Chapter 37: The Beginning of a Predicament

Kweilin’s body tilted to one side, and he almost fell over. Fortunately, one of his guards quickly caught him. With a bitter smile, he said:

“Brother, I have to say, this thing of yours is terrifying. If someone doesn’t know what it is, they wouldn’t even know how they died. Look here—the flesh on my arm was actually torn away, and that Saurian Beast over there was blown into pieces. Its bones are shattered completely.”

The moment Kent heard Kweilin’s words, he immediately got up and hurried over to examine the aftermath of the explosion. At the blast site, he could clearly sense that the magical elements in the surrounding area had become extremely chaotic. There was also a crater dozens of centimeters deep in the ground.

The Saurian Beast’s head was left with only half of its original form. Three of its four limbs had completely disappeared, and the remaining one was barely attached by a small piece of skin. Within a radius of several dozen meters, the ground was covered with scattered pieces of flesh.

However, instead of showing excitement, Kent only frowned.

“What’s wrong? You’re still not satisfied?” Kweilin stared at him in disbelief. “Listen, you’re only a first-level alchemist. First level! Brother, you need to understand that you’re only a first-level alchemist!”

Seeing Kent standing there lost in thought for such a long time with a troubled expression, Kweilin felt extremely frustrated. In his eyes, this alchemical creation was nothing short of perfect.

The first point was its concealment.

Not only did it produce no magical fluctuations whatsoever, but it was also incredibly difficult to detect. In the Twin Star Continent, there was a common understanding: the more powerful an alchemical creation was, the stronger the magical energy fluctuations it would emit.

Yet the iron lump Kent had created not only lacked any magical aura, but it was also exceptionally well disguised. Before the experiment, Kweilin had even secretly laughed at Kent’s creation. After all, weren’t all alchemists’ works supposed to be magnificent, beautiful, and filled with artistic elegance?

Compared with those elaborate creations, Kent’s object looked like nothing more than an ordinary stone. But now, in Kweilin’s eyes, that simplicity was precisely what made it perfect.

The second point was its power.

Kent’s creation possessed astonishing destructive force. Although Kweilin did not know much about alchemists, he had seen many creations made by first-level alchemists before. However, Kent’s invention had demonstrated a level of destruction that even his own guard had barely survived.

Even if the guard managed to keep his life, becoming disabled was almost certain.

But the most important point was the third one.

The combination of the first two characteristics created something far more terrifying—unexpectedness.

There was no magical fluctuation, it possessed overwhelming destructive power, and it could be placed directly beneath an enemy’s feet without them noticing.

Looking at the miserable remains of the Saurian Beast, Kweilin could not help but shudder.

So when he saw Kent looking so troubled, he finally could not hold back and asked loudly:

“No, no, wait. Isn’t this power already too great?”

Only then did Kent slowly snap out of his thoughts. He shook his head and replied:

“No. The problem is that the power is actually too strong.”

Kweilin glanced at his guards and noticed that they both wore strange expressions on their faces. Feeling uncertain, he cautiously asked:

“Wait... isn’t a weapon supposed to be better the more powerful it is? How can greater power become a bad thing?”

Hearing Kweilin’s question, Kent waved his hand, and the group slowly began walking back. He did not even care that they had just destroyed someone’s farmland.

As they walked, Kent looked at Kweilin and slowly explained:

“This involves the issue of combat effectiveness. For example, imagine a small squad of ten enemies fighting against you. If your explosion kills one person, how many people are left to fight you?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course, there are still nine people left,” Kweilin replied unhappily.

“Then what if your explosion leaves them missing arms and legs? How many people are still able to fight you?”

This was something that anyone on Earth with even a little military knowledge would understand immediately.

“Of course there are still... well... at most seven people left.”

Kweilin was about to answer casually, but then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He quickly changed his answer.

“So isn’t it still better for the power to be greater?”

Kent looked at him and realized that Kweilin was not stupid at all. However, the two Golden Swordsmen beside him felt chills running down their backs.

