Trenches, Guns, and Magic

Inside the main hall of the Old Royal Palace, Ferdinand I shot up from his throne.

In his sensory network, the Blood Thralls stationed around the outer courtyard were vanishing at an impossible speed, like a row of candles blown out in a single breath.

"No, this isn't right..."

Ferdinand I's gaze pierced through the stone pillars of the main hall, landing on the main entrance.

The magical fluctuations and the holy aura that made his skin crawl were approaching at an incredible pace.

He had been played.

The fierce assault by the Church's strike team outside the main gate, the suicidal advance of those Paladins—it was all a diversion.

The enemy's true killing blow had dropped from the sky.

As this thought flashed through his mind, several more connections to Blood Thralls outside the hall were severed and vanished.

Ferdinand I clenched his jaw. He could sense the intruder's combat style: fast, precise, and utterly ruthless.

Every strike flawlessly hit a vital spot, carrying a burning power that vampire creatures simply could not resist.

The moment those Blood Thralls touched that power, they were completely purified before they even had a chance to struggle.

Ordinary silver weapons couldn't do this.

"A holy relic of the Church..."

Ferdinand I muttered. Simultaneously, a fear dating back over 400 years surged in his bloodline. Even though it lasted only a fraction of a second, Ferdinand I caught it perfectly.

"So it's settling new scores and old grudges alike... It seems this truly is destined fate."

Beside the throne, Queen Marie also sensed the anomaly outside. Her pale face furrowed into a deep frown.

"How many came?"

"One. Right now, only one person has broken in..."

Ferdinand I answered, tilting his head up as if looking through the dome into the sky.

"But more are falling."

Queen Marie asked no more. She bent down and set aside the rifle leaning against the pillar. She realized that firearms would be virtually useless against the caliber of opponents they were about to face.

She drew the longsword at her waist. The moment the blade left the scabbard, a dark red glow spread along its surface, and the weapon exuded a heavy stench of blood.

Ferdinand I released the armrest, stood up, and picked up the longsword resting next to his throne.

The blade was pitch black. A thumb-sized, blood-red gem was embedded in the crossguard, with liquid faintly flowing inside it.

The instant he gripped the sword, the fleshy tissue throughout the main hall pulsed in unison.

Ferdinand I turned to look at his wife.

A strange sense of relief appeared on the Romanian King's face.

He extended his left hand to Queen Marie, his posture as elegant as it was at the royal ball where they first met.

"My dear, it seems our 'last dance' is starting early... Will you dance with me?"

Looking at her husband's outstretched hand, a smile bloomed on Queen Marie's pale face.

She placed her left hand in Ferdinand I's palm, holding her sword in her right. She stepped to his side, standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Of course... until the music stops and the curtains fall..."

Their fingers intertwined for a moment, then let go simultaneously.

Ferdinand I turned back toward the main doors. He could feel the holy power drawing closer.

Behind the throne, the wall completely covered in dark red flesh suddenly began to writhe violently.

The slowly pulsating vascular tissue swelled and contracted at several times its normal rate, as if heavily stimulated.

The flesh on the wall extended outward, sprouting thick tentacles that thrashed uneasily in the air.

The core of the "Blood River" was reacting to the intruders.

Ferdinand I closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the "Blood River's" mental network. He needed to do two things.

First, recall the elite Blood Thralls and flesh constructs outside.

Second, concentrate the power of the "Blood River" around the main hall to prepare for the coming battle.

When he opened his eyes, flowing dark gold patterns layered over his scarlet pupils.

"Come... let me see exactly what kind of character the Saxons have sent."

Above the Old Royal Palace, the L15 armored airship had just finished a bombing run. The rising black smoke merged with the existing blood-red filter, making aerial visibility extremely poor.

In the sky, twenty-seven "Thunder Warriors" in gray heavy armor formed a line against the blood-red canopy, plummeting toward the ground.

Wind howled in their ears. Through his visor slit, Klaus watched the ground rapidly magnify.

The outline of the Old Royal Palace grew clearer—the flesh-covered buildings, the cratered courtyard, and the pale figures moving about.

Through the smoke, he could faintly see sword lights flashing constantly on the ground... alternating blue and gold, moving rapidly toward the main palace building.

But Klaus also noticed a large number of Blood Thralls pouring out from the corridors and side doors of the main building, trying to flank that sword light from behind.

Just then, several flashes of fire lit up below.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—"

The rattle of heavy machine guns echoed from the ground. Klaus spotted the firing positions mid-air. On a platform on the palace's flank, two Blood Thralls were jointly operating an MG08 heavy machine gun—clearly imported from Saxony before the war—firing straight up into the sky.

Similar scenes played out across several other positions.

