Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 275 The Necromancer School, Despised by All

Morin opened his mouth as he looked at the last two grayed-out spell names on the system interface, which could be lit up at any moment.

Then he put his hands behind his head and smiled with relief.

"Hahaha"

Who in their own capital city would be using necromancy?!
During his time in Saxony, in addition to organizing training commando battalions and teaching classes, Morin also kept busy with magic.

Through the system and some books 'lent' by Patricia, he crammed on a lot of knowledge about magic in this world.

During this process, he discovered that the Necromancer school was definitely an extremely unconventional and unconventional group in this world.

Not only are their numbers pitifully small, but they also receive the same treatment wherever they go, subject to various strict restrictions and surveillance.

Even after spending so long in the Saxon Empire, he had never seen anything related to the Necronomicon school, whether it was people or magical items.

Therefore, Maureen never imagined that she would encounter the current situation.

However, in Morin's view, the necromancy school and doctors have something in common to some extent—they both deal with birth, aging, sickness, death, and corpses.

One study focuses on how to save lives, while the other studies how to 'reuse' corpses and souls.

Their current social statuses are worlds apart.

Although the overall attitude of various countries towards human experimentation and dissection has undergone a fundamental shift—from strong rejection and stigmatization to widespread acceptance within the framework of magic, science, medicine, and law.

At the same time, with the popularization of surgery, systematic anatomical training has become a compulsory course for all medical students.

However, this acceptance is not without reservation; there are still some residual resistances based on religion, ethics, and emotions.

The monks and scholars, those in these professional fields, are all in a 'completely embracing' attitude towards this.

Although the public accepts it rationally, the thought of their loved ones' bodies being dissected is still emotionally painful and uncomfortable for many.

Therefore, while the public does support autopsies, they generally do not want them to happen to themselves or their loved ones.

Even the most basic human anatomy faces such complexities, let alone the necromancy school.
The monks of this school are very much in line with stereotypes, spending most of their day dealing with corpses.

They might dig a corpse out of the ground or summon several undead creatures at any time.

To ordinary people and the papacy, this was nothing short of evil and blasphemy.

Historically, due to a severe shortage of corpses, there have been strange incidents where a low-level necromancer was attacked by villagers and eventually shot to death by hunters for stealing corpses.

These complex circumstances combined have resulted in the necromancy school having a consistently poor reputation.

As for the two spells that Morin just saw—[Animate the Dead] and [Summon the Undead]—under normal circumstances, a mage can only revive a dozen or so undead creatures at most.

But is the current situation normal?
This is clearly not normal!

The Eiffel Tower, this enormous mage tower, can amplify ordinary [Lightning Bolt] and [Chain Lightning] to such an absurdly devastating degree.

Morin couldn't even imagine what would happen to the more than six million skeletons underground in Paris if the spells of these two necromancy schools were activated.

After seeing the spell, he confirmed through the system map that the Paris Catacombs, a famous tourist attraction, also exist underground in this world.

This place was converted from a limestone quarry into a cemetery after the outbreak of plague in Paris in 1786, in order to solve the problem of too many corpses.

Moreover, it was used from the 18th century to the mid-19th century, burying approximately 600 million human remains.
After careful consideration, Maureen concluded that there was no other place in the world like Paris that had all the necessary elements for a decisive battle.

A massive mage tower, and beneath it lies a ready-made mass grave.
This place is practically tailor-made for a final showdown between necromancy scholars.

"There was no prior intelligence indicating that the Gauls were putting in this much effort into the Necromancer school."

The thought flashed through Maureen's mind.

He thought that no matter how outrageous the Gauls were, they wouldn't plant such a huge landmine under their own capital, would they?
Of course, this time he really did wrong the Gauls.

Neither the mage guild nor Master Eiffel ever considered playing with 'Undead Scourge' when they were building the Iron Tower.
But at this moment, Morin couldn't directly tell Colonel Lucas that he had discovered signs that the Gauls were preparing to launch the 'Cataclysm'.

After all, in the eyes of outsiders, how could a newly promoted mage who has been a spellcaster for less than a year have the experience and ability to make accurate judgments?

Even if he can get away with it now, there's no guarantee that other mages won't target him in the future.
So at this point, Maureen could only subtly suggest that Colonel Lucas use 'Gungnir' first.

Can't I at least find a way to dismantle this tower?
Colonel Lucas, who had just recovered from his shock and anger, nodded heavily upon hearing Morin's words.

