The vampire cannon is approximately two meters in length, with the barrel around 1.6 meters long.
The cannon body presents a mottled grey-black and dark red hue, with its cast-iron shell covered in honeycomb-shaped indentations.
At first glance, it seems no different from an ordinary spring cannon, not something to cause seasoned Miracle Priests to gasp in surprise.
But upon closer inspection, one can notice—
The sticky dark red gleam within the cast iron seams, seemingly contracting slightly under the sunlight.
Unlike a normal cannon muzzle, this muzzle appears to be covered with a piece of leather or furry membrane, perhaps to prevent dust accumulation?
The junction of the cannon tail and barrel faintly reveals a white sheen under the sunlight, but it's not the metallic luster of cast iron, more like enamel.
And at the rear end of the barrel, there lies the true source of many Priests' nausea and incessant coughing.
A large eyeball is embedded on the cannon body.
It appears murky with blood veins, its sclera showing a deathly gray, and its iris is a deep brown color, resembling a blood scab.
There are no eyelids, only tangled red exposed tendons around it.
Looking again at the white enamel, it's a row of dense white teeth, occasionally emitting the grating sound of metal scraping against cartilage.
As for the muzzle's membrane, it wasn't placed over it; it's inherently part of the cannon.
The redness within the cast iron seams is needless to say—those are its blood vessels and tendons.
"Is it, is it alive?"
Staring at the creature interwoven with flesh and iron, a Miracle Priest eventually mumbled.
"Isn't it obvious?" came a mocking voice, prompting the crowd to turn their heads, only to see a listless vampire sitting under a grass hut.
But as soon as he finished speaking, a soldier beside him immediately struck down with the butt of a gun: "Behave."
The vampire closed his mouth, yet the mockery in his eyes remained.
Despite having one cannon taken in the first battle, it's still the core technology of the Royal Court.
Not only because of its immense power but also because it has an inherent recognition function.
Aside from Lord Serafe and specific vampire artillery masters, namely Kerger himself, it hardly obeys anyone else.
Furthermore, upon encountering strangers, it actively initiates an attack.
Thinking of this, the vampire artillery master's gaze focused on the Wolf Woman, undoubtedly a significant figure of the Holy Alliance.
Earlier when those soldiers experimented, he endured humiliation and had his Revile Beast temporarily restrained, all for this moment.
Once the Wolf Woman Beastman approached, the Revile Beast would spew out its remaining corrosive liquid, if not fatal, it would cause severe injury.
His mission would be accomplished!
"What are you all making a fuss about?" While the Miracle Priests were still in shock, Hilov had already donned experimental gear, wearing windproof glasses and slime gel gloves.
Accompanied by two guards, she slowly approached the peculiar creature.
The eyeball cannon, seeing an object approaching, immediately emitted a low humming, akin to a menacing dog's growl.
Only then did they notice a slanted crack beneath the live cannon's barrel.
Inside the crack were small, barbed fleshy teeth, secreting salty mucus as it opened.
The surrounding Priests instinctively backed a half-step away, and even the guards clutched their spring guns tightly.
Yet, inexplicably, Hilov didn't feel fear, but rather found it amusing.
She continued forward, unperturbed, the closer she got, the more excited Kerger became, and the louder the live cannon's growling grew.
"Your Highness, it's better not to go any closer." A guard blocked the Wolf Woman, "Just observe from here, I implore you."
Kerger inwardly clicked his tongue at the meddlesome guard, originally capable of lethal poison spray, now only able for severe injury.
Nevertheless, it was sufficient.
He could almost hear the Revile Beast's cry of "Give the order, my lord."
"Kill her!"
Kerger immediately shouted.
The live cannon's teeth immediately emitted a threatening clatter, and the previously flaring mouth suddenly opened wide.
"Watch out, Your Highness!" The guard quickly attempted to rush forward to intercept, but Hilov remained calm, unfazed.
Amid the screams and human chaos, Hilov gestured that everything was fine.
Indeed, nothing happened.
The vampire's live cannon seemed fixed, stiffly still, with poison dripping from its lips, corroding the ground.
"Spray, Flute, why aren't you spraying—ah!" Kerger's speech was interrupted by a punch to the face.
Falling, he still looked at the Revile Beast with unwillingness and disbelief.
