After calling out to her puppy friend, Mo Na promptly turned around with a flap of her wings and sped off to the captives who were currently surrounded by a ring of Winged Abyssal Golems.
“Ruff ruff!”
Cinderel happily barked as she sprinted off into the distance as well.
No.6 was quickly brought before me by the pair and, just like before, he wrung his hands while looking like a shady merchant.
“Master, you called?”
“Mhm, I have something important to discuss with you…”
I briefly recounted what I had just discussed with Nola. Having heard all that, he nodded his head in quick succession, face full of anticipation and enthusiasm. However, all that soon disappeared…
“Master, that plan would work…but…we don’t have enough subordinates…”
His voice was strained, afraid even, as if he was scared that his words would set off my anger. Having just submitted to me, it wasn’t that strange for him to act like this. However, he really did not have to. I wasn’t the kind who couldn’t take criticism, as long as it made sense, I would receive it wholeheartedly and try my best not to commit that same mistake.
“If we really want to protect the Demon Fire Worms…this bit of Devils really isn’t enough. In light of that, I’ve thought of another solution.”
“Another solution?” This time, it wasn’t just No.6 who was intrigued by my declaration, Nola was as well. “What solution?”
“Simply put, because we don’t have enough Devils right now, we can’t create a safe environment for the Demon Fire Worms. But if you look at it from another angle, all they need is a safe environment and not 24/7 protection. So…”
Strictly speaking, the worms only needed an area that sustained their basic needs; they needed no luxuries like entertainment. Furthermore, the biggest difference between those fishes and the worms were that they could walk on land while the fishes couldn’t. With that in mind, I thought of what had to be my most brilliant plan ever…dig a fish pond!
That’s right, we’re digging a fish pond!
Since the worms were technically amphibious and those Flame Devouring Fishes were basically aquatic predators, we simply had to exploit this shortcoming and this whole case wasn’t that hard anymore.
As long as we separated these two species, the fishes would have no way to harm the worms.
Since they couldn’t cross that strip of land between the fish pond and the lava lake…
“This solution of yours is really…” Nola was stunned into silence by my genius. Based on her expression, I could clearly tell that this plan could really work.
“Mama’s the best!” Mo Na flew up to me as always and began furiously kissing me while wrapping her arms around me. At the side, Cinderel happily pawed at my feet while ruffing. On the surface, it seemed like Mo Na was just being affectionate, but each time she did so, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was secretly taking advantage of me…
Having seriously heard my plan, No.6 smacked his thighs before excitedly declaring: “Master, that method is definitely doable, but the scale of work would be huge… Furthermore, I’m not sure if your wish is to create a safe zone for a portion of the Demon Fire Worms or for all of them…”
Upon reaching that last word, No.6’s face started to scrunch up a little. At the end of the day, our lack of manpower was really a headache inducing problem for him.
“It isn’t possible for us to create a safe zone for all the Demon Fire worms, what we can do is to create a zone for some of them to hide in. However, there’s still the matter of their nourishment…” Having said that, I lifted Mo Na, who was still wrapped around my head, up on my shoulders before facing Nola: “Nola, how should we solve the problem of the worms’ nourishment?”
Once the proposed safe zone was established, I had no doubt that the numbers of those worms would explode. When that happened, the amount of food consumed everyday would be frightening. I was dreadfully afraid that those worms who had no choice but to hole up in the fish pond would starve to death then…
Faced with this seemingly difficult problem, Nola had a swift answer for me: “That, is something you don’t have to worry about. As long as they have lava, they can survive.
‘Is that so? Who knew that they were actually so easy to raise.’
Since the worms had to feed on lava to survive, my plan of a sealed fish pond-like environment had to be abandoned then. After all, once the worms entered those ponds, the amount of lava we had to transport everyday would be a momentous task in of itself. Even if our manpower could cope with such a feat, it would still be a huge strain on us.
Finally, we settled on the plan of having the lava flow into the safe zone…in that case, we had to create said flow. However, that would mean that the initial fish pond idea had just turned into a man-made lake. The first issue we would have to tackle then would be how to create a channel between the existing lava lake and what we dug out…
Essentially, our workload had just multiplied since the labor required to dig a man-made lake was clearly more than a pond. Furthermore, this lake would have to have an entrance…in other words, the fishes had access to the safe zone as well…
In order to prevent that, we had to maintain a tight security around the opening. However, in contrast to that behemoth of a task that was initially thrust upon us, guarding this man-made lake was a lot easier…since I knew exactly who would be the perfect guardsmen for this entrance.
“Just start the digging first, from this very spot all the way to the Royal Capital, I want a straight line linking the two…”
My idea was to link the two locations, after which I might consider the idea of a moat as well. Having done all that, I would have the Abyssal Golems stand guard over the entrance! That’s right, you heard me, the Abyssal Golems.
The whole reason why the golems weren’t able to fight in the lake was because it was simply too deep for them to operate. Since the golems were heavy, they would immediately sink to the bottom. However, all that only applied to a natural lake and not this safe zone that was beginning to take shape in my mind. Given that I wanted them to guard the entrance, I clearly had taken into consideration their weakness as well.
The solution was actually just as simple; just make sure the entrance to the man-made lake wasn’t deep enough to drown the golems. As for whether or not the lava flow would be too slow because of this…who ever said that a safe zone had to only have one entrance?
