I will be crowned king

That's...an airship? !

Staring at the giant battleship floating in the sky, Anson was stunned.

According to the memory of "pre-Anson", although a hundred years have passed since Saint Isaac invented the "steam core", the world's progress in technological development and exploration has actually been quite slow during these hundred years. .

In terms of navigation, countries still mainly rely on sail-powered ships; so far, it seems that only the Principality of Adland and the Kingdom of Clovis have tried to build "hybrid" ships such as "sail steam cruisers".

Not to mention land transportation, the "Grand Cross Plan", which is known as the world's first and only established railway network, is already the pride of the Clovis people - although in essence, it is actually on the verge of bankruptcy. Unfinished project.

As for the sky... The artillery department of the Royal Military Academy in Clovis has a "hot air balloon project". It is said that it is almost successful, but it can only be fixedly raised and lowered and is very inconvenient to carry. Even Ludwig Franz was convinced That thing is of no interest.

Of course, as the "beacon" of faith in the entire ordered world, it is the only one with the right to tax the world (tithes), has independently armed professional military, quasi-military, spies and administrative agencies, and monopolizes all advanced technology and educational resources. It is normal for a very large transnational religious organization...the Church of Order to possess many world-leading technologies and weapons.

After all, Saint Isaac completed the practical use of the steam core in the 10th year of the 1st century AD, and built the "Video Recorder" around 1st AD. Even the Clovis people now have a mature one that has been in use for many years. steam train technology.

So if the Church of Order hides black technologies like "steam ironclads", "steam cannons", and "steam heavy machine guns", or even if any Judgment Knight appears in front of him wearing a "steam armor", Anson will not Feel no surprise.

But...steam airship? this……

Is this going too far? !

And it seems that this airship does not only have the attribute of "transportation", it seems that it can be attacked.

Just when Anson was thinking wildly, a dazzling red light suddenly lit up in the dark starry sky, illuminating the Yser Royal Court that was immersed in darkness.

etc! Could it be that it wants to...

"boom----!!!!"

An explosion like thunder exploded over the Royal Court of Yser.

Anson was shocked.

At this moment, in his field of vision, hundreds of "shooting stars" with golden-red tail flames were streaking across the starry night sky, like blooming flowers, blooming gracefully and calmly in the expanding gas clouds. .

Just like a lady who appears at the last moment of a dinner party, she uses the grandest dress and the most gorgeous dance to show her beauty to the world.

Of course, this is still not the point.

The point is that it seems that some of the "shooting stars" are... coming towards the palace!

Looking at the "shooting star" that was getting clearer and closer to him in the sky, Ansen's whole body trembled, and he turned around and ran behind him.

The relics of Saint Isaac, the Council of Thirteen, Freya Moses Field...all the things were thrown behind her at this moment, and she ran straight ahead without looking back.

"boom--!!!!"

He had barely run far when a huge flame exploded behind him. The heat wave mixed with ashes and smoke condensed into substance at this moment, shaking the surrounding air and making a loud noise like the earth was tearing apart.

Facing the shower of meteors and fire falling from the sky, the majestic Iser Palace was like a cream cake that had been hit hard head-on. It collapsed from the inside out in the brilliant sparks, and the rubble spread all over the sky like waves. .

But the explosion didn't stop there... almost as soon as the first round ended, overwhelming "meteors" fell from the sky again.

"Dang——! Dang——! Dang——! Dang——!"

Accompanied by the deafening loud noise, Anson almost ran on the explosive spot, and the palace corridor under his feet was devoured by the sea of ​​​​fire at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The wildly dancing air waves roared in the ears, and the entire palace... no, it should be the entire Yser Palace was crumbling; the dark sky had been dyed bright red by the cannon flames that the airship was constantly spitting out.

The sky is falling!

Under this kind of indiscriminate firepower coverage without the protection of a bunker, rashly escaping for one's life; no matter how fast the speed is, no matter how agile the reaction is, it is tantamount to suicide.

