Chapter 356: Fireball Crossbow and Pre-War Preparation
On July 5, the battle in Rapid City was still going on hard.

In Jinhe Township, in a harbor twelve miles northeast of Heishan, dozens of cargo ships and merchant ships are lined up at this narrow temporary pier.

The elders on small rafts maneuvered between the tall sailing ships, swearing all kinds of obscenities with red faces, and commanded the cargo ships to give up their positions or hurry up.

In the shallow waters beside the bay, several small rafts were salvaging boxes floating in the water. Beside them were two merchant ships that had collided and tilted.

On the hill west of the harbor, nearly a hundred wet guards gathered around a campfire, drying their sweaty and smelly clothes and socks.

The stench that came with the humid hot wind made every Crusader who was carrying supplies at the dock couldn't help but cover their noses with handkerchiefs.

Even Horn couldn't help but pinch his nose.

This was originally the smuggling dock of the secret party, disguised as a small fishing village.

Standing next to the cellar, Horn clearly saw the Crusaders carrying out boxes of banned alchemical potions and materials, pulling them to the dock and selling them openly.

Anyway, as long as you go to the Holy Father and spend money to buy a stamp certified by the Holy Grandson, it will not be considered contraband because it has been blessed by the Holy Grandson.

For these alchemical items, merchants figuratively named them "washing gifts".

As for who the original owners of these contraband items were, Horn didn't care. If he asked, he would confiscate them.

"Your Majesty, the Third Guards have also disembarked." Todd, the commander of the Third Guards, approached and saluted Horn.

"Okay, your legion will follow the guidance of Brune, the commander of the Black Hat Fifth Legion, and go to the designated camp area to set up camp." Horn turned his head and waved at Brune, who was standing woodenly beside him. "Big guy, take him there."

In the previous Battle of Moncruz, due to the failure of the legion commander Momuri's command, he has been demoted to deputy legion commander, and the legion commander has been handed over to Jane in Brune at the Sacred Heart.

"Once all your troops are in place, the deputy commander will be in charge of the stationing, and the commander-in-chief will come directly to the central army camp for the meeting."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After confirming that the camp arrangements were correct, Horn finally got the chance and was about to rest when he remembered Mormont's previous request.

He took out a list from his arms and asked someone to draw the gifts from the "gift washing" at the dock according to the list. Then Horn rode his horse towards the wizards' camp.

The distance from the harbor to the camp was only four or five hundred meters, and Horn arrived in more than three minutes.

He had just dismounted and picked up a box full of alchemical materials when he saw Mormont, who was repairing the fireball crossbow, put down his hammer and trotted over.

Standing half a meter away from Horn, Mormont's eyes were incredibly enthusiastic.

Horn was frightened by his fiery eyes: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing, nothing." Mormont said this, but he had no intention of retracting his fiery gaze.

It wasn't that he had any thoughts about Horn, but he had never seen such a rare male witch, so naturally he had to take a closer look.

After a few days of observation, Mormont gradually understood everything about the Saviors.

What is the Society of the Holy Fathers, what is the heretical natural magic of the Messianic Church, aren't they just a legion of wizards in a shell?

The so-called Saint's Favored Ones' words make a lot of sense to ordinary people who don't understand the magic system.

But to people like Mormont who are familiar with the supernatural, it is simply nonsense.

With this witch disease, this magic power, and this alchemy, Mormont could identify her as a pure wizard at a glance.

But as he got closer to the Saint's Blessed One and the Clockwork Gun, he began to have some doubts.

There are witch diseases with almost no distortion or lethal symptoms, with huge magical powers but no spells, and their number is frighteningly large.

He still remembered the secret party's gathering in Tiannv City ten years ago. According to the rules, each secret party counted the number of wizards.

The summary results show that in Black Snake Bay, where the secret party is most densely populated, the total number of secret party wizards is only over 10,000.

Even if we include those outside the secret party system, it is estimated that there are less than 15,000 people.

But there are nearly two thousand "wizards" in this camp!
The most terrifying thing is that there are still thousands of wizards in Zhendark Castle and Autumn Dusk Island. Langsander County alone has a wizard army that is close to one-fifth of the total number of wizards in Black Snake Bay.

In fact, this number is still rising. He saw with his own eyes that the Guards Corps added more than 30 members the day before yesterday.

It's only been half a year.

What the An Party failed to accomplish back then was accomplished by this male witch.

If the descendants of these wizards could inherit this enormous magical power, even if it was only halved, ten years would be enough to double the number of wizards.

Mormont finally understood why the Joan Party and the White Mountain Hermitage tried every means to cover up Horn's true situation, and even sent the great wizard Pasrick to protect him closely.

If the Copper Fortress had not been blocked, he would have wanted to carry Horn to Black Snake Bay and protect him until his death.

Horn originally wanted to hand the box containing alchemical materials to Mormont personally, but remembering Mormont's look just now, he instructed the guards around him to pass it on.

"What do you want these for?"

"We have some small gadgets that have been passed down." Mormont squatted down, opened the box, and searched through the alchemical materials. "They are just right for making a few alchemical props to enhance the fireball spell."

"Oh, I see." Horn said emotionlessly.

Ever since he discovered that fireball was not as powerful as he had imagined, he has become wary of it.

Even if the staff was installed on a small catapult, it couldn't be thrown far, because the wind pressure increased as the speed increased, and it would actually blow the fireball away.

Following Mormont's advice, Horn built a small catapult based on the Black Snake Bay fireball crossbow he mentioned, and barely increased the range to 150 meters.

But compared with human throwing, the fireball crossbow's hit rate is too low.

In desperation, Horn had to call in an astrologer from the White Mountain Priory to do divination on the spot, and only then was he able to barely improve his hit rate and deviation.

Anyway, you can only fire 8 fireballs at most, so the long casting time of Astrology is actually forgivable.

Looking at the two-meter-wide catapult, Horn would not call such a crude thing a wizard cannon.

At least until the formula of Red Dragon's Breath is obtained, the idea of ​​the wizard cannon can only remain a concept.

A range of 150 meters and a range of 1500 meters are different concepts even if they have the same power.

"Ah, I have one more thing I want to trouble you with." Seeing Horn turning around and trying to leave, Mormont immediately stood up and stopped him.

"what?"

"Can you assign me some alchemists... I mean priests of holy instruments, to help me forge some holy instruments?"

"Of course, the Holy Mechanic Priest and the Holy Favored One will come to see you after dinner."

After confirming the situation of the Fireball Crossbow Team, Horn looked at the sky and headed for the camp again without stopping.

Just as he arrived, he could see the last legion commander, Rudilo, opening the curtain door and walking into the canvas tent.

Following Rudilo in, six Black Hat Corps commanders and two Guards Corps commanders were sitting around a round table.

Except for the Second and Fourth Guards Corps defending Fort Joan of Arc, the Salvation Army could be said to have come out in full force.

Horn sat directly at the head of the table, without much ado, he spread out the map and started talking: "Lord Pasrick has sent news, you probably all know the details."

Picking up the ceramic cup on the table, Horn placed it to the north of Black Mountain on the map: "This is Black Mountain Castle."

Horn ran his index finger over the simple Black Mountain on the map and raised his head: "The Sand Sculpture Knight is expected to arrive at Black Mountain Castle in the north of Black Mountain within three days, and what we have to do is..."

Horn slammed the ink bottle heavily on the southwest side of Black Mountain and stood up. "It is here that we will completely annihilate the Sand Sculpture Knight Nidsal and his main force."

(End of this chapter)