I Pioneered Scientific Magic chapter-368-the-torrent-of-steel-debut-of-armored-vehicles

As the city gates swung open, knights in full gear charged forward at the command! Thunderous hooves pounded the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. These knights, clad in iron armor and wielding long spears, surged like a dark storm toward the wide-open city gates.

"For the glory of the Master!" "Kill those blasphemers against the gods!"

Their thunderous roars, resembling wild beasts, echoed loudly in the morning light, as if poised to tear everything apart. Leading the charge was Gerk, donned in black armor and wielding a massive curved blade. He had observed the intense battlefield from the sidelines for a while, his patience wearing thin. Upon receiving the command, his heart ignited with fervor.

His blade thirsted for action, eager to sever the heads of those blasphemers, to appease the Great Goddess of the Moon with the blood of those wizards! However, contrary to their expectations, what emerged from the city gates weren't reinforcements or fleeing townsfolk but strange two-meter-tall iron boxes with oddly shaped bodies, each with a thick, elongated pipe in the front.

Were these new contraptions devised by the wizards?

Gerk furrowed his brow, sensing something amiss. Yet, the cavalry's momentum couldn't be halted; their only recourse was to charge, charge, and charge again!

"In the presence of the gods!"

Gerk bellowed, a radiant aura of divine magic coalescing around him, concentrating onto his extended blade. He believed the power bestowed upon him by the gods was enough to rend anything! However, they never got close, as the elongated cannon barrels soon thundered.

Facing the hurtling cannonballs, Gerk finally realized that these iron boxes were moving cannons! "Break through!" he roared, wielding his glowing magical blade, meeting the oncoming projectile head-on!

In the next instant, the blade and projectile collided. Amidst the roaring and the neighing of warhorses, Gerk's strike actually cleaved the cannonball in two!

The knights behind him weren't as fortunate. They couldn't withstand the incoming cannonballs; dozens of them screamed as their armored bodies were pierced, the tremendous impact tearing their bodies asunder, flinging remnants several dozen meters away.

Gerk's eyes reddened, his blade swung once more, a sharp aura striking the iron armor, leaving a dent. The alchemical vehicle shook violently but continued unabated, the large cannon barrel booming once more...

Alongside the cannonfire, machine gun rounds were unleashed...

Over these days, Lydia and her companions had crafted five machine guns. Besides the three taken to quell the unrest in the capital, the remaining two were installed on the front two alchemical armored vehicles!

Jets of searing flames spewed from the machine guns, their relentless barrage streaking across the skies like meteors.

While Gerk could shatter the cannons in his path, he couldn't halt this intense fusillade. He redirected all the magical energy sustaining his blade towards defense.

However, a mere second of secondary protection magic couldn't withstand the machine gun's onslaught. Under the relentless hail of bullets, his defenses ruptured, his steel armor torn to shreds, followed by his robust, scar-covered body!

Crimson blood sprayed incessantly; Gerk's body was quickly reduced to a pulp under the onslaught, his face contorted with deep regret, his broken form collapsing under the weight of the heavy wheels...

The onslaught of machine guns and armored vehicles was just the beginning. Massive airships appeared in the skies above the city walls, raining down phosphorus fire, completely overturning the battle!

Even the bishops, though belatedly, realized that something was amiss. The orderly formations, the strange yet powerful steel boxes—it dawned on them that this wasn't an infiltration of the divine punishment troops, but a counterattack by their enemies!

"How is this possible?" murmured a senior bishop, his shock evident. A chilling realization swept over him; this formation meant that Edweil had been defeated!

Despite their reluctance, the bishops couldn't alter the reality. A massive rout was imminent; yet, even escape was now a luxury!

Their two legs simply couldn't outrun the four wheels. Their swords clashed against the thick armor, barely producing sparks, let alone affecting the airborne airships.

This battle swiftly descended into an outright massacre!

The pursuit lasted half a day, spanning from beneath the city to several kilometers away. The land was stained red with blood; over 30,000 surrendered while the estimated casualties exceeded 70,000!

After the battle ended, Ham and his exhausted comrades collapsed into the blood-soaked ground, their cheers resounding throughout the city!

However, despite their decisive victory against the church's punitive army, the losses were unforeseeable.

As the divine punishment troops breached the capital and the incessant magical bombardment, casualties tallied over tens of thousands! The majority comprised the capital guards, lacking firearms and relying solely on close combat, rendering them helpless against the assault.

Nearly one-third of the capital suffered varying degrees of destruction. Over a hundred official wizards and more than five hundred apprentices perished on the battlefield...

Both the scale of casualties and the extent of destruction made Lynn sigh in dismay. As for how the divine punishment troops had stealthily infiltrated the capital, this information had been extracted from those captured.

It was a passage directly from the slums leading to the outskirts' dense forest, secretly constructed by the eldest prince. Known to very few, it had no formal record.

Upon learning this, Lynn promptly dispatched individuals to destroy and conceal the passage, preventing another tragedy.

The pilots of the aerial airships didn't rest for a moment; they were all deployed. Some were tasked with reconnaissance and monitoring the enemy's movements, while others ventured into the Sea of Mist to locate the missing Aurora and others.

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