章節 92: Vespasian's plan
I repeatedly stab one of the soldiers without regard for my own well-being. I had been trying to fight four groups of soldiers simultaneously and that was way too exhausting. Finally Navi told me that we would be pulled out and get to meet emperor Vespasian.
Dying is almost a relief if it weren't for the pain that always comes along with it. Still, I feel like my abilities have improved since the time I was reborn. I can feel the difference during battle even without looking at my status and skills.
<You've definitely become stronger. A lot has been going on lately so you haven't been involved in many ordinary fights but I'm sure you would easily be able to hold your own at this point. Not to mention your instructing skill.>
I don't know about that. The skill doesn't have any use in combat. I tried to influence some soldiers but there was no effect.
<Sometimes you are quite dense. The potential of that skill doesn't lie in its direct combat use but in powering up your allies. Didn't you notice that the kobaloi picked up some weapons?>
Please call them skull goblins. And isn't it normal to pick up the enemies' weapons?
<There have been cases of... skull goblins doing so but those were rare and individual cases. We've never observed them arming themselves on this scale.>
I feel gravity come back and find myself standing in a marble-floored movie theater. Who designed this? Marble in a movie theater?!!
"Hi there, glad you could make it. I'm Vespasian, the master of this dungeon. I just want to say, I love those fortifications you set up around your goblin camp. Did you model them after Caesar's writing?"
A short but very chubby man excitedly walks towards me and starts vigorously shaking my hand. The thing he is wearing looks like a tangled white bed sheet but I remember Quinn telling me that this is called a toga.
"Those fortifications were based on what my daughter told me about how ancient Romans defended their camps. I'm not sure if they are modeled after this Caesar."
"Sigh, and here I was hoping to meet another enthusiast of the greatest culture to have ever existed. Still, I suppose I will have to settle for knowing that you are the father of a great enthusiast."
This dude is weird. And worst of all he gives of the same air as Quinn when he is talking about the ancient Romans. I don't want her to end up like that!
Despite my negative feelings towards Vespasian, I shake his hand and try to smile. He's indirectly my employer so I need to act professionally.
"Moving on, take a seat wherever you like. It's time to see my plan come to fruition."
With a wave of Vespasian's hand, the screen comes to life and displays the swampy terrain within the 17th colosseum. The cyclops that is being protected by the Spartans and Amazons is currently retreating along with his escorts under the continued attack of a whole army.
That army consists of more than a thousand people. I can see elven scouts, human soldiers, mages, adventurers and I think those are dwarves mixed in at the corner over there. They are all ferociously roaring and assaulting the cyclops with everything they have.
"Funny isn't it. They managed to rally this much strength thinking they could stop our counterattack. They are hoping to break our troop morale and retake the eighteenth floor and bunker down there."
"Do your undead legions even have troop morale?"
"Not really, but so far whenever they suffered a crushing defeat I had them retreat as if they did. The enemy commanders must have gotten the wrong idea."
I get it now. He's toying with them. He has been leading them by the nose this whole time.
"Still, won't taking this floor will be hard? Quinn once mentioned that the dense forests and swamps of Germania were the legions' bane."
"True, the legions fight best when they are on a flat surface where they can fully utilize their maneuvers and teamwork. However, when did I ever say that I was planning to send them into a swamp or forest? Do you know what name I gave this colosseum?"
"I'd imagine something related to a swamp or forest?"
"No. I call this one 'scorched wasteland in progress'. And the reason for that is about to become very clear."
My eyes dart back to the screen where the cyclops has been pushed back all the way to the end of the floor. Behind it is the gate leading to the eighteenth floor. The humans are cheering, already certain of their victory.
The cyclops is riddled with wounds but he smiles brightly as he pulls out a flaming orb and chucks it at the attackers.
The soldier closest to the orb strikes it with his sword out of reflex and the orb is shattered. A rain of sparks gushes out of the shattered orb and touches the muddy floor.
"You know, swampy places make for astonishingly good forest fires. From what I heard it's because of peat, some carbon-rich turf. However, that wouldn't work well enough. So I added crude oil to the swamp water, released some easily flammable marsh gases, and specifically went out of my way to bury a few tones of TNT spread all over the place."
Vespasian's words barely register in my brain as the sparks touch the muddy water and it bursts into flames. The fire spreads quickly and sends the humans, elves, and dwarves retreating back in terror. Before they can even get a chance to regain their bearings an explosion sounds and some of them die with incomplete corpses. The explosion sends burning debris everywhere and the inferno grows. Screams echo from the movie theater's speakers while being occasionally interrupted by the roars of the exploding TNT. The entire floor has been turned into an internal hell!
Vespasian truly is a different kind of crazy.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
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