Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 37 Stereotypes about Mages
After eliminating one target, the Teutonic Knights' offensive became even more ferocious.

After that, at the cost of four armored knights falling and nearly half of their knight squires being killed, they finally destroyed all the knight squires and overturned another Garde knight.

From Morin's telescope, the fallen armored knight was quickly surrounded by three Teutonic Knights, who used maces and battle axes that shimmered with some kind of magical light to smash its limbs and front armor again and again.
This is a battle between armored knights, a death match where no one holds back.

Currently, only two armored knights of the Garde Knights remain on the battlefield, struggling to hold on.

They fought and retreated, clearly having developed the intention to withdraw, and began to break through the weakest point in the encirclement.

But Ludwig, who had already gained the upper hand, was not about to give up the opportunity to annihilate them all so easily. He brandished his weapon and charged forward.

Seeing his actions, the other armored knights pressed their advantage, determined to leave their two last prey behind.

Just as the Teutonic Knights were about to achieve a great victory in this 'hunt', a figure dressed in a mage's robe flew rapidly from the distant sky.

The figure finally stopped abruptly in the air above the battlefield in a way that defied the laws of physics, looking down at everything below.

Upon witnessing this scene, Morin felt a strong sense of foreboding.

Immediately afterwards, the system's notification sound rang out, this time a rather piercing alarm.

[Highland Mage Order of the Holy Britannian Empire: High Instructor - Eldridge]

This was a highland mage who almost made eye contact with Morin while he was conducting scouting ahead!
Morin knew very well that the only reason this person would appear here at this time was because he was an armored knight who had come to support the Knights of Garde.

Just as he was wondering what this mysterious highland mage was going to do, he saw Eldridge in the air slowly raise his hands, make a downward pressing motion, and chant an obscure incantation.

Immediately afterwards, he pointed towards the ground beneath the feet of the Teutonic Knights who were pursuing them.

[Fifth Ring Spell - Transform Rock]

In an instant, a strange change occurred!
The solid, scorched earth beneath the Teutonic Knights' feet seemed to have turned into a flowing swamp.

Large tracts of land quickly softened and liquefied, turning into muddy ground that should never have been there.

Those armored knights, whose combat weight was over ten tons, and their squires, who wore power armor, immediately lost their balance, their heavy bodies sinking uncontrollably into the mud.

"Damn it!"

Ludwig's roar echoed in the cockpit as he desperately steered his vehicle, trying to break free from the mud. But the frantic roar of the internal combustion engine only resulted in an even faster descent.

The situation on the field was completely reversed in just a few seconds.

The two surviving Garde Knights armored knights were initially hesitant, but after Eldridge pointed in the direction of Seville, they turned around without hesitation and quickly left the area.

Looking at the godlike figure in the sky, Morin felt a sense of powerlessness, as if he had been brutally beaten by idealism.

Are these the advanced spellcasters of this world?

With a simple gesture, one can alter the terrain and turn the tide of a local battle.
With these armored knights around, what chance do the pathetic infantry have? They're really just cannon fodder.

Maureen's mind raced, and a thought flashed through her mind.

No! We can't let him continue casting the spell!
He was well aware of the importance of these Teutonic Knights' armored knights to the Saxon infantry. If all these armored knights were to perish here, the infantry would be in deep trouble.

Morin glanced at the markings on the system map and saw that next to the mage's special unit badge, there was a line of information and a shield symbol.

[Status: Casting in progress, can be interrupted]

[Mage Armor - Current Durability: 100%]

"That's right, how could it not have any weaknesses? How could we play like that?"

"The mages have been living a carefree life for too long. Running around in the air to cast spells so brazenly, how afraid were the infantry of mage units back then?" Upon seeing this message, Morin immediately understood. After all, if a mage's spellcasting couldn't be interrupted, then that would be too overpowered.

"Three platoons! All hands on deck! Target that mage in the sky! Fire! Free fire!!"

Morin shouted orders to his soldiers.

The three rows of soldiers lying prone on the high ground were stunned at first, but they quickly reacted and aimed at the figure more than 300 meters in the air from a prone firing position.

"boom!"

As Morin fired first, dozens of Gew.98 rifles simultaneously spat fire.

The burst of gunfire shattered the brief silence on the high ground.

Maureen's actions were like lighting a fuse.

The International Brigades soldiers around him quickly realized what was happening.

Everyone knew they couldn't let the mage wipe out their armored knights so easily, so at the command of the bearded commander, they all raised their guns and fired.

Immediately afterwards, Major Thomas, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion, and other officers, including Captain Hauser, also reacted, and the remaining 300-plus combat soldiers of the entire 1st Battalion pointed their guns at the sky.

A barrage of fire from hundreds of rifles rained down on Eldridge.

Although hitting a human-sized target at a distance of over 300 meters is challenging for a rifle with iron sights, the hit rate will be affected to some extent.

However, quantitative changes can lead to qualitative changes. Under such a dense barrage of bullets, a considerable number of bullets accurately hit the target.

A transparent shield rippled around Eldridge; it was the effect of [Mage Armor].

He intended to maintain the spell, burying those damned Teutonic Knights to achieve a tactical victory and then turn that victory into a decisive one.

However, the continuous attacks of the 7.92 full-power rounds caused more and more cracks to appear on the shield.

Eldridge's expression turned grim. [Mage Armor] wasn't invincible; it was essentially just a level 1 spell.

Although the defense threshold of the [Mage Armor] he casts at his level is much higher than that of other low-level mages, there is still an upper limit.

Back when he was an apprentice, studying at the Scottish Wizarding Tower, he had heard warnings from the old wizards in class:
"Although we can easily deal with ordinary soldiers, we must never try to fight firearms with our bare hands, nor should we think that we can completely ignore firearms attacks by casting protective spells."

The most famous example of this is the tragedy of a highland archmage more than 20 years ago who used [Mage Armor] to face the enemy's artillery fire head-on, only to be pulverized along with his shield.
However, in Eldridge's previous battles supporting the colonies, when he appeared on the battlefield, ordinary soldiers would often lose their will to fight and turn and run away in fear, let alone attack him.

But today, this perception has been shattered by the attack of Saxon soldiers.

He never expected that these ordinary infantrymen, whom he considered like ants, could threaten him in this way.

Finally, just before the shield was about to collapse, he had to abandon his channeling and begin to dodge in the air.

The mud on the ground quickly solidified again, but the Teutonic Knights were already half-submerged and unable to move.

Eldridge glared fiercely at the infantrymen below who were still firing incessantly, and was just about to use other spells prepared in his spell slots to make these ants regret shooting at him.

But the white flares rising from the city of Seville behind him abruptly interrupted his actions.

That was a signal for the Allied forces to retreat.
"These useless things!"

Eldridge cursed angrily, then cast another [Shield] in front of himself before flying off towards Seville without looking back.

(End of this chapter)