I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 432 Poisonous
The bulldozer plan began quickly. After the meeting, the impatient warband leaders returned to their respective territories, mobilized their warband players, and in groups, carrying axes and saws, left the camp and headed for the nearest trees.

……

Deep in the swamp, damp miasma, like a solidified curtain, shrouded the twisted trees and tangled vines.

Last night's crushing defeat, like an unhealed wound, burned the nerves of every surviving snake-man.

The air was still thick with the stench of blood and the putrid smell of their comrades' corpses, mixed with the acrid odor of lingering gunpowder, reminding them of the catastrophe that felt like divine retribution.

Some snake-man warriors, responsible for perimeter security and roaming around, dragged their weary and frightened bodies as they meandered through the dense swampy forest near the edge of the human camp.

Their upright pupils vigilantly scanned the direction of the human camp, their scales opening and closing slightly in the damp, cold air, catching any signs of danger.

Suddenly, a new, never-before-seen sound broke the deathly silence of the swamp.

The sound didn't come from the cannon, but it carried a different kind of continuous, mechanical, terrifying rhythm that made the snake-man's scales stand on end.

A young snake-man warrior, his scales still bearing the marks of the barbed wire he had scraped the night before, carefully climbed to the top of a huge, moss-covered dead tree. Under the cover of the dense foliage, he peered toward the source of the sound.

Its cold, vertical pupils instantly contracted into a thin line, reflecting a scene that made its very soul tremble.

At the edge of the swamp, the once lush woodland that served as a barrier connecting their homes was now disappearing at an alarming rate, as if being devoured by an invisible behemoth.

Countless human soldiers dressed in brightly colored and bizarre outfits were wielding huge, gleaming iron weapons as they moved through the forest.

After watching for only a short while, it knew that humans were logging trees, and doing so with exceptional efficiency. In just a short time, more than a dozen large trees fell with the groans of breaking wood fibers.

"Hiss... hiss? (What... what are they doing?)"

The young snake-man warrior let out a low hiss of confusion and fear.

It's somewhat incomprehensible.

The forest is part of the swamp, a natural barrier, and a place for them to sneak and hunt.

Why are these humans cutting down these trees like madmen? Is it for timber?
But the speed and manner in which they obtained the timber was almost like they were clearing a site.
It saw the huge logs being dragged away being quickly and neatly stacked up by human soldiers using pulleys and ropes, forming small mountains.

Large quantities of timber split into uniform sections and chopped branches were also sorted and piled up.

This is by no means a simple act of taking; it is more like a systematic plunder and elimination!
The players are chaotic, but sometimes their discipline and order can leave the unsuspecting natives of this other world speechless.

An older snake-man warrior also climbed up. His vertical pupils reflected the rapidly disappearing woodland, and behind the woodland, in the human military camp, more figures carrying tools could be vaguely seen gathering.

The horrific memory of last night's artillery fire tearing flesh apart and barbed wire snapping bones instantly flooded back, overlapping with the efficient and ruthless scene of the forest massacre before my eyes.

"hiss……"

The older snake-man let out a hiss filled with fear and despair.

Having lived longer, it understood that these humans weren't taking wood; they were leveling the land! They were clearing obstacles! They were paving the way for the terrifying weapon from the previous night, the one that spewed flames and death metal.

They want to turn the edge of this swamp into an open space where those giant beasts can roam freely and roar at will.

The forest's mournful cries struck like a heavy hammer against the hearts of every snake who witnessed this scene.

The shadow of last night's defeat has not yet faded, and a new, colder, and more thorough form of destruction has already arrived.

The barriers they rely on for shelter are being ruthlessly and mercilessly erased by humans with a speed and efficiency they cannot comprehend or stop. A sense of despair, deeper than that faced with guns and cannons, is beginning to seep into their very bones, like icy swamp water.

The boundaries of our homeland are being swallowed up inch by inch by steel and brute force.

They immediately reported the situation back, and the snake people's higher-ups reacted quickly.

……

In the center of Suvana, on an island in the middle of Lake Slime, a temple that once worshipped the sea god is now unrecognizable.

The broken stone pillars were covered with a slippery, dark green slime, and the walls were covered with twisted, grotesque, and blasphemous murals... depicting a huge shadow with countless snakes coiled around it and a terrifying scene of stars being devoured.

The air was filled with a strong, nauseatingly sweet, fishy smell—the smell of fresh blood mixed with putrid sludge.

In the center of the temple, a huge altar made of black stones has taken over the place where the statue of the god used to be.

