My (Monster?) Hero Life

Kace raised an eyebrow at the orc. How was it even possible for Vaskra not to be heard? Even Grugda looked a little hesitant to try and force their way in. There was no telling what Gyn might have set up. Kace's mind was suddenly filled with memories of Gyn tossing random bombs filled with strange substances.

'Well, there's no point in hesitating. I doubt he can actually hurt us.' Kace put on his best friendly expression as he marched up the door and tried to open it. Naturally, the orc had spoken the truth. The door would not budge even though Kace was using all of his strength!

'How did he even manage that?' Kace frowned, but then an image was transmitted into his mind from his Hydra head. It showed some kind of container being dropped out of the window overhead!

Kace reacted quickly and jumped backwards. There was no point in being overly guarded since there had been no casualties so far. Besides, the bombs that Gyn used to make would hardly get past his natural defences now, never mind his armour! 

"You'll have to do better than…." Kace suddenly gagged as the container broke apart when it struck the ground.

'Are you kidding me! A goddamn stink bomb!' With Kace's senses being as strong as they were now, the stench was simply unbelievable! Kace flinched due to the smell before moving his eyes upwards to spot a small green face grinning down at him!

"Kace! You're finally here!" Gyn bellowed. "Give me two minutes, and I'll be right down!"

Kace wore a dark expression as he grumbled about Gyn's behaviour. He had expected something but certainly not for his senses to be offended! A few minutes had to pass before Kace heard the sound of objects being moved around behind the door. 

Kace raised an eyebrow as he covered his nose. The noises finally died down, but the door still did not open. Kace finally frowned and banged on the door, causing it to swing wide open.

"What are you doing!" Gyn screamed as he hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with a cloth. "You'll let the smell in!" 

Gyn urged them to get inside before slamming the door closed again. The goblin then spent a fair amount of time forcing several large thick beams of steel across the entrance as locks and then pushing numerous heavy items against it as a blockade of sorts.

Kace glanced around and noticed that they were in a corridor, he could not see the workshop floor from here, but he could hear banging noises. 'Is that Vaskra? Don't tell me she's actually helping him!'

"You sure took your time! You need to see this! Can you believe how these idiots butchered my airship? Absolute morons! That's what they are. And let me tell you, that's putting it politely!" Gyn immediately launched into a series of complaints as he led the way.

Kace took his ramblings with a pinch of salt as he shared a confused glance with Grugda. Neither of them understood the things that Gyn was talking about. All they got out of it was that Gyn was infuriated with how others had put together his own ideas.

"Now this! This is what they should have done!" Gyn waved a hand to the gigantic open area where maintenance was performed on the airships as they exited the corridor.

Kace's jaw almost hit the floor as he stared at the behemoth that was taking up the space. It looked nothing like the airships that he had been on so far!

It was at least twice the size of the old model, and it had sails coming out of eight masts. Four of which were stationed on each side of the ship instead of standing up vertically on the deck. The hull was lined with forty cannons that were attached to swivels. Each one had its own chair for the operator to use. These cannons were obviously meant to bombard ground troops as each of them could directly aim below wherever the ship would be hovering.

However, that was not all. Six giant cannons were raised off the deck and featured a complicated-looking mechanical system to support them so that they could be aimed at any target in the sky! Kace shuddered when he thought about the amount of firepower that something like this monstrosity could unleash!

"I see that you can appreciate it! How could those idiots not realise that this is the way to build them!" Gyn smiled smugly when he saw their reactions.

Kace had a complicated look on his face. He had seen the original schematics before, and there was nothing on them that looked remotely like what he was currently looking at! It was not that those who had worked on the airships previously were idiots. It was just that Gyn did not leave behind enough information!

"It's definitely impressive…." Kace began somewhat hesitantly. "But won't all that extra weight make it a lot slower?"

"Pfft, for a moment there, I actually thought you had some brains! It's at least twice as fast as the shambles that it was before! See those tubes there that run down the sides? They're so that air magic can be funnelled directly to the sails! This beauty can go in any direction at high speed as long as the crew have enough mana!" Gyn's confidence was somewhat contagious as he showed an affectionate smile.

"What happens. When they. Run out of. Mana?" Grugda decided to bite the bullet and ask the same question that was on Kace's mind.

"Naturally, it will crash into the ground! What did you think would happen?" Gyn cackled as he looked at them with a manic expression on his face. "So they had better not run out!"

Kace slapped himself in the face. He could already see a significant problem with operating this tyrant of the skies. "Gyn, just how many monsters do you think we have that can use air magic?"