Chapter 53: The Guard Knight Order’s Darkest Day

Northern District of Seville.

The Kingdom Army’s second wave of attack… began with a fierce momentum and ended in silence.

As General Sanjurjo waited expectantly for good news from the front line, all he received were bad reports one after another.

“General, report! 124th Battalion is blocked at ‘Avenue of the Sun,’ suffered heavy casualties, requesting retreat!” “126th Battalion’s three subordinate companies have been cut off and are under attack from unknown fire on the flank, they have already routed!” “General! We… we still can’t push through! Those Saxons are like rats in the field, popping up from nowhere, impossible to hit!”

Listening to the messages brought back by the messengers, Sanjurjo felt his head buzzing.

He couldn’t understand.

They had clearly plowed the northern urban area with High-Efficacy Magic Crystal Shells, so why couldn’t they push through? Hadn’t those buildings been blown up? Were those Saxons made of iron, impossible to kill with artillery?

He did not know that when the Kingdom Army soldiers advanced deep into the streets, stepping through rubble and ruins with difficulty, the scene they saw was almost identical to the first attack.

There were still dense layers of barbed wire, still all sorts of strange obstacles, and still the deadly bullets coming from all directions.

The Saxons seemed endless, pouring fire on the advancing Kingdom Army from every gap in the ruins and every broken window.

Even this time, field artillery fire had joined the attack.

The veteran soldiers and officers in the Kingdom Army who had experienced many battles never thought they would see a field gun laid flat at the end of a street.

By the time they saw the flash of fire from the muzzle and the roar of the bombardment reached their ears, it was already too late.

The old-fashioned shrapnel shell seemed to want to let out one last roar before leaving the stage of history.

That deadly rain of bullets swept across the street like a wall. This time, the Kingdom Army soldiers might not even retain a complete body…

Many soldiers, panicked, tried to hide inside the buildings, but the 77mm field gun, using cased ammunition, had an extremely fast rate of fire. This sustained suppressive fire quickly made them realize it was a mistake.

After switching to High Explosive (HE) shells, the gunners quickly looked through the direct-fire sights at the windows of the buildings where the soldiers were hiding.

Just the second shot—a 77mm HE shell drilled through the window and detonated inside…

The second assault once again ended in a complete failure.

The Kingdom Army forces on all axes of attack retreated in disarray, leaving behind hundreds of corpses and more immobilized wounded.

In the command post tent, General Sanjurjo paced back and forth like an enraged bull, constantly cursing under his breath.

“Idiots! A bunch of idiots! So many men, and they can’t even take one broken city!”

The other officers in the tent kept their heads down, not daring to breathe loudly.

Just then, the tent flap was violently thrown open.

A burst of coldness instantly rushed in.

The High-Level Mage Eldridge, along with two other mages and several Britannian officers, walked in emotionlessly.

Eldridge’s gaze was like a knife, stabbing straight at Sanjurjo.

“General Sanjurjo, I want you to explain why our last Magic Crystal Cannon position was attacked by enemy cavalry?”

Sanjurjo’s heart leaped. He hadn’t expected the other party to arrive so quickly.

But the situation of the Magic Crystal Cannon position being attacked, as mentioned by the mage, alarmed him even more, as he had not been informed that his last artillery was gone.

“Sir, the Magic… the Magic Crystal Cannon position wasn’t supposed to be in the rear?”

Eldridge said expressionlessly: “Yes, it was in the rear… but you ordered them to fire like an idiot, giving the Saxon cavalry the opportunity to launch an attack!”

Hearing the High-Level Mage’s words, a drop of cold sweat ran down Sanjurjo’s forehead. He forced himself to remain composed and replied: “Sir Eldridge, it was an accident, I didn’t expect the enemy cavalry to…”

“An accident?”

Eldridge cut him off, a hint of mockery finally entering his tone.

“You sent all your forces to attack but didn’t leave a single soldier to protect our most critical long-range firepower. You call this an accident?”

Sanjurjo’s face flushed red and then paled.

He wanted to argue but didn’t know what to say.

