Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 63 Our War Beasts Enter the Battle
There was no violent explosion, no dazzling flames.

The green ray, like a drop of ink falling into water, quickly spread across the armored knight's body.

Wherever the green light touched, whether it was sturdy steel armor or complex internal mechanical structures, they were rapidly disintegrating and collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

William, inside the cockpit, didn't even have time to utter a cry of surprise before he and his vehicle were swallowed up by that eerie green light.

Just a few seconds later, the green light dissipated.

The Siegfried 1, which had already assumed an attack stance, had its entire upper body, including the cockpit and arms, completely vanished.

Only two broken mechanical legs remained, standing alone in place, before collapsing helplessly to the ground with a 'thud'.

The entire battlefield fell silent for what seemed like the umpteenth time today.

Everyone was completely stunned by this bizarre and terrifying scene.

Eldridge, the high-ranking instructor of the Highland Mage Order, finally eliminated the last unit on the battlefield that posed a significant threat to him, at the cost of severe injury and an invaluable forbidden spell scroll.

"cough cough"

He coughed violently, spitting out another mouthful of blood, and then, leaning on his cracked staff, he staggered to his feet.

His mage robes were tattered and covered in blood and dust. His once gorgeous and elegant curly hair was now disheveled, and he looked extremely wretched.

But on his pale face was a sickly, insane smile.

He looked around at the dumbfounded Saxon soldiers and the equally terrified Britannian soldiers.

He then slowly bent down and picked up a sword that had been dropped by some Britannian officer.

Then, with all his might, he pointed the sword forward.

He pointed in the direction of the Saxon defenders' positions and, in a hoarse voice, let out his final shout.

"The enemy has run out of soldiers! Attack! For the glory of Holy Brittany! Attack!"

His voice broke the deathly silence of the battlefield.

After a brief moment of shock, the Britannian and royal soldiers erupted in a thunderous cheer.

Their greatest threat, the Saxon armored knights who could charge into infantry and wreak havoc, has been completely wiped out!
Victory seems to be just around the corner!
"Come on!"

"Kill those Saxon barbarians!"

Led by their officers, the Brittany soldiers regained their morale and, like a tidal wave, launched a final assault on the town hall.

This time, the Kingdom's soldiers, who were originally assigned to clean up the battlefield, also charged after the Brittany under the supervision of their officers.

In an instant, the entire street was almost filled with charging soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Saxon soldiers, seeing the enemy troops charging, opened fire without needing any orders from their officers.

Rifle bullets pierced the battlefield, and two machine gun salvos swept across the charging Brittany soldiers.

Although the soldiers in the front ranks were constantly being killed, the other Britannian soldiers continued to charge forward, using the debris and flower beds in the streets as cover to fire back.

The soldiers of the Northumberg Fusiliers believed that as long as they could successfully charge into the enemy lines and engage in hand-to-hand combat, they would surely achieve final victory.

From inside a building on the side of the street, Morin called to the surviving soldiers, preparing to use the building as cover to hold off the enemy and attempt to rescue Ludwig before retreating to their positions.

But just then, a system notification suddenly rang in his mind without warning.

[The Saxon Imperial Air Force - Zeppelin-class armored airship - L30 has arrived]

[Please prepare to provide attack instructions]

Upon hearing the notification tone, Morin subconsciously raised his head and looked up at the sky.

The sky remained covered by thick, grayish-yellow clouds stained by gunpowder smoke, obscuring everything.

However, Morin also noticed that a new unit card had indeed appeared on the minimap, which looked similar to the icon of the "War Beast" in a game he had played before.

At the same time, Morin also heard another sound amidst the noisy battlefield environment.

A deep rumble came from above the clouds.

"Woo-buzz-"

The sound grew louder and clearer as it approached, and the earth seemed to tremble slightly in response.

Everyone on the battlefield, whether they were the charging Britannian and royal soldiers or the desperate Saxon defenders, all raised their heads in unison, looking in the direction from which the sound came. Even the high-ranking mage Eldridge, who was in a state of near-madness, frowned, his maniacal laughter freezing on his face.

Then, to everyone's astonishment...

The thick, grayish-yellow clouds looked as if they had been suddenly torn open by an invisible giant hand.

An enormous, unimaginably massive, sky-covering figure slowly emerged from the gaps in the clouds.

It was a huge rigid airship.

Its overall design is similar to the 'Zeppelin' airship from the world before Morin's time travel, but it looks even larger.

The most significant difference lies in the pod beneath the massive, one-piece airbag.

In Morin's memory, the Zeppelin airship should have three separate gondolas underneath, each with a different function.

But beneath this enormous airship in the sky was a single-piece 'pod' that was about two-thirds the length of the airbag.

Or rather, this enormous structure can no longer be called a pod; it's more like a warship deck.

What surprised Morin the most was that there were four twin-mounted turrets, two forward and two aft, mounted on this deck.

Although Morin couldn't identify the specific model, it was clear that these cannon barrels, which looked like naval guns, must have a fairly large caliber.
In addition, there are many structures resembling machine gun turrets and bomb bays.

On the side of the airship's huge white gasbag was painted a large and eye-catching emblem—a magnificent black eagle with outstretched wings.

That was the symbol of the Saxon Empire!
"Yes, it's our airship!"

"It's a Zeppelin! It's a Zeppelin airship!"

After a brief silence, a deafening cheer erupted from the Saxon positions, filled with ecstasy and disbelief!
hope!

Just when everyone had fallen into despair, hope descended from the sky!

"No, it's impossible."

Eldridge looked up, staring blankly at the enormous creature that had appeared as if by divine intervention, his face draining of all color from his eyes.

As a high-ranking instructor of the Highland Mage Order, he was certainly familiar with this type of weapon of war from the Saxon Empire.

But he never expected that such an armored airship would appear here!

"Didn't the intelligence department say that the Saxon airships were all confronting the Gauls on the border?!"

"Did they even bother to gather intelligence properly?!"

Meanwhile, just as Morin was awestruck by the enormous war behemoth, Ludwig's armored knight opened the cockpit.

Upon seeing this, Morin immediately ordered the other soldiers to provide covering fire, then scrambled down from the rubble to the side of the fallen armored knight, and helped Ludwig climb out.

"Lieutenant Colonel! Look, it's our armored airship!"

Morin patted Ludwig on the shoulder excitedly; the feeling of escaping from a desperate situation made him momentarily unable to control his emotions.

"Cough cough. I saw it, be gentle."

With Morin's help, Ludwig temporarily hid on the other side of the armored knight, while hissing and gasping for breath.

He felt that he might have broken a few ribs and probably wouldn't be able to engage in strenuous activity for a while.

After confirming that he was indeed feeling unwell and unable to get up, he tightly grasped Morin's hand and said to him:

"Morin, I need your help to complete the final attack initiation."

"Attack guidance?"

“Yes! Originally, we were supposed to use the armored knight for guidance, but as you can see, the knight is no longer able to move. However, there is a flare gun and several flares in the storage compartment inside the cockpit, which are used for temporary guidance in emergencies! I need you to take them out and then fire the flares at the Britannians!”

Morin immediately understood what Ludwig meant.

Although the armored airships seem to be full of martial prowess, given the current level of technology in this world, providing air-to-ground fire support is not a simple matter.

Especially in urban warfare where enemy and friendly forces are intertwined, a misfire could easily injure friendly troops.

Therefore, the signal flare that Ludwig mentioned is very likely the key to guiding fire.

(End of this chapter)