Ermu

Chapter 357: Unfinished Product

The second time the cannon fired, Agatha plugged her ears in advance.

Then she witnessed an incredible scene.

Without the long charging process she expected, the seemingly massive metal tube displayed a lightness that belied its size. Each shot felt like it was shaking the earth, yet the base remained motionless, as if the two were unrelated. The tube recoiled and returned swiftly and precisely, a process that didn't even require manual control – only three of the four operators were busy, with the commander, known as Iron Axe, merely standing aside and issuing orders.

Retract the metal block, eject the copper shell, insert a new bolt, and fire again... Repeating this cycle, Agatha could feel the earth-shattering roar of thunder almost every ten breaths. The close-range horizontal firing also allowed her to witness firsthand the columns of snow and earth erupting one after another two miles away – the prince hadn't lied, this weapon did launch the bolts, and with a speed that was too fast for the naked eye to follow. Judging from the time between the firing and the eruption of the snow columns, even transcendents beyond the extraordinary level could not avoid its attack!

Agatha stared at the silvery-white tube-shaped weapon, captivated.

If... if Taqila had possessed such a powerful weapon back then, perhaps they could have kept the terrifying demons at bay beneath the city walls, thereby avoiding the quagmire of a war of attrition after the walls were destroyed, and the war might not have turned out so badly.

"Is this a weapon made by witches?" After a long while, she swallowed and asked softly. Judging from its smooth and shiny surface, it was definitely not something that ordinary people could forge with their hands and hammers.

But the prince's answer surprised her greatly.

"A joint masterpiece of witches and mortals," he said with a smile. "The fortress cannon, from smelting to casting, is handled by witches, while the shells used for firing are the work of alchemists. By the way, apart from Anna, the other witches involved in the manufacturing process are what you call auxiliary witches."

Agatha suddenly felt a crack appear in the long-held beliefs she had formed. She had thought she was tolerant enough towards mortals, and had even been ostracized by the Exploration Society for it. But now it seemed that what she had done was far from enough?

Was the Union wrong from the beginning? Could it be that what the prince said was right... "Mortals can defeat demons."

But if the collaboration between witches and mortals could unleash such powerful forces, why did the First Battle of Divine Will end in such a crushing defeat?

Questions kept湧現in her mind, and Agatha felt utterly confused.

...

When the fortress cannon continuously spat out flames, Tilly also felt a strong shock.

Although she had witnessed the scene of cannons bombarding evil beasts on the city walls, the shortcomings of those firearms were also obvious – they were difficult to hit at long range, could not attack downwards at close range, and could only exert their best power at medium range. However, the loading speed was slow, and when dealing with agile mixed-species evil beasts, the enemy might have already darted to the foot of the city wall before it could be ignited.

In addition, in order to quickly load and fire, a cannon crew needed five to ten people to operate. If a single link went wrong, it would affect the weapon's operation. And someone needed to specifically look after the fire source when igniting. In the event of heavy rain, field guns might not be able to exert any effect.

But the new fortress cannon developed by Roland completely eliminated the above shortcomings.

Loading from the rear allowed the muzzle to be lower than the breech, greatly increasing the close-range firing range, and the rate of fire was several times faster, while the number of personnel was reduced to three. At the same time, no open flame was required for ignition, meaning that combat could also be conducted in inclement weather. Coupled with an attack range far superior to that of catapults, it was fully deserving of Roland's description as an "epoch-making weapon".

Although it currently required the abilities of witches to manufacture, Tilly believed that this was only temporary – Sylvie's observation could serve as proof: the rapid-firing weapons that were once only available to the chief knights had now been distributed to every soldier. Anna only needed to make a batch of equipment specifically for producing this weapon, and the specific casting and assembly could be completed by the workers themselves.

Seeing the expressions on Ashes and Andrea's faces, she knew that the fortress cannon was also an unimaginable object for them.

Having such an ally was indeed a good thing, but the feeling of him being her older brother had become even more distant.

She even felt that he had already gone far ahead of her.

This feeling made Tilly feel slightly lost.

If only he could be more candid.

...

Roland felt a pang in his heart when he saw that the shells he had managed to scrape together were consumed in the blink of an eye. Even so, he still had to put on a profound and unpredictable appearance to conceal his reluctance.

This was not a true test firing of the new cannon in the true sense.

In order to achieve a smooth and flowing demonstration effect, he had Iron Axe transfer a team of elite gunners from the artillery battalion. They had started simulated firing practice several days in advance, during which they had also conducted two live-fire tests. This time, it was just a display of power specifically for the witches to watch.

The firing process went smoothly, and the result was also ideal – at least, from the look of shock on Agatha's face, it could be seen that the cannon's performance had exceeded her imagination.

However, for Roland, the actual firing effect of this fortress cannon was far from qualified.

Apart from the sacred caliber of 152 mm, other parts were far from the real 152. With Anna's precision machining capabilities, coupled with Lucia's element purification, and finally Sylvie's metal flaw detection, in theory he could manufacture a truly modern and mature cannon, instead of a replica with a range of only seven kilometers.

The key lies in the details.

Currently, its powder chamber is set too small.

Considering the weight of fixed ammunition, Roland deliberately reduced the volume of the powder chamber, resulting in insufficient propellant in the shell. Although it had a slender barrel with a forty-fold diameter, the range was still not ideal.

Another point was the propellant.

Since nitro*glycerin was still being tested, the shells were filled with nitrocellulose, which was also the reason for Roland's heartache – the nitrocellulose consumed by a few shells was enough to fill thousands of bullets. In addition, these smokeless propellants had not undergone gelatinization treatment, which was equivalent to further reducing the propellant charge.

Finally, the shell itself was still an enlarged version of a bullet. The warhead had no charge, and the lethality relied entirely on kinetic energy. Missing the target meant zero damage. At this stage, it could only be used to attack some slow-moving enemies.

In short, there was still a long way to go to achieve a barrage covering and artillery sweeping scene.

However, Roland felt that time might not be as plentiful as he had initially imagined.

Since learning that the magic stone改造originated from demons, the warning bells in his heart had become louder and louder.

If demons also possessed their own technology, would there also be a phenomenon of rapid technological advancement in a certain period?

.(。)