Ch.323Side Story. Steam and Colony (6)

They failed.

Their invasion ended in a devastating failure.

Duke John Spencer, driven mad by the disappearance of his son, Colonel William Spencer, deployed massive forces toward Callipolis with murderous intent. What greeted them was none other than a military force that seemed to have anticipated their every move.

They had kindly lined the coastline with layers of barbed wire, plastered machine gun pillboxes and bunkers everywhere, and positioned troops along a perfect coastal defense line where artillery fire from the rear rained down relentlessly.

Of course, the great powers of Europa were no fools. They had prepared systematic landing operations in case they encountered enemy forces during the coastal landing.

They operated armored landing craft, sent ironclads to provide artillery support along the coastal waters, and even deployed bipedal war machines to support the landing forces.

They went so far as to deploy the tanks of this era—land battleships covered in armor plating and equipped with numerous gun ports. These land battleships moved using dozens of mechanical legs powered by steam engines.

No matter how much larger they had become or how different their operation was from “that world,” a tank’s job in an amphibious assault remains the same: to protect infantry while demonstrating overwhelming breakthrough power.

Thus, the great powers of the Europa continent, having transported various massive steam-powered war machines to the battlefield, had prepared to break through the self-proclaimed “Colonial Liberation Army’s” defense lines using rather vague and ambiguous intelligence, but…

What the allied landing forces actually witnessed was a coastal defense line prepared beyond imagination and overwhelming firepower that defied conventional understanding.

“Charge!! Char—”

—RATATATATATATATATATA!!!!

—KABOOOOOOOOM!!!

—WHOOOOSH—KABLAAAAAAM!!!

The various heavy weapons installed in each bunker along the coast spewed bullets, producing imperialist soup, and penetrated enemy landing craft with shells or rockets, cooking up well-done colonialist roasts.

“Move!! Advance!! Forwa—”

—BOOOOOM!!! CRUNCH!!

“—What happened?!”

“E-Explosion, sir! Left leg #7 destroyed! #8 partially damaged!”

Anti-tank mines placed throughout the area destroyed the legs of land battleships and steam knights that stepped on them. And what flew toward these massive steam machines that had lost mobility after hitting mines was none other than enemy artillery fire.

—KABOOOOOOOOM!!!

Direct-fire shells from what resembled a land battleship’s main gun mercilessly pounded the land battleships, while the light beams fired by mechanical soldiers hiding inside bunkers (pillboxes) boasted firepower beyond imagination for mere infantry weapons.

The beams of light easily penetrated thick steel armor, cleanly obliterating the crew or captains inside, while armor-piercing shells from direct-fire guns demonstrated their ability to destroy land battleships and steam knights.

As these massive war machines were being devastatingly destroyed by unexpected blows, the situation for the soldiers accompanying these enormous machines was, naturally, dire.

The coastline they needed to break through was heavily covered with barbed wire that could never be easily removed with mere bayonets, and the massive machines that should have been at the forefront crushing these barriers were all toppled and immobilized.

—RATATATATATATATATATA!!!

In this situation, Colonial Liberation Army soldiers inside the bunkers fired Gatling machine guns indiscriminately. The only option for soldiers who could neither advance nor retreat was to hide behind cover, but…

The beams of light fired from the weapons held by soldiers who had replaced their bodies with machines boasted enough power to easily penetrate thick armor plating, so even if the invaders hid behind fallen massive machines, the mechanical soldiers simply fired through the armor.

“What?!! You still haven’t broken through?!!”

“What are you all doing?!”

“Deploy more reserves!!”

To make matters worse, following orders from desk-bound commanders who failed to properly assess the situation, soldiers were deployed to the coast without adequate support, simply adding to the casualty count.

“How dare a land dog give orders?!!”

“That’s right! We’ll handle this ourselves, so get lost!!”

Moreover, with the outbreak of Europa’s chronic disease—army-navy rivalry—the landing forces at Callipolis met a predictable end, unable to use naval gunfire support, which would have been their only viable fire support option.

On the first day of the landing operation, 8,000 soldiers died, and more than 18,000 suffered “wounds too severe for combat.”

On the second day, casualties decreased relatively as soldiers realized something was wrong and became more cautious, but they still failed to capture even a small piece of land.

On the third day, a surprise torpedo attack sank two transport ships of the great powers, sending 4,000 troops straight to Bikini City. The death toll at the front had long since exceeded 20,000.

On the fifth day, the battleship “Victorious,” which served as the temporary headquarters for the allied forces, was sunk by submarine attack. Only two sailors survived. The entire leadership was annihilated without exception.

One week after the offensive began, the cumulative number of casualties exceeded 100,000.

And as their governments, unable to withstand these losses, declared a retreat, the surviving 400,000 soldiers now had to evacuate from Callipolis.

The day after the retreat decision, the Colonial Liberation Army, having somehow detected this, launched a counterattack, creating tens of thousands more casualties.

Two weeks after the start of the Callipolis landing operation, when their failure was all but confirmed…

“—Avenge!!”

“Blood for the God of Vengeance!!”

“Atone!! And thus be martyred!!”

“OOOOH—!! God, take me to your side now!!!”

Blood-red armies appeared throughout the Europa continent amid crimson fog, crying for vengeance and beginning to crush their forces one by one.

※ ※ ※

Massive figures easily exceeding 2 meters in height, covered in blood-red full-body armor, wielding rather mechanical-looking “spears” and large, elaborately painted shields.

Except for their physique, they appeared almost anachronistic, but any mocking opinions about them quickly disappeared among those who actually encountered these soldiers or fought against them.

These crimson warriors could easily handle dozens or hundreds of soldiers with just a few of their own.

No matter how many personal firearms they fired in urban areas, they couldn’t penetrate those shields, and even if they hit their bodies, the armor these warriors wore, contrary to its archaic appearance, could withstand concentrated Gatling gun fire.

Additionally, they demonstrated overwhelming firepower by shooting powerful crimson beams from their mechanical-looking spears, and in close combat, they used their spears and shields to one-sidedly tear apart their enemies.

For some reason, these soldiers, who harbored a strangely intense hatred toward the people of Europa, rampaged on the battlefield with overwhelming enthusiasm and determination, disregarding even death.

—KABOOM!!!

“W-We hit it!!”

Of course, they weren’t completely invincible warriors, as they could be killed when hit by something like a cannon, either having holes blown through them or exploding, but…

“W-What is that?!!”

“…G-God almighty.”

When they witnessed the corpses of these red giant warriors dissolving into light, many soldiers who had never before seen such a definitive supernatural phenomenon fell into panic.

“Oh, OHHHHH…!!”

“A-Angel!! I repent, I repent!!”

To put an exclamation point on this, avenging angels with halos and wings appeared throughout the front lines, causing even officers to lose their will to fight as they wept at the sight. How could the front line possibly be maintained in such a situation?

Many Europa government officials were eventually captured by these angels and blood-red warriors and dragged off “somewhere,” while a considerable number of the privileged class received appropriate punishment according to their karma as a bloody storm swept through society.

Some attempted to flee, but many of them were captured by blood-red werewolves, torn to pieces, then resurrected to receive their “punishment.”

Before this overwhelming religious authority of “angels directly passing judgment,” all worldly authority and power crumbled, and now the nations of Europa that once controlled the world began to be ruled by soldiers in red armor and angels.