Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

“Everyone, staying here means certain death—we must break into the city!” Gwen stood upon the high platform of the square, giving a rousing speech to the people below.

The Resistance fighters cheered, their passionate cries echoing Gwen’s call. They had just won a battle, and morale was soaring.

Gwen smiled and nodded. Though the capture of Grizzly Town had been fraught with twists and turns, the outcome was satisfactory enough.

When the Resistance in the woods saw she had not returned for a long time, they organized another group the next day. When that group arrived, the towns under Earl Bazel’s control were already in chaos, and no one came to intercept them. They successfully joined forces with Gwen’s team, and now the number of Resistance members in Grizzly Town had grown considerably.

This gave Gwen the confidence to face the Winter Wolves head-on. She raised her fist high, her gaze sweeping determinedly over the crowd.

Standing beside her was Isaac. The man looked somewhat weary now, after the bizarre experience he had endured in the Sea of Unawareness.

That day, he had thought himself doomed and had decided to take his own life, so that his soul could return to the 【Chrysalis】 and deliver the message back to Castel.

Although he had no idea what the situation in Castel was, or whether they had the power to avenge him, doing so might at least preserve one final escape route for the Resistance.

Yet, for some reason, the 【Chrysalis】 had rejected him. At that very moment, across the vast Sea of Unawareness, Lina had reached out and caught him, dragging him back to the present world bit by bit.

The pulling force from Lina was something he could not possibly resist. Just when Isaac had resigned himself to death, he suddenly felt another force tugging at his body.

No—more precisely, two forces. Two thin threads were tied to his soul, each pulling in completely different directions, yet both trying to drag him away.

For a moment, those two threads and Lina’s hands were locked in a tug of war over his body.

Isaac felt as though he was being torn apart, but thankfully, as a dual-path Extraordinary, his soul was far tougher than that of ordinary transcendents, and he barely managed to hold on.

In the end, the two threads won. Perhaps because they were two against one, Lina released her grip at the last moment.

Having narrowly escaped death in the Sea of Unawareness, Isaac hurried back to the real world. He had once believed his dual-path ability was extremely rare, that few Extraordinary individuals could rival him—but now, he realized the world was far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.

When he opened his eyes and saw Gwen, he felt an unexpected wave of emotion—it was as if he had finally seen a normal human being again.

He used to think ordinary people were too weak, but now he found weakness rather comforting. That battle stretching across the entire Sea of Unawareness had been utterly terrifying.

Isaac was steadfast by nature. When he saw Gwen, he immediately pieced together what had happened:

Most likely, some terrifying existence had taken notice of him. Whoever could fight Lina to a standstill was far stronger than him—so strong that even an Extraordinary like himself was helpless prey, let alone someone like Gwen, an ordinary human.

He immediately told Gwen to flee. As an Extraordinary, it was his duty to cover her retreat.

Gwen was the hope of the Resistance—and also his friend.

“Friend.” For an intelligence agent, that word was far too extravagant. Yet in that moment, it had truly surfaced in his mind.

Then Gwen couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Remembering that scene, Isaac’s face twitched slightly, his expression growing darker.

Lina—injured by a musket shot? And then she just ran away like that?

That... that shouldn’t have been possible!

And the Resistance then stormed into Grizzly Town in one push?

Those were fully trained Winter Wolves—two hundred mounted soldiers! Even if it had been two hundred pigs, catching them all in a day would’ve been hard enough!

Originally, Isaac had thought to take some risks himself—to buy the Resistance a brief period of peace.

Instead, he had nearly died, while the Resistance not only fought their way to peace on their own but even managed to save him in the process.

That contrast left Isaac deeply dejected.

He was not one to give in easily. The Ashen Alliance had faced countless hardships, and every time a crisis arose, he had taken matters into his own hands to resolve it. Yet here, within the Resistance, the roles had been reversed.

Gwen did not notice Isaac’s gloom; her mind was fully occupied with planning the next battle.

For now, Grizzly Town was entirely under Resistance control. They were not short on food, and their manpower had grown.

Everything looked promising on the surface.

But Gwen knew better—it was all an illusion.

The Resistance had only defeated the Winter Wolves led by the Head Wolf, but that was far from all of them.

There were Winter Wolf garrisons in three towns, and the cavalry from the other two combined still outnumbered her forces.

Worse yet, those two towns stood directly between the forest camp and Grizzly Town.

To return to the camp, they would have to pass near both towns—and the Winter Wolves would certainly not let them through unscathed.

Fighting them on open plains was far too risky, especially since the enemy likely had more troops.

It would be suicide.

The other option was to fortify and hold Grizzly Town.

As cavalry, the Winter Wolves could move like the wind across open ground, but they had a fatal weakness—they were terrible at sieges.

They carried no heavy weaponry, and cavalry assaults on towns were inherently absurd. With cover in place, even pistols posed minimal threat.

Thus, if the Resistance chose to defend, they would likely be able to hold.

Though Grizzly Town lacked natural defenses—it didn’t even have walls—the Resistance had enough manpower now to dig trenches and construct simple fortifications.

Crude as they might be, that did not make them ineffective. Pistol cavalry had virtually no siege capability. On open ground, they dominated—but against entrenched Resistance fighters, they stood no chance in a shootout.

The Resistance was no longer destitute. After taking Grizzly Town, they naturally seized the Winter Wolves’ military camp.

Horses were of limited use since few Resistance fighters could ride, but the Winter Wolves’ firearms and supplies had significantly strengthened their power.

The pistols used by the cavalry and those of the Empire shared the same design—nearly identical in principle. With only minimal training, the Resistance could wield them seamlessly. Their combat effectiveness had skyrocketed overnight.

Thus, Gwen had once hesitated, considering whether to simply hold Grizzly Town.

But—

This was the Northlands, and Earl Bazel commanded more than one army. If the Winter Wolves encircled Grizzly Town, the Resistance would be trapped with no escape.

They couldn’t possibly outrun cavalry on foot across open plains.

So Gwen set her sights on the nearby city—Sleddinburg, whose defenses now lay dangerously thin.