Volume 11 Chapter 2 Interlude： Spears And Shields
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
While I was deep in conversation with Golerg, Aida, who was preparing for the test, came back and spoke to me.
That reminded me of our real purpose for coming to the shooting range.
”Right! Today is the performance test for Mr. Golerg’s final prototype of the platinum Armor and platinum shield. Mr. Golerg, is that almost the final version?”
Golerg, reminded of our real purpose by Aida’s words, answered her question.
”Ah, yes. It’s almost the final design. If everything goes well today, we’ll use it as it is. I’ve already made a few backups. Rosella is also preparing the decorations.”
Aida’s expression turned serious as she tightened her lips after hearing Golerg’s words.
”Then, I will start the experiment now.”
As Aida entered the shooting range, she aimed at Elitzina, while Josefine took aim at the shield next to her.
The distance from the guns was only about 100 meters.
Ratatatat!
Ratatatatatat!
First, Aida opened fire, shooting at the target.
At the same time, Josefine began her shooting as well.
”…”
I was stunned by the scene unfolding before me.
The Armor and shield made by Golerg were creating a Physical Guard that deflected or diverted the bullets fired from Elitzina’s gun from 100 meters away.
Moreover, Aida fired an explosive round from the special grenade launcher attached to Elitzina.
Boom!
The explosive round shot towards the Armor exploded, but it only distorted the Physical Guard’s effect.
”It’s so tough! I mean, it’s too good at blocking! Mr. Golerg, if there’s Armor like this, the South District army’s magical guns will lose their advantage!”
”Hahaha! This won’t be sold to the public. It’s only for the Royal Armor, like Kent’s. It costs a hundred times more than normal Armor.”
Golerg watched the test results with a satisfied look on his face.
I was witnessing an incredible technological innovation right in front of me.
”This should be lighter than the old Armor of Darkness, right? And I heard that the Equipment Level only needs to be around LV20 for combat classes…”
”Yeah, it’s about 20 percent lighter. I was a bit greedy and bumped the Equipment Level up to 25. Thanks to that, the defense is almost as good as Demonium Steel armor.”
Speaking of Demonium Steel armor, it’s usually over LV60 for Equipment Level, so considering the displayed defense, it’s undoubtedly a unique item.
And being light is a huge help.
If you can’t move lightly, it doesn’t matter how high the defense is; you’ll just get surrounded by monsters.
”I’ve also included an automatic mana refill device, a simple healing device, and a spotlight, so it’s unlikely to run out of mana in long battles, and it’s generally more user-friendly. But as a trade-off, I couldn’t fit any offensive Magic Tools like in the previous prototype. Still, the defense of this armor and shield is nearly the best in the South District.”
Golerg proudly watched the armor they had made repel Aida’s bullets from Elitzina’s gun.
Meanwhile, Aida and the others were now taking out the Elitzina SC (Sniper Custom) and firing at the armor that kept generating Physical Guard.
Bash! Bash! Bash!
Each time Aida pulled the trigger, the bullets tinged and ricocheted off in different directions.
”Is it impossible even with a sniper rifle? Is that Physical Guard covering all around?”
”I guess there are no blind spots. The shield and armor parts are all covered with Physical Guard, so it’s like it’s wrapping the body.”
The Physical Guard that covered all around was layered several times, and it looked like white mist was blowing out from the armor.
Even in the world I came from, a body armor with this much defense wasn’t developed, and considering Grimoire is from Another World, it’s still an absurd piece of equipment.
Aida and the others worked silently on the test items, but their faces looked pale.
Seeing the armor that could disable the weapons they created, frustration showed in their expressions as engineers.
”Kent, I also asked Flamil and Carly to come. Monsters rarely use magic attacks, but they might face a Magician in combat. Since it’s Mr. Golerg, there’s probably a magic barrier built in, right?”
Aida waved to the two people at the back of the shooting range.
Flamil and Carly seemed interested in my new armor and came to watch the experiment.
”My lord, the armor that Lord Golerg seriously made is amazing. If it has a barrier strong enough to block Elitzina’s gunfire, I might not be able to break it with my strongest Advanced-level magic…”
”That’s right. As Ms. Carlamia said, the magic barrier from Mr. Golerg’s armor seems to be on par with barriers created by high-level mages.”
The two narrowed their eyes, estimating the strength of the magic barrier deployed alongside the Physical Guard.
”Looks like things are getting intense over there.”
In front of me, Aida finished shooting with the Elitzina SC (Sniper Custom) and readied the Fairlater gun for Beast Monsters.
