Chapter 210.2 |
Several soldiers put boxes on the small catapults set up in a line on top of the city walls, and they also proceeded to prepare ballistas to be used in the pursuit.
It was not difficult to take aim at the demon army, which was walking towards the royal capital at a steady pace, perhaps they were doing this to intimidate the humans.
“Release!”
“Fire!”
The huge wall-like demonic army entered within the range of attack, which had been tested and confirmed many times.
Next, a blanket of boxes flew from the catapults placed on top of the city walls. To be fair, demons should have been able to avoid most of the flying boxes and containers, but the demon army, which approached as a single group, did not try to avoid them at all.
Demons only tried to knock them down and brush them off as they were about to hit them. However, even that was enough, and when the boxes shattered, a white powder spread all over the area.
The people who had thrown the boxes had taken refuge within the walls of the royal capital sat down in fear, and the soldiers above the walls looked at each other as they watched what happened next.
The Dark Knights around the giant demons, Cyclops, were also caught in the chaos and some of them were even crushed during the confusion by Cyclops, causing their ranks to be thrown into disarray.
“Looks like it worked…”
Count Harfolk spoke up, somewhat stunned. He understood that the contents of the sealed jar, which he had been told not to open, not to tamper with, and not to touch because of its danger, were more dangerous than he had imagined.
In Welner’s previous life, calcium oxide, also called quicklime, was industrially made from limestone, which was formed through both biological and nonbiological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea.
Calcium oxide could be made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) or shells to over 825°C in a high-temperature furnace, and its primary use was often as a material for cement.
However, this calcium oxide had the property of rapidly heating when water was added, rising to nearly one hundred degrees Celsius before turning into water calcium oxide, which was also used in Welner’s previous life to heat double-bottomed lunch boxes by overheating when a string was pulled to warm the lunch box.
Even a small amount of water, like sweat, could start the reaction.
Because of these properties, quicklime had also been used as a weapon in Welner’s previous life. In 80 BC, the Roman general Sertorius deployed choking clouds of caustic lime powder to defeat the Characitani of Hispania, who had taken refuge in inaccessible caves.
The reason this tactic was not widely used was partly because it was difficult to prepare quicklime, but it was also difficult to preserve it in medieval times because it reacts with moisture in the air.
There was also the fact that there was no way to protect one’s own soldiers, so it could not be used in a melee situation because of the risk of self-destruction.
If Welner had been an orthodox historian, he would never have read about it.
Knowing that there was no cement at the time of the aqueduct construction, Welner thought that there was probably very little limestone as well, and that the properties of this quicklime were also unknown. He consulted Seyfart to see if this could be used as a surefire way to blind their opponent.
The recent expansion of trade with the maritime nation of Zarlois was also a blessing for Welner. They could now import a large quantity of shells and bring them to the royal capital. Thus, they had an abundance of raw materials.
Seyfart, who had tested and verified the benefits of this tactic, used airtight containers so that quicklime could be stored safely. He also made sure that the location it would be stored would be a dry place.
The staff in charge of the project had also been silenced with large sums of money for their treatment after they tinkered with the product. Apparently they faced a great deal of trouble dealing with the materials involved.
The main objective of this strategy was to hit the Bicorns so that they would be stunned, making the Demon Army’s lose their advantage, allowing only the soldiers of the kingdom to engage in tactical maneuvering.
However, the results were greater than expected, and it was undeniable that Welner was only hoping that it would be effective against the Bicorns.
It was unclear whether he was able to make the Cyclops lose their eyes, but at least the pain and disgust he caused them exceeded Welner’s expectations.
The rampage of the gigantic demons on the spot caused chaos even among the Dark Knight Squads, and they lost dozens of riders before the clash even started.
Because of the chaos that was created, the Dark Knights were forced to move away from the lumbering Cyclops. There was no formation in their ranks, just a mass evacuation. As a result, the Dark Knights lost their military advantage.
It was at this point that Marquis Nolpot and his men, who had already marched out of the castle, made their move.