At this very moment, the entire place fell into a deep silence as many clutched their hearts anxiously.

Yes. It was indeed the winter season, but everyone's hearts were on fire as if it were summer.

The lead military researcher raised God and majestically while pointing at the contraptions before them.

"Everyone, I bring you our latest creations of war, the Ballista and the Catapult!"

~Clap! Clap! Clap!~~

Everyone clapped at the mighty names chosen.

With that, the lead researcher turned to the soldiers standing by the contractions.

"Up first, we shall begin by testing the Ballistas. Soldiers! Start Mounting the arrows immediately!"

"Yes!" The soldiers tried before saluting in unison.

With that, some began moving, aiming for the target 500 yards (460m) away from them, while others targeted the ones very close by instead.

They had created several wooden stick men and placed them about in all sorts of directions.

"Adjust the direction and height to a 45-degree angle towards the targets!

"Place arrows in the center!"

"Move the levers anti-clockwise to draw the arrow backwards."

"Yes."

The men hurriedly did as they were told, submerging themselves into their own little world, heightening the audience's expectation.

And when they were finally ready for action, all units around the many Ballistas made their move!

"Hold... Hold... Fire!!!!"

~Swish!!!"

Several huge and thick metal arrows swiftly whistled through the air in the blink of an eye.

~Boom!!!

Bullseye!

~Crack!

The poor wooden figures couldn't survive at all!

What???!

Everyone opened their eyes in horror at the damage before them.

This...this... how could this be?

(°0°)

-silence-

The entire place fell into a deep silence as they imagined what would've happened if they were the ones to take on such an attack.

Their hearts pounded uncontrollably as fear quickly inched its way into their very souls.

F***!

Rather than taking it head-on, they would prefer to get shot by a normal arrow, alright?

This was just too gruesome!

.

Already, everyone wanted to say prayers for their enemies.

Looking at the all-star before them, they now had a whole new level of respect for these devices.

What else could they say?

Anything that could produce such damage was a deadly one.

As for the wooden corpses very close by, they had shattered into tiny pieces, literally splitting into half.

Of course, the human body had a little more hold, but they still felt like the results would be fairly close too.

One should know that the researchers had tested the massive arrows used here until they found a substantial balance to it all.

If the arrow was too heavy, it might not be able to fly too far.

At the same time, the arrow couldn't be light because it had to have a certain weight that could do the damage it was supposed to.

F***!

Even after hitting their targets, the arrows flew a far distance before burying themselves deep into the ground.

If there were humans there, they would've been picked by the arrows like meat on sticks.

No! They might not even have gotten picked.

There was no doubt about it!

That arrow might have torn half of a person's waist off cleanly as if a beast had taken a chunk out of it.

If it pierced someone's neck, the sheer force and everything else alone would've severed the neck off the head as well.

And the most amazing thing was that if it got shot into a crowd, at least 6~7 people would get injured.

The ballista had been made in several sizes.

There were even some that could take arrows as long as spears.

Again, the longer the arrows weighed slightly more than the arm-lengthed ones.

Of course, this was just the beginning, as the researchers would continue researching the perfect width, length, weight and everything else needed to perfect these Siege Weapons!

.

Everyone looked at the practice field filled with shattered pieces and couldn't help gulping down their saliva in awe.

Penelope and the Royals were also satisfied as well.

But now, it was time to test it on live targets!

"Move on to phase 2!"

"Yes!"

With that, the scene became livelier again.

Don't think that everyone here was blind.

On the field, apart from several wooden stick men scattered around, there were also several fenced areas made with sticks too.

These fenced areas were all scattered across the field in different locations and filled with several rabbits hopping around and about.

For today's show, It was essential for these soldiers to fully understand how the weapons would affect their enemy.

Wooden objects could shatter from cracks.

But the body had good, elastic skin and other things that wouldn't make it break like glass or wood.

As soldiers who would be the ones risking their lives out there, it was good for them to understand the bite-size of these arrows too.

The researchers knew that these arrows could chunk out half of a person's waist.

But the soldiers didn't.

Today was to show them to the full might of these weapons!

.

Everyone's hearts raced nonstop as they watched their contacts mount another round of arrows on the ballistas, ready to make their moves.

Oh my God!

They were nervous as hell as if they were the ones getting shot.

This... Will the injured rabbits survive?

Would the situation be similar to their guesses?

This was the biggest mystery to them now!

Adrian clenched his seat in excitement, leaning forward as hard as he could.

His entire body was boiling and surging in expectations.

If it did what the researchers said it would, then how great would that be?

Recalling his early days when he was younger, he couldn't help but wish that their generation had done something amazing like this.

To think that all these youngsters, who were now Monarchs or future monarchs (Astar), would team up and do something like this.

Indeed, this was no longer his era but that of his grandchildren!

It was their time to shine!

~Vuum!

"Levers pulled and steady, target locked!

Release arrows in 3... 2... 1... Fire!!!!"