Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 87 Iron Melting Technique

At dawn, a convoy set off from Red Pine Manor. Mules and oxen panted as they pulled the carts behind them, and the eight four-wheeled carts slowly made their way towards Chiliu Port.

"Stop! What are you doing? What are you carrying?" A patrol team stopped the convoy.

"The cart is full of grain," the driver replied. "We are from Hongsong Manor, delivering grain to the city as part of our quota."

Cilu Harbor Council, citing the war, demanded that all plantations and villages on the island, large and small, provide grain as military rations, a practice the islanders referred to as "apportionment."

The soldiers on patrol climbed onto the wheels of the wagon and peered into the carriage, where they saw neatly stacked sacks. They then casually cut open a small opening, and wheat spilled out.

Seeing that it was indeed grain, the patrol team did not make things difficult for the convoy.

As they were leaving, the patrol captain joked with the young man next to the driver, "You're quite tall, what's the point of being a farmhand? Why don't you join the army? We're short-handed, one silver coin a day, enough for you to earn in a year."

The young man grinned but said nothing.

"Hey? I'm asking you a question! Are you mute? Can't you speak?"

The gap-toothed driver quickly explained with a smile, "Brother, you're absolutely right. This silly boy is mute. Our master took pity on him, so he let him drive with me."

The young people were also gesturing wildly and enthusiastically.

Seeing that the other party was mute, the patrol team leader didn't make things difficult for them anymore. He just muttered regretfully, "So he's a mute. I thought he was a good prospect." He waved his hand and let the convoy go.

After shaking off the patrol, Gold, who was driving the carriage, smiled and said to Winters, "Sir, this fellow has a good eye; he can tell at a glance that you're cut out to be a soldier."

Winters waved his hand with a wry smile: "I almost got drafted for this... all thanks to you. Let's not talk about that now, keep teaching me the islander's dialect..."

Winters led the caravan onward, the oxcart moving very slowly, taking from early morning until almost evening to reach Red Sulphur Harbour. Along the way, they encountered only one patrol, and even pedestrians were scarce.

At the last fork in the road leading to Chiliu Port, the convoy turned onto a side road that did not lead to Chiliu Port and drove to a deserted place.

These wagons had all been modified by Winters, with partitions added to the bottom of the cargo compartments, making them tall enough for an adult to lie down. From the outside, they were just ordinary wagons used for transporting wheat; unless the wheat sacks were unloaded, there was absolutely no indication that they were any different.

The Herders of Red Pine Manor were hiding under the partition.

After setting up the sentries, Winters led the remaining Venetia soldiers to immediately begin unloading the trucks.

The men of Hed, who had endured nearly a day of torment under the dark, sweltering partitions, were pale and could barely stand.

However, they did not complain at all. They simply helped each other off the truck and went to find a place to use the restroom without saying a word.

"Have we arrived?" Herstas asked Winters, panting. He had come along too; he was the only one among these Hed people who understood Common Tongue.

Spending an entire day in such a cramped, stuffy space, with no room to even turn over, would be unbearable even for a strong adult, let alone Herstace, a man in his sixties.

“We’re not there yet. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way.” Winters handed his water pouch to Herstace, using polite language for the first time: “Old man, are you alright?”

"It's nothing." The old shaman was in very poor condition, but he acted as if nothing was wrong, laughing loudly and saying, "It's much easier than riding a horse."

The truck not only contained people, but also weapons.

After counting the number of people and distributing the weapons, the Venetians and the Heds worked together to load the food back onto the carts.

Bud led a group of men to drive the wagons to a secluded place and hide them.

Winters and Andrei led the rest of the group into the dense forest.

Their objective was the two fortified positions guarding the choke point of the Chiliu Harbor bay.

——Cut——

early morning.

No clouds.

Full moon phase.

The coastline of Chiliu Harbor Bay.

The bright moonlight shone on the water and the shore, making it impossible for anyone or anything to hide.

Dane, a soldier from the Tanilia Federation, stood guard at his post on the coast, his eyelids drooping constantly.

On the sea, a thick iron cable spans the east and west banks, forming an insurmountable barrier at the throat of the bay.

Any ship that tries to force its way through this iron chain will crash its hull and sink.

This is a man-made natural barrier, a sea wall.

The weakest point of this natural barrier is not the iron chain itself, but the place where the iron chain is fixed.

The Tanirians, of course, saw this too, and iron chains extended from the gun emplacements on the shore, with winches inside the emplacements to raise and lower them, and at the other end was a fortified bastion.

Both ends are guarded by the Council's most trusted troops, so that Chiliu Port can provide rapid support in case of an emergency.