”Wait! That’s seriously dangerous! It will definitely break!”
The gun Aida held was a large magic gun developed to pierce through the tough skin of Beast Monsters, proven effective by Manon during the hunt for the Cloud Whale.
Bang! Bang!
Ignoring my warning, Aida started shooting at the armor.
The larger-than-usual bullets looked like they would crush the white-tinged armor, but it was the bullets that shattered instead.
”Whoa! Seriously?! The Fairlater’s bullets just exploded!”
Surprised by what happened right in front of me.
This Armor, which can stop the strongest gun, the Fairlater, is truly like an Iron Wall.
”My lord… may I try my magic too?”
Carly, seeing the results of the Fairlater’s shots, looked excited and sparkled her eyes at me, eager to check the strength of the magic barrier.
A glance at Golerg showed him nodding lightly.
”Looks good. I’m having them move closer to 20 meters, so just wait a bit.”
”My lord, I’ve been called a ‘Barrier Crusher’ before, so I’m ready for this!”
”Good luck, Ms. Carlamia!”
Flamil cheered for Carly, who was cracking her hands and feet like she was warming up.
She seemed to have finished estimating the barrier’s strength and didn’t ask to use her magic.
Now, Carly launched dozens of Fire Arrows at the Armor all at once.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The orange arrows flew toward the Armor, but when they hit the magic barrier, they turned into black mist and vanished.
”The magic barrier has top-class Magic Tools and a magic element absorption device, so I doubt even hundreds of Fire Arrows can break it.”
”Seriously? An Armor like that can perform at Equipment Level 25?”
”Theoretically, it should be possible. I haven’t tested it myself yet, but it should be better than the early magic armor we made.”
Golerg seemed drunk on the performance of the Armor he created, talking more than usual with a slightly higher voice.
Carly fired several Intermediate-level fireballs in quick succession.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A pillar of fire erupted at the shooting range, tearing through the ground──yet the Armor at the blast site stood untouched, not even scorched, gleaming under the sunlight.
Frustrated she couldn’t scratch the Armor, Carly unleashed Wind Chain, an advanced-level magic.
But nothing changed. The Armor stood there, unfazed.
The range wasn’t Hunting Ground-locked, and since it’s my private estate, no one would punish her for using advanced magic.Still, scattering magic elements in town is dangerous──so later, Carly’s getting an “educational correction” (aka a trip to Ignis Ranch).
”Carly!! Don’t use advanced magic in the middle of town!! Report to me later!!”
”Eek! S-sorry…! I thought it was the only way to break that barrier… Forgive me, my lord.”
Carly flinched at my scolding and immediately dropped to her knees in apology.
”Now, now, Kent, don’t bully Carlamia. Thanks to her, we’ve got something interesting here.”
Golerg pointed at the black mist swirling from the advanced magic.
”Huh!? What’s that!?”
Near the Armor, the shield──previously unremarkable──now had 4 cylindrical protrusions jutting out, sucking in the dark mist.
”Modified the shield. Added a function to assist your Explode Gunlance’s artillery mode──speeds up mana charging. Combine it with the Gunlance, and it’ll efficiently condense magic elements from the air. Stronger shots, faster reloads. Those protrusions? They’re gathering magic elements into the shield.”
The protrusions whirred like a vacuum, greedily swallowing the black mist.
”I’ll ask again, can you really make Equipment for me? It seems way more amazing than that first magical armor…”
The armor and shield that Golerg brought were clearly different from any armor seen before, something otherworldly.
”Absolutely. Even if you haven’t reached Equipment LV, the performance shouldn’t drop too much.”
”The strongest armor, huh…”
”At this point, the only Equipment with better defense would be magic-enchanted armor made from lost magic.”
The magic-enchanted Equipment Golerg mentioned was enhanced by the lost magic (enchantment) of a long-gone inheritor.
Instead of using enchantments, Golerg’s armor was made by incorporating Magic Tools with similar effects through a special ability (Skill).
The history of how enchanted magic became lost isn’t recorded, but Lina told me the last enchanter was seen a thousand years ago.
I’ve heard that magical Equipment has indestructibility, which makes it really expensive.
”That’s amazing… but mass production isn’t possible.”
”I can make armor from silver steel, but if we’re talking about incorporating Magic Tools, we need some rare ones, so that’s tough. I practically made the Merchant Guild Vittoria cry to gather what I did.”
Golerg said that mass production of silver steel armor is possible.
