Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 219 Air Combat
"Their defenses appear to be very effective."

A mage spoke in a deep voice through a communication bracelet:

"Conventional airburst fragments are not very effective against enemies hiding in trenches."

"Let's have a few more rounds!"

The leading mage, refusing to believe in superstition, directed three more rounds of artillery fire.

The result was still not satisfactory.

The Saxons were like unkillable gophers; one batch would be knocked down only to be replaced by another. Although the progress of the excavation was slowed down, it was not truly stopped.

John French's face grew increasingly grim as he listened to the reports from the front lines via wired telephone in command post.

The mage in the air also looked grim, and he quickly issued new commands to the artillery positions below.

"All artillery units, switch to 'High-Efficiency Magic Crystal Shells'! Target: Enemy trenches! Blow up those craters!"

Upon receiving the new orders, the Brittany artillerymen immediately sprang into action.

They laboriously carried the even heavier 'powerful magic crystal bullets' to the gun position.

This type of shell does not have a complex fragmentation structure, but the magical energy contained inside is even more violent. Its sole purpose is to release the energy in the purest form of an explosion the moment it hits the target.

"Begin guidance; fire immediately after all guns are fully loaded!"

The highland mage in the air used his mental power to mark the landing points for each of the twelve magic crystal cannons.

"Powerful magic crystal bullets are fully loaded!"

"Fire!"

Another roar followed as twelve shells tore through the air, whistling as they precisely struck the second parallel trench that the Saxons had just constructed.

"Boom!!"

This time, the explosion was far more terrifying than before.

Amidst a deafening roar, clusters of dazzling blue orbs of light suddenly exploded.

The shockwave, like an invisible giant hammer, slammed heavily onto the ground.

The section of trench that was directly hit, along with the Saxon soldiers inside, was instantly torn to shreds by the violent energy.

Large amounts of soil, wood, and severed limbs were thrown high into the sky and then fell like rain.

The entire trench was blasted into a huge crater with a diameter of nearly fifteen meters, and the trench walls on both sides collapsed, burying nearby soldiers alive underneath.

"Good job!"

Back in their positions, the Britannian soldiers who witnessed this scene through their binoculars erupted in thunderous cheers.

The morale, which had been suppressed for a long time, was greatly boosted at this moment.

In their view, as long as the omnipotent Highland Mage was present, any Saxon schemes and tricks were futile.

This kind of clandestine earthwork is utterly vulnerable in the face of absolute power.

The three mages in the air finally showed satisfied smiles on their faces.

"That's more like it." The leading mage snorted. "Continue the attack and destroy all their trenches, one by one."

The Saxon soldiers' night's work seemed to have been in vain, and the scales of victory seemed to be tipping in favor of the Brittany once again.

However, their smiles didn't last long.

Just as they were preparing to launch the next round of shelling, a deep, suppressed rumble came from the sky, growing clearer and clearer as it approached.

A monk instinctively raised his head and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Behind the broken clouds in the sky, two enormous, unimaginably large black outlines were slowly emerging.

They were like two mountains suspended in the air, slowly approaching the battlefield of Amiens with a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Is that a Saxon airship?" A relatively young mage asked, his voice trembling slightly.

The leading mage's pupils contracted sharply, and the color drained from his face instantly.

He recognized the thing.

Before the war began, military intelligence briefings highlighted this Saxon war behemoth.

“Armored airship,” he uttered with difficulty.

The Saxon Empire Air Force, armored airship L29, and armored airship L24 which came from the rear to provide support, arrived at the battlefield.

"Attention all highland mages! Prepare for aerial combat!"

In addition to warning the two guides, the leading mage immediately alerted the other mages waiting in the city via his communication bracelet.

However, he also knew in his heart that it might not be so easy for the eighteen mages to fight against two heavily armed armored airships.
On the ground, the Brittany soldiers who were cheering also noticed the strange phenomenon in the sky.

Their cheers abruptly ceased, replaced by a deathly silence.

Everyone looked up, staring blankly at the two enormous creatures that were getting closer and closer, their faces filled with terror and disbelief.

Just like the Gallic soldiers of Charleroi.
Meanwhile, on the other side, on the Saxon positions, bursts of excited cheers erupted.

"Airship! It's our airship!"

The soldiers hiding in the trenches waved their entrenching tools and rifles, jumping and leaping excitedly.

The frustration of being suppressed by the shelling just now vanished, replaced by unparalleled pride and a sense of security.

Above them, the two war behemoths representing the empire's highest military strength were their strongest support.

The three highland mages only had time to hastily guide two more rounds of artillery fire before the two armored airships arrived over northern Amiens at an astonishing combat speed.

A huge shadow fell over the earth.

After arriving over the battlefield, the two armored airships immediately began their operations with a clear division of labor. The larger L29 armored airship quickly crossed its massive hull after arriving over the battlefield.

