The destruction caused by the Warhound had left a visible impression upon everyone present.
Even the nobles who had initially dismissed Elarion’s reports no longer looked skeptical.
So looked concerned while others frightened.
Others were already calculating the political implications.
The Grand Marshal remained focused upon the battlefield itself.
The King remained silent.
The Royal Guardian simply observed.
Eventually the dust settled.
Captain Hale stepped back.
The Warhound crew began securing the vehicle.
For several monts nobody spoke.
Then Lucien broke the silence.
"That concludes the armored vehicle demonstration."
Several nobles exchanged glances.
Concludes?
If that was only the first demonstration, what exactly ca next?
Lucien turned toward another section of the testing grounds.
A large object remained concealed beneath heavy canvas coverings.
The assembled audience followed his gaze.
Imdiately curiosity returned.
At a signal from Lucien, several soldiers moved forward.
The canvas was removed.
Silence followed.
The machine revealed beneath looked completely different from the Warhound.
Its enormous barrel pointed toward the distant horizon.
Several generals imdiately straightened.
The Grand Marshal’s eyes narrowed.
Now this looked familiar.
Because its purpose was obvious.
Artillery.
Heavy artillery.
Lucien gestured toward the weapon.
"This is the LEFH."
The na ant nothing to most nobles.
It ant considerably more to the military officers.
Captain Hale stepped forward once more.
"LEFH."
"Light Field Howitzer."
Several engineers imdiately began writing.
The captain continued.
"Primary caliber: one hundred and five milliters."
That alone caused reactions.
The Warhound’s cannon had been impressive.
This weapon dwarfed it.
The barrel looked enormous.
The breech looked enormous.
Everything about the artillery piece suggested power and this ca in light artillery category.
The captain rested a hand upon the carriage.
"The LEFH serves as Elarion’s standard field artillery platform."
One noble frowned.
"How many crew?"
"Six."
The captain answered imdiately.
"Commander."
"Gunner."
"Loader."
"Two ammunition handlers."
"Driver."
The noble nodded.
Several generals remained focused upon a different question.
Range.
The Grand Marshal voiced it.
"Maximum effective range?"
The captain smiled slightly.
A soldier’s question.
A commander’s question.
And the question that truly mattered.
"Twelve thousand ters."
The silence that followed was profound.
Several nobles simply stared.
The number sounded ridiculous.
Twelve kiloters.
The target would be invisible at that distance.
One noble finally spoke.
"Are you sure it’s 12 km and you didn’t make a mistake."
"It is ."
The captain’s response ca imdiately.
The noble frowned.
"You expect us to believe that weapon can strike targets twelve kiloters away?"
The Grand Marshal never took his eyes off the howitzer.
"That’s not the important question."
Everyone looked toward him.
The old commander slowly folded his arms.
"The important question is whether it can do so accurately."
The captain nodded.
Several officers exchanged approving looks.
The Grand Marshal understood artillery.
The captain continued.
"Maximum range and effective combat range are different asurents."
"Depending upon battlefield conditions, trained crews can reliably engage targets several kiloters beyond visual observation and do so within 2m of the target area given."
That statent unsettled even so of the officers.
Because they understood what it ant.
The artillery could kill people it couldn’t even see.
One engineer raised his hand.
"Ammunition?"
The captain imdiately answered.
"High explosive."
"Fragntation."
"Smoke."
"Illumination."
"The system supports multiple ammunition types depending upon mission requirents."
Another engineer spoke.
"Rate of fire?"
"Four to six rounds per minute under sustained operation."
The Grand Marshal was no longer rely interested.
He looked very concerned.
The Royal Guardian noticed.
The King noticed too but no one comnted, everyone worldview have been refreshed today
Captain Hale continued.
"The weapon is designed for long-range bombardnt, counter-battery operations, destruction of fortifications, and battlefield support."
One noble blinked.
"Counter-battery?"
The captain nodded.
"Destroying enemy artillery as soon as they fire."
The noble frowned.
"Before they can engage?"
"It’s actually as soon as they engage."
The realization slowly spread through the audience.
This wasn’t rely a larger cannon.
This was a weapon designed to dominate battlefields before armies even t.
Captain Hale finally turned toward the King.
"Your Majesty."
"We are prepared to begin the firing demonstration."
The entire audience imdiately beca attentive.
The Warhound had already exceeded expectations.
Now everyone wanted to see what a one hundred and five milliter artillery piece could actually do.
King Alaric gave a single nod.
"Proceed."
The artillery crew moved imdiately.
Shells were brought forward.
The breech opened.
The first round was loaded.
Several observers instinctively covered their ears.
The Grand Marshal raised his binoculars.
The Royal Guardian simply reached for another cup of tea.
Far in the distance, nearly invisible against the horizon, stood a series of reinforced targets.
Stone fortifications and heavy earthworks.
Structures specifically constructed for this demonstration.
The gunner adjusted elevation.
The commander checked calculations.
Then raised his hand.
The battlefield beca silent.
For a brief mont, nobody moved.
Then—
"FIRE!"
The LEFH roared.
"Boom"
And the entire ground shook.
Unlike the sharp crack of the Warhound’s cannon, this sound was deeper.
The artillery piece lurched backward as the recoil system absorbed the imnse force.
Dust exploded around the firing position.
Several nobles instinctively stepped back.
So flinched outright.
