Chapter 86 Alpine March
The wheels with side slants moved from far to near, and the grunting axles made a peculiar clicking sound as they ran over the weeds on the road.
In the long mountain canyon, clouds and mist linger, and the vertical mountain walls are covered with moss, revealing dry blue skin.
On the undulating mountainside, the citizens of the Papal State in black lined up in two long lines, fearfully passing through the zigzag mountain road.
They carefully pushed the cart, stepped on straw sandals, and pounded the crutches in their hands on the ground to prevent them from falling off the road.
On the right side of the mountain road is a slope covered with short, fluffy grass, and on the left is a horseshoe-shaped mountain, with the hillside rolling down in a rounded step shape.
From time to time, stones from the upper level rolled down the slope and hit the people climbing below.
If you fall from here, you won’t die, but you will at least suffer broken bones.
The original elms, iris and longleaf grass changed into fir, spruce, edelweiss, etc. as the terrain gradually increased.
When someone looks up, there are hills above the hills, and there are peaks above the peaks.
Looking left and right, it was like being held in the palm of a pair of giant hands, and the white sky could be seen between the fingers.
As the terrain gets higher and higher, the weather gets colder and colder.
Even the citizens of the Papal State, who were wearing black vests and short cloaks over their ordinary clothes, could not help but shiver at this moment.
After walking on the flat road, Horn and others walked slower and slower on this mountain trail.
Two days have passed since Danji's death. During these two days, Horn and others walked about 30 miles.
There are still about 60 miles to go before entering the Black Bone Swamp, and there are still 410 miles to reach Castle Joan of Arc.
"Where are we now?" Horn asked Sissi who was sitting on a big rock to rest.
After two days of rest, Horn's leg injury was much better, but his stomach injury was about to be injured by the carriage.
Riding on this kind of carriage without rubber tires is almost life-threatening.
At this moment, he was walking slowly like everyone else, holding the papal staff.
Of course, in exchange, Horn was protected by an armored fighting vehicle in front, and there were four companies of infantry troops around him to protect him.
“This section is the most difficult road to walk. After climbing these mountains, you will reach Mount Il in front of you.
Going around Mount Il, there is a plank road. From the plank road Come down, let’s go down from the high platform of the mountains.”
Seeing Horn’s arrival, Sissi also stood up and walked forward again with the aid of crutches.
“How long is the distance?”
"Including going down the mountain, it's about 20 miles, but don't worry, we are only on the mountainside of the high mountains, and it's not difficult to go down the mountain." Sissi touched her smooth chin, "After going down the mountain, there is a stronghold nearby. It’s called Underberg, just in time to replenish supplies.”
“Okay, pass on, hold on, we will reach the supply point in another day. When we arrive at Fort Joan, I will treat everyone to three days of flowing water. The good days are yet to come!”
“Go on, we will reach Castle Joan of Arc, three days of running water!”
The boy soldiers stood on the edge of the mountain road, one facing up and the other facing down, shouting. Following Horn's order.
“Hey, by the way, where’s my big bow?” Horn’s waist dangled the Yunzhongxue with only the word “雪” on it, “I gave it back to you the day before yesterday, and it hasn’t been adjusted today. Okay?”
"It's broken. It's being rebuilt. We have to wait until Jeanna comes over in the evening and recast it with lightning." Sissi replied angrily.
Horn was surprised: "It's broken, how could it be broken?"
"Nonsense, this orichalcum also has an upper limit of deformation. I don't know what you shot yesterday, but it's true It broke the upper limit of orichalcum."
Horn frowned: "That's impossible. I checked it when I came back and it was still fine."
"It's internally damaged. ." Sissi tied up her hair and changed into a hunting suit. She was obviously a man, but she looked like a woman dressed as a man.
"To be honest, this is the first time I have seen this happen to pure orichalcum. Generally speaking, we believe that the elasticity of pure orichalcum has no upper limit for humans."
Speaking of this, Sissi couldn't help but think of the scene when Horn kneaded the orichalcum rod that day.
I don’t know if he saw it wrong or something, but the orichalcum rod had returned to its original position several times, but ended up twisting in the opposite direction.
Normally speaking, for example, after twisting an orichalcum rod into a "(" shape, it will return to a "|" shape.
