Imperial Crown.

Chapter 443 Magic Crystal Cannon

Chapter 457 Magic Crystal Cannon
June 1205, 2 in the Guangming calendar.

It is winter.

The wind blew snow in all directions, and the sky and the earth were covered with a white haze.

In weather like this, even the most experienced winter wolves will return to their dens.

But at this moment, there was an army marching on the mountain road.

The marching column of about a hundred people was divided into two lines, guarding the central convoy. Everyone wore a thick cotton robe and tied a rope around their waist to avoid falling behind.

Even though they had taken all necessary protective measures, the soldiers' faces were still frozen red and even their eyelashes were covered with ice.

Thor was walking in front of the team, holding his warhorse, his feet trudging through the snow, alternating deep and shallow paths. The hot air he exhaled condensed on the inner layer of his mask, and the ice flowers that formed made his lips itchy.

This really can't be said to be a good experience.

"Come on!" Thor shouted:

"In another hour, we will set up camp and rest!"

The sound was drowned out by the wind and snow and perhaps did not travel very far, but Thor's mind was not on that.

He turned around and looked at the huge object being pulled on the carriage, and his heart suddenly felt hot.

Magic crystal cannon.

Half a month ago, Archbishop Thomas personally escorted three magic crystal cannons and 3 boxes of level 20 magic crystals to Eagle City.

At that time, they were all scattered into parts and packed in boxes, and no one knew what they looked like.

Perhaps it was out of consideration to boost morale, or perhaps it was simply based on the Earl's caution, in any case, Thor was ordered to come to Bloody Highlands to test the power of the magic crystal cannon.

So this magic crystal cannon was assembled and appeared in the convoy.

The entire body is pure black, and no one knows what material it is made of. The base alone is 3 meters wide and 2 meters thick. The gun barrel on top is a large barrel, short and thick, like a silkworm pupa.

Looking from a distance, it is really interesting and indescribable.

So much so that after it was assembled, the Earl personally gave it a nickname:
"Fat Dick."

At that time, Archbishop Thomas, who was standing next to him, turned pale.

Suddenly, a horse broke through the wind curtain and stopped in front of Thor. Turo, who was riding on it, jumped off the horse:
"The horse thief is coming!"

But Thor was not surprised but happy: "Finally it's here!"

"Put on armor and form a formation!!!"

Half an hour later.

The wind and snow gradually subsided.

The bandit leader "Broken Skull" saw the Eagle Army lined up in two horizontal rows.

With just a glance, this experienced horse thief counted the number of the enemy, and was able to determine from the traces that no one was lying in ambush nearby.

126 people in total.

The number wasn't large, but even with a team of more than 1200 people following him, Skullbreaker still felt a little uneasy.

It’s not because he has hemorrhoids and it makes him uncomfortable sitting on the horse.

But it was because he was full of doubts about this "encounter".

It's all such a coincidence.

Why did the Eagle Army have to send a team to escort such a powerful weapon as the Magic Crystal Cannon to the Bloody Heights at this time?
Even if you want to test your power, there is a large open space in Eagle Territory.

Moreover, they just came without hiding their whereabouts at all. Even his spies could hear their general movements in the bar.

All these manifestations seem like a trap.

But Skullbreaker had to step into this trap.

Because his life was so hard!

Five years ago, the horse thieves from Bloody Highlands joined forces with the pirates from Slave Bay to attack Eagle City, but were defeated by a mere weak woman like Nancy.

From then on, the horse thieves on Bloody Highlands never recovered, and their lives became more and more difficult.

Not only did they suffer huge losses in numbers, but they also never dared to cause trouble in the Nordic province again.

The most crucial point is that the smuggling business on which Bloody Heights depends has suffered an unprecedented blow.

Because Raven conquered Eivor.

As a result, Aiwoer became the bridge and channel for direct communication between the two empires of Cairns and Insa, especially at the commercial level.

The bigwigs of the two countries communicated directly, and smuggling through Eivor was much easier and less troublesome than crossing the Bloody Highlands.

The economic decline not only made the lives of the bandits difficult, but also led to a decline in their strength.

Five years ago, the horse thieves on Bloody Heights could still afford a set of heavy armor, or at least a chain mail shirt.

Now, among the more than 1200 horse bandits following Skullbreaker, more than 800 of them are wearing leather armor.

If this continues, within a few years they will change from horse thieves to horse-riding herdsmen.

Broken Skull could not accept such an outcome, so he took the risk this time.

That’s a magic crystal cannon!
Any one of them is worth millions of gold coins.

And it’s not just about gold coins.

If he could get one and send it to Insa, not only would he settle down and become a rich man, he might even get a title!
At the very least he would be a baron, which was much more glorious than being a horse thief.

"Ka-"

An eagle cried as it flew down from the sky and landed on the leather armor on the wrist of a nearby falconer. The falconer observed the eagle's movements and came to Skullbreaker:
"Leader, it has been confirmed that the other side has no reinforcements."

