CH.50

Johanna was too tired for today to start the revenge, so she just commanded her men to bring the goblin corpses back up and burry them, while the hundreds of dead spiders should all be piled up. Ethan and Noah called back the expedition teams since Johanna had been found again. While the work was being done, some of the goblins kept guard since another surprise attack would be very bad for the village since they had already lost a large portion of their army. 

Once Noah and Ethan called the search parties back, Ethan explained the plan to Noah and the rest, like Aiko and Amanda. Johanna just climbed up the improvised ladder that they built down here and went to rest and sleep in her own room. Once back in her room, she asked the shapeshifter if he wanted to stay as a cat for now since, if she were around, it could be just his other usual body. The shapeshifter agreed but asked her if she could introduce him as a magical or unique cat since he didn't want to fear for or risk his life in this weak cat body. Johanna nodded in agreement and promised to mention this fact tomorrow, but the only thing she cared about right now was to sleep and relax since tomorrow would be another exhausting day. 

The next morning, she woke up and was greeted by the shapeshifter, who had gotten up a few minutes before her. The first thing she needed to do today was to discuss the whole situation with everybody again so that she and they could get a better overview of the whole situation. Since she wanted to start with the fire as soon as possible, she already exited the cave to get some firewood. That's where she met Aiko, who was training with the few soldiers that weren't required to guard the cave. 

"Have Ethan and Noah already told you of my plan?"

"Yes, they have. I will take care of finding and filling the holes on the surface with a few of the goblins that were able to ride the wolves already."

"Ok, good. Since we don't know the extent of the cave system, you will have to find a mountain to get a view over the whole forest." 

"Yes, I agree with you, but we will also have smaller units to fill in these holes quickly since otherwise hundreds of spiders could just charge out." 

"And have you come up with an idea on how to funnel in enough oxygen so that the smoke doesn't come into our cave?"

"We thought that we could use a more primitive version of a bellow. I think Noah was the one who started building it yesterday."

"That should work out; thanks a lot. Do you by any chance know where Amanda, Ethan, and Noah are?"

"No sorry."

Johanna left again without cutting down trees to get firewood since organising everything should make it all happen quicker. She turned around to see Aiko and her soldiers depart to get on top of a mountain to spot the smoke. Her next clue to finding the rest was going down into the spider cave, and that's where she found Ethan and Noah preparing the last things before lighting up the cave. She greeted the two and reported to them that Aiko and her group had just left to get ready for her part of the operation. As Johanna was curious where Amanda was, Ethan told her that she had set up a small hospital in the goblin cave for the goblins who were injured in the fight.

Johanna nodded understandingly and wanted to pay her a visit, but Noah stopped her and asked if she could help him with something, to which she willingly agreed. Noah and Johanna climbed up the ladder, where Noah then walked her over to a pretty big room in the cave where the giant components that he built for the bellow were. Johanna looked at it with a very impressed look and turned to Noah to ask him what he needed help with. He explained that the goblins and their slaves were not able to move these parts out of the cave since it was way too heavy for them, which is why he needed her help.

Johanna immediately got to work and started to drag the enormous parts of the bellow up to the surface. At some points, goblins had to hammer away the cave walls since the parts were too big to fit through. Once she got the first two parts up, Noah began constructing the bellow together, and once it was finished, only a few things had to be done until they could start. As Johanna was still dragging the parts, she got the idea that it would probably be better to install "doors" in the hallways that do not connect to the spider cave since the fresh air would need to travel through the whole goblin cave, and that would be wasting energy. 

Johanna sealed some of the junctions in the goblin cave with dirt, and after that, she ordered the goblin at the bellows to start pushing fresh air in. While this was happening, the last goblins with Ethan left the cave and climbed back into the goblin cave. She could feel the strong wind pressure on her back and nearly stumbled, but she caught herself and continued down further.

As she crossed paths with Ethan and the last few goblins, she gave them a thumbs up and continued pushing further. Once she arrived at the hole that she broke through, she lit a torch that she grabbed on the way with a firespitting organ, which she shapeshifted in her mouth. She threw down the torch and watched as the dead bodies of the gigantic spiders and the firewood started to combust and spread.