Chapter 309

All eleven of us were walking through the forest together. Once we managed to get to the tree line of this island, it didn't take long for us to lose the rest of the banshees. Our ability to easily navigate the trees, paired with Raya's illusions, made it impossible for them to follow once we had gone deep enough. It had become clear to everyone by now that Raya's empowered illusion magic has saved our asses several times over. Our largest concern going forward would be fighting in midair, rather than having somewhere safe to escape to, since Raya's illusions have been so reliable.

While each island has had safe places to hide so far, the gaps between the giant pillars the islands sat atop were going to increase in danger as we got closer to the center of the dungeon. As strong as Kal'daeryn was in close quarters even without a weapon, she was nearly useless from range. Our shortcomings had been noticeable when we were protecting Traehall's wall, but now that we were having to fight in midair, it was becoming even more grossly apparent.

"Do you think you could throw javelins, Kal'daeryn?" Silva asked the tiger woman.

"I haven't tried, but it might be easier than trying to learn a bow," she admitted.

Torien sighed. "Even for me, using a bow while flying was difficult. It was hard to adjust to not having my feet well planted for each shot. One of the first things I had ever been taught about firing a bow was to shoot from stable ground whenever possible."

"It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many of them. Fighting one monster, even a large one, would be easier if there weren't thousands of them," Lori said.

Silva nodded. "There's the issue of mana as well. It takes a lot for me to maintain the wings on myself. I don't have a lot of mana to spare for thinning out an endless flying horde, though my new spear helps. I think I could use some javelins as well."

I looked around. "There's a lot of trees here. It might draw attention to chop one down, but even one of these trees would create a lot of wood for javelins and arrows."

"Do we have time for that?" Nelly asked nervously.

Silva shrugged. "It doesn't matter how long this takes if the alternative is dying. Getting to this island quickly enough to avoid fighting in the air was more luck than good planning. The next time we might get caught sooner, or we may have fewer places to hide once we land."

"It's not like we could kill the entire horde anyway. Our focus should be on slowing them down, not killing them at all," Sibyl added.

"Did you have something in mind?" I asked.

Sibyl nodded. "Maybe instead of weapons to kill them, we should be focusing on making something to give us some more breathing room. Like peppersmoke or something."

"Peppersmoke could work," Silva acknowledged.

"What's peppersmoke? Something like tear gas?" I asked.

Torien snorted. "That's a silly name for it, but yes, something like that. You can make bombs that explode into smoke that blocks vision and irritates the senses. The only reason it's not used more often is because it's expensive to make and you usually need a good alchemist."

"Or a good cook," Sibyl said. "I know how to make the mundane version of peppersmoke. I don't really know how to make bombs from it, though."

"I know how to make it into bombs," Lori said.

"Do we have the ingredients for it?" I asked.

"I might be able to grow some pepper from the spices that Mimi is carrying," Bella suggested.

I scratched the base of my horn. "Would we be able to do that in a reasonable amount of time?"

Bella nodded. "I could use my nature magic to speed up the growing process, but it would take a few bells to get the fruit."

"We would also have to dry them and process them into bombs, which might take a while," Sibyl added.

Morrigan tapped her chin. "I think I could help speed up the drying process. It would just require heat and removing moisture."

I pursed my lips. "This sounds like it would take just as long, or longer, than to make javelins. Should we camp here and work on both projects?"

"Javelins would be appreciated. I would feel better if I had a weapon I could use during our flights," Kal'daeryn said.

I nodded. "Okay, then let's split up into two groups. One to make the javelins and spare arrows, one to work on the peppersmoke bombs. Torien, Silva, Kal'daeryn, and Mimi, you help me with cutting down and preparing the javelins and arrows. Sibyl, Lori, Bella, and Morrigan, you work on the peppersmoke bombs. Raya and Nelly, you two set up camp. We'll plan to leave once all of us have gotten some rest. It doesn't seem like this dungeon has a night cycle, so we'll get moving again once everyone's had a couple of bells to relax."

We all split up and got to work. The first thing we needed to worry about was chopping down one of the trees without drawing too many banshees with the noise. There wasn't really too much we could do about that, so instead, we just prepared to fight them when they came to attack us. A majority of the banshees were trying to leave the dungeon. The only ones that would fight us were the ones that happened to still be nearby after chasing us earlier.

Mimi handed me a wood axe that she had kept in her pocket dimension as part of her camping supplies. The three of us would be taking turns chopping down one of these trees with our higher strength stats, while Torien looked for something that could be used as fletching, and Mimi kept watch. Silva had the most experience actually using real javelins, so she knew what they should look like once we got to that step. It was lucky Mimi had kept so many different bits and bobs as we've gone along, because it meant that we actually had sandpaper and some woodworking tools. I had no idea when she picked those up, but I wasn't complaining. I only hoped she didn't steal them while I wasn't looking. It wasn't as if she didn't have some of her own money.

I wasn't even winded after twenty minutes of chopping. The strength and endurance stats I had gained made something like this much easier than it would have been in my previous life, not that I really remembered what it was like. For all I knew, I could have been a hyper-muscular person, but I really doubted that. More to give someone else a chance to chop than because I was actually tired, I handed the axe off to Kal'daeryn and sat down next to Mimi to keep watch with her. Despite the rather intimidatingly large tree, we finished cutting it down in less than a bell.

