For all these reasons, the absurd proposal to pack Shrek City's interior with rare metal—as if tiling both banks of a river—ultimately received unanimous approval from the Elders.
Maybe some fools really would come attack Shrek City, right?
"Star Dou Forest is flexing its muscles at Shrek, at the entire Human World."
"What, with the continent's situation in turmoil, do they want to get a share of the pie too?"
Inside Shrek City's walls, in a space as large as a conference hall, some of the supplies previously stored there had been moved away. In their place stood all manner of glowing giant screens. The deployment of over a hundred High-Altitude Detectors allowed them to survey the entire Star Dou Forest at a glance.
There was not enough space in the Sea God Pavilion to house all this equipment directly. Thus, this supply depot within Shrek City's south wall had become Shrek Academy's de facto headquarters.
Since nearly everyone present was one of Shrek's senior pavilion elders, no one feared that the headquarters outside would be wiped out in one fell swoop. As a result, no one there was truly worried about that possibility.
Old Song, for instance, had all her attention fixed on the Beast Tide as she watched the images on the display screens.
On the distant horizon, muffled thunder rumbled. The sky outside was darkening at an astonishing speed.
From Shrek City's ramparts, they could only vaguely make out a dark line along the horizon. But in the headquarters, where the High-Altitude Detectors transmitted real-time images, the scene was perfectly clear.
At that moment, the northern part of Star Dou Forest was darkening, and it was doing so rapidly. Yet there was clearly something unnatural about it.
If it were merely a change in weather, dark clouds