"It has already been nineteen years since I began ruling over thousands of elite forces... How did this happen...?"
Beyond the vast and steep Pantara Range, to the southwest of the Magentano Kingdom, lay the Benetto Kingdom. Within the palace that sat in the capital, King Benettogna heaved a long, drawn breath upon realizing that he was facing the greatest disaster of his kingdom since its founding 300 years ago.
King Benettogna enquired, "So what happened after the peaks were torn down? Has there been a change in the dragon's movement?"
"Please forgive me, Your Majesty. We have not been able to determine that yet."
"Hmm... Then..."
"From what we believe, there is a high possibility that the Magentano Kingdom's army will attack us through the demolished peaks."
"Yes, they probably will." The king nodded, his face serious. It was an accurate and logical prediction. "Since the very founding of our kingdom, the rugged terrain of the Pantara Range has served as a natural shield that protects us. However, judging from the demolished peaks, I believe that Alicia, the greedy she-devil of Magentano, intends on showing her true colors."
"Your Majesty, our kingdom's army is also nothing to look down on. We will block their intrusion even at the risk of our own lives."
"Do you believe that's possible?" asked the king.
"We have defended this land for the past 300 years, during which we vigilantly prepared against the invasion of a powerful nation. The Magentano army may be powerful, but they will inevitably become exhausted as they cross the Pantara Range," the supreme commander of the defense forces retorted with a firm gaze.
"Would that be our chance to strike?" asked the king.
"Yes, Your Majesty. No matter how mighty the army is, they won't be able to mount a proper defense against our ambush in their state of exhaustion after crossing the range."
The king nodded. "Yes. That's what I desperately hope will happen."
The commander was right. They realistically had no way of preventing the Magentano Kingdom from invading their land. Their only potential window of opportunity for success would be when the soldiers of Magentano were in a vulnerable state of exhaustion from crossing the mountain range.
"In other words, the fate of our kingdom depends on that one ambush," remarked the king ruefully.
"Please trust me, Your Majesty."
"All right. I will trust you then," replied the king. "So, please swiftly go into combat with our most nimble and powerful army of soldiers."
"I am overwhelmed with gratitude, Your Majesty!"
The Benetto Kingdom was located just thirty miles from the Pantara Range as its founders believed that proximity to the mountains was the best form of protection they could have. However, the opposite was true now, and there would be immediate danger of invasion the moment the Magentano troops marched down the range. If there was any consolation, it was that the short distance from the range would allow them to promptly respond to enemy attacks.
Watching the commander disappear, the king prayed, "May our kingdom's late predecessors grant us the power to overcome this crisis..." And he fervently hoped that the operation would succeed in maintaining peacer over Benetto. His heart raced with desperation and anxiety. However, his concerns were completely unnecessary. begin with, the Magentano Kingdom had no plans for any invasion. Instead, there was only a civil engineer advancing a construction project to build a road through the range. Nevertheless, a moment later, the kingdo suddenly froze in place. Bzzt...!
It was the work of the Time Freeze skill, which had been activated thirty miles away from Benetto in the Pantara Range. The palace walls, floor, and ceiling froze, and that wasn't the end of it. The flag that swayed in the wind on the palace terrace, the drifting clouds in the sky, the countless people moving through the capital city, the flows of water, and leaves falling down to the ground stilled inside the kingdom. The flow of time from across all surrounding areas and even the rest of the world beyond them without exception.
♣
[Skill Option 5: Time Freeze has been activated.]
[You have spent 3,000 RP.]
[Current RP: 7,071]
Crackle...!
[Time has been frozen.]
[The no-freeze zone cannot be changed until the optional skill is canceled.]
[The option is deactivated in the event the user goes out of the no-freeze zone.]
[Any creature within the range of the no-freeze zone will not age for a year.]
Lloyd watched the messages appear in front of him one by one. He felt an odd sensation of a tremendous volume of icy air departing his manaheart and the Heart of Winter.
"Haah..."
Lloyd rushed into action for the following phase now that the flow of time had been frozen.
Time to work!
Lloyd immediately dispatched a team of laborers he had assembled in advance, as the construction had been delayed for days due to the snowstorm. Thus, the Pantara Range Railroad Project took off. And because Yong Yong did such an excellent job carving out, plowing, and flattening the ground for the railway, everyone was able to begin building the roadbed immediately.
"My dear orc warriors, I am proud of you," said Lloyd. "I remember giving you one important piece of information before we began. Do you recall?"
"If the water doesn't drain in the railroad, the soil in the foundation will leak, oink!"
"What did I compare it to?" asked Lloyd again.
"Muscle loss, oink!!" said an ore passionately.
"So, what should we do?"
"Waterway! Build a trackside drainage! Oink!"
Lloyd believed the drainage to be the most important part of this project.
The land is steep here. Moreover, there's snow falling, melting, and freezing on the ground all year round.
The melted snow would seep into the ground, eventually causing soil erosion from the runoff water and creating a sinkhole or another disaster. Alternatively, the trapped water could freeze and damage the railway by causing the ground to expand and protrude upwards.
