Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire Novel - Chapter 445

Chapter 445**: The Discharge of Amber**

Beneath a sky of utter darkness, within shattered and unnervingly quiet streets, the ferocious battle had momentarily quieted into a tense pause. Dorothy, draped entirely in black, stood immobile at the combat’s epicenter. Below her, a lethal danger moved swiftly through the soil.

Underground, the menacing **Stone Golem** darted with alarming quickness. It spiraled rapidly around its quarry, closing the distance, absolutely certain the fight was concluded. Its next moves were simply to claim an already captured prize.

Amidst this unnervingly silent strain, Dorothy, fixed in place, gradually withdrew her hand into the depths of her dark robe. After a brief search, she produced a commonplace **Pritter** coin.

Fingers tightening around the coin stamped with the image of **King Charles IV of Pritter**, Dorothy inhaled deeply. Activating some inner process, the last traces of strain within her vanished instantly. She shut her eyes, concentrating fiercely through her power to detect iron particles below ground and follow the hidden foe’s path.

Moments passed. Dorothy detected the subterranean threat circling towards her, sliding noiselessly below. She felt it pivot directly beneath her position, then explode upwards immediately at her back.

Behind Dorothy, the massive shape of the **Stone Golem** burst from the earth soundlessly. **Ben Kotcher**’s claws lifted high, instantly erupting in scorching fire. Murderous eyes fixed on the exposed back; in the next heartbeat, those blazing claws would shred her apart.

At that exact instant, the black-clad figure spun around. Beneath the hood, the youthful face of a girl confronted the stealthy attacker at point-blank range. The icy, crimson eyes meeting **Ben Kotcher**’s gaze shocked the **Stone Golem**.

“A…child?!”

The abrupt motion of a target he believed paralyzed triggered alarm inside him, but it was already too late. His fiery talons were already descending. Yet, swifter than the flames and rending claws came the syllables murmured by the girl.

“—Fus·Ro—”

Archaic words left her lips, contrasting starkly with the brutal, overwhelming force they unleashed. A deafening, thunder-like roar erupted as a concentrated blast of destructive energy smashed directly into **Ben Kotcher**’s torso. Even the **Stone Golem**’s colossal mass couldn’t resist the concussive impact; arms flailing, he was hurled backwards, his face contorting in stunned disbelief as he flew through the air.

Utilizing the might of the **Dragon Shout**, Dorothy instantly thwarted **Ben Kotcher**’s ambush and flung him almost forty meters distant. However, the **”Unrelenting Force” Shout** alone couldn’t breach a **Stone Golem**’s bulletproof and explosive-resistant hide. For Dorothy, the Shout wasn’t intended for a direct kill, but to establish space and suppress the target.

Those vital forty meters gained from the Shout – and the lingering shockwave that forcefully suspended and paralyzed **Ben Kotcher** mid-flight – provided the meticulously timed opening she required.

Simultaneous with unleashing the Shout, the instant **Ben Kotcher** was blasted away, Dorothy had already pivoted fully towards him, arm outstretched. Held casually between her fingers, a coin was poised as if for a snap. Her stare locked onto the **Stone Golem** arcing through the air. An invisible power emanated from her. The nearby space distorted faintly, threads of tiny electrical sparks flickering intermittently around her form.

While **Ben Kotcher** remained helplessly suspended by the Shout’s trailing power, before his form crashed back to the street, Dorothy flicked her thumb.

The ordinary **Pritter** coin was launched with phenomenal power. An unimaginably fierce acceleration seized it from the moment it left her hand. In far less than the blink of an eye, the coin attained a speed that disregarded the very air it ripped through. At this impossible velocity, the coin’s metal surface violently scraped the atmosphere, heating rapidly from friction. Its surface shone with a blinding intensity, akin to metal newly drawn from a furnace. This white-hot projectile streaked forward visually as a brilliant beam of golden-amber light.

The shimmering lance of gold and amber fired from Dorothy’s fingertip tore across the roadway. Accelerating constantly during its brief trajectory, the sheer speed began stripping the coin of its material. Just as the molten projectile neared the point of dissolution, it struck its mark: the center of the **Stone Golem**’s massive chest, piercing through cleanly. All this unfolded in under one second.

