Chapter 430: Chapter 45: Reuniting with the Swordsmen

“Why has there been no progress in the situation?” Emperor Otto asked coldly.

The dukes exchanged glances.

“The latest shipment to Verona City included the Toronos heavy smoothbore mortars,” the Duke of Bavaria said. “Due to multiple trenches being collapsed, our offensive stance has been somewhat restrained.”

“Then don’t use the trenches! Can’t you simply go around them?” the Emperor waved his hand impatiently.

“Crossing the open area without trenches would make us live targets for the mortars,” the Duke of Franconia sneered. “How about this, send out Your Majesty’s two giant dragons, let each dragon unleash one rule breath and obliterate the mortar positions, then we can launch a full-scale attack.”

“Their mortar base is set too close to the city, the conspiratorial intent is self-evident, Conrad,” said the Duke of Bavaria. “At that time, the defenders only need to expand the anti-demon magnetic field and pull out the anti-aircraft guns from the city, which could then threaten the safety of the dragons. After all, no one knows what exactly is arranged inside the city now.”

“What if the city is filled with nuclear bombs, we just give up on Verona City then?” the Duke of Franconia mocked.

“The nuclear bomb production line won’t recover that fast,” said Duke Rudolf of the Wolf Family.

“But with each day we delay, the Church Court gets more powerful weapons off the production line!” the Emperor slammed his hand on the desk in front of him. “We are rapidly losing our advantage! We must accelerate the siege!”

The dukes remained silent.

Of course, facing the artillery fire from the Holy Temple Knights, it wasn’t as though they were completely without options; each major family could contribute a team of demigods to lead the charge.

Power armor wouldn’t withstand the bombardment of artillery fire, but demigods had no such concerns. As long as they acted swiftly, sacrificing some spirituality to open their domains and instantly annihilate the mortar positions was feasible.

However, what the Duke of Franconia had pointed out was what everyone truly worried about—no one knew the actual situation inside the city.

For instance, what if the city was densely packed with mortars?

Then, on reaching the freshly captured external mortar positions, the demigods could be bombarded with full-force, saturated fire…

True, the domains of demigods were almost akin to small worlds, which the mortars would mostly be unable to penetrate.

However, demigods couldn’t maintain their domains indefinitely; nowadays with the level limit being Lv.15, a demigod would be exhausted within a few seconds of opening their domain, and given the industrial strength of the Church Court, it was hard to predict how many weapons could be lying in ambush within the city.

Thus, regardless of whether the city held specific traps, none of the families wanted their demigods on the battlefield… If it really came to it, why wouldn’t the Emperor send his family’s demigods instead?

Sensing the reluctant mood of the dukes, Hedwig, the Acid Erosion Dragon who was present, stood up and said:

“Let’s do this.”

“Please convince your knights for another two days of forceful attacks.”

“If Verona City is not taken within two days, each family must provide one demigod, and I along with the Dragon of Imagination will lead the charge.”

With the Acid Erosion Dragon making such a statement, the dukes had little room for rebuttal. Since the Royal Saxon Family was leading with the deployment of two demigods, and all the major families needed only to provide one for the battle, if they still hesitated or resisted, it would surely be seen as a sign of cowardice.

“Let it be so,” Emperor Otto waved his hand irritably, dismissing the gathering of dukes.

The next day, the siege battle intensified suddenly, as groups of soldiers, led by the power armor knights, charged forward in formations along the trenches.

The Emperor’s camp also brought in light mortars, chaotically bombarding the opposing Holy Temple Knights’ artillery positions. In the midst of intersecting artillery fire above and a hail of bullets below, it resembled a colossal meat grinder roaring into action.

“Aske Chief!” The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps was also in today’s siege sequence, when a familiar voice suddenly called out from behind.

The crowd turned to look, and to their surprise, it was the swordsmen from the Richartnal Knights.

“Ah, you guys are here too.” Aske looked at Nuremberg and Hans, “Where’s the old man?”

Nuremberg and Hans: ……

After many days, hearing the irreverent term “old man” again, their expressions were quite complex.

“The teacher is currently resting in the back.” Nuremberg replied, “The situation with the defenders is unclear, it’s best if we scout out the situation first.”

“Speaking of which, Chief, you’ve already reached Lv.10!” Hans said in astonishment.

The swordsmen behind him surged forward, slapping Aske’s metaphorical horse, trying to make themselves known to the Chief.

“Alright, alright.” Aske motioned for everyone to quiet down, “Since that’s the case, let’s all charge together following me.”

“Following the Chief into battle, that definitely won’t be a problem!” the swordsmen flattered.

“We just arrived this morning, so what exactly is the situation on the battlefield right now?” Unlike the swordsmen, Nuremberg was not so blindly optimistic, and seriously inquired Aske about the enemy situation.

“Oh, the Holy Temple Knights have positioned a 160mm Toronos heavy smoothbore mortar to block the gate,” Aske explained, “Our task is to cross the range of their bombardment and attack their mortar positions.”

Swordsmen: ……

Wait! We understood everything you said before and after, but what does the middle part mean? Cross through the range of their bombardment?

Aske pulled out his Dragon Bone Longsword and drew a crude map of the battlefield on the ground as he continued explaining to the swordsmen:

“The enemy’s heavy mortar is located here, about 800 meters from the trench exit. The entire trench area is 17 kilometers deep, and the entrance is here.”

“Uh-huh,” the swordsmen nodded.

“Toronos’s effective range is about 10 kilometers, and its extended range shells can reach up to 15 kilometers. Moreover, they’ll prioritize suppressing the Empire’s mobile mortar positions. So, everyone need not worry, at least until we enter the trench, we’re safe.”

“The entrance of the trench is in the northern part of the battlefield, backed by the foothills of the Alps, the terrain decreases in height from north to south, providing strong concealment. Plus, with many objects arranged on top of the trench for cover, even if we enter Toronos’s range, you don’t have to worry about being monitored and targeted by the enemy’s artillery. Just don’t be so unlucky as to be directly hit by a randomly falling shell.”

“Understood,” the swordsmen said in unison.

“If you’re really unlucky and a shell falls right over your head, it’s also fine to detonate it before it explodes,” Sigrdrifa added.

“I see,” the swordsmen nodded continuously, then they realized it wasn’t the Chief who had spoken but the girl from the North in the Chief’s team.

“Shut up!” Aske hit her head, “Is that what you call detonating in advance? You just got lucky by freezing the shell’s fuse and firing pin inside! Have you forgotten how you broke your arm?”

Swordsmen: ……

“This girl is a counterexample, don’t follow her lead,” Aske turned back and spoke to the swordsmen with blank expressions.

God damn preemptively detonating a shell! We wouldn’t be able to do it even if we wanted to, the swordsmen silently remarked in their minds.