Therefore, there is only one real escape route from beginning to end, and that is the underground passage from which he came.

Of course, passing through there also runs the risk of the tunnel collapsing and being buried alive; but Anson obviously doesn't have that many choices now - either be killed by a bomb, be buried alive, or be bombed to death and then buried alive. , he must choose one of three outcomes.

Although it was indeed possible to be buried alive and then blown up, he still chose the first one.

Anson simply closed his eyes, relying on the endless "pictures" in his mind and the Conjurer's extraordinary sense of distance to avoid the explosion and the gravel and rubble that fell like pouring rain, and ran forward with all his strength until...

A twelve-pound explosive bomb fell from the sky and blocked his way.

With no way to retreat and no time to dodge, Anson still ran straight forward, stuffed a lead bullet engraved with [Rising Fire] into the magazine of the "Dagger" revolver, and pulled the trigger towards the oncoming "Meteor".

The effect of this spell is to create and control flames within the casting range. In other words, as long as the power exists in the form of "fire", it is within its control range.

He wanted to detonate the shell in advance and change its direction of explosion, and then let the "meteors" behind it also explode together.

"boom--!!!!"

With a loud sound that penetrated the eardrum, the fire that enveloped Anson's head formed a golden-red shield; under the control of [Rising Fire], the raging fire was forcibly twisted into a semi-arc, making the person standing just right The self underneath is intact.

But Anson was not happy for long, because he suddenly realized a nearly fatal problem.

Due to cost and technical level, the so-called "explosive bombs" and "incendive bombs" in the Saint's One Hundred Year Order World are not only expensive, but also quite average in power.

Of course, low power is not the deadliest problem. The most deadly problem is that the main power of explosive shells is not the explosion, but the fragments of the shell; and because the explosion power is insufficient, "one blast in two" is a common situation.

And the shell fragments are metal... plus some shrapnel and solid bullets mixed in the shells - all of these are outside the control range of [Rising Fire].

Countless shell fragments tore through the sea of ​​​​fire, pouring across the sky like a violent storm, and struck him without blind spots.

That's too late!

Looking at the entrance to the underground passage that was very close at hand, Anson gritted his teeth and his mind suddenly went blank.

But at this moment, a whistle-like whistle suddenly came from behind.

whistle?

Anson's eyes suddenly opened wide, and a black shadow wrapped in white mist whizzed past his scalp, crushing all the falling fragments.

"clang!"

The white mist dissipated, and the metal scythe, which was still leaking steam, was nailed to the stone steps at the entrance of the underground passage, trembling slightly like a living thing.

"Come in!"

The dark figure staggered out of the sea of ​​​​fire, and shouted at Anson who suddenly slowed down and tried to stop: "Don't stay there!"

Anson, who was shocked all over, immediately turned his head back, rushed through the "peaceful" fountain garden, and jumped into the bottomless underground passage.

The next second, the garden with flowers in full bloom sounded an endless roar.

………………………

"...The main building of the palace has been destroyed! Re-adjust the direction of the starboard main gun, prepare explosive shells, coordinates..."

"...A large number of Old God troops gathered at the west gate. The Clovis Army sent a signal to our army to ask whether it needs to provide the coordinates of the artillery attack and cover for the feint attack..."

"...The port side lookout reported that a strong magic reaction was detected in the direction of the big library. It is suspected that there is a large-scale Old God sect ritual or blasphemous mage-level spellcaster activities. Should a covering bombardment be carried out immediately..."

"...The Truth Seeking Order sent a signal. They captured the Cathedral of Praise and rescued the Elf King Igor Moses Field as a hostage. They asked us to immediately stop the indiscriminate bombardment..."

Looking at the sea of ​​flames in the Yser Royal Court at his feet, Grand Manfred smoked his pipe silently, his slightly gray eyebrows crowded together with the puff of smoke.

"Not satisfied?"

