Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 784 Blood Harbor's Fastest

Isabella, mounted on her horse, let out a deep sigh.

Seeing the way people were looking at Hughes, she knew that she would not be their queen.

Being an empress is actually a very simple thing. She just needs to charge forward and pave a path, and people will follow.

Now, when she looked up, there was another figure ahead of her that she needed to chase.

Thinking of this, Isabella couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smile.

"Hurry up, Galahad, what's your ability? Open it up!"

"It can't be opened." Galahad looked distressed.

[Knight] can share power with their mount, and can also share power with their companions to strengthen them.

Because the enhancement is limited, it's a significant boost for ordinary people, but rather useless for extraordinary individuals, making it another ability completely unusable in extraordinary combat.
This ability is usually activated when cavalrymen charge, and it can greatly increase their movement speed.

However, it wouldn't last very long if used for traveling.
"Perhaps we should find a diesel locomotive to drive."

“I don’t trust new energy vehicles with internal combustion engines.” Isabella frowned. “Think about it, there are constant explosions happening under your butt, and if any one of those explosions goes wrong, it could send you flying into the sky. That’s just too outrageous.”

"Actually, even without any mishaps, you can still send someone to heaven."

Most of the current internal combustion locomotives are experimental models jointly built by Tata and Monica.

These two legendary researchers need no introduction; their names alone can stop a child from crying at night.

If Hughes hadn't insisted, this car might not even have brakes.

Even now, the vehicle is equipped with an ejection seat, and the gear lever can be pulled all the way to enter takeoff mode.

The reason it's called takeoff mode instead of flight mode is because there's no landing mode.
Generally, only those with extraordinary abilities will ride it.

He had driven a Galahad before and thought the experience was pretty good, so he bought one with his own salary.

On one hand, he can enhance his mounts, and internal combustion engine vehicles are naturally considered mounts as well. He can even chat directly with the spirit of the internal combustion engine, and the two have become very good friends.

The spirit of the internal combustion engine is much more passionate and has a more explosive personality compared to the taciturn spirit of the steam engine.

It's the kind of explosive thing that's quick to lash out at you at the slightest disagreement.

As for the lack of brakes, it wasn't a big problem. Galahad made some minor modifications to the vehicle and successfully solved this minor issue.

He dug a hole under the driver's seat so he could stick his foot down to brake.

However, Isabella resolutely refused to ride with him after watching him drive, which greatly troubled Galahad, who couldn't understand why.

He should reflect on why he can get along so well with the spirit of the internal combustion engine—he's actually quite a fast driver himself.

As a knight, it's normal to squeeze every last bit of power out of a horse, and he brought this approach to driving.

Internal combustion engines that use explosives as fuel have no shortage of power.

Monica's car was as docile as a lamb in front of Galahad.

Before Galahad even knew it, he had already earned the reputation of being the fastest in Bloodharbor. Many banshees coveted this title and secretly competed with him, but they couldn't even catch a glimpse of his taillights.

Perhaps in the future, the [Knight] path will shed its reputation as the weakest extraordinary path. In fact, there is already such a trend now. Galahad has also taught himself some mechanical technology and is thinking about modifying his car.

As for Isabella.

She resolutely refused to ride in a carriage and chose to ride a horse. Having left Hughes' side, she planned to intensify her offensive.

There was no way around it; people identified with Castel so strongly that even she couldn't help but subconsciously think that way.

Having strong allies is a good thing, but having ridiculously strong allies is another story.

If we hurry up and conquer more of the empire now, we might be able to rival Castel in the future. But if we delay and Castel goes all out, she'll probably be subservient to Hughes for the rest of her life.

But her arrogance wouldn't allow her to be a proper person; she wanted to take that crown back once more.

As for Jules
Honestly, Isabella didn't think it would be a very difficult problem.

Pope Jules is powerful, but the Papacy is not.

Doesn't she know what the Papacy is like after being empress for so many years?
Even if the Pope alone could create things out of thin air, there was only so much he could do; he could overwhelm him with sheer numbers.

Moreover, Isabella also has some expertise in the supernatural. Although she is not a supernatural being, the royal family has always conducted a great deal of research on the supernatural.

In her view, Jules' creations out of thin air could not have been without cost, as evidenced by the fact that they would turn into pollution.

The fact that cognitive interference can lead to pollution is not exempt from the consequences; Jules simply tried to shift the cost or delay it.

In short, this ability to create things out of thin air cannot turn the tide of the war, and when it comes to large-scale warfare, no one is better at it than Isabella, not even Hughes.

The largest wars Hughes commanded were the Deep Sea War and the Northern War, one of which only covered Castells Island, and the other was a crushing defeat.

Isabella's reputation was earned through countless wars, as her empire rose to prominence amidst powerful enemies, cultivating the land with bayonets and gunpowder.

She plays when she's at a disadvantage.

She has the advantage now, and there's even less reason for her to lose.

She traveled by train and then on horseback, and it didn't take long for her to bring Galahad back to the front lines.

It wasn't that she insisted on going to the battlefield herself; the main problem was that the Duchy of Tiss had a long and narrow territory with insufficient strategic depth, and it had almost been pushed to the coast by the Empire.

The front line was not far from her command post.

Isabella doesn't have many capable people under her command. The previous purge among the nobles was too severe, and the talent she has cultivated from scratch will have to grow slowly.

Therefore, as soon as she and Galahad left, Tiss's attack immediately slowed down, and the two sides entered a stalemate.

Although the empire had been shrinking, it was not in a state of collapse. While Isabella's new army had formidable firepower, logistics was a major problem.

When Hughes launched his expedition to the North, he also made sure to build the railway first, otherwise there would have been a lot of trouble if he had just built a supply line.

For example, with the recent continuous rain, many Gatling guns are stuck in the mud and cannot be sent to the battlefield.

Don't be fooled by the fact that each of the banshees has several Gatling guns; they hold them like small water pipes.

Strictly speaking, the Gatling gun isn't even a heavy machine gun; it's more of a cannon.

This type of hand-cranked Gatling gun is full-size and has a heavy base, making it impossible for a person to lift it. Moving it would also require a lot of manpower, so wheels are usually attached to the base and it is pulled by livestock.

Fortunately, there were no heavy weapons, and Isabella was at ease as she relied solely on bolt-action rifles, which gave her an overwhelming advantage over the Empire.

Nothing will happen.

(End of this chapter)