Indeed, his pig-headed insistence had led to the destruction of the Magic Crystal Cannon position.

“Although my companions and I arrived in time to deal with that damned cavalry regiment, that doesn’t change anything.”

Eldridge’s gaze swept over all the Kingdom Army officers present, sending a chill down their spines.

“We have lost our last means of long-range suppression, which means the upcoming battle will become even more difficult.”

Sanjurjo felt completely uncomfortable under his gaze and could only bite the bullet and say: “Sir, please rest assured, I will definitely…”

“You?”

A Britannian Colonel standing next to Eldridge suddenly let out a sneer.

He looked at Sanjurjo with undisguised contempt and said to Eldridge in Britannian: “Sir, I think we should stop relying on these Aragonese provincials. They can’t do anything but waste time and send people to their deaths.”

Although he spoke Britannian, some of the Kingdom Army officers present could understand it.

Expressions of humiliation and anger appeared on everyone’s faces.

Sanjurjo was so angry that he trembled, and his fists clenched audibly.

But he dared not lash out.

Because he knew the other party was speaking the truth.

Moreover, he couldn’t afford to offend these Britannians.

“Colonel Henry, please watch your words.”

Eldridge said flatly, his tone not clearly indicating whether it was a rebuke or a warning.

Then, he looked back at Sanjurjo, his tone becoming beyond question: “General, I believe the next attack should be led by us.”

Sanjurjo’s lips moved, and he finally lowered his head dejectedly.

“…Yes, sir.”

He knew that from this moment on, the command of this battle no longer belonged to him.

The Britannian Colonel named Henry smiled smugly, then said to the Kingdom Army officers behind him in somewhat stiff Aragonese: “Watch closely, peasants. Next, you’ll witness how a real war is fought.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the tent.

A new round of attack soon began.

This time, it was no longer the soldiers of the Kingdom Army marching in the front.

It was the well-equipped, neatly-formed Northumberland Musket Regiment.

Behind them were eight white steel giants radiating a powerful sense of oppression—the Armored Knights of the Guard Knight Order.

As for the Kingdom Army soldiers, they were arranged at the very rear, under the pretense of ‘clearing the battlefield.’

“Squad Leader! Look! It’s the enemy’s Armored Knights!”

The exclamation of the orderly, Hans, rang out in Morin’s ear.

Morin, who was observing from a rooftop with his orderly, immediately raised his binoculars and looked in the direction the orderly was pointing.

He saw several white Armored Knights, accompanied by a large number of Britannian infantry, steadily approaching their defense line.

The sun shone on their smooth armor, reflecting a blinding glare.

And this time, in addition to the standard sword-and-shield configuration, many Armored Knights had also switched to weapons like tower shields and war hammers.

Morin’s greatest fear had come to pass.

The system of street fighting he had devised was highly effective against infantry, but it seemed somewhat powerless against these invulnerable steel monsters.

“Notify all squads! Enemy armored units have appeared! Do not engage in a frontal fight. Prepare to retreat to the reserve defense line, and leave these guys to our Armored Knights!”

Morin slid to the edge of the rooftop, poked his head out, and gave instructions to the waiting messenger. The messenger immediately scattered to notify the various positions.

On the city map in front of Morin, the Armored Knights of the Guard Knight Order were advancing along different streets, covered by surrounding Knight Squires and infantry.

In the city’s depths, the counters representing the Teutonic Knight Order, having received notifications from other observation posts, also began to move and quickly broke up into six smaller markers.

However, Morin’s order could not reach all defenders. Many soldiers hiding inside the buildings, upon seeing the Armored Knights, still chose to open fire in fear.

Rifle and machine gun bullets rained down upon the eight Armored Knights.

However, all of it was in vain.

Countless bullets struck the Armored Knights, only kicking up trivial sparks, unable to leave even a scratch.

The Armored Knights not only did not activate the blue shields but did not even slow down, maintaining a steady pace, advancing step by step.

They were like invulnerable giant beasts from myth, making all mortal weapons look laughable in their presence.

“Boom!”

