Chapter 233: The Roar of Garnis
Kellar stared at the bronze piece anchored upon the snow before casting his gaze back toward the ramparts.
"Before we load, send messengers," instructed Kellar Grok. "I want the entire village gathered along the wall walkways and watchtowers. Let everyone bear witness to this moment."
Kellar turned toward Lennis and Garik.
"If this works as we have planned, I will reward you," said Kellar in a firm voice.
Lennis and Garik swallowed hard, feeling a knot twist in their stomachs. Due to the blizzard and the confines inside the workshop, they hadn’t been able to conduct a live-fire test. Even though they were certain the bronze structure would hold and the warhead mechanism was sound—or rather, they were praying it would be—their nerves threatened to betray them. Seeing hundreds of tribe members crowding along the walls, watching them in silence, the pressure felt overwhelming.
Kellar stepped forward, standing on the packed snow, and channeled a thread of mana into his throat to amplify his voice, letting it echo across the valley.
"People of Overlord!" shouted Kellar, his voice silencing the rustle of the wind. "For ten days of chaos and freezing winter, while we all sheltered in the warmth of our homes, these two men and their apprentices did not rest for a single second. Within the heat of the forge, they labored to deliver a weapon capable of defending our home against any threat."
Kellar gestured toward the gleaming piece of bronze artillery.
"In honor of their dedication and craftsmanship, I name this machine the Garnis Cannon!" proclaimed Kellar.
Hearing their names combined and etched into the tribe’s first artillery piece, Garik and Lennis felt their fear vanish. A surge of exhilaration washed over them, and neither could help puffing out their chests before the cheering crowd.
"Prepare the cannon!" commanded Kellar.
Lennis stepped forward with determination in his eyes, while Garik took his position behind the breech, gripping the ignition line. Lennis lifted the first bronze warhead from its padded crate, pulled the safety pin from the front impact fuze, and loaded it into the muzzle—which was charged with Fire-Earth stone powder blended with black powder to regulate the propulsion force.
"For the Shaman!" shouted Lennis, his gaze locked on the distant target. "For the tribe! And for the Great Bear God!"
The shell slid down to the bottom of the bore.
"FIRE!" roared Lennis.
Garik pulled the cord with all his strength, forcing the trigger mechanism to fuse the internal Windstone powder charge.
A roar thundered from the bronze breech as compressed air and elemental sparks detonated.
The shockwave was so brutal that the snow within a ten-meter radius was blasted away in all directions. The warhead did not travel in the parabolic arc typical of a catapult; propelled by the force of the Windstone and powder mixture, it tore through the sky in a straight line, slicing the air with a whistle despite the heavy metal weight of the shell.
A second later, the front impact fuze slammed into the rocky hillside.
The ground beneath their feet shuddered violently. The fusion of the Fire-Earth stone powder and Windstone dust trapped within the bronze casing unleashed an explosion of terrifying proportions. An incandescent flash illuminated the twilight of the valley, followed by a blast wave that pulverized the rock formation. Millions of tons of snow and stone shrapnel were hurled outward at high speeds, forming a mushroom cloud of white and grey that billowed into the sky.
As the snow and dust began to settle, the rock formation had simply ceased to exist; in its place lay only a smoking crater carved into the frozen earth.
The sonic boom battered the village walls with such intensity that the crowded ramparts fell into a breathless silence. Even Kellar, standing before the smoking bronze barrel, felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He stood frozen, taking in the devastation. This wasn’t a medieval artillery strike... for all practical purposes, this was the impact of a tactical short-range missile.
Kellar swallowed hard, looking down at the bronze barrel of the Garnis cannon and then back at the smoking crater in the distance. A thought crossed his mind with clarity:
Was there... was there any need to fear the valley’s dragon?
He was convinced that if they managed to plant two of these impact shells into its body, there wouldn’t be enough dragon left behind to even scavenge a carcass for meat.
The silence that followed the blast was absolute, almost religious. Not a single soul dared to utter a word; thousands of eyes remained locked on the spot where a rocky hillside had stood.
Native tribe members, newly arrived refugees, and even Kellar’s beasts could only stare at the transformed landscape. Now there was nothing. The mountain had simply been erased from existence.
𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Along the ramparts, the refugees trembled from head to toe, whispering prayers and thanking the gods that they had ended up on the side of this rising power. Meanwhile, hovering in the skies, the giant eagle Little Green gazed down at the smoking crater in disbelief. A sobering thought crossed her mind: the former Eagle King of the Mountain had been a fool to ever defy the Great Shaman. With a couple of these cannons, her new master could sweep the entire mountain range and blow her species out of the sky. There was zero chance of survival for anyone foolish enough to stand against Kellar.
The deathly silence held for a few moments more until a pair of hands began to clap softly on the main walkway. The sound spread like a snow slide picking up momentum: two, ten, a hundred, thousands of palms joined in a roar. A shout of jubilee and victory echoed across the frozen valley, shaking the snow off the surrounding trees and celebrating the birth of the weapon that would alter their destiny forever: the Garnis cannon.
Author’s Note
Hello everyone! Are you enjoying the progress of the story? How are you feeling about the pacing we’ve been trying to keep in these recent Chapters?
I read all your comments and truly appreciate your feedback and support. Your thoughts help us keep improving Kellar’s journey and the rise of the Overlord tribe!