Chapter 261: Assault Group VS Sentinel

The soldier had a massive, bone-deep wound on his back, clearly indicating that he would not survive, but his eyes burned with the fire of a desperate man.

He used the last ounce of strength in his life, spread his arms, and clamped his hands tightly around the charging ‘Sentinel’s’ leg. Then, with the full weight of his plate armor, he used all his strength to wrestle the ‘Sentinel’ down beneath him.

The ‘Sentinel’ was tripped by this sudden action and fell heavily to the ground.

“Open fire!!”

The General’s Guard soldier shouted his final roar in a voice that was already hoarse.

“Use the grenades! Blow this son of a bitch up!!”

The surrounding soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion and the Assault Troops froze.

They looked at their comrade, whose body was tightly pinning the enemy, and at his face, which was pale from blood loss but still contorted in a ferocious expression. For a moment, they were unsure what to do.

But in just one breath, an Instruction Assault Battalion NCO gritted his teeth, the first to raise his submachine gun and pull the trigger, aiming at the spot where the two men were entangled.

“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat…”

With the first man leading, the others no longer hesitated.

Countless bullets instantly poured down onto the two bodies.

Immediately after, multiple hand grenades were armed, flying in arcs before landing precisely on their location.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!”

Violent explosions erupted in succession, and fire and thick smoke completely consumed the two figures.

Morin watched the scene from a distance, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white from the strain.

He had recognized the General’s Guard soldier by the crest on his armor. He was one of General Mackensen’s bodyguards and one of the men who participated in the Seville rescue operation when Morin first crossed over.

Just this morning before the charge, the big man had specifically greeted him.

But now, he wouldn’t even leave a complete body behind.

War was that cruel.

But Morin had no time for sadness, nor time for anger.

As a commander, he had to maintain absolute composure.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion began to focus their attacks on all the visible ‘Sentinels’.

Following the requirements of ‘Anti-Magic Combat’, everyone was completely dispersed in three-man teams, maintaining the maximum distance possible between them.

They then used continuous automatic weapons fire to suppress these Mage Units, followed by relentlessly throwing hand grenades to compress their operating space.

In an instant, a ‘rain of grenades’ fell from the sky.

“Boom! Rumble! Boom—!”

Dense explosions rang out one after another, detonating around the areas occupied by the ‘Sentinels’.

While the power of a single grenade in this saturation bombardment was not enough to pose a lethal threat to a ‘Sentinel’, the shockwaves and countless flying fragments severely restricted their movement.

The ‘Sentinels’ were clearly not expecting these seemingly ordinary Saxon ‘regular soldiers’ to carry so many grenades with such reckless abandon.

Although they were fast, the explosions of grenades inflicted area damage. Facing such indiscriminate grenade-washing of the area, the ‘Sentinels’ dared not underestimate the threat.

No matter how skilled you are at dodging one grenade, how can you evade dozens of grenades exploding simultaneously around you?

Consequently, the remaining ‘Sentinels’ were momentarily flustered by this sudden ‘grenade tactic’ and had to seek cover in shell craters or behind fortifications.

The moment they stopped, they were immediately subjected to suppressing fire from the automatic weapons of the Instruction Assault Battalion and the Assault Troops soldiers.

“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!”

“Daa-daa-daa—!”

Countless machine guns and submachine guns fired simultaneously, weaving an impenetrable net of fire that pinned them tightly behind cover, preventing them from raising their heads.

The ‘Sentinels’ attempted to return fire, using their rifles enhanced by the [Enchant Weapon] spell while relying on cover.

Their marksmanship was extremely precise; almost every shot accurately hit a Saxon soldier or directly shattered a light machine gun.

However, the number of Saxon troops was simply too overwhelming, and led by the Instruction Assault Battalion, everyone was spread out very far, meaning the ‘Sentinels’ found the number of soldiers within the kill radius too small when attempting to use area-of-effect spells for maximum damage.

Moreover, for every enemy the ‘Sentinels’ took down, two or three more immediately popped up from other directions, continuing to suppress them with firepower.

One ‘Sentinel’, specializing in the Evocation school, realized the situation was poor. Unable to move, he quickly decided to try suppression regardless of the spell’s killing efficacy.

Hiding behind a massive shell crater, he quickly completed a round of spellcasting with remarkable composure.

[Fourth-Circle Evocation Spell – Ice Storm]

As he finished casting, the sky suddenly darkened over the most densely concentrated area of Instruction Assault Battalion fire.

Within a radius of about seven or eight meters, the air temperature abruptly dropped. Countless fist-sized hailstones, as hard as rock, condensed out of thin air and hurtled down, mixed with a bone-chilling cold wind, striking the ground fiercely!

