"Boom!" A standard explosive bolt detonated upon hitting a hilichurl, tearing its body to shreds.
With Kaeya firing the first shot, all the knights pulled their triggers in unison. Instantly, a relentless barrage of explosions surged inward from the outskirts of the camp.
They all wielded the same Reaper and were shooting from an elevated position. Every shot claimed a hilichurl's life. Even if a bullet missed, the shockwave from the explosion would leave its target dazed and disoriented.
Of course, Mitachurl with shields could easily block standard rounds. Even firing at the ground near them merely knocked them back a step. After patting out the flames on their fur, they would raise their shields and press forward again.
That's when knights would switch to Kraken-Piercing Rounds. Its bullets that could punch through shields and embed into the Mitachurl before exploding inside their bodies.
When the adventurers, who were slower than the knights in the air arrived at the battlefield, what they saw was nothing short of divine retribution. The knights hovered fifty meters above the ground, raining fire from their judgment weapons, their gunfire engulfing the hilichurls below in merciless flame.
At that altitude, the hilichurls could do nothing to retaliate. They could only wait helplessly for death to fall from the sky.
One enraged hilichurl hurled an axe larger than a man into the air, but the knight easily dodged it, retaliating a second later with a blast to its chest.
"This… this is a gun!" An older adventurer finally recognized the strange long weapons in their hands. (T/N: I cast gun. Prepare to meet god ahhh)
"A gun? Aren't guns polearms? You think I'm blind or something?" a younger adventurer scoffed.(T/N: when you read mtl, you know gun is spear so this is what the young references)
"Not that kind of gun! This is a terrifying ranged weapon, far more powerful than bows or crossbows…"
With no way to fight back, the remaining hilichurls scattered and fled in all directions. But towering above them all, the Thunderhelm Lawachurl moved against the flow— striding steadily toward the knights.
A thick shield of Electro energy cloaked its body. Neither explosive bolts nor piercing rounds could break through it, let alone harm its flesh.
"Load the Infernal Blaze and Zero-Degree Frost rounds!" Kaeya shouted. He swapped out his standard ammo for incendiary rounds and fired at the Hilichurl King.
Scarlet flames and icy mist exploded on the Electro barrier. As the ice evaporated into steam, a vast white fog blanketed the area.
"ROAAAR!!" A furious bellow echoed from the fog, followed by a massive shadow leaping out. The king soared over fifty meters into the air, its massive fist crashing down on a terrified knight.
The knight froze, paralyzed by fear at the hulking monster barreling toward him. Its Electro shield had dissipated, its fur was scorched, and ice crystals clung to its singed coat, but its size and menacing mask radiated a dreadful aura.
Bang!
A Kraken-Piercing Round struck its side, the explosion knocking its punch off course just enough to miss the knight.
"Don't freeze up on the battlefield next time!" Kaeya growled, lowering his rifle.
"Th-thanks!" the knight stammered, snapping back to his senses.
The Lawachurl crashed heavily into the ground, already half-dead from the knights' concentrated fire.
It looked back toward its tribe, only to see a massive explosion engulfing them. A round shot straight into its head, blowing it apart.
Its headless body dropped to its knees, facing its fallen kin.
Nearby, two Scythe roared to life, spewing reinforced explosive rounds 2.5 cm in diameter. Like farmers in a wheat field, they mowed down wave after wave of hilichurls.
In just two minutes, they fired over 3,000 rounds, obliterating every hilichurl driven into their line of fire. The earth was scarred and shredded, looking like it had been plowed several times over.
Down below, the battlefield no longer had a single intact hilichurl corpse, only broken limbs and dismembered remains.
The knights then descended to about ten meters above the ground, checking for any survivors. Gunshots echoed through the now-ruined camp.
Kaeya spotted a small hilichurl trying to fit a severed hand and foot onto a bloodied, mutilated torso. A shattered mask lay across the mess of flesh.
Kaeya sighed— then pulled the trigger.
BANG!
…
…
That day, Eula, Amber, and Kaeya led large-scale operations in Starfell Valley, Brightcrown Mountains, and Windwail Highland respectively. All three achieved decisive victories without a single casualty. When word reached Mondstadt, the citizens flooded the streets in celebration.
Scouts quickly delivered detailed intel to the representatives of various factions stationed in Mondstadt.
Rosalyne received the report as well. To avoid detection by the Sentinal System, she met her agents outside the city.
"What?! Ordinary knights used a weapon called a 'bolter rifle' to annihilate elite monsters with ease? And they won every battle outnumbered without suffering a single injury?!"
Rosalyne stared at the scout, incredulous. It sounded like a fairytale. Completely unbelievable.
Just then, another scout arrived and handed her a document. "Lady La Signora, Acting Grand Master Jean publicly released information on the bolter rifle."
Rosalyne snatched the page. As expected, it listed Shen Qin as the weapon's inventor. It detailed three models, including the weakest the Hellhound Pistol and data on five explosive bolt types. It also announced that Liyue would soon adopt the full bomb-gun arsenal and that the two nations had formally entered an alliance.
"Shen Qin! You again!" she hissed, grinding her teeth.
"Send this intel back to Snezhnaya. Have HQ assign someone else to handle it." She had no intention of getting involved with that man again. Her own mission still remained unfinished, and the longer she delayed, the fewer chances she'd have.
Once the Knights of Favonius cleared the monsters and Abyss Order from Mondstadt's lands, they'd move to the Stormterror's Lair to deal with Dvalin. Once that was done, seizing Barbatos's Gnosis would become nearly impossible.
With the bolter rifles in play, the Knights' operations accelerated rapidly. Meanwhile, Shen Qin was already preparing to develop truly strategic weapons.
The bolter rifle and Dragoon Type-I were adequate against sub-boss-level threats. However, against god-level beings like Dvalin, they were not enough. What he needed now… was a nation-defining weapon.
When he brought the idea to Jean, she hesitated. Even the bolter rifle had caused her enormous political pressure, let alone something capable of confronting a god.
"You can consult the rest of the Knights," Shen Qin said with a hint of regret. "If most of them oppose the idea, I'll abandon the project."
If he couldn't build it in Mondstadt, he'd go to Liyue. He was certain Ningguang and Keqing would have the boldness to support it.