The shell vanished into the sky.
One mont it was there.
The next it was gone.
And heading toward a target most of the audience couldn’t even see.
Silence followed.
Several seconds passed.
One noble finally frowned.
"Did we miss it?"
The Grand Marshal almost rolled his eyes.
Before he could answer, a distant observer’s report arrived through the field radio.
The operator listened.
His expression changed slightly.
Then he handed the receiver to Captain Hale.
The captain listened briefly before looking toward the audience.
"Direct hit."
A murmur spread across the platform.
The captain continued.
"The primary target has been destroyed."
One noble blinked.
Destroyed?
From ten kiloters away?
The words felt absurd.
Captain Hale calmly gestured toward a nearby observation station.
Several engineers quickly unfolded a large map.
One of them pointed toward the target location.
"The impact occurred approximately one ter from the designated center point."
This ti even the military officers reacted.
because of how accurately the shell it hit.
The Grand Marshal slowly lowered his binoculars.
His expression had beco grim.
Because Accuracy transford artillery from an inconvenience into a nightmare.
The King noticed.
"So?"
The simple question drew everyone’s attention.
The old commander looked toward him.
"If that report is correct, Your Majesty..."
He paused.
"...then any army attempting to approach Elarion will suffer casualties long before they ever reach visual range."
Silence followed.p
The implications were obvious.
Captain Hale raised a hand.
"We will now conduct a battery fire demonstration."
Several nobles frowned.
Battery fire?
The captain pointed toward the field.
Three additional LEFH guns were being moved into position.
The realization slowly dawned upon the audience.
They hadn’t been watching a battery.
They had been watching a single gun.
The Grand Marshal’s expression darkened further.
A single gun was dangerous.
A battery was sothing else entirely.
Within minutes all four artillery pieces stood ready.
Shells moved from ammunition wagons.
Charges(shells are called charges) were prepared.
Coordinates confird.
Everything happened within few minutes
As if they had done this hundreds of tis before.
Which they probably actually had.
The artillery commander raised his arm.
The field beca silent once more.
Then ca the command.
"Battery."
"Ready."
Four gun crews responded simultaneously.
"Ready!"
The commander lowered his arm.
"Fire!"
The world exploded.
Four artillery pieces discharged simultaneously.
The blast shook the observation platform.
Several nobles physically stumbled.
A few ladies covered their ears despite themselves.
The thunderous roar rolled across the countryside like a storm.
Shells disappeared into the sky.
One after another.
Four deadly arcs invisible to the naked eye.
Again the audience waited.
Again the impacts couldn’t be seen
Then the observer’s report arrived.
The radio operator listened.
His eyes widened.
The captain accepted the receiver.
A brief conversation followed.
Then he turned toward the audience.
"The target area has been completely neutralized."
One of the generals frowned.
"Clarify."
The captain nodded.
"The mock fortifications no longer exist."
That simple statent carried enormous weight.
The general stared at him.
"Completely?"
"Completely."
Nobody spoke.
The Grand Marshal understood exactly what that ant.
Four guns.
One salvo.
Entire defensive positions erased.
He had spent decades studying warfare.
Yet even he found the implications deeply unsettling.
Nearby, several nobles had gone noticeably pale.
The Warhound had impressed them.
The LEFH frightened them.
The difference was significant.
One machine destroyed what it could see.
The other destroyed what it couldn’t.
The King remained silent.
The Royal Guardian noticed the expression imdiately.
A faint smile appeared.
Exactly as expected.
Then Captain Hale spoke again.
"The final demonstration will involve sustained bombardnt."
The Grand Marshal closed his eyes briefly.
Of course there was more.
The artillery crews imdiately began loading additional shells.
One after another.
The commander raised his hand.
"Comnce fire mission."
The guns began firing.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The rhythm beca relentless.
Continuous.
One gun fired.
Then another.
Then another.
And then another.
The sky itself seed to shake.
Every few seconds another shell departed.
The barrage continued.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Two minutes.
The nobles gradually stopped reacting to individual shots.
Instead they focused on the realization.
The firing wasn’t stopping.
Shell after shell.
Minute after minute.
A constant rain of destruction.
The engineers quickly began calculating.
Four guns.
Five rounds per minute.
Twenty shells every minute.
One hundred shells every five minutes.
The numbers beca increasingly absurd.
The Grand Marshal noticed the calculations.
Then quietly perford so of his own.
The results were horrifying.
An army advancing under such bombardnt would suffer catastrophic losses.
Entire formations could disappear or whole army even ranked knights cannot take any direct or indirect hit.
Morale would collapse.
Command structures would disintegrate.
And all of it would happen before the enemy even reached the battlefield.
When the firing finally stopped, an unnatural silence settled over the testing grounds.
Smoke drifted around the artillery positions.
The crews remained calm.
As though nothing remarkable had occurred.
Perhaps to them it hadn’t.
They trained with these weapons.
The audience did not.
For the first ti the princess spoke
"Let’s move towards the target area and verify destruction ourself"
Everyone silently agreed with this none wanted to believe such thing exists.
After several minutes everyone reached the target area, a defeaning silence perated the area
The area had several large craters like so grand mage had cast multiple high level spells.
Finally grand marshal spoke
"If Elarion continues expanding production at its current rate..."
The old commander paused.
"...then every military doctrine on this continent will beco obsolete."
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