Volume 2 chapter 49
The gates of Talisk Fortress swung open once more.
Clyris rode out first, the vanguard of a new era. Behind her came Seraphina and Plum, leading an army of 120,000 demons.
They marched straight for the Dragonspine Mountains, over a hundred kilometers to the south.
This army was different. Not only were they equipped with rifles, but they also carried a new, terrifying weapon: Heavy Machine Guns.
These were also purchased from Charlo. Specifically, the Second-Generation Heavy Machine Gun of Ironwood.
Ironwood's first generation had been a clone of the Maxim Gun, upscaled to fire a 12.5x108mm Armor-Piercing Round. However, combat against the Baroque Noble Coalition proved that against Fifth-Rank Knights clad in supernatural armor, the 12.5mm round lacked effective lethality beyond 500 meters.
So, Charlo referenced the M2 Browning, upscaled it to 14.5mm, and loaded it with 14.5x140mm Armor-Piercing Incendiary (API) Rounds.
When deployed against the Balar Empire's nobles, this weapon was a revelation. It effortlessly tore through fully armored Fifth-Rank Knights from over a kilometer away, giving the arrogant nobles a healthy dose of "shock and awe."
Of course, such power came with a price. The gun body weighed 60 kilograms, and the total system weight was 78 kilograms. Below the Second Rank, no human could march while carrying this beast and wearing armor.
But the Demon Army had no such weakness. Their lowest rank was Second Rank (the First Rankers were sent to the rear factories). Carrying a 78kg weapon on a forced march was trivial for them.
Clyris bought 3,000 units in one go. For this offensive, she brought 2,400.
Then came the Large-Caliber Mortars. These were domestically produced by the demons.
To suppress Alliance Magic Archers, Clyris didn't bother with a mix of calibers like Charlo. She went straight for the heavy stuff: 150mm Heavy Mortars.
Barrel weight: 80kg.
Baseplate weight: 30kg.
Only the High-Tier Beast Demons (Lion, Tiger, and Elephant tribes) of the Second Rank could carry these and run.
The weight bought devastating firepower. These mortars could lob an 80kg shell over ten kilometers, raining destruction vertically onto enemy heads.
Because of the low chamber pressure, the shell walls were thinner, allowing for a massive explosive filler. Each shell packed 28kg of high explosives—comparable to a 200mm heavy howitzer shell!
Shortly after leaving the city, the 120,000-strong army split into three columns.
Seraphina led one column southeast.
Plum led one column southwest.
Clyris led the center column straight south, targeting the Alliance camp closest to the fortress.
After a day of marching, they arrived forty kilometers from the target.
"Halt!"
Clyris chose to stop at this distance. The army dispersed in an orderly fashion, setting up positions.
She held a map clearly marking the location and shape of the Alliance camp.
They were dug in between two mountains, using the peaks to block sightlines. To prevent ambushes, they had carved observation posts into the rock on both peaks, giving them a commanding view.
With the eyesight of a High-Rank supernatural, a fist-sized object could be spotted from twenty kilometers away.
Combined with patrols, stopping at forty kilometers was already a risk.
But... very soon, the Alliance wouldn't have time to look around.
Clyris ordered her soldiers to set up positions on the flanking hills, aiming their guns down into the open ground below.
Not long after, the sky darkened.
A massive swarm of aircraft, like a storm cloud of steel, roared overhead.
This time, it wasn't just the army. The entire Talisk Air Wing had launched.
3,600 warplanes, split into three formations of 1,200 each. With the Alliance forces dispersed to protect their supply lines, this was the perfect moment for a decapitation strike!
The dense formation was quickly spotted. Alliance Aerial Knights and High-Rank powerhouses took off immediately to intercept.
But the moment they flew out of the valley mouth, they ran straight into Clyris's trap.
DA-DA-DA-DA...
Heavy machine guns spat tongues of fire, drawing lines of light across the sky.
How terrifying is the sight of hundreds of heavy machine guns firing simultaneously?
A Curtain of Light appeared out of thin air. It stretched from the mountainsides, reaching up to 1,500 meters in altitude, then curving downward to rain steel death three kilometers away.
This weapon, named the Type-13 Heavy Machine Gun by Charlo, wasn't just for ground targets. It had potent anti-air capabilities. Its 3,000-meter max range allowed it to engage targets up to 1,500 meters high.
The Aerial Knights, just taking off and gaining altitude, flew right into the meat grinder.
THWACK-THWACK...
14.5mm API rounds slammed into the Giant Eagles. Their feathers, light as down but hard as steel, were punched through like paper. The bullets tumbled inside their bodies, exploding and releasing incendiary compounds. Flesh tore, bones shattered, and organs liquified.
The eagles let out shrill screams, feathers scattering like snow, before being torn apart by the relentless hail of lead.
The knights fared little better. Their supernatural armor saved them from the initial impact—the bullets lost significant penetration power when fired upward.
But gravity was undeniable. As their mounts died, the flightless knights fell from the sky like meteors. They smashed into the earth, their supernatural armor shattering on impact, turning the proud warriors into unrecognizable piles of meat paste.
"Kill them! Take out the ground fire!" A Seventh-Rank Knight shouted, bullets pinging harmlessly off his high-level barrier.
"Focus on the aircraft! Intercept the bombers! That's the priority!!" Another knight screamed, ignoring the ground fire to charge at the bomber formation approaching the camp.
At that moment, hundreds of escort fighters peeled off to engage the High-Rank powerhouses.
Without the screen of Aerial Knights, the few dozen High-Rank elites were exposed. The fighters used their absolute numerical advantage to swarm them, walling them off from the bombers.
Occasionally, one would break through, only to be isolated and gunned down by the concentrated defensive fire of the bomber formation.
"ARGH!!"
An Eighth-Rank Knight smashed a fighter to pieces with his bare hands, tanking the fire of another as he charged the bombers.
Dozens of cannon shells struck his body, failing to slow him down. It wasn't until a 75mm Armor-Piercing Shell from a bomber's tail gun slammed into his chest that his momentum halted.
Yet, he didn't lose consciousness. He stood stubbornly in the air, refusing to fall.
Then, a fighter plane, cannons blazing, charged him head-on. It closed to within dozens of meters.
At this range, the 40mm cannons could penetrate an Eighth-Rank defense. But at this range, the pilot had no time to dodge the broken body of the knight.
CRASH!!
The plane slammed into the knight, blossoming into a black firework of death in the sky.
This was but one corner of the brutal air war. Blood and steel shards rained down from the azure sky, staining the clear late-summer air with the cruel color of war.
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.