Chapter 267: Gungnir

The man who jumped off the train was about forty years old, tall, and had a resolute face.

“Your Excellency Grand Master Leonia!”

The Colonel immediately spotted the most noticeable person in the crowd, Leonia, quickly walked up, and gave her a crisp military salute.

“Colonel Lucas,” Leonia nodded in return.

“This must be the famous Captain Friedrich Morin, yes?”

Colonel Lucas then turned his attention to Morin, a warm smile on his face.

“It is an honor to finally meet you! I am Lucas Koch, the Commander of the Armored Train ‘Odin’. To be honest, the boys on the train and I have long hoped for a chance to fight alongside your Instruction Assault Battalion!”

“You flatter me, Colonel,” Morin was slightly surprised that the other party knew him.

“This is no flattery.”

Lucas laughed heartily: “The story of your swift capture of the Liège Fortress with the help of Armored Airships has spread throughout the entire army! Many of the young men on our ‘Odin’ are your admirers!”

After saying this, the Train Commander glanced at the battle-ravaged positions in the distance, his smile receding somewhat, and said apologetically:

“I am truly sorry we are late. The Gauls and the Britannians almost demolished every railway along the way during their retreat! Our journey has essentially been one of repairing and advancing. Even with all our haste, we’ve only made it here now!”

“Arriving now is not too late.”

After the brief exchange, Lucas immediately got down to business.

“Enough small talk, time is pressing. Captain Morin, the General ordered us to provide you with resupply. All ammunition, medicine, and supplies are in the fourth, fifth, tenth, and eleventh carriages. You can begin replenishment immediately!”

“Furthermore, there is a batch of new weapons that just arrived from the homeland on board. You can also re-equip your troops with those.”

“That’s fantastic!” Morin’s eyes lit up.

Quickly, under Lucas’s command, the massive side doors of the ‘Odin’s’ four supply carriages were opened, revealing mountains of stacked wooden crates inside.

The soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion cheered and rushed forward. Organized by their officers, they began orderly transporting supplies and restocking ammunition and lost weapons.

On the other side, Leonia also started directing her Armored Knights to board the five large flatbed transport carriages at the rear of the train, one by one.

The accompanying engineers used thick chains and specialized fixtures to securely fasten these heavy war machines to the flatbeds, ensuring no accidents would occur during high-speed transit.

Taking advantage of the interval, Morin curiously inquired about the Armored Train’s details from Colonel Lucas.

To Morin, the well-known ‘friendly commander,’ Commander Lucas held nothing back. Instead, he proudly introduced his vehicle like an enthusiastic guide.

“The ‘Odin’ is the latest model of heavy Armored Train in our Saxon Empire.”

Lucas patted the cold armor beside him, his eyes filled with pride.

“We Saxons are one of the first nations in the world to utilize Armored Trains. Decades ago, during the Saxo-Gallic War, our predecessors were already driving primitive Armored Trains to provide fire support for the infantry.”

Hearing the first sentence, Morin realized that the development trajectory of Armored Trains in this world was likely different from the other timeline.

In the other timeline, Armored Trains were developed during the American Civil War.

However, in this timeline where America failed to achieve independence… the Saxons became the originators of the Armored Train instead.

On the other side, Commander Lucas continued his introduction.

“And by the time we reached this latest generation, the ‘Odin,’ it is no longer merely a mobile artillery platform for the infantry; it is a combat unit capable of independently executing various missions!”

“Currently, our Army is equipped with a total of eighteen Armored Trains of various types. Five, including the ‘Odin,’ have been reinforced into the Northern War Zone, and the remaining thirteen are tasked with defensive missions along the Southern Border.”

“Then why didn’t we see you playing any role in the earlier battles?” Morin couldn’t help but ask.

Hearing this question, Colonel Lucas’s face showed a hint of helplessness:

“Alas, that is the biggest problem with Armored Trains—no matter how powerful we are, we cannot leave these two iron rails beneath us.”

“In the United Kingdom of Flanders, many railways were destroyed, and the Gauls also demolished the railways during their retreat after suffering defeat, making it impossible for us to arrive in time.”

“So, at first, the high military command preferred to use our ‘mobile artillery platforms’ in border defense battles, as the positions are fixed and the railway network is complete.”

“If not for the ‘Odin’ being a special model specifically designed for offensive breakthroughs, the General Staff probably would have kept it at home instead of sending it here.”

With Colonel Lucas’s explanation and the constantly refreshing information on the system, Morin gained a clearer understanding of the structure of this steel behemoth.

“Come, Captain Morin, let me show you our ‘baby’,” Colonel Lucas invited Morin enthusiastically, guiding him through the train, starting at the head.

“See, this first carriage is our ‘Armored Artillery Car,’ and it serves as our ‘iron nose’ for clearing obstacles.”

Lucas pointed to the large, plowshare-like clearance blade at the front of the carriage:

“This thing can smash through most obstacles on the road. The carriage itself is covered in all-around heavy armor—the same as the Teutonic Knights’—enough to withstand a direct hit from most known conventional artillery.”

Morin’s gaze fell upon the two huge, hemispherical armored turrets arranged front and back on that carriage.