A 105mm howitzer, unable to hold its fire, fired a direct shot. However, the targeted Armored Knight simply raised its heavy tower shield, protecting itself and a large number of allied troops behind it.

The shell exploded on the tower shield but failed to cause effective damage. Instead, a kind of artillery weapon mounted on the Armored Knight’s other arm flashed, and the artillery position was completely blown up.

The Britannian soldiers following behind them let out bursts of laughter at the sight.

“See that? Is that the Saxon resistance? How pathetic.” “It’s like throwing pebbles at a castle.”

The Saxon soldiers defending in the ruins looked at this scene, their faces filled with despair.

Their bullets could not penetrate the enemy’s armor, while the enemy could easily destroy the cover they relied on for survival.

One Armored Knight walked up to the first street barricade. It didn’t even use a weapon, simply raising its massive mechanical leg and delivering a fierce kick.

The barricade, made of wooden frames, door panels, and bricks, instantly collapsed into rubble.

Then, it just plowed through recklessly, crushing the barbed wire and obstacles behind it into the ground.

Another Armored Knight approached a three-story building defended by the International Brigade.

This was the place that André had been defending with a group of soldiers after leaving the rear.

The Armored Knight raised the massive war hammer in its hand and delivered one blow against the building’s load-bearing wall.

“Rumble!”

With a loud noise, a huge hole appeared in the wall.

Following that, a few more blows.

The entire building groaned under the strain and began to shake violently.

“Quickly retreat! The building is going to collapse!”

Bearded André inside shouted hoarsely. There wasn’t even time to throw Molotov cocktails before the International Brigade soldiers scrambled out the back door in panic.

They had not run far before the three-story building completely collapsed with a deafening crash, burying several slow-moving soldiers beneath it forever.

The constant advance of the Armored Knights boosted the morale of the pilots and the Britannian soldiers behind them.

In their view, with no way to counter the Armored Knights, there was no suspense left in this battle.

Victory was only a matter of time.

Just as the eight Armored Knights were spreading out, preparing to assist the infantry and completely clear the street.

At the other end of the street, the silhouettes of Armored Knights also appeared.

These were the Armored Knights of the Saxon Empire, painted with the black and white Teutonic Cross.

“Oh? So they finally decide to show up?”

Colonel Marcus, the company commander of the Guard Knight Order, looked at the Teutonic Knight Order Armored Knight that appeared in the distance from the cockpit of his ‘St. George Type 3,’ a cold sneer playing on his lips.

He wasn’t worried at all.

He had already reviewed the previous combat intelligence: the Saxons’ Teutonic Knight Order only had six of these left after the last battle.

Eight against six—the enemy had lost the numerical advantage that was their greatest reliance.

More importantly, this was a narrow city street.

This terrain restricted the siege tactics that the Teutonic Knight Order excelled at.

As for one-on-one duels? The Guard Knight Order had never feared the challenge of any other Armored Knight.

Marcus even felt he could take down those clumsy iron lumps with one hand.

The Guard Knight Order’s ‘St. George Type 3’ was the most state-of-the-art pure arcane Armored Knight currently available. It was superior to the Saxons’ ‘Siegfried’ series in every aspect, including armor material, defensive enchantments, and arcane power core.

It even held an advantage against the Gauls’ ‘Charlemagne Type 2.’

This was a technical gap that could not be bridged by so-called courage.

“Attention all, free engagement, take them out.”

Marcus issued the order through the ‘Communication Stone’ built into the cockpit. This was a crucial and expensive improvement for the ‘St. George Type 3,’ allowing short-distance communication for squads on the same frequency.

Although the intelligence department claimed the Saxons were attempting to miniaturize radio transceivers and install them on their Armored Knights, it seemed they had not succeeded in the short term…

“Yes, sir!” “Let them see the might of the Guard Knight Order!” “I can’t wait to tear them apart!”

Confident replies from the pilots came through the channel.

The high-spirited Armored Knights of the Guard Knight Order scattered into the various streets and actively moved to engage, ready to end this boring battle with a complete victory.

However, as they got closer, they noticed something was wrong.