The altar is not a regular geometric shape, but rather twisted and meandering, like a coiled giant serpent.

At the center of the altar was a sunken pool, which was not filled with clear water, but with a turbulent, dark red, almost black liquid. It was the blood of countless victims, mixed with highly poisonous herbs and filthy silt.

Surrounding this evil altar were dozens of Lamia serpent priests.

Their bodies were more robust than those of ordinary warriors, and their scales were an ominous deep purple or dark green, covered with blasphemous runes painted with some kind of luminous fluorescent pigment.

At the heart of the ritual was an old snake-man priest before the altar, so aged that his scales had lost their luster and most of them had fallen off.

Its withered body was covered with scars symbolizing sacrifice and pain; one eye was cloudy and blind, while the other burned with an almost insane, eerie green flame.

The old priest hissed in a snake language incomprehensible to humans. After a long period of squeaking and squeaking, it suddenly plunged the bone dagger in its hand into its withered chest. Dark red blood with a faint golden sheen immediately flowed out, flowing into the blood pool of the altar along the groove of the bone dagger.

This appears to be some kind of activation signal.

"hiss……"

The old snake-man let out a shriek of pain and ecstasy.

Immediately afterwards, the other priests also used bone daggers or sharp fingernails to cut deep wounds on their scales, and dark red blood flowed like streams into the blood pool in the center.

The liquid in the blood pool seemed to boil more violently, its color becoming even deeper, emitting a dizzying stench and a heart-pounding energy fluctuation.

But this is not enough.

From the shadows surrounding the altar came terrified screams and desperate struggles.

A group of snake-man warriors, their snake tails severed and mouths gagged, were dragged out by stronger snake-man priests.

The former's eyes were filled with fear and confusion, not understanding why he would be sacrificed by his own people.

The old priest's single remaining eye stared intently at his struggling kin, his eyes devoid of any pity, filled only with utter madness and the fanaticism of sacrifice.

With a wave of its hand, the priests beside the snake-man warriors raised their knives and brought them down, blood splattering and heads rolling off.

Immediately afterwards, the headless snake body was mercilessly thrown into the boiling pool of blood by the priest. The life force, pain, fear, and soul of the victim, guided by the blasphemous ritual, were transformed into the darkest nourishment, greedily absorbed by the blood pool.

As the sacrifice proceeded, the liquid in the blood pool stopped churning and began to writhe like a living thing.

The viscous blood plasma swelled upwards, forming a blurry, enormous serpentine outline composed of pure, filthy energy.

The air around the altar began to distort, the light dimmed, and a cold and malicious pressure emanating from the depths of the soul spread out, causing even the most fanatical priest to tremble slightly.

The old priest raised his arms, stained with the blood of his own kin and his own, and roared something.

As it called, the giant serpent phantom, formed from filthy blood and resentment, suddenly raised its head, emitting a silent yet soul-piercing shriek. An invisible dark energy, carrying intense corrosiveness and spiritual pollution, spread out instantly from the altar like a shockwave from an explosion.

This energy penetrated the ruins of the temple and quickly merged into the miasma, water, silt, and vegetation of the swamp.

It amplifies the toxicity of the swamp itself, making the toxic gases produced by decay even more deadly and aggressive.

It polluted the water source, making the already murky spring water carry hallucinogenic toxins. It even distorted the energy field in some areas, making the already dangerous swamp even more bizarre and unpredictable, easier to lose one's way, and more prone to hallucinations.

……

In just three days, two to three thousand players cleared all the trees within a five-kilometer radius of the Snakeman Swamp.

When the afterglow of the setting sun, like thick blood plasma, is smeared on the bare tree stumps and mountains of timber, the sight is enough to terrify any snake-man who dares to spy on it.

However, even though they knew the situation was bad, when the sun set and the sky grew dim, the players happily used dredges of horses and oxen, along with wagons and other livestock and transport vehicles, to drag the logs back to the camp, the snake people did not leave the swamp again.

Not a single one.

This greatly disappointed some players who were hiding nearby, in the hills or groves, waiting for their chance.

I've been waiting for three days in vain.

The bulldozing project officially commenced the day after all the materials were prepared.

As dawn broke, the Holy Expeditionary Army camp, like a colossal steel beast awakening, emitted a deep and powerful roar.

Players and NPC soldiers were no longer fighting each other in a chaotic manner, but under the command of officers and guild leaders, they acted quickly and orderly, making clear use of the results of the first three days of logging.

