Volume 2: The Rise of Dark Technology Chapter 161: Magic vs. Technology

  As Raffl had anticipated, the Flying Column successfully evaded the Marozzi Brigade searching for them on the border of Eritrea and reached the rear of several columns of considerable size. They would have moved faster but they lost some time covering up the tracks left by the wheels of the guns.

  According to the scouts sent out, not far ahead was the encampment of Marauder's Legion, a reserve legion left behind for mobile support of other legions, unaware that they had already been exposed to the enemy. The Marauder's Legion, with no habit of concealment, had white tents clustered together in their camp, visible from several miles away.

  As the Lightning Legion drew closer, Maro's scouts on watch finally spotted the legion and rushed back to camp with clouds of dust. It was as if a stone had been thrown into a beehive; the previously quiet camp suddenly became noisy, and the soldiers who were resting in their tents quickly put on their armor and emerged from their tents, finding their decurions nearby.

  These decurions then gathered all the men under their command and led them to find their centurion. Maro's discipline and training were instantly evident, although the entire camp was somewhat in disarray due to the enemy raid, everything was proceeding in an orderly manner amidst the chaos, the soldiers knew what they had to do, and the officers also understood where they needed to go.

  "It's really slow." Glock said, riding on horseback and looking at the Malva soldiers who had already gathered in front of them, forming a neat square formation. "If we were to do it, it would take us at least half the time. However... this should be considered fast in the Central Plains countries."

  In the face of a sudden enemy attack, quickly gathering troops is the most important thing. The sooner you gather, the sooner you gain an advantage. For this kind of training, the Thunder Hill Legion has always been the most valued. According to the training manual provided by Mo Yan, the troops will suddenly gather at least three or four times a day to train the soldiers' rapid response ability.

  At first, all the Salters did not understand this sudden gathering and dispersal method, and even thought that their instructor was a sadistic bastard. At this time, some people saw the speed of the Maro's gathering, and understood the importance of rapid assembly. Looking at the hastily gathered Maro people, they could lift up their chins proudly and say: "You guys are weak."

  If possible, a surprise attack would be the best thing. The Maro legion, without any defense, only needs one cavalry charge to make them so confused that they cannot gather normally, and then it will be easier to defeat this legion. However, there are very few soldiers in the legion who can ride horses, and Eran's mountainous terrain has few places where horses can be ridden.

  The Stormerz were mostly equipped with pack mules, not the kind of warhorses that could charge quickly. The slow-moving artillery and those short-legged Dwarves also needed human protection, this series of problems combined to make Rheinfall abandon the raid method, and advance in a regular battle formation.

  Those tall, strong and robust Sault warriors walked at the front of the formation with shields and long spears. A group of gray dwarves carrying flintlock guns followed closely behind them. At the rear center of the formation were horses pulling cannons and wooden carts loaded with cannonballs. The entire formation was not moving slowly, but in order to maintain the formation, it was not fast either.

  "Have they stopped?" A man with a thick beard in the position of Maro's army, riding on a shiny black warhorse, frowned as he looked at the Thunderbolt Legion that had stopped far away. This was not normal combat tactics, and both sides would at least stop their troops before they could shoot arrows and adjust according to the opponent's formation.

  For a long time before the armies clashed, both sides had been constantly adjusting their formations, until one side made a strategic mistake, and that was when the soldiers were engaged in fierce fighting. Now that the enemy has stopped so far away, it gives Liao Bu some bad premonitions.

  "It seems they've armed the Thunderhead cannons." A military mage in a grandmaster's robe, standing beside Whiskerface, handed him a sealed letter with instructions on the cannons and said: "And this is precisely why we were sent here. Have you distributed those long rods to the front-line warriors? If not... then even if you survive the upcoming attack, what awaits you will be the Emperor's chopping block."

  This young mage, who had arrived in a flurry from Malakar City, brought with him a batch of magical equipment. The mage, who didn't even bother to introduce himself, acted as if he were the master of this army unit, not putting the mustachioed man in his eyes at all. After arriving, he randomly changed the formation of the army's phalanx and distributed a staff emitting magical energy to each of the small phalanxes in the front row.

