Trenches, Guns, and Magic

That evening, the telegram arrived at the Kingdom of Romania Army General Staff.

This was already the second urgent telegram sent from the Carpathian Mountain defense line within a single day.

The first one arrived in the morning, stating: “The enemy has launched a large-scale attack on the pass. Repelled, but the enemy has sufficient troop strength, excellent equipment, and tight organization. Requesting reinforcements.”

At that time, the General Staff’s reaction was relatively calm.

The border defense troops on the Carpathian Mountains and the Austro-Hungarian mountain troops had been fighting back and forth for a long time; this wasn’t the first time reinforcements had been requested.

So the Romanian General Staff, following standard procedures, prepared to dispatch nearby border defense troops to strengthen the defense.

But the contents of the second telegram that arrived in the evening made these high-ranking officers of the General Staff feel as if the sky had fallen.

What did it mean that a massive armored airship, suspected to be a “new type of transport assault vehicle,” had appeared?

What did it mean to request consideration of contingency plans for after the pass fell?

You must understand, the Romanian home defense troops had built up their confidence through years of border conflicts with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

So most frontline commanders would, at most, only request support… If even they believed the pass would fall, it meant the enemy’s offensive far exceeded expectations.

It’s not that the Kingdom of Romania Army General Staff hadn’t run simulations prior to this.

When the Saxon-Austro-Hungarian allied forces shattered the Serbian Army’s main force and bore down on Belgrade, they had guessed whether the Saxon and Austro-Hungarian Empires would consider attacking Romania to relieve the pressure on Bulgaria.

But they absolutely never expected the Saxons to move so fast.

Within a few days, they not only moved elite attack forces to the foot of the mountain, but now even that iconic armored airship was in position.

You have to know, even when fighting the main force of the Serbians, the Saxons hadn’t deployed their armored airships…

Although this feeling of being “valued” by the enemy had a certain unique flavor, the Romanians clearly didn’t really want to experience it.

Chief of the Army General Staff, General Ferdinand Mavrocordatos, walked up to the large-scale map hanging on the wall, looking at the markers just urgently updated by the staff personnel.

From the Predeal Pass to the capital, Bucharest, the straight-line distance was 112 kilometers, and the road distance was less than 150 kilometers.

Along this 150-kilometer route, the terrain suitable for defense could be counted on one hand—the high grounds on both sides of the Prahova River Valley could serve as one ambush zone, and the Kingdom’s most important radiant crystal mining area, Ploiești, was another.

Beyond that lay the flat Wallachian Plain, completely indefensible.

“Gentlemen.”

General Ferdinand turned around, looking at the assembled staff officers and department heads.

“From the pass to the capital, based on the normal marching speed of current national armies, the enemy vanguard could reach the city walls of our capital within a week at the earliest.”

“If the opponent has a large number of vehicles and good logistical supply, this time will be even shorter.”

Hearing this conclusion, the officers in the conference room immediately began discussing and arguing. The generals’ faces were ashen, their voices rising and falling.

“We must reinforce the Predeal Pass immediately.”

“That is our last line of defense!”

“But we don’t have much mobile troop strength left within our borders…”

“Then send all remaining garrison troops over!”

“Along with the police and reserves—anyone who can hold a gun, send them up!”

The Chief of the General Staff slammed his hand heavily on the table, cutting off the arguments.

“Quiet.”

He swept his gaze around the conference room before speaking:

“Can anyone offer some operable suggestions, rather than continuing this empty talk at a time like this?!”

“General…” a staff officer raised his hand cautiously. “Our main force in Bulgaria—”

“I know what you want to say.” General Ferdinand interrupted him.

He looked back at the map, taking up his pointer and drawing a line from Bucharest to the Kingdom of Bulgaria theater in the south.

The main force of the Kingdom of Romania’s Army was currently engaged in fierce combat with the enemy within the borders of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

In exchange for the Kingdom of Romania dispatching troops to attack the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Britannians and the Balkan Coalition had offered extremely generous terms.

