CHAPTER 118: CHAPTER 116 SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE

The straw sandals stepped on the fallen leaves, emitting a cracking sound as the stems broke.

Grass blades, slender as silk, brushed against his calves, reminiscent of green fur covering the earth.

The path ahead grew increasingly narrow, with towering trees on either side obscuring the view, while moss crept over the rocks by the roadside.

The forest remained eerily silent, as quiet as the night, with no sign of wild beasts or birds calling.

Based on Jia Li’s memories and the reconnaissance by the Child Soldiers, Horn and his companions slowly advanced along the barely visible road.

Horn could feel the path becoming steeper, where originally horizontal streams began to flow vertically.

They must be entering the foothills now, with the Spider Forest clinging to these slopes.

The trees in the Spider Forest were mainly cedar, ash, and maple, with occasional sightings of European beech and pine.

Citizens of Pope Country, with their black hats and black scarves, were traversing the final stretch of their perilous journey.

The overly quiet forest made Horn rather anxious.

The jumping spider from the day before seemed to leap before him once more.

The passage was more leisurely and quiet than before, yet he couldn’t shake off a creepy sensation.

After some thought, Horn decided to proceed, but to prevent attacks from those terrifying giant spiders, he adjusted the army.

The previous method of distributing spring guns loosely was too wasteful.

Now, Pope Country had a total of eleven spring guns, ten of which Horn allocated to ten armored vehicle brigades, each brigade holding one gun.

Former spring gunners were all pulled into His Holiness the Pope’s direct Divine Armor Division.

The entire Divine Armor Division also drew elites from the two major corps while some personnel were temporarily restructured.

All command platoons in the Divine Armor Division consisted of soldiers who wouldn’t faint after firing at least one shot.

Thus the spring gunners were concentrated.

The Divine Armor Division no longer consisted of six platoons as one brigade, but it was expanded to ten platoons per brigade.

The entire Divine Armor Division comprised ten brigades, each sharing one spring gun, normally kept by the brigade commander.

During battle, there’s a main and secondary gunner; after the main gunner fires, they enter a spellcasting cooldown inertia, while the secondary gunner loads the ammunition.

After the main gunner finishes the predetermined two shots, the secondary gunner steps up to fire, with the main gunner responsible for loading.

The other command platoons act as guards to ensure the Holy Gunners’ safety.

Once both the main and secondary gunners finish firing, the remaining members need to take their turn continuing to fire.

The setup for an armored vehicle includes the main and secondary gunners, typically the brigade commander and a mana-second soldier within the brigade, responsible for holding shields and shortswords.

Two flail-handlers attack close-range units while four spear-handlers attack mid-range units, and two spear-throwers provide cover for the gunner and Holy Gunman after firing with long-range offense.

As for safety between the vehicles and the vehicles themselves, it’s managed by the Black Hat Army and the Imperial Guard.

Due to a lack of ammunition and gears for practice, often they resort to practicing with wooden sticks pretending to be spring guns.

After a painful live-fire exercise yesterday, the firing rate of the two main and secondary gunners reached approximately once every twenty seconds, with ordinary soldiers managing once every thirty seconds.

An armored vehicle’s firepower is approximately fourteen shots in seven minutes, with a firing frequency of two shots per minute.

Since Kanni Di is a shotgun type, the damage range is conical, barely covering a third of the vehicle’s body.

It’s not that Horn didn’t want to make it a single-shot gun, firing one bullet at a time.

The issue is their manufacturing process is equally inadequate; Jeanne’s welding occasionally accidentally seals the thin gun barrel.

If they can’t aim accurately, then they’ll have to fire more pebble iron shot to inflict area damage.

Another day of advancing peacefully, Horn and his team finally reached the campsite.

Standing atop the carriage, Horn surveyed the surroundings, hardly believing his eyes upon arrival.

This was a mountainous clearing, where spring water flowed down from the left mountainside, with a flat ground showing clear signs of a road and human logging.

This was just a common scene in the Spider Forest; uncommon was the monastery perched on the hill, partially visible through the trees.

Yes, amidst the perilous Spider Forest lay an abandoned monastery.

Who would establish a monastery here?

Horn immediately summoned the Child Soldiers tasked with reconnaissance, "Have you checked out that monastery over there?"

"No, it looks close, but it’s actually quite far." Duvalon shook his head and replied.

René beside him then spoke up, "I wanted to go, but there was a rapid river with no bridge; I had to give up."

"Are there still no giant spiders around here?"

