Chapter 55 Street Fighting Mages

“All High-Level Mages, follow me!”

His icy voice spread through the camp.

The other two High-Level Mages, as well as the two Apprentice Mages, did not dare to delay and immediately followed behind him.

Looking at the two young Apprentice Mages, Eldridge was reminded of the apprentice who had been killed by an enemy trap in the small building.

These three apprentices were hand-picked by him as good prospects, and he had personally guided them.

He believed that with their talent, they would eventually achieve the same success as him, thus strengthening his base within the Mage Corps…

Eldridge’s intention in coming to the Kingdom of Aragon to assist in the operation was specifically to give his apprentices a chance to train and add experience fighting for the Empire overseas to their resumes.

This would be very helpful for the promotion of High-Level Mage apprentices.

However, one apprentice was killed by a blast before they even saw the enemy’s face.

For Eldridge, who had invested his effort into them, this was definitely a huge loss.

Thinking of this, he slightly turned his head to his two apprentices and warned them:

“Stay alert, be careful… Don’t be as careless as that fellow Brad. In an emergency, you can directly withdraw from the battle, understood?”

“Yes, Tutor.” ×2

As the five High-Level Mages prepared to depart, the newly reinforced battalion of the Northumberland Musket Regiment was also pushed forward under the command of Colonel Henry.

The Britannian Expeditionary Force was preparing to use its absolute numerical superiority to completely crush the resistance within Seville.

On the other side, just as Morin was preparing to use ‘micromanagement’ to take out a Britannian platoon based on the distribution of friendly and enemy markers on the system map, the system map surprisingly popped up a warning:

【WARNING! High-threat units are approaching! Quantity: 5!】

He immediately zoomed out the map and saw five special markers representing magic units suddenly appear among the enemy’s red markers, closing in.

One of the icons was marked with a purple ‘High-Risk Warning.’

“Shit, it’s High-Level Mages! Have they come to the front line?”

Morin’s biggest fear had materialized.

The Britannians were clearly driven desperate by the string of losses and had directly sent their spellcasters forward.

Before he could react, he saw the five icons arrive in the Seville urban area with unimaginable speed.

The high-risk marker representing Eldridge, the High-Level Tutor, rushed almost in a straight line deep into Seville at an absurd speed.

Morin instantly guessed that he must have used the flying magic he had seen outside the city earlier.

“What does he want to do?”

Morin stared intently at the map, trying to guess the enemy’s next move.

The next second, he saw Eldridge’s icon stop near the tallest church in the city center.

Then, a squad of friendly markers near the church instantly turned gray.

Immediately after, the sound of a violent explosion and ground tremors traveled from a distance.

“Rumble—!”

A soldier in charge of lookout quickly came to Morin, his face full of panic.

“Squad Leader! Bad news! The church bell tower… the bell tower was blown up! A huge fireball dropped from the sky and leveled it!”

As expected!

That bell tower was the most important vantage point and observation post in the city. It overlooked half of the urban area and provided the defenders with valuable battlefield information.

But now it had been eliminated.

This High-Level Mage wanted to first knock out the defenders’ eyes and ears!

“His next step is likely an assassination attempt!”

Morin immediately realized the enemy’s intention.

Without the high vantage point for observation, the defense headquarters’ awareness of the situation inside the city would drop sharply.

And a flying High-Level Mage could easily bypass layers of defense and launch a devastating strike against the brigade headquarters.

“Go to the brigade headquarters immediately! Find a way to notify them that a High-Level Mage is attempting a decapitation strike! Tell them to relocate immediately!”

Morin shouted at the messenger beside him.

“Yes!”

The messenger did not dare to delay, turned, and ran out.

On the map, the other two High-Level Mages and the two Apprentice Mages had scattered, landing on different attack routes.

They were clearly preparing to use their magic to support the ground troops’ advance.

Although this did not align with the usual conduct of the High-Level Mage Corps, it was happening now…

The battle within Seville instantly escalated to an unprecedented intensity.

On a street defended by the International Brigade, a High-Level Mage descended from the sky, landing amidst the soldiers of the Northumberland Musket Regiment.

He didn’t even seek cover, standing arrogantly in the middle of the street.

“Fire! Shoot that robe-wearer!”

The International Brigade fighters hidden in the buildings on both sides now knew that the Britannian High-Level Mages were not invincible, so they boldly focused their fire on him immediately.

However, all the bullets were blocked by a translucent blue shield about half a meter from his body, splashing ripples.

