Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 30 The Counterattack of the Magic Crystal Cannon
"Sergeant! Order all squads to disperse immediately! Squads must maintain a distance of at least twenty meters from each other! Soldiers must also maintain distance from each other! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"

Sensing the danger, Morin roared an order, waving his hands to make the surrounding soldiers disperse.

Although Sergeant Klaus didn't understand why, he already had an almost blind trust in Morin, so he immediately blew his whistle and loudly relayed the order.

The soldiers of the third platoon moved quickly, and under the puzzled gazes of the soldiers from other companies, they swiftly formed a loose defensive formation.

After giving orders to his own troops, Morin thought of having Major Thomas disperse the other troops as well. Time was of the essence, and he didn't have time to think much. He immediately found Captain Hauser, who was directing the soldiers to prepare for defense.

"Captain! We can't gather here!"

Morin's voice was very urgent at that moment.

"The enemy must know the coordinates of this hill, and their surviving artillery could launch a barrage of fire at any time!"

Captain Hauser paused for a moment, glancing at the busy soldiers around him, then at Morin's serious face.

"Your concerns are valid, but we do need to prepare for defense now. This high ground is very important; the enemy will definitely counterattack!"

"I understand! But I hope the troops can at least spread out a bit, so that even if they are attacked by enemy artillery, the casualties won't be too heavy."

Captain Hauser hesitated for less than two seconds before nodding heavily.

"Alright! I'll go and remind the major right away, but you still need to make sure the troops are prepared to defend against an enemy counterattack!"

After reminding Captain Hauser, Morin returned to his position in the third platoon. After seeing that his soldiers had dispersed as instructed, Morin found a shell crater and lay down.

Morin's heart was still in his throat; he could only hope that his premonition was wrong.

Unfortunately, his hunch was right this time.
Just as the soldiers of the 1st Battalion had finished building simple defensive fortifications using the shell craters and were about to catch their breath, a strange shriek came from the distant horizon.

The sound was completely different from the whistling of ordinary shells; it was sharper and more piercing, like the cry of some strange bird.

Immediately afterwards, a dazzling blue sphere of light appeared out of thin air in the sky above the highlands, and then suddenly exploded.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a muffled popping sound.

"boom!"

An invisible, terrifying force spread outwards from the center of the sphere of light, and countless fragments of unknown material, gleaming with a cold light, rained down from the sky, instantly covering a large area in the center of the highlands.

"boom!"

"boom!"

Two more identical explosions rang out, and two identical blue orbs of light exploded one after another in the sky above different locations on the high ground.

Morin felt his ears ringing. He lay tightly in the crater, and could clearly hear the shrapnel splattering into the surrounding soil.

He didn't know if he had been hit by shrapnel; he only knew that he was still alive for the time being.

After the three airbursts, this highland instantly turned into a living hell.

The piercing screams and wails rose and fell, replacing all the previous sounds.

Molin struggled to his feet, feeling dizzy. After confirming that he was not injured, he looked at the First and Second Companies located in the center of the high ground.

The high ground was littered with mutilated corpses and wounded soldiers groaning in pain, and the blood had stained the scorched earth dark red.

The scene of devastation indicated that the two companies were almost completely engulfed by the hail of bullets.

The final explosion affected the third company and its headquarters.

On the system map, the blue soldier's badge representing the 1st Battalion was flashing wildly. Even without looking at the system's annotations, Morin knew that this meant the battalion was under attack and suppression.

Morin quickly realized that this must be an attack from the magic crystal cannon.

This 'magical weapon' from Brittany surprised Morin greatly, both in terms of the power of its airburst and its accuracy.

"They didn't even have time for calibration; they just opened fire on this hill, and every shot hit its mark."

"With the airburst and first-shot hit, I now understand why the magic crystal cannon can go toe-to-toe with the field howitzer."

Just as Morin was marveling at the absurd accuracy of the attack, preparations for the next round of firing began at a camouflaged magic crystal cannon position 3 kilometers away.

