Chapter 264: The Sentinel Project

“Attention all personnel!”

Colonel Schneider took a deep breath, then issued his long-awaited command over the ship’s broadcast, his voice slightly high-pitched with excitement.

“Engines full speed ahead! Target: the Gauls’ Creil defense line! We will let those Gauls taste the wrath from the sky!”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Power Unit Control! Maximum power output!”

“Helm! Course 0-3-5! Full speed ahead!”

“Fire Control Center! All turrets release safeties! Free fire! Blast every Gaul you see to hell!”

The commands were quickly transmitted.

Armored Airship No. L29, hovering in the sky, gave a massive tremor across its huge steel hull.

The giant propellers surrounding the hull simultaneously roared deafeningly, their high-speed rotation even twisting the air around them.

This aerial behemoth, over 450 meters long, slowly began to accelerate, then rushed toward the battlefront ahead with an oppressive speed completely disproportionate to its size,

On the ground, the Saxon soldiers, who had just recovered from the artillery bombardment, heard the increasingly loud roar from the sky almost simultaneously.

They instinctively looked up, and everyone saw an immense shadow in the sky behind them, descending upon them with an unstoppable momentum.

The Armored Airship, painted with the insignia of the Saxon Empire Air Force, was like a steel fortress floating in the air, eclipsing the sky that had just turned pale with dawn.

Sunlight shone from the sides of its massive hull, outlining its shape with a golden edge, making it look like the divine chariot of a celestial being descending to the mortal world in mythology.

“It’s… it’s our Armored Airship!”

A soldier murmured, his voice filled with awe and ecstasy.

“The airship can finally be deployed!”

After a brief shock, the entire Saxon position erupted in thunderous cheers.

All the soldiers raised their weapons high, yelling their most enthusiastic shouts at the approaching giant in the sky.

Morin also looked up, watching the increasingly close Armored Airship, his heart filled with the same sense of awe.

Although it wasn’t the first time he had seen this thing, every time he saw it, he was struck by this transcendent, violent aesthetic.

This was the way war was fought in this world.

Ancient chivalry and cold steel technology, traditional magic and modern artillery, had all merged in a strange way in this distorted era.

Soon, Armored Airship No. L29 arrived over the Gauls’ defense line.

Its colossal shadow enveloped the Gaulish positions still holding out below.

“Target, the trenches below! Free fire!”

Colonel Schneider stood on the bridge, looking coldly through the large observation window at the Gaulish soldiers below, who looked like ants, and issued the attack order.

The next second, the four twin-barreled 203mm main gun turrets beneath the Armored Airship simultaneously rotated their muzzles downward.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Eight large-caliber naval guns roared simultaneously!

The huge flames spat from the muzzles were clearly visible in mid-air.

The heavy shells, screaming as they tore through the air, slammed into the trenches below at a near-vertical angle.

“Rumble—!!!”

A series of earth-shattering explosions rang out across the Gauls’ positions.

The destructive power of the 203mm high-explosive shell was utterly incomparable to the 105mm howitzer.

Every explosion completely obliterated a section of the trench tens of meters long, along with all the soldiers and fortifications within it, wiping them off the face of the earth.

The massive blast waves flung mud, shrapnel, and shattered limbs hundreds of meters high, forming terrifying pillars of smoke.

The Gaulish soldiers still desperately resisting in the trenches had no chance to fight back against such devastating strikes.

They couldn’t even flee; they were torn to shreds in the violent explosions.

Armored Airship No. L29, like a Grim Reaper positioned high above, harvested the lives of the enemies below with its massive scythe—ruthlessly and efficiently.

In addition to the main guns, the MG08 heavy machine gun turrets mounted on the airship also began to madly sweep fire across all exposed targets on the ground.

The dense rain of bullets, like the Grim Reaper’s lash, riddled everything on the ground with holes.

“My God…”

Private Erik lay in a shell crater, staring dumbfounded at the scene that felt like the end of the world.

He saw a nearby Gaulish heavy machine gun emplacement still resisting, struck directly by a shell descending from the sky.

The entire emplacement, along with a dozen surrounding Gaulish soldiers, instantly vanished into a colossal fireball.

He saw groups of Gaulish soldiers falling in swathes, like wheat being harvested, under the airship’s strafing.

Is this… an attack from the sky?

Erik felt his throat dry up.

It was the first time he had been so thankful to be a Saxon.

Under the devastating strike of Armored Airship No. L29, the Gauls’ last will to resist was completely shattered.

They began to throw down their weapons, crying and scrambling out of the trenches, scattering everywhere like headless flies.

But where could they run?

Under the airship’s surveillance, they had nowhere to hide.

Just then, the Saxon follow-up forces surged forward.

“Charge!”

“For the Empire!!”

At this point, the ‘Blade’ Assault Group achieved a true and complete breakthrough along this two-kilometer-long front.

The vast forces behind them did not waste this hard-won opportunity. Under the urging of their officers, a flood of Saxon soldiers poured into the breach like a bursting dam, then spread wildly to both sides like cancer cells.

The Creil Line, the defense line that had cost the Saxon First Army Group so much blood, was finally completely penetrated at this moment.

According to the pre-battle operational plan, the Instruction Assault Battalion’s assault mission had concluded.

They had chewed through the hardest bone, and the Gauls’ Anti-air Magic Device arrays had been neutralized.