They had both experienced countless battles and seen many strategies throughout their lives. But someone who could calculate the impact of a weapon on battlefield strength in such a way was something they had rarely, if ever, encountered.

“But... but what if they don’t care and keep fighting anyway?” Kweilin looked at Kent’s smug expression, which was practically begging to be punched, and stubbornly tried to argue back.

Kent looked at Kweilin as if he were looking at an idiot.

In a team, if something like that happened, there was an old saying that fit perfectly: “Once people lose their hearts, the team becomes impossible to lead.”

“All right, all right. I admit you have a point,” Kweilin said, unwilling to admit defeat. “But only someone with a brain like yours would come up with such a strange idea. Still, this might work against thieves, but it would be useless against heavily armored knights, wouldn’t it?”

“Heavily armored warriors? They’re nothing but a dish waiting to be served once they lose their mounts,” Kent replied disdainfully.

In large-scale army battles, heavy cavalry did indeed play an irreplaceable role. However, from Kent’s perspective, there were countless ways to deal with heavily armored warriors. The simplest method was to dig anti-horse pits in the ground. They did not need to be large—just slightly wider than a horse’s hoof was enough.

“Oh? Is that so? Then tell me how,” Kweilin said with curiosity. Even his two guards were surprised, though they only shook their heads in disbelief.

“Fine, I’ll give you one example,” Kent said. “Imagine I dig countless holes all over the battlefield, each one slightly wider than a horse’s hoof. They don’t even need to be very deep—just about as high as a horse’s knee. It’s simple, effective, and ordinary laborers can do it. You don’t even need regular soldiers.”

He continued while walking:

“Think about it. You’re wearing heavy armor, and your horse is also covered in armor. Yes, you’re powerful. But what happens when your mount can neither walk properly nor charge forward? Imagine a horse rushing at full speed. Suddenly, one of its hooves falls into a pit prepared beforehand. That four-legged horse instantly becomes a three-legged horse. So tell me, are you still a heavily armored knight?”

Kent completely ignored the expressions on the two guards’ faces.

To him, it was simply unbelievable. From what he had read in the continent’s historical records, the wars of this world were almost identical to the battles of ancient Europe on Earth. Armies simply faced each other head-on, waited for an order, and then charged into slaughter. There were hardly any real strategies involved—just brute force against brute force.

Usually, prisoners were sent in first as cannon fodder, followed by light infantry, light cavalry, and finally heavily armored knights. In the end, no matter how the battle went, only a small number of people remained alive. It was truly a style of warfare where killing one thousand enemies meant losing eight hundred of your own.

“I’m talking about knightly spirit! Knightly spirit! There should be fairness...” Kweilin immediately jumped up after hearing Kent’s explanation and shouted loudly.

“I’m talking about leading a group of ordinary workers, not knights,” Kent cut him off without hesitation. “How could that possibly be fair?”

His words left Kweilin speechless for quite a while, while the two guards wore even stranger expressions.

After returning to the ship, Kent carefully washed himself and cleaned up. Big Nose had now become Niuniu’s little follower, spending his free time following her around everywhere.

Then Kent carefully recorded all the results of the experiment.

He discovered that this device actually had many advantages. First of all, the landmine he created was already a type of energy bomb, which was why it possessed such terrifying destructive power. It was no longer simply relying on the force produced by expansion.

This was exactly what Kent had been thinking about earlier—why was the power so much greater than expected?

Only after further analysis did he realize the real reason.

The interaction between fire-element magic crystals and water-element magic crystals did not merely create enormous explosive force through expansion. More importantly, the elemental energy carried within the two different types of magic crystal powder reacted with each other, producing a powerful energy reaction. That was the true source of its destructive strength.

The next step was to optimize the structure of the landmine and add more auxiliary components.

For example, he could coat steel pellets with deadly poison, add substances made from the fat of certain magical beasts to create a gel-like explosive material, test the interactions between different types of magic crystal powders besides fire and water elements, and most importantly, find a way to reduce production costs.

“Boom!”

