Chapter 158: Speedrunning the Liège Fortress

The Magic Power Hub is a solid, half-buried underground structure located near the main building. This is the source of all the Magic Guided Device energy for the entire Liège Fortress cluster. Even the Magic Crystal Cannons in the various forts require the Magic Power Hub to recharge their replaced Magic Crystals. Therefore, once it is destroyed, the Large Anti-Air Magic Guided Device that threatens the Armored Airships, as well as the Magic Crystal Cannons in the various forts, will become scrap metal.

Morin led the Assault Team, who were running low on ammunition, sneaking toward the vicinity of the Magic Power Hub under the cover of night and buildings, guided by the system map.

“Two Machine Gun Teams, establish crossfire there. One team suppress the sentry at the door! One team keep watch on the other directions!” Morin quickly issued the operational orders.

An MG14 roared again, and precise short bursts instantly suppressed the squad of sentries at the Magic Power Hub entrance.

Morin led the two Assault Squads, crouching low, quickly rushing toward the Magic Power Hub’s main entrance.

“Grenades!” Several spherical hand grenades were thrown among the sentries outside the door. After a fierce explosion, the sentries were all blown down. The few still breathing were quickly finished off with an extra shot.

The Assault Troops who reached the front quickly lined up along the side of the Magic Power Hub, ready to rush in and quickly end the fight.

But just then, Morin’s system map suddenly tagged a red unit token inside the Magic Power Hub! And it was a Spellcaster unit…

“Caution! There is a Spellcaster inside!” Morin shouted a warning.

But it was a step too late.

A fire ball, trailing a long tail flame, whizzed out from inside the door, precisely hitting the two Assault Troops at the front.

“Boom!”

The fierce explosion instantly blasted the two young soldiers into several charred fragments. The surrounding Assault Troops were also more or less burned on their arms and torsos by the fire ball and were beating out the flames on the ground. This was the first time the Assault Team had suffered fatalities since the Air Drop. It was also the first time the entire Instruction Assault Battalion had sustained casualties…

“Careful! Retreat first!” Morin’s eyes were bloodshot as he yelled. He looked at the two burning corpses, and an uncontrollable surge of anger welled up from his heart.

Although an excellent commander should treat his soldiers like his sons, and deploy them like mud… seeing the Assault Battalion soldiers he had trained blown apart by a Fire Ball Spell, Morin’s emotions were still volatile.

“Don’t be impulsive! Throw grenades inside! Blast him out for me!”

The remaining Assault Troops were also enraged by the tragic death of their comrades. Hearing Morin’s words, they pulled the pins on their grenades and tossed them into the doorway like they were free, creating a swarm of explosions. For a time, explosions and firelight filled the interior of the Magic Power Hub.

Amidst the explosions, Morin quickly replaced the magazine in his submachine gun with a new one. He glanced at Manstein and the soldiers beside him, who were equally furious, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down.

There could be no more casualties…

This was not just because he grieved the loss of his soldiers, but primarily because he only had 20 men. Losing even one more would mean losing a critical point of fire. No one knew what kind of fighting lay ahead, so he had to preserve his effective force as much as possible.

So, when the grenade explosions momentarily subsided, Morin didn’t hesitate any longer.

A translucent circular Magic Shield instantly appeared in front of him. This was the [Shield Spell] amplified by [Spell Empowerment].

“Go, charge in with me!” Morin was the first to charge into the smoke-filled interior of the Magic Power Hub, protected by the shield.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw a figure in black Mage Robes standing behind a pile of blown-up instruments. Seeing Morin enter, the figure, who was disoriented by the barrage of grenades, clearly panicked, then began to cast a spell with words and gestures.

But Morin didn’t intend to give him any chance to cast, immediately unloading a burst of fire!

“Da-da-da-da-da!”

The bullets struck the invisible shield in front of the Spellcaster like rain, sparking circles of blue fire. The opponent had also activated [Mage Armor].

But before the Grand Duchy of Flanders Spellcaster could react, Manstein and the other Assault Troops rushed in right behind Morin. Over a dozen automatic weapons simultaneously aimed at him.

“Fire!”

A terrifying storm of bullets instantly enveloped the Spellcaster. At such close range and facing such dense bullet rain, even [Mage Armor] seemed fragile.

The Spellcaster’s vision was almost completely covered by the blue sparks created by the collision between the [Mage Armor] and the bullets, but he still completed his spell with shaking hands, casting three [Scorching Rays]. However, these three beams, which would have been fatal to an ordinary soldier, were firmly blocked by Morin’s empowered [Shield Spell], merely causing a ripple.

