Man on the ark, forced to become king

The curtain of war has been raised, and the next battle will determine the future of Laterano.

The army slowly approached, and Lin Lu casually glanced over them, showing no intention of moving.

Since we've already started, we might as well see it through to the end.

He gave Laterano time to prepare, gave them the opportunity to strike first, and even gave them the right to fight head-on. If they still couldn't win, then it wasn't his fault, it was fate.

Unfortunately, under the Golden Law, he was destiny.

Chapter Fifteen: The Battle of Laterano (Mega Chapter)

Call ~

A sudden gust of wind arose, and large white clouds drifted in from nowhere, quietly obscuring the sunlight and casting large shadows that darkened the midday fields.

The grass rustled in the wind, then was trampled on the ground by the heavy armor. The papal knights, with revolvers at their waists, marched forward at a moderate pace, but their pure black armor and the guns at their waists gave them an extremely strong sense of oppression. From a distance, they looked like a black wall slowly advancing across the plains.

The special operations team, skilled in long-range sniping, followed behind, silently advancing under the protection of the Papal Knights, reloading their guns.

Lateran's methods of warfare differed from those of the continental nations.

In other countries, even among the world's top powers like Yan, Ursus, and Colombia, the primary mode of combat in large-scale wars is close-quarters infantry warfare.

Typically, heavily armored defensive units wielding sturdy shields are positioned at the forefront, with drones, sorcerers, and archers providing support from the rear. In breach battles, large breaching weapons are used as the vanguard, with ranged units providing cover from the flanks.

In short, they're pretty much the same thing.

Even with long-range strike weapons like artillery, their application is limited, only usable beyond visual range. If they get too close to friendly forces, they can negatively impact our own troops, making it a losing proposition.

Moreover, with current technology, such a device cannot accurately hit its target, and if the enemy is scattered, its actual lethality is quite limited.

Therefore, the main fighting method is still close combat.

Laterano is different. As the world's largest exporter of firearms, they have monopolized Terra's firearms technology and can easily achieve long-range fire coverage and beyond-visual-range pinpoint strikes, no longer needing to rely on close-quarters combat to gain an advantage.

Their greatest advantage lies in their ability to penetrate heavily armored units and easily crush the enemy's front line before close combat, especially with the revolvers equipped by the Papal Knights.

At this distance, enemy ranged units cannot even project their attacks.

Large-scale numerical superiority is no match for the metal storm of revolvers, and breaking through in small squads will result in being targeted and sniped by Laterano's ultra-long-range firearms beyond visual range. Ordinary armies basically cannot even get close enough to achieve this.

In this situation, the only viable method is to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, disregarding losses and forcibly pushing them forward to negate the ranged advantage of Laterano's firearms, thus reverting the battle to the traditional close-quarters combat.

Ursus had done this before, but Laterano also had short guns for close combat, causing them to lose a lot of troops and barely manage a draw. They managed to maintain the situation by relying on elite units such as the heavily armored Wendigos, but ultimately returned empty-handed.

From then on, all the nations understood Lateran's strength and realized that it was a tough nut to crack.

The core technology of firearms is indeed a valuable and desirable thing, but even the best things need to be used with one's life. If one suffers heavy losses in order to acquire this technology and other countries take advantage of the situation, then it is not worth the loss.

Therefore, since then, Lateran has never experienced a large-scale war again.

Now, many years later, the shadow of war has once again loomed over Lateran.

The army that had once repelled Ursus once again stepped onto the battlefield, but this time they faced only one enemy.

The papal knights stopped in their tracks. Everyone saw the man standing in the field with his hands in his pockets, and beside him were two women, one of whom they recognized very well.

—Cardinal Violet of the Papal Court.

In Lateran, almost everyone knows the Cardinal who is in charge of many affairs, and her appearance leaves many people somewhat at a loss.

Logically, once an enemy is discovered, one should attack. However, a cardinal is standing there, and if one attacks, the bullets from the revolver will not distinguish between friend and foe.

There is only one enemy, and to sacrifice a cardinal is a bit too much of a price to pay.

Should we send a special operations team to rescue Lady Violet first?

This is a difficult decision.

But soon, the Papal Knights noticed that the man seemed to have said something, and then Cardinal Violet walked towards them with the little girl beside her.

Surprisingly, the enemy released the hostages without any intention of keeping them.

……

hostage?

Lin Lu certainly didn't need that kind of thing. With his status, how could he possibly do something so tasteless?

If they intend to defeat Lateran's army head-on, then they won't resort to underhanded tactics.

He wanted to show Laterano what absolute overwhelming power truly meant.

What's the use of having a large population? What's the use of having good weapons?

He alone is worth more than a thousand troops!

