Chapter 242 (1/2)

Chapter 242: The Emerald Circle

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

At the Icy Peak Fortress.

Two days flew by, and with Link’s help, the Battle Mages in the Norton army were able to make great progress in coming up with countermeasures against the ghouls. One of them was the invention of a new crossbow.

In the courtyard of the fortress, Link, the Magician Marco, Annie and a few other scouts were experimenting with this new weapon. A number of quick-moving targets were set in front of them, and these targets moved back and forth at a speed close to 300 feet per second as a scout stood about 150 feet away. The scout held the crossbow in his hand and just pulled the trigger in the general direction of the moving target without actually trying to aim precisely at it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Arrow after arrow shot towards the moving target out from the crossbow at high frequency and speed, almost at about five arrows per second. The arrows didn’t always move in a straight line, though. Some of them moved in an arc-shaped trajectory, some in S-shaped paths, yet all of them hit squarely onto the moving target without fail.

Five seconds later, the crossbows were then out of arrows. The scout slammed his hand hard onto the main body of the crossbow, which prompted a metal box to jerk out from it. The scout then added new Sacred Silver arrows into this box and pressed it back into place until there was a click sound. Then, the scout once again raised the crossbow and aimed it at the target. The whole process of replacing new arrows took no more than two seconds.

The trigger was pressed once more, and a shower of arrows rained down towards the moving target. Not one arrow missed.

Soon, the arrows were emptied again, but the scout didn’t stop shooting. He refilled the arrows for the third time, then the fourth, then the fifth—until finally, when he refilled the arrows for the twentieth time, the crossbow was finally trained to its limits, and the strings broke in a discorded twang.

The moving target stopped at the same time. By now, it was pierced through by so many arrows that it looked like a porcupine.

Another scout rushed up towards the target to check it.

“489 arrows hit the target,” he reported after a few minutes. “And 309 arrows hit the runes.”

“That’s 97% of all 500 arrows!” exclaimed Marco proudly. “We managed to hit a high-speed moving target at that high a rate, and 60% of them hit the critical points on the target. This is near perfection!”

This newly modified crossbow was almost entirely based on Link’s ideas, so he was quite pleased and relieved with the results achieved. The scouts around him were excited by this outcome as well. To them, this new weapon could mean the difference between life and death on the battlefields.

“If this weapon gets adopted by the army on a large-scale,” said Annie, “there would be no reason for us to fear the ghouls! We’d only need five people in a troop to use this weapon to make a huge difference!”

But Link was still far from satisfied. He thought this weapon still had a lot of room for improvements. If only he had more time, he’d come up with a way to use fire elemental spells to modify the crossbows into something akin to a machine gun.

But that wasn’t the most practical idea. The cost of developing such a weapon would be too high to be a common weapon used in the army. This crossbow might not be the most ideal weapon, but it did strike a balance between efficiency and cost.

If it were to be produced large-scale, one of these crossbows would cost about ten gold coins while a Sacred Silver arrow would cost about 1.5 gold coins each, totaling at about four gold coins per box of arrows. King Leon might have to burn a hole in his treasury to arm all the MI3 scouts with one crossbow, but it was still a bearable cost and one that would be worth it ultimately since it meant the survival of the kingdom.

“It’s time I head back south,” said Link.

“I’ll walk you to the gates,” said Annie as she approached Link.

Link nodded, then the two walked together towards the stable in the fortress. Annie remained silent along the way until they reached a hidden spot near the stables. Then, she stopped abruptly and turned to look at Link.

“The god-level device can swallow thousands and thousands of souls in one swoop,” she whispered. “Do we have any hope for victory, Link?”

She raised her head and looked up at Link, her face fraught with worry.

Link fell into silence for a while. The Dark Serpent had a wide range of attacks at about ten miles—that’s as powerful as a nuclear weapon. With this weapon alone, the outcome of a war might be completely reversed, and the fate of humanity would be decided.

There was no way for the Norton Kingdom to win without first eliminating the threat of this weapon.

“This is indeed a menacing problem,” said Link. “Once I return to the South, I will report this to the king and all the Master Magicians in the kingdom so we might come up with a solution.”

“But we are ultimately mere mortals,” said Annie, her voice still hushed and fearful. “Can we ever fight against the power of divine gods?”

Link could understand her anxiety, so he patted her shoulders gently and smiled.

“Have you forgotten that we’ve defeated the god-level device once?” he asked. “Don’t worry, once I return to the South, I’ll build a much stronger magic puppet.”

Annie seemed to gain strength from Link’s smile, and the vivacity returned to her face instantly.

“When will you come back to the North?” she asked with anticipation.

“I’ll be here when I am needed,” he replied.

“Good!” exclaimed Annie. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

Link then turned around and headed towards the stable where a few Griffins were kept. The magical beast was renowned for its remarkable endurance and speed, so it was the ideal transport to get him back to the South quickly and safely.

“Goodbye, Link,” said Annie wistfully.

Link waved his hand and walked into the stable.

“That girl likes you.” Link looked around in search of the source of the voice. It turned out to be Felina.

The Dragon Warrior had been recuperating in the fortress for two days, so she was virtually healed. She was leaning on the stable door with her hands folded in front of her chest, staring at Link with a smile on her face. Looking at her now, Link realized that she could remove the armor scales on her body. Apart from her extraordinary height, Felina now looked indistinguishable from any human being, even though her eyes were silvery and were emitting a faint glow as well.

If Link were to be candidly honest, he would say that Felina looked quite attractive. She had a beautiful figure even though she was extremely tall. Her body was well-proportioned, and her curves were alluring, not to mention her legs which were amazingly long and slender. Overall, she looked like a picture of vigorous health.

Link gave Felina a look and said nothing in response to her remark. He knew that Annie liked him, but he also understood that he must be cautious with the way he responded to her. Annie was a good friend of his, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings.

“Have you been standing here all along, waiting for me?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah,” admitted Felina. “No other human in this fortress is worth waiting around for anyway.”

“Is there anything you wanted to tell me?” asked Link.

“I heard you’re going back to the South,” said Felina, “I’ll give you a ride back, we’ll discuss matters on the way.”