Black Warrior 78

  Sazaha's south is greener than the north's Seri Plateau, thanks to its mountainous and coastal terrain, pleasant climate, and moderate humidity due to the convergence of dry air flows from the north.

  If it weren't for the tense air and the faint scent of blood on the road, this place might be suitable for a vacation.

  At the scene of a certain robbery case, the atmosphere was somewhat off.

  A gigantic sword was pulled out from a corpse, the death of this person was gruesome. The fatal wound was a huge gash from the left shoulder to the right hip, and it could be seen that the skin and internal organs on both sides of the wound were crushed like they had been trampled by a giant beast, with blood splattered all around. The torn flesh showed an explosive effect under some kind of powerful impact, and the ribs on both sides of the wound were completely crushed, leaving only a segment of spine connecting the upper and lower body intact.

  Few people would believe that this was the result of a casual slash, and even the wounds inflicted by giant creatures wielding massive axes were not as gruesome.

  The sword pulled out from the corpse's head had a dark green glow emanating from its steel surface.

  Only a master blacksmith or alchemist could discern the material of this sword through its radiant glow, one component of which is known as Bartholomew's Green Iron, hailing from the nine hells of Bartholomew where demons roam free; in the mortal realm, even a small amount of this metal would be enough to make adventurers gasp and retreat.

  This sword is five feet long, with the widest part reaching six inches and the thickest part being about half an inch. The entire body is cast from Batto green iron alloy, and just the cost of making it would be enough to make countless adventurers sell their souls.

  She was a young woman of medium build, carrying a massive sword, clad in black steel plate armor that accentuated her physique stained with blood and iron, exuding wild power. Her long, straight brown hair cascaded down her back, framing eyes that were slightly upturned at the corners, and full red lips that held an irresistible charm.

  The eyes of the group of corpses on the ground can attest that before they were cut into inhuman shapes by that giant sword weighing over a hundred pounds, the terror on their faces had not completely driven away those lustful and obscene desires.

  "A bunch of incompetent fools like you also dare to have designs on me? Hmm... or should I say, the mountain bandits here are getting more and more visionless."

  The woman in armor looked impatient, and although she was beautiful even when angry, the men around her didn't have the mood to appreciate it, instead standing quietly behind her.

  These men were well-equipped, with the exception of their limb armor being made of hardened leather, the chainmail they wore was of decent quality, such equipment is usually only seen on state-sponsored armies.

  A man holding a Serbian flag also testifies to this, they are all soldiers.

  But under this woman's aura, they obviously only had the role of being a backdrop and didn't dare make a sound.

  It seemed like she felt a chill in the air, and this woman turned her head to glance at that group of men who were at a loss.

  "Soldiers, don't just stand there, set up some proper tombstones for these people and leave a warning to those who will pass by later."

  "Yes!" These soldiers were suddenly invigorated, and quickly began to work in an orderly manner. Some swung their axes to chop down trees, while others moved the corpses, and soon each had his own task, everything became neat and tidy.

  Soldiers used wooden stakes to pierce through the corpses and stood them up on the barren plain, soon they would become desiccated human flesh.

  The woman wiped the bloodstains and flesh residue off the giant sword, walking towards a nearby small mountain valley: "Those people have been cleaned up by me, I wonder how much longer you all want to hide?"

  After a rustling sound, a group of richly dressed men with frightened expressions slowly emerged from their hiding place. Upon seeing the female military officer standing with her sword, one of them who was quicker-witted noticed the fist-shaped emblem on the left chest of her black armor and hastily led the others in kneeling down to pay respects: "Honorable envoy of the Black King, we meant no offense, we were just temporarily hiding from bandits."

  Clutching a fist of dark radiance, this symbol belongs to Bane, the Black Lord, one of the most powerful deities in Toril. Although many rulers in Faerun do not worship him, their tyrannical rule and the strife they stir up constantly feed divine power to this dark deity.

  The Church of Bane's influence in Sel?ne, though not as great as that of the elemental lord Kossuth, is still considerable due to its numerous followers and congregations. The Red Wizards' Guild also shows a certain degree of respect for this deity - after all, from their modus operandi, both sides have some common language.

  A warrior bearing the emblem of Benn is not to be underestimated, let alone these merchants who have just witnessed this woman cut down a group of fierce bandits in under thirty seconds like a black storm, and are even more terrified.

  "Oh? No offense?" The female warrior's expression relaxed slightly, and suddenly her long sword lifted up a clump of lush grass, but a cry of surprise was heard, revealing a beautiful young girl's face inside.

  "Hmm?" The female warrior's eyes, filled with interest, kept scanning the girl's body, noticing the same emblem on her left chest. She raised an eyebrow: "You're a priestess of Vargo?"

  "Yes...yes." The girl nodded timidly, her pale face gazing up at the intimidating female warrior, and when their eyes met, she shrank away to one side.

  Noticing the girl's movements, a ambiguous smile appeared on the female warrior's face. She stretched out one finger and gently hooked up the girl's chin.

  "Come on, smile."

  ……

  In the mountainous area east of Xilun Town, the mountain bandits who lived there began a new day.

  There is a mountain valley called Tagang, which is the lair of the famous Lion Eagle.

  The current leader of the gang, Zama Xi, is a young man under thirty years old. After the death of the previous leader, he eliminated all his competitors and successfully became the leader of the gang, which can be considered as achieving success at a young age.

  He was sitting in the room at this time, staring angrily at the letter torn in half on the table:

  "How dare those red-robed Taoist priests embezzle our taxes?! They're really audacious."

