With a series of cracking reports, a giant tree toppled over.
The one that had done it was a massive bulldozer built by <The Tree>.
In addition to its tracks, it had two large rear legs, giving it extra bracing power when shoving obstacles out of the way.
Then a thick branch slammed into its flank.
The thunderous crash of metal colliding with something hard echoed through the forest.
But the bulldozer, protected by composite armor combining high-tensile steel, ceramics, and polymer materials such as aramid fiber, was not even scratched.
Pivoting in place, the bulldozer spun on the spot and smashed its front dozer blade into the pseudo-greenwood treant that had attacked it.
Hit by a lump of metal weighing several tons, the treant could not resist it and snapped in half.
Perhaps the damage had simply been too severe, because the tree-type monster fell silent without even managing much of a struggle.
“So at this size, treants aren’t really a problem.”
“Yes, Big Sister! If it’s only a moderately enhanced monster, we can just crush it with mass!”
The machines currently being used to develop the <Demon Forest> were giant bulldozers roughly ten meters long.
There were many other kinds of civil-engineering machines deployed as well.
And every last one of them was covered in tough composite armor.
Because the front lines were always attacked by monsters, most of the automated machines had been heavily armored so they would not be destroyed by minor attacks.
“...Big Sis. The mass-production system... for the development force... is ready now...”
“Oh? Really? Well done.”
Patting Olive on the head as she basked in the praise, Eve zoomed in on the tactical map.
At the massive rear base built in Holy Capital Staritsa of the Prava Divine Kingdom, large numbers of automated machines were being produced.
And in the enormous warehouses built there as well, food and daily necessities such as molded cooking fuel were steadily being stockpiled.
“Hm. The food’s being produced around there too, right?”
“<Iris>?”
At Eve’s question, <Ringo> helpfully passed it along to the local Strategic AI, <Iris>.
“Yes, Big Sister. Agricultural production is being carried out inside the Prava Divine Kingdom as well. But most of it is still being shipped by sea from the United Kingdom of Aphrasia. Even at the fastest, agricultural products require more than a month before harvest.”
“Oh, right. It’s only been about a month since pacification ended.”
“In another two months, we are scheduled to be able to produce the required amount entirely within the Prava Divine Kingdom.”
Synthetic nitrogen oxides, chemical fertilizers made from mined phosphorus and potassium, and a wide range of soil amendments were all being poured into the farmland of the Prava Divine Kingdom, which was in the middle of a massive overhaul.
Even so, that did not mean plant growth itself would improve dramatically overnight.
The amount of arable land was also being expanded by cultivation machinery, but that too had to be done alongside irrigation, so it required a fair amount of time.
Unlike the United Kingdom of Aphrasia, digging underground in the Prava Divine Kingdom did not necessarily mean groundwater would spring up.
That meant water had to be carried from its source all the way to the farmland.
Of course, they could solve that problem all at once by throwing in huge numbers of civil-engineering machines.
But since there was no actual food shortage, the project had simply been left to the local population.
“The temporary rail line has also been laid on schedule. Construction on the standard railway has begun as well. The first stage of development inside the Prava Divine Kingdom will be complete in another month.”
Rail transport had also made it possible to move goods from the rear base to the front in high volume and at high speed.
For the moment, it was only a crude line with questionable paving, but a major rail route was already under construction alongside it.
And because a road directly linking the base and the front now existed, wired energy supply had become possible as well.
At present, they were transmitting enough energy to run all automated machines at full capacity.
If they installed an energy reactor on site and it were destroyed, there was a risk that the entire automated force would be rendered helpless.
Of course, having a backup reactor prepared would have been more reassuring.
But regular use of an energy reactor—something that generated noise, extreme heat, and all manner of electromagnetic emissions while running—was not permitted, because it could invite unforeseen disaster.
“...Hm? Hostile contact?”
Eve had been scrolling through the tactical map when a little alert message popped up, drawing her attention.
“Big Sister. A battle has broken out on the front line with a boar-type monster.”
“Oh?”
<Iris> judged that Eve had taken an interest and sent over the front-line footage.
In the overhead view, a giant boar was shown charging straight at the lead bulldozer.
“That is most likely a Forest Boar! About six meters long, I’d say!”
With a thunderous bellow, the Forest Boar slammed head-on into the bulldozer’s blade. The roar of metal deforming shook the forest, and the bulldozer’s status shifted to yellow damage.
“Dozer blade damaged. Blade support assembly damaged. Shock-absorption system destroyed. The onboard AI reports damage levels remain within acceptable range.”
“Mm. Still incredibly dramatic. Which one is this now?”
“This makes the fourth Forest Boar.”
Since they had begun the project of cutting a road through the forest, this was now their third battle with this class of large monster. They had struggled quite badly during the first encounter, but by now, they could handle it with little trouble.
“Oh, there’s the main act.”
As Eve watched through the footage, a figure leaped up onto the bulldozer, which had ground to a halt after the head-on collision.
It was a member of the Chimiya Family, stationed there as an escort.
Facing the raging Forest Boar right in front of him, he leveled the short spear in his hand.
The Forest Boar had driven its two lower tusks into the dozer blade and was struggling to flip it upward.
But the dozer blade was a solid mass of metal. By itself it weighed more than three tons, and at the moment it was still attached to the bulldozer proper.
The retention mechanism had failed from the impact, but after the collision it had been locked to the main body again, turning it into a trap that restrained the Forest Boar.
No matter how huge it was, no matter how much its strength was enhanced by fantasy-magic nonsense, it apparently could ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) not do anything about an object weighing close to a hundred tons on the spot.
Even so, for it to hurl itself into a solid block of metal like this at full force and come away uninjured really did make it a monster.
“There it is! Penetrating Prongit!”
The Chimiya Family fighter thrust out the short spear he had readied, together with a shout.
His target was presumably the hardest part of the Forest Boar’s body—its frontal skull. And behind that shield of thick cranial bone lay its weak point: the cerebrum, its thinking center.
Using the technique called Prongit, the short spear punched unerringly through the front of the skull. Its brain destroyed, the Forest Boar rolled up its eyes and fell still.
“Getting rid of them has gotten a lot easier...”
“It seems magic works really well against monsters reinforced by magic! That said, being able to punch through the skull of a Forest Boar this size still apparently takes an absurd amount of training!”
Asahi explained that with obvious delight.
And she was right. Even setting aside whatever mysterious fantasy-world power might be reinforcing it, piercing the massive skull of a six-meter boar with a spear was not something any ordinary skill could accomplish.
“With the Chimiya Family taking part, our monster extermination speed has increased. We can attach multi-legged tanks as escorts to the development force itself, but that was difficult for the reconnaissance units. Their attrition rate has dropped to less than one-tenth.”
By incorporating the Chimiya Family as fighting power, they had gained the ability to exterminate comparatively small monsters quickly.
Even black monkeys that attacked in packs could now be surrounded and wiped out by strength and agility surpassing theirs.
The problem was simply that there were not many Chimiya Family teams with that level of skill.
“Well, if we specialize in just making roads, numbers aren’t a problem.”
“At the very least, we estimate that security can be left to the Chimiya Family for advances of up to around ten kilometers.”
Once they could build proper roads and facilities, fixed-gun emplacements would become viable as well.
And using those as footholds, they would likely be able to push their controlled territory still farther.
