Chapter 438 — Beams

The pumps set on either side of the warship started at once, and the surging second-generation arcane engine began to inject the water of the Whitewater River into the base of the rainbow-light cannon. Beneath the deck, the hidden mana-amplification core of the cannon was in an instant steeped in the cold river water; and as the power spine was connected, the "wing"-like devices on either side of the warship began to give forth a low, pleasing resonance. Brighter and brighter arcane radiance gathered upon the ship's flanks, surging power raced through every arcanomechanical structure of the vessel, and a roar rose in the hull, one wave higher than the last. Amid that roar, the body of the rainbow-light cannon was activated.

Its three curved "barrels" rotated slowly through a full turn, and the crystal prism fixed at the middle of the barrels brightened with them, giving off a white light.

"Focusing crystal lit, commencing irradiation—target, the gate of the Rock Fortress!"

After a brief focusing, a dazzling arcane beam a full meter thick burst forth, stabbing toward the distant Rock Fortress like a spear forged of light.

Seconds later, a like beam of energy erupted from the fore of the second ship, the Morning Star, and followed hard upon the Aurora's, hammering into the magical barrier of the Rock Fortress.

This second Calibrator beam went a little wide; it fell nearly a hundred meters from the first. But the "gunner" aboard the Morning Star plainly noticed this at once and began to adjust the weapon. There in midair the bright torrent of the arcane began slowly to turn, and it swept with majesty across the magical barrier of the Rock Fortress—and wherever the beam reached, a vast, searing bright patch stretched across nearly half the wall.

The discharge valves at the aft flanks of the two warships opened, and the steaming coolant water was pumped out into the river, while the technicians in the compartments below deck swiftly sent up their report: "Core temperature stable! Irradiation may continue!"

Using the Whitewater River to cool the rainbow-light cannon—this scheme had succeeded once already in the earlier trials, and now upon the battlefield it had not disappointed.

Sir Maqi watched, pale of face, as those two beams, like the chastisement of heaven, struck upon the fortress's magical barrier, and watched the knights and noblemen's troops upon the wall fall into utter confusion. At last he understood where the greatest problem lay—

He had never understood the true power of the Cecil.

This war had, from the very beginning, been wholly different from what he had imagined.

The blinding white beams were still searing the fortress's shield—a weapon that had never appeared in any intelligence report, a weapon utterly unlike the "Skyfire Detonation." Beneath that scorching light, the magic barrier of Ironhold Fortress was erupting into vast, terrifying patches of brilliance centered on the points of impact, and those patches rippled and spread rapidly outward like waves on water, now already climbing tens of meters above the city walls.

Ordinary soldiers and common folk might not understand what they were seeing, but Sir Marquess, a high-ranking knight, knew all too well—

The magic shield was collapsing.

Those two beams were pure magical energy, and of extraordinarily high intensity. Energy that pure and that intense was a lethal threat to any shield-type spell; it would effortlessly penetrate, disrupt, and sever the shield's flow of energy, and prevent the shield from regenerating in the penetrated zones.

And more deadly still—the beams' "irradiation" was continuous.

The magic barrier of Ironhold Fortress was finished.

No sooner had this despairing thought surfaced than Sir Marquess whipped his head around to look at the several mage towers in the inner city.

The only hope of saving the city's barrier was to immediately draw upon the emergency mana stored in the mana foci and channel every last drop into the shield. That might buy the barrier a little more time—time enough for the Cecilians' weapon to overheat or run out of usable energy and be forced to pause, giving the shield a chance to regenerate...

Yet those mage towers gave no sign of activity at all!

Where were the mages of the city?

He had barely formed the thought when Sir Marquess saw the chief mage advisor flying toward them from the distance.

The old mage must have flown all the way here from one of the towers; gasping for breath and in a sorry state, he had no sooner landed than he cried out in despair: "General! The arrays and rune stones controlling the mana foci have been sabotaged!! The battlemages and soldiers guarding them are all dead!"

.。m.