If that happens, we are screwed. That's why building drainage is our top priority. There will be laborers cleaning the railway when it snows as well, but that won't be enough.
He needed the remaining snow and ice to flow out into the drainage. Thus, the design for it had to be precise so that all the water would flow out in the right path and direction without damaging the roadbed. As such, he closely supervised the construction of trackside drainage as he worked on the roadbed, making sure that it was made where the upper slope met the lower tracks.
"Dig, oink!"
"Carve out, oink!"
"Stomp, oink!"
"Date, oink!"
"There's a traitor here...Oink!"
On the other hand, the elves were responsible for stabilizing the slope.
"Okay. Sprinkle water on the slope before the water in the bucket freezes?" asked Moira, the leader of the elves. Lloyd grinned. "Yes, that is all I need you to do. The slope is quite steep, but it's comprised of bedrock."
It was true. The exposed bedrock in the area was all thanks to Yong Yong's joyous destruction of the slope. Lloyd experimented with his virtual simulation and found that there was no risk of a collapse. However, he would need to do something about the potential weathering.
"As time passes, small pebbles or larger rock fragments will break off the bedrock and roll down to the railway, possibly damaging it. If we are unlucky, the train could face a disruption while it's running. Otherwise, there could be a derailment if something lands on top of a rail. This can all be avoided by sprinkling water on the slope's surface, where it'll immediately freeze into a coating of ice."
If it wasn't installed properly, the freeze-thaw cycle could cause the cement to lift, crack, and have all kinds of other problems. Instead of dealing with that disaster, it was much easier and more effective to freeze a layer of water on the ground.
It's not that the ice won't melt at all. However, whatever does will be quickly replaced by the heavy snow falling and freezing on top of it.
To keep the ice from becoming too thick, he would probably need to cut it down more frequently. However, that could wait until after his current work was complete. "I will leave you to it then. Also, please make sure to use the safety rope since it is slippery up there."
"Don't worry. This is no different than plain land for us." Moira chuckled. She and the elves then proceeded to move with the agility of a circus troupe.
Swoosh! Fwip!
The steep and slippery slope was nothing to them. It was as simple as 1+1 was for a high school valedictorian, learning to dribble was for Michael Jordan, or punching bubble wrap was for Mike Tyson. The elves treaded, rushed, and leaped around to sprinkle water around the slick slope before coming back to draw more water and repeat the process. At the same time, Ggoming spewed two layers of spiderweb on top of the layer of ice they created. Seeing that the construction of the slope protection went well, Lloyd moved on to the next task, which was the railroad construction.
"Bangul! Bba-bangul!"
Fwish!
Every day, Bangul produced rebars, which Corgidus and his team refined to fit precisely as Lloyd had designed. These pieces were then brought to the site to be installed and assembled by skeletons, lancers, and civil engineers. The railroads progressed day by day as more drains were made, gravel was laid out, timber was
placed, and rails were installed. Above the site, the elves continued to sprinkle water on the bedrock to freeze its surface. All of this was made possible by Lloyd's vast and exceptional experience with numerous large-scale projects.
Duh. It's horrible to be wasteful!
In Lloyd's mind, this was the perfect construction site: nothing was wasted, safety came first, and everyone worked happily. Just like that, three months went by, and by then, a rough outline of the railroad ascending the mountain had appeared.
"I suppose this is the loop line railway and switchback system you mentioned the last time."
"That's exactly right." Lloyd grinned and looked at Javier. "Why? Is this your first time seeing something like it?"
As Javier looked down at the ground below, he moaned at the ridiculousness of Lloyd's question and saw the result of their three months of labor beneath him. The loop railroad was the first feature that caught his eye.
It looks like a snake circling the mountain.
That was the first thing that came to mind when he looked at the railroad. It was not straight like the normal ones. Instead, it was looped, and the train went around the mountain rather than up it. The principle of the railroad was clear to Javier even if he was not an expert engineer.
And the switchback... Can a train move in a place like that?
Lloyd frowned as he examined one point in the rift, which was the steepest area with the up line. There was a zigzag railway along the slope, but it was not connected like the loop type. Instead, it was cut off on one side and connected to the other side via a crossing.
I suppose the train will move forward and backward over and over again along the railway on the slope in a zigzag mode, climbing up little by little.
Javier furrowed his brows after discovering the idea behind the switchback system. He wondered if it was safe because he wasn't sure that the train could maneuver precisely in the zigzag railway, given how narrow it was. One tiny error and the passenger would undoubtedly fall off.
But I'm sure Master Lloyd has a plan.
He probably does have a plan. It was Lloyd after all. Thinking so, Javier assured himself.
"Good. It's your first time. Then, watch me ride that thing." said Lloyd.
"Excuse me..." muttered Javier, taken aback, trying to figure out if he heard correctly. Master Lloyd was going to ride that untested thing? Feeling anxious, he turned and looked at Lloyd. "That can't be. Young Master?"
"That's right. I'm going to test it."
"But why should you-"
"Because it's dangerous," Lloyd said, smiling as if testing anything dangerous was clearly part of his job description.