These included, but were not limited to, ceding the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Transylvania region to Romania after victory, while also allowing the Kingdom of Romania to participate in the territorial partition of the Kingdom of Bulgaria…

The territory of the Kingdom of Bulgaria was only so attractive.

But for the Romanians, who had always coveted Transylvania as a “buffer zone,” the first condition was almost impossible to refuse.

Just like right now… because there was no buffer zone, once the enemy crossed the Carpathian Mountains, they could slaughter their way to the capital in a matter of minutes.

So the Romanians gritted their teeth, conducted a national mobilization, and sent their main army to strike into the Kingdom of Bulgaria from the north.

But now, the allied forces of the Saxons and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had directly shoved their guns at their front door.

Chief of the General Staff General Ferdinand looked at the enemy and friendly positions on the map, sneered coldly, and made his final decision.

“First, all remaining home defense troops within our borders are to immediately reinforce towards the Predeal Pass!”

“Second…”

He took a deep breath and paused.

“Notify the Third Army on the Bulgarian front line. Order them to immediately withdraw one corps from the front and return home by rail as quickly as possible.”

“One corps?!” A high-ranking officer stood up in shock.

“I think that’s too few! If our railway capacity were larger, I would gladly pull the entire army back!”

General Ferdinand said bluntly.

This high-ranking officer, usually responsible for liaison with the Coalition, could only brace himself and say: “General, withdrawing tens of thousands of troops suddenly—what about the offensive in Bulgaria? How will we explain this to our Entente allies?”

General Ferdinand didn’t answer this question.

He walked to the window, looking at the brightly lit streets of Bucharest, and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he said only one sentence.

“If the capital falls, what is the point of Transylvania?”

The conference room plunged into silence once more, but no one raised an objection.

That night, an encrypted telegram from the Kingdom of Romania Army General Staff was dispatched from the central telegraph station in Bucharest, transmitting southward along the telegraph lines laid along the Danube River to the forward command post within Bulgaria.

The police and reserves in the capital, Bucharest, were also fully mobilized and began distributing weapons.

The Army General Staff also briefed King Ferdinand I of Romania on the situation that night, advising him to relocate to Constanța on the Black Sea coast as soon as possible, along with other royal family members and the Kingdom’s parliament.

For the Kingdom of Romania soldiers manning the multiple defensive positions around the Predeal Pass, tonight was destined to be sleepless.

Half the sun had already sunk behind the mountains to the west, and the sky was darkening at a visible rate.

In a trench, several Romanian soldiers leaned against sandbags, clutching somewhat hardened black bread and taking intermittent bites.

Suddenly, a low hum came from in front of the position.

The sound was distant at first, but quickly grew clearer, even causing fine ripples to appear in the accumulated water at the bottom of the trench.

The soldiers stopped what they were doing and poked their heads out to look down the mountain.

They saw that the behemoth that had landed during the day was actually flying again.

The massive hull of the L15 armored airship cast a giant shadow in the afterglow of the sunset, slowly advancing toward the pass’s defensive positions.

“What kind of monster is that…”

A young Romanian soldier swallowed hard, dropping the bread in his hand into the muddy water without retrieving it.

To the Romanian soldiers in the position, the aerial war machine brought both fear and astonishment. In their hushed discussions, this enormous airship was like a creature straight out of mythology.

The L15 armored airship eventually stopped about two kilometers away from the position, and then its altitude began to climb steadily.

Two thousand meters… two thousand five hundred meters…

It then hovered at a medium distance.

Just as the Romanian soldiers in the position were discussing the aerial war machine, sharp shrieks suddenly tore through the evening air, finally exploding on the surrounding mountains, followed by the rumble of artillery from the distance.

The enemy artillery below the mountain had opened fire.

However, the first volley landed very scattered. Several shells hit barren slopes hundreds of meters away from the position, blasting dirt into the sky. A few more landed directly on surrounding ridges. The accuracy could be said to be off by a hundred thousand miles.

“Terrible aim! These Saxons have no idea how to shoot artillery in the mountains!”

A bolder sergeant mocked loudly, trying to ease the tension of the surrounding soldiers.