"You're right!" He turned and ran downstairs. "We can't waste any more time! Let's go!"

The two ran down the clock tower, and Colonel Lucas immediately rushed toward the 'Odin' which was parked in the maintenance workshop.

"Attention, all personnel!" he shouted across the maintenance area from the platform. "'Odin,' prepare for battle! Engineers, clear the track area immediately!"

He then said to the two artillery observation team members in the vehicle, "There's no time or it's inconvenient to launch the balloons now. You two immediately carry the telephone spools and go to the rooftop next to the maintenance area to set up an observation point!"

"Yes, Colonel!" At his command, the train crew and engineers, who had been resting, immediately sprang into action.

The massive 'Odin' started up again, slowly backing out of the spacious maintenance workshop and coming to a stop on the main track outside.

"Click - click -"

The sickening metallic scraping sound rang out again as the massive hydraulic support arms on both sides of the carriage unfolded and plunged deep into the roadbed beside the tracks.

At the same time, several soldiers from the artillery observation team, carrying heavy spools of wired telephone cord, rushed into a six-story building next to the station, preparing to go to a high vantage point for guidance and observation.

"Colonel, should we try contacting the airship in the sky again?"

A communications soldier on the train asked:
"Or should we contact the army group command outside the city?"

"Contact them! Contact them all!" Lucas waved his hand. "Tell them we're preparing to attack with 'Gungnir,' and get them ready to coordinate!"

However, a few minutes later, the communications soldier looked at Lucas, his brow beaded with sweat.

"Colonel! We can't get in touch! The radio interference is too strong! We can't contact either the airships or the army group command!"

Upon hearing this result, Morin's heart sank once again.

He was right; the Eiffel Tower, which was discharging electricity wildly, had turned the whole of Paris into a huge, complex electromagnetic environment.

"Damn it!" Lucas slammed his fist on the armored panel of the carriage. "I don't care about international opinion anymore! I'm not waiting!"

He turned to look at the several magic technicians who were already ready.

"'Gungnir,' switch to siege artillery mode! Target: the Eiffel Tower! Bomb it!"

"Yes!"

At Lucas's command, the heavy armor plates of the mysterious carriage carrying 'Gungnir' slowly opened once again.

The massive cannon barrel was slowly raised by a hydraulic system.

The cannon was pointed at a huge angle into the sky, and then, guided by the artillery observer, the direction of the cannon was adjusted until it was finally aimed at the giant, glowing iron tower on the west side of the city.

Inside the cannon barrel, twelve coils of acceleration runes lit up in sequence, emitting a low and strange "humming" sound.

The surrounding magic became violent once again.

"'Gungnir,' fully charged!"

"Fire!"

“Buzz—boom!!!”

With a deafening roar that ripped through eardrums, a dazzling blue light shot out from the cannon once again!

On a high point with a wide view, the temporary headquarters of the First Army was set up in the eastern suburbs of Paris.

While you can't see the entire city of Paris from here, at least the towering Eiffel Tower is clearly visible.

Therefore, when the tower started discharging, Mackensen and Seekers already realized something was wrong.

Immediately afterwards, they saw two armored airships hovering in the air firing at the iron tower, and the bizarre sight of the shells being strangely deflected.

All the senior staff officers of the First Army, including the two of them, fell silent.

"It seems that the General Staff's intelligence this time was surprisingly reliable."

Lieutenant General Seeker looked at the giant tower in the distance, shrouded in electric light, his voice tinged with self-mockery.

Previously, they thought the intelligence provided by the General Staff regarding the 'Gallic Tower of Magi' being a powerful wonder' was somewhat exaggerated—after all, the intelligence department's reputation within the military hadn't been very good before.

But now it seems that what they said was already quite conservative.

“The Gauls’ mage towers have indeed transcended the realm of conventional weapons.” General Mackensen’s expression was also extremely grave.

“So it seems there were some errors in the intelligence brought back by those spies and ‘crisis travelers’,” Seekert sighed.

General Mackensen shook his head and said, "It's not their fault. Intelligence personnel can only report what they see and hear. This situation has gone beyond the scope of conventional warfare."

"But whatever the situation, the question now is, how do we deal with it?"

General Mackensen's gaze shifted from the distant iron tower back to the map set up in the tent.

“Fortunately, we still have ‘Gungnir’,” he said in a deep voice.

As the two were talking, they saw an incredibly dazzling ball of light suddenly burst open in the sky to the east of the Eiffel Tower!

(End of this chapter)