Ch.177177. Rebellion in the Spirit Realm (2)

I must acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.

In the past, neither I nor the previous Blood Warrior battalions could break through that passage with a frontal assault.

Looking at the numbers alone, we have at most 6,571 soldiers, while the forces guarding the passage exceed 5 million.

No matter how advanced the Magical-Musket might be as the ultimate evolution of muskets, it’s impossible to shoot and kill enemies that outnumber us by nearly 1,000 times.

Even if we were to deploy powerful cavalry mounted on Blood Wolves, they would only achieve mutual destruction against those fearless tight formations.

Moreover, their 10,000 true elite soldiers, who served as the model for Blood Warriors, can fight on equal terms with our forces.

They’re fully equipped with armor made of Orichalcum (divine metal), and though less efficient than ours, they’ve been strengthened to the extreme through various beast transformations.

So in a head-on battle, the normal outcome would be our annihilation under their overwhelming numbers…

But now, with our preparations in place, everything has changed completely.

First, our weapons are on an entirely different level.

Blood Warriors now use Magical-Rifles, an evolution of the Magical-Musket that couldn’t be mass-produced in the material world due to the large amounts of rare resources required.

Charging—reloading takes only about 10 seconds, and each charge allows for 5 shots while increasing firepower by roughly 1.5 times.

Though the range remains the same due to fundamental limitations of magical energy, the firepower has increased by at least 7.5 times.

Additionally, Blood Warriors have been issued lightweight Blood Cannons as squad support weapons, with one cannon for every 10 soldiers.

These can be fired directly while held, used like mortars, and can switch between various ammunition types from shotgun shells to explosive rounds.

But decisively, my confidence in victory comes from something else…

Recently, we succeeded in developing the Magical-Gatling—a multi-barreled, rapid-firing magic-powered weapon that, despite its simple structure and primitive principles, can definitely be classified as an automatic firearm.

The Gatling’s design was accomplished by working Lunifer and his graduate students to the bone, and mass production was solved by simply applying more force to stamp them out.

Naturally, it has many shortcomings compared to not just modern weapons but even the Maxim gun, the first machine gun, due to technical limitations.

It’s basically eight Magical-Rifles bundled in pairs arranged in a square formation that rotate and fire alternately in sequence…

Nevertheless, this is undeniably a form of automatic firearm.

Considering the vast influence that machine guns, the first weapons of mass destruction, had on warfare history, once this was developed, common soldiers became meaningless before me.

Of course, if used by an ordinary person, they couldn’t fire even three shots, and before a mid-level Aura Awakened, it would be truly insignificant.

But… there’s no chance of an Aura Awakened appearing in that passage now, is there?

So now, in that passage interior so similar to a real battlefield, the Magical-Gatling can finally reign as the true nightmare of infantry.

※ ※ ※

Into the passage, red soldiers enter one by one.

Warriors covered head to toe in blood-red armor standing 2.4 meters tall, armed with massive tower shields and reasonably long spears.

These Blood Warriors, reborn from barbarian warriors into elite infantry over time, march forward while others with different equipment are also visible.

One in every ten Blood Warriors carries a lightweight Blood Cannon modified for human use, held at waist level.

Though its firepower is naturally inferior to the original, this weapon might surpass that of the other ten combined.

Also noticeable are the massive war machines among the soldiers.

Protected by thick iron plates painted bright red, these giant magical war machines advance while continuously emitting hot steam.

These are Steam Tanks—true war machines that use dwarven steam engine technology enhanced with magic, employing magical methods flawlessly.

Created solely for this battlefield, these machines are infamously flawed weapons—unnecessarily expensive and difficult to use.

They’re painfully slow, ridiculously costly to produce despite being classified as only Grade 7, and crucially, before mid-level forces, they’re merely moving targets.

But at least now, when no mid-level forces exist in the enemy formation, the combat power of these Steam Tanks overwhelms all their disadvantages.

KWAAANG!! KWAAANG!! KWAAANG!!

TU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU——!!!

PUSHHIIIIIII……!!

The hull is equipped with mounted Blood Cannons from Blood Tanks for close combat, while the rotating turret fires a Magical-Gatling straight ahead into the distance.

Dozens of light beams from the Magical-Gatling pierce through soldiers in the passage, and the Blood Cannon’s blood-chunk high-explosive shells pulverize soldiers beyond.

This mythical battlefield’s far-future war machine pours tremendous firepower against the slaves of gods.

Meanwhile, long-range fire wasn’t coming only from the Steam Tanks.

Near the Steam Tanks, carriage-type Blood Tanks gathered to shower shells, and between these massive war machines, soldiers dug in to establish positions.

They fixed metal shields to the ground as cover, and behind them, soldiers took shelter and began pouring fire with Magical firearms.

The number of light beams fired from the rifle bayonets was so immense that it momentarily created the illusion of light raining down from the sky.

The Blood Cannons that soldiers set up on the ground like mortars hit their targets despite lacking proper firing tables due to sheer numbers.

TU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU——!!!

Crucially, the soldiers could also operate mounted Magical-Gatlings, turning the enemy into literal minced meat with these modern weapons descended upon the ancient world.

But even so, 5 million remained 5 million.

Like inhuman beings, they stubbornly marched forward, trampling endlessly over disappearing corpses and continuing to charge.

How much time passed like this?

In this place where space-time concepts are slightly loose without external observers, after what could only be described as a “long time”…

Slowly but surely, the distance between the two sides began to narrow, and eventually the Blood Warriors’ excellent vision could make out the soldiers on the other side.

And the moment the Blood Warriors caught sight of them…

“What the… hell is that?!”

They couldn’t help but react this way to the horrific appearance of the charging soldiers.

The passage-guarding soldiers that the Blood Warriors witnessed with their own eyes were closer to abominations than humans.

The results of haphazardly stuffing blessings solely for combat power were souls transformed into grotesque monsters with flesh and metal mixed together.

Their appearance was quite shocking in a different way to the Blood Warriors, who were less accustomed to such stimuli than modern people.

To describe them: imagine dipping parts of the body in molten metal, pulling them out, and then modifying that state to allow movement and participation in battle.

The metal, hideously solidified over the skin, had already lost its boundary with the flesh, and if it was on limbs, weapons were welded on top.

Metal plates were nailed directly into their bare bodies, and some had even fused with blacksmith’s tools.

They were clearly products of the blacksmith god Vulcanus. Naturally, monsters touched by all sorts of gods came flooding in.

Though they were disposable assault troops, they numbered around 1 million.

So despite being shot at endlessly, the soldiers gradually approached, and eventually—the Blood Warriors began to retreat.

“Fall back!”

“Back! Back!”

Of course, this retreat was not a rout, so it proceeded quite methodically.

Naturally, they continued firing toward the rear as they withdrew, and the fully automated Steam Tanks with no separate crew held out to the end, returning fire.

KWAAAAAAANG—–!!!!

And shortly after, when the Steam Tanks finally self-destructed in a final blast that blew up the area, the Blood Warriors released Wolf Berserkers and Hounds of Vengeance.

AWOOOOOO!!!

Obviously, the purpose was to buy time.

Before that army of 5 million, a few thousand might be a mere handful, but that would be enough to give time to retreat.

“……..”

Thus, after all Blood Warriors safely escaped without a single casualty…

‘—Now!!’

I pulled out the trump card I had been saving for conquering this passage.