His own [Mage Armor], however, only lasted a few seconds under this tempestuous attack before completely shattering.

In the moment before being riddled with countless bullets, the Flanders Spellcaster’s mind flashed with the last, and most unbelievable, thought of his life.

—‘This guy leading the charge with a gun is also a Spellcaster?’

As the Spellcaster, whose internal bullet count was now extremely high, fell down unwillingly, the resistance inside the Magic Power Hub was completely over.

Morin let out a long sigh of relief. The confrontation, though brief, had been extremely dangerous. Moreover, if he hadn’t stopped the Assault Troops promptly and then taken the full force of the enemy’s Scorching Ray with the [Shield Spell], who knows how many casualties they would have suffered now.

Especially the opponent’s final [Scorching Ray], which directly depleted half of the [Shield Spell’s] defensive threshold. If Morin hadn’t prepared the [Shield Spell] amplified by [Spell Empowerment], the Spellcaster might really have succeeded…

“Check for casualties, inspect the perimeter!” Morin commanded.

The Assault Troops immediately dispersed, vigilantly checking every corner of the Magic Power Hub. Soon, Manstein came to report.

“Sir, besides the squad of sentries at the entrance, there was one Spellcaster and eight Magic Guided Technicians inside the Magic Power Hub.”

“However, that Spellcaster was riddled with bullets by us… The eight Magic Guided Technicians were also killed in the grenade shower just now.”

Morin nodded, scanning the massive, subterranean-like space. The area was filled with complex Magic Guided Circuits and metallic pipes etched with flashing Runes, presenting the architectural aesthetic of a fantasy Magic Guided Civilization.

However, the intense firefight just now had clearly caused severe damage to these precise devices. Dangerous electric sparks burst from many of the Magic Guided Circuits.

And the five colossal Magic Crystals, buried halfway underground and the size of Armored Knights in the center of the hall, along with the complex Magic Array inscribed around them, seemed to have triggered an emergency mechanism due to the power interruption and external shock.

“Buzz—” A low humming sound came from underground.

Immediately after, the entire Magic Power Hub began to shake violently, as if a strong earthquake had struck. The ground beneath their feet was trembling, and dust fell from the ceiling. A massive, chaotic surge of Magic Power emanated from the oversized Magic Crystals, causing a surge of panic in everyone present.

“Holy cow… is this thing going to explode?” This thought flashed through Morin’s mind. His heart leaped into his throat. For a moment, he even suspected he had triggered his ‘Crow’s Beak’ passive effect again.

Fortunately, he didn’t utter the words this time.

The violent ‘earthquake’ lasted for over ten seconds before slowly subsiding. As the final tremor ended, the giant Magic Crystals completely lost their luster and became dull, seemingly having completed a measure similar to an ‘energy discharge.’

The entire Magic Power Hub completely ceased to function at this moment.

Simultaneously, in the various forts of the Liège Fortress cluster, the fort commanders, who had just received the ‘retreat order’ from the Command Post, were still filled with doubt and indecision.

They couldn’t understand how the Saxons, whom they had crushed during the day and couldn’t even reach the perimeter of the forts, had suddenly descended like divine soldiers and struck the Fortress Command Post. This was entirely illogical.

Could it be a Saxon ploy? A false telegram sent in the name of the Command Post? Many cautious officers harbored such suspicions.

They all attempted to contact the Fortress Command Post via wired telephone to confirm. But without exception, all communication attempts vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, yielding no news.

They tried to contact friendly forces in other forts, but since the Command Post’s telephone exchange had been disabled by Morin, they couldn’t reach other forts either.

Just as the garrisons of the various forts were steeped in suspicion and hesitation, and were about to use the ‘Communication Stone,’ reserved for emergencies, to contact other forts, the sudden violent tremor and the subsequent interruption of Magic Power supply became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Magic Power supply has been cut!”

“Magic Guided Circuit error, the connection status of the Magic Power Hub shows it is offline!”

Shouts of panic echoed throughout the various forts. This sudden turn of events was more convincing than any order.

In the eyes of these Flanders defenders, if the Magic Power Hub, the energy source for the entire fortress cluster, had been destroyed by the enemy, then the situation at the Command Post must have been even worse than what the telegram described.

If the Magic Power Hub had stopped functioning, what was there left to talk about?

Retreat, retreat! If they didn’t run now, they would all be trapped here when the main body of the Saxon Army completed its encirclement!

(End of this Chapter)