Mage? Spell Engineer!.

Chapter 497 My brother is a magician!
The five aircraft were of different models, and the "heavy gunner" was seen halfway through his journey, but he stopped first before reaching the enemy's position.

Soon its behavior matches its name:
The "heavy gunner" grabbed a special round cannonball from the carriage that was moving forward with it. If this cannonball was fired from a gun barrel, it would probably only be able to carry it on a naval gun. But at this moment, it held the large projectile in its hand, tilted its entire body backward, and made a standard throwing posture.

Suddenly, a whistle-like sound came from its body, and as a large amount of high-pressure steam burst out, its accumulated power was completed. It raised its legs, retracted its arms, then stomped hard, twisted its waist axis, and threw it out with its hands.

The whole movement was slow at first and then fast, until the arm was extended, giving the shell amazing kinetic energy. The shadow passed through the trenches at high speed and used the giant's good vision to accurately aim at the camp behind the Imperial Army.

After the second and third missiles destroyed an artillery position and a building suspected to be a command center on the opposite side, the "Heavy Gunner" started to catch up with the other four machines.

Other machines had their own ways of attacking, some of them used chain hammers, and some simply used their strengthened hands to hammer the enemy. As soon as these mechanical bodies, each as tall as a small building, stepped into the trench, the previous deployment of the Imperial Army seemed to be like paper paste. The National Guard followed the path they trampled and swarmed in, easily passing through the three lines of defense.

In the Imperial Army, the military mages who were dressed the same as other officers finally stood up, but they still did not take direct action. Instead, they asked the artillery that could still fire to be reloaded as quickly as possible.

There are actually quite a few artillery pieces still left. In addition to those on the battlefield, there are also many scattered behind three trenches.

The Empire's military mages communicated with each other using [Radio Communication], and after confirming that the anti-magic device would not be able to reach the battlefield in time, they quickly took control of the artillery nearby.

Dozens of guns fired at the same time. Not only did they fire at the same time, but each one locked onto the target, and even the landing points were the same.

The machine named "Ryūkakudou" that was rushing in the front was hit badly. Although the artillery fired at the same time, the caliber and the distance to the target were different. Therefore, solid bullets and shrapnel shells hit its breastplate one after another, like one hammer after another.

The concentrated attack of the first few shells caused the shield to absorb damage to the upper limit and shatter. Then the shells embedded into the breastplate of "Dragon Horn Hood". Soon the second and third shells achieved significant results with precise concentrated fire. After hitting the power source in its chest, the energy leaked out. At this time, steam began to run rampant from the gaps all over its body. It lost its balance and mobility and fell to the ground.

After falling to the ground, the steam stopped and it began to spit out flames, as if it was not far from exploding.

The soft mud in the fields splashed and the soldiers of the Imperial Army breathed a sigh of relief. At least these steel giants were not invincible.

After seeing the Empire's counterattack, other giant mechanical assaulters stopped rushing around recklessly, but consciously dealt with bunkers, artillery and other targets as quickly as possible. Soon the Empire's second round of attacks came, and they still used the same trick, breaking the tactics with force, and destroyed the second machine with dozens of shells.

The endurance of these assaulters was short, and at this point they had almost exhausted their stored phlogiston and transmutation dust. The "heavy gunner" knelt on one knee between the first trench and the second trench and stopped.

Fortunately, their mission has been accomplished and the National Guard is unstoppable.

The Imperial Army's headquarters issued an order to retreat, and they fought and retreated. Excluding the influence of the giant assaulters, their firepower was still superior to that of the National Guard, especially since each squadron had about five new-style rapid-fire rifles, which deterred the enemy from pursuing rashly.

"Retreat. Retreat to the Alpha defense line." The only message on the public frequency of [Radio Communication] was the retreat order, and the accompanying magician jumped on his horse.

Now all the mages in the Imperial Army have been reformed. They no longer have special uniforms and are mixed in with the officers. They only have inconspicuous special marks on their name tags, which at least ensures that the Valois people cannot see who the spellcasters are from the artillery positions.

One of the wizards who accompanied the army looked back at the scattered battlefield before riding his horse to retreat: damaged and shut down giants were burning or steaming on the horizon; there were gray and blue and white uniforms intertwined on the battlefield, those were the imperial army engaged in hand-to-hand combat, they did not know that the main force had begun to retreat, or even if they knew, they could not escape; small groups of national guards successfully broke through, but under the restraint of the imperial army's firepower, they could not catch up with the enemy's retreat.
Thick smoke rose again. The imperial army burned all the gunpowder they could not take away and all the food they looted from the local area when they retreated.

The military wizard looked at the soldiers and officers around him, who seemed to be unconcerned about today's defeat. Indeed, what they lost was only the homes of the Valois people, and the food they burned was also snatched from the Valois people. The most important thing was that behind them was a safe zone protected by a stronger defense line.
The military wizard was a little confused as to whether this line of defense was well built or not.

Drouot and the mage beside him also had a panoramic view of the battlefield. The mage commented: "Yes, it is probably [Guided Shooting]."

The major general didn't understand that it was a spell: "Huh?"

"It's just a first-level magic! But they made a lot of use out of it. Not only can they cast spells on multiple cannons at the same time, but they can also control the firing point almost perfectly." The wizard explained to Drouot:
"Although the shields carried by the giant mechanical constructs can block at least two third-level magics, the spellcasters in the imperial army did not attack directly. Instead, they used cannons to fight back, focusing on breaking the magic and steel defenses."

"Can you give our artillery the ability to use that [guided fire] as well?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't heard of any of our wizards learning this magic. Even if it's used for hunting, perhaps the [Magic Missile] that can turn and track is a better choice. We are different from the academic school of the Imperials." The wizard's answer disappointed Drouot.

In this battle, the mages of both sides did not attack directly, but assisted from behind. Drouot also wanted to replicate Paul's glorious record of killing several imperial spellcasters with one shot, but unfortunately he did not see any confirmed imperial spellcasters appear throughout the whole process.

But they were there, and played a key role in destroying two giant mechanical assaulters. The cost of manufacturing one machine alone was equivalent to equipping an infantry division, which made Drouot feel sad and fortunate. After all, the "heavy gunner" of his unit only ran out of power, and there was no major damage.

The wizard beside him didn't care at all, and even looked very relaxed. Drouot hated such spellcasters. He felt that there was a struggle behind the scenes between the two sides in this battle. Whether it was the guards who defended the motherland or the imperial army for glory, they all became chess pieces of the spellcaster. They no longer fought each other, but decided the outcome by playing chess.

Even though those chess pieces would really bleed and sacrifice themselves, judging from the expression of the wizard next to Drouot, he did not feel the slightest bit of sympathy.

Drouot missed his two spellcaster subordinates. Whether it was Paul or Pascal, at least they were qualified soldiers and patriots with flesh and blood.

Just as the two were thinking about their own things in the command post, a soldier came to report: "One of the imperial soldiers we captured hopes to see the commander."

"What, he is a great nobleman?" Drouot perked up. Valois was short of money, and the National Salvation Committee also encouraged the army to squeeze some money out of the fat fish among the prisoners.

"No, he claims to be the younger brother of a wizard. The spellcaster is from the Tower of Stars."

Ok?
Drouot and the mage beside him looked at the soldier at the same time: "Did he say his name?"

"His name is Franz, and he says he has a brother named Rorschach. According to Franz, he is a very powerful spellcaster."

(End of this chapter)