flinched, not expecting to be able to hold a conversation with the temporary commander when he was not even a true soldier and just a volunteer

The settlement lacked military personnel so they resorted to the civilians, of course, because of their "Debt of New Life" to their Hara Sophia, and almost all of them agreed.

With a somewhat low voice, the goblin answered.

"Like what, Commander Eleanor?"

Eleanor replied, She stared once again at the acrobatics of the Pink Colored Bats.

"A song? Or a sound, perhaps? Anything other than their flapping wings?"

The goblin in question is confused, but given that he was asked a question, a bizarre one at that, it may be something of importance to the upcoming war, thus he closes his eyes and focuses his attention on his ears as much as possible, after a while, he shook his head and then answered.

"I cannot seem to hear anything, Commander."

Eleanor nodded, She then turned to her shoulder in which a spider was currently standing.

"It seems like they can't control the named goblins, Lady Arachne."

Eleanor said to which the spider replied: "I see, Well they said that it is for goblins, but it seems like goblins who are as intelligent as humans are not included, huh?"

The actual matter they are discussing is the possibility of the goblins of the settlement running amok when the bats start singing their unique rhythm that even Eleanor cannot hear.

Arachne already confirmed the inability of the bats to do so, after all the goblins became human with higher physical strength and green skin the moment they got named, and as the current bats are doing, they cannot create a unique symphony for beings as intelligent as humans if they can, then Arachne would already become their pawn. But it seems like Eleanor is not that confident with her judgement so she still made wooden earplugs for the goblins and moneys alike.

"Well, like I told you, but you can still get going with that cork of yours, After all, it's better safe than sorry."

"You're right, you're right."

Eleanor replied while nodding her head.

"By the way Arachne, do you know any characteristics of the pink bats?"

Arachne, or Arachne's spider nodded.

"I do."

Eleanor then started walking towards her lab that also served as her command office, she couldn't just go towards the "office" of Sophia after all.

"The thing is, what I am planning is to create a defense line as a diversion and have my strongest individuals to attack the bats, but, even though I know that they cannot control named goblins, I cannot specifically call that a weakness so..."

Eleanor then made a tablet out of magic and sat on her table, thinking about how she prepared her bait.

All in all, she prepared or is currently preparing a defense line consisting of earth traps made by herself as well as landmines sprawled all over the vicinity of the place of the settlement that is directly facing the lair of Arachne, after which she also arranged the heavy cavalry for the last line of defense, the light cavalry for pincer and guerilla warfare whilst the archers are specifically hidden because they will be part of the main aim of the diversion.

The bats also can be seen scouting through the air at night and Eleanor made no effort to conceal her preparations to conceal her real intentions, the problem is that she is too weak, or well to be honest too scared to observe the bats in close proximity, after all, even though she can fight, she spent most of her time healing the wounded rather than wounding someone herself, so it is understandable.

Arachne is also aware of that and is even quite impressed by how level-headed Eleanor is, after it is an obvious secret that Eleanor has feelings toward the Lady of the settlement, and normal people will try to brag about their loved one by doing everything by themselves, yet Eleanor became the more rational person and asked for help.

That or Eleanor wants to brag about a flawless victory rather than a hard-fought one. Arachne had this thought as she answered while making her spider jump to the table, It is quite uncomfortable to sit on a shoulder after all.

"Well, they are big but have high aerial mobility, they are blind but can use echolocation, but because they are blind they use normal sound to locate things, normal bats are not blind after all, continuing, they are not too strategically sound, that is all."

Eleanor then pondered whilst listing all of the characteristics of the pink bats, it is also mentioned by Arachne that to activate illusions or brainwash someone, they have to sin, basically implying that their echolocation is the one that needed sounds audible for everyone and not some frequency that cannot be heard by humans.

Eleanor asked this question to confirm her hypothesis.

"Say, are their echolocation uses infrasonic sounds?"

Arachne's spider then shook its head.

"No, they will click their tongue or clap their oversized ears together to perceive solid things and others."

At this moment, Eleanor made a rarely-seen grin that made Arachne shocked.

"I see, that would be all, I will just contact you if I need anything."

Eleanor immediately went out of her lab and inside of the settlement to hurl new orders leaving Arachne who is observing her through the spider, stunned.

"That side of her... Is rather rare..."