Sir Ferrers, who was standing behind him, guessed what he was thinking and asked in a deliberately ostentatious manner: "This is the church's most advanced steam boat. It has more than a hundred twenty-four-pound artillery pieces, which is comparable to It’s a sailing battleship, with more than three times the firepower... My Grand Commander, are you too greedy?”

"greedy?"

Grand Manfred squinted his eyes, and smoke filled his eyes: "According to Saint Isaac's original design, an empty boat can end a war."

"But the reality is that our best technicians have spent countless money and nearly fifty years to create 'outstanding results', but they still cannot achieve one-tenth of what an 'apostate saint' envisioned a hundred years ago; subject to Limited by material processing technology and cost, the main firepower is even a smoothbore cannon on the same level as the Clovis people today."

"I'm more inclined to think it's an exaggerated rhetorical technique." Sir Ferrers expressed disbelief:

"A few hundred years ago, a blasphemous mage-level spellcaster might be able to do it, but now...even the apostles who stand at the top of the three major magics may not be able to...throw a few fireballs at the border and summon a group of flesh and blood tentacles. The days when we could just smash open the country’s door are gone forever.”

"You are right, it does sound exaggerated. This is the prophecy of Saint Isaac." Grande chuckled: "The man who created many 'impossibles'."

"Without his head, today's world would definitely not be what it is today; most directly... you would not be standing here alive, my dear Sir Philus."

Looking at the unconvinced young knight, Grande shook his head and turned his gaze to the window again:

"Tell the Clovis people that we don't need any support, let them stay in their own camp outside the city and don't cause us any trouble."

"As for the Seeking Truth Cult... a ceasefire is impossible, but we can ensure the safety near the Cathedral of Praise and let them hide in the church and not come out to avoid unnecessary accidental injuries."

"Have ground troops in position, fire coverage to end in two hours... How are the preparations going?"

"The 'Saint Team' composed of twenty-four auxiliary casters, the 'Swallowtail Banner Legion' composed of fifty talented people, three hundred 'Lancers' equipped with steam spray guns and high-explosive grenades, plus twelve A small 'Hellfire' launcher." Sir Philus shrugged:

"To be honest, I think this configuration can already win a war...a small war."

"It's still too little." Grande sighed softly:

"If we can find the fragmentary pages of Saint Isaac's manuscript from the first fifteen years of Saint Isaac's calendar and complete the plan as expected, we can completely change the current dilemma of being limited in scale and unable to execute God's will in the entire world of order."

"What's the plan?" Philus blinked curiously.

"A plan that was born when the airship project was first established; but it was shelved for a long time due to various reasons." Grande said with a smile:

"You probably don't know what it is, but you must have heard its code name."

Holding the pipe gently and puffing away the smoke, Grad turned his head, looked at him with a meaningful smile, and whispered the name:

"Sail on dry land."

……………………

The dull roar continued to come from above, accompanied by the vibrations in the dark tunnel. Over and over again, it seemed as if countless hammers were hitting the ground violently, as if the whole world was slowly collapsing.

Panting, Anson was still running wildly in the darkness.

Running like crazy.

Probably because of fatigue, the dark passage seemed duller and longer than when it came, and full of "exciting" - you would never guess that the upper level of that place had just experienced several rounds of bombings, and then when it was about to pass, Collapsed.

Obviously, the construction work of this so-called "Royal Secret Road" must have happened many years ago, and because it was too secretive, there was a serious lack of maintenance, resulting in not only serious water accumulation, but also the collapse of many sections of the road. The risk - not to mention those impregnable fortresses, Anson even doubted whether it was as strong as the storm division's trenches.

But no matter what, it was much better than being bombed on the ground... He could only comfort himself this way.

At this moment, he was enjoying himself in misery and suddenly heard a stumbling, very hasty footsteps coming from behind him.

The voice is Chanis...is he still alive?

Surprised, Anson subconsciously turned around and looked behind him, only to see a vague figure in the dark corridor, coming from behind waving a sickle.

Just when Anson was about to raise his hand to greet the judge, the silver-gray scythe suddenly let out a piercing scream and spewed out thick white smoke...

Attack him!