Four twin-mounted 203mm main gun turrets slowly rotated, their dark muzzles aimed at the outer defenses of the Britannians on the ground.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The eight giant cannons roared simultaneously, and the shells, with a sharp whistling sound as they tore through the air, slammed into the Brittany's position.

The earth trembled violently, heavy machine gun emplacements were uprooted in the explosions, and the breastworks made of sandbags were easily torn apart. Countless Britannian soldiers were reduced to dust in the flames and shockwaves.

With just one volley, a section of the seemingly solid Breton defense was riddled with holes.

The artillery fire that had just struck the Saxon soldiers was now being returned to them.

The other armored airship, L24, was an older model, much smaller than L29 in both size and payload.

At this point, the L24 occupied a higher airspace because its mission in this operation was not ground attack, but to provide air cover for friendly forces.

The L24 armored airship did not have a 203mm naval gun; due to weight constraints, it was only equipped with twelve 150mm single-mount naval guns.

At this moment, the cannons tilted slightly upwards and locked onto the three tiny but extremely troublesome black dots in the air.

The observer inside the airship's pod quickly completed the distance measurement.

“距离2500，方位3-3-0，高度修正-20！”

"Attention all artillery crews, 'anti-aircraft shells' are being loaded, delay fuses set to 6 seconds!"

In the fire control command room, a series of instructions were quickly issued by the fire control commander of the armored airship.

"Fire!"

The twelve 150mm cannons roared, their shells leaving faint trails in the air as they flew toward the location of the three highland mages.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Puffs of black smoke exploded not far from the mages, scattering scorching fragments and violent shockwaves in all directions.

Although the three highland mages were protected by [Mage Armor], they dared not take this level of attack head-on and were all scrambling to maneuver and evade.

"Too far! Adjust delay! 5.5 seconds!"

The fire control commander quickly calculates the effects of the artillery fire and then makes corrections.

A second round of shelling followed.

This time, the shell exploded much closer.

A mage was unable to dodge in time and was hit by the shockwave and a large number of shrapnel from the near miss. The mage armor on his body flashed violently, and he lost his balance in mid-air.

He barely managed to steady himself, tracing an arc through the air to avoid the blast radius of another shell, his face turning deathly pale.

The mages in the air wanted to continue guiding the magic crystal cannons to retaliate, but under such a density of anti-aircraft fire, they simply couldn't concentrate.

As the two airships continued to advance, the numerous MG08 machine gun turrets on their hulls joined the battle.

"The port side barrage is too thin! Increase firepower!"

Countless tracer bullets intertwined in the air, forming a deathly barrage that completely sealed off all the mages' space to move.

Finally, after another round of narrow escapes, the three highland mages could no longer hold on and had to descend to the ground in a sorry state, temporarily escaping the battle.

"Good job!"

Thunderous cheers erupted from the Saxon trenches.

Taking advantage of the airship's suppression of enemy fire, the soldiers once again threw themselves into the final sprint of the earthwork operation.

Meanwhile, outside the first parallel trench at the rear, Morin, along with the reassembled training assault battalion, was ready for battle.

He held up his binoculars and calmly observed the battlefield situation.

General Mackensen gave him a great deal of autonomy in this operation, allowing him to find the most suitable time and place to make a breakthrough, so that the training assault battalion could be like a sharp knife, piercing the enemy's heart.

At that moment, the battle in the air changed again.

Inside Amiens, a piercing alarm sounded.

Seeing the three high-level mages being suppressed by the two airships and unable to fight back, Marshal John French's face was so gloomy that it was almost dripping water.

He knew very well that if he couldn't deal with those two behemoths in the sky, not only would he be unable to defend the outer perimeter, but he wouldn't even be able to protect the magic crystal cannon positions inside the city.

“Master Albert!” He turned to the mage leader who had remained silent. “We can’t wait any longer!”

Master Albert, with his white hair and beard, opened his eyes. He didn't speak, but simply nodded to the mages behind him.

Then, his hand gestures changed, and he uttered a string of obscure incantations, which enveloped the other seven mages with an invisible magical force.

The next moment, eight highland mages, including Master Albert and two other seventh-ring archmages, soared into the sky.

They formed a triangular formation in the air and charged menacingly toward the two Saxon armored airships in the sky.

"Enemy mages detected taking off! Eight in number! Magic fluctuation: Strong!"

The observers on the L24 armored airship immediately issued a rather serious warning.

"All turrets, fire freely! Prioritize attacking the lead target! Machine gun turrets, deploy barrage to slow their approach!"

The airship's fire control commander calmly issued orders.

The L24 armored airship immediately unleashed all its firepower on the eight menacing mages.

The twelve 150mm naval guns fired continuously at maximum rate of fire, forming a steel barrier of explosions and fragments in front of the airship.

The MG08 machine gun turret also rotated continuously under the control of the gunner inside, and a large number of machine gun bullets wove a dense fire net in the air.

However, this time the enemy is far more troublesome than the three from before.

(End of this chapter)