A large number of physically strong and relatively patient players, along with some NPC engineers with engineering experience, were selected to form the vanguard.

Instead of carrying logging axes, they used crowbars, sledgehammers, ropes, and thick planks and timbers that had been processed the day before, as well as large sacks filled with soil.

On the selected, relatively solid or simply filled drive axis, they laid large logs side by side as the roadbed.

Then thick planks were nailed tightly onto it, forming a simple but sufficient wooden raft road to carry artillery and supplies.

The heavy iron hammer struck the iron nails, producing a dull, rhythmic thud that echoed along the edge of the swamp in the early morning.

When they encountered particularly muddy or puddled places, they would drive in wooden stakes, fill them with sandbags and gravel, and painstakingly create footholds in the mud before extending the wooden raft road there.

Sweat soaked their clothes, and mud clung to their trousers, but the raft road stubbornly stretched deeper into the swamp at a visible speed.

However, projects are never smooth sailing.

The road-paving project had only been underway for half a day when some new players and some engineers suddenly started to turn red in the face and vomit, clearly indicating poisoning.

The project was immediately halted, and everyone was evacuated back to the camp. After examining and treating the wounded, the doctor determined their condition to be mild poisoning.

The poisoning was not serious. Although there was a risk of death, thanks to the Holy Army's abundant medical reserves and sufficient medical personnel, the dozens of poisoned members of the engineering team were quickly rescued and out of danger.

"what's the situation?"

Diu Ni Rem was very nervous. He rushed over immediately, but was stopped outside the field hospital.

"poisoned."

Starbucks, who was in charge of the hospital, said without looking up. He was holding a notebook in his arms, writing and drawing on it, and was very busy.

"The cause of the poisoning is the air."

"Air?"

Diu Ni Rem was stunned. How could the air be poisoned?

"Correct."

Starbucks nodded affirmatively, then turned to a page in his notebook, which showed a simple drawing of swamp terrain and air currents.

"Based on the patient's description and symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, followed by vomiting and flushing, this does not conform to the delayed nature of food poisoning, and water sources have also been ruled out, meaning they have not yet drunk water from the swamp."

After eliminating other possibilities, only one possibility remains: the air is toxic.

Diu Ni Rem frowned.

The swamp had miasma, which he had expected. Barbarossa had also mentioned in his reconnaissance report that the air inside Suvano had a very strong odor that could cause dizziness if inhaled for too long.

But that's all. No one, including Diu Ni Rem, who went near the swamp to scout, or any other player who went deeper into the swamp, was poisoned by the air. Their deaths were mostly due to direct or indirect conflicts with the snake people.

Before the project began, Diu Ni Rem also paid attention to the venomous snakes and insects in the swamp. Therefore, at the construction site where the passage was being laid, he had a large amount of snake repellent powder with sulfur as the main ingredient be placed there.

Surprisingly, the snakes and insects posed no threat; instead, it was the air that poisoned people.

Diu Ni Rem immediately ran to find Polka and asked for his opinion.

"Physical condition."

Polka said.

"The King's Guards are generally stronger than ordinary people, or even ordinary soldiers, and have a greater resistance to the negative effects of things like marsh gas and toxins. Therefore, the fact that some things can't harm them doesn't mean they have no effect on ordinary people."

Furthermore, I suspect the snake people did something botched deep in the swamp, perhaps some kind of sacrificial ritual. Now, not only is the air in the swamp poisonous, but the water is also highly likely to be contaminated.

"What should I do?"

You're really messed up, Rem.

"People from the church might be able to help."

Polka suggested.

"Whether it's the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess or the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture, they both possess divine magic capable of dispelling evil, especially in the area of ​​land, which both churches excel at."

Fortunately, we have two former high priests here. If we have them perform the ritual, suppressing the snake people won't be a problem. In fact, if you're willing to spend a lot of money, reversing the swamp's power is not impossible.

Upon hearing this, Diu Ni Rem knew that Polka's suggestion was reliable, but he couldn't use it.

The reason is simple: letting people from the two churches show off here will increase their influence. When Chris wants to suppress them, he lets them do this. Isn't that going against the latter?

You can't do it, you can't do it.

Other players can act recklessly, but not Rem. He wants to continue serving as an official within the Kingdom of Bagnia, so he can't do whatever he wants.

However, now that the cause of the poisoning is known, physically removing the poison is not a difficult task; it will only increase the workload and consume more resources.

I'll submit a report later and revise the bulldozer plan.

(End of this chapter)