Chapter 139: Chapter 132:The Demonstration part4

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.

Some 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 moments 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 came 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.

Immediately 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 immediately 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 name meant nothing to most nobles.

It meant considerably more to the military officers.

Captain Hale stepped forward once more.

"LEFH."

"Light Field Howitzer."

Several engineers immediately began writing.

The captain continued.

"Primary caliber: one hundred and five millimeters."

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 came 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 immediately.

"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 meters."

The silence that followed was profound.

Several nobles simply stared.

The number sounded ridiculous.

Twelve kilometers.

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 came immediately.

The noble frowned.

"You expect us to believe that weapon can strike targets twelve kilometers 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 measurements."

"Depending upon battlefield conditions, trained crews can reliably engage targets several kilometers beyond visual observation and do so within 2m of the target area given."

That statement unsettled even some of the officers.

Because they understood what it meant.

The artillery could kill people it couldn’t even see.

One engineer raised his hand.

"Ammunition?"

The captain immediately answered.

"High explosive."

"Fragmentation."

"Smoke."

"Illumination."

"The system supports multiple ammunition types depending upon mission requirements."

Another engineer spoke.

"Rate of fire?"

"Four to six rounds per minute under sustained operation."

The Grand Marshal was no longer merely interested.

He looked very concerned.

The Royal Guardian noticed.

The King noticed too but no one commented, everyone worldview have been refreshed today

Captain Hale continued.

"The weapon is designed for long-range bombardment, 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 merely a larger cannon.

This was a weapon designed to dominate battlefields before armies even met.

Captain Hale finally turned toward the King.

"Your Majesty."

"We are prepared to begin the firing demonstration."

The entire audience immediately became attentive.

The Warhound had already exceeded expectations.

Now everyone wanted to see what a one hundred and five millimeter artillery piece could actually do.

King Alaric gave a single nod.

"Proceed."

The artillery crew moved immediately.

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 became silent.

For a brief moment, 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 immense force.

Dust exploded around the firing position.

Several nobles instinctively stepped back.

Some flinched outright.

The shell vanished into the sky.

One moment 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 kilometers 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 meter from the designated center point."

This time even the military officers reacted.

because of how accurately the shell it hit.

The Grand Marshal slowly lowered his binoculars.

His expression had become grim.

Because Accuracy transformed 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 something else entirely.

Within minutes all four artillery pieces stood ready.

Shells moved from ammunition wagons.

Charges(shells are called charges) were prepared.

Coordinates confirmed.

Everything happened within few minutes

As if they had done this hundreds of times before.

Which they probably actually had.

The artillery commander raised his arm.

The field became silent once more.

Then came 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 statement carried enormous weight.

The general stared at him.

"Completely?"

"Completely."

Nobody spoke.

The Grand Marshal understood exactly what that meant.

Four guns.

One salvo.

Entire defensive positions erased.

He had spent decades studying warfare. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

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 immediately.

A faint smile appeared.

Exactly as expected.

Then Captain Hale spoke again.

"The final demonstration will involve sustained bombardment."

The Grand Marshal closed his eyes briefly.

Of course there was more.

The artillery crews immediately began loading additional shells.

One after another.

The commander raised his hand.

"Commence fire mission."

The guns began firing.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The rhythm became relentless.

Continuous.

One gun fired.

Then another.

Then another.

And then another.

The sky itself seemed 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 became increasingly absurd.

The Grand Marshal noticed the calculations.

Then quietly performed some of his own.

The results were horrifying.

An army advancing under such bombardment 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 time 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 permeated the area

The area had several large craters like some 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 become obsolete."