The subsequent fighting could now be handled sufficiently by ordinary Saxon soldiers.

Morin used a messenger to regroup his troops, and after instructing Kleist and Manstein to quickly tally casualties, he sat down in an occupied Gaulish trench.

After drinking some water to wet his dry throat, Morin impatiently opened the system interface, eager to see the contents of the newly unlocked entries.

He discovered that besides the basic information on Gallic Republic Mage Units obtained after killing the Gaulish Mage, there was a wealth of astonishing information.

Especially regarding the Gauls’ ‘Sentinel Project’.

[‘Sentinel’: Gallic Republic’s secretly formed Combat Mage Unit. Its member selection criteria are extremely rigorous, consisting solely of elite soldiers with casting talent who have undergone a series of high-intensity, high-attrition special training and physical enhancement modifications.]

[The ‘Sentinel’ unit has abandoned the traditional Mage cultivation model, emphasizing the combination of traditional magic with rapidly developing modern military tactics. All ‘Sentinels’ are not only proficient in specific schools of magic but are also excellent close-quarters combat experts and marksmen.]

[After undergoing special physical modification, they possess physical abilities and reaction speeds far surpassing ordinary people, specializing in high-speed mobile combat using various spells.]

[‘Sentinel Project’: Following the devastating defeat in the Saxo-Gallic War, the Gallic Republic reflected deeply and secretly initiated a project, personally overseen by the then-Minister of War, aimed at creating an elite spellcasting force—the core of this project is the creation of the ‘Sentinel’ unit.]

Morin read the system’s introduction to the ‘Sentinel’ carefully, several times.

“So that’s it,” he murmured to himself.

“Mass-produced Gallic Captains, eh?”

No wonder he always felt that the ‘Sentinels’ resembled super soldiers from a sci-fi movie rather than Mages.

Turns out these guys really were the magic-side’s ‘super soldiers.’

They not only possessed casting talent but also underwent physical modification to gain powerful physical conditioning and combat skills.

The Saxon Empire also had physical modification programs, but these merely granted the modified individuals ‘Magic Affinity,’ which was nothing compared to the Gauls’ ‘Sentinel Project’.

The thinking behind the ‘Sentinel Project’ was, one might say, quite ‘obsessive’ and very ‘Gallic.’

It perfectly fit the kind of plan that would be born out of constant anxiety after losing the Saxo-Gallic War, perpetually under the shadow of potentially being attacked and reaching Paris again.

Morin recalled his fight with the ‘Sentinel’.

The opponent’s terrifying reaction speed, his fluid assassination movements, and his fearless combat style had all left an extremely deep impression on him.

If he hadn’t advanced to a Third-Circle Mage, and if the captured ‘Guardian Necklace’ hadn’t provided him with ample Spell Slots, he might truly have fallen into the opponent’s hands this time.

“But the endurance is still poor… and the physical strength is still within the realm of carbon-based life forms. Ordinary light weapons can still cause damage.”

Morin rubbed his chin, pondering this information.

This was quite similar to the weakness of the Britannian Highland Mages.

This explained why the powerful ‘Sentinels’ had seemed so overwhelmed when faced with the Instruction Assault Battalion’s sheer volume of automatic fire and ‘grenade-washing’ tactics.

Next, he clicked on the next entry.

[Gallic Republic Current Mage Count (including ‘Sentinels’): 525 individuals]

[Third-Circle and below Mages account for 75%, Fourth- to Sixth-Circle Mages account for 23%, Seventh-Circle and above Mages account for 2%]

[Evocation Mages account for 64%, Conjuration Mages account for 8% (primarily ‘Sentinels’), Transmutation Mages account for 7%, other schools account for 21%]

Relatively speaking, although the Gallic Republic did not have as many Mages as the Britannians, their distribution across the schools was noticeably ‘healthier.’

Of course, this ‘healthier’ state was only in comparison to the distorted configuration of the Highland Mage Corps—or what Morin referred to as the ‘Artillery Mage Corps.’

After reading these details, Morin focused his attention on the glass vial he had retrieved.

[PF-214 Laurent’s Legacy: One of the secret products of the Gallic Republic’s ‘Sentinel Project,’ a potent combat stimulant synthesized using pharmacognosy based on a potion developed by the legendary Mage ‘Laurent.’]

[Upon injection, the user experiences a significant, temporary increase in spell concentration and reaction speed, while temporarily suppressing most pain receptors.]

[Side effects: Causes irreversible damage to the nervous system and is highly addictive.]

“Holy cow, magic meth…”

Morin was stunned. He hadn’t expected the Gauls to be the ones to introduce this kind of ‘combat stimulant’ to the world first.

Although it currently seemed exclusive to the ‘Sentinels’, who knew if a version for ordinary people might appear later?

Given the abstract nature of this world and the ongoing state of war, this was highly possible.

“They’re going mad, they’re all going mad… This is even crazier than the French in the regular timeline.”

Morin shook his head, then looked at the last unlocked entry.

[Prometheus Project: A secret operation planned by the Holy Britannia Empire’s Army Intelligence Department and the Highland Mage Corps, aimed at seizing relevant data and technology from the ‘Sentinel Project’ by leveraging the opportunity to dispatch an Expeditionary Force into the Gallic Republic.]

“???”

The novel has already been fully translated up to the last updated chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at /caleredhair