Ch.292292. Frank Front Line (3)

From within the green pillars emerged about 12 people with massive builds, wearing thick green medium armor that matched their size.

Mutations were common among them—some had mosquito antennae growing from their bodies or horns sprouting from their heads. Their armor was half-rotted and decayed, making one doubt whether it still provided any protection.

There were 10 infantry armed with swords, axes, and other weapons dripping with ominous glowing liquid, one soldier presumed to be a standard-bearer holding a banner engraved with the symbol of the “Evil God,” and one “knight” equipped with armor and weapons that might once have been magnificent but were now merely rotting away.

Among them was a rat-human hybrid holding a horrific staff wrapped with decaying entrails—apparently a priest of the Evil God.

These 13 servants of the Evil God—plague worshippers—who seemed to have come out to help, though clearly not on the good side by anyone’s standards, had their backs turned to the Frankish Kingdom as they faced the demons.

Normally, they should have attacked the Evil God’s forces without question, but given the circumstances, there was no choice.

“Target the demons!! Leave those ones be!!”

The commander of this barrier, with the tacit consent of the priests, had no choice but to tolerate them and engage in an unintended joint battle.

Meanwhile, what emerged from the red pillar was—enormous.

The massive machine, standing nearly 10 meters tall, was cast in steel painted red, resembling a giant with its head bowed.

The ignorant peasant conscripts who gazed upon it mistakenly thought it was a golem, but while the foundational technology might be similar, the sophistication of the technology used to create this gigantic War-Machine was on an entirely different level.

Named the Battle-Punishment Machine because it used criminals as its power source, this specific model was the Knight version, specialized for close combat in open fields.

Instead of forearms, it had Blood Cannons with folding aura blades attached to both arms, and on its upper back, it carried a fire support pod bundling several large Magical-Rifles.

This enormous machine with the typical Battle-Punishment Machine—Model Knight configuration, moved its head part to scan the surroundings, and then—

—Woooooong—KWAAAAAAANG!!!!

Without warning, it aimed its Blood Cannon and fired a blood-colored beam, completely obliterating a siege tower while simultaneously unleashing attacks toward the demons.

Thud! Thud—CRACK! Thud! Thud! Thud—CRACK! Thud! Thud—CRACK!

Woooooong—KWAAAAAAANG!!!!

Woooooong—KWAAAAAAANG!!!!

While repeatedly targeting and instantly destroying siege towers with its Blood Cannons, it enthusiastically kicked and trampled demons with its legs, fulfilling every fantasy of a giant bipedal war machine.

[F-Fire!]

—PSHSHSHSHSHSH!!!

KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAANG—!!!

After easily deflecting enemy counterattacks with the aura-protected body’s defenses, it instantly swept them away using the anti-infantry fire support pod on its back.

And while this magnificent giant robot was performing spectacularly, primarily handling the larger targets—

“””””””””UWOAAAAAARGH……..!!!”””””””””

[[[[Great Mosquito Lord, protect us!!!]]]]

In one corner of the battlefield, the green army was sweeping through the demons.

“Come, come! Slaves of the Plague Keeper!! Go-go smash-destroy them!!”

A wave of plague-zombies summoned by the ratman plague-priest’s prayer. These roughly 6,000 creatures were pushing back the demons through sheer numbers alone.

These plague-zombies—the final form of humans or corpses infected with zombie-plague—were comparable to the lowest-tier mobs among demons, so pathetic that it wouldn’t be strange to call them substandard.

Their special abilities were limited to mediocre regeneration and bodies capable of carrying plague (carriers). Despite this, they had almost no outstanding physical attributes.

Bug-level speed, mediocre average strength (attack power), paper-thin defenses, intelligence barely sufficient to swing a club, and vaguely high endurance.

They might be worse than ordinary zombies (9th rank) except for how easily they could be mass-produced through plague infection, but there was one reason the ratman plague-priest deliberately summoned and used these plague-zombies.

That reason was their overwhelmingly cheap cost.

“””””””””UOAAAAARGH……!!”””””””””

“””””””””EUAAAAARGH….!!”””””””””

“””””””””UWOAAAAAARGH……..!!”””””””””

Not only could a mere intermediate priest summon and easily maintain an army of 6,000, but the plague-priest still had plenty of “capacity” left.

To put it bluntly, calculating by magical power, the maximum sustainable number of units would exceed 10,000.

Because of this, the demons had no choice but to devote all their energy to dealing with these green zombies, with no room to spare in this green wave.

Slash!! Slash!!

Without skills like “Undead Tenacity” that normal zombies possess, 8th-rank demons could decapitate them with a single strike, but…

An army of 6,000, mindlessly charging forward—if one could sweep them all away, they would be beyond the level of ordinary lower demons.

“《Plague Explosion》!!”

KWAAAAAAANG!!

With the plague version of corpse explosion magic being fired relentlessly from the rear, the “Plague” army was naturally holding its own against a considerable number of enemy forces.

However…

‘…It’s not enough!’

Something was lacking—even Camille, with his limited insight, could tell that much.

That legendary “Plague” army from stories was merely holding on without the capacity to deliver decisive blows, and that giant golem(?) was busy destroying the emerging siege towers.

Just as Camille felt that a “decisive strike” was needed—

—ZZZZZZZRIP!!

Space split in half as if torn by claws, and from within, massive figures appeared.

‘B-Big…!’

The red-armored warriors who appeared on the wall were so enormously built that Camille unconsciously swallowed.

With bodies at least three heads taller than Camille, they were wrapped in blood-colored full plate armor, with various ornamental decorations of specific shapes attached throughout.

But what drew Camille’s attention most was the weapon in their hands—something that looked like metal tubes bundled in a circular formation.

‘…Is that what they call a musket?’

Having never held any firearms, Camille thought these were muskets, and as the warriors mounted these weapons on the wall and aimed them, he was convinced his guess was correct, but…

The reality was completely different.

The warriors inserted what looked like belts made of connected metal pieces from large metal containers on their backs into the mounted weapons. After several complex mechanical operations, they were finally able to aim at the enemy.

Click!

And immediately after that.

DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU—!!!!!

The metal barrels—gun barrels of the Gatling machine gun—began to rotate furiously, unleashing a torrent of lead bullets rippling with red magical power toward the demons.

The firepower of this cartridge-based multi-barrel machine gun, capable of firing 20mm×102mm rounds at 600 rounds per minute or 10 rounds per second, was beyond words. In just a few seconds, an entire group of demons would completely vaporize under its formidable firepower.

There were six such machine guns in total, with ammunition belts connected to space-compression backpacks containing “at least” 100,000 rounds.

This weapon, a testament to the industrial capability of the Dawn Empire, naturally possessed the ability to absorb the user’s magical power and imbue the bullets with it.

Moreover, holy water was used in every part of the bullet manufacturing process that required water, and various anti-“demon” modifications had been applied to the gun itself, making its power catastrophic to demons.

DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU—!!!!!

In just a few seconds, hundreds of demons were reduced to well-minced meat scattered across the field, and many more survived the gunfire but with severe bodily damage.

DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU—!!!!!

Even in this devastating situation, the heavy weapons squad of the Avenger Legion stoically continued to rain down divine lightning upon the demons.