Seventh Chapter 721: Direct Artillery Strike

When the First Army soldiers marched onto the city wall in neat ranks, Felin. Sylt was genuinely surprised.

As a former star knight of the Western Region, well-versed in knightly training, he naturally knew how difficult it was to keep a group of people aligned while marching. Whether knights or mercenaries, the number of people in a row rarely exceeded five when being inspected by a lord. This was because a long horizontal line was prone to staggering, appearing as a disorganized mess to distant onlookers, which was quite unsightly.

The more people, the harder to control. However, this group of soldiers numbered over a hundred, with more than ten in both the horizontal and vertical rows. Combined with the uniform clothing and eye-catching ribbons across their chests, they looked like a solid square formation on the move.

This visual impact gave Felin a sense of irresistible momentum – once a formation could be maintained, the advantage of a large number of people was fully realized.

This was also evident in the enthusiastic reaction of the surrounding crowd.

"Look at the third row, that's my child!"

"They're marching so neatly!"

"They're like one person!"

"If it were a battle between two armies, the enemy would probably be scared witless just by seeing this formation."

"Haha, I think they'd flee at the mere mention of His Majesty's name."

"What's the name of this piece of music?"

"I don't know, but… I feel full of power!"

"That's Echo's magic at work."

"It's such a pity that May couldn't see this with her own eyes," Aileen said, holding Dawn's Light's arm. "If it were her, she would definitely be able to recreate this exciting scene in a play."

"She's pregnant, of course she can't stand on the city wall with you in the cold wind," Felin said with a smile, shaking his head. "Don't worry, there will definitely be more opportunities in the future. I bet there will be more and more events like this."

Whether it was a knightly review or artillery exercises, they were all means for a lord to display his power. The strength that Neverwinter City had accumulated was beyond everyone's imagination. There were still many territories that His Majesty could conquer. With such a force, even incorporating the Four Kingdoms into his rule wouldn't be impossible. To subdue people, similar displays were naturally indispensable.

"Dear, do you also want to join this team?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" Dawn's Light was taken aback.

"I can feel it," Aileen said with a smile. "Your heart is beating so fast right now."

Is that so… Felin exhaled a white breath. So that's how it was. Even if his father hadn't said those words, he probably wouldn't have been a teacher for life.

Sir Sylt was right. If he truly loved the pen so much, he wouldn't have decided to become a knight and take it to the extreme, becoming the famous Dawn's Light.

The army was the most suitable place for him.

He wanted to follow the First Army, become His Majesty's sword, fight everywhere, and expand the kingdom's territory to an unprecedented extent.

Although His Majesty had said that surrendered knights would no longer have the opportunity to take up arms, according to his father, there were other ways to join the First Army.

He wondered what His Majesty's General Staff Department had developed into now.

He gazed at the artillerymen entering the firing position, as if he saw his future self.

...

The music stopped.

This was the signal to prepare for firing.

Fanna issued the order to aim at the target.

The six fortress cannons placed in the widened area of the city wall lowered their barrels, pointing directly at the cage three hundred meters away. At this distance, the cannonballs would hardly drop, but would fly in a straight line towards the target. Since the bodies of the demons might not trigger the fuse, the crosshairs of the muzzle should be slightly lower, trying to hit the cannonballs into the snow below the cage.

"Goodness, that guy is really ugly," Nelson whistled. The artillery team he was responsible for was aiming at a large wolf-bear hybrid. The latter seemed to sense something was wrong, and struggled to break free from the shackles, its huge body shaking the cage non-stop.

"Be serious," Fanna frowned. "This is not normal training, everyone is watching us."

"I feel a little nervous," Cat's Claw's voice sounded slightly stiff, "Being stared at by so many people, I feel like I want to pee…"

These words resonated with many people.

"Yeah, it's even more uncomfortable than facing the Duke's Knight Order's charge."

"If we miss, we'll be laughed at by the whole city."

"Just do what we practiced before, stop talking nonsense!" Fanna glared at Cat's Claw. "Remember not to confuse live ammunition with dummy rounds, if something goes wrong, you'll be confined. Now, load!"

After entering the loading process, the scene suddenly became busy. No matter how they felt, long-term training had made them all familiar with their movements, and they could complete the operation even with their eyes closed.

Compared to the twelve-pound field gun, the loading process of the 152mm fortress cannon was much faster. After all six cannons were ready, Iron Axe's countdown came from the top of the city.

"Ten, nine..."

The audience's clamor also came to an abrupt halt, as if they were all waiting for the moment when flames and thunder burst from the muzzle.

But Fanna's heart was unexpectedly calm. Looking at the frantically roaring demon in the cage, he thought of his younger brother who had died of hunger and cold in his arms four years ago, of working day and night for an extra egg, and of the days of fighting bloody battles with demons on the rough stone walls with spears in hand.

The changes that had taken place in the past few years were vivid in his mind.

"Five, four, three..."

He was originally just an ordinary miner in the old district of Border Town, until His Majesty said, "I have faith in you, work hard," he made up his mind to stay in the militia and fight to protect His Majesty's territory from demon invasion. But even so, he didn't expect to get to this point today.

Fanna secretly turned his head and looked at the gray-haired man in the distance – Roland Wimbledon was the reason he was so calm. As long as His Majesty stood behind him, no matter what kind of enemy he faced, he would not take a step back.

"... Two, one! Fire!"

"Fire!"

Fanna waved his arm violently.

The six fortress cannons simultaneously spewed out long flames and blue smoke. The huge roar turned the accumulated snow on the wall into flying white mist. The distance of three hundred meters passed almost in the blink of an eye. By the time people heard the deafening cannon fire, the cannonballs had already landed in front of the mixed-species demon.

The compressed fuse triggered the double-base explosive inside the warhead. In an instant, six pillars of mud rose from the snow, tearing the wooden cage to pieces. The demon's seemingly sturdy body was like paper in the face of the rushing airwaves. Fragments of wood, mixed with steaming flesh, shot straight into the sky, and intestines and severed limbs were scattered everywhere.

The crowd erupted in fervent cheers.