The bloody tragedy outside the entrance to Anvil Canyon struck the heart of Count Soren Bloodfang, commander of the "Red Scorpion" vanguard legion of the Sass Empire, like a cold hammer.
He sat in the makeshift tent, with dark red stains still remaining on the rough wooden table in front of him—stains left by the Kree prisoners he had just tortured to death.
The air was thick with the stench of blood, sweat, and a suffocating smell called "fear."
He was breathing heavily, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the parchment map spread out on the table, which now showed only a mess of the three thousand heavy cavalry markings that represented his vanguard legion and the dotted lines that symbolized their collapse.
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" Soren slammed his fist on the table, making the cups and saucers rattle.
"What the hell are those damned iron lumps?! Intelligence officers! Is your intelligence just for feeding the dogs? Blackrock Territory has these monsters, why hasn't there been a single whisper of them?!"
The intelligence officer, kneeling and trembling beneath the tent, dared not raise his head.
“My lord…we…we really didn’t know! The defense of Blackrock Territory has always relied on the Rock Guard and those Crystal Skeleton Ballistae, with at most some strange armor…these steel giants that can tear the earth apart and fire death beams…we’ve never heard of them before! They…they look even more…more terrifying than the ‘Steam Colossi’ of the Principality of Oak!”
"Terrible?" Soren let out a beastly growl, grabbed a blood-stained silver cup from the table, and hurled it at the intelligence officer, who screamed and clutched his forehead.
“That’s called a massacre! It’s child’s play! My elite cavalry are like paper in front of them! Lind Truk… what abyss did he crawl out of? Where did he get such a thing?!”
Frustration and a chill that seeped into his bones made the earl, known for his bravery (or rather, brutality), restless.
The meticulously planned lightning strike turned into a colossal joke in the face of those cold, inhuman creations.
The loss was not just in troop strength, but also in morale and the belief in victory.
He could even imagine the mocking looks from his political enemies and the Orks back at the rear headquarters.
"General! The envoy from the Duchy of Oak has arrived!"
A guard's voice rang out from outside the tent, carrying a hint of barely perceptible tension.
A flash of malice crossed Soren's eyes, and he waved his hand irritably: "Let him in! I want to see what kind of nonsense these arrogant tin cans can spout!"
The tent flap was lifted, and instead of the bulky Orc officer in steam-powered armor that Soren had expected, a tall, thin middle-aged man wearing a well-tailored dark gray woolen overcoat and a monocle walked in.
His face was pale, his eyes were sharp as a scalpel, and he was carrying an unusually heavy metal briefcase.
Behind him followed two silent guards dressed in Oak-style lightweight powered exoskeletons, their eyes scanning the tent warily.
"Good day, Earl Bloodfang." The envoy's voice was calm and even, with the distinctive metallic tone of the Duchy of Oak. "I am Victor Horn, a senior researcher in the 'Department of Precision Science' of the Duchy of Oak. I have been sent by the Grand Duke to bring you some... 'small gifts' in the hope that they will be of some help to your current 'minor predicament'."
His gaze swept over the still-wet bloodstains on the table and Soren's ashen face, a barely perceptible curve appearing at the corner of his mouth, carrying the indifference unique to researchers and a hint of condescending scrutiny.
"A predicament?" Soren suppressed his anger, his voice forced out through clenched teeth. "Mr. Horn, you call it a 'minor predicament' that my three thousand iron cavalry were swatted like flies by a bunch of glowing iron lumps? Where are your 'steam colossi'? Why didn't they appear on the battlefield as promised?!"
"Your Excellency, please calm down."
Victor Horn calmly walked to the table, ignoring the stench of blood, and placed the heavy metal briefcase on it with a dull thud.
"The 'Steam Colossi' are valuable strategic assets and need to be used in more critical areas. Moreover, if I may be so bold, even if they were present, they probably wouldn't have much of an advantage against that... well... 'Earthbreaker' (he has obviously received reports from the front lines). Their energy weapon power, armor strength, and modus operandi all exceed our previous assessment of Blackrock Territory's technological level."
He opened the briefcase, which contained not gold and silver jewelry, but several oddly shaped device parts that shimmered with a cold metallic light and subtle energy glow, along with a thick stack of blueprints.
"However, our Duchy of Oak never fights a battle unprepared."
Victor's fingers gently brushed over the device inside the box, his eyes gleaming with the light of a scientific fanatic.
"The Precision Science Department has been conducting reverse engineering and targeted research on the 'relic technology' that Lind Truk may possess. Although we are not yet able to fully replicate the Crystal Relics or that kind of space technology, we have found... their potential weaknesses."
He picked up a core component—a complex device consisting of multi-layered resonant cavities and focusing crystals, with a strange, writhing mineral at its center emitting an unstable purple light.
"This is our latest research result—the prototype of the 'resonant spike'."
Victor's voice carried a hint of fanaticism, "It's based on our research into the captured crystalline fragments and... certain 'Shadow Abyss' relics. It doesn't emit pure energy beams, but rather a 'resonant wave' of a specific frequency."
"Resonant wave?" Soren frowned, puzzled.
"Yes."
Victor adjusted his monocle. "Your Excellency, you should know that even the strongest fortress will develop cracks and even collapse if it is continuously struck at its inherent vibrational frequency. No matter how perfect a material structure may appear, it has its inherent, most vulnerable point of resonance."
He pointed to the simplified structural diagram of the "Earthshatter" golems on the blueprint, marked with several flashing red dots.
"Based on the images and energy fluctuations transmitted from the front lines, we have preliminarily identified several possible resonant frequency ranges for the energy core armor of that steel giant. The role of the 'resonant spikes' is to emit highly focused, extremely strong resonant waves of specific frequencies in an attempt to 'strike' their resonant points!"
Victor's tone became resolute:
"Once the frequency match is successful, the energy core's armor structure will disintegrate from the inside due to its own vibrations, becoming extremely vulnerable! At that time, even ordinary siege crossbows or Orc engineers' 'armor-piercing molten guns' can inflict fatal damage on it! It may even trigger a core detonation!"
The rage and despair in Sauron's eyes were replaced by a sliver of unbelievable hope, like a drowning man grasping at a straw. He stared intently at the device emitting an ominous purple light:
"Are you...are you sure this thing will work? Can it deal with those metal lumps?"
“Theoretically, it is perfect, Your Excellency.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com