The black sun hangs high

Chapter 168 Deep in the Trench
"I can always recall that cold winter morning."

"Thunder rumbled in the distance, then rain began to fall from the sky. Magical raindrops fell on the edge of the Black Forest, tearing the town apart... a rain of cannonballs..."

—Excerpt from "Mooch Alfred's Battle Diary"

……

The sky is roaring.

The earth is shaking.

Artillery units have always been the pride of the Kingdom of Delan. Therefore, the Kingdom of Delan's artillery regiments are specially equipped with a larger number of crystal cannons to achieve an advantage in artillery battles.

Therefore, the number of crystal cannons in a Delan army artillery regiment is often controlled to be more than 50. Sometimes, some special models of crystal cannons will be added according to the number of accompanying mages, in order to suppress and strike the enemy's artillery positions.

When more than 50 Delan's "Earth Dragon Lizard" crystal cannons fire simultaneously at a single area, the resulting impact and destructive power are unimaginable.

The Fifth Jazz Regiment had already received news of the approaching reinforcements from Delan. Given that the Jazz Regiment itself was unable to construct artillery positions and that subsequent reinforcements were already on their way, Alfred and other officers adopted a conservative yet ingenious strategy in response to the potential large-scale artillery bombardment.

Based on the last remaining battlefield etiquette and morality between nations, and the sense of honor as soldiers of the plateau, the Fifth Hunter Regiment evacuated all residents living in Black Forest Town in advance. Then, with the help of a large number of accompanying mages, they spent a day constructing a false defensive position outside Black Forest Town.

Only a small number of volunteers were left to monitor this position, while the actual defensive position of the Jaeger Regiment was set up in the northern area of ​​Black Forest Town, where there was a vast expanse of farmland, which was very suitable for constructing the new type of defensive fortifications that the Water military was currently proposing.

This decision allowed the Fifth Jaeger Regiment to successfully avoid this catastrophic disaster.

The bombardment from the 13th Field Artillery Regiment of Deland was so fierce and brutal that within minutes of the shelling starting, Hugh felt he was going deaf. He had to plug his ears with earplugs along with the others and wait quietly in the deepest part of the trench for the shelling to end.

Because they had entered a state of magical silence in advance, the spellcasters of the Kingdom of Delan and the Law Council were unable to determine the exact location of the Fifth Hunter Regiment's position. Therefore, based on the most basic assessment, they carried out a very thorough artillery barrage over the entire Black Forest Town and its surrounding areas.

The trenches where Hugh was currently hiding were also affected by the magical explosion.

The most recent shell landed not far away. When the explosion occurred, Hugh felt as if he was about to jump up. The magical mist that spread out after the explosion made him feel nauseous. The other accompanying mages fared even worse. Some of the Stream-level mages even began to vomit violently due to the chaotic magical disturbance.

"Oh shit."

Hughes opened his mouth and silently cursed.

He suddenly felt a bit absurd.

This world is absurd, the war that is happening is absurd...

I myself, and all the things I had worried about before, seem incredibly absurd.

"If the Black Sun Society knew that I could be blown to bits by a crystal cannonball at any moment, wouldn't they be very surprised?"

Amid the continuous roar and vibration, Hugh's expression became increasingly distorted. He recalled the briefings he had seen before, as well as the weapons development ideas that had been put on the agenda by various countries. He couldn't help but marvel once again at the potential that humanity had shown in terms of self-destruction.

"Should I marvel at the commonalities of humanity across all time and space, or should I lament that this is truly the bullshit worldview I wrote?"

Lost in thought, another round of shelling ended.

In this brief moment of tranquility, Hugh looked up at his side and the area opposite him.

There were some special people in this trench, two of whom were in front of Hugh, and both of them were busy with their own things.

First was Veraine, who was to Hugh's left. She also had her ears plugged in and was holding a copy of a document she had brought from Borden. She seemed to be reading it intently by the dim light of a lamp next to her.

Of course, Hugh believed that Verine most likely hadn't seen anything at all, because with the help of the "Walking Forest" power, his senses had become very sharp, so Hugh could feel Verine's rather disordered breathing and high heartbeat at this moment.

Clearly, under the continuous bombardment, she was unable to remain calm.

In contrast, Professor Meyer, sitting opposite him, was truly engrossed in his own work—he was writing something in his notebook, looking extremely focused, and the shelling by the Delan army seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever.

In this situation, in order to relieve his emotions, Hugh could only choose to talk to his "advisors". However, what he had seen and heard on the battlefield these days made Bernhardt and other souls who were very familiar with the past war patterns feel unprecedentedly confused. They never expected that the war would evolve into this way.

General Bernhardt sighed with deep melancholy: "Now, only the shelling of the Delans can give me a sense of familiarity."

"Times are changing, and that's inevitable."

Hughes sighed inwardly and said, "And I'm sure this is just the beginning. Perhaps the evolution of weaponry will drive a change in people's thinking next."

"Oh? You mean there will be even more terrifying weapons? Like the ones you used before... heavy machine guns? Is that what they're called?"

Hugh responded and then replied, “With your insight and experience, you must have already seen the limitations of this weapon, right? Although these new firearms are powerful, their flexibility is actually very limited. In fact, they should be used for positional defense rather than offense.”

