Struggle in the Steam Age

The reason why Lawrence agreed to take over this seemingly thankless peripheral blocking task was partly because the game was only temporary, and the participants in this game were the young elites from the entire New World. Selling them a favor can reap more tangible or intangible benefits than winning a game for a long time to come.

On the other hand, Lawrence feels that the guy who can think of hiding his main force will never fail to see the difference in strength between the two sides, and he will never be so stupid as to sit and wait for death. So it is really strange to gather together for purely passive defense like now, and he is worried that there may be some situations that he does not know.

So under such a reason, he naturally agreed to everyone's request as the captain to lead the blocking team. In any case, this position can give him the greatest degree of freedom. It can allow him to do what is best for his own interests when he encounters problems.

It's just that what Lawrence didn't expect was that his team members and Zhu Yan were willing to give up the benefits that seemed to be at their fingertips and choose to work with him on these seemingly boring and possibly unproductive jobs.

Of course, this is not a bad thing. After all, there are only 20 people in the entire team, and the addition of two team members makes Lawrence's own people account for half of the intercepting team. This makes his degree of control over this team the highest among the three teams.

A day session won't do much. However, with the help of his own people, Lawrence could at least make the entire team do simple orders and prohibitions, and this was enough for him.

Lawrence set off with his team at dawn the next morning, because their team had to walk the farthest distance today, so they had to set off earlier than the others.

Just as they climbed down the low wall at the entrance of the valley, a tree in the distance shook for a moment, and then a black figure slipped down from the tree.

"It seems to be a kobold scout over there?" Raising the rifle in his hand and looking through the scope on the gun, Zhu Yan easily figured out what the black shadow that was moving just now was. "Do you need me to kill it?"

"I don't think it should be necessary." Lawrence lightly pressed the muzzle of his gun and said, "I bet there is more than one kobold scout around here, and it doesn't make sense to kill it. Let's go."

The kobold scouts ambushing outside the camp was just a small episode, and soon everyone walked out of the jungle along a path, and then walked along the black gravel field at the junction of the edge of the jungle and the volcano to the side away from the fortress.

The tribes of these kobolds were all built around this volcano, but only the side where Lawrence and the others are going now can allow kobolds from other places to support the fortress under the mine. Because the structure of the volcanic hillside on the other side of the fortress is extremely unstable, there are often hot black stones rolling down the hillside, driving the stones and soil on the hillside to form black mudslides, which is like a natural moat to an extraordinary person who does not have the ability to fly The same can't pass at all.

And the place Lawrence and the others are going to is to follow this dividing line for more than two thousand meters and then go five or six meters deep into the jungle on the edge of a wetland. There are many footprints of the previous kobolds. It can even be seen that the kobolds put some stones and branches on the pit to clear the way.

"This is really a good place to intercept kobold reinforcements." After coming here to observe, a soldier of the White Eagle Federation in the team expressed emotion. "To our right is a huge wetland, and to our left is thick volcanic ash. Only the width of less than ten meters under our feet can be easily passed by people."

"Yes, this is indeed a good place for defense, but we can't take it lightly." John took out a shovel from his carry-on space bag, "Okay, before the enemy comes over, we'd better build some Fortifications. After all, we only have 20 people here, and if there are too many enemies, standing on flat ground will easily hurt us.”

The construction of fortifications was also a plan discussed by everyone yesterday, so as soon as John said that everyone took out tools from the space bag and got busy. And as the only two of these people who had military experience, John and the soldier from the White Eagle Federation were busy running around instructing everyone on how to build these fortifications

At this time, everyone present must obey their dispatch and command, and the two of them also reasonably assign work to everyone according to each person's characteristics. For example, spellcasters like Lawrence received preferential treatment. He and another druid were assigned a very simple task, which was to set some traps on the road before the fortification being built.

It is said to be a trap, but in fact, neither the terrain nor the time in this place is enough to dig out the huge trap for catching wild boars that Lawrence dug when he was hunting with his adoptive father in the small town. So what Lawrence dug here were small horse traps specially designed for the shape of the kobolds.

And the druid next to him was not idle either. In addition to laying some poisoned hardwood on the ground to make triangular nails, he also put a half-chopstick-length tempered nail into it every time Lawrence dug a small hole. Poison wood sticks.

Those wooden triangular spikes, about the size of a large pinball, weren't of much use when facing a human being, because it was too small to be long enough to penetrate the soles of the shoes people wear today. But these things are definitely a sharp weapon against kobolds who walk like humans and don't wear shoes.

When everyone was working in full swing for about half an hour, a ranger who had been arranged to take turns looking into the distance before jumped down from a nearby tree and shouted at the same time. "Red smoke, I see red smoke."

According to the previous agreement, this red smoke column means that all the personnel in the camp have left the camp and are ready to launch an attack. Obviously, such a large-scale move cannot be hidden from the kobolds at all. Less than 30 seconds after the red smoke column rose, a black smoke column also rose in the direction of the fortress.

"We need to move faster, the battle may break out at any time." Lawrence immediately shouted to everyone who was busy after seeing the two parallel smoke columns. The pillar of smoke must be the kobolds themselves. And the only function of the smoke column they lit at this time is to use the smoke column as a signal to convey a certain message to the surroundings.

"No problem, in fact we have almost finished repairing the fortifications." John raised his head and shouted, "At most we can dig some shallow trenches and build a little parapet here, because the soil is too soft and the groundwater level is too high. A little high, too."

Despite all the difficulties, when the first brown-red kobold appeared from the woods. They had built three fortifications along the way, complete with parapets, ditches, traps and traps.

Seeing the fortifications and enemies suddenly appearing on the route, the kobold carrying a bronze-tipped javelin retreated immediately, while barking to warn the troops behind.

In an instant, the chaotic footsteps behind the monster stopped, and then there was a barking sound. Although a dense plant blocked Lawrence's sight. But from these movements, Lawrence and the others could also guess that the group of kobolds were going to launch an attack after realizing that something was wrong.

However, this also provided Lawrence and the others with a precious time to prepare. Taking advantage of this opportunity, all the people who had set traps in front of the fortifications retreated behind the parapet, and then each took up their weapons and prepared.

"Boom—boom—boom—" With the sound of drums, a group of brown-red kobolds holding bows and arrows emerged from behind the bushes, and marched towards the place where Lawrence and the others were now accompanied by the drumbeat.