Chapter 76: Test firing.

The next morning, as the girls slept, I walked about 1,000 meters to test the new ammo. I skipped the Rare ranking ones, as I would know roughly what they could do from the elements they had. I wanted to see the power of the Epic and Legendary ranks.

Pulling out one of the Ulysses class of drones, I made ten rounds of each epic rank ammo. Loading it up with the Raging Firestorm as I ordered it to aim at the small plateau not that far away, about five hundred meters from us, and ordered it to open fire. The 120mm magic rounds slammed into the wall of the plateau.

The moment the rounds left, they formed a flame twister with lightning mixed in. When the rounds hit the wall, cracks filled with fire and lightning spread up to 100 meters before blowing the rocks out. Leaving a 100-meter-wide crater and 10 meters deep of a hole where each round landed.

Looking at the power, it's so much stronger than the Rare rank. As I smiled, I loaded up the next one. The Darkness still rounds used more of a black Orb while traveling and made a sphere on contact. But each round did pretty much the same kind of damage, just that I noticed the Darkness element was the strongest aspect when it was involved.

The Oblivion's Wrath ammunition was the strongest overall, as its area of damage was slightly bigger than the others. Getting done with the Epic rank ammunition and loading up the Legendary rank one. I stepped back over a hundred meters just to be on the safe side, as I made a wall of four-inch Nightshade steel with a slit in it so I could see.

I only loaded one round because I didn't want to risk the test fire getting out of control, as these were waters I hadn't yet stepped into. "Fire," I commanded the drone to fire the round out, and it was eerie, like a black cone flying towards the plateau, with slight wind, fire, and lightning around it. It didn't have the explosive show that the Epic ranks did.

As it hit the wall, it dug inside the plateau, and for a split second, it looked like it had imploded the plateau before a massive sphere burst out of it, throwing black flames, black wind, and black lightning, spreading out from the plateau and stopping two hundred meters away from the drone.

The plateau was small, but it was still over 1,000 meters wide and about 800 meters tall, and the round destroyed about 75% of it while still damaging another few hundred meters away. If a 120mm shell does this, I wonder what a thousand-pound bomb would do. Looking at the damage as the dust finally settled down.

This was way above what I thought it would do. I would have to use this more strategically, or it would be more of a hassle to use. Looking at my watch, it was about time we got back on the road if we wanted to sleep in a city. As I stored the drone and the wall of Nightshade, I turned and walked back.

The women were already up as I knew they would be, especially after that last test fire. "Ladies, we will be heading out," I said as they just looked at me, not saying a word. They had to have seen that explosion as the land was flat.

But none of them wanted to ask me, as they had a hint of fear inside them. Natasha had already made up her mind to explain to the Queen and High Priestess what she had witnessed. They nodded and finished getting dressed as I put away the bed and metal dome.

Mounting the Humvee, we pulled off to continue our journey as the area calmed. After a while, a man carrying a spear landed from the sky, looking around as he looked over the area. He then walked over to where I was testing the ammo. He bent down, looking at the claw marks from my drone as he spoke.

"Well, if it isn't the former, Empress Velariel. Are you here to look for the Legendary rank person or object?" He said, looking over at her with a wicked grin on his face as he spoke to the quiet elf. "You granddaughters sure did cry as I raped them." He said. His words made Velariel burst further with mana, shattering the ground below her as the man stood still.

"Come now, we have a peace deal. Shaka, mind your words, or you will anger someone who may come back to bite you in the ass." A red-haired woman in robes drifted down to the ground. "I mean, your country is in shambles right now. Is it good for you to be making enemies? If you step in to save your Empire, then that would give her a chance to kill you." The woman who just joined them said.

The man named Shaka scuffed. "That prince can hold his throne, so I don't have to worry about it. But what I want to know, Velariel, who was that Northern Human at the Capitol?" He said, glaring at her, making her smirk.

"Oh, does it piss you off that he single-handedly slaughtered 300,000 of your people. I hear they pissed and shitted themselves running in fear." Velariel's words made Shaka release his mana, only to be forced to step back when a golden wave of light 300 meters in size passed near him.