A large number of royal artillerymen and magic technicians were carefully maintaining the magic crystal cannons that had just finished firing, checking the runes and crystals on the cannons for any damage. Above this magic crystal cannon position, at an altitude of about 200 meters, a figure dressed in the robes of a highland mage floated silently.

"High ground 127 successfully suppressed, preparing to switch guidance targets."

"Received. Temporary maintenance on the magic crystal cannon is complete. Please provide attack information."

"Hill 125, target: rebel infantry group, use fragmentation magic crystal shells, begin guidance after loading."

The mage apprentice from the Highland Mage Guild stared coldly at the location he had chosen as his next target.

For him, that was not just an enemy, but also his passport to leaving his apprenticeship and becoming a full-fledged mage.

Although he was already an apprentice in the Highland Mage Order, he understood that only by completing the promotion would he be qualified to be called a Highland Mage.
He also thanked the Kingdom's incompetent artillerymen, because if they hadn't been so bad at it, they wouldn't have been able to unleash the full power of the magic crystal cannons.

High-ranking mentor Eldridge wouldn't allow his mage apprentices to come and assist the enemy in guiding the artillery barrage.
The bracelet on the left wrist vibrated, indicating that the wearer of another bracelet on the ground was sending a message.

Highland mages naturally possess long-distance communication capabilities, but those spells generally have many limitations and are not very flexible.

Furthermore, the limited spell slots available each day cannot accommodate too many communication spells.

Therefore, this short-range magical communication bracelet, which is cheaper than the 'communication stone', has become an indispensable part of the magic crystal cannon's guidance.

"Fragmentation crystal shells are loaded!"

"Understood, begin guiding."

The mage apprentice locked his gaze on the 125 high ground, opened his right hand and raised it, then used the space between his thumb and forefinger as a crosshair, and a wave of magical energy appeared at the space between his thumb and forefinger.

Soon, the magic crystal cannons on the ground roared again, and the magic crystal projectiles that streaked across the sky began to fall after passing their highest point.

Then an unseen force began to correct the trajectory of these shells, causing them to fall straight toward Hill 125, and finally complete the airburst at a height of less than 10 meters.
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On the other side, on Hill 127.

While Morin was surprised by the magic crystal cannon, he also knew that in this world with magic and magical technology, many things were indeed inexplicable.

At this moment, the system also deduced the approximate location of the magic crystal cannon position based on the trajectory of the attack and marked it.

Morin immediately took out his binoculars and looked in that direction, and quickly found the 'fish that slipped through the net'.

It was a camouflaged position hidden in the farm. Judging from the large number of dead branches and ears of wheat scattered around the magic crystal cannon, its camouflage should be quite good. No wonder the previous reconnaissance failed to find it.

However, after Morin saw it, the system map also marked the exact location of the soldier.

"Commander!"

Morin waved to a soldier who was also covered in dirt and grime not far away.

As the other party ran over, he quickly pulled out a notebook and pencil from his pocket and scribbled down the detailed coordinates and terrain description of the hidden magic crystal cannon position on the paper.

"Immediately send this to the artillery command post at the rear as fast as possible! Tell them this is an enemy magic crystal cannon position that hasn't been destroyed!"

The young messenger took the note, nodded heavily, and then rushed off towards the rear without hesitation.

"Organize defenses! Prepare for battle!"

Meanwhile, the surviving officers on the high ground roared as they reorganized the surviving but terrified soldiers.

Because below the high ground, a dark mass of Kingdom soldiers had launched a counterattack.

"Platoon! Report casualties!"

Morin's voice trembled slightly, because he knew that the third platoon must have also suffered casualties this time.

Sergeant Klaus and several corporals quickly tallied the results, their faces filled with grief.

"Platoon leader! The second squad is gone, all of them are gone!"

"Squad 1 and Squad 4 each lost 4 men! Squad 3 had 2 slightly wounded! Squad 5 had 1 seriously wounded and 2 slightly wounded!"

"The other classes are far away, so there have been no casualties so far!"

(End of this chapter)