The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Tanks roared across the battlefield, their armor gleaming coldly in the sunlight, their heavy tracks seeming to tear the earth apart as they advanced toward the besieged city walls.

Antipa noticed these steel monsters immediately. Although he didn't know exactly what they were, he knew they were creations of the North from the long cannons protruding from the tanks.

"Don't let those iron lumps get any closer! Demon God's offspring and ranged bloodline magic, prepare!"

This was Antipa's first time personally confronting the creations of the North, and Antipa couldn't quite describe whether he felt nervous or excited.

"Oh right, bring that deserter Daniel over here. He's most familiar with the North. Let him be my advisor!"

The demon god's offspring, strengthened by that strange black mist, is much more powerful than before, and has greater freedom of movement outside the main brain. As long as they can defeat that bunch of iron lumps, they can break the demons' fear of the Northern Army.

Although I don't know when I'll become a demon and need to overcome my fear of humans.

"Target spotted, two o'clock position, large enemy unit, prepare to attack!"

"Received. Main gun target adjusted, trajectory corrected, ready to fire at any time!"

The tank crew consisted of veterans who had retired from the Jinshui Plain battlefield, and even included members of the resistance army who had been recruited.

Instead of returning to the North to retire and inherit his father's potion shop, Sam chose to bring his talent to the tank crew. This was far more exciting than any musket Sam had ever handled. Upon their first meeting, Sam felt that no man could resist this war machine called a tank.

Although I don't know why it's called a tank, the governor must have his reasons for calling it that...

Sam's current mood is less one of fear and more one of eager anticipation. How exhilarating it would be to unleash such a war machine on the demons!

"Fire!"

With the commander's order, the cannon barrel spewed fire, and a shell hit the nearest demon child directly, exploding in two. However, the exploding shell did not seem to harm the demon child; instead, it seemed to enrage the demon child, making it act even more frantically.

......

Judith, standing atop the city wall, was extremely excited. Having been investigating the North, Judith immediately recognized the strange and cold mechanical constructs as products of the North. So when she saw the tanks approaching, Judith shouted, "Great! It's the Northern army! We're saved!"

Judith's words inspired everyone, including Cliff. Cliff, as if he had survived a disaster, instantly lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground, showing none of the fighting spirit he had shown before. Even the people on the city wall hugged each other excitedly, and some civilians who had come to help were so excited that they threw their hats at each other when they heard that they were saved.

Especially when the tanks opened fire and the cannons hit the giant monster head-on.

But when they saw that the cannon seemed to do little damage and the monster was even more excited, everyone fell into a brief silence, even Judith was stunned for a moment.

On the demon side, Antipa, who was initially very nervous, sneered after seeing the cannon fire. It seemed that these steel monsters in the North were just for show and useless, or that the demon god's offspring, after being strengthened by the black mist, were no longer afraid of the demon's cannons.

But Daniel, the deserter who had just been pulled to Antipala's side and was kneeling on the ground, looked at the crystalline glint of sunlight shining around the demon's offspring that had been hit by tank artillery in the distance and said, "It's over, it's all over. Now these things in the North can even be fired from a stationary position."

Just as Antipas frowned, wondering what Daniel was saying, the shell of the demon child hit by the cannon began to dissolve. He fell to the ground and began to struggle, his hooves flailing wildly, and several large mouths simultaneously emitted chilling howls.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the demon god's offspring was surrounded by fine water mist.

Meanwhile, in another tank with a distinctly different paint scheme, the commander, after completing his observation, said, "Holy water bomb confirmed to be effective, suppression successful, prepare explosive rounds!"

As the cannon spewed flames, the explosive shell struck the suppressed demon god's offspring with tremendous force, causing a dazzling display of black and fire to erupt from the demon god's offspring's body.

The people who had been silent a moment ago now became even more silent. After confirming that this tactic was effective, the steel monsters from the North began to follow suit, first using those strange shells that produced water mist upon impact to bombard the ground, and then using those terrifying explosive cannons to bombard the area.

All the shells fell like rhythmic raindrops, suppressing the terrifying demon monsters so much that they couldn't even lift their heads—if they had heads at all.

Those on the city wall could no longer distinguish which side was the monster. The monsters below the city wall, howling with their multiple mouths at the same time, now seemed more like victims. But the more these monsters cried out, the more excited the steel monsters on the other side became, constantly approaching and firing their cannons.

It was obvious that the cannons of these steel monsters in the North were not very accurate; several shells even landed on the city walls, causing the people on the walls to retreat in fear. However, after seeing the miserable state of the monsters below the walls, the people on the walls once again erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

The people who had just been stunned were now embracing each other and weeping again.

Cliff, who was already unable to move, was dragged off the city wall by the knights.

Good news: The North is too strong.

Bad news: The North is too strong.

This completely overturned Cliff's imagination of war. Cliff suddenly felt that it might not be a bad thing to honestly follow the prophecy his father had seen.

In the chaos, the chosen demon gods' offspring began to fight back, and the demons with ranged spellcasting bloodline magic finally organized themselves and began desperately throwing spells at the tank units. Even the cannons that Antipa had somehow acquired were brought out to engage in the firefight.

Two tanks were unable to advance due to damaged tracks from overly aggressive tactics, which gave Antipa hope. Although those tanks had a lot of magical coatings, it seemed that those coatings were more to help the tanks resist ranged attacks. If the enemy was too reckless, or if Antipa had a way to get close to those tanks, he might be able to find a way to win.

Antipas's intuition was extremely sharp; he even noticed that the tanks seemed to be incomplete, with their gun barrels not turning flexibly. They were more like armored wagons equipped with long-range cannons and capable of moving on their own. Although this was already terrifying, it also showed that the enemy was not invincible.

Antipas had a misconception that he could win.

"Retreat! Retreat first!"

But for now, we need to retreat and think of a solution later.

As the surging waves of monsters began to recede, and an army waving the banner of the North Wind Bear slowly came into view in the distance, Cliff shouted excitedly, "Open the gates! Open the gates! I want to personally welcome the Governor of the North!"