Chapter 96: The Air Burster Is Finally Air Bursted

Morin’s heart leaped. Weren’t the allied 32nd Regiment troops supposed to be blocking the enemy in the other directions? Where did these enemies come from?

He immediately opened the system map.

On the map, the blue markers representing the Saxon forces were indeed blocking the returning elements of the enemy’s 32nd Regiment on the left and right flanks of the town.

But in the only direction not encircled—due west, toward Madrid—two red battalion-sized unit markers were rapidly approaching the town.

“Worcestershire Regiment?”

Morin recognized the unit’s designation.

If the Britannian Army in this world named their infantry regiments similarly to ‘Great Britain’ before his transmigration, then this was a regular home-based force.

Simultaneously, the

【Intelligence】

tab updated with relevant information—this was one of the units the Britannians had recently ferried across the sea as reinforcements to the Iberian Peninsula.

“Order the entire company! Immediately into defensive positions! Prepare for battle!” Morin commanded instantly.

“Yes!” The messenger acknowledged the order and ran off.

“Notify Battalion Headquarters and the other allied units in the town: enemy reinforcements are approaching from the northwest!” Morin shouted to another messenger who had just rushed over from the castle.

After issuing the commands, Morin turned back to the captured Magic Crystal Cannon crew members.

“Can this thing fire ‘air bursts’?”

The artillerymen looked confused, clearly not understanding the new term the Saxon officer had just used.

“It’s the kind,” Morin gestured, “that explodes in the air, and then a bunch of metal fragments rain down!”

“Ah!” one artilleryman suddenly realized. “You mean the Arcane Shrapnel Shells! Yes! We still have some reserves in the warehouse!”

“Good, good, good.”

A smile flashed across Morin’s face.

He pointed to the six massive Magic Crystal Cannons, then pointed in the direction from which the enemy was approaching outside the distant town.

“Very good… Now, get them moving.”

The members of the Magic Crystal Cannon crew looked at each other, their faces paler than if they had eaten stale military rations.

Make them operate their own Magic Crystal Cannons to bombard friendly forces?

This…

“What’s wrong? You are unwilling?”

Morin’s voice turned cold.

“You’ll be shooting Britannians, not your Aragonese troops…”

Several veterans of the 1st Company next to him understood immediately and simultaneously racked the bolts of their rifles.

The crisp metallic clatter of the Gew.98 rifles sounded particularly loud on the quiet artillery position.

The cold muzzles were aimed squarely at the artillerymen’s heads.

Under the undisguised armed threat from the Saxon soldiers, the instinct for survival ultimately triumphed over any sense of loyalty.

Major García, the captured commander of the Magic Crystal Cannon Battalion, finally sighed and waved his hand listlessly.

“Do as he says.”

The artillerymen reluctantly sprang into action, beginning to inspect the gun bodies, open the ammunition crates, and prepare the firing sequence.

Morin watched their slow movements but didn’t rush them. He was more curious now about how the system’s ‘guided attack’ feature was supposed to work.

“Hello there,”

He walked over to Major García and continued in Aragonese:

“How do you guide this thing?”

Major García was startled, apparently not expecting this question.

“Guidance?”

He looked at Morin with a strange gaze: “The Mages previously would fly into the sky, observing and guiding with their bare eyes.”

Fly into the sky?

Morin frowned. He didn’t have that ability yet.

They did have artillery observation balloons, but with the battle imminent, the slow arrival of the balloon unit from the rear would be too late.

“Then, how do you fire it yourselves without a Mage?” Morin asked again.

“It requires… it requires very complex trajectory calculations.”

Major García explained with difficulty: “And it takes several rounds of test firing and calibration to even hit the approximate area. Sir, we were just recently deployed here. The cannons were assembled only a few days ago, and we haven’t even had time to create a full firing table.”

“Alright, I understand.” Morin interrupted him impatiently.

He couldn’t rely on these prisoners.

He looked up at Garcimuñoz Castle, which was not far away, and an idea formed in his mind.

The castle was the highest point in the entire area, offering an excellent view. It was perfect for an observation post.

“Fischer!”

Morin looked at a seemingly more agile messenger.

“Immediately take a few men up to the 32nd Regiment Headquarters in the castle, and use their equipment to quickly run a field telephone line to this position! Hurry!”

“Yes!”

In the absence of arcane communication equipment, the old-fashioned wired telephone was the most reliable method of command.

After settling the communication issue, Morin instructed Major García: “You will first activate the Magic Crystal Cannons and bring them to a ready-to-fire status. Then, await my command.”

Major García, despite his deep doubts, complied.

As the artillerymen loaded the glowing magic crystal energy cores into the breech interfaces, the arcane runes on the six massive cannons lit up sequentially, emitting a deep humming sound.

Morin, meanwhile, sprinted all the way up to the highest point of the castle.

The top of the castle was a wide platform with an excellent view.

Looking northwest, the Britannian reinforcements were already visible, about three to four kilometers outside the town.

A dense mass of black figures was advancing up the gentle slope in standard, tight formation.

Soon, a few messengers ran up, panting heavily, dragging a field telephone and a long wire.

“Hello? Is that the artillery position?” Morin picked up the receiver.