If high-quality armor can be mass-produced at low levels, it might reduce deaths from monster hunts, so it feels like a good fit for [Black Bullet] as official Equipment.
”Kent, I’m going to do the final test now. We can’t just end things like this!”
Aida had set up her armor and shield about 300 meters away again, then joined my conversation with Golerg.
I thought she’d be down after all her prized guns bounced off Golerg’s armor──but she was grinning like a devil.
Seriously doubt any weapon could pierce armor with top-tier magic and physical barriers, but Aida’s practically skipping with excitement.
As Aida took her firing position, she hoisted a tube-like thing, about 1.2 meters long, onto her shoulder.
Josefine stood behind her.
That tube looked familiar.
Wait… isn’t that a bazooka?
No, scratch that──it *is* a bazooka!
”H-hey, Aida! That’s──”
She had ear protection on, so my words didn’t reach her.
Meanwhile, Josefine loaded a rocket into the back of the tube.
After loading it, she circled to Aida’s side and gave the signal.
Aida pulled the trigger──a deafening blast, and fire shot out from the rear.
KABOOOOOM!!
The rocket roared toward the armor, spewing flames.
On hitting the Physical Guard, it twisted the warhead in, grinding through the barrier by force.
But as it neared the armor, the fiery propulsion cut out.
Then──BANG!──a second shot rang out, and the silver-steel shoulder guard exploded into pieces.
”Wh-what?! The shoulder guard’s gone! Lady Aida, what is that weapon?!”
Aida finished the test fire and removed her ear protection.
Even Flamil and Golerg, watching nearby, looked stunned at the wrecked armor.
”A prototype. Mr. Golerg’s armor tanked our magic guns’ value, y’know? And letting an ‘Iron Wall’ defense exist? My pride as a [Gunslinger] refused that. So I built something to smash it.”
”Aida… did you base that weapon on something?”
”Nope. Pure original. Since magic guns couldn’t break his armor, this shape was the answer.”
I saw the tube-shaped weapon Aida created.
It looked just like a bazooka from that other world.
What Aida shot was not a bullet; it clearly looked like a rocket.
”To break through the Physical Guard… what a wicked weapon… I’ve made weapons for many years, but I’ve never seen something so deadly.”
Golerg was also shocked by the power of Aida’s weapon.
The confident look on his face was gone, replaced by a careful study of Aida’s creation.
”But this ‘Barrier Canceler’ I made is a flawed weapon. It’s only meant to destroy Mr. Golerg’s armor… it lacks versatility.”
”That’s not true. If you improve the tip to trigger on contact and tweak the warhead a bit, it could pierce even tough objects.”
”It’s a weapon strong enough to break the armor… I need to work harder too.”
I felt that the knowledge I gained from games about shaped charges could be useful, so I decided to tell Aida later and have her prototype it.
Golerg seemed eager to develop armor to counter Aida’s newly created weapon.
The improved ‘Barrier Canceler’ was quickly finished and renamed ‘Ravaged Fang Hammer,’ then given to the members of [Black Bullet] as a prototype.
When they used the ‘Ravaged Fang Hammer’ in the Southern Region, it proved to be extremely effective against ‘another world monsters’ with tough skin and strong defenses.
However, as Aida had worried, it was easily affected by the wind, resulting in a lower hit rate compared to gunfire.
Still, its amazing attack power was hard to ignore, and the conclusion was that getting close would improve accuracy, leading to its upgrade to official equipment.
Aida’s workshop handles the manufacturing, but the launchers are simple in design.
Components are ordered from Estfort’s blacksmiths, planned to be assembled in the workshop with the ammo.
For this reason, Aida asked for more people, so Josefine decided to hire some students from the Estfort Academy’s firearms course, where she teaches temporarily.
Of course, the chosen students were all women, each a beautiful girl fitting Aida’s taste.
Silver Steel
An alloy made from monster materials and pure silver.
- 20% more durable than pure silver
- 20% lighter than regular steel
Its surface shines like a mirror, *sparkling under sunlight*.
By blending in low-rank monster materials, they managed to lower the equipment level required.
—
Ravaged Fang Hammer
A new weapon developed by *Gunslinger Aida*—created to destroy the Silver Steel made by *Golerg*.
This is a magical gun that launches projectiles with propulsion, setting it apart from all past firearms.
Kent mentioned a similar weapon from *”Another World”* called a bazooka. With his input, it was upgraded and officially adopted as the Black Bullet—
> A special weapon for fighting high-defense monsters.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply