According to Sylvie's intelligence, the demons' reconnaissance teams usually consist of two Mad Demons and three Terror Beasts, patrolling back and forth to monitor the area at a certain frequency. There are overlaps between each team, and their formation is somewhat like the "Wall of Eagles" from later generations.

Due to the air units' advantage in visibility, the army would inevitably be discovered as soon as it entered the reconnaissance zone. And what Roland intended to do was to open up a no-fly zone in the sky, a blind spot in visibility.

Currently, it is certain that the reconnaissance Mad Demons have neither radar systems nor instant calling technology. As long as they are not allowed to blow their horns, the disappearance of a small team will not attract any attention. Equipping the Terror Beasts with special Red Mist canisters can certainly enhance the team's patrol capabilities, but it will also lengthen the information feedback time. By the time the enemy realizes that there are losses of Terror Beasts, they will most likely have to wait until they return to the nest in the evening.

Even so, it would not be easy for the demons, who are unaware of the specific location of the losses, to immediately pinpoint the attackers' position. What's more, while the evening reconnaissance team is inactive, the First Army can march. As long as the blind spots are created in a reasonable order, it will buy time for our side, which is also equivalent to indirectly weakening the opponent's mobility.

Roland didn't expect to completely block the enemy, but even delaying them for two or three days would be of great help to the army—after all, the sooner he arrived at the shelling location, the greater his chances of winning.

And the anti-Terror Beast jujiqiang was the product of his high hopes.

In fact, it's rather far-fetched to call it a gun. In order to ensure long-range lethality and trajectory stability, its caliber was set at twenty millimeters, which is the dividing line between guns and cannons.

As for why it wasn't made larger, it was because Andrea's ability had a distinct characteristic—it had to be hand-held to activate. This had been tested during shelling training. Even with direct command, once she let go of the barrel, no matter how the soldiers adjusted, they could not achieve static-to-dynamic shooting.

And forcibly firing while withstanding the recoil of a cannon?

Tilly would definitely get furious.

It's just that the name "sniper cannon" was too awkward, so Roland decided to give it the naming of a gun.

The new weapon itself had no high-end technology. Its structure was even simpler than the Mark One heavy jiqiang. Gas-operated recoil, semi-automatic firing, magazine-fed... The only extra component was the muzzle brake, used to reduce its recoil, which had also been used on the main guns of the Shallow Water Heavy Gunboats.

It only took two days to manufacture it.

One and a half days were spent on selecting materials and post-processing.

Lucia's formulated alloy, Anna's cutting and shaping, Candle's solidification and shaping, and then Doris's demonization... With the joint efforts of several witches, the weapon could definitely be regarded as a legendary creation in terms of quality. Not to mention the material and processing precision, as long as the solidification effect existed, the jujiqiang barrel would not deform under high-temperature gas and enormous pressure, which was also the key factor to ensure continuous accurate shooting.

"Is this the jujiqiang?" Andrea examined it for a while, and soon discovered something was wrong, "Then where is its scope?"

"There isn't one." Roland spread his hands.

"There isn't?" She was stunned, "I can't hit targets I can't see."

"And a normal scope can't play its role, so you need three other people to assist you," Roland said, looking at Sylvie, Speer, and Camilla beside him.

"You mean... to have Ms. Camilla connect me and Sylvie together, and then have Earl Speer be responsible for supplementing the magic power?" Andrea finally understood what Maisie meant by "they are waiting for you."

"Although I don't want to leave Dragon Fall Ridge at all... A-achoo... but seeing that His Majesty has extended such a sincere invitation to me, I can only reluctantly agree." Earl Speer feigned helplessness, "It's just that I hope to be informed earlier next time, instead of having Ms. Maisie fly me around—I'm old, and my body isn't what it used to be. I've been blown by the wind and haven't recovered yet."

Roland silently rolled his eyes. He clearly drank Lily's purified water and also asked him for the support quota for the next batch of City Hall students, but he spoke as if he was doing it for free. After all, he was a frequent visitor in the political arena for many years, and selling misery had become a habit.

Camilla's reaction was much simpler, "Princess Tilly wants me to do my best."

"But I'm not sure if my ability will still work under the observation of the Eye of Magic." Since the range of throwing stones and arrows was much smaller than the visual range, Andrea had never considered similar issues before.

"That's why it's necessary to try," Roland gestured, "Then... let's begin."

*******************

Carter Lannis paced nervously outside the bedroom door.

He rarely had such anxiety in his life.

Thinking about it, besides the moment when His Majesty Roland approached the witch Anna without any defense, today was the second time.

His wife, May, was about to give birth.

It was really as she said, "Her status is not inferior to His Majesty the King," Carter thought self-deprecatingly. "Show some courage, look at what you've become. Isn't it just giving birth to a child? Nana and Lily xiaojie are here, and the medical institute has sent several nurses. What could go wrong? Even if it's a difficult labor, according to His Majesty, they can directly cut open the belly to take out the child and save both lives at the same time."

But as soon as this thought came up, it quickly wavered... Can people really have children by cutting open their bellies? That's too scary. No, no, no, I still hope everything goes normally.

You bastard, how dare you doubt His Majesty Roland's knowledge!

But... I've never heard of anyone coming out like that?

Two voices were fighting fiercely in the Chief Knight's mind, almost making his head burst.

"Don't worry, sir," Eileen comforted, "Sister May will definitely make it through because... she's the strongest person I've ever seen."

The other members of the Star Flower Troupe who came to visit also nodded one after another.

"Thank you," Carter said, but the worry in his heart did not diminish in the slightest. Under all kinds of entanglement, he felt a layer of fine sweat on his forehead.

Suddenly, a burst of stormy cheers rang out outside the window.

He walked to the window and saw a team in new military uniforms slowly passing through the long street towards the border wall, amid the cheering of countless people. The mottled brown and green fabric clearly seemed disorganized, but in these soldiers, a sense of steadfastness like a rock emerged. The entire army was like the flowing earth.

"Is today the day of the expedition?" Carter couldn't help asking.

"Yes, my husband is in there too," Eileen smiled somewhat reluctantly, but full of pride, "He has been looking forward to this war of revenge for a long time."

"Revenge?" He said subconsciously.

"Yes! To comfort those who sacrificed in the hands of the demons, that's what he told me."

The former star knight would now also fight for those ordinary people; the ideal kingdom that His Majesty mentioned in the past is now gradually becoming a reality. And he should have been one of them, even the first to charge into battle for His Majesty, but at some point, he was getting farther and farther away from these.

For a moment, remorse replaced the debate in his head, causing him to be a little distracted.

Until a tender cry came from inside the bedroom door.

In an instant, all thoughts turned blank.

The body's reaction was faster than the brain. When he came back to his senses, he had already pushed open the door and rushed to the bedside.

A wrinkled baby was crying beside May's pillow, and the nurses were doing the aftercare work in an orderly manner.

"Congratulations, sir, it's a very healthy boy." Someone said with a smile.

"Is... is that so?" Carter moved to the head of the bed step by step, knelt on one knee, and looked at May, who was covered in sweat under the candlelight, and was momentarily stunned.

The long-lasting cheers and the child's cry mixed together, like a concerto celebrating the new life.

May opened her mouth as if to say something, but her weakness made it almost impossible for her to make a sound.

But Carter still understood what she wanted to say.

At that moment, a warm current welled up in his eyes.

"Now, you are a father," she said.