The Hungry Fortress Wants to Build a Battleship in Another World – World of Sandbox-Chapter 19Vol 3. : Threat Creatures

"Commander Ma’am. We've discovered a monster in the desert that appears to be classified as a threat creature."

"...Hm. Huh? A threat creature?"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. From now on, we will classify large organisms that could potentially pose a threat to us, similar to the Rain Kroin or the Sand Worms, under the designation 'threat creatures.'"

"Ahhh... Well, that’s actually pretty clear. Who came up with the name?"

"Akane did."

"I see."

Displayed in the floating projection before Eve was the newly discovered monster.

It was a lizard sprinting across the sandy surface. With no objects nearby to gauge its size, it was difficult to estimate its length.

Read 𝓁at𝙚st chapters at ƒrēenovelkiss.com Only.

"Hmm. Oh, it says the body length is 1.3 meters. That's definitely big, but..."

She was about to say it wasn't quite 'monster' material—when the words caught in her throat.

Suddenly, a spray of sand erupted near the running lizard, and a massive, crab-like claw burst out, seizing the lizard’s torso in a single motion.

There was no sound in the magnified video feed, but Eve could almost hear the sickening crack.

The claw, larger than 70 centimeters across, easily crushed the lizard, which itself exceeded a meter in length.

If the claw was that big, the creature wielding it had to be enormous as well.

"Whoa, it’s coming out!"

Having secured its prey, the creature emerged fully from the sand.

Because the footage was taken at dawn, its colors weren’t particularly vivid—but the patrol drone’s camera clearly captured the full shape.

The measurement annotations appeared: from its massive pincers to the stinger at the tip of its tail, it stretched seven meters in length, with a body height of fifty centimeters.

It was a giant scorpion.

"That thing’s huge!"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Compared to the multi-legged tanks, its apparent size is about half. Though the tanks' main bodies are bulkier."

"Let me think... The multi-legged tanks are around ten meters long, right?"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am."

Sensing Eve's curiosity, Ringo helpfully paused the video and displayed wireframe models of both the giant scorpion and the Type-1 Multi-Legged Tank side by side.

While the scorpion’s body was technically seven meters, its pincers and tail were curled inwards, making it look much shorter. And since it was a low, flat creature compared to the tall tanks, its visual impact was roughly half.

"Hmm... Still, seven meters is nothing to sneeze at..."

Then Ringo displayed a model of the Eve-Ma’am Communicator Android for scale between them. Naturally, at around 1.5 meters tall, the difference was staggering.

"Yeah, that's big! Why are monsters always ridiculously oversized?!"

"My apologies, Commander Ma’am. We're still investigating. However, preliminary studies suggest that all monsters share a phenomenon of structural reinforcement in their biological tissues. It likely allows them to bypass normal mass-related limitations when growing larger."

Under normal physics, size comes at a cost.

The larger the body, the stronger the bones and muscles need to be to support it. But making bones and muscles thicker also makes them heavier, creating a vicious cycle.

Moreover, large bodies require massive food intake to sustain muscle mass, while the increased weight hampers mobility—making hunting and feeding even harder.

That’s why, under ordinary physical constraints, there’s a practical size limit for living creatures.

"However," Ringo continued, "under the separate laws of magic, physical limitations are partially lifted. Creatures can exert greater force with the same muscle mass, and their bones and outer shells can become extraordinarily durable without increasing weight. In some cases, biological composition can even be ignored altogether—substituting metals or ceramics for tissue."

"Yeah... makes sense, kinda. That Rain Kroin thing and the Sand Worms we fought before... Their existence already defies logic."

Recalling the previous battles, Commander Eve let out a sigh.

"So, this scorpion qualifies as a threat creature?"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Additionally, spectral analysis of its body tissues reveals a basic chitinous structure, but also traces of iron, titanium, and aluminum."

"Furthermore, we've calculated the stress on its joints based on observed movement performance. The forces exerted are clearly beyond what conventional materials could handle.

Thus, we conclude there’s some magical enhancement involved."

Not only was it a hybrid of biological and metallic structures, but even its mobility defied the expected muscle strength based on its volume.

Based on all observed data and known physics, Ringo had determined that this scorpion was indeed a monster—and a significant potential threat to The Tree.

"Yeah... If a swarm of those things comes charging at us, it’ll be a massive pain."

Ringo silently worried that Eve had just triggered the proverbial flag—but wisely kept that thought to herself. Saying it aloud would only make it worse.

****

Now, back to the matter of the oil field.

Survey results confirmed that spontaneous surface oil flow wasn’t particularly strong.

Large lakes of oil had accumulated—spreading like water—but unlike water, oil doesn’t evaporate easily.

Still, the exposed surface oil had lost its lighter fractions to slow oxidation, degrading its quality.

It wasn't suitable for refined fuels—but as asphalt material, it was quite valuable.

In the future, thanks to this discovery, many roads could be paved.

Despite that, the scattered oil lakes hinted at a significant underground reserve.

The plan was to drill proper wells to extract fresh, unexposed crude oil.

Currently, they were combining acoustic and radio-wave surveys to create a 3D underground map.

"For now, we’ve begun recovering the surface oil," Ringo reported. "We’re setting up bucket-based extraction facilities."

"Okay. Olive’s in charge of that sector. I’m not worried," Eve said with a nod.

Due to the high viscosity, they had chosen to scoop the oil with buckets rather than use pumps—which would have required specialized equipment.

Olive was already leading the assembly of the extraction rigs.

"In addition," Ringo continued, "we’ve identified several other locations with recoverable surface oil. We've started preparing to deploy portable drilling equipment.

With these measures, we expect to secure sufficient initial volumes, and the pipeline installation is now underway."

The initial pipeline distance would be about 80 kilometers.

Considering the oil field spanned over 100 kilometers in every direction, the total length could become enormous—but fortunately, the Tree’s oil port was relatively close.

This proximity worked greatly in The Tree's favor, conserving construction materials.

"We estimate about five days to complete the well drilling and extraction rig deployment.

After that, we’ll start transporting oil using multi-wheeled articulated carriers.

The pipelines should be operational within two weeks, on Day 714."

"Good. Things are proceeding smoothly... even if our resource reserves are starting to run dangerously low."

Indeed, The Tree was currently burning through its stockpiled and mined resources at a staggering pace—

mass-producing machines, structures, and vehicles to industrialize the Oil Port at near time-lapse speed.

By transporting vast amounts of equipment and materials to the port, they were creating a massive infrastructure hub on the far side of the desert.

"And after that, we still need to find the main body of this oil field, right? You have a method for that?"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. We will insert explosives into drilled shafts, generate artificial seismic waves, and analyze the surrounding geological structure based on the resulting vibration data.

By setting off explosions at multiple locations and depths with staggered timing, we can gather extensive information in a single survey."

"I ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) see. But... I’m guessing Ichigo wouldn’t be able to handle controlling something that delicate, right?"

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. I will personally oversee the execution while the sister units focus on operational support.

Even building the computational models for this requires specialized AI. It's a matter of the right person for the right job.

Eventually, I will prepare basic models for various specialized AIs focused on specific functions.

But for now, I will continue handling those responsibilities myself."

"Yeah, makes sense. For now, you’ve been managing everything just fine, Ringo.

But once we start operating on a cosmic scale someday, we’ll have no choice but to delegate the smaller tasks to local AIs.

I’m counting on you."

"Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Leave it to me."