“Artillery position connected, sir!” a slightly noisy voice came through the receiver.

“Good, prepare Cannons One and Two!”

Morin put down the phone and took a deep breath.

Now, everything was ready. He just needed to see what this ‘guided attack’ feature offered by his system cheat was all about.

Following the simple tutorial that appeared on the system interface, he extended his right hand, spreading his thumb and forefinger to use the web of his hand as a sight.

He then aimed his ‘sight’ at the enemy forces advancing in the distance.

The next second, something miraculous happened.

Looking forward through his ‘sight,’ a circular, phantom image, composed of faint green dashed lines, abruptly appeared on the distant ground.

The area of this phantom was quite large, with an estimated diameter of over fifty meters.

【Target Lock Zone Generated】

【Please cover the target location with the lock zone】

Two lines of text flashed across his vision.

Morin’s mind leaped. He tried to slightly move his wrist.

He found that as he moved his wrist, the faint green circular phantom also moved across the ground.

Hey… isn’t this the shell impact indicator?!

Morin instantly understood.

The system had skipped all the complex trajectory calculations and manual calibration procedures, presenting the final impact zone directly before his eyes in a ‘dummy-proof’ manner.

All he needed to do was aim the reticle over the enemy’s head, just like playing a video game!

“This is too overpowered!”

“Do the Britannians control their artillery this way too?”

The thought flashed through Morin’s mind, but he quickly suppressed it.

He picked up the phone receiver with his other hand and, somewhat excitedly, ordered: “Cannon One, Cannon Two! Guidance complete, fire!”

“Wait, sir!”

Major García’s voice sounded through the receiver.

“The gun crews are still adjusting the bearing and elevation based on your guidance…”

He simultaneously glanced at the two gun crews nearby, who were adjusting the Magic Crystal Cannons’ posture based on an illuminated indicator on the mechanical gauge.

“How much longer do you need?”

“30 seconds, sir!”

“I understand. I will readjust the guidance position. Fire immediately once you are ready!”

With that, Morin quickly estimated the enemy’s rate of advance and shifted the pre-aim point further toward the town to account for the lead.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Britannian reinforcement force, Colonel Lionel, was riding a tall thoroughbred horse, observing the distant town of San Lorenzo de la Parrilla through binoculars.

As one of the first home-based units to reinforce the Iberian Peninsula, the entire Worcestershire Regiment was eager to establish a reputation for the Empire on this foreign soil.

To maintain troop morale, the Britannian high command had minimized the spread of news regarding the defeat at Seville.

So, when Colonel Lionel received the urgent command to lead his two battalions to counterattack the town occupied by the Saxons, his heart was filled with disdain.

“It is only a force composed of farmers like the Kingdom Army that would be so easily captured by the Saxon barbarians.”

Colonel Lionel lowered his binoculars and said to his aide-de-camp.

“They might have seized the town by chance, but to hold it? That is nothing but a fool’s dream.”

He knew very well that the terrain surrounding the town consisted of rolling gentle slopes.

This kind of terrain was not favorable for the Saxon field artillery to operate—especially in a defensive capacity.

It would be difficult for them to find a suitable position to fire upon an enemy on the slopes unless they placed their cannons directly on the outermost position for direct fire…

Without artillery superiority, holding an isolated strongpoint with infantry alone, especially against an attack by the Worcestershire Regiment, was clearly a pipe dream.

“Order the battalions to maintain a company-level dense formation, practice bounding overwatch, and advance steadily.”

Colonel Lionel issued the command, his voice brimming with confidence.

“I intend to be drinking Saxon coffee in the town’s castle before lunch.”

“Yes, Colonel!”

The three battalions of Britannian soldiers formed neat columns and began their ascent up the gentle slope.

But they clearly had no idea that they were about to receive an ‘enthusiastic greeting’ from their own weapons.

On the top of the castle, Morin calmly watched the Britannian left-flank unit slowly enter the range of his aiming indicator reticle.

Just then, the two giant cannons on the distant Magic Crystal Cannon position let out a muffled roar.

“Boom! Boom!”

Two dazzling blue lights erupted from the muzzles. Two massive Arcane Shrapnel Shells, trailing faint streaks, shrieked as they flew into the sky in an unnatural parabola.

Immediately after, these Arcane Shrapnel Shells, guided by some force, began to micro-adjust their trajectory.

The Britannian soldiers advancing up the slope also heard the sharp sound of the shells slicing through the air.

They instinctively looked up but only saw two faint trails of smoke flying high above them.

Before they could react, the two rapidly descending black dots violently exploded at an altitude of about ten meters above their heads!

“Boom!”

The sound of the explosion was not particularly loud; it was more like a dull, muffled blast.

But immediately after, thousands of fragments, augmented by arcane power, poured down like two waves of iron rain onto the ground.

The dense shrapnel, like two invisible giant hands, violently slapped down onto the tight formation of the Britannians, which they were equally proud of.

“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Countless muffled impacts were heard as the fragments struck flesh.

In the area covered by the shrapnel, Britannian soldiers fell in swathes, like cut wheat.

Blood and dismembered limbs splattered everywhere. Screams and wails of agony instantly resounded across the entire battlefield.

(End of this Chapter)

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