The massive spider retreated and disappeared into the dark tunnel. " What was that?"
Viona asked. " One of their leaders I assume. How is Lucy doing?" He asked the warrior who just came back from above.
Next to him was the wood attribute mage, while she wasn't a fighter she was the best healer they had.
So she served as support in battle, he didn't summon her before because he thought the battle would end quicker, with no injuries but he was wrong.
He couldn't see any of the rank 1 spiders except that one. He had expected the spiders to attack them like feral beasts.
However it seemed if they wanted to eliminate the threat they would have to go into the heart of it themselves.
She was going to be needed. " What about ammunition?" He asked. " Lucy and Sam said the bullets will take some more time to create."
He nodded, " I'll go help, Viona, you stay here and guard the tunnel, you're in command." He left her with the other warriors.
He went back up and found them working on bullets. They already created a few hundred bullets.
It wasn't just bullets though, there were over a dozen magazines laying about. Fortunately as an awakened, Sam worked really fast.
The fire was controlled by a flame attribute warrior making things easier. While warriors can't cast spells they can still create basic versions of their elements.
Using his fire and Sam's ability to control metal, they worked as fast as machines, producing bullets almost as fast as an entire factory.
The only thing holding him back was the gunpowder but those with the wind attribute help in drying it up.
With his assistance everything was even faster. They ran out of metal, he sent minors down to mine more.
This time he had them mine copper and zinc as well. They also mined silver and gold while at it.
He sent somebody to bring the already finished bullets to the guard post below then started make bronze.
He melted copper, then added a bit of zinc then stirred mixing then together. Lucy watched him with interest. Then he made new bullets using bronze.
Lucy kept asking questions and he answered all of them. Then a problem arose, they ran out of gunpowder.
Potassium nitrate was not a problem, the bat cave had a lot of it, charcoal could be obtained from the living forest below.
Sulphur is what troubled him, disregarding the fact that the volcanic layer was dangerous.
Finding Sulphur was not easy, however he had no choice. They can't fight that many spiders.
They would run out of mana before they killed all of them. This was the advantage of these guns.
They saved mana and when one runs out of bullets, they can still fight using their mana. He made a clay sledge with metal wheels.
The sledge was still heavy but better than carrying a huge bucket on his back. He planned to get as much sulphur down there as possible in one trip.
Now the issue was who to take with, he couldn't take all of the warriors, they needed to stand guard against the spiders.
' Viona.' he immediately thought of her, he figured the two of them will be enough. They would be faster too.
He called her and told her his plan. He dragged the sledge to the subterranean world.
When they reached the forest layer, they knew immediately it was waiting for them because they found treants waiting.
He immediately threw four clay spheres, Viona shot a flame arrow. The spheres detonated sending a wave of flames.
The treants and the forest caught on fire, Viona and Khali immediately ran without wasting a single moment.
The power behind those bombs could match that of a three or four mana node spell or technique.
The blast radius alone demolished everything within 40 metres before the flames spread in every direction.
He didn't know fire mana stones could enhance the power of gunpowder to that level.
He swore to look for and find more stones down there. They ran through the forest and went to the volcanic layer.
Then started looking for sulphur rocks, the two lizards found him and acted intimately towards him.
He was confused, last time he mind controlled them but this time, they approached him of their own volition, it was strange.
Using them, their search became much easier and faster. He had them sniff a tiny piece of sulphur he had.
Within a few hours, the sledge was full of yellow rock. He also found dozens of fire mana stones.
Finding them when looking for them was not very hard. After that they went back up but the lizards followed them.
" Shoo shoo, go back." He tried to chase them away, the mana above was not suitable for them.
They kept whining and grunting, when he turned around they followed him. He sighed and went up.
Since they were coming along, he hooked the sledge around one of them and had it drag it up.
The beast seemed happy to do it. When they passed the forest layer they collected a lot of charcoal.
The treants ran when they saw them, they finally realised they were not to be messed with.
Even the forest seemed hesitant to attack them, it sent fewer and fewer vines to attack them.
They passed by the bat cave and collected potassium nitrate. Viona went back to her guard duties.
However when she got there she found the situation was not as peaceful. While they didn't lose anyone.
One woman was burnt slightly by acid, the wood attribute mage. Freya was able to easily heal her.
Apparently when she left, the spiders attacked again and the battle had ended when she was about to arrive. When they reported to Khali he realised how intelligent these spiders were.
They knew the two of them were the greatest threat and so attacked when they were gone.
Khali knew that had to change because it wasn't strength that made them dangerous. It was their leadership ability.
He realised this before but without orders, his soldiers just freeze like statues. He needs to teach them to be able to function as effectively even without either he or Viona there.
He sighed, " No rest for the wicked." He went back to creating more bullets but this time, he made other things.
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Note: I might not be able to update this book for the next few days. Sorry