  If it weren't for the fact that this mage had Caesar's personal command in his hand, Lorchel wouldn't care if this arrogant bastard was a grand mage or not, and would have him arrested, fed with anti-magic potion and thrown into the wilderness. As the commander of the most elite military unit in this operation, Lorchel was no ordinary noble.

  "Elevation seventy degrees! Traverse ten degrees." Standing on a high platform of a carriage, a big-bearded grey dwarf held an instrument in his hand to estimate the distance, and shouted loudly at the twenty cannons below. As the artillery commander of the Lightning Legion, he was responsible for commanding all the cannons in the legion.

  As the bearded dwarf lord gave the command, the dwarves below busied themselves turning the calibrated wheels of the cannons, elevating the muzzles to their designated positions. One by one, metal-shelled cannonballs were loaded into the barrels. The excited dwarves' cheeks flushed red as they gazed up at the artillery commander's raised left hand, awaiting the order to fire.

  "Fire!" Watching the slow advance of the Maro formation into the predetermined firing point, the big-bearded dwarf's left hand swung down with a loud roar. The dwarves below, who seemed to have been waiting for years, quickly struck the long magic crystal in their hands against the array on the cannon body, instantly activating the energy-less magic array and transmitting the magic energy to the array at the bottom of the cannonball in the barrel.

  Boom! The sound of twenty cannons firing at the same time was deafening, causing even the Salters who had heard such sounds before to feel their legs weaken unconsciously. Not to mention the Maros who had never heard such a loud noise, they felt their legs weaken instantly and stopped the slow-moving square formation, which was where the Grey Dwarves had predicted the cannon would be fired.

  Twenty shiny cannonballs drew a perfect parabola in mid-air, whizzing towards the Maro phalanx, carrying with them the explosive power of the magic crystal black gunpowder that would make these Maro people understand what it means to be an art of explosion! However, what happened next made most of the Thunderbolt Legion's mouths drop open in incredulity and shock.

  "What!" Nadal looked up to see a pale blue shield appear above the Maro formation, and the cannonballs that were supposed to fall into the Maro formation and cause massive casualties were blocked by this suddenly appearing magical shield. The deafening explosion and flames frightened the Maro people below, but did not harm them in any way.

  "The magical shield can actually be taken out of the city!" Kira looked at the pale blue shield that was shaking due to the explosion with some incredulity. Every large city has a magical energy shield, which is the most important part of the city's defense, but the magical energy shield requires an extremely complex magic array system, and the entire system is also abnormally huge.

  It has always been the case that only large cities would have a shield constructed, and even some unimportant small cities wouldn't have anyone build a shield for them. Now, the dark blue shield on Maruo's formation, although it is dozens of times smaller in both area and radiance compared to city shields, and its light is much dimmer, but it is a real and complete shield nonetheless.

  "So that's how those things are used?" Liao Fan's whiskers twitched as he gazed up at the shield above his head, next to which stood a rather large carriage - the entire core of the magical energy system. Relying on resonance with the magical wands in the array ahead, it formed a shield sufficient to block cannon fire.

  "His Imperial Majesty is very interested in the technology of Thundercliff." The Grand Mage beside the Legion Commander sneered and said, "But in my opinion, it's just a heretical technique. In this world, mainstream technology will only be magic, and so-called gunpowder technology is just a joke. My invention, the Legion's shield technology, will make their weapons useless!"

  The Thunderhead's cannons were no secret, and the ingenious dwarves had already grasped the underlying principles. Although they couldn't get their hands on the black powder formula or find willing gray dwarves to supply it to them, this didn't stop them from developing countermeasures.

  Malo, this ancient country, has a number of talented mages. The great mage who came to the legion is one of them. Caesar's trust in him is higher than any other mage, and he indeed has such strength and talent. Born into a family of mages, he not only has an extremely superior mage bloodline, but also received dangerous wisdom infusions through magic at a young age, giving him a high platform that others do not have.

  At a young age, he became a great master, making him the star of the entire Ma Luo. This not only made him brilliant but also made him eccentric and arrogant, even other masters in his eyes were just a group of fools who knew some tricks.

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