Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 64 The Black Eagle Flag Flies Over Seville
After confirming that the signal flare was the key to guiding the armored airship's attack, Morin immediately scrambled up the wreckage of the fallen 'Siegfried 1'.

The cramped cockpit was filled with a pungent smell of engine oil and other unidentified gases, and there were no joysticks or other controls that Morin had imagined.

Aside from some incomprehensible instruments and magic crystals, there were two glove-like objects suspended on either side of the driver's seat.

Then, along the central axis of the driver's seat, there are some metal protrusions, which appear to be used to connect to the driver's suit.

Morin rummaged through the storage compartment under the driver's seat for a moment and quickly found a thick leather box.

Upon opening the box, one finds a signal gun and several specially made signal flares.

The signal gun itself was quite ordinary in appearance, with a structure not much different from the folding signal gun he remembered. However, the signal flares looked unusual.

Their projectiles are much more refined than ordinary signal flares, with densely packed tiny runes engraved on the warhead and brass casing, seemingly using magical technology.

With a "click," Morin pried open the barrel, inserted a signal flare from the back, and then closed the chamber again.

He cautiously peeked out from behind the ruins of the building destroyed by the armored knight, only to see that the street had become a scene of hell on earth.

The Britannians and soldiers of the Kingdom charged forward like madmen, while machine guns from the Saxon positions licked at the charging crowd.

Every second someone falls, but someone immediately takes their place.

"Morin, fire on the area where their numbers are most concentrated!"

Ludwig leaned against the wreckage of the mech, enduring excruciating pain, as he guided Morin toward his goal.

Morin nodded, and then, following Ludwig's instructions, raised the muzzle of his gun and pulled the trigger sharply.

"boom!"

After a crisp sound, the signal flare shot into the air in an arc, then exploded violently above the heads of the Brittany attacking forces.

Unlike ordinary signal flares that emit a dazzling light, it leaves behind a faint, shimmering patch of light in the air, like fireflies on a summer night, before slowly dissipating.

"Report, Captain! Teutonic Knights attack guidance beacon spotted!"

On the L30 armored airship in the air, an observer, who was lying on top of a transparent observation window, stared intently at a huge lens in front of him and reported loudly.

Through the lens, in the city below shrouded in smoke, an area was clearly marked by a magical symbol flashing blue light, making it extremely conspicuous.

"Calculate firing data! Once completed, transmit the data to all gun groups. Firing is permitted!"

On the captain's seat, a stern-faced middle-aged officer immediately issued the order to attack.

A series of commands were quickly transmitted through copper transducers in the bridge to various gun positions on the lower deck of the airship and to a separate small room.

Inside the small room, several Saxon magic technicians, dressed in blue uniforms that were distinctly different from the other soldiers, immediately gathered around a complex instrument and began calculating the trajectory and firing parameters based on the position of the guiding beacon.

The complex and obscure runes flowed across a crystal panel in front of them, eventually being converted into sets of numbers, which were then immediately transmitted to each turret.

"Firing data completed! High-explosive shell loaded!"

"Start attacking!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The muffled sound of cannon fire, like thunder rolling across the sky, came from the air.

On the deck below the armored airship, the eight 203mm twin-mounted turrets spewed out destructive flames one after another.

Eight 203mm naval guns fired in succession, the shells whistling through the air as they accurately struck the street in front of Morin, which was crowded with Brittany soldiers.

On the ground, the Brittany soldiers who had just been charging forward frantically hadn't even realized what was happening before death descended from the sky.

A violent explosion instantly engulfed the entire street; the ground trembled, and buildings wailed.

The scorching heatwave, carrying countless shrapnel and debris, created a deadly storm that tore everything on the street to shreds.

Under this level of firepower, the human body is as fragile as a piece of paper, and is torn apart by shock waves and shrapnel in an instant.

With just one volley, the tidal wave of attacks came to an abrupt halt, and the entire street was transformed into a purgatory of blood and fire.

But this is just the beginning.

In the following salvos, with adjustments made to each turret, the artillery fire began to extend deeper into the attacking side, while the armored airships also began to decelerate and descend.

As the armored airship continued to descend, it eventually hovered several hundred meters directly above the street.

Immediately afterwards, the rows of bomb bays below its bottom deck also opened.

One after another, heavy bombs the size of gas cylinders were launched amidst the clanging of mechanical unlocking, before falling into the thick smoke and dust generated by the artillery fire below.

"Boom--!"

An explosion, even more violent than the previous shelling, occurred.