  "What shall we do now, sir? Shall we launch an attack?" The staff officer beside him observed the face of the leader of the mountain bandits.

  "Attack? I don't want to attract the attention of Sel's army, you know that Old Bonte is much stronger than us, it's because he was too arrogant that he ended up in this precarious situation." Zakasi furrowed his brow: "We need to be careful, this letter suggests that we should not attack for now, just intimidate them a little will do."

  "Intimidate me? We've been intimidated enough, sir."

  "This time, let's set a big fire." Zakasi waved his hand: "Be careful not to burn the residence of the Red Robe Master, and also, detain all passing merchants and do not allow them to pass through."

  "Yes!"

  ……

  The townspeople did not know what was about to happen, but they sensed the ominous atmosphere of dark clouds gathering over the city due to the red robes' actions the day before. They were even more fearful of these rulers now, but the few red robes had no time to care about their attitude, and even idle people like Hughes were busy transcribing magic scrolls in preparation for the impending event.

  If they can defeat that group of lions, they will naturally be able to create a strong deterrent in the town, enough to establish considerable authority. If they fail, it will naturally be a clumsy performance that makes them lose face.

  At this moment, everyone's nerves were tense, so when someone who should be there wasn't, it was exceptionally conspicuous.

  "What about Xian?" Lijita finished copying a scroll and lifted her sweaty face: "Where is he?"

  "He said he had an idea for a weapon and was going back to experiment with it," Hughes said.

  "Experiment, oh, I hope it will come in handy at the right time." Lijit got Hughes' answer and nodded, continuing to copy new scrolls with her head down.

  In Penny's lab, the atmosphere was less tense. On the workbench in front of him were some cast iron parts.

  He continued to debug the metal's structure and composition, gradually forming a complex tubular device.

  If someone from a technologically advanced world saw this thing, it would be easy for them to tell that this thing is like a rocket launcher.

  This is Panni's self-made portable cannon.

  Inside the gemstone device, a third-level spell 'Fireball' can be transformed into explosive energy to propel the shell out of the barrel. The buffer mechanism behind it allows Penny not to lose balance. The range is quite considerable and the power is much stronger than the simple fireball spell. If it's close-range, you can switch to buckshot, with a terrifying lethal effect.

  The source of spells can be the wizard himself, or it can be a scroll, of course, it can also be a magic wand or other treasures.

  If it's a struggle between mages, this physical strike can be more difficult to resist than magical attacks at times.

  Moreover, Penny also had corresponding ideas, making some inlaid magic gemstones blooming bullets, the effect was even more terrifying.

  However, there are still technical difficulties that have not been overcome. Although he can design energy conversion devices, the cannon barrel made of pig iron is obviously a bit fragile. After several tests, he almost injured himself in an explosion.

  Of course, it can be made thicker, but then it would no longer have anything to do with the word 'portable', or should we set up a cannon mount when using it?

  The silvery white mouse lay on the ground, swinging its tail and narrowing its eyes as it watched the busy mage in front of the experimental platform.

  Its injuries have almost healed, and it has been thinking about returning to the abyss for days, but it has always hesitated. It still remembers how a mentalist used advanced creation magic to create huge rocks that nearly crushed itself between the mountain walls, leaving it with some psychological shadows.

  Although I don't think I'm necessarily no match for that spiritual master, I just lost the desire to try.

  Its mood was somewhat annoyed, looking at the busy alchemist in front of the experimental platform, suddenly had an idea.

  "If only there were some better metals." After the Nth time the barrel burst, the wizard knew that creating a new invention under limited conditions was not an easy thing.

  The mouse jumped onto the workbench, stared at the barrel for a while, suddenly opened its mouth, and a large piece of dark metal fell onto the workbench, making a loud noise. Penny immediately recognized that the metal was high-quality ice iron, and she was greatly surprised.

  This exotic metal iron has an extremely light weight, although not as good as secret silver, but only one-third of the same volume steel weight, with better strength and ductility, is a high-end material.

  Pan Ni took a glance at the mouse, knowing that this was probably another snack eaten by this gentleman in some deep hole. With the idea of not letting it go to waste, he busied himself again, and an even larger giant cannon appeared on the experimental platform.

  Because the main body used ice iron, it became much larger but actually lighter. Carrying this big gun, Penny felt that if she wore a spacesuit, she might be able to pretend to be a future warrior.

  This strange idea flashed through his mind, and he once again cast many spells on himself, including 'Moral Boost', 'Bravery', 'False Life', 'Mage Armor', 'Shield', 'Elemental Resistance', 'Enhanced Endurance' and 'Protective Energy'. These protective spells were essential when conducting experiments with a certain degree of danger, and who knows, one of them might just save his life in the event of an accident.

  But he didn't notice that the old mouse was staring at him intently by his feet, its eyes gleaming.

  Penny walked to the empty grounds of the mansion, loaded the stone blocks and iron filings, then used a lead ball to compress them. She aimed at the predetermined haystack and launched the fireball wand inserted into the tail of the cannon. The scorching energy took shape in the material world under the weaving of the magic net, but was instantly absorbed and compressed by the converter. Penny gripped the barrel tightly, lest the recoil force deviate the trajectory of the blast.

  But in the next instant, he suddenly felt a dizzying whirl of sky and earth, and a silver-white spiral galaxy spread out before his senses.

  "What the devil?!" He clutched tightly at the cannon which had already begun to shake, glaring furiously at the mouse gnawing at his pant leg.