There was no fierce explosion, no dazzling flash of fire.
The green ray, like a drop of ink falling into water, quickly spread across the Armored Knight's chassis.
Every area touched by the green light, whether the sturdy steel armor or the complex internal mechanical structure, rapidly decomposed and collapsed at a visible speed.
William, inside the cockpit, didn't even have time to utter a cry of astonishment before he and his machine were completely engulfed by the eerie green light.
A few seconds later, when the green light dissipated.
The 'Siegfried Type 1,' which had been poised for attack, had its entire upper body, including the cockpit and both arms, completely vanished.
Only two broken mechanical legs remained standing alone, before collapsing to the ground with a 'clank.'
The entire battlefield, for perhaps the umpteenth time today, fell into complete silence.
Everyone was utterly stunned by this bizarre and terrifying sight.
Eldridge, the High-Level Tutor of the High-Level Mage Corps, finally eliminated the last unit on the battlefield that could pose a major threat to him, at the cost of being severely wounded and using an incredibly precious forbidden-level spell scroll.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
He coughed violently, spitting out another mouthful of blood. Then, leaning on his cracked staff, he wobbled back to his feet.
His mage robes were tattered and covered in blood and dust. His once ornate and elegant curly hair was messy, and he looked utterly defeated.
But his pale face bore a sickly, manic grin.
He looked around, gazing at the stunned Saxon soldiers and the equally terrified Britannian soldiers.
Then, he slowly bent down and picked up a saber dropped by an unknown Britannian officer.
Then, he used all his strength to point the saber forward.
He pointed it toward the direction of the Saxon defensive line and, in a hoarse voice, issued his final rallying cry.
"The enemy… has no troops left to use! Advance! For the glory of Holy Britannia! Advance!"
His voice broke the silence of the battlefield.
The Britannian and Kingdom Army soldiers, after a moment of shock, erupted in thunderous, overwhelming cheers.
Their greatest threat, the Saxon Armored Knights that could charge into the infantry crowd and unleash a frenzy, were completely annihilated!
Victory seemed to be within their grasp!
"Charge!"
"Kill those Saxon barbarians!"
Led by their officers, the Britannian soldiers regained their morale and, like a surging tide, launched their final general assault toward the City Hall.
This time, the Kingdom Army soldiers, who were originally assigned to clear the battlefield, also charged behind the Britannians under the supervision of their officers.
In an instant, the entire street was almost filled with charging soldiers.
On the other side, the Saxon soldiers, seeing the enemy charge, opened fire without needing orders from any officer.
Rifle bullets streaked across the battlefield, and two lines of fire from heavy machine guns swept toward the charging Britannian soldiers.
Although soldiers in the front ranks were constantly being shot down, the other Britannian soldiers continued to press forward, covering themselves behind debris and flower beds on the street, and firing back.
The soldiers of the Northumberland Musket Regiment believed that as long as they could successfully charge into the enemy's position and enter close-quarters combat, they would secure the final victory.
Morin, inside the building on the side of the street, called to the surviving soldiers, preparing to hold the line using the building and attempt to rescue Ludwig before retreating to the main position.
But just at that moment, the system notification suddenly sounded in his mind without warning.
[Saxon Empire Air Force – 'Zeppelin' Class Armored Airship – L30 has arrived]
[Please prepare to provide attack guidance]
Morin instinctively looked up at the sky upon hearing the alert.
The sky was still covered by a thick layer of smoke-stained, grayish-yellow clouds; nothing could be clearly seen.
However, Morin did notice a new marker appear on the 'mini-map,' which looked similar to the 'War Behemoth' icon from a certain game he used to play.
At the same time, Morin also heard a different sound rising above the din of the battlefield.
A deep rumbling noise was coming from above the cloud layer.
"Whoo—Vroom—"
The sound grew louder and clearer, traveling from a distance. The ground itself seemed to tremble slightly with the noise.
Everyone on the battlefield, whether the charging Britannian and Kingdom Army soldiers or the desperate Saxon defenders, involuntarily looked up toward the source of the sound.
Even Eldridge, the High-Level Mage who had been in a state of near-madness, frowned, his manic smile frozen on his face.
Then, to everyone's shock.
The thick, grayish-yellow cloud layer was suddenly torn open by an invisible giant hand, creating a massive gap.
An unimaginably colossal, sky-obscuring shape slowly emerged from the opening in the clouds.
It was a giant rigid airship.
Its overall shape was similar to the 'Zeppelin airships' from the world Morin had traveled from, but its size seemed to be a size larger.
The most significant difference was the gondola beneath the massive integrated air bladder.
The Zeppelin airship in Morin's memory should have three separate gondolas beneath it, each with a different function.
But the giant airship currently overhead had a single, integrated 'gondola' beneath it, roughly two-thirds the length of the air bladder.
Or rather, this massive structure could no longer be called a gondola; it looked more like a warship deck.
And what surprised Morin the most was that this deck was 'mounted' with a total of four twin-barreled gun turrets—two forward and two aft.
Although Morin couldn't identify the specific model, it was obvious that the caliber of these barrels, which looked like naval cannons, would not be small…
In addition, there were several structures resembling machine gun turrets and bomber bomb bays.
The side of the airship's colossal white air bladder was painted with a huge and striking emblem—a magnificent black eagle with outstretched wings.
That was the symbol of the Saxon Empire!
"It—it's our airship!"
"It's the Zeppelin! It's the Zeppelin airship!"
After a brief moment of silence, the Saxon position erupted in a massive cheer of ecstasy and disbelief!
Hope!
In the final desperate moment when everyone was already resigned to defeat, hope had descended from the sky!
"No… impossible…"
Eldridge stared up blankly at the colossal entity that had appeared like a miracle, the color instantly draining from his face.
As a High-Level Tutor of the High-Level Mage Corps, he naturally knew about this type of Saxon Empire war machine.
But he had never expected this kind of armored airship to appear here!
"Didn't Intelligence say all Saxon airships were confronting the Gauls on the border?!"
"Did they even bother to collect intelligence properly?!"
On the other side, while Morin was still in awe of the giant war behemoth, the cockpit of Ludwig's Armored Knight opened.
Seeing this, Morin immediately had the other soldiers provide covering fire, then he dashed out of the ruins, ran to the side of the downed Armored Knight, and helped Ludwig crawl out.
"Lieutenant Colonel! Look, it's our armored airship!"
Morin excitedly slapped Ludwig's shoulder. The feeling of surviving against all odds made him lose control of his emotions for a moment.
"Cough, cough… I see it, take it easy on me…"
Ludwig, supported by Morin, temporarily hid on the other side of the Armored Knight, continuously sucking in cold air with a hiss.
He felt several of his ribs might be broken and knew he wouldn't be able to move strenuously for a while.
After confirming that his physical condition was indeed poor and he couldn't get up, he tightly grabbed Morin's hand and said to him:
"Morin, I need you to help me with the final attack guidance."
"Attack guidance?"
"Yes! Originally, the Armored Knights were supposed to provide the guidance directly, but as you can see, this machine is incapacitated… However, there is a signal pistol and several flares in the storage box inside the cockpit. They are for emergency temporary guidance! I need you to get them and fire the flares over the heads of the Britannians!"
Morin immediately understood Ludwig's intention.
Although the armored airship currently looked quite powerful, given the technical level shown in this world, providing air-to-ground fire support from the air was not a simple task.
Especially in this kind of close-quarters street battle where friendly and enemy forces were intertwined, a misplaced shot could easily cause friendly fire.
Therefore, the flares Ludwig mentioned were likely the key to fire guidance.
(End of this Chapter)