Chapter 77: The Exchange Array

“That’s enough, Habona, the most important thing right now is to find Harlow and not to fight with our allies.”

The old werewolf immediately stepped in to soothe the situation. Just from this alone, you could tell the difference in maturity. The senior werewolf was clearly able to weigh the situation and not let his emotions get the better of him.

Evidently, the werewolves weren’t just a race of hotheaded meat heads as I previously thought. At the very least there was one intelligent and logical member in front of me right now.

She gave a cold snort and turned away: “I’ll let you go this time.”

“Whatever you say.” I left it at that and turned to one of my large imps. I instructed this shieldbearer to hand over his heavy bone shield to Habona.

“Didn’t you want to give the shield a try? Here you go.”

“Hmph, at least you know what’s good for you.” She glared at me before snatching the shield from the devil. The 1.5m tall heavy bone shield was almost able to shield the entirety of a large imp but with that cheat-like height of hers, this heavy shield ended up being a normal shield in the hands of Habona.

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She gave the shield a spin before turning to me, brows furrowed. “It’s really light.”

“…” That shield was almost 150kg and required an exceptionally strong large imp in order to wield it properly…exactly did that turn into a toy in your hands! Damn it.

Habona gave the surface of the heavy shield a rake of her claws and instantly a set of claw marks could be seen etched into the shield’s body.

She actually ruined it just like that!

That shield was created after I learnt to refine equipment from that robed skeleton! Even my refined swords were barely able to scratch it. How did it end up like a piece of paper in your hands?

Sigh, that’s why you can’t use common sense to measure a four-star.

Surprisingly, she didn’t make fun of my work despite the ease at which she tore through it. Instead, she said: “ It’s not bad, to a two to three-star warrior, this shield is pretty sturdy.”

“What if it’s matched against the medusas? Will it hold up?”

“Their long range poison attacks aren’t just physical attacks, the innate resistance of the heavy bone shields is important as well. Furthermore, this shield is too small.” As she said this, she gave the shield a couple of casual swings. What seemed like a door to me was simply a piece of paper to her. She tossed it around as if it weighed nothing.

“Small…maybe to you guys it is.” I sighed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “I’ve never encountered these medusas before but from what I heard, their snake hairs are able to spit out corrosive poison from a distance.”

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“And that’s why I can’t be sure that your shield will hold up.” Habona returned the shield to the shieldbearer standing at the side before turning back to me. “ I hope that you’ll be able to create a larger and thicker shield.”

“Didn’t you say that the demonic werewolves disliked using weapon?” Violet Snow suddenly came to life once more and taunted her with a deadpan voice as she laid within my arms. Previously, she had been bullied by Habona and had to recuperate in my embrace.

“Since you’re so strong, why don’t you take their attacks head on.”

“Little mutt, are you itching for a beating again?”

“Awoof!”

She wanted to spit another ice ball at Habona but Habona had already predicted this and snatched her from my embrace before she could do so.

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She gave her a warning squeeze in her palms and said: “Weaklings should learn to respect the rules.”

The rules…the weak is food for the strong: if you aren’t useful to me or stronger than me, then you have live under my shadow. If you dared to resist, then all that awaited you was death.

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In order to live in this merciless world, there was truly a lot to learn.

“That’s enough, the two of you need to step back for a moment. Habona stop insulting Violet Snow so thoughtlessly. I promise that she will stop being hostile towards you.” This pair of females was truly a pain to deal with. The moment they talked to each other, they ended up in a fight.

The issue was that one had an explosive temper while the other had a heart made out of glass; any insult was immediately met with battle. What’s worse was that the glass hearted one couldn’t win…

“Since you’re still useful to me, I’ll give her one last chance.” She handed Violet Snow back over to me and snorted derisively at her.

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“Let’s get back to business. I need you to create new shield that is bigger and wider. At the start of every battle, we had to endure a round of poison from them before we even got close. This is the main reason why we always started with a disadvantage. In a one on one melee, these medusas aren’t a threat to us. That’s why I need you to create an equipment that would allow us to approach them without any injuries.”

I gently rubbed the puppy lying in my arms, signalling her not to speak up. The little fellow was sensible enough to know that she wasn’t a match for her and so buried her head unhappily in my arms, having decided to swallow this humiliation.

The average werewolf was about 2m to 2.5m tall and so they required a shield that was 2m tall in order to barely cover their body.

According to my calculations, crafting such a shield would take well over two times the amount of mana required to craft a heavy bone shield. Which means, I could’ve crafted three heavy bone shields with the amount I set aside for this task.

As for materials, that didn’t matter much considering this entire world is made of bones. The limiting factor is still my mana.