But in the command bunker at the highest point of the pass, Lieutenant Colonel Popescu wasn’t laughing.

Holding his binoculars, he stared fixedly at the hovering armored airship in the sky, feeling certain the enemy wasn’t just hovering there for no reason.

The second, third, and subsequent volleys arrived quickly.

And the Romanian soldiers in the position could no longer laugh.

Because as the number of volleys increased, the impact points of the shells noticeably converged toward the center of the position. Until a 105mm high-explosive shell directly hit a protruding rocky outcrop near the position. The violent explosion instantly shattered the multi-ton boulder.

Rocks of all sizes, mixed with shrapnel, flew in all directions at extremely high speeds.

Several Romanian soldiers who couldn’t dodge in time were struck by the flying rocks on the spot, screaming as they fell into pools of blood.

“Take cover! Everyone retreat to the bomb shelters and tunnels!” Lieutenant Colonel Popescu roared at the messengers.

Mountain pass positions naturally have an abundance of rocks. The geological structure here guaranteed that artillery explosions would produce terrifying secondary damage. The lethal effect of those flying rocks was no worse than shrapnel.

The Romanian soldiers who had been watching the show outside, or attempting to locate the enemy artillery positions below the mountain, scrambled and crawled back into the trenches and bunkers.

More and more bombardments followed, and the accuracy was visibly increasing.

Shells exploded almost right at the edge of the trenches. The deafening explosions echoed back and forth in the narrow valleys, hurting people’s eardrums.

In the command post, Lieutenant Colonel Popescu quickly received casualty reports from various positions.

Based on this fragmented information, the Romanian officer finally confirmed his most dreaded suspicion.

The Saxons were using that massive armored airship for artillery spotting. That airship was currently acting as an artillery observation balloon with an excellent field of view.

The observers on the airship could clearly see the impact point of every shell, and then transmit the correction data via radio to the artillery positions below the mountain.

Lieutenant Colonel Popescu deeply felt the meaning of powerlessness, because there wasn’t a single weapon in the pass’s defensive positions capable of reaching the aerial war beast.

Even heavy machine guns and mountain guns at maximum elevation were completely useless against an airship hovering above three thousand meters.

He could only watch helplessly as the enemy’s bombardment grew increasingly precise.

“Send orders to the artillery positions: open fire! Suppress the Saxon artillery below the mountain!” Lieutenant Colonel Popescu slammed his fist hard against the dirt wall.

The regimental adjutant hesitated upon hearing this order.

“Commander, we can’t pinpoint the enemy’s exact location. Firing blindly will expose our artillery emplacements.”

“Then lay down suppressive fire!! It’s better than just sitting here getting bombed!”

The several mountain guns of the Romanian defenders finally roared, pouring shells toward the general direction down the mountain.

However, to Popescu’s surprise, after firing a few more precise volleys, the enemy artillery below actually ceased fire entirely.

Immediately following, as the sun completely vanished below the horizon, the sky quickly darkened, and the entire mountainous region was plunged into pitch blackness.

Under these circumstances, let alone counter-battery fire, even finding the enemy artillery positions below became a problem.

After blindly firing dozens of shells, the Romanian artillery had no choice but to cease fire in frustration.

Quiet returned to the positions, with only the groans of the wounded and the hurried footsteps of medics echoing in the night wind.

Just as Lieutenant Colonel Popescu was reviewing the hastily compiled casualty reports, the artillery battalion commander of this garrison force—an old officer with a face covered in gunpowder soot—lifted the flap of the command post and walked in.

“Lieutenant Colonel, something’s not right.” The old officer took off his helmet and wiped the sweat from his face. “The Saxons weren’t conducting fire preparation.”

Popescu turned his head.

“What do you mean?”

The old officer walked to the map, tapping it with a calloused finger.

“The frequency of their bombardment just now wasn’t actually that high. They paused for quite a while after every volley. That’s not how you lay down suppressive fire at all.”

Popescu: “You mean…”

“They were ranging their shots from beginning to end, sir,” the old officer said gravely.

Popescu’s heart sank, and a terrifying possibility suddenly hit him.

