Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 94: Battle for the Town

When the main force of the 1st Company poured into the town, the pace of the battle changed instantly.

The deployment of troops and charges in open fields were replaced by close combat and house-to-house fighting in narrow streets.

"Second squad, head to the house on the left! First squad, follow me and clear the right side! Third and fourth squads, set up fire and block the street!"

"Messenger, order the heavy machine gun team to advance and hold the line at the crossroads!"

After leading his platoon into the town, Platoon Leader Kahn observed the layout of the buildings and began issuing orders to his soldiers.

This was his first time commanding actual combat, and it was the kind of street fighting that veterans described as "hell on earth."

At first, he was really nervous, and his mind went blank.

After emerging from the trench where the attack began, he was almost subconsciously giving commands, relying on what he had learned in military school and the training he had received over the past two weeks, along with Sergeant Bowman's reminders.

But as the battle progressed, he saw the tactics he had trained actually come into play on the battlefield.

An unprecedented sense of confidence and accomplishment welled up from the bottom of his heart.

He discovered that the squad-level alternating cover and fire suppression, which had not shown any effect in the training field, were actually very important in actual combat.

"Platoon leader! There are enemies in the house on the right!" a soldier shouted as he retreated from around the corner.

"How many are there?" Kahn asked.

"I don't know! They were driven back by gunfire from inside!"

"Throw grenades!" Kahn shouted without hesitation.

Upon hearing this, several soldiers suddenly had a sudden realization.

They immediately took grenades from their waists, went around to the other side, pulled the pins, and threw them toward the window of the house.

"Boom! Boom!"

Amidst the deafening explosion, Kahn waved his hand, and several soldiers immediately rushed forward with their guns drawn.

The gunfire inside the house quickly subsided.

In addition to reinforcing the two heavy machine guns, the 1st Platoon also concentrated a large number of hand grenades. In addition to the grenadiers in each squad, each other soldier would also carry two grenades on their belts.

After seeing that grenades were more effective at clearing rooms than a direct assault, they all realized this and began to rely on grenades to advance.

He turned to look at Sergeant Bowman beside him, the veteran who had just fired an empty round and was now completely shrinking back.

Then he deftly pulled back the bolt, inserted a new magazine, and his expression remained unchanged.

After loading the bullets, the sergeant first turned his head to look around, then beckoned two soldiers to form a human ladder, and in a few quick movements, he climbed onto the roof of the nearby bungalow.

"Platoon leader, you continue to command the advance. I'll take a few men to provide crossfire support!"

Bowman said to Kahn as he pulled the other soldiers onto the roof.

"Eh, just me?"

"Don't worry, Platoon Leader! You can do it! The intensity here is much lower than in Seville!"

……

On the other side, the attacks from the 2nd and 3rd platoons were also proceeding in an orderly manner.

Platoon leader Barak was also a newcomer to the battlefield for the first time. With the assistance of the platoon sergeants, he gradually adapted to the rhythm of urban warfare.

Although he didn't have the same dazzling performance as Kahn, he still commanded the team fairly well and didn't make any major mistakes.

After the entire first echelon of soldiers dispersed, they advanced towards the town center like mercury spilling across the ground.

Sergeant Major Klaus, along with the 3rd Platoon, which served as the company's reserve, followed at a leisurely pace.

His mission this time was not to lead his men into battle, but to act as the 'ballast' of the entire company, ready to deal with any emergencies and to gather the soldiers who had been scattered in the battle.

Although he inexplicably felt a pang of nostalgia for the battles he fought alongside Morin, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face as he watched the impressive offensive unfolding ahead.

These new recruits and officers, though still inexperienced, are growing at a visible pace.

"These kids are actually starting to look promising."

Meanwhile, Lamu, the third platoon leader next to him, seemed somewhat eager to try.

"Sergeant Major, aren't we going to advance?"

"Don't rush, remember we're the reserve team, there to deal with emergencies."

At the same time, dense gunfire and explosions were heard from the front and right flank of the town.

Those were the 2nd and 3rd companies responsible for the feint attack, which also broke through the Kingdom's army's defenses and entered the town.

The morale of the royal army troops originally tasked with blocking them collapsed instantly after they discovered that the flank defenses had been completely breached and the enemy had entered the town from other directions.

They abandoned their positions and began to flee into the town, only to run into the 1st Company attacking from the flank.

When Klaus heard the sounds of gunfire ahead suddenly intensify, he immediately realized that they might have encountered a large enemy force.

"3rd Platoon Leader"

"Understood, Sergeant Major! Third Platoon, advance to support the first echelon, prepare for battle!"

In an instant, the entire town of San Lorenzo de la Parrilla was engulfed in a full-blown melee.

