DLERB -Chapter 178 The Next Second, Ten Thousand Arrows Turned and Fired at Themselves!

Qinglong bowed to receive the order.

Without saying a word, he merely raised his hand and made a gentle downward gesture toward the soldiers on deck.

“WHOOOSH!”

A perfectly synchronized roar echoed out.

The enormous oilcloth coverings draped over the sinister objects lining both sides of the ship were ripped away simultaneously by hundreds of black-armored soldiers.

Swift.

Silent.

Like a mute performance rehearsed a thousand times over.

Antony’s laughter froze in his throat.

The Roman soldiers behind him also stopped laughing.

Every Roman stared fixedly at the changes taking place aboard the Qin warships.

They had expected to see weapons even more terrifying than Jupiter’s Wrath.

Were they bronze tubes that spewed fire?

Or giant catapults capable of hurling boulders?

The oilcloths fell away.

Yet what appeared beneath them was not anything they could understand.

There were no sharp arrowheads.

No savage cannon muzzles.

Instead—

There were rows upon rows… of stones.

Black stones, polished until perfectly smooth, fixed upon complicated bronze bases and arranged into strange, mysterious formations.

Under the sunlight, the black stones reflected an eerie cold gleam.

And besides those stones—

There was nothing else.

The entire sea fell silent.

Every person aboard the Roman fleet stood there with mouth hanging open.

More than ten seconds passed.

Then—

“Pfft…”

A Roman centurion finally failed to hold back his laughter.

That single laugh was like a spark dropped into a barrel of gunpowder.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Thunderous laughter erupted from every Roman ship, sweeping across the entire sea so violently it seemed capable of scattering the clouds themselves.

Antony laughed so hard he nearly doubled over, tears shooting from his eyes.

One hand clutched the railing while the other pointed toward the Zhenyuan across the sea. He was almost unable to breathe.

“St-stones?”

“HAHAHAHA! Their secret weapon is a pile of rocks!”

As though witnessing the most ridiculous comedy in existence, he roared toward the soldiers around him.

“Did you all see that?!”

“This is the wisdom of the Easterners! They plan to stone us to death!”

“Gods above! I’ve never seen such idiotic barbarians!”

“Did they come all this way just to perform tricks for us?!”

Roman soldiers rolled across their decks laughing hysterically.

Some pounded the planks beneath them.

Others pointed toward the Qin warships while hurling endless insults and mockery across the sea amid their laughter.

To them, this was no longer a battle.

It was a farce.

A ridiculous performance starring a group of Eastern fools for the entertainment of glorious Rome.

Aboard the Zhenyuan—

Wang Li’s face had turned dark purple.

His armor rattled faintly from the trembling of his body.

Yet he clenched his teeth tightly and did not utter another word.

The marshal had not given an order.

Beside him, Wang Jian and Meng Tian stood like statues carved from stone, completely motionless.

Across the entire Qin fleet, despite the deafening ridicule from the enemy, silence still reigned.

Every soldier remained at his post—

Without moving even an inch.

As though the enemy’s celebration had nothing to do with them.

At last, Antony laughed enough.

Straightening himself, he wiped away the tears caused by laughing too hard.

He felt that his dignity—and the dignity of Rome itself—had suffered an unprecedented insult.

He had wasted far too many words on a pack of idiots playing with rocks.

He no longer wanted to play.

The game was over.

The mocking expression vanished from Antony’s face, replaced instead by savage cruelty.

He raised his hand—

Then slashed it violently forward!

“All forces!”

His voice, cold as the winter wind, instantly overwhelmed all remaining laughter.

“Jupiter’s Wrath!”

“FIRE!”

Using all his strength, he roared out the final command.

“Turn these stone-playing fools—”

“Along with their ridiculous wooden toys—”

“Into sieves!”

“ROAR!”

“For Rome!”

A tidal wave of battle cries erupted from the Roman fleet!

Fanaticism once again ignited every Roman soldier!

“Fire!”

“Fire!”

Centurions waved their short swords wildly as they shouted orders across every ship.

More than a thousand powerful Roman soldiers, grinning viciously with confidence in victory, slammed down the triggers of the giant ballistae beside them!

They could already imagine it—

In the next instant—

Countless massive bolts would descend like divine punishment and tear the black fleet opposite them into exploding splinters!

A cruel smile spread across Antony’s lips.

He raised his telescope, preparing to enjoy this one-sided slaughter.

However—

The expected thunderous roar of ten thousand bolts launching at once never came.

Instead—

“CREEEAK… GROOOAN… GRAAAAH…”

A horrifying chorus of twisting metal erupted simultaneously from all one thousand Jupiter’s Wrath ballistae!

The sound made everyone’s scalp go numb.

It was like fingernails scraping violently across iron plates—

Or metal being twisted alive into knots while screaming in agony.

The smile on Antony’s face froze solid.

Through his telescope, he witnessed a scene utterly beyond comprehension.

His beloved Jupiter’s Wrath machines—war engines forged from hardened ironwood and refined steel—were trembling violently as though they had suddenly come alive!

Their massive metal bow arms began twisting and deforming wildly at impossible angles without any external force acting upon them!

The iron bases anchoring the weapons groaned under unbearable strain!

“What’s happening?!”

“My ballista! It—it’s moving by itself!”

“Gods above! It turned around! MOVE!”

Terrified screams instantly exploded throughout the Roman formation.

The thousand Jupiter’s Wrath ballistae moved as though following one unified command.

They abruptly rotated direction!

Those giant bolts gleaming with deadly cold light—capable of piercing fortress walls—no longer pointed toward the distant Qin fleet.

Instead—

They rotated a full one hundred and eighty degrees.

Some aimed directly at neighboring Roman warships preparing to fire beside them!

Others pointed straight at the Roman soldiers standing behind the ballistae—the very men who had just pulled the triggers, vicious grins still frozen upon their faces!

The arrowheads—

Were aimed at their own people!