The two Child Soldier leaders exchanged glances, shaking their heads simultaneously.

"Not to mention giant spiders, initially we could see some wild rabbits and field mice; now even wild birds are scarce."

Horn furrowed his brows, his unease mounting intensely.

Or, should we rush through the night?

He looked up at the gray-white sky; there was no sun today, so there likely won’t be moonlight tonight either.

The future is uncertain, traveling under the cover of night might not necessarily be better than now.

Looking straight ahead, the entire camp was basically set up. Because the left side was a steep mountain wall, the ten large wagons were arranged in a curve on the right side.

Sharp wooden stakes were placed between the wagons, and the leather oak boards on one side of the wagons were raised.

People stood in the wagon beds, with the leather boards just covering their lower chests.

Although the cliff on the left was barren and giant spiders were unlikely to attack from that side, Horn stayed vigilant and placed caltrops on the right side.

After arranging everything properly, doubling the number of night patrols and sentries, Horn finally felt a bit at ease.

Black ink-like darkness stained the sky, the gray light gradually disappearing behind the mountains.

Clusters of campfires lit up within the camp.

The villagers before the campfires picked up rice cakes laced with chili flakes and gnawed on salted fish while chatting and laughing about jokes from the papal court.

"A death row inmate at the Inquisition asks the newcomer what kind of punishment they received. The newcomer says, ’Burned at the stake,’ and the inmates ask, ’Are you a wizard?’

He says, ’No, I’m innocent,’ and the inmates immediately shout, ’Stop lying, innocent people only get hanged.’"

"Hahahaha."

"Have you heard that joke..."

Raucous laughter swirled through the mountain path, combined with the warmth of the campfires, surprisingly enlivening the previously quiet night sky.

After evening prayers, following the "Horizontal Sleep Doctrine" and "Pope Country Military Law," they should go to sleep and rest.

Amid the elders’ shouts and the officers’ whistles, soldiers and residents split ways, some heading toward the camp near the wagons, others returning to their canvas tents on site.

The campfires extinguished one by one again, plunging the entire camp back into darkness and silence.

Yet Horn lay tossing and turning in the tent, unable to sleep until midnight.

He simply donned a cloak, picked up a phosphorescent lamp, and went outside.

The patrolling guards were still diligently making their rounds, and upon seeing Horn appear, they immediately nodded and pounded their chests in salute.

Putting a finger to his lips to signal them to keep quiet, Horn circled the entire camp again, then headed back toward his tent, burdened with thoughts.

"Brother, can’t sleep either?"

Horn was startled and turned around, only to see it was Jeanne.

She leaned on her battle flag, her hair simply tied in a ponytail at the back, smiling at him.

Horn smiled back: "Yeah, I’m just wandering around, this journey has been so eve..."

Halfway through speaking, out of the corner of his eye, Horn noticed the shrubbery shaking.

Jumping spider?!

"Jeanne!" Horn shouted.

Even though it was just a single word, Jeanne, accustomed to Horn’s different tones when calling her in so many battles, instantly understood the meaning.

She swiftly turned to the side, like swinging a punch after a turn, and a blinding bolt of electricity burst forth, heavily striking the spider’s carapace.

The lightning pierced through the jumping spider’s carapace, causing it to crash to the ground, its eight legs scraping against the shell with a horrifying screech.

Jeanne immediately unleashed another bolt of lightning.

Rich chicken aroma slowly wafted up, as the jumping spider gradually ceased its movements.

Giving the jumping spider a second stab with the battle flag, Jeanne finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Luckily, there was only this one. Brother, are you okay?"

Horn didn’t answer, just frowned.

The night wind blew through the mountains and forests, yet amidst the former silence, Horn heard a strange rustling sound.

That wasn’t leaves swaying in the night breeze, but the green fuzz of the earth brushing against something speeding through the ground.

"No, something’s wrong." Raising the phosphorescent lamp high, Horn scattered a handful of lime powder onto the lamp, flinging it toward the woods.

The phosphorescent lamp immediately flared brilliantly, illuminating the space behind the bushes, where countless dense red eyes began to light up within the forest.

From left to right, as far as the eye could see, there were red spider eyes everywhere, and the only sounds were the scraping of carapaces.

When illuminated, they occasionally retreated a step or two or swayed uneasily.

How many were there exactly? Hundreds, or thousands?

Fangs continually opened and closed, dripping with pale green venom.

At this moment, Horn’s blood almost froze.

"Sound the horn, quickly, sound the horn!"