But that Beast Roaring Creature remained stationary, its eyes staring intently at Hilov.
Hilov tightened her gloves: "Do you want me to pry it open myself?"
Immediately, the Beast Roaring Creature opened the membrane at the muzzle.
In the sunlight, countless onlookers' eyes were fixed on Hilov, displaying the internal structure of its body.
Hilov extended her hand inside, stroking in circles, exploring its internal configuration.
Kelgeb couldn't believe his eyes.
The once closest comrade-in-arms, closer than wife and parents, was now enjoying touches under someone else's hand?!
He struggled like an impotent husband, still shouting in heavily accented Baroque dialect to the Beast Roaring Creature: "What are you doing? Little Di, spray her! Why did you betray me..."
In those giant eyes, Kelgeb saw joy, helplessness, and heartache.
The past... do you really not remember?
The low roar of the Beast Roaring Creature, Kelgeb understood it, it was saying this is its creator, the supreme master.
Supreme master?
He stood dumbfounded until the stern-faced military police officer stood before him: "Do you have anything to say?"
Looking at the Beast Roaring Creature still drooling and responding to Hilov, Kelgeb slowly lowered his head, with indescribable bitterness and melancholy on his face: "No more words to say, please proceed swiftly."
"Take him away!"
At this moment, Hilov generally understood that Serafe was nominally her mother.
Perhaps this strange creature of the Royal Court regarded her as the mother who created it?
But this was just right, it facilitated Hilov's research.
From morning until dusk, the Wolf Woman swiftly generated a preliminary report.
This Blood Explosive Cannon is indeed a living entity symbiotic with the cannon barrel.
It requires feeding, with meat, eggs, milk, blood, and wheat fodder all necessary.
Each firing must be fed equivalent to one sergeant practicing breathing techniques or a low-level vampire.
The application principle, rather than being Blood Explosion technique, is more like Corpse Explosion technique.
According to field tests, after each firing, the cannon barrel needs to be cleared of meat residue.
Additionally, the Blood Roaring Cannon needs to defecate, roughly every 10 shots.
Facing this preliminary report, Hilov could no longer smile like she did at the start.
This Blood Roaring Cannon holds the power of a 6-Pound Cannon, but it has the advantage over Spring Cannon that's difficult to surpass—endurance.
As long as there are enough human cannonballs, a Beast Roaring Cannon can keep firing endlessly.
Now, even with moon mercury, Spring Cannons cannot fire for long periods without winding machines.
Facing enemies like vampires who can fly, winding machines are easily detected and attacked.
Moreover, not everywhere has the conditions to install winding machines.
Hilov always felt that Horn's big cannon approach cannot fully exploit the potential of mountain copper springs.
Shooting one big iron ball at a time is less efficient than sweeping with a bunch of small iron balls, nowadays everyone plays horizontally, the big cannons aren't as useful as when formations were dense.
For instance, 3-Pound and 6-Pound Cannons can completely be replaced by spring machine guns, saving leftover moon mercury for 12-Pound and 24-Pound Cannons.
However, thinking about spring machine guns, Hilov is also troubled.
Haimodin has been tackling the problem for so long, yet hasn't produced mature machine gun technology.
Firstly, the loading mechanism and firing system cannot precisely synchronize, with design difficulty higher than the most intricate clocks.
Secondly, the effective range has shrunk to 200-300 meters.
Furthermore, there's the issue of barrel overheating and lead bullet lead deposition, leading to a vicious cycle.
It's not that it can't be made, but the cost is too high, much more expensive than standard 6-Pound Spring Cannons.
And to solve the lead bullet deposition issue, bullets need to use conical steel tip projectiles, which are far more expensive than lead bullets.
Moreover, even prototype machine guns frequently malfunction, jamming out of the blue, and soldiers are reluctant to use them, feeling they waste bullets.
Sitting under the sunset, Hilov pondered but eventually decided not to think anymore.
These are economic and political issues, beyond her consideration.
If it doesn't work, let Qianqian explode more Gold Coins.
"Go, submit the report on the Beast Roaring Cannon." The Wolf Woman stood up, shaking off dust from her tail, "Also, call Haimodin to report the progress on spring machine guns at dinner."
"Alright, Your Highness."
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