Mage? Magic Engineer!

Since acquiring a "safe flotation gas," the Empire’s Airships had been put into use more aggressively.

After the Empire Army pushed deep into enemy territory and unexpectedly engaged in fierce combat with the National Guard, the Airship units braved the harsh weather, accelerating their deployment to the front lines. Their goal was to supplant artillery, delivering a devastating blow to the enemy from the sky.

Unfortunately for them, their scheme would not succeed.

All the Airships commandeered from the Central Port District had taken flight. Most of them had not even undergone military retrofitting, but they carried the most dangerous weapon of all—Casters.

When the two forces met, an Empire Airship was destroyed without any warning. The Military Mages still on the ground immediately realized that their Valois counterparts were on the enemy Airships.

If on the current battlefield Casters chose to remain hidden to avoid being marked as high-priority targets, then the sky was, for the moment, an exception. The airspace was a domain beyond the reach of ground troops, and it was clear that neither the Empire Army nor the Valois people had the experience or the anti-air weaponry to deal with it.

Realizing this, the Empire Airships all began to urgently lower their altitude, dangling ropes. At the same time, a call went out on the public channel of the Radio Communication Skill for all Military Mages to immediately board the Airships to protect their own and attack the enemy.

Casters who could fly simply ascended directly into the air. As expected, their Valois counterparts were already lying in wait.

Mages began to chase each other, circling the Airships. Those who could maneuver freely in the air were clearly no ordinary Casters; they hurled lethal Magic at one another. Meanwhile, the more numerous Low Level Mages and even Apprentices used the Airship platforms to provide Protection and to apply Protection and Enchantments to all the weapons on board.

In an instant, the battle between the two sides’ Airships resembled a naval battle from a bygone era. The slow-moving Airships were like great sailing ships, their speed limited by the wind. And their firepower—whether from the weapons carried by the Airships or the Projectiles and Rays from the Mages—was most ferocious from their broadsides.

Thus, the famous "Crossing the T" tactic could be seen in the sky, with one squadron of Airships cutting across an enemy’s bow to unleash a furious attack.

From the ground, whenever the Airships met broadside to broadside, they would erupt in brilliant flashes of light. There was scorching red Fire, dangerous and arcane blue-violet energy, and the unfurling of various Shields, causing the rain-veiled sky to flicker incessantly.

Then, a Valois Airship suddenly accelerated toward an Empire Airship.

The targeted Empire Airship was not afraid. They had already discovered that these huge Valois vessels were ultimately civilian transports, inferior to the Empire’s standard-issue armed Airships in both speed and maneuverability.

The blood-crazed crew had no intention of evasive maneuvers. Instead, they raised the Shields around the hull and readied their Magic, adopting a ’who’s afraid of whom’ stance. They even accelerated toward the enemy vessel, attempting to seize the T-position for themselves.

"Wait! Evasive maneuvers, now! Ascend or descend, damn it!"

Just as the Empire Airship successfully seized the T-position and prepared to fire a volley at the oncoming vessel, someone noticed the Valois scum jumping from their Airship in droves. Some had parachutes, while others cast the Feather Fall Skill on themselves. A Mage with magically enhanced vision even saw the enemy flipping them the bird as they leaped.

The Empire’s Airships had been modernized long ago, which made them subconsciously overlook one thing: the gasbags of older airships were filled with highly explosive Lightweight Flammable Element.

Coincidentally, none of the Valois’s "Aerial Bombs" had yet been detonated in the engagement. Perhaps they had also updated their Protection methods, making their gasbags safer and more reliable. But without a doubt, this deathly aerial package speeding toward them had certainly had those measures disabled.

"There’s still distance, shoot it down! Quick!"

In the instant the Imperial Airship commander screamed, a Spiritual Light flashed across the "kamikaze ship" from bow to stern. In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two vessels suddenly closed by a fraction.

A fatal fraction.

The first brilliant firework of the aerial battlefield bloomed. Rapidly expanding gas instantly engulfed the two aerial Giant Beasts. They were now completely entangled, both of them burning, twisting, and plummeting from the sky.