The Teutonic Knight Order Armored Knights opposite them also seemed to be actively moving to engage.

And besides their shields, the weapons in their other hands were very peculiar.

It was not their usual flail or battle-axe, but something that looked like a long spear… only the spearhead was a strange, inwardly-dished metal funnel.

The entire weapon looked crudely made, full of the handmade feel of a country blacksmith’s shop, with the paint not even evenly applied.

“Ha, what is that thing? A poker?” “I thought it was a manure fork.” “Are the Saxons crazy? They think they can fight us with that junk?”

The pilots of the Guard Knight Order burst into laughter in their respective cockpits as they watched the scene.

To them, it was an insult.

Marcus also frowned, his heart filled with doubt.

But he didn’t dwell on it. In his view, this might be a sign of the Saxons’ desperation.

His machine was the first to face the Armored Knight piloted by Ludwig.

“Teutonic Knight, state your name. I do not kill the nameless.”

Marcus activated the Armored Knight’s external communication device, his tone full of aristocratic arrogance.

Ludwig did not reply.

He simply quietly raised his shield to guard himself, with the weapon that Morin called the ‘Anti-Armor Shaped Charge Warhead for Melee Combat’ braced beside the shield. He seemed to have no intention of communicating with Marcus.

“Hmph, courting death…”

Seeing the other party ignore him, Marcus was furious.

He controlled his Armored Knight to raise its huge armed sword, ready to use his sophisticated swordsmanship to completely sever the limbs of the Saxon Armored Knight in front of him.

The “rumbling” of heavy footsteps echoed in the street. Everyone nearby stared intently at the two steel giants.

Just as the two Armored Knights were about to make contact, Marcus was the first to swing his sword.

Ludwig, equally tense, relied on his experience to first block the armed sword’s slash with his shield.

Then, following Morin’s instructions, he delivered the front end of the anti-armor warhead he was holding to a position about 20 centimeters from the opponent’s cockpit, executing a move like a long spear thrust, and seized the chance to immediately detonate it.

The mechanical fuse triggered the picric acid explosive filling inside the warhead. Although not as vigorous as modern high explosives, its detonation wave, exceeding seven kilometers per second, still accurately compressed the copper liner at the front end of the warhead.

The instantaneous high temperature and high pressure converted the copper liner into a scorching jet of metal.

Due to limitations in explosive energy, non-synchronous charge ignition, and other factors, the jet did not form the most extreme, sharp needle-point. However, at that instant, the jet still easily breached five times the speed of sound.

The emergency-activated shield of the Armored Knight could not withstand this intensity of attack in such a short time and instantly shattered like a soap bubble.

Next, this supersonic ‘scorching spear’ struck the main armor plate of the Armored Knight’s front almost in a straight trajectory.

The powerful momentum and extremely high pressure caused the head of the jet to vaporize the armor material at the point of contact, like a hot knife slicing through butter, instantly opening up a tiny hole.

“Boom!!!”

A dazzling flash of fire suddenly erupted between the two Armored Knights.

The fierce explosion even caused the surrounding air to warp.

The Knight Squires and Britannian soldiers following behind Marcus did not yet understand what had happened.

They only felt a powerful energy burst between the two Armored Knights, immediately followed by the two Armored Knights colliding due to the inertia of their charge.

When the Britannian soldiers regained their footing and looked up, they witnessed a sight they would never forget.

The white ‘St. George Type 3’ Armored Knight of the Guard Knight Order had suddenly ceased all movement.

The armed sword in its hand remained in the posture ready for a second thrust.

Then, under the astonished gaze of everyone, this massive steel creation simply toppled backward rigidly.

“Rumble—!”

The heavy machine slammed onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The street fell into complete silence.

Everyone was stunned, their minds blank.

What happened? How did Colonel Marcus’s machine fall?

Before they could recover from the immense shock, the black-and-white painted Armored Knight had already discarded the strange ‘spear’ in its hand and retrieved the iconic massive flail from its back.

Then, it charged toward them, the dumbfounded infantry.

A chilling murderous intent instantly enveloped everyone.

(End of this Chapter)