These Blood Thralls paired up, launching anti-air attacks in the most primitive way.

Bullets whipped past Klaus. Two rounds even struck his breastplate directly.

Muffled metallic clangs rang out, but under the dual protection of 【Mage Armor】 and physical armor, the 7.92mm bullets merely bounced off, leaving shallow white marks.

"Ignore them! Keep descending!" Klaus shouted through the comms unit.

The "Thunder Warriors" behind him navigated the sparse bullet storm. Occasionally, someone took a few hits, blue magical ripples flashing across their armor, but suffered no real damage.

These heavy machine guns firing 7.92mm rifle rounds were no match for the Mjölnir armor.

But then, a much heavier boom echoed from below.

Klaus's pupils contracted. As the smoke cleared slightly, he saw three Blood Thralls on another platform hauling a 77mm field gun together.

One aimed, one loaded, and the third used both hands to deadlift the barrel, raising the entire gun to an absurd elevation angle.

The muzzle flashed. A high-explosive shell screamed toward the L15 armored airship.

"Boom!"

The shell struck the underside of the airship. The moment it touched the hull, a blue magical barrier flared to life.

The explosion rippled across the barrier and dissipated completely.

The armored airship's mana shield tanked the artillery strike effortlessly.

But a second and third shell quickly followed, hitting different parts of the airship.

Each hit made the ripples on the shield more violent. While it still didn't break, they couldn't just ignore attacks of this caliber.

On the L15's bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Andreas's expression changed.

"Ground fire is attacking the ship!"

Aside from large anti-air magical devices, he had never encountered this situation before.

The armored airship was designed with ground combat in mind, and mana shields were standard.

But before this, no ground unit could lift a field gun to shoot at the sky... because that was physically impossible for humans.

"All weapon turrets! Prioritize ground anti-air targets!"

Following Andreas's order, the heavy machine gun and 20mm autocannon turrets beneath the L15 adjusted their aim.

Inside one of the autocannon turrets, the gunner locked onto the firing position on the Old Royal Palace roof through his optical sight.

Three Blood Thralls in Romanian uniforms were holding a 77mm field gun weighing at least half a ton. One of them was even supporting the back half of the barrel with one hand.

The sight left him stunned, visually driving home the fact that he was fighting "non-humans."

"Absolute monsters, shooting back at us with a cannon on their shoulders..."

The gunner muttered, then slammed the trigger paddles.

The 20mm autocannon roared. A string of tracer rounds smashed into the platform.

The first shell hit the stone railing, blasting shrapnel and debris across the area.

The second directly struck a Blood Thrall's torso. The 20mm high-explosive round detonated inside its body, blowing its upper half into minced meat.

The blast wave knocked the remaining two Blood Thralls away. The field gun tumbled off the edge of the platform and crashed into the courtyard below.

The other anti-air positions were also swiftly silenced by concentrated autocannon fire.

The Blood Thralls pinned down by their heavy machine guns had no chance against 20mm shells. Their regenerative abilities were useless when their upper bodies were blown to pieces.

With the anti-air threat temporarily suppressed, Klaus and the others reached their deployment altitude.

"Activate 【Feather Fall】!"

Twenty-seven spell units triggered simultaneously. Blue magical light illuminated the "Thunder Warriors."

Their rapidly falling bodies decelerated sharply, the heavy armor feeling weightless under the invisible force field.

Ten meters... ...Five meters...

Touchdown.

Klaus's iron boots crushed a layer of charred flesh on the ground as he landed solidly in the Old Royal Palace courtyard.

Behind him, the twenty-six "Thunder Warriors" landed one after another, the sounds of metal striking the ground echoing across the yard.

He looked ahead. Morin was no longer visible. Only the flashing sword lights in the distance indicated the colonel was still fighting and advancing rapidly toward the main hall.

But between them and Morin, hordes of red figures poured out from all directions, trying to cut off their connection.

"Thunder Warriors... crush them."

Klaus hefted his two-handed greatsword and charged.

Behind him, the "Thunder Warriors" wielding MG14 light machine guns activated their spell units almost simultaneously.

Blue magic surged from the circuitry on their armor, flowing down their arms into their weapons. As 【Magic Weapon】 took effect, a faint blue halo coated the light machine guns.

Then, nine MG14s opened fire at once.

The enchanted bullets, trailing blue streaks, rained down on the moving Blood Thralls.

These Blood Thralls, originally sprinting toward Morin, ran straight into the hail of bullets from behind.

The lethal effect of enchanted bullets far exceeded normal ammo, especially against vampires.

Unhealable wounds immediately appeared on the struck Blood Thralls. The residual blue magic on the wounds prevented their flesh from regenerating.