"FREDRICK! DO YOU PLAN TO BREAK THE TREATY!" Shaka yelled out, making the blonde-haired man who was coming down from the sky laugh. "I didn't hit you, did I? It doesn't count as breaking the treaty, plus I can't have you damaging my sweet Velariel." His words made Velariel spit.

"I won't ever marry you, Fredrick. Do you not understand your three Empires attacked mine, killing and enslaving 40% of it!" Velariel yelled at the three of them. "Come now, if you had just agreed to the marriage, I would have been on your side." The man named Fredrick said.

"You lesser beings are always bickering. It's annoying." A male voice came out as a Lion beastman landed. "Says the fur rug." Another voice came out; it was a woman's, with a hint of coldness. A human woman with white hair and blue eyes, covered in fur, landed on the ground, freezing it.

"Let's stop this fighting; we have more important things to talk about." A graceful voice said, making everyone look up to see an eight-winged woman gently landing as all of them slightly bowed. She was the strongest Legendary rank and the leader of the Holy Empirer.

"Will you be joining us, Serpatina?" She said, making the ground shake as a lamia emerged from it, hissing at her. "Why are you all near my place? I keep out of your issues." Serpatina said.

"We aren't here to mess with you. We wanted to know if another Legendary rank has awakened." The leader said.

"Would you look at that, all the maggots are here?" A sinister, cold voice echoed out as the Empire's own quickly drew their weapons to see six demons standing on a cliff not far away. One of the demons lifted into the air; he had four wings and was skinny with a scythe as a weapon.

The Angel flew up to meet him, making him laugh as he spoke. "Don't worry your pretty little head, I am only here because the Great Demon Lord wanted to come here." As the demon finished speaking, a pressure came over the area, forcing everyone to the ground.

Velariel looked over to the rubble as she noticed Azel standing on it. He bent down, picked up a stone, and crunched it, and laughter rang out. "WONDERFUL! YOU HAVEN'T LET ME DOWN, HUMAN!" He roared out as the sky turned into a raging storm. She had witnessed him before, the only Divine rank being on this land.

"SOON, I WILL EXPERIENCE WHAT I LONG FOR! COME, JOHN COLT, SHOW ME YOUR POWER, YOUR HATRED! YOUR WILL TO CRUSH ME INTO DUST AND CAST ME TO THE WIND!" Azel yelled with maniacal laughter.

This forced Velariel to speak. "What do you plan to do with him, and is she okay?!" She yelled out, making Azel cut off his pressure and look over at her. She looked at him, and the moment she blinked and opened her eyes, he was in her face.

"You know of John Colt?" Azel asked Velariel, making her tremble and nod. His grin spread across his face with a glow showing from his mouth as he spoke.

"It has been 10,000 years since I was last killed; living that long is boring. This John Colt has the drive to kill me, you see. You are all Legendary rank and are trembling in front of me. But did you know that John Colt, when he wasn't even a Rare rank, still fought and never felt fear. Even when he knew he couldn't beat me, that courage that sheer fucking will, which none of you have because you don't want to die after reaching this level. He didn't have." He finished speaking as he stood back up.

"His ability to face the unbeatable was already far above yours, and now he is stepping closer to my level. Just the thought of it makes my heart all tingly." He said, before lifting off the ground. "After he kills me, this world will be destined to be his. And the next time I am reborn, I will have the pleasure of taking it back." He started to laugh as the other demons joined him.

"As for that woman, she is safe. I put her under a sleep spell. She was never my target, only a means to an end." He finished saying as a mist wrapped around him and his demons.

"Who was the man you asked him about?" The one called Fredrick said, giving Velariel a jealous look, making her smirk. "The man I love, and the one who saved my granddaughters from the Warish Empire." She said pissing off both Fredrick and Shaka as they released their mana only to be suppriesed by the eight-winged woman.

"Everyone is dismissed, and Velariel, come with me." She said, making the other Legendary ranks step back and leave only two, who had looked at Velariel with hate or obsession. But they left shortly after, not wanting to anger someone they couldn't fight.

Serpatina quickly left, complaining to herself that she had no part in this craziness and wanted to return to her city and sleep. Nothing about a new Legendary had anything to do with her; she just wanted to lie around.