After the battle was over, some people started cleaning the place a bit, others simply sat down and waited.

Gerald quickly got bored of it all and took out the molten iron to continue his work. But before that, he went to check up on his workers producing niter.

They were nervous and shaken since they had to work through the night as well as the attack, but with Gerald's guarantee of safety and a few potions to calm their nerves and recover energy, they quickly went back to work.

It also helped that they each had a few extra gold coins in their pockets after their boss left.

The amount of scrap metal gathered after a fight was plenty and Gerald had more than enough for his plan, and as such, he started melting it down.

His creation was made of two parts, and the bottom piece truly looked like a giant black iron cauldron after it was finished. The only things missing were the legs keeping it upright.

The other part, which was finished hours later, was cone-shaped with four fins at the top and had a hole for the powder at the bottom. The two pieces could be screwed together, forming one big and dangerous creation.

In short, it was a bomb. At nearly two meters tall and half a meter across, it was truly a scary thing to behold. Well, for Gerald at least. The rest had no clue as to what he was making there, out in the open.

Then, as he was examining his things for something else to do, he noticed the shield he picked up from the crazy blacksmith some time ago.

"Sigh, I still got this puny thing, huh? Didn't even get the chance to use it…" He looked at the round thin piece of metal and shook his head.

After watching the Dark Knight get crushed by the Ogre, he realized that conventional armor was as good as paper against it. Not to mention all the even stronger beasts, like the Giant for example. Even the Golem Armor that provided quite a good defense against the big guy would be of little use.

"I got some iron left, might as well make something out of it…"

Even though he considered armor as trash now, a sturdy shield would still come in handy someday, maybe, probably...

In either case, he didn't have much else to do, so he began by mixing some more carbon into the iron to make high-carbon steel. He then made that piece into a plate, about 1x1.6m and approximately five centimeters thick.

He cooled it down quickly by using magic, since getting such a big container with water was not feasible, and as such made an extremely hard outer layer.

The plate was curved slightly and completely smooth on one side, while the back was rough and filled with hundreds of finger-like hooks. The rest of the molten metal was poured over it and left to cool slowly while the quenched plate was constantly cooled to keep its hardness.

He wasn't quite able to weld the two pieces together, so this was the best option left to him to combine the two. Maybe there were better ways, but his knowledge in metallurgy wasn't all that deep, so that was the best he could do for now.

The monstrous armor plate, or a sort of tower shield, ended up being nearly twenty centimeters thick and weighing around two and a half tones! It was made of both hard and soft steel and most certainly wasn't intended for human hands.

The handle itself was about fifteen centimeters in diameter and impossible to grip properly. That's because it was made for the Golem Armor or straight-up Telekinesis.

It turned out that despite iron being a terrible conductor for magic, as long as you were powerful enough, such limitation didn't matter all that much. While it might have presented an obstacle for the rest, Gerald, who was now thousands of times stronger than an average person, didn't feel much resistance anymore.

Brute force FTW!

Also, Telekinesis became weaker with distance, so keeping a massive piece of metal floating beside him didn't pose much of a challenge.

The problem with using Telekinesis for sword fighting, for example, was that the weapon would usually have to be further away, and close to the enemy where their magic could interfere with it. In short, it was too much work for a mediocre result. Simply tossing a stone had more of an impact.

Gerald decided to name his shield the Titan's Bulwark since it was so big, and it looked great on the four meters tall Golem Armor.

If only it was completely made out of metal, he could pretend to be piloting a high-tech mecha. Too bad it was just a pile of rocks controlled with magic.

"Meh, close enough," Gerald murmured and dismissed his rocky creation.

It was close to midday. Workers were already on the job cleaning the area around the city walls and repairing the defenses.

Nobody expected to be attacked by hundreds of thousands of monsters at once, so the supplies of weapons were quickly dwindling. Groups of scavengers were working overtime to gather arrows and discarded weapons to refurbish them and get them ready for reuse.

Most monster corpses were quickly processed for any useful materials such as Crystals and skin for leather and parchment, while the toxic flesh was incinerated to prevent the spread of diseases.

Time was of the essence and every pair of hands was greatly appreciated. Even women and children were mobilized to help transport the goods to the correct location for recycling.

Gerald didn't move from his spot beside the warehouse and so he took that time to write a book about his new discoveries. He tried to work on the body of the Ogre too, but even in death, the damn monster was too tough to be processed quickly.

Even as he cut it to pieces he found he couldn't break through its bones. A full-powered strike with the Orc Slayer only left some shallow marks on the thick bones. He even tried to make a super hard piece of steel to try and break it apart, but the blade chipped instead.

He could only lament for not having a granite-cutting diamond circular blade saw. Those would most certainly chew through the bone with no problem.