“Are you saying they used the last light before nightfall and that airship to accurately map the coordinates of our main positions?”

The old officer nodded heavily.

“Not just that… The enemy artillery has highly likely already set all their firing data. This way, even with poor visibility at night, their artillery can fire directly based on the ranged parameters! And our artillery is completely blind at night, totally unable to counter them!”

Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Popescu felt his vision go dark.

“We’re doomed…”

Because if that was true, it meant the enemy would highly likely launch an attack under the cover of darkness.

With precise artillery cover, the success rate of a night raid would increase drastically.

Although he didn’t know when the Saxons would choose to attack the pass positions, there was only one thing he could do right now.

“Order all companies to heighten vigilance! Increase night watch personnel. All security positions must maintain double sentries! The moment you spot movement below the mountain, fire signal flares immediately!”

The messenger took the order and left. Lieutenant Colonel Popescu walked back to the observation slit. Looking out at the pitch-black mountains, he realized that for the Romanian soldiers in the position, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Coincidentally, L15 armored airship captain Lieutenant Colonel Andreas also became one of the insomniacs tonight.

After the armored airship completed its artillery spotting and landed back on the field maintenance platform, he handed all duties over to Executive Officer Grigor. Then, like the other off-duty crew members, he returned to the captain’s quarters to sleep.

According to the current preliminary plan, the L15 would deploy for an assault mission in the latter half of the night. He had to catch up on sleep now to prevent being sluggish later.

Andreas lay on the relatively soft bed, eyes squeezed shut, trying to steady his breathing.

But the moment he thought about that insane plan, he found he couldn’t sleep at all.

He never expected that after arriving in the mission area with the airship, the first core mission he would receive was preparing to drop the entire Kampfgruppe commander and three Armored Knights from mid-air.

Even in plains regions, such an unprecedented mission would be considered an extremely dangerous experimental project.

Not to mention they were in the Carpathian Mountains, an area with complex air currents and rugged terrain.

True, at the beginning of the war, Morin had led assault troops, utilizing an armored airship’s breach, to drop from the sky into the Liège Fortress.

That operation successfully created chaos, helping the main force quickly bypass that hard bone known as the “strongest fortress in Europa”…

This battle became a legendary tale within the Imperial Air Force, and the Air Force General Staff even organized a dedicated group to study this kind of aerial assault and airborne tactics.

But the problem was, the status of Friedrich von Morin was vastly different now.

He was now an Army Colonel, the overall commander of a Kampfgruppe of over ten thousand men, the supreme mastermind behind this Carpathian Mountain surprise attack.

A person like this actually intended to personally participate in the assault? And air-drop with three eighteen-ton Armored Knights?

“Are you kidding me?!”

Lieutenant Colonel Andreas sat up abruptly, various thoughts colliding in his head.

He admitted that the Air Force had long begun testing loading Armored Knights onto armored airships and conducting rapid deployment.

But all those tests were conducted at safe rear bases, and were far from entering the practical combat phase.

Who would have thought he’d run smack into it himself?

Upon learning of this dangerous mission, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas originally thought Morin’s subordinate officers would raise some objections, fighting tooth and nail to stop their commander from taking the risk.

But to his utter surprise, those Army officers seemed completely accustomed to Morin personally participating in assaults.

A few young officers even seemed eager to try, wanting to jump with him.

“Seriously, what kind of people make up the Imperial Army…”

Andreas let out a groan, rolled over, and buried his head in his pillow, forcing himself to fall asleep quickly.

Meanwhile, in the cargo bay area at the bottom of the airship.

While some couldn’t sleep tonight, others were dead tired.

Morin was one of those dead tired people.

He was currently yawning while watching the loading of the Armored Knights with Ludwig.

Technicians bustled between the massive mechanical legs, using specially made locking mechanisms to secure the Armored Knights firmly to the load-bearing base plates of the cabin.

Soon, the massive elevator of the L15 armored airship’s cargo bay began operating, emitting a deep mechanical grinding sound.