The curtain has risen, war has begun. Leaving hostages would only restrict his actions and require him to divert attention to protecting them. Why bother?

So he released the people directly, and as expected, the moment the people walked over was the moment when the war horn officially sounded.

The battlefield was completely silent, as if even the sound of the wind had frozen in the grim atmosphere.

One side was a well-equipped army, while the other side had only one person, yet they were evenly matched in terms of morale.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Violet pulled Sidgar into the gap in the military formation that had been specially opened for them.

The next second, the roar of the revolver suddenly exploded!

A metallic storm swept across the plains, covering everything like dark clouds falling from the sky, crashing down on Lin Lu and blocking all angles for dodging.

There was no way to dodge. How could one possibly avoid a military formation stretching for thousands of meters and countless bullets?

However, Lin Lu had no intention of hiding.

To claim overwhelming strength, one must resort to violence!

He's standing right here today, and if he takes even a step back, he'll lose!

The dragon's tail, covered in dense scales, materialized out of thin air and collided with the oncoming metal storm, creating a burst of sparks and clearing a brief opening.

A tombstone-shaped object landed in my hand, with what appeared to be fingerprint patterns engraved on it.

Lin Lu held the shield in one hand, took a step forward, and her feet sank deep into the ground under the impact of the storm, managing to withstand the endless hail of bullets.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

The bullets flew like locusts, or like a great river bursting its banks, surging forth and crashing against the rock shield that completely covered the person, yet not even a single speck of stone was thrown out.

On Lateran's side, magical light shone from behind the army formation, giving the wildly spinning revolvers a pure white glow, and even imbuing each bullet fired with a subtle white light.

Hundreds of streaks of light of various colors shot out from the gaps between the papal knights, and the special operations team, armed with long-range guns, also began to exert their power.

Lin Lu's eyes flashed, and the emblem formed by the rings and triangles was drawn open out of thin air and attached to the shield, making the uneven stone surface gleam with a faint golden light.

Golden Law Fundamentals Prayer: An Unchanging Shield!

He had long suspected that Laterano might have a way to enchant bullets, adding magical effects to pure physical attacks. After all, even Fiammetta could do it easily back then, so there was no reason why others couldn't.

If you think of it in advance, you'll naturally have the corresponding measures prepared.

The prayer of the Unchanging Shield exists precisely to deal with this situation.

The returning light resides within the shield, and whatever effects the bullets carry will be wiped out the moment they touch the shield, turning them into ordinary bullets.

The fingerprint stone shield, imbued with an unchanging shield, is indestructible and can withstand any attack, whether physical or magical!

Holding a shield in one hand, he stood tall like a pine tree, unmoved by the onslaught of bombardment from Laterano.

The rain of bullets was like a curtain, covering the sky and the earth, but they all stopped before the stone shield. For a moment, the battle, which was obviously unequal in numbers, felt like a battle of equal strength.

For an ordinary person, the impact of those bullets alone would be enough to kill them, let alone block them.

But that impact was insignificant compared to Lin Lu, who could swing around a gigantic demonic creature as a punching bag.

If necessary, he could stand here and still have those papal knights and special forces fighting all day long!

However, the reality is certainly not like that.

He won't stand still, and Laterano won't stubbornly concentrate his firepower on the shield. Once he realizes he can't break through it, he will inevitably disperse his attacks to other angles.

As he had expected, realizing that the attack was ineffective, the Papal Knights' ranks began to shift. Some men were kept in rotation to bombard the enemy with bullets, while the rest began to move to the surrounding areas, trying to break through from angles that the shields could not cover.

Unfortunately, after being bombed for a while, Lin Lu had no intention of playing the target shooting game of standing still with them anymore.

The fingerprint stone shield vanished abruptly, along with the person hiding behind it.

Raven feathers drifted down, and Lin Lu appeared out of thin air, golden wings unfurling behind her, revealing a ferocious smile.

"That's enough for the warm-up."

boom!

A golden ray flashed, piercing the sky!

Like a falling meteor, in an instant, Lin Lu descended from the sky, directly traversing hundreds or even thousands of meters, and crashed into the Lateran army formation. The famous spinning long-handled spiked wheel landed in her hand, and she raised her hand to deliver a powerful sweeping blow.

Total Annihilation!

The outer ring of spiked wheels, filled with sharp blades, was shrouded in blood and roared. The heavy metal armor worn by the Papal Knights was as if it were made of paper. It was cut and shredded in an instant, with blood and flesh flying everywhere!

The bullets fired from the pistol pierced through flesh, drawing blood. Lin Lu didn't even have time to dodge. Blood mist rose from the knight's corpse, which died under the piercing wheel, and merged into his body, instantly healing his wounds.

Combat Skill: Blood Collection!