No reinforcements?!
There was a burning look in Broken Skull's eyes. He drew the scimitar from his waist and shouted, "Brothers, whether you will get rich or starve to death depends on this!"

"Charge forward, kill people, grab the guns——"

The bandits shouted in unison:
"kill--"

Accompanied by deafening shouts and cries of killing, the horse bandits rushed towards the Eagle Army like an avalanche.

Thor felt his throat tighten.

He took the initiative to reveal his whereabouts in order to lure the horse thieves to attack so as to test the actual combat capability of the magic crystal cannon.

But the number of the other side was beyond his expectations.

In his opinion, the Bloody Highlands was in a very dilapidated state, and Skullbreaker, the leader of the bandits on the edge of the Bloody Highlands, could only lead a team of a few hundred people at most.

After all, the name Skull Crusher doesn't sound very smart.

But now, there were more than 1200 people appearing in front of him!

Moreover, the opponent's leader, Broken Skull, is not like the rumors say, the kind of person who took advantage of the chaos to rise to power and has no ability of his own.

The energy emanating naturally from his body pushed away the snowflakes falling from the sky. It was obviously beyond the scope of ordinary extraordinary powers and might have reached the 4th or even 5th level!

For a moment, Thor regretted bringing only so few people up.

But he had no time to regret. He stood in front of the magic crystal cannon, drew out the long sword from his waist and swung it fiercely:
"fire!!"

There was no movement.

Thor felt like he was going crazy, and turned around and yelled, "Fire, what are you waiting for!?"

Turo, who was busy behind the magic crystal cannon, looked up awkwardly: "Sir, wait a moment, it's a bit troublesome to activate this magic crystal cannon."

"Get out of the way, let me do it!" Thor came behind the magic crystal cannon.

In order to activate the magic crystal cannon, it is necessary to fill the magic crystal cabin at the rear with sufficient magic crystals and magic cores.

The magic crystal provides energy, and the magic core determines what kind of magic will be activated.

At this time, the lid of the magic crystal compartment had been opened, and the magic crystals had been poured in, along with a level 5 steel-attribute magic core.

But he didn't know what went wrong, the cover of the magic crystal cabin was stuck, and no matter how hard Ren Turo tried, he couldn't push it in.

"Get out of the way, I'll do it!"

Thor's feet were filled with fighting spirit and he kicked forward.

With a bang, the lid of the magic crystal cabin was successfully closed. Thor jumped onto the back of the magic crystal cannon again and forcefully activated a spiral machine expansion across the tail.

Click, click, click...

The sound of magic crystals shattering was heard, and the magic crystal cannon suddenly vibrated, shaking out a layer of waves on the snow on the ground. Then it stopped.

“Don’t stop!” Thor’s face turned pale as he looked at the bandits that were about to rush towards him, and he punched them:

"Move, you useless thing!"

boom--

……

Chapter 458: Frozen Blood River

Thor was thrown off the cannon.

He saw that amidst the violent vibrations, azure magic light lit up from the magic crystal cabin, filling the magic patterns on the magic crystal cannon from the inside out.

The originally pitch-black gun body shines like molten steel, yet also presents a deep blue like the sea!

The magic power flowed to the muzzle, condensing into complex magic circle phantoms that emitted dazzling light.

boom--

A dim ray of light shot out from the muzzle, transforming into a light curtain as broad as a river that swept across the surging horse bandits.

This scene made the horse thieves tighten their reins, screaming in panic and trying to escape.

But the light just passed through them and nothing happened.

Just as the bandits were in doubt, the Broken Skull in the back roared:
“Get down, get down!!!”

However, it was too late.

The originally dim light curtain suddenly became extremely bright, like the surface of water reflecting the sunlight under the scorching sun at noon, and the waves began to ripple.

Anything that came into contact with the dazzling water, whether it was a horse thief, a warhorse, or a sword, was instantly severed.

The space is also cut apart by the water surface!
Above the water were hundreds of terrified and desperate faces, and blood shadows that were splashed and reflected on the water surface.

Beneath the water was a headless torso, a severed arm without a hand, broken armor and weapons, and red frost that sprayed out and turned into blood mist and was frozen by the cold wind.

It was like a frozen river of blood, suddenly stretching across the battlefield!
"what……"

"what!!!!!"

On the edge of the blood river, the horse thieves who were lucky enough not to be affected were all scared silly. They dropped their weapons, turned their horses around and fled backwards frantically.

Even if I fall down for a moment, I will not care about the pain and will use my hands and feet to crawl out of this hellish nightmare!
500 people.

Skullbreaker counted the number of bandits who died from this magic crystal cannon.

One magic crystal cannon killed at least 500 people!

Nearly half the number of horse thieves he brought!
"Don't be afraid, the magic crystal cannon needs to be reloaded, keep charging!"

This sentence came from Broken Skull's rationality, but he couldn't say it no matter what.

Because he couldn't even convince himself with this sentence!

This was the first time he saw the power of the magic crystal cannon, and he finally understood why it was so valuable and worth exchanging for a title!
His teeth were chattering from trembling, his hands that were holding the reins were cramped and unable to loosen, and his face was stiffer than a dead person.