Several Blood Thralls at the back were turned into sieves on the spot. The rest, stunned by the sudden attack, turned around to see what was happening.

They saw twenty-seven gray iron cans charging at them at a surprising speed.

The leading iron can was especially absurd, wielding a two-handed greatsword almost as tall as he was, the blade flashing with blue magic. He looked like a cannonball fired from a barrel.

The Blood Thralls reacted quickly. Several wearing Romanian officer uniforms stepped forward and roared orders. The surrounding Blood Thralls and coerced Blood Servants changed direction and swarmed toward Klaus's unit.

The Blood Thralls also raised their weapons... rifles, submachine guns, and even two light machine guns.

Using the bombed-out building ruins in the courtyard as cover, they returned fire at the "Thunder Warriors."

Bullets plinked endlessly against the Mjölnir armor, but under the dual protection of 【Mage Armor】 and physical plating, these conventional rounds dealt no effective damage.

Klaus didn't slow down.

He drove his left elbow directly into the chest of the first lunging Blood Servant. His modified, terrifying strength transferred completely through the strike.

The Blood Servant's sternum shattered. Its body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, smashing into a wall over a dozen meters away.

Next, Klaus swung his greatsword in an arc over his head, unleashing a ferocious overhead horizontal slash at two Blood Thralls in front of him.

The blade, enhanced by 【Magic Weapon】, met almost no resistance as it carved into the Blood Thralls.

Their necks were easily severed. Blue magical flames spread from the cross-sections, preventing the flesh from healing.

Klaus kept moving, alternating continuous horizontal slashes above his head, each swing carrying a howling gust of wind.

Any vampire trying to approach him was diced to pieces the moment they touched that spinning blue arc of a sword.

If Morin saw this, he would definitely praise Klaus as a "helicopter master."

Behind Klaus, the other "Thunder Warriors" engaged.

The Shield Guards charged at the front with their pump-action shotguns. The lethality of the silver buckshot at close range left the Blood Thralls defenseless.

One Shield Guard didn't even flinch when a Blood Thrall's saber struck the edge of his shield. He shoved his shotgun right into the vampire's face and pulled the trigger.

The Shooters in the back laid down accurate fire with their MG14 light machine guns and M1915 large-caliber rifles with ease. Every enchanted bullet claimed a target.

During the first clash, the Blood Thralls discovered a despairing fact:

These iron cans that dropped from the sky completely outclassed them in strength, speed, and reflexes.

Some slower Blood Thralls were decapitated the moment they charged in, their bodies carbonizing before their heads hit the ground.

Even more baffling to them was the "iron cans'" combat style.

They didn't rely on engagement distance or cover. They actively closed in for melee combat... and in melee, the vampires' vaunted superhuman physiques provided zero advantage against them.

One Blood Thrall tried its tried-and-true "trade injury for a kill" tactic, tanking a shotgun blast to chop at a Thunder Warrior's neck.

The saber, coated in a faint blood aura, struck the Mjölnir armor's gorget. It triggered a violent magical reaction with the 【Mage Armor】, produced a sharp metallic clang, and bounced off.

The "Thunder Warrior" didn't even turn his head. He simply reached out his left hand and grabbed the Blood Thrall's head.

His modified grip strength drove his fingers directly into the Blood Thrall's skull. He hoisted the vampire high into the air and smashed it violently into the ground.

The stone slab shattered into a crater, and the Blood Thrall's head exploded.

A comrade beside him followed up with a stomp, crushing the vampire's remaining life force beneath his iron boot.

In just a few minutes of clashing, this group of vampires attempting to flank Morin was torn to pieces.

Blood Servants fell in droves. Blood Thralls were either chopped down or blasted into sieves by silver pellets.

The few that tried to flee were caught by the MG14's enchanted bullets, sporting a row of smoking holes in their backs.

One Blood Thrall that luckily survived the first wave instinctively hid behind a broken wall, peeking at the battlefield through a crack.

An absurd thought flashed through its mind.

Compared to those iron cans out there, it felt more human...

The moment the thought surfaced, an iron hand smashed through the wall and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.

"Found you..."

Klaus dragged the Blood Thrall out from cover and drove his greatsword through its chest with his other hand.

Blue magic poured into the Blood Thrall. Its body rapidly withered from the wound, turning into a shriveled husk in seconds.

Klaus flicked the residue off his blade and looked ahead.

As the smoke cleared, he finally saw Morin.

The colonel stood about twenty meters from the main hall's entrance. The ground around him was paved with a layer of charred, carbonized remains.

What used to be Blood Thralls and Blood Servants were now black ash and fragments drifting slowly in the breeze.

Morin was finishing up.

Klaus watched his figure flash among the last few Blood Thralls, moving so fast that Klaus could only track him by the blue and gold light trailing from his twin swords.