"Six banshees are coming," Mimi told us.

The flying demons tried to swoop down at us through the trees, but their awkward diving attacks were quickly ended with the four of us working together. I was relieved that so few of them decided to investigate. Mimi quickly ate the corpses as well, since they were a good source of mana for her. Her storage was quickly increasing in size, even if she had to be careful to balance her capacity with her mana use. Anything she didn't use directly, she could store for later though, so the little glutton was happy to clean up for us.

Off in the distance, I could see the nature mana leaking into the nearby plants. They must have finished finding or making some viable seeds from the dried peppers she had, and they were onto the growing phase. I turned away from what they were doing while I worked on cutting the log into shorter lengths, while Silva worked on whittling the first example for us to follow. Unfortunately, we were also going to need a mage's help to dry and treat the wood properly, something I hadn't thought of until Silva mentioned it. Luckily, Morrigan was happy to help while she waited for Bella to finish growing the peppers for their project.

Hours passed as I shaped countless throwing spears and arrows made from wood. There was a huge pile going, and the only reason we hadn't already stopped was because Mimi would be able to hold onto the excess javelins and arrows once we were finished. We didn't really have anything to make a wood sealant, so we were just going to sand down the shafts to avoid splinters. Torien told me that most wood sealants were made from wax and oil, but we didn't have any wax available, even if we could use something like tree sap as a substitute for oil. They were going to be disposable anyway, so we weren't really worried about how nice they would be. The only one who was grumbling about this was Torien, even if she couldn't really argue with our logic. We were just using these in a pinch.

After tossing another javelin onto the pile that I had long since stopped counting, I decided to check on the others to see how things were coming along on their end. Before I could even get close, I could smell the strong scent of pepper in the air. I made a point to come from a different direction so that I wouldn't be downwind of the stuff. It was pretty noxious.

Sibyl looked up from the pot she was mixing when I came over. "Hey, Lilith. Checking up on us?"

"Yep. How's it coming?" I asked.

Sibyl nodded and looked back down into the pot. "I don't think the pepper Bella grew would taste any good, but this will be more than sufficient for peppersmoke. Pepper is the most expensive part of the recipe, but Bella was able to make the other ingredients we need for it too. Lorriene has been working on the bomb shells, but this is only the first batch, so we won't be able to test them until I finish this up. Drying the ingredients took a bit longer than I was hoping. How about you? How are the javelins going?"

I sighed. "I've made over three dozen of them, but it's already gotten boring. We might have a couple hundred at the pace that you guys are going."

Sibyl laughed. "Well, better get back to it, then!"

I groaned exaggeratedly before walking through the forest back to my pile of javelins, arrow shafts, and wood shavings. Silva and Kal'daeryn weren't enthusiastic about the work anymore either, but they appreciated the update I gave them on the other group once I got back to work. Any hope that we would finish this up anytime soon was dashed.

We didn't really need sleep, but mental exhaustion started to compound after a while, especially after fighting as many battles as we have within the last few days. The rest would be helpful, even if it did slow us down. Traehall was already in better shape than when we first arrived. I'm sure they could hold out a bit longer. It would be worse for them if we failed because we weren't ready for the upcoming fight.

("Lilith, we're going to test the first of the bombs. Do you guys want to watch?") Morrigan asked me through the bond.

I jumped to my feet. "Let's take a break! They're about to set off the first of the peppersmoke bombs to test them."

The others didn't argue. Once Mimi scooped up the piles of javelins and arrows we had already finished, we headed over to the edge of the forest Morrigan had indicated through the bond. Everyone was waiting for us while looking pretty excited. Lori was off at a distance from the rest of us, holding one of the prepared bombs.

Morrigan turned in Lori's direction and chuckled. "She wanted to be the one to test it. She said she didn't want to put anyone else at risk in case of a misfire, but I could feel how excited she was to set the first one off."

I laughed with her as Lori excitedly waved at us from just outside the tree line. None of the banshees should spot us from this angle, and she wanted to throw the bomb off the side of the cliff.

"How are these bombs made? Black powder?" I asked.

Morrigan shook her head. "I'm not sure, some kind of enchanted shell. Lori isn't much of an enchanter, but she apparently knows enough to make bombs..."

What was left unsaid was that this was likely a remnant of her life as an assassin. Explosives aren't as widely used here as they had been in my previous world, but there also hadn't been any magic fireballs over there. At least to my knowledge.

"She's starting!" Torien said excitedly.

Lori lit the fuse and then tossed the bomb far off the edge of the pillar. A much larger explosion than I had anticipated created a giant cloud of black smoke. After seeing one of these bombs in action, I now think they'll be a lot more effective than I had anticipated. Even from here, my sharp nose picked up the scent of pepper.

Sibyl whistled. "This is going to be fun. I hadn't expected Lori's bombs to work this well when I suggested it."

I laughed. "Come on, we're not finished preparing yet. Time to get back to work."

The twins ran over to Lori, who excitedly pointed at the giant cloud of smoke. I shook my head as I walked back to our felled tree. Just a few dozen more to go.