“Indeed, it’s too cumbersome and slow… I’ve seen your previous combat methods, which are essentially just moving a position directly onto the enemy’s face. It might work once or twice, but if the enemy understands this weapon, they will have countless ways to stop you from getting close… At that point, the method of fighting by temporarily constructing a position will undoubtedly be suicide.”

"So, the weapons we use will definitely continue to change." At this moment, the whistling sound of crystal cannonballs came from the sky again, and the booming and shaking once again covered the entire Black Forest Town.

Hugh, shrinking back, thought to himself, "The Delan people have already made innovations. They are working hard to reduce the size of crystal cannons and use them for other purposes... and this idea also applies to the Kingdom of Wotel. You can imagine that we are now building a steel vehicle engraved with a large number of magical rituals and mounting bulky Kalvan heavy machine guns or even small crystal cannons on it..."

"My child, you are truly a genius!"

As an experienced leader, Bernhardt immediately envisioned the scene described by Hughes. Like an ordinary person who had glimpsed a miracle, he hurriedly awakened the will of the other Ernst family members and then excitedly discussed the feasibility of this idea with them.

This discussion was meaningless to Hugh, because he knew that such a thing would definitely appear, but in this world, it probably wouldn't appear under the strange name of "water tank".

Magic has given humanity in Vaan far too many possibilities. What Hugh envisioned was merely a fragment extracted from the history and common sense of another world. He had reason to believe that any ordinary thing, once imbued with magic, would exhibit new trends that exceeded everyone's expectations.

"boom!"

A shell landed very, very close by, and the violent shock almost destroyed the solidification ritual that the mages had cast on the trenches. In the astonishing magical explosion, a large amount of soil was thrown into the air and then poured down. Even the underground space where Hugh and the others were hiding was hit by a lot of loose soil.

"spit……"

Vera accidentally swallowed a mouthful of dust, which made her feel very uncomfortable. So, Hugh reluctantly took out a water bottle and handed it to her. Vera didn't refuse, took the water bottle and took two mouthfuls, then rinsed her mouth vigorously to wash away the strange taste.

War and battlefields always bring about tremendous changes. In the past, Hugh would never have imagined that the female scholar he knew would one day be huddled in a trench with her face and head covered in dust, just like the other soldiers. He would never have imagined that she would so casually take his water bottle to use.

Because the entire position was under magical silence, Veraine couldn't do anything else. So, after returning the water bottle to Hugh, she picked up her revolver and began her routine inspection. Her familiarity with firearms was quite limited, so her fingers, which were usually able to flexibly imprint magic runes and cast spells, now seemed a little clumsy.

There are many, many more people doing similar things.

Faced with the imminent threat of death, the soldiers tried their best to relieve their stress. They either prayed, sang the military songs of the Kingdom of Walter in a low voice, told unrelated jokes at the top of their lungs, or talked about their hometown, family or lovers.

Of course, some people also write letters or wills.

This behavior has nothing to do with their current morale; after all, anyone facing this level of magical bombardment would feel some fear about their future.

Taking advantage of a lull in the shelling, Hugh greeted Meyer across from him: "Professor, what are you writing? I've seen you writing for a long time!"

Meyer had the earplugs in very tight, and when he saw that Hugh seemed to be talking to him, he took the earplug out of one of his ears.

So Hugh asked again.

After hearing Hugh's question clearly, Meyer generously handed over his notebook. Hugh took it, moved the lamp next to him closer, and began to read it by the light.

Hughes then discovered that Frey Meyer was actually keeping the promises he had made before setting off.

In this notebook, he meticulously recorded every detail of the war: the frenzied parades in Borden, the field hospital in Brownhill, the refugees fleeing from Seren, the Black Sun Society, and the interference of those abnormal monsters in the world, up to the current development of the war and its impact on the world...

Meyer documented a great deal of what had already happened.

Hughes could tell that Meyer was trying to make his writing as detailed as possible. He respected the authenticity of events, and when commenting on specific events, he tried his best to maintain an objective and neutral perspective.

Vera was also interested in what Hugh was reading, so she moved a little closer and read with him in the dim light.

Both of them read at an astonishing speed, so it wasn't long before they had thoroughly read through Professor Meyer's notebook.

As a scholar, Vera Lin possessed an exceptional ability to understand and master language, so she asked, "Professor, are you trying to learn about and understand war itself?"

"Yes."

Mayer nodded: "In human activities, war has always been a field I have never had the opportunity to understand or come into contact with, which is why I took the initiative to request to come to the front line with the Jaeger Corps. I hope to get some answers I want here."

Vera looked at him curiously. Meyer's face and body were covered in dust, making him look even more like a statue.

So Vera asked, "So, Professor, do you want to learn and understand these things simply out of curiosity?"

"Curiosity is human nature, and I am no exception."

Meyer replied with a smile: "As a scholar whose research focuses on humans and society, I believe that if we want to further explore the nature of human society and its possible evolutionary direction, we need to delve as deeply as possible into human activities themselves... What we are experiencing now, what we are witnessing firsthand, cannot be replaced by any books or documents. They are unique and have sufficient persuasive power."

"And I believe that everything I've learned on this battlefield..."

The shelling resumed, and amidst the deafening roar, Hugh and the others had to plug their ears again.

However, Hughes could vaguely make out the second half of what Meyer wanted to say by reading the shape of his lips.

Mayer seemed to be saying, "Everything I've learned on this battlefield will one day be put into practice."

(End of this chapter)