If this spell were allowed to fully form, even if the number of Saxon soldiers in the area was small, the terrain would be altered even if the lethal effect was lacking.

However, just as a few of the sharp hailstones had fallen and were about to inflict damage, the spell effect over the entire area suddenly vanished, as if a pause button had been hit.

The sky returned to brightness, the cold wind stopped howling, and only the few already formed hailstones fell to the ground.

“Hmm?”

The body of the casting ‘Sentinel’ jolted. He abruptly looked up, a flicker of shock crossing his eyes beneath the metal mask.

The spell had been forcibly interrupted?

He immediately realized that someone had cast [Dispel Magic] on him!

This meant that hidden among the Saxon soldiers, who looked like groundhogs only capable of throwing grenades and spraying bullets, there was a Mage!

Damn it! Intelligence never mentioned a Mage Unit in this Saxon force!

The ‘Sentinel’ immediately used the magical energy sensing capability of his mask to search the chaotic battlefield for the enemy spellcaster’s location.

Quickly, he locked onto a faint but extremely condensed magical fluctuation behind an inconspicuous trench.

There he is!

The ‘Sentinel’ exchanged a glance with another Conjuration-specialist ‘Sentinel’ nearby.

The two immediately understood each other’s intent.

They first peered out from behind their cover and raised their rifles toward Morin’s direction, attempting to provide suppressing fire.

But they found no one in that direction.

The hidden Saxon Mage had clearly realized he was exposed. After casting [Dispel Magic], he immediately retreated deeper into the cover, giving them no chance to shoot.

“I’ll take him out.”

The Conjuration-specialist ‘Sentinel’ immediately made the decision.

When dealing with an enemy who also knew how to cast spells, the best way for the ‘Sentinels’ was to use their combat prowess to resolve the fight in close quarters!

His nearby comrade nodded, then raised his hand and cast [Enchant Weapon] on his knife again, causing the already sharp blade to shimmer with an even keener Magical Aura.

Having done this, the Conjuration-specialist ‘Sentinel’ slung his rifle behind his back and cast [Grease] on himself.

The next second, his figure shot out of the shell crater like an arrow from a bow, darting straight toward Morin’s location at a speed almost impossible for the eye to track!

“The target is charging! Stop him!”

The surrounding Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers immediately focused all their firepower on the suddenly charging ‘Sentinel’.

Bullets rained down on him like a storm.

But with the boost from [Grease] and his own terrifying physical conditioning, this ‘Sentinel’s’ burst speed reached an extremely frightening level!

His body swayed rapidly from side to side amidst the hail of bullets, leaving trails of afterimages. Most of the bullets fell onto the empty ground behind him.

The soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion felt that their aiming speed could not keep up with his rapid movement.

Even the occasional bullet that managed to hit him was entirely blocked by the [Wizard Armor] he had already cast on himself, only kicking up ripples of magical energy without causing any substantial damage.

The ‘Sentinel’ endured the dense net of fire, charging hard for over a hundred meters, getting closer and closer to the trench where Morin was located.

Everyone could see that his target was Morin, who was hiding in that section of the trench!

“Protect the Battalion Commander!”

“Stop him!”

The closest Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers, along with two General’s Guard soldiers who had just arrived as reinforcements, saw that the enemy was about to break through the fire line, and their faces showed resolute expressions.

They roared and charged out from behind their respective covers, positioning their bodies in front of Morin. They raised their weapons and fired frantically at the rapidly approaching figure.

They intended to form a final defense line for Morin with their flesh and blood.

However, a cold curve formed at the corners of the ‘Sentinel’s’ mouth beneath his metal mask.

“Hmph. A bunch of guys running toward their death.”

He twirled the cold, shimmering military knife in his hand, then cast the second prepared [Steel Wind Strike], and his figure vanished from everyone’s sight once more.

The two General’s Guard soldiers charging at the front didn’t even have time to pull their triggers before they felt a chilling sensation on their necks, where the armor had gaps.

Their expressions froze. They looked down incredulously, only to see a thin line of blood appear on their necks.

Immediately, their heads separated from their bodies due to inertia, and blood spurted from the severed neck.

The ‘Sentinel’s’ figure flashed past them, then vanished again, only to reappear behind two other Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers who were trying to block him.

Again, it was the same knife swing, the same beheading.

The entire process was executed with extreme speed, without any unnecessary delay.

This Conjuration-specialist ‘Sentinel’ had selected five targets the moment he cast the spell.

From near to far: the two blocking General’s Guard soldiers, the two Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers, and finally, Morin, who was peering out of the trench, aiming his submachine gun, apparently ready to shoot him.

In his mind, this spellcaster, whom the other Saxon soldiers were desperately trying to protect, was definitely a high-value target.

As long as he killed him, the mission would be largely complete.