novelraw Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Chapter 61. The Power of Knowledge
The underground prison of the Grand Duke of the Northern Territory’s manor was damp and frigid, filled with the mingled smell of rust and despair.
Logaris West, Sylvia, and the tall demi-human prince Alectos Huiyin stood outside an isolated cell.
Inside the cell, the cultist captured by Alectos was firmly shackled to an iron chair with magical restraints.
His head hung low, making his expression impossible to see, but his body trembled faintly.
“Mr. Logaris, that is the one.”
Alectos spoke in a low voice, his fists clenched tightly.
“I cannot be mistaken. The rotten stench on him is exactly the same as the curse inside my body.”
Sylvia’s silver-gray eyes swept over the prisoner before turning toward Logaris.
“Are you confident you can get information out of him? These people are all lunatics. They are not afraid of death.”
Logaris pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the faint glow of the torches.
He did not answer Sylvia.
Instead, he walked forward and pushed open the cell door.
The iron door creaked with a heavy groan.
He walked around to the front of the cultist and looked down at him from above.
“I ask. You answer. It is simple.”
The cultist suddenly lifted his head, revealing a gaunt face.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips curled into a manic grin.
“The gods will judge you…”
“Oh, this again.”
Logaris interrupted impatiently, his expression clearly saying, “Why are you still using such outdated lines?”
He sighed and turned his head toward Sylvia outside the door.
“I hate overtime work the most, especially this kind of repetitive labor that requires no technical skill.”
After saying that, he raised his right hand and aimed his palm at the cultist’s forehead.
A pale blue magical glow began to gather, and a faint humming sound filled the air.
The cultist’s grin froze on his face as fear instantly replaced his fanaticism.
“You… what are you doing?! Blasphemer! You will—”
“Be quiet.”
Logaris had no interest in wasting words with him.
A five-word mental shock spell slammed directly into the cultist’s mind.
“Soul Detection.”
The blue light instantly surged, turning the entire cell into a deep ocean-like glow.
The cultist’s body convulsed violently.
His eyes rolled upward, and white foam spilled from his mouth.
He could feel an immense, cold, utterly emotionless will tearing open his mind and rampaging through his memories without restraint.
Deep within his soul, a weak protective barrier formed from crude faith power attempted to resist.
But in the face of Logaris’s overwhelming spiritual power as a Fifth-Tier Mage, that barrier was weaker than soaked paper.
It shattered into dust in an instant.
Countless filthy, bloody, chaotic fragments of memory flooded into Logaris’s mind.
Rituals.
Sacrifices.
An underground nest.
A bishop wearing a red robe.
And secret orders arriving from the Valeria Empire.
A few seconds later, the blue light faded.
Logaris expressionlessly withdrew his hand and took a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket.
He carefully wiped his fingertips, even though there was not a speck of dust on them.
As for the cultist whose mind had been searched, he had already become a drooling idiot slumped in the chair.
“All done.”
He walked out of the cell and tossed the handkerchief into the nearby brazier.
“The Lower City. An abandoned leather workshop. It is one of their strongholds. They gather there every Wednesday night.”
Logaris paused briefly before adding,
“This fellow was just expendable cannon fodder at the bottom of their ranks. He only knew about that one location. However, I saw something interesting in his memories. One of their bishops appears to have had contact with Remington, the current regent of the Demi-Human Empire.”
Sylvia’s gaze instantly sharpened.
“Esmeralda.”
Her Shadow Guard captain immediately stepped out of the darkness.
“Your Highness.”
“Personally lead a squad of Shadow Guards and wipe out that rat nest.”
Sylvia’s voice was cold enough to freeze the air.
“If possible, capture someone with authority while ensuring your own safety. They definitely have more than one stronghold.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Esmeralda’s figure melted back into the darkness.
…
The next day, at the frontline of the Rime Valley.
A frigid wind carried shards of snow that cut across the face like blades.
General Victor and several of his officers stared at Logaris and the “new toy” he had brought with extremely complicated expressions.
It was a strangely shaped metal tube mounted on a tripod.
The barrel was dark and hollow, and it hardly looked intimidating.
“Professor,” a bearded officer finally spoke, unable to restrain himself.
Curiosity mixed with the cautious restraint typical of a soldier in his gaze.
“We have heard some rumors about the Kingdom’s new weapons. What exactly can this thing do?”
Behind him, the officers whispered among themselves.
Most of their voices carried a mixture of nervous anticipation.
Standing amid the wave of the Magitech Industrial Revolution, they understood better than anyone that the nature of warfare was being rewritten.
Although a small number of conservatives still muttered privately that such inventions were merely “tricks and gimmicks,” most of them desperately wanted to know whether this unimpressive tube could become the trump card against the iron hooves of the Demi-Human Empire.
Logaris ignored their discussion and simply nodded to his student Aaron behind him.
Aaron and several technicians immediately stepped forward and began operating the device with practiced movements.
“Justice Model II. Test shell loaded.”
They inserted a half-meter-long shell engraved with runes into the chamber.
“Target: southeast direction. One kilometer away. That boulder.”
Logaris casually pointed into the distance.
“Target locked. Beginning charge.”
HUM—
Several mana crystals embedded in the base of the magitech cannon lit up one after another, emitting a low resonance.
The murmurs of General Victor and his officers gradually faded.
They could feel the magical elements in the air being drawn away at a terrifying speed, converging into that seemingly unimpressive metal tube.
“Fire.”
Logaris spoke the two words casually.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only a dull, extremely compressed thump.
The shell shot out at a speed almost impossible for the naked eye to track, leaving behind a faint streak of light in the air.
Everyone stretched their necks and widened their eyes.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Nothing happened.
“Tsk. I thought—”
One bearded officer had just begun to sneer.
Suddenly—
The distant boulder was swallowed by a burst of white light without warning.
Immediately afterward, a thunderous explosion finally arrived, shaking everyone to their core.
BOOM—!
When the white light faded, everyone, including General Victor, stood frozen with their mouths wide open.
The massive boulder had completely vanished.
In its place were countless fragments of rock and clouds of dust scattered across the sky.
After a long moment, General Victor swallowed with difficulty.
He suddenly turned his head and looked at Logaris as though he were staring at a god.
“This… this… this thing…”
He was so excited that he could barely speak properly.
“How many do we have?!”
“Not many,” Logaris said with a shrug.
“These are only prototypes. Counting spare parts, we managed to assemble ten cannons in total. The ammunition supply is quite sufficient though. Also, I have plenty of ‘alchemical grenades,’ which are essentially Explosive Crystals. Their power is smaller, but they are convenient to throw.”