Ironvine Territory (16)

"So, how does it feel to see this?"

Lenster spoke to Victor with a hint of pride.

Victor stared at the enormous open space inside the cave. The surrounding rock walls were several kilometers in diameter, and the entire cavern covered an area of at least ten square kilometers. The area beneath the mountain was completely hollow. Victor couldn't understand how such a landscape could exist.

Sunlight streamed through the hole above, illuminating the ground where numerous shrubs grew, interspersed with a multitude of colorful flowers, and occasionally, brightly colored birds would flit among them.

The stalactites on the rock face, as white as milk, resemble a giant mirror dome, reflecting the sunlight into a rainbow of colors.

Further ahead, you can see the underground river, its waters gurgling and crystal clear. You can see schools of white fish swimming back and forth. Under the sunlight, the water becomes increasingly blue from the bank to the center, until it reaches the bottomless deep blue of the river.

What greeted Victor's eyes was this dreamlike, colorful, and unique cave ecosystem. He couldn't help but exclaim, "It's incredibly beautiful, far beyond my imagination!"

Lenster also reminisced, "This place is truly beautiful; I fell in love with the scenery the first time I came here."

My ancestor said in a letter that this place must be protected. This huge, silent cavity inside the mountain has a very unique ecosystem, completely different from the river valleys and rocky mountains outside."

Victor nodded in agreement, but then something occurred to him. "But if we use the water from this underground river, won't it destroy this natural landscape?"

Of course, I'm not unaware of what's more important; I just feel it's a bit of a pity.

Lenster then said with a smile, "Please come this way with me, Viscount Victor."

The two men, accompanied by guards, continued deeper into the cavern, advancing along the riverbank until Lenster led them to a vast, deep pool.

The previous riverbed flowed into this pool and did not flow out again. Victor estimated that the entire pool had a surface area of at least two or three square kilometers.

The water here is much deeper, and it looks bluer than the riverbed we just left.

"This pool is located in the center of this cavern. We don't know how deep it is, but based on our years of exploration and speculation, there is an underground river outlet beneath the pool. The water for this plan to flood the enemy will come from here."

Looking at the enormous pool of water, Victor suddenly asked, "How much is the drop between this pool and the plain at the bottom of the valley?"

"At least 200 meters away, this deep pool is located on the mountainside. We dug an underground water channel on the side, which is exactly 10 meters below the pool, directly connecting the pool to the entrance to our cave."

Once the passage and the pool are connected, a large amount of water will rush out from the canal through the hole and flow into the valley. According to our family scholars' calculations, this will be enough to flood the entire valley, leaving only the higher-lying campsite intact.

Moreover, the water in the valley will only last for half a day before being drained out through the low-lying areas Rear Valley.

Initially, we also wanted to build a dam to store water, but the river only looks deep; it's actually only about twenty meters deep. The surrounding area is all rock walls, so there's no shortage of materials. But that would have destroyed the entire cavern.

However, our scholars later proposed a solution: digging tunnels to divert the water from the pool directly out, thus minimizing the impact on the cavity.

That is..."

Lenster abruptly stopped speaking at the last moment, and did not continue.

However, Victor already understood what would happen. "If we do that, the cave we just walked through will be destroyed."

"As expected of Lord Victor, he recognized it at a glance."

Lenster looked disappointed.

"When we were preparing to draw water, the guards inside the cave were all removed, but we also arranged for some assassins to stay here to clear the water pool and tunnel."

Some of them might survive, but having lost their way out, they might never be able to leave again. These were the most loyal and elite soldiers of the Ironvine Territory.

After Lenster finished speaking, Victor noticed that he was a little down, so he patted Lenster on the shoulder.

"Lenster, it's not that we've lost this passage; there may be other ways to get here."

After saying that, Victor pointed to the huge hole above his head. This hole should be located at the top of the rocky mountain. If one climbs to the top, it is not impossible to go down into this hole.

Lenster understood what Victor meant, and he shook his head. "Impossible, this rocky mountain is already too steep, it's simply impossible to climb."

Not to mention that the hollow is at least several hundred meters above the bottom of this cavern; even the toughest Ironvine ropes in our territory would struggle to maintain their strength over such a distance."

"We must believe in the development of the world; there may be other solutions in the future."

Victor said it casually, Lenster took it as Victor trying to comfort him, and simply shook his head.

Victor wasn't talking nonsense; after all, he believed that hot air balloons could do it, and as the hot air balloons in the future territory became more and more advanced, they would definitely be able to penetrate deep into this void.

Suddenly, Victor asked curiously, "How did you manage to dig such a long tunnel in this mountain? Isn't this mountain entirely made of rock?"

"Of course there is a special way to do this, and it is also a coincidence. A special kind of beast lives in this mountain range. It likes to burrow into the rocks and can stand up to be more than a person tall. We call it the Mountain-Piercing Beast."

This beast has a tough coat of scales, making it quite difficult to deal with. Fortunately, it feeds on plants and is not particularly ferocious.

Later, our family discovered that this beast liked to eat sweet things, so we bought a lot of Gray Sugar to capture and tame it, and soon we had a batch.

With them, digging holes becomes very easy. They only need to dig holes on the orders of our animal trainers. Food and Gray Sugar are prepared for them, but you need to prepare a lot of food.

Later, when the burrows were almost completely dug out, they simply released them, since the cost of keeping them was too high."

Victor was curious about what this Mountain-Piercing Beast looked like, and whether it resembled a pangolin. However, as Lenster had said, it had already been released, so he would only have another chance to see it.

Having reviewed the core of the operational plan, Victor didn't intend to stay long; he still had some work to do.

So the two men led their men out of the cave. Just as they were leaving, Victor noticed that most of the guards had also left with them.

"We've left only a small squad of soldiers to clear the tunnel; the rest of the troops have to withdraw, since they are the territory's elite."

Back at the camp in the valley, Victor got busy. He found Foss and Marvin; their troops had moved into the camp on the left and were now changing clothes.

After all, the enemy is unaware that Victor has brought troops to provide support, so it's better to keep it a secret and make the plan easier to implement.

When Victor arrived, he saw a large number of soldiers in the center of the camp, taking off their armor and putting on another set of rattan armor, which was characteristic of the Southern Region.

At this moment, Marvin and Foss also learned of Victor's arrival and quickly ran over to report to the lord.

"Your Excellency, you've arrived." x2

Victor nodded to the two of them, then picked up a piece of rattan armor and examined it closely. The armor was made of black rattan and coated with a thick layer of lacquer.

It wasn't very heavy in my hand, at least 5 pounds lighter than the standard two-piece armor of the Two Rivers Territory, and it felt very breathable. It was more suitable for the hot and humid climate here than the standard armor of the Two Rivers Territory, at least judging from the expressions on the faces of the soldiers who had changed into their armor, they didn't seem to mind.

"Is the equipment we've given you enough? If not, we can ask Viscount Ferry and the others for more. This kind of rattan armor is nothing to Ironvine Territory."

"That's enough. We received 1,500 orders of rattan armor this time, enough for the first three detachments to change into. It'll completely conceal our identities, and besides, everyone prefers their own armor."

After Marvin finished speaking, he picked up a rattan armor and slapped it loudly. "Although this rattan armor is lightweight, its protection is still not as good as our armor. For everyone, the extra few pounds of weight is nothing. What matters is that it can save our lives."