"Your excellency. The Primates and their crew should be arriving at Baymard anytime now."

Eh?

K's eyes lit up in glee.

With all the chaos happening here, he almost forgot about that.

Perfect!

If his men could conquer Baymard, he would gather all the surviving temple members and make Baymard their new Base of operations.

The name Baymard would cease to exist, as they would rename it the Empire of Dragmus, after the temple.

K couldn't help smiling broadly when he thought of this piece of good bees amidst this rainy period.

It was really true that even if one door were closed, the heavens would always open another.

Sigh... The heavens sure worked in mysterious ways.

.

The aide who broke the news felt a little helpless about the situation.

"Your excellency. I think this Baymard might have gotten a little stronger while we were busy.

From the newspaper this morning, it's said that sometime this past August, they made something called Hot Air Balloons, which can make people fly."

What?!!!

A contraption that could make one fly?

K was so shocked that he quickly stood up in surprise.

This! This!... If they had this, then wouldn't a lot of things be solved faster?

"Your excellency, it's said that they only use those things for entertainment and tours.

The messenger who brought me this particular newspaper also had the privilege of getting on the flying balloons in August.

From what he said, those Baymardians didn't even think of using these balloons for battles.

It appears that they're still overly confident with their support from Carona.

Even at that, I'm still afraid that they might use these balloons to rain arrows on us from above when our men attack them."

K nodded in understanding but still felt like they would win the battle.

For one, this is not the first time his men had to fight against opponents at higher elevations.

There were times when they had attacked an enemy base that was situated high up a cliff.

The enemy had his men rain arrows way down towards them.

But with their shields and their formations, they still won the battle vigorously.

Provided his men ideally strategies everything, they might turn their disadvantage into an advantage instead.

.

One thing to note was that while those in the balloons had the advantage of attacking them as they liked... This was also bad because it placed them in the spotlight.

If his men were smart, they should shield themselves properly and take refuge in a few tall buildings.

In fact, the taller the building, the better.

At that point, they could target a few Hot air balloons from way up there and send arrows to burst the balloons.

That was technically the only way they could take down those balloons.

Because while those in the balloons could shoot with ease downwards, it was near impossible for those below to shoot any arrows that would be able to reach those above... unless the hot air balloons were at a reasonable distance.

Take, for example, the case where enemies were approaching a tall towering Stonewall.

Those above the stone wall could shoot the enemies below with ease.

But the arrows shot from those below might never make it up the castle wall to hit those above.

Human strength alone couldn't do it unless they had some mechanism that assisted them in doing so.

Too bad, nothing of that nature had turned up in the Pyno continent yet.

Unbeknownst to him, far away in Morgany, a famous inventor had just created the first siege weapon within this month of November.

It was a Ballista... a Siege contraction in the form of a giant Crossbow.

.

Anyway, K thought that provided they took cover and acted smartly, they should be able to get rid of the hot air balloons.

And if the worst came to the worst, they could just grab and use several Baymardians as body shields.

It was no secret that these Baymardians valued and created for themselves.

So taking a few hostages would always ensure the job got done.

The people were Baymard's weakness.

In fact, K even thought it was a little too easy.

Without the Caronians there to rush over, what was there for them to fear?

K's analogy on Hot air balloons was somewhat true.

Provided an enemy could stand on very tall buildings like snipers, they should be able to shoot some Hot air balloons down.

But this was assuming that the hot air balloons would attack with arrows.

If they were using arrows, the soldiers in the balloons would have to fly a little closer at a height similar to those on city walls.

They would do this to ensure that those who got hit were the enemies and not the civilians.

All this was if they were using arrows.

But with sniper rifles and bullets, please!

They didn't need this.

They could fly as high as they liked, maybe even 50 stories high and aimed with ease.

Just like how some assassin could enter the tallest hotel buildings and aim at those below, those on the hot air balloons didn't need to fly lower to make their shots.

So unless the enemy had similar weapons to them, this wouldn't work.

"I think you forget how trained our men are.

These Baymardians wouldn't be able to do a single thing against them.

We have sent over 150,000 men to Baymard.

So, do you think they would still have a chance?"

The aide closed his mouth and felt that what K said did make a lot of sense.

Provided they weren't going against the Pirate organization or those from Morgany, everyone else was a small fry or at least on their level.

K was even more enthusiastic about the battle after seeing the image of the hot air balloon in the newspaper.

If they successfully conquered Baymard, then wouldn't these balloons belong to him?

And so, just like that, K and his men started making plans for their new base.

.

Meanwhile, Back in Baymard, Landon choked on his meal in shock after hearing the system's notification.

~Ding.

[New Side-Mission issued.

Note: With the emergence of The First Siege Weapon, the host is expected to complete this mission before leaving Baymard by the end of the year.]