Before **Ben Kotcher** could grasp the assault, the golden-orange incandescence had already bored through his chest, annihilating his heart. Hide impervious to rifles and mining blasts proved fragile as thin glass before this era-defying penetrative force.

The entire sequence happened with devastating swiftness. Transfixed, **Ben Kotcher** instinctively registered only a sudden flare of light. He felt another colossal impact slam into his left side before he was propelled even further back, landing heavily on the ground.

Normally, such beam-like assaults wouldn’t trouble **Ben Kotcher**; a **Stone Golem** fears nothing from an Elementalist. Rising to his feet, he dismissed that single flash. The initial wave of force that had hurled him troubled him far more. Only once standing did an odd weakness flood his body and a peculiar sensation register over his chest. Glancing down, his expression solidified into shock.

In his chest, precisely over his heart, was a perfectly round hole, encircled by radiating fractures. The edges of the aperture glowed faintly, residue of extreme thermal energy. Beneath the fractured armor, the underlying tissue penetrated by the projectile had been instantly carbonized by intense heat. Wispy tendrils of white smoke still curled from the cauterized injury. **Ben Kotcher**’s nostrils detected the distinct odor of seared flesh.

The hole in his chest didn’t bleed due to the intense cauterization. Yet, with his heart obliterated, bleeding was hardly the foremost problem.

“This is…?”

His eyes widened incredulously, words failing him before he could finish. Darkness flooded his sight. Awareness faded swiftly. Strength draining away, he toppled sideways. The immense body met the earth with a heavy thump.

Lying prone, **Ben Kotcher** sensed the world withdraw. As blackness deepened before his eyes, the final image registering was the outline of the young girl walking steadily closer. But long before she arrived, consciousness deserted him completely, leaving him utterly motionless.

Shrouded in black, Dorothy approached **Ben Kotcher**’s body. Observing the form that had rapidly reverted from **Stone Golem** to human shape upon death, she verified his condition using her **”Corpse Puppet Control”**. Only after confirming death did she exhale deeply.

“Huff… finished at last. Truly, against such a hardened carapace, besides powers targeting spirit or soul, brute force escalated beyond all reason is the sole solution.”

“**Stone Golems** can endure this era’s bullets and mining explosives… but something akin to an **Electromagnetic Cannon** is a different matter. After all, this was the signature technique of that **Electric Shock Princess** herself.”

Studying **Ben Kotcher**’s remains, Dorothy pondered. The attack she’d employed originated from the Level 5 Esper of **Academy City** in a parallel world, **Mikoto Misaka**, famed as the “**Railgun**.” Employing the refined insights gained from her rewritten **Plaal’s Third Notepad** for a cross-reality trade, she had secured **Mikoto Misaka**’s mathematical framework for channeling psychic electricity.

In that dimension, espers required intricate personal calculation models to accurately manifest and control their varied psychic abilities. Greater computational capacity translated to enhanced precision, complexity, range, and strength. Among **Academy City**’s seven Level 5s (excluding the naturally occurring #7), all possessed exceptional calculation abilities and unique mathematical structures.

**Mikoto Misaka** was the supreme electrical esper. Her mathematical model, obtained and partially adapted using Dorothy’s local arcane knowledge, became the cornerstone for enhancing her own **”Thunder Invoker”** pathway simulations.

Dorothy, a **”Way of Revelation”** non-ordinary, herself wielded considerable computational power. Applying this mathematical model unlocked novel methods for manifesting her electrokinesis, significantly elevating her control over electricity.

The most dramatic enhancement was her newfound command of electromagnetic forces. Previous skills for manipulating metal via electromagnetism had been rudimentary. Complex magnetic control was laborious. Mastering the **Electromagnetic Cannon** method had seemed entirely unattainable.

Dorothy had long coveted techniques from otherworldly electrical masters but lacked suitable arcane texts for exchange. Tonight’s confrontation had furnished precisely that.