Even for him, with his strength of level 4 and 10 stars, he couldn't guarantee that he could survive facing such terrifying power!

But it took him 40 years and consumed countless precious materials to get to where he is today.

But the magic crystal cannon, just burning the magic crystals, is enough to evaporate him!

40 years of hard work seems like a joke in the face of this one shot!
Instinct overwhelmed reason at this moment, and all ambitions melted away. He turned his horse's head and rushed into the snow without looking back.

"We won, we won!!!" The brothers Turo and Baido jumped up happily:

"This Fat Dick is so awesome, so awesome!!! It's so cool!"

The Eagle Army that followed were even more ecstatic.

They thought that even if the magic crystal cannon was effective, a bloody battle would still be inevitable. However, they did not expect that the power of the magic crystal cannon would be so great, to an unbelievable degree!

The legendary forbidden spell is probably just this, right?
"Hey, calm down!" Thor coughed, imitating the way he remembered Raven. "The opponents are just horse thieves. It's only natural that we should beat them. What's there to be happy about?"

Having said that, Thor couldn't help but smile.

The more panicked I was just now, the happier I am now!

"Sir, the bandits have been defeated. Should we give them a chase?" Turo asked from the side.

"No." Thor shook his head: "Let's find a place to camp, and when the snow stops, we will set off back immediately."

"We are here to test the magic crystal cannon, not to kill people!"

Turo was obviously somewhat resistant to this order, but he still nodded and passed the order on.

It’s not that Thor doesn’t want to expand the victory, but although the magic crystal cannon is good, it has several major drawbacks.

The main thing is that it is too heavy.

The gun barrel weighs more than 3 pounds and is placed on a special eight-wheeled carriage that needs to be reinforced with steel. It takes 4 strong draft horses to barely pull it, and people have to follow behind to push it.

In other words, it would be more convenient to transport it if it was disassembled into parts. But in that case, the assembly alone would take at least one day, making it impossible to fight a skirmish.

Moreover, each activation consumes two level 2 magic crystals, and 5 shots is a box.

每箱5阶魔晶的价格，在12万8千-15万5千金币之间浮动。

In other words, one shot would burn at least 2 gold coins!
Thor almost wanted to leave some people behind to clean up the battlefield.

It was a pity that the snow and wind were too strong and there were not many of them, so even if they got the spoils, they couldn't take them back.

That night, Thor and his army found a sheltered place to set up camp.

A whole lamb was roasting over the fire.

The melted fat flowed down the browned surface and dripped onto the charcoal fire, making a sizzling sound.

The aroma wafts along with the smoke, making people drool.

"Congratulations, Boss Thor!" Turo cut off a leg of lamb and handed it to Thor: "When you go back this time, you may become a knight."

"Yes, he should be knighted, and at least a fiefdom knight!" His younger brother Baido agreed as he handed over the wine bag.

"Don't just focus on me, take some for the two of you too." Thor was almost immune to this kind of flattery. He took the lamb leg and wine and said, "We are superiors and subordinates in name, but we grew up together. There is no need to do this."

Turo and Baido just smiled and didn't say anything, and each took the wine and meat.

Thor didn't talk too much. After eating for a while, he asked, "By the way, what's the matter with the 'fief knight' you mentioned before?"

"You don't know?" Turo was a little surprised.

"Is this something important that I must know?" Thor asked.

Turo scratched his head, not knowing where to start. "Some time ago, the nobles from the five northwestern counties set up the 'Nord Northwest Noble Council'. You should know about this, right?"

Thor said: "I know. They also dragged the Earl into the meeting and made him the Speaker."

"Isn't it just that they saw that Griffith was doing well, so they came here to take advantage of it? What does this have to do with the title of knight?"

"We just heard about it." Turo and Baido looked at each other and explained, "It seems that this parliament is preparing to reclassify and regrade the knights and barons in the five northwestern counties."

"Knights are divided into 'apprentice knights', 'fief knights', 'castle knights', etc."

"Depending on the size of their territories, barons are also divided into 'Star Baron', 'Moon Baron', 'Corona Baron'3, etc."

"Oh, now I understand." Thor was not sensitive to the twists and turns and just listened to it and got over it.

But one detail caught his attention: "Since it is going to be reclassified, what level will my father be?"

Turo and Baido said in unison: "That must be the Baron of the Corona!"

"That's more like it." Thor ended the topic happily.

Nothing happened that night. Early the next morning, Thor led his team to the Eagle Territory.

Eleven days later, Thor returned to Eagle Territory and the first thing he wanted to do was to find Raven to report his achievement.

But when he reached the castle gate, he was stopped.

The soldier guarding the city said, "The Earl is meeting with Archbishop Thomas and does not want anyone to disturb him."

Thor was a little confused.

Hasn't all the support sent by the Church of Light arrived?

Moreover, the Eagle Army will be heading out for battle in a month at most. What should we talk about now?
……

(End of this chapter)