“Crafting these shields shouldn’t be a problem but I require an enormous amount of mana. A shield like this would require me to use all my mana. Without any replenishment, the most I can make per day is one shield.” I voiced out the issue without giving it much thought. After all, since they wanted me to craft something, the cost would naturally have to be borne by them.

Habona truly fit my mental image of a demonic werewolf. Without giving it much thought, she immediately blurted out the question on her mind: “Then what do you need to replenish your mana faster?”

“Souls, if you want me to speed up production, I require a large amount of souls.”

“Souls…” Habona hesitated as she said that.

“Don’t tell me you guys feed on souls as well.”

The ability to feed on souls was something I had only noticed in the undead and creatures from Purgatory. As for the various species I encountered from Abaddon, none of them fed on souls as we did. Naturally, this included the werewolves. Since that’s the case, they should just hand them all over to me and we can both benefit from it.

“There’s no way we can hand over all our souls. While we do not feed on souls, they have other uses here.” Her answer surprised me. I didn’t expect the Prison of the Dead to have a currency system in place where they could exchange souls for food.

It sounded pretty absurd at the start but once I thought about it, it seemed surprisingly acceptable. To be exact, it answered a question that I had been unable to solve for a while.

Based on the hunting grounds of the Abaddon rats, it should be really hard for them to gather meat. Since they didn’t have the ability to consume souls, exactly how did they feed their thousand over clansman? By chewing on bones? No way. There must’ve been some other method.

This was an issue that affected me as well. My half-orcs had the same problem as those rats in that they weren’t able to feed on souls as well. This applied to the vast majority of Abaddon creatures.

Then another problem arises, once I form a grand army, exactly where am I going to find the meat to feed them…as they say, before the three forces can move, the food must first be moved. Food was an important matter that must be solved as soon as possible otherwise, we would be plagued with problems down the road.

(TL: In the past, the phrase used was “before the cavalry and infantry could move…”. However, in modern times, it’s common to see the phrase “the three armies/ forces…” which refer to the air force, the navy and the army. Either way, it means that rations must be prepared before sortieing.)

No matter what, hoping that they could fight on an empty stomach was ludicrous. Putting aside the possibility of rebellion, it was definitely possible for them to kill each other for food.

The method to exchange souls for meat was simple: create a six-point star out of blood, bones or corpses and then place the gathered souls within it. A while later, the souls would automatically disappear and the array would create the corresponding amount of meat.

Meat can’t just be created out of thin air…that’s not scientific…well I guess science didn’t make much sense either in a world of magic and demons.

But still, this strange system simply didn’t make sense! Don’t tell me that at the opposite end of this array was another bunch of fellows who had an unlimited supply of meat and needed souls. And don’t tell me that this array is merely a channel for them to conduct this trade.

That’s practically an eBay for this world!

With this array, I would definitely be able to feed my men. Furthermore, judging from the fact that all the meat created was the red meat of an imp. The other party was probably situated in Purgatory.

This is just so unfair. We are both devils so why are they able to prosper just by sitting in front of a exchange array whereas I have to risk my life just to guarantee my freedom? No wonder the ancients said “The same species of human but different lives, the same type of umbrella but different handles”…they weren’t kidding me at all.

“Either way, if you wish to speed up the production, you need to give me souls.” I quietly sighed to myself. Initially, I had intended to fleece them of their souls seeing as they didn’t need it. However, now that I found out that they needed the souls as well, I couldn’t be too harsh with my terms and thus I had to lower my earnings.

I didn’t know if she noticed my bit of profiteering but she ended accepting my offer. After all, performing this sort of task required mana and she knew of this as well. She nodded her head and generously accepted my offer. “Alright then, how much do you need?”

“I won’t know the specifics before I craft the shield. Also, how many do you need? I paused for a second before asking: “And how big?”

She did a round of calculations before stating her requirements: a shield that was 2.5 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide.

…can the average werewolf even see with a shield this large?

The reason why my heavy shields were so large was because I didn’t need them to charge, I only needed them to hold the line. These werewolves on the other hand needed to do so. If you can’t even see in front of you…wouldn’t the result be tragic?

“Don’t you guys need to look in front of you when you fight?”

“It’s fine, just create a few holes in the front of the shield.” She didn’t seem to think much of my question and instead dismissed it with a casual wave of her hand.

“Even if we aren’t able to see, we can still use our noses to smell and our ears to listen. Besides, this maze isn’t that wide,the werewolves wielding the shields can lead the charge in a line formation with a person commanding them from the back. They should be fine with just that.”

“In that case, how many do you need?”

“Let’s start with ten.”