Chapter 683: Boomshot!
Everyone looked at the excited Jifan, the corners of their mouths involuntarily twitching.
"This guy really can wedge himself into any gap!" someone muttered.
They pictured Dragon Warriors charging ahead with heavy shotguns and subconsciously smacked their lips.
It sounded glorious—but could it really work?
Thick‑skinned Jifan felt no embarrassment and blurted out eagerly:
"War is raging and time is short—we can't wait for slow, step‑by‑step R&D."
"Let's cooperate, bang out some prototypes now, and field‑test them."
"We Dragon Warriors will run the trials, gather data fast, and push the upgrades."
Great speech, but everyone knew Jifan's real motive.
Bay Territory's weapons program is huge with many branches.
Once heavy shotguns exist, the data‑rich Dragon Warriors will dominate the upgrade roadmap.
Other branches will inevitably be delayed.
Jifan's scheming made everyone laugh and sigh at once.
Still, only Dragon Warriors could wield a prototype heavy shotgun in real combat right away.
They were numerous and tough; even if the gun had flaws it wouldn't cause big losses.
So defects could be ironed out without undue casualties.
Angela saw the logic and called for a vote.
No one wasted time—the task order shot back to Bay Territory at once.
At the wartime Joint Research Center, teams were already knee‑deep in tweaks and improvements.
Upgrading weapons, golems, and engineering machines was their daily grind.
Suddenly a pale‑red alert flashed before every researcher:
"Finalize heavy‑shotgun design ASAP."
"Produce 300 units within 24 hours."
The job wasn't hard—but it was urgent.
Several teams dropped what they were doing and converged.
In just over an hour they nailed the fine details.
The design was sealed and everyone signed anti‑leakage spell contracts.
The data then went to the Center's affiliated factory.
That plant was overseen by Mountain, in whom Matthew placed high hopes.
Mountain no longer had a rocky body.
His whole form gleamed with polished metal, faint magical light pulsing under the skin.
He checked the specs, verified the math, and fed them into the giant control core.
The data hub re‑computed, confirmed soundness, and signaled the automated magic lines to start.
Mountain's metal steps were light; the forged body felt no burden.
Red optics swept the speeding lines with keen attention.
A glowing metal ingot was handed to a massive press by a nimble robotic arm.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Seconds later the press lifted, work done.
The reshaped ingot rolled to the next stage.
A fresh red‑hot ingot was already in place for stamping.
Scarlet scanning beams measured every part; specs checked out and Mountain stepped onward.
The barrel, which must bear the greatest stress, was the hardest part.
Ordinary shotgun barrels use refined steel; heavy ones demand far more.
Pure adamantine's too pricey—enchanted‑iron alloy was selected.
Pure enchanted iron alone would cost too much.
And alloyed strength beats the pure metal.
Alloy research had become Mountain's favorite pastime.
The barrel had to hit hardness tier 8—
Even a peak Professional using 80 % power could barely scratch it.
It also needed high wear‑resistance for repeated firing.
He chose Enchanted Alloy No. 2 for the first test run.
A block of the alloy was loaded into the furnace.
Under fierce flame it glowed cherry‑red.
It then entered a larger press.
The ram descended slowly but irresistibly.
No violent clang—just smooth compression.
The block flattened at the tip, metal flowing forward and sideways.
The press rose; a robot arm rotated the piece.
Down again—compressing it into a neat square.
It was now longer and slimmer.
The arm fed more unworked length under the press.
In a blink it stretched again.
Forward to the multi‑directional press.
Pressure from all sides moulded it.
Out came a glowing, slightly rough rod.
It rolled into a long groove.
Molds clamped it dead‑center.
A golden rod rich in adamantine slammed into it.
Its only job: punch a hole straight through.
It bored through the alloy with ease.
The rod spun, drilling a perfect hollow core.
The rod was now a tube—the future barrel.
It rotated slowly, fitting the molds.
Surfaces smoothed inside and out.
Mountain spotted tiny deviations and corrected them.