With **Mikoto Misaka**’s mathematical model integrated, Dorothy’s electromagnetic control experienced a quantum leap. Now, she could effortlessly float and steer metal items, detect and manipulate ferrous particles within the earth, and produce sophisticated electromagnetic field phenomena – including discharging the **Electromagnetic Cannon**.

**Mikoto Misaka**’s **Electromagnetic Cannon** involved generating potent magnetic fields in the atmosphere to launch metal projectiles at hypersonic speeds, surpassing conventional gunpowder arms.

She predominantly used coins due to their consistent mass, uniform shape, and ready availability. These traits rendered them ideal kinetic projectiles compared to irregularly formed or varying-density metal fragments.

A standard coin accelerated by **Misaka** would attain an initial velocity near three Mach. Subsequent induction from her magnetic fields persistently accelerated it during flight, potentially exceeding Mach 10 within a short span. Within less than fifty meters, extreme atmospheric friction from insane acceleration would melt the coin. Thus, coin-based **Electromagnetic Cannon** rounds possess an effective range of about fifty meters.

The “initial three Mach” often cited stemmed from a misconception due to misapplied standard projectile testing. Observers considered **Misaka** the “emitter” and placed sensors before the “muzzle,” failing to account for continuous acceleration throughout the magnetic projection field. Conventionally, this placed the chronograph inside the barrel instead of measuring true muzzle exit velocity. The coin projectile reached its peak velocity just before atomic disintegration via friction. True initial velocity could only be gauged after complete magnetic field detachment—which coincided with the projectile’s destruction mid-flight.

This necessitated Dorothy using the **Dragon Shout** to create distance. Unlike gunpowder rounds achieving maximum velocity upon barrel exit, the **Electromagnetic Cannon** requires substantial magnetic acceleration along the flight path to fracture **Stone Golem**-grade defenses. Point-blank fire lacked sufficient induction time for peak penetration. The **”Unrelenting Force” Shout** provided both the critical distance and the target immobilization essential for optimal magnetic acceleration.

Dorothy knew the **Stone Golem** sought vengeance after explosives destroyed his hideout and that her initial **”Thunder Invoker”** ruse had lured him unsuspectingly. Despite realizing she employed different powers, the **Stone Golem** maintained dominance in later clashes, battling without restraint.

The **Gloom Gold Society**’s creed mandated retreat if confronted by unwinnable odds or unforeseen setbacks. Navigating an urban environment made tracking a proficient **”Stone”** adept like a **”Wandering Wall”** virtually impossible. Hence, Dorothy had to sustain the illusion of helplessness throughout the engagement. Her counterstrike required instantaneous lethality; any slip would ensure the **Stone Golem**’s escape. Against a **Stone Golem**’s overwhelming physical resistance and elemental absorption—inaccessible to Dorothy’s skills involving mental assault or curses—the scientifically optimized **Electromagnetic Cannon** was her only decisive armament. Her entire stratagem depended on crafting the flawless instant to unleash that single, overwhelming blow. It hadn’t failed: sheer force shattered a rank three **”Stone”** defense.

“Devastating… but also dreadfully expensive…”

Staring at the corpse, Dorothy reflected once more. She had acquired **Mikoto Misaka**’s utilization technique, not the esper power itself. Her **Electromagnetic Cannon** drew energy solely from her **”Way of Revelation”** simulations, consuming precious spiritual reserves. Just one discharge had devoured 5 units of **”Stone”** and 7 units of **”Revelation”** after meticulous energetic refinement—a level of cost routine for **Misaka**. Worse, the mathematical model hinted at far more demanding output levels existing.

“Another severe drain of spiritual energy… Let’s hope the **Clockwork Man**’s pledged reward proves genuinely valuable.”

Muttering this, Dorothy moved to loot **Ben Kotcher**’s remains. She maneuvered his corpse into a nearby hidden recess via **”Corpse Puppet Control”**, enabling self-inventory access and efficient gathering. Once all usable gear manifested and was secured by Dorothy herself into her pockets, she surveyed the burning manor across the grounds, already drawing throngs of ordinary onlookers peering over the walls. Any thought of searching the ruins vanished. She departed instantly, fading into the night before official non-ordinaries could reach the location.