Thick steel cables pulled taut, slowly hoisting the three prepared “Siegfried Mark I” units into the Armored Knights’ dedicated cabin.

Looking at Morin, who had been yawning non-stop beside him, Ludwig couldn’t help but speak up.

“Are you sure we can jump down with you while piloting the Armored Knights? These things weigh eighteen tons! If we fall, we won’t even find intact corpses.”

Morin rubbed his eyes and waved his hand.

“Relax, you won’t die~ When I was at the Teutonic Knights forward base previously, I discussed this with Director Sims and Master Staudinger. As long as there is a pilot inside, the Armored Knight can also be affected by [Feather Fall].”

Hearing Morin’s words, Ludwig’s eyes widened.

“So you plan to cast magic on us?”

“Right. That’s also why the three of you need to stay inside the Armored Knights. Otherwise, on just an empty Armored Knight, [Feather Fall] really wouldn’t take effect.”

Morin spoke nonchalantly, then suddenly seemed to remember something and added:

“By the way, when we’re about halfway down the jump, I’ll activate [Feather Fall] for the three Armored Knights. Don’t worry!”

Ludwig and the other two Teutonic Knights froze on the spot.

“Wait, Friedrich, what nonsense are you sprouting! Not activating it from the start, but waiting until we’re halfway down?”

“Yeah.”

Morin nodded as if it were a matter of course.

“This is learning from the lesson at the Liège Fortress… Back then, [Feather Fall] was activated too early, people drifted in the sky for too long, and were blown by the wind. Several assault troops drifted far away, and it took half a day to find them.”

Morin pointed to the night sky outside.

“The terrain here is special. Below are all valleys and cliffs. If you land outside the pass positions, you and your machines will plunge straight into the valley, and then we really won’t be able to dig you out… So we must ensure the precision of the landing point.”

“The solution is to let the Armored Knights free-fall, and when we are close to the ground, I will use [Feather Fall] to decelerate you… This ensures both speed and controls the landing point.”

Ludwig swallowed hard, his throat feeling a bit dry: “What if you cast the spell half a second too slow?”

Morin smiled slightly: “Then you’ll become metal pancakes.”

Looking at Ludwig’s expression, Morin burst into laughter and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t be nervous, my friend… I’ll literally cling to your outer armor and jump down with you. And I have a lot of confidence in my casting speed!”

“Furthermore, I believe that once this tactic matures in the future, Armored Knights can be fully equipped with [Feather Fall] modules, allowing pilots to choose the activation time themselves. Then I won’t need to jump with you.”

Speechless, Ludwig could only stare blankly at the three secured steel behemoths.

After the Armored Knights were loaded, Morin, Ludwig, and the others also boarded the airship to rest in the temporary cabins.

Almost as soon as Morin’s head hit the pillow, he began breathing evenly.

He fell asleep instantly, leaving Ludwig and the other two Armored Knight pilots looking at each other in dismay.

The cabin was filled only with the slight vibration of the airship engines idling.

Ludwig looked at the other two.

“Can you sleep?”

The two elite Teutonic Knights, who were considered battle-hardened veterans, looked nervous and shook their heads vigorously.

“My Lord, it would be weird if we could sleep…”

Ludwig sighed, lay on his bed, and pulled the covers up.

“Even if you can’t sleep, close your eyes. Make the most of the time to rest for a bit. In a few hours, we’re going to experience free-fall.”

Time slipped away quietly in the darkness, soon arriving at 4:00 AM the next day.

The Romanian defenders on the Predeal Pass position endured an extremely long night.

In the first half of the night, worried the enemy would sneak up in the dark, most people were highly tense and couldn’t sleep at all, their nerves stretched to the limit.

Torches and searchlights on the position swept the mountain slopes ahead from time to time. Any rustle of the wind or grass would draw a burst of blind firing.

But as time passed, there was no movement below the mountain.

Human energy is limited. The exhaustion following high tension is often more fatal.

At 4:00 AM, the most vulnerable point of the human biological clock, many could no longer hold on.

In the trenches, besides a few duty sentries forcing their eyelids open, the vast majority of Romanian soldiers hugged their rifles and fell into deep sleep. Some were even snoring loudly.