Just as Kent was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt the entire ship shake violently.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

It was already daytime.

Then, from outside, the sounds of fighting and killing began to reach his ears.

“Don’t move. Everyone get down,” Kent said hurriedly.

He quickly got up and saw Olis rushing in, her clothes slightly disheveled. Kent immediately gave her an order, then rushed toward the outside of the cabin to check what was happening.

Behind him, Kweilin and his two guards had also gotten up. But the scene before him left even Kent completely stunned.

On one side of the riverbank stood several hundred people. Most of them were mounted on horses, while others were operating massive crossbows. They were all firing directly toward the ship’s cabins. These people were dressed in leather armor, and among them were several mages holding staffs. However, all of their faces were covered.

The distance from the riverbank to the ship was nearly a hundred meters. Such a range was far beyond the effective distance of ordinary magic attacks, but for giant crossbows with a range of up to three hundred meters, it was nothing at all.

More importantly, the ship could no longer move.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

A series of cold flashes shot out from the giant crossbows, tearing through the air with sharp, eerie sounds.

“Quick, get back inside!” Kent immediately lowered his body and shouted.

But then he suddenly remembered Kweilin’s guards and the group of trial members from the Church.

“Ah! Those are siege crossbows! Get out of the way!”

Someone on the ship was struck, and screams of pain immediately rang out.

Kweilin’s two guards exchanged a glance but did not move.

Even as Golden Swordsmen, they did not dare to take the risk of flying directly over. Against weapons like these massive crossbows, even a Golden Swordsman would not dare to withstand a direct hit. And being in the air would only make dodging more difficult.

If there had been a Golden Mage present, the entire situation could have been resolved easily. A Golden Earth Mage could simply cast a large-scale Earth Spike spell and eliminate these attackers effortlessly. Likewise, an eighth-level wind-element area spell, such as Tornado Blades, would also have been enough to wipe them out.

This was one of the reasons why mages held a higher status than warriors.

“Damn, they even brought a catapult?”

Looking into the distance, Kent saw a huge mechanical device slowly emerging into view.

If that was not a catapult, then what else could it be?

From the looks of it, these people intended to kill everyone on the ship.

“Captain Kote, the ship has been damaged, and the crew members have all been poisoned. They’re dead.”

At that moment, a warrior dressed like a mercenary walked over to one of Kweilin’s guards. He glanced at Kent before reporting.

“Can you determine what kind of poison it is?” asked the guard named Kote.

“After examining them, this subordinate believes it is most likely a magical poison,” the warrior replied cautiously. “Otherwise, it would be impossible for all the crew members to die halfway through the journey.”

“It seems these people intend to kill everyone aboard this ship,” Kote said.

He looked toward the riverbank and noticed that the attackers were moving several round objects into position. These were siege weapons filled with animal fat and various poisonous herbs.

The ship was large, but it was still made of wood. Although it was not particularly easy to ignite under normal circumstances, once exposed to enough flammable materials, almost anything could be set ablaze.

“Esteemed sir, should we join forces to defend against our enemies?”

After Kote finished speaking, two members of the Light Church came up from below.

One was Holian, a Silver Priest who ranked only below the Pope and the Cardinals within the Church hierarchy. The other was Luan, a Silver Paladin who served as his partner.

The Church commonly arranged such pairs to work together.

The two of them had noticed Kweilin’s two guards long ago. However, since they belonged to different empires, there had been no reason to make contact. Furthermore, Kweilin’s guards were not wearing any identifying insignias, which suggested that their mission was likely confidential.

But now, seeing that the bandits on the riverbank were preparing to burn the ship, the situation had changed.

Although Holian and Luan were confident that they could escape on their own, they had brought along a group of trial members from the Church. If all of those people died, they would likely face punishment—even death—when they returned.

If the opposite riverbank had not belonged to the territory of the Dark Empire, the situation might have been easier to handle. But under the current circumstances, they had no choice but to step forward and greet Kote.

That was why they began their words with the respectful address:

“Esteemed sir..."