To Sentinel Dane, it was just another ordinary day during the siege.

The entrance to the bay at Chiliu Harbor was firmly guarded by two gun emplacements and two iron chains, preventing the Venetians from entering.

Veneta's warships patrolled outside the bay, and ships from Chiliu Harbor were unable to leave.

This is a walled city at sea; those outside want to get in, and those inside want to get out, but neither can achieve their desires.

The main force of the Venetians was concentrated on the northern coast, where the main force of the Red Sulfur Port Council was also confronting the enemy.

In Dane's view, his sentry duty, though tedious, was safe. Even if the enemy wanted to launch a forced landing, they would only attack from the northern coast. Only the Venetians would be out of their minds to dare to storm the impregnable Red Sulphur Bay.

At this moment, Dane was just hoping that the next shift would come and relieve him, as he was extremely tired.

Just as he was dozing off to the sound of the waves, he heard faint footsteps behind him. Still half asleep, Dane called out, "Who is it?"

"Here to change shifts."

"Hey, what time is it? You're too late!"

The person did not answer, but simply drew closer.

When they were only six or seven steps away, Dane finally saw the other person's face, which was covered in black smears. He exclaimed in surprise, "You..."

Before he could finish speaking, the newcomer raised his hand, a flash of cold light, and a steel cone pierced Dane's eye, leaving a sharp point protruding from the back of his head.

The person who fired that steel cone was Winters.

After hitting the target with his first shot, Winters did not stop. Instead, he used his Arrows technique to shoot the other two steel spikes at the sentry.

He couldn't afford to conserve his magic power right now, so he fired three shots in one go to ensure a kill.

After the three sharp cracking sounds of bones breaking, the Tanilia Federation veteran couldn't even utter a sound; he simply let out a soft "uh" before collapsing limply.

Winters rushed over and caught the body.

After dealing with the sentry, he picked up two stones and struck them twice, three short and one long. Hearing the signal, the other Venetians emerged from the shadows of the distant forest and crouched low as they jogged to Winters' side.

The Hud people did not understand the language, which prevented them from carrying out any complex tactical orders.

So Winters simply split the team in two: he and Bard led the Venetians to take out the enemy sentries on the coast, while Andrei and Herstace led the other Herdians to deal with the patrols.

If the surprise attack turns into a full-scale assault, then the Heds are responsible for blocking the reinforcements that come out of the fortified positions.

"Did you bring my carrying gear? My carrying gear, give me my carrying gear." Winters was so nervous and excited that he was almost incoherent.

When the sentry questioned him, Winters almost thought the ambush had failed. The moonlight was too bright tonight, and there was no way to hide. His plan could only be carried out on a night of full moon.

But to my utter surprise, the few words of Taniri dialect I had learned on the spot actually came in handy.

"I brought your equipment, I brought it, don't worry." Bard reassured Winters with a smile, quickly taking off the standard spellcaster equipment he was carrying.

Bader hadn't expected the reconnaissance to go so smoothly. No one could have imagined that the Tanirians' sentries would change shifts, and that a single shift change would expose the outposts on the coast.

Winters immediately took the carrying device, opened layer after layer of cushioning, and carefully took out the silver, black, and dark silver powder contained in a glass bottle.

These two things are the key to tonight's operation and the key to the feasibility of the plan.

Winters knew what the black powder was; the alchemists called it copper essence, obtained by grinding and refining pure copper.

Silver and dark silver powders are also products of alchemy. Dark silver powder is called a combustion aid by alchemists, while silver metal is the most expensive and rare. Alchemists call it an active metal, also known as aluminum.

The Tanirians set up a sentry post on the coast to prevent the Venetians from coming ashore in small boats at night, but this sentry post happened to be right next to the iron chain, which is why Winters had to kill the sentry.

Tonight, Winters will destroy these two man-made natural barriers, the iron chains that block the sea.

Winters first mixed the aluminum powder and copper concentrate, and then began stirring.

Both new recruits and veterans in Veneta watched with awe as Warrant Officer Montagne mixed the spellcasting materials; they already knew this officer was a legendary magician. And in their eyes, magic was no different from witchcraft.

The iron chains sealing off Red Sulfur Bay were made up of numerous iron rings, each about the thickness of a forearm, with a portion extending onto the shore. Winters intended to destroy these shore-based rings.

He first took out a small iron plate that he had prepared in advance, and roughly assembled an iron box with the iron plate, separating a small section in the middle of the subway ring.

Next, he poured nearly two kilograms of spellcasting materials into the iron box, burying the small section of the iron ring that had been separated from the box. Finally, Winters poured in the accelerant.