Meanwhile, in the valleys below the pass, the situation was the exact opposite.

Lines of soldiers were marching rapidly and silently.

These instruction unit soldiers and Austro-Hungarian mountain infantry, who had gone to sleep early yesterday, woke up punctually at 3:30 AM under the low shouts of their NCOs.

No clamor, no lights.

Everyone expertly checked their gear in the dark, chambered rounds in their rifles, and hung grenades in the most accessible spots on their chests.

Then, the massive force rapidly transitioned from a camped state to a marching state, sneaking toward the target area along predetermined routes.

After half an hour of forced marching, these soldiers had approached their respective mission areas, finally lying silently in wait on the cold rocks and dirt at the assault jump-off positions less than a kilometer from the Romanians’ pass positions.

Just then, a low hum sounded from the sky to the rear—the L15 armored airship took off.

Its massive bulk almost blended with the darkness of the night sky; only the roar of its engines echoed through the valleys.

This noise quickly woke the Romanians on the pass positions.

A few sentries jolted awake, rubbing their eyes and trying to locate the source of the sound in the night sky.

Lieutenant Colonel Popescu also tumbled out of his camp bed in the command post, grabbing his webbing and running outside.

Before they could make any substantial reaction, the Kampfgruppe’s bombardment began.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The artillery positions below the mountain instantly spat out dazzling tongues of flame, turning half the night sky crimson.

The various artillery units, which had already established simplified firing tables before the sun went down yesterday, now had a very simple task:

Input the data, and deliver a continuous stream of shells onto the enemy positions.

The precise night bombardment displayed terrifying lethality.

The first wave of shells landed flawlessly on the Romanians’ forward positions. Soldiers still deep in sleep were swallowed by the explosive firelight before they could even scream.

The fierce artillery fire completely suppressed the Romanian soldiers in the known positions, forcing them to huddle tightly in trenches and bunkers, covering their heads with their hands to evade the bombardment.

The bombardment was not only suppression, but the signal to initiate the assault.

Halfway up the mountain, the instruction unit and Austro-Hungarian mountain infantry lying in the dirt rose simultaneously.

“Forward!” The officers issued the order in low voices.

Soldiers lit torches and turned on flashlights.

Points of limited brightness interwove on the dark mountain slopes, illuminating the steep paths leading to the pass.

Masses of infantry, weapons at the ready, launched a ferocious assault toward the pass under the cover of artillery fire.

The Romanian observation posts on the pass positions noticed this scene.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

The sentries frantically beat alarms and blew sharp whistles to warn the others, the shrill sounds seeming weak and desperate amidst the explosions.

But under the precise artillery preparation, the other Romanian soldiers simply had no capacity to stop the allied advance. Anyone who dared leave the trenches and bunkers would immediately be struck by flying shrapnel and scree.

A full twenty minutes of artillery preparation.

When the bombardment finally ceased, the entire Predeal Pass position was completely shrouded in smoke and dust.

The traumatized Romanian soldiers looked up, staring at each other. Many had blood seeping from their ears, unable to hear anything.

“Into positions! Prepare for combat!” Officers continuously ran through the trenches, waving pistols and shouting themselves hoarse.

Hearing the orders, the Romanian soldiers quickly grabbed their weapons, stepping over the corpses of their comrades and the scree to rush toward the outer defense lines.

They knew the enemy infantry must have already crept close.

However, as the ringing in their ears gradually faded, a strange sound reached them.

It wasn’t the battle cries of an infantry charge, nor was it gunfire.

It was the massive noise of piston propellers churning the air, and this sound was extremely close to them, almost right overhead.

Lieutenant Colonel Popescu, who had just rushed out of the command post trying to find a better observation point, abruptly looked up. The surrounding Romanian soldiers also stopped in their tracks, looking up into the night sky.

By the light of the fires burning on the position, they faintly saw a gargantuan dark shadow, indescribable in words, hovering directly above their position.

Heavy armor plates gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the firelight, and the hatch at the bottom was slowly sliding open.