The turrets’ design was full of the Saxon characteristics of simplicity and ferocity, with long barrels pointing obliquely toward the sky.

“The guns mounted in these two turrets were ‘borrowed’ from our Navy—150-millimeter naval guns.”

Lucas explained with a laugh:

“Naval guns have enormous power and long range, making them exceptionally effective against enemy permanent fortifications and artillery positions.”

“The carriage behind the artillery car is our ‘Fire Support Car’,” Lucas continued to introduce. “It features a mixed arrangement of six MG08 heavy machine guns and three 88-millimeter secondary guns.”

“88-gun?” Morin’s heart stirred at the familiar term.

“Yes, Navy stuff, too.”

Lucas smiled, as if grateful for the ‘gifts’ from the Navy.

“They were originally intended for mounting on light warships to fight torpedo boats… But we found that this thing is also quite useful for ground targets. It has a high rate of fire and good accuracy.”

Morin knew that the 88-gun in this world was likely not the same as the famous Flak 88 in his memory.

Judging by the time period, it should be the ‘ancestor’ of the Flak 88?

However, since Commander Lucas spoke so highly of it, this 88-gun must have its advantages; otherwise, they wouldn’t have ‘borrowed’ it from the Navy.

“The third and fourth carriages are the troop carrier and the supply carriage, respectively.”

Lucas pointed to the two carriages in the middle:

“Our official establishment calls for a full infantry company to accompany the train, but we departed too hastily this time. The infantry didn’t have time to board, so the troop carrier is also filled with supplies, which are currently being used to resupply your Instruction Assault Battalion.”

Morin looked at the piles of ammunition crates and weapon boxes, feeling a surge of warmth.

He saw that many of the crates were stamped with the logo of ‘Schmeisser Arms Manufacturing Corporation’, clearly containing a new batch of MP14 Submachine Guns and MG14 light machine guns produced by his own company.

“The fifth carriage is one of our cores—the ‘Anti-Magic Defense Unit’.”

Lucas continued his introduction, the forty-something-year-old man speaking as if describing his favorite large toy.

“It is equipped with an independent Magic Core and a large Magic Device generator, capable of sustaining a high-strength Magic Shield around the train. In terms of defense, it’s even slightly stronger than the shields on the Armored Airships.”

This surprised Morin somewhat.

He had always assumed that the Saxon forces’ aerial ships were the pinnacle of magical defense.

He didn’t expect the Armored Train on the ground to be even better.

“Next, we have our power core.”

Lucas pointed to the two carriages in the middle, which were noticeably taller and more complex in structure than the others:

“We have two Radiant Crystal Internal Combustion Engine locomotives, one at the front and one at the back, sandwiching the armored command car in the middle.”

“Radiant Crystal Internal Combustion Engine? The kind used in Armored Knights and Radiant Crystal Vehicles?”

“Exactly, but the ‘Odin’ uses the Empire’s latest technology.”

Lucas said proudly:

“Each Radiant Crystal Internal Combustion Engine locomotive provides us with about 4,700 powerful horsepower! Together, that’s nearly ten thousand horsepower!”

“Hiss,” Morin inhaled sharply.

This figure was comparable to the ‘Harmony 5B’ locomotive from the world before his transmigration.

Using two ‘hearts’ of that caliber to power a single train was sheer extravagance in this era.

It was no wonder this steel behemoth possessed a speed that defied its size.

“Colonel Lucas, what is behind the second internal combustion locomotive?”

Morin asked, pointing to a massive carriage that was completely covered in thick armor, with no visible internal structure.

“Good question, Captain Morin. This is the ‘Odin’s’ main weapon, the ‘Gungnir’!”

“Gungnir?”

Morin repeated the name. This was the weapon of the chief god Odin in Norse mythology, the Eternal Spear.

Naming a weapon after this… clearly meant it was no small matter.

“What exactly is it?” Morin asked curiously.

“Heh heh,” Lucas played coy, smiling mysteriously. “You’ll find out when we reach the outskirts of Paris. I promise you, Captain, you will be utterly astonished!”

Morin laughed and shook his head, then looked at the mysterious carriage, noticing another detail.

Almost all the carriages had massive hydraulic support structures mounted on their sides, resembling centipede legs.

It looked like these could be deployed and firmly anchor the train into the roadbed flanking the railway.

Morin already had a faint suspicion in his mind. Combined with the information the system had just provided, he likely knew what the so-called ‘Gungnir’ was.

It was definitely some sort of outrageously powerful siege weapon, with a recoil so terrifying that it could only be absorbed by relying on the entire train and its external support structure.

The carriages behind the ‘Gungnir’ carriage were essentially a mirror image of the front section, repeating the configuration.

This symmetrical design meant the Armored Train could utilize the firepower of four 150mm guns and six 88mm guns regardless of the direction it was traveling.

At the very rear of the train were the five flatbed carriages used to carry the Armored Knights.

According to Colonel Lucas, these flatbeds could also carry materials for laying tracks, but they had mostly been used up during the journey.

As the Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers finished their resupply, Leonia’s Armored Knights were also securely fastened onto the flatbeds.

With all preparations complete, the two Radiant Crystal Internal Combustion Engine locomotives released their brakes and slowly started moving.