But after Horn twisted the orichalcum rod, it actually After returning to its original shape, it continued to deform, first turning into "(" and then ")", and repeated several times before returning to its original vertical shape.
According to alchemists, orichalcum softens when exposed to mana, changes shape to absorb and store mana, and regains its shape to release mana.
But when the deformation absorbs mana, it will absorb more mana than can be used to restore its own shape, and then drain the excess mana after restoring its own shape.
Why are you shaking your head like this?
“I thought the upper limit of orichalcum’s deformation was very high, but this is not possible.” Horn complained as his legs trembled. Turning her head, Sissi looked at Horn as if looking at a monster.
The two bow arms of this bow are made of pure orichalcum, with a full 16 pounds of pure orichalcum. The bow power is estimated to be comparable to that of a small ballista.
According to the remains at the scene yesterday, Horn shot half a short spear weighing more than 1 pound with one arrow.
Even if the witch comes, let alone pushing it beyond the limit, she will faint even if she shoots an arrow, and an ordinary wizard will be brain-dead if he shoots an arrow.
As a result, this old man not only stretched the orichalcum bow beyond the limit, but also walked back by himself after shooting the arrow.
“How much mana do you have?” Sissi couldn’t help but ask, “Even witches don’t have so much mana.”
"How do I know? I can't use magic." Horn slapped his forehead and raised a finger, "Hey, I've always wanted to ask, is this your first time making an orichalcum bow?"
"What if?"
"Has no one ever thought of using this to make an orichalcum bow before?"
Sissi shook her head: "It's not necessary."
Seeing that Horn still didn't understand, he explained carefully.
Orichalcum is an alchemical product. Its formula is very simple. 14 pounds of refined iron, 2 pounds of copper, one spoonful of concentrated ore powder, one spoonful of charcoal powder, and two drops of sunflower juice. Four wizards need to perform an alchemy ceremony.
Of course, the orichalcum made by this method is basically sponge orichalcum, which is full of holes.
If you want to turn it into normal orichalcum, you have to put it in the furnace for recasting.
Because the thermal conductivity of metals in this world is a bit poor, the cost of pyrometallurgy is very high.
In addition, the cost of refined iron materials required for orichalcum itself is also very high, so the cost of smelting 1 pound of orichalcum is enough to make half a set of armor.
For a bow made of orichalcum, if the content of orichalcum is low, it will be difficult to shoot through armor. If the content of orichalcum is high, one shot will basically turn a person into a vegetative state.
This kind of orichalcum bow can only be used by people with magic power, but since they all have magic power, why not use magic?
That is, Horn, a freak with no mana and no spells, has the need for this kind of orichalcum bow.
The normal use of this kind of orichalcum is to be used by demon hunters to make goggles or vests, and it is basically made of orichalcum iron alloy.
The main purpose is to defend against physical witches.
When a carnal witch attacks orichalcum armor, her mana will be absorbed, and the growth of her body will be weakened. The more it deforms, the more it will be weakened.
But this is only damage reduction. There is an upper limit to orichalcum deformation. Breaking the upper limit will only cause orichalcum to explode.
Before, a witch destroyed the orichalcum armor with one punch.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."
While the two were chatting, they saw a child soldier stumbling over from the front.
Horn and Sissi looked at each other, their eyes couldn't help but be a little serious.
This boy soldier was assigned to the ten households marching in the first column. If something happened in front, they would all be delayed.
There can be no delay in their journey.
Although they don’t know why, their scouts have never found any trace of the church infantry, but this does not mean that they do not exist.
Maybe they are waiting for Horn and his gang at a certain mountain pass.
"Ha, ha, Senator Sarkis, call me, tell me to deliver the message..."
"Don't panic, what happened?"
Horn held his shoulder, asked calmly.
"He asked me to ask, is it true that after arriving at Castle Joan of Arc, he did not seal the sword for three years?"
Horn was silenced for five seconds.
"...Tell him, if his ears don't work, cut them off, and then come back and ask questions after you find out more clearly."
"Hiss." The little boy hesitated, "Wouldn't it hurt him a little? ?”
“Hurt your head!”
Horn’s screams rippled back and forth in the valley, mixing with the clouds and mist, like a beautiful song.
(End of this chapter)