Chapter 195: Chapter195-Monsters Helping to Defend the Fortress
John emerged from the monkeys' cave, thoroughly satisfied.
The terms of the cooperation the Treemonkey King had agreed to were indeed excellent.
By tomorrow, monkeys should be coming to help.
He had also managed to sneak out with dozens of bottles of monkey wine and some Aloeswood.
Navigating the forest at night required Aloeswood; otherwise, the shadows would be omnipresent.
While dispersing the shadows before they could gather was possible, it was nowhere near as convenient as having Aloeswood.
Since the monkeys' territory had plenty of Aloeswood, John unhesitatingly took some and delivered a portion to Isabella and Cecilia.
This way, the other two fortresses would have it on hand for any excursions they might need to make.
Cecilia was resting when she saw the items John had brought, and she was startled.
Isabella was also baffled by where John had gotten these things in the middle of the night.
John then shared his recent experiences with them, emphasizing the situation with the shadows.
Both women fell silent for a moment.
Honestly, they hadn't considered gathering information at night due to the high risk.
Furthermore, there were still many tasks to complete within the fortress, leaving them little time.
Only John, with his steward managing affairs, had the luxury to pursue his own endeavors.
"Aloeswood can effectively dispel the shadows. If you need to go out, you can use it. If you want to conserve it, then disperse the shadows before they gather."
"However, dealing with the shadows can cause some mental fatigue, making you feel drowsy. So, you need to be very careful," John explained, then shared the resource distribution map with both women.
He had realized that this map wasn't limited to their area but was a fragment of the entire continent.
This meant that there were numerous resource points near the second and third fortresses as well!
Initially, the mention of Aloeswood and nighttime precautions made the two women think John was overly daring to venture out for this information himself.
But now, seeing the resource map, they couldn't help but gasp in amazement.
My goodness!
Although they might not have the immediate capacity to exploit these resources, it meant that whenever they had the chance to venture out, it would be a major harvest!
This would save them a tremendous amount of time; all they needed to do was go to the coordinates and collect the resources!
"Thank you," Isabella said after a long pause. Cecilia also expressed her heartfelt gratitude, "I will repay you once we get out of here."
John shrugged it off, as it was all just a matter of gaining something from nothing.
"It's no problem. Just make sure the crystals you extract go to the old monkey. Tomorrow, some monkeys might come to help you. Be careful not to mistake them for monsters and attack them."
The two women fell silent again.
They suddenly felt that the gap between themselves and John was immense.
John had already found allies, while they were still fighting alone.
And could the little monkeys really help them?
Despite their doubts, they chose not to question further.
After ending the call, John didn't idle.
He quickly began collecting necessary materials from nearby resource points.
This time, he focused on gathering the scarce medicinal herbs and other essential supplies.
He also wanted to check the bat cave to see if the bats had respawned and if he could gather more energy stones.
His current energy supply was insufficient, and once the shield was activated, the consumption of energy stones would be enormous.
It was best to be prepared.
...
As the new day dawned, Archibald had just finished dressing and was about to head out when he heard a series of urgent knocks on the door.
"Not good, the monsters are attacking early!"
Archibald was startled by this announcement.
He quickly opened the door and looked anxiously at the messenger standing before him.
"What do you mean, attacking early?"
As he spoke, he hurried outside, and the messenger, lowering his voice, quickly explained.
"We don't know either. Early this morning, the brothers on watch saw a large number of monkeys outside, and each monkey seemed to be holding a stone."
"Our guys mistook the monkeys for monsters, especially when one of the stones they were carrying fell to the ground and exploded immediately!"
"The logistics team recognized these monkeys as the same ones we encountered while collecting minerals. But we don't understand why they've suddenly surrounded us!"
Upon hearing this, Archibald's heart began to race.
Could it be that the old monkey had unilaterally broken the agreement and turned against them?
If that were the case, it would be disastrous!
"Where's John? Hasn't he returned yet?"
Archibald asked urgently as he rushed up to the city walls.
The people around him shook their heads, indicating that John had not returned since he left the previous night.
If it weren't for John's name still being active on the leaderboard, they might have thought he was gone for good!
When Archibald finally reached the top of the wall, he saw a large group of monkeys gathered outside, nearly a thousand by his estimation.
Leading them was a monkey as tall as a human, seemingly trying to communicate with them through chittering sounds and gestures, but they couldn't understand.
Everyone on the wall was on high alert, gripping their staffs and weapons tightly, ready to strike down the creatures before them at any moment.
"Should we attack now?"
Darius asked, his expression particularly serious.
Leopold had a different perspective.
"When we were out gathering resources, these monkeys were in a hurry but never attacked us. Let's wait a bit longer and see if John returns!"
The surrounding people began to grow increasingly restless.
The daily monster sieges were already nerve-wracking enough, and now there were these monkey creatures to deal with as well.
"Hold on a moment," Archibald said, his eyes fixed on the leading big monkey.
Though he didn't understand what the monkeys wanted, he knew that if they intended to attack, they would have already thrown their blaststones.
There was no reason to wait until now.
The only explanation was that these monkeys were organized and disciplined, likely seeking some form of cooperation.
So, they had to wait for John to return before taking any further action.
When John arrived at the fortress gate with a backpack full of resources, he saw that the monkeys had blocked the way.
Everyone on the wall was on high alert, ready to unleash their skills at any moment.
"The commander is back!"
"The commander is finally back!"
Seeing John's figure, many people felt a wave of relief wash over them.
Archibald also sighed in relief and ordered the drawbridge to be lowered so John could enter.
As John passed the big monkey, it made a few gestures to him.
John instantly understood that these were the helpers sent by the Treemonkey King.
Moreover, the big monkey itself was a gold-tier creature.
It could understand simple commands, making communication through gestures relatively easy.
Everyone was stunned as they watched John lead this orderly procession of monkeys into the fortress.
When they learned that the monkeys were there to help defend against the monster horde, they were even more dumbfounded.
Clatter.
An archer dropped his longbow to the ground.
He stared in amazement at the organized and disciplined monkey army.
The monkey army carefully distributed their bombs in neat rows along the battlements.
Nearly every cannon slot was filled with blaststones, each guarded by three or four little monkeys.
The expressions on the little monkeys' faces were serious, as if they were engaged in a sacred task.
This isn't a dream, is it? Seeing monsters assist in defending the fortress...
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