The entire city seemed to tremble from the series of explosions, as a massive mushroom cloud, mixed with thick black smoke, shot into the sky. Brick and stone buildings on both sides of the street collapsed in large sections, like building blocks struck by a giant hammer, burying countless soldiers who couldn't escape alive under the rubble.

After the shelling and bombardment, the densely packed hemispherical MG08 heavy machine gun turrets on the lower deck of the airship also began their attack.

Deadly fire whips rained down from the sky, relentlessly firing at any moving target on the ground.

The Britannian soldiers who had miraculously survived the bombing were now completely devastated.

They no longer cared about attacking, nor could they hear the officers' shouts.

The instinct for survival overwhelmed everything; everyone was crying and screaming, desperately fleeing backward.

Morin, supporting Ludwig, hid behind the wreckage of the armored knight, staring blankly at the war behemoth in the sky that was constantly unleashing firepower, and for a moment he was lost in thought.

This thing is too powerful!
Isn't this just like putting a cruiser in the sky?
Is this the strategic weapon of the Saxon Empire?

The combination of industrial power and magical technology to this extent has resulted in war weapons whose power has far exceeded his imagination.

Moreover, the carrying capacity of this armored airship is clearly far superior to the 'Zeppelin airship' that Morin knew before his transmigration.

Not to mention the lower deck, which is completely covered by armor, those four 203mm twin-mounted turrets alone must be quite heavy, not to mention the many bombs loaded in the bomb bay.

Meanwhile, upon close observation, the massive air sacs above also exhibited energy fluctuations similar to a magical shield, indicating that these air sacs were also protected.

Morin now finally understood why the Saxon Empire, despite being far inferior in magical prowess, was able to rival the Holy Britannian Empire, the long-established hegemon of this world.

If the armored airships maintain their altitude and prevent mages from threatening them, ground forces currently seem to have no good way to deal with these aerial war behemoths.

These Germans from another world are really something.

In contrast, the Germans in the world before Morin's transmigration turned Industry 4.0 into Industry 404.
Alas, it's utterly pathetic.

The appearance of armored airships was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely crushing the morale of the Brittany expeditionary force and the royal army.

Inside Seville, the morale of the attacking forces on all fronts wavered upon seeing the colossal, sky-covering structure.

Conversely, the morale of the defending troops was greatly boosted, as the armored airships, while launching their attack, also broadcast Saxon military music through multiple high-powered broadcasting devices.
As the defending forces on all fronts began to launch counterattacks, the attacking troops began to collapse completely and fled in panic from the city that had caused them to bleed.

The Saxon flags, painted with yellow backgrounds and black eagles, were finally raised again on the various high points of Seville.

Morin stared blankly at the rising flags, his mouth agape for a long time before he finally murmured:

"Damn, it really is the Shinra flag."
-
After leaving countless corpses in the streets, the enemy that had attacked the city hall's defenses finally retreated completely.

The airships in the air also ceased their heavy artillery and bombing attacks, only occasionally firing machine guns at any stragglers on the ground while circling.

Morin led his remaining twenty-odd soldiers out of the ruins.

He first sent a messenger to the rear to notify the medics and stretcher bearers to come up and transfer Ludwig and other wounded soldiers.

Then, leading Klaus, Bowman, and the others, they cautiously made their way towards the street that had been thoroughly plowed.

They need to clean up the battlefield and make sure no one escaped.

More importantly, we need to see if we can confirm the fate of High Mage Eldridge.

The sight on the street made these veterans, who had been fighting all day, feel a wave of nausea and vomiting.

The entire street was unrecognizable, with huge bomb craters and collapsed buildings everywhere.

The Britannians and the Kingdom's army left countless corpses in the streets; under the relentless firepower of the armored airships, it was nearly impossible to find a single intact body.

The air was thick with the pungent smells of blood, gunpowder, and the stench of burning protein, all mixed together to create a nauseating odor.

"Platoon leader, over here!" a soldier suddenly called out from a short distance away.

Maureen and Klaus rushed over immediately and found scattered pieces of cloth, whose original ornate patterns were still faintly discernible, among a pile of charred rubble.

Beside the cloth was half a charred staff and some indistinguishable body parts.

"It must be him."

Morin looked at the fragments of the robe and nodded.

The high-ranking mage who had caused them so much trouble ultimately did not survive the devastating barrage of fire.

Upon confirming Eldridge's death, Morin and the others breathed a sigh of relief, as the mage's previous combat prowess had been somewhat unreasonable.

Just as Morin was about to leave with his men, another soldier ran over carrying a small, slightly blackened notebook.

"Platoon leader, this was found nearby along with some other fragments of robes. Please take a look!"

(End of this chapter)