“Damn it! That shield again!”

André, who saw this from a distance through binoculars, pounded the window frame in frustration.

The Mage ignored the incoming bullets. He simply raised his hand and chanted a few syllables towards the building with the densest fire.

The next second, a fireball the size of a human head formed in front of his palm and then flew out with a roar.

“Boom!”

The window of the three-story building was instantly blown open. The violent explosion and flames consumed the entire room.

A squad of International Brigade soldiers inside was swallowed by the expanding inferno before they could even scream.

A similar scene was unfolding on another street defended by Saxon soldiers.

Two Apprentice Mages became the core of the entire attacking force.

The defenders continuously fired from inside the buildings, even throwing grenades and Molotov cocktails, trying to focus their fire on the two spellcasters.

Although friendly infantry around them kept falling, the two Apprentice Mages remained unharmed.

Whether it was rifle bullets, shrapnel from grenade explosions, or the flames from Molotov cocktails, everything was blocked by the seemingly fragile blue shield.

Clearly, in street fighting, it was difficult to achieve the same fire density as hundreds of rifles firing simultaneously, so the Mage’s armor was not as easily broken as before.

One of the Apprentice Mages cast [Life Sense] on the building that was constantly flashing with gunfire from its windows, then informed the surrounding Britannian officer of the defenders’ positions in a calm tone.

“That building on the left, second floor, six; third floor, five.”

This basic spell, originally developed for exploration in ancient times, had become a fatal cheat in street fighting.

“Riflemen, suppressive fire! Heavy armor squad, prepare to assault!”

Receiving the precise intelligence, the Britannian officer immediately issued the order.

The soldiers of the Northumberland Musket Regiment began frantically pouring fire into the windows of that building.

The marksmanship of these elite soldiers was far superior to that of the previous Kingdom Army soldiers.

Although they were all using bolt-action rifles, their rate of fire was extremely fast. The dense rain of bullets pinned down the defenders hiding behind the windows, giving them no chance to fight back.

“Aaaaahhh!” “I want to go back…”

Numerous bullets penetrated the windows, kicking up plaster and dust inside the room. Cracking noises filled the air.

The suppressed Saxon soldiers had never experienced such a terrifying situation. Several directly collapsed to the floor in fear, trying to crawl toward the doorway.

Seizing this opportunity, several heavily armored soldiers in thick full plate armor charged forward, ignoring the sporadic stray bullets.

The greatswords in their hands easily smashed open the barricaded doors and windows, and then, supported by the infantry behind them, they breached the building.

Soon, intense gunfire and screams erupted from inside the building.

Meanwhile, another group of heavy armor soldiers charged straight through the hail of bullets coming from other directions, using their tools to forcibly dismantle the barbed wire and barricades on the street.

Seeing this, a 77mm field gun, hidden in the ruins at the corner of the street, was wheeled out by the artillery team deployed there.

The artillery crew, nervously loading HE shells while constantly deflecting incoming bullets with the gun shield, immediately fired a direct shot. The explosion instantly covered the area.

Several heavy armor soldiers who were working were instantly blasted to the ground, lifeless.

However, their deaths did not deter the others.

More heavy armor soldiers with cold eyes pushed forward from behind, continuing their work.

They were like emotionless war machines, using their own flesh and blood to clear the way for the following troops.

For the Britannian soldiers, who had historically used the ‘Thin Red Line’ to break the armies of other empires, their technical and tactical skill, as well as their will to fight, were clearly far superior to the previous Kingdom Army.

This caused the pressure on the defenders to suddenly spike.

Morin saw on the map that several friendly positions around his 3rd Platoon were being forced to retreat.

The defense line was being torn apart bit by bit.

“Squad Leader! The International Brigade on the left flank is about to break! They are requesting support!” “2nd Platoon on the right also sent a message, they have a High-Level Mage on their front, and casualties are heavy!”

Messengers continuously brought bad news, and Morin’s expression grew more solemn.

He looked at the map. The red arrows representing the enemy were forming a pincer movement from both flanks toward the 3rd Platoon’s defense zone.

If he didn’t act quickly, the 3rd Platoon’s position would soon become a salient and be encircled.

“Can’t wait any longer!”

Morin made a snap decision.

He grabbed his rifle and shouted at the remaining two squads of reserve soldiers: “Follow me! We’re going to put out the fire!”

With that, he led the fewer than twenty soldiers, rushing out of their temporary hiding place, threading between buildings, and heading toward the most stressed position on the left flank.

(End of this Chapter)