The refined barrel moved to the next queue.
Shaping, straightening, rifling, trimming, tempering, rough‑grind, annealing, exterior finishing—
All that just for the raw barrel.
After testing it still needed rare‑metal quench, enchantments, and rune‑work.
Two hours later—
The hardest, longest part was done.
Mountain had memorized every component; assembly flew by.
A silvery grip gave it a rugged charm.
Machine marks still showed on the raw parts.
The 20 mm barrel gleamed oily black.
A faint blue inside came from Bay Territory's new anti‑wear lubricant.
At 1.2 m the gun still looked big even in Mountain's 2 m hands.
He slapped three thumb‑thick shells into a 30 cm mag and locked it home.
Aim.
Fire.
BOOM!
The roar rolled across the range.
A big slug spun out, a meter from the muzzle it burst into a dozen shards.
They shrieked through the air, blazing hot.
Clang‑clang‑clang!
Sparks bloomed on steel targets.
Mountain logged trajectory and impact data and kept firing.
Accuracy, balance, recoil, effective range—everything was recorded.
After 200 rounds,
He stripped the gun and checked for wear.
Cleaned it, then tested in rain, sand, humidity, and dry cold.
Data piled up.
Next he grabbed prototype #2.
Half an hour later—
Data on ten prototypes sat on his pad.
Assessment: "Serviceable." He sent it to HQ.
Researchers merged it with earlier tweaks.
Analysis restarted—speed was of the essence.
"Serviceable" was only a waypoint; real work had just begun.
Twenty minutes later—
Specs for Prototype 2 arrived.
Mountain compared, adjusted, and restarted.
Build time dropped to 45 minutes.
Twenty units rolled off the line.
He tested and logged them.
Rating: "Not bad." Data went back upstream.
"Not bad" still wasn't good enough.
Researchers made more small tweaks.
They avoided big redesigns; Mountain implemented them in just 30 minutes.
With half the deadline gone, Prototype 3 was locked.
Two hundred units plus two new ammo types were teleported to Aso Volcano Fortress in the Catachan demi-plane.
The battle there still raged.
Explosions thundered endlessly.
Fireballs and smoke swallowed hordes of twisted monsters.
Bay Territory's forces, golems, and machines had pushed the line 20 km from the fortress.
Without tree spirits, Catachan demons, or giant beasts, the Green Tide was far less scary.
The fortress situation was under firm control.
Troops had rotated several times,
Giving many soldiers firsthand experience against twisted monsters.
Rested veterans and Wyverns redeployed to 20‑plus other cities.
Vast stores of materiel flowed from Bay Territory.
More and more adventurers arrived.
Some powerhouses smelled the riches of the Catachan demi-plane.
With guild help they formed elite teams to dig deeper for treasure.
But there was an easier way to get rich—
Escort Bay Territory "expansion crews" to other Catachan tribes.
The missions were tough and paid handsomely.
If they set up the teleport circles safely,
Bonus contracts awaited.
They could then sell gear directly to Catachan warriors and chiefs.
Bay Territory had clear trade rules.
Rewards matched each escort's contribution.
Items already chosen by higher‑scoring teams were off the table.
Pick order followed merit.
Careful, bold escorts would leave loaded with gold.
Those looking for trouble? Bay Territory never tolerated that.
Removing a few bad eggs only boosted trust in Bay Territory's fairness.
This was both an experiment and a lure for new recruits.
While Bay Territory laid plans…
The Evil Shadow Spirits struck swiftly, besieging multiple cities.
Hordes of Green‑Tide‑boosted twisted monsters rolled toward Bay Territory settlements.
Green‑Tide buffs nullified most damage from scorched‑earth tactics.
Even weakening arrays no longer stopped the plant monsters' charge.
Bay Territory's response was fast and precise.
Cannons of every kind lined the walls.
They rained shells on the advancing hordes.
The massive bombardment zone annihilated most of the oncoming monsters.
The few surviving giant beasts toppled along the charge route.