Major Thomas stood on a small hill outside the town, observing the entire battlefield situation through binoculars.

He could tell that the outcome of the battle was already decided.

The Kingdom's troops in the town had lost contact with each other and could only fight independently. They were divided, surrounded, and annihilated one by one by the Saxon army.

"That kid Morin," he muttered to himself as he put down his binoculars, "he actually managed to pull it off."

This battle, from tactical planning to final execution, bears almost the entire mark of Morin. Whether it was nighttime earthmoving operations or assault team infiltration, it demonstrated a way of thinking that was completely different from traditional infantry tactics.

The results proved that this new tactic was effective.

Major Thomas even wondered if they could have saved many lives if they had used the same tactics in Seville.

The thought flashed through his mind for only a moment before he suppressed it.

There are no "what ifs" in war.

What he needs to do now is to win the battle at hand.

"Messenger! Notify the 4th Company to prepare to enter the city, clean up the battlefield, and gather the prisoners!"

"Yes, Major!"

With the arrival of the 4th Company, the entire 1st Battalion entered the town.

The scales of victory have completely tipped in Saxony's favor.

While the main force of the 1st Company was still steadily advancing through the streets of the town, Morin's twenty-man commando team had already crossed most of the town and arrived at the foot of the castle.

The castle, named Garcimulos, is built on a slightly elevated position in the north of the town, and can be seen overlooking the entire town through its walls.

"Damn, this place is really hard to fight in."

Maureen hid behind a corner of a house and only glanced through binoculars before feeling her PTSD about to flare up.

The castle's only entrance is a huge drawbridge and a heavy oak gate.

At this moment, the suspension bridge has been lowered, but the gate is slowly closing.

Groups of defeated royal soldiers were rushing toward the gate in a panic, hoping to escape into the castle for refuge at the last moment.

On the city wall, some of the defenders had already taken up advantageous positions and began firing indiscriminately at Morin and his men.

The bullets struck the wall in front of Morin, kicking up clouds of dust and brick fragments.

"Company commander, what should we do? The door is about to close!" a commando asked anxiously.

"We can't let them close the door!"

Morin put down his binoculars and said in a deep voice, "Once it's closed, if we want to get back in, we'll have to wait for the artillery to come up and bombard it down. No, even that might not work!"

He glanced back at the seventeen team members behind him.

Although the soldiers looked tired and nervous, their eyes showed absolute trust in him.

"Same as always! Get ready to charge with me!"

"Yes, sir!"

Without further hesitation, Morin dashed out from behind the corner of the wall, braving the hail of bullets coming from the city wall, and ran towards the closing gate.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The gunfire on the city wall suddenly intensified, with countless bullets raining down on the suddenly appearing target.

But all that could be seen was a burst of blue sparks exploding around him; he was still unable to kill his target.

At the bottom of Morin's view, the icon representing the second [Mage Armor] item of the day has half its durability remaining.

He roughly assessed the situation during the battle and concluded that, with his current level of mage armor, it could withstand about twenty rifle bullets.

While it can't compare to Eldridge's [Mage Armor] that withstood hundreds of rifle shots back then, it's already quite overpowered in urban warfare.

Not to mention, below the durability icon for the [Mage Armor], there's another shield bar.

The Protection school's Arcane Protection also provides additional protection when Morin uses Protection spells.

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters.
When he was less than twenty meters away from the castle gate, Morin activated his second "Mysterious Step" of the day.

A thick cloud of white mist appeared out of thin air again, completely engulfing his figure.

Immediately afterwards, the white mist covered a distance of twenty meters in the blink of an eye and appeared directly at the castle gate.

A long, wall-like plume of smoke stretched out between the castle gate and the assault team behind him, perfectly obscuring the view of the defenders on the city walls.

"Fuck!"

"The company commander went over again!"

"Charge! Charge after the smoke wall!"

Upon seeing this familiar scene, the assault team members behind him first let out a few gasps of amazement.
Without hesitation, they rushed out from behind cover and charged towards the castle gate, following the lingering smoke.

The castle gate on the other side.

Before the royal soldiers, who were preparing to flee into the castle, could react to what was happening, a cloud of white mist suddenly appeared in front of them.

Immediately afterwards, a figure radiating blue spiritual light burst out from the white mist.

Scored twice!

The moment Morin appeared, a clean and swift slide tackle sent him sprawling to the ground, reducing the area he was vulnerable to.

At the same time, he began firing his P08 pistol in bursts, and several Kingdom soldiers blocking the doorway instantly screamed and fell to the ground.

"The enemy has reached the door!"

"Close the door! Don't worry about the others!"

The other soldiers inside the doorway screamed in terror. Some raised their guns to return fire, while others rushed inside without a care in the world.

(End of this chapter)