He did clean up the Ogre's femur though. It was around 1.5m long, quite thick, and extremely tough, perfect for a club. He wasn't sure if it was worth using as a weapon though. Maybe some master armor maker could make some better gear out of it…

"Ah, whatever… I'll leave that for after the war is over if I don't forget. The skin though…"

Hide of powerful beasts could be turned into parchment for scrolls. And it seemed he finally got his hands on some quality material even though it was quite damaged from the fight.

"Maybe it's time I make some Light spell scrolls too?" He rubbed his hands together, "The Pixie served its purpose well, but now…"

In the palace, The King was surrounded by many people, and most of them were his advisors as well as some higher noble officials.

Also, a few high-ranking men were waiting for the opportunity to speak their minds on this rare occasion when they were granted an audience with The King.

"The report just came in, Your Majesty," one of the speakers said as he read from a parchment scroll. "In the attack this night we have lost 4691 of our soldiers as well as 684 warriors and about two thousand citizens."

"The accurate numbers for the latter are still being revised." He continued. "It's difficult to get the exact number since many were torn to pieces and eaten by the beasts…"

The meeting has barely just started and King Robart III already felt a headache setting in. He grimaced and nodded, listening to the reports.

"Make sure the families of our fallen soldiers get the proper compensation," he said to the scribe who was noting down all the important things.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Alright, what's next? How is the research into Slana going? Bishop Argoch?"

"Your Highness!" Bishop Argoch stepped forward and bowed, holding his right hand over his heart. "We have confirmed our suspicions. The Slana somehow interferes with the mind of the victim and implants strong suggestions for the desired action."

"We discovered many of the Orcs that attacked had it implanted in their spine, but overall it was in less than 1% of the population," he announced. "We can assume that the implanted suggestions were related to attacking our capital, and the beasts then spread the idea among themselves."

Bishop Argoch cleared his throat and continued, "We have also confirmed that it really was the Blood Sun Viper sect who was responsible for this. We also tested the Slana on some of their members, but it appeared the power of suggestion was greatly diminished in their case and they managed to resist it if they knew they were being manipulated."

"It also could not be removed without permanently crippling the subject…" he added in the end.

"Which is exactly why I insist they should all be destroyed!" a person suddenly shouted and forced his way through the crowd. It was Bishop Quinn, a member of the Ring of Water.

"Your Majesty, we cannot go down this path! The inhumane experiments I have witnessed recently make us no better than the beasts we're fighting against!" he protested.

The King quietly sighed and massaged his forehead, "Well-"

"Nonsense! How are we supposed to advance our knowledge if we refuse to learn?! The Empire is behind the Blood Sun Viper sect, and they are also behind this beast horde attack! They are trying to use the monsters to crush us! If we don't respond with a strong fist, how can our great Kingdom keep standing in these difficult times?!"

Bishop Argoch shouted with righteousness, "Our people are suffering and dying! They should be the first ones we protect! If I didn't know you better, Bishop Quinn, I would think you are trying to work with the enemy!"

"How dare you!"

The two old men suddenly started insulting each other, but not directly, of course. They kept poking at each other's personal shortcomings and flawed logic in their reasoning. The crowd in the hall unwittingly split down the middle, one side supporting the assimilation of foreign magic technology, the other opposing It.

It was exactly the opposite of what this gathering was supposed to do. The trouble was supposed to bring them all together, not tear them further apart.

The King was pissed and just wanted to kick out the two troublemakers. He didn't care for their petty squabbles either way. Too bad they carried quite a bit of influence in the magic circles, so he could do nothing but try to calm the situation down.

"Alright, settle down!" he shouted. "Now is not the time to be making new enemies."

"But Your Majesty-"

"Enough!" The King calmly continued, "I shall contemplate this problem at length and give you both a satisfying answer. Now is the time for compromise! If we wish to survive this calamity we have to work together!"

"Yes!"

"Well said, Your Majesty!"

The bootlicking nobles quickly shouted in agreement to curry favor with The King. The two Bishops could only grimly agree to postpone their eternal argument.

'Damn it, these people are really getting on my nerves!' King Robart III complained in his mind. 'I'll give you an answer, I'll give it to you alright! When the war with the empire is over, and not a second earlier, damn it!'

He was in support of incorporating the Empire's tools and tactics into their own, but he couldn't say it out loud, now could he? If he did, he would probably lose the support of the Ring of Water and the many Water Mages that were a part of it. He couldn't afford to do so, especially not now!

'Ah, being a ruler is such a pain! When am I going to get some good news?!'

Just as he finished the thought, a servant came running in.

"A message! The raven brought a message from the north, Your Highness!" The guy ran to the throne, dropped on one knee, and presented a sealed scroll to The King.

"Oh? It's a letter from Guardian of the North!" The King immediately recognized the seal. He unfurled the scroll and quickly scanned its contents. His mood lifted immediately.

"More bad news?" a person asked with concern.

"Quite the opposite!" The King beamed, "General Ulrich Aust sent this letter, he said he should be here in a day or two!"