Several more Airships subsequently crashed. Some on the Valois side had their gasbags pierced and exploded without managing to take an enemy down with them.

Regardless, these civilian Airships had served their purpose to the fullest. Without their sacrifice, the enemy’s aerial Giant Beasts would be brazenly strolling overhead, circling and dropping bombs on the soldiers below. Now, the two forces were locked in a fierce struggle, a battle of attrition for their Casters as well.

’Is that so? Understood...’ On the front lines, Major General Hench received the final report from an Airship. It had observed from high altitude that an army, not appearing to be Valois, was approaching the battlefield. They were led by a large cavalry detachment with seemingly archaic equipment, followed by soldiers in conspicuous, predominantly bright red uniforms.

’It’s the Istani army...’ Richard Hench studied the map, predicting where the newly-arrived force might enter the fray.

’It’s too long. Our front line is stretched too thin...’ He hadn’t expected the National Guard to open hostilities along a front more than two hundred kilometers long simultaneously. This placed extreme pressure on the Empire Army’s logistics. As he pushed the marker representing the Istanis onto the front line on the map, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Their target, of course, was the Royal Family’s hunting grounds—the Boundary Land where the two rivers met!

The Valois people were still firmly dug in here. Although their troops had been rotated twice, Garisha had already thrown a total of ten corps at this key point. Four and a half corps were currently continuing the resistance. The equally headstrong Empire had raised the stakes, committing three corps to the east of the "wedge" and two to the west, but they still couldn’t break through.

And this new force joining the battle would act as a "hammer," driving the "wedge" embedded in the Empire’s front line. If they couldn’t withstand this blow, the Empire’s line might even collapse at this very focal point!

The cautious Hench immediately looked at other parts of the map, scanning the Empire Army’s markers one by one. To his despair, he found that all his fighting forces were already inextricably locked in combat with the enemy. There wasn’t a single deployable corps or reserve unit left to reinforce this position.

The Empire Army had reached its limit. But the Valois people, as masters of this land, were throwing everything they had at their uninvited guests. A steady stream of wounded were rotated out from the front, while fresh soldiers continually arrived from the capital in horse-drawn carriages and inexplicably, trucks, rushing to the battlefield.

Even if this strategic focal point didn’t crumble, a rout could begin at any moment somewhere along the 220-kilometer front.

’Then the only option... is a deliberate retreat...’

Richard Hench came to a bitter conclusion. Once they retreated, they would never have another chance to reach this place...

He thought for a moment, but the tactical situation didn’t allow for lengthy deliberation. He took his marked-up map and found the supreme commander. "General, please give the order to retreat!"

The old general’s eyes widened in fury. "Son, give me one reason not to have you shot."

Hench was unafraid. "The fighting has continued to this point, and it’s now beyond doubt that we cannot achieve our stated objectives. That being the case, we should cut our losses. If we continue this, letting the Valois and all our soldiers die on these damned riverbanks, then what about the enemies within the Empire’s borders? Are we really going to fight until we don’t have a single soldier left?"

After speaking, he immediately reported the intelligence on the Istani troop movements and his own terrifying hypothesis. Seeing the commander still hesitating, he gritted his teeth and said, "In that case, on behalf of the High Command, I order you to organize an orderly retreat! Consolidate our forces! Don’t let them remain entangled along this long front line any longer!"

He presented his insignia and a personal letter from Helmut. "At this moment, I can speak for the Marshal himself. I will bear full responsibility!"

...

The battle at the Laine River lasted for a day and a night. As dawn was breaking on the second day, the artillery fire gradually subsided. Everyone on the battlefield was utterly exhausted. In theory, they were rotated on the front lines, but here and now, who could possibly have slept soundly?

Deep beneath the Starlight Torch Tower, Kano, who had been waiting all night, received a message. "The battle is ending?"

"Yes. The Empire Army has begun to retreat."

"Then begin preparations." On his order, the prototype Starship "Aurora One" readied for launch.