Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 283: Might of the cannon.

“...just like a normal cannon powered by Mana,” the old physician stuttered, getting a few nods from the experienced blacksmiths on the side.

They hadn’t created something like this before, but from what they had gathered, the cannon should work perfectly.

If only they had more time, they could have tested it many times over. However, they could only look for any errors and correct them on the spot under their given circumstances.

Lammert not only wanted them to finish the cannon under six days, but he had also told them to be discreet about it, so they couldn’t openly experiment either.

One thing they all agreed on was that this was one of their masterpieces, even if it was made with the joint effort of everyone present in the room.

Lammert looked towards Darcia for confirmation and only when he saw her nodding at him did he respond, “Do we do it here then?”

“Ah here? No no no! We can’t do it here! If nothing goes wrong, then we will destroy this place!” the old man immediately rejected the idea.

.....

Although they had yet to test it out, all the blacksmiths and physicians agreed that it should work just fine. And according to their estimates, even testing it like a normal cannon would have the power multiplied many times over!

“We will do as you say then. Follow me,” Darcia interrupted in the middle. She was getting impatient now and decided to end their conversation right there.

It was better if they tried it out themselves.

She stored the cannon inside her Spatial Ring with a wave of her hand and led the whole group into the near forest. Testing the ‘Devil’s arm’ in the open might cause a commotion, but no one would notice anything if they only used it as a normal Mana-powered cannon.

“B-b-but...” the old physician seemed to be wanting to say something, but a glare from Lammert forced him to immediately shut his mouth.

“Follow along quietly,” Lammert ordered in a cold voice before following behind Darcia.

Around thirty or so people including all the blacksmiths also followed their lead. No one comforted the old man as they knew better than to stand out as well. Their lives were more important than their companionship.

Dejected that Lammert didn’t even let him finish his words, the old man could only heave a long tired sigh before he moved along as well.

A few minutes later, all of them stood in the jungle surrounded by tall trees as Darcia took the fancy-looking cannon out of her Spatial Ring before placing it on the ground.

She moved its barrel in the opposite direction of the Neutral City and looked specifically at the old physician who shrunk his body in response.

“You come here and do it,” Darcia ordered the old man before asking, “What do you even need to use it?”

“Ah... We only need those crystals which contain Mana... it doesn’t even require the cannonballs,” the old physician answered as he approached the cannon.

He was only a physician who was required to share his views on how the Devil’s arm would work with the cannon. He wasn’t a blacksmith, so he was unable to describe how everything worked.

But he did have the Mana Crystal with him in his Spatial Ring. So he took it out and proceeded to remove the glass on top of the invisible container attached to the barrel.

After removing the glass lid, the old physician placed that Mana Crystal in the invisible container before placing his hands on the runes etched on the gold plating beside it.

At this time, all the surrounding people except for Darcia held their breaths as it would be the first time since they tested the cannon.

Although they had checked everything many times over, something could have still gone wrong.

Lammert was also a little nervous since he would have to face Darcia’s wrath if things didn’t work out as they were supposed to.

The old physician took a deep breath before he induced a bit of his Mana in the runes which started to light up, shining in dim red light.

Kfuuu...!

The moment all the runes had lit up, a condensed beam of energy shot out from the muzzle of the cannon with lightning speed!

The ground near the group shook a little because of the force, and when they looked at where the beam of energy had shot at, they couldn’t see the end to the series of giant holes through rows and rows of trees!

Lammert sighed in relief that it was working perfectly fine, while all others present there cheered in joy. All except for the old physician who had a thoughtful look on his face which slowly morphed into worry.

No one paid any attention to the old man; they were all busy inspecting the cannon.

The Mana Crystal placed inside that invisible container was no more. In its place were just a pile of ashes which also dusted away with the next wind.

The cannon had really used every bit of Mana in the Crystal for the blast earlier.

Looking at many trees the beam had broken through, one could easily tell that the blast just now was enough to take down tens of Rank-6 Mages at once! Tens of Rank-6 Mages taken down using only a cannon was unheard of!

A single Mana-powered cannon could at most affect the battle when the strongest Mage was only a Rank-5 Mage. The cannons would become useless when the Rank-6 Mages joined in.

However, after months of trial and error, they had finally created a cannon so strong that they could even give Rank-7 Mages a bit of trouble using only Mana Crystals.

And it wasn’t even made to use the Mana Crystals as its primary source of power, it was the Devil’s arm instead!

If even a single Mana Crystal created such a blast, what would Ozul’s Scent1 do? Some of them couldn’t even begin to imagine.

The most experienced of all, that old physician was most likely the only one who was more worried than excited.

Darcia again waved her hand as she stored the cannon back in her Spatial Ring.

One could tell that she was satisfied with the results as well.

“This will work. Once the Devil’s arm is used instead of the Mana Crystals, the force behind the blast would be unimaginable!” Darcia now felt increasingly reassured of her victory.

With this cannon, she didn’t even fear the old man from stopping her.

All she needed to do now was to find that boy and kill him. She guessed that since only his arm could help her achieve a breakthrough, what would his whole body do? She might even find something more useful, so she was eager to get to him as soon as possible.

Just as she was about to leave with Lammert, the old physician managed to utter a few words, “Uhm... Can I...”

Darcia stopped and looked at the old man with a questioning face. Opposite to her, Lammert was getting pissed as this old man had interrupted them so many times now.

“What is it? Speak quickly. We don’t have time for your squeaks,” Lammert spoke in a cold voice, making the old man even more nervous.

“I... think the cannon might not be ready yet...” he mustered up all his courage to utter out these words, making not only Lammert and Darcia narrow their eyes, but even his fellow Physicians and Blacksmiths to look at him oddly.

They had all worked together in this and it was odd to see that one of them suddenly just stands up and says that it might not work. But all of them wanted him to stay quiet since they would again have to work nonstop for months if they really found a fault in the cannon.

Luthien just didn’t want to upset Darcia, while the latter was doubtful of the old man as well.

“Why do you say as such?” Darcia inquired with a sharper tone of her own.

“I... I... The Devil’s arm contains just too much energy... It might not even work... or it might even just blow up...” the old physician was adamant in his claims.

“What proof do you have? And is he correct?” Darcia asked the first question to the old physician while turned around towards his companions for the second one.

All of them shook their heads, “According to our estimation... it should work.”

“I have no... proof. But really... I think-” the old physician still defended his claims, but Darcia only wanted to know if he had any proof or not.

“Speak only if you have any certain evidence that it would not work, I don’t care what your thoughts are,” Darcia spoke while narrowing her eyes.

A suffocating aura descended on the old physician as he dropped on the ground with widened eyes. He felt as if death itself was looming on his head as he found it difficult to breathe.

“M-m-mercy...” he could only stutter out that word before Darcia turned around and left, making Lammert sigh in relief that he wasn’t reprimanded for not teaching his subordinated enough.

“Take him away,” he ordered the other physicians before also disappearing from his spot.

Darcia didn’t even bother to tell Lammert that she was directly making her way towards those unexplored lands to find Ozul.

She was in too much of a rush to care about the old man’s ramblings about how the cannon might or might not work. Everyone except for the old man had no problem with it.