Release that Witch

A week later in the valley of the Impassable Mountain Range

After the previous napalm missile test, the valley became Roland’s new test site. Since there were more visitors from the northwest of the city coming to the Misty Forest than ever, it was now practically impossible to simply create a clearing in the suburb to conduct the test. Therefore, Roland had to pick a new test site that was closer to the North Slope laboratory and attracted less attention from the public.

Considering their weapons would become increasingly powerful in the future, it was only natural to relocate the test site.

This time, Roland was going to test out the anti-demon rocket-propelled grenade he had previously worked on.

With the development of the industrial technology as well as abundant research, it had only taken Roland five days to complete the test - the shortest so far in Neverwinter.

Nevertheless, the speed test was also largely attributed to the simple structure of the grenade itself.

In Roland’s previous world, even the worst terrorist who barely knew anything about military weapons was able to produce a giant home-made RPG with a gas can and a hosepipe. If equipped with a pickup truck, they could transform the RPG into a self-propelled multi-gun. As the industrial system in Neverwinter steadily matured, Roland could now produce a rudimentary grenade effortlessly.

”So, I just need to aim the missile head at the target and then pull the trigger, right?” said Alethea brightly as she scooped up the launcher with her tentacle. As a former Senior Blessed Warrior, she was very interested in the new firearm, especially when this firearm was particularly designed to defend against the demons.

Except, the whole situation was a little strange and creepy as far as Roland could see.

What he saw now was a huge blob monster covered in tentacles holding an RPG, which was not a common weapon it normally used - as depicted in horror movies. More often than not, a tentacle monster like that would attack their enemy with their fatal stare, swords and shields, a powerful sucker, and special body fluids. An RPG, in this scenario, was simply a little out of place.

Roland asked the original carriers to conduct the test purely out of safety concerns. Neither the soldiers nor the God’s Punishment Witches could possibly survive a close-range shot when the firearm was unintentionally discharged. Only the original carriers had the ability to transport the weapon with their tentacles to a remote, distant area and thus avoid such unfortunate accidents.

”Just make sure that you aren’t pointing your tail at yourself or anyone,” Roland said as he coughed. ”Go ahead.”

Alethea gave her main tentacle a quick tap of comprehension and pulled the trigger.

A sudden flash erupted from the muzzle and zoomed across the field toward the target 100 meters away.

The projectile gently arced in the air and hit the lower part of the target. With a deafening crash, the targetted iron case rolled over on the ground, fully intact.

Compared to the earth-shattering roar of the Longsong Cannon and the furious flames that overcast the sky produced by the napalm bomb, the performance of this weapon didn’t seem very satisfactory. The explosion emitted hardly any gunfire, dust, nor particles. Within a few seconds, the wind had dispersed the faintest hint of smoke produced by the bomb.

The atmosphere became awkwardly silent.

Only Roland didn’t look too disappointed at the result. On the contrary, he said smilingly, ”Go retrieve it and take a look.”

Soon, two God’s Punishment Witches brought the iron case back.

”Well, this...”

As they approached the case and examined it carefully, they found a scorched white mark at the bottom of the case, at the center of which was a small dent that was three fingers wide.

”Did the missile penetrate it?” Pasha asked curiously. ”It wasn’t slow but not fast either. At least, it appears to be more powerful than a regular bullet. I don’t think a revolver could do that.”

”I don’t think a Mark I type HMG could do that either,” Alethea remarked as she drew closer. ”This iron case is a replica of the stone pillar thrown by the Spider Demons. It’s plastered with steel plates as thick as a man’s finger, so it isn’t easy to penetrate. Right, we put a tester in it earlier. Open it and see what it looks like now.”

When Alethea stretched out two of her tentacles and opened the heavy lid of the case, everybody gasped in surprise.

The several chickens Roland had hung with an iron wire from the ceiling of the case to simulate the demons in the stone pillars were now nothing but a pulp, topped with a few burned, blackened chicken feathers.

”It seems to be working,” Roland said while nodding in satisfaction. He was more surprised at the fact that Alethea had hit the case with one single shot than the burned chickens, for he had thought it would take at least five or six shots for a successful attempt.

Roland had foreseen that the explosion would not produce dazzling flames or earsplitting noises, because, essentially, the missile did not release considerable energy. The direct result of low reaction energy was the low velocity of the projectile.

When the amount of gunpowder remained constant then the larger the missile head was, the greater the air resistance would be; the heavier the missile head was, the slower it would travel through the air. To enhance the firing accuracy, Roland abandoned the idea of using a huge caliber weapon but confined the caliber of the grenade to 40 millimeters, which was the same as that of the barrel. The front part of the missile was shaped as a cone in order to reduce air resistance.

Based on the firing result, the missile seemed to be quite steady when it streaked across the sky. Although it was much smaller than a Panfauster, it was large enough to pierce armor plates of ten millimeters thick. Currently, the missile was almost as powerful as the stone pillar projected by the demons.

”Do you think this weapon could defeat the Senior Demons?” Roland asked as he turned to Pasha and the other witches.

”Well... ” Alethea spoke first. ”It’s hard to say. There are strong and weak Senior Demons, just as we have Extraordinaries and Transcendents. If our enemy is swift and fast or happens to be a Magic Slayer, then... to be honest, the chance of hitting it in its face is very slim. They can easily dodge the grenade while the grenade is traveling in the air. However — ”

She broke off and continued with an abrupt rise in her voice, ”This is definitely an epochal weapon, Your Majesty, because it closes the gap between demons and common people. It offers us an opportunity to outnumber our enemy. I can’t praise this novel invention enough!”

”Exactly,” Pasha rejoined smilingly. ”It was impossible for a mortal to wound a Senior Demon in the past. If we had such a weapon in the Taquila age, Lady Natalia would be thrilled.”

”And I just discovered another way to significantly improve the accuracy rate,” Alethea said while swaying her main tentacle.

”Yes?” Roland said as he looked at her. ”What is it?”

”To equip each individual God’s Punishment Witch with this weapon,” Alethea answered in exhilaration. ”Only the Extraordinaries can rival the Senior Demons. If the enemy is shot in the face, then there’s no way it can survive the shot, no matter how strong it is!”

”Don’t worry. It’s an individual weapon, and certainly everybody will have one,” Roland promised with a smile. ”So will the God’s Punishment Witches.”

The next step would be further increasing the power of the missile while maintaining its current traveling speed and overhead cost. Meanwhile, Roland had to also create a new weapon that had a large caliber to target the Spider Demons that moved much slower than the Senior Demons. Considering they would eventually invade the demons’ city and the Spider Demons would very likely lurk around alleys and streets, Roland felt it necessary to develop a new type of bomb as early as possible.

While Roland was deep in thought, his guard suddenly came to deliver him a message.

”Your Majesty, Sir Sean and his rescue team have returned from the Kingdom of Wolfheart. They’ve just reached the dock by the inner river.”