"Sigh," Herta couldn't help but sigh. Ultimately, it all came down to the suddenness of the situation and their lack of preparation.
If Herta had known in advance that repairing the Dimensional Rift would unleash monsters, and that those monsters would be Featherless Birds, she could have guaranteed not a single one would escape—with just three hours to prepare.
But clearly, the world doesn't operate on "what ifs." Instead of dwelling on hypotheticals, it was more productive to focus on what to do next.
The rescue operations in France continued. Meanwhile, the main French army, previously ordered to reinforce the front lines, received revised instructions: their mission had shifted from defending the front lines to exterminating the monsters.
The Imperial Guard, severely undermanned, had been forced to conscript civilians for assistance. Theoretically, dispersing the main army to support the Guard seemed like a viable option.
In reality, however, this was impractical. The French main army boasted a massive standing force of 800,000 soldiers. Dividing such a large force would drastically reduce its combat effectiveness. Moreover, even if the main army were redeployed to support the Guard, it would likely take far too long for them to reach the battlefields.
With the number of Featherless Birds in the skies over France no longer increasing, it was time to switch from defense to offense. The main army would actively engage these monsters and thin their ranks.
This main army consisted entirely of ordinary soldiers armed with flintlock rifles and sabers—no Corrupted among them. Sending these ordinary men to face the minions of an Evil God might seem strange.
In countless movies, games, and novels, supernatural threats are typically handled by a handful of superheroes. Take Marvel World, for example. In The Avengers (2012), when aliens invaded Earth, only the main characters took action. The military remained conspicuously absent, ultimately resorting to a nuclear bomb that ended up targeting their own forces. It made no sense.
In this world, there were no so-called superheroes. Yet every soldier in the army was a hero in their own right. One flintlock shot might not kill a Featherless Bird, but what about ten? A hundred? A thousand?
But what would happen when their ammunition ran dry? Reloading took considerable time. What if other Featherless Birds attacked during that vulnerable moment?
Though these monsters were capable of flight, they lacked ranged attacks. To strike, they had to dive, their sharp beaks capable of piercing one or two soldiers upon impact. But the moment they landed, four, five, seven, eight, or even more soldiers would swarm them, seize the creature, and hack it to pieces with their scimitars.
In these battles, the human forces often suffered casualties several times greater than the enemy's. Yet not a single soldier faltered.
"Advance!" Fresh from a recent skirmish, the Marshal regrouped his troops and ordered them to resume their march.
They didn't need to actively seek out the Featherless Birds. As they drew closer to the southern Mediterranean, the creatures would flock to them in waves, drawn by the scent of prey.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the armies of Great Ming were conducting similar operations.
In this world, France had unified Europe, Great Ming dominated all of Asia, and Great Britain controlled the entirety of the Americas—the three nations dividing the world between them.
Unlike France, where the Featherless Birds emerged from Africa, crossed the Mediterranean, and descended directly into the heart of the country, allowing them to attack civilians directly, Great Britain faced a different threat.
The Middle East, dangerously close to Africa and with its barren land, was no place for the people of the glorious Great Ming Empire. After conquering all of Asia, most of the population was relocated eastward, while the Middle Eastern region bordering Africa was transformed into a formidable network of fortresses.
When the Featherless Birds crossed the African Isolation Line—the Suez Canal—built by Great Ming, they immediately encountered the massive armies stationed there.
These creatures possessed limited intelligence and wouldn't bypass the fortresses to strike deep into the Great Ming heartland. They attacked the moment they encountered human presence in the Middle East.
Thanks to the defensive fortifications, the Great Ming armies suffered far fewer casualties fighting these monsters than their French counterparts. This explained why Herta had come to France's aid instead of intervening in Great Ming—her assistance simply wasn't needed.
In fact, when news of this reached the Great Ming Emperor, he ordered half the garrison forces to maintain their positions while the other half advanced westward to actively support France!
In Herta's eyes, this world's technology was laughably primitive, and its system of superhuman abilities, known as the Corrupted, was utterly rudimentary. The entire world resembled a critically ill child, so fragile that the slightest touch could shatter it. Had she not intervened, it might have perished long ago.
Yet, for the people of this world, survival remained paramount, regardless of the cost.
As time wore on, Herta entered her twentieth hour of repairing the Dimensional Rift. Above Africa, the massive black fissure that had once spanned the sky had shrunk considerably. However, the patched areas didn't revert to their original azure hue; instead, they transformed into pure white "glue."
This meant that even after the Dimensional Rift was fully sealed, the sky would never fully recover. The darkness would simply be replaced by stark white, like a scar that would forever mar the world's heavens.
Herta gazed upward at the dwindling rift, her purple eyes devoid of their usual glint, resembling the vacant stare of a mind-controlled heroine in certain comics. But in truth, she was simply lost in thought.
Or, more accurately, Herta was furiously calculating and theorizing in her mind, her focus razor-sharp. Unable to conduct experiments outside the laboratory, she had to rely on "brain simulations" to test whether her new invention would function properly.
After a moment, she blinked, snapping back to reality. She swiftly operated the Black Box 3D printer beside her, inputting the specifications for her recent creation. Once activated, the machine produced a single black "bullet."
Herta rubbed the bullet between her thumb and forefinger. She then used the Black Box to print a standard handgun and loaded the bullet into it.
Looking up, she saw the Bird-Shaped Evil God, which had previously fled to a great distance, now circling back. The massive wounds that had nearly torn its body apart had completely healed.
Less than four hours until the Dimensional Rift is fully repaired, Herta thought. Healed up and back for a final desperate gamble, huh? Perfect. Time to test whether this new weapon actually works.