"Canvas!" Winters whispered the order.

The soldiers nearby immediately set up the canvas they had prepared in advance, completely blocking Winters' view.

"Listen carefully, no matter what happens, never back down." Knowing the terrifying power of this spell, Winters repeated the order he had given before the operation: "Don't be afraid, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Then, he took a deep breath and held it, entering a spellcasting state.

The spell he was about to use was one of the most powerful fire-based spells: Iron Melting.

Fire-based spells are highly dependent on casting materials. The caster's own abilities are like the source of the fire, and the casting materials are like the fuel. The more casting materials there are, the greater the power of the spell.

Molten Iron was originally just one of the basic spells of the compound spell "Melting Flow". No caster thought that this spell had any other use, but Winters realized that if there were enough casting materials, Molten Iron could burn through everything.

[Molten Flow Spell: A composite spell combining the Iron Melting Spell and the Arrow Spell, its effect is to shoot out a stream of molten metal.]
Winters had never been so extravagant as to use two kilograms of spellcasting materials at once to cast the Iron Melting spell. He had no idea what kind of quantitative change would occur with so many spellcasting materials.

But having come this far, there was nowhere to retreat. He gritted his teeth and poured all his magical power into the accelerant.

It requires extremely high spell burst power to output enough energy in an instant in order to activate the Iron Melting spell.

In just a second, Winters felt as if all his energy had been drained.

The metal box began to hiss, and Winters knew he had succeeded. He quickly took a few steps back and hid behind the canvas.

First there was a hissing sound, then a few sparks.

In the blink of an eye, a light burst forth from the iron box, bright enough to burn one's eyes. The light was so intense that even the sun had never emitted such a scorching glare.

At the same time, sparks flew everywhere, as if Thor's hammer had struck an anvil.

The burning process was so intense that it made a "whooshing" sound.

Even through the canvas, Veneta and the others could feel the scorching heat. Hot sparks flew onto the canvas, burning holes in it.

Winters was glad he had prepared a canvas to block out the light; otherwise, the terrifying power of the Iron Melting Technique alone would have been enough to attract the enemies inside the fortress.

However, even the thickest canvas could not block out the dazzling light. The firelight shone through the canvas, and Winters could only hope that no one in the fortress noticed the commotion on the shore.

Fortunately, although the Iron Melting Technique was powerful, its duration was very short.

Within a dozen seconds, the light quickly diminished, faded, and went out.

As soon as the light disappeared, Winters, ignoring the scorching heat, immediately picked up a crowbar, pushed aside the canvas, and walked a few steps to the metal box.

There's no iron box left now; the entire iron box, the middle section of the iron ring, and the spellcasting materials have all turned into a viscous liquid like lava.

At this moment, the iron ring, which had been softened by the heat, had lost its original properties and could no longer withstand the strong tension exerted on the ring by the weight of the iron chain. It was being stretched little by little, visible to the naked eye.

"Don't be silly and keep the canvas up!" Seeing that the crowbar was no longer useful, Winters turned his head and urged in a low voice, "Saw!"

Bard, who had prepared the saw beforehand, stepped into the canvas tent. No need for extra words; their tacit understanding was enough.

Winters and Bud each gripped one side of the large cross saw, originally used for sawing wood, which was attached to an iron ring.

Once, twice, three times.

After a few rounds, the two men sawed off the middle section of the iron ring, which had already softened from the heat.

This is the most interesting aspect of chain structures: breaking just one link can destroy the entire chain.

The original balanced force structure of the sea-blocking iron cable was broken, and the cable began to fall towards the seabed. Under the pull of the cable's own enormous weight, the iron cable on the east shore of Chiliu Bay slid into the sea at high speed, like a fleeing venomous snake.

Winters and Bud exchanged an excited glance, their faces beaming with undisguised joy. Veneta's soldiers, meanwhile, looked at their centurion with awe.

Success! One of the sea-blocking iron chains has been destroyed!

"Stop staring blankly." Winters glanced at his subordinates. "Follow me, there's another chain ahead!"

The thermite reaction is the best in the world!

I wrote until very late last night and went straight to sleep. Only now do I realize I only saved it, and didn't post it.

The dimensions of the iron chains blocking the sea were probably based on those of the iron chains blocking the sea in Constantinople, because until the 20th century, there were still physical examples and photographs of the Golden Horn iron chains in various parts of Istanbul.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for the book before, and thank you to Justice and Purity is Koala, Smoke and Clouds Disperse, writersblock, Please Call Me Happy Sheep, and Yuan Hongjian for your votes. Thank you.

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(End of this chapter)