A blue arc swept across, severing a Blood Thrall's legs at the knees.

A golden flash followed, the 【Thorn of the Sacred Remains】 piercing another Blood Thrall's heart flawlessly.

Golden flames erupted from the sword tip, detonating inside the vampire and burning it to ash from the inside out.

The last Blood Thrall turned to flee, but Morin's silver-edged longsword caught its nape.

A flash of the blade, and the head went flying.

The headless body ran two more steps before collapsing and rapidly carbonizing.

Morin sheathed his swords in the X-shaped scabbards on his back. He tossed a handful of shotgun shells into the air for 【Mage Hand】 to load, and calmly reloaded his double-barreled shotgun.

Klaus led the "Thunder Warriors" to his side.

"Colonel, area secure."

Morin nodded, finished loading, snapped the shotgun shut, and looked up at the massive main doors of the Old Royal Palace's main hall.

The doors were open, the interior pitch black. But an intense, almost tangible stench of blood poured continuously from the entrance.

"Let's go."

On the street outside the Old Royal Palace's main gate, the battle reached a fever pitch.

As Cleric Cristiano's strike team pushed to within two hundred meters of the main gate, they encountered elite vampires charging out from the palace.

The appearance of four flesh constructs instantly reversed the tide of the battle.

These nearly six-meter-tall monsters maintained the basic outline of Armored Knights, but the dark red muscle tissue covering them made them look like nightmares brought to life.

They moved much more agilely than normal Armored Knights. The fleshy structures at their joints granted them a range of motion that exceeded mechanical limits.

Even more disgusting, two heavy machine guns were grafted onto their bodies, currently spraying bullets non-stop at the Paladins and instruction unit soldiers.

The 7.92mm bullets couldn't penetrate the Paladins' white heavy armor, but the dense hail of fire severely restricted their movements.

Not to mention the ordinary instruction unit soldiers, who absolutely could not tank any bullets.

A flesh construct charged forward with heavy steps, its massive fist smashing toward a Paladin locked in combat.

His opponent was a Blood Dragon Knight wearing armor but moving with incredible swiftness. The moment the vampire launched its ambush, it nearly drove its longsword into the Paladin's armpit.

"Watch out!" Cleric Cristiano yelled a warning.

The Paladin dodged sideways, but the flesh construct's fist was faster than anyone expected. The blow sent him flying across the street, smashing a human-shaped crater into the building wall opposite.

"Damn it..." Cleric Cristiano gritted his teeth.

The Paladins' weapons were effective against Blood Dragon Knights, and lethal in one hit against ordinary vampires.

But against flesh constructs of this size, their swords and light machine guns felt inadequate.

Silver-thermite bombs could solve the problem, but these constructs moved quickly. Getting close enough to stick a bomb on them wasn't easy.

The last Paladin who tried was nearly flattened into a meat patty...

Meanwhile, the high-tier Blood Thralls in blood-red armor constantly harassed them.

Every one of them possessed combat prowess far exceeding ordinary Blood Thralls. They moved too fast for the instruction unit soldiers to track. Their longswords dripped with thick blood aura, carrying terrifying power with every swing.

The Holy See Paladins were forced to split their forces to deal with the Blood Dragon Knights, leaving the rest struggling against the flesh constructs' attacks.

The strike team's advance completely stalled.

Just then, a muffled rumble came from the sky.

Nearly twenty tons of steel giants decelerated abruptly a dozen meters above the ground, transitioning from freefall to a slow descent.

"Boom!"

With a massive crash, the bipedal legs of three "Siegfried Mark I - Modified" units hit the ground. The flagstone pavement shattered under the impact. The three steel giants lined up in the street.

The ground tremor made both sides of the skirmish pause for a moment.

Cleric Cristiano grinned beneath his hound-faced helmet.

And the flesh constructs locked onto these three newcomers... or perhaps, their former kin.

Watching these four monsters through the viewport, Ludwig would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

Their appearances shared an obvious lineage with his Armored Knight, or at least a very similar design language.

But the writhing flesh covering their armor plates, and the dark red tendons replacing mechanical joints, made them look like the result of Armored Knights being "infected" by something.

"Unit Two, Unit Three, delta formation. Cover each other!"

Issuing the order, Ludwig piloted his Armored Knight to raise its shaped-charge armor-piercing warhammer.

The three "Siegfried Mark I - Modified" units quickly deployed into an equilateral triangle combat formation.

The flesh constructs didn't hesitate either. The four monsters charged simultaneously.

The two MG08 heavy machine guns grafted onto their bodies spat flames. Bullets pinged against the Armored Knights' frontal armor, completely unable to penetrate.

Two giants of similar size crashed into each other in the middle of the street.