I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

Under the guidance of the Overseers’ punches and kicks, the slave troops that included Yadov crawled forward in a vast mass toward the ruins of the city.

It was not as if none of the slaves had other thoughts after getting weapons in their hands. However, the Tsarist Nation army had arranged layer upon layer of defensive lines along the route. Machine guns from the Seris Alliance and Mechanical Soldiers were all staring at them closely.

The moment someone’s movements looked even slightly suspicious, the Tsar’s soldiers positioned above would trigger short bursts from their machine guns, instantly killing several people in that area.

Not only would the person himself die, but the people around him would also be dragged along to the grave. This made the slaves wary of one another, afraid that some idiot might get them all killed.

【Glorious warriors! From this moment on, it is either death or victory!】

【Those who retreat will be shot. The Kingdom will show no mercy to cowards and traitors…】

Yadov lay prone among the rubble. Around him, thousands of comrades were also crawling on the ground. A thousand meters ahead of them, a large number of Church soldiers were advancing slowly.

Compared to the Tsarist side’s serf soldiers who did not even have proper clothing, the army of the Church state on the other side was a genuine regular force. Mechanical Bodies led the front line, followed by various magic cannons carried or dragged by Burden Beasts, while the Aerial Knight Order continuously circled in the sky above.

As the figures on the opposing side became clearer and clearer, the morale of the Tsarist soldiers dropped lower and lower. Many already showed expressions of despair.

Whether they had rifles or not made little difference. None of them understood what value they themselves had in this battle…

But no matter how desperate they were, they did not dare even think about retreating. The Tsarist Overseers had directly set up Maxim heavy machine gun teams behind them. Anyone who dared to retreat would die faster than if they charged forward to their deaths.

Yadov did not have so many thoughts. At that moment, he only had one idea in his mind: I need a gun!

On the battlefield, nothing gave a person more peace of mind than a weapon, even if its usefulness might not be great.

However, after the main front line of the Church forces passed, a large number of ordinary believer soldiers appeared behind them, also equipped with Seris bolt-action rifles. The equipment of these cannon-fodder troops on both sides was almost identical.

As the enemy entered the engagement zone, the atmosphere on both sides became increasingly tense and heavy.

“Whistle—!!!”

【Ura!!!】

Bang bang bang…

As the whistle sounded, the soldiers of the Tsarist Nation shouted loudly and charged toward the Church forces. Accompanied by the violent and rapid sound of shells being fired from the rear, the noise merged into a ferocious roar that surged toward the Church like a tidal wave.

The 75mm rapid-fire field gun had not yet been withdrawn from active service in the Seris Alliance army. It still maintained a large deployment base precisely because of its astonishing rate of fire.

It could easily fire 30 shells per minute. Ten 75mm field guns instantly covered the Church army’s battle line, causing waves of explosions to erupt across their positions.

All kinds of magic shields lit up and shattered. Limbs and fragments flew everywhere through the air.

The Church side immediately began returning fire as well. Heavy machine guns and group magic cast by mages amplified by Mechanical Bodies blanketed the narrow charging zone.

Shields rapidly formed in midair, blocking the small meteors and magical projectiles falling from the sky. Only the powerful bullets of the heavy machine guns still displayed their deadly effectiveness.

Several thousand Tsarist soldiers charging forward ran straight into the firing arcs of four Hotchkiss-type heavy machine guns.

The bullets swept across the dense crowd. Blood sprays and severed limbs flew everywhere. Anyone struck in the chest or abdomen was torn clean into two halves. Batch after batch of soldiers fell along the path of the charge like harvested wheat, their deaths horrific to behold.

This was their most familiar assault tactic—let the slaves rush forward to crash into the enemy’s battle line first, and then have the regular army follow up and enter the battle.

But the extremely high killing efficiency of industrialized weapons left the Tsarist commander momentarily stunned.

“Take those things out! Quickly!”

If this continued, even tens of thousands of slaves would not be enough for those few machine guns to slaughter. Then what had been the point of capturing slaves with so much effort?

Yadov lay on the ground and crawled forward slowly, hiding behind the back side of a flowerbed while watching the soldiers around him being blasted into pieces along the charging route.

Soon the 75mm field guns extended their fire deeper inward, destroying the heavy machine gun positions and temporarily halting the Church’s massacre.

The Church artillery units also wanted to eliminate the field gun positions, but the Tsarist commanders were extremely cunning. The ten guns had all been placed with intervals between them.

If the Church used heavy artillery to strike the 75mm gun positions, the Tsarist side’s magic-powered cannons—which had not yet been used—could immediately lock onto the Church artillery positions and blast them to the sky.

So even though their troops were being thrown into chaos by the bombardment of the 75mm field guns, the Church restrained itself from using magic-powered cannons. In battlefield exchanges, if the trade did not hit the correct target, it was extremely easy to be overwhelmed in a single push by the opponent.

Seeing this, a smile appeared on the Tsarist commander’s face. He knew this old opponent could not bear the loss.

“Send the order down. Use the special shells. The entire army prepare to attack!”

“General, how many should we use?”

“Use everything the Alliance sent us! If it’s not enough, buy more.”

“Yes!”

The order spread through the internal rune network of the Mechanical Soldiers. A squad officer who had been guarding the 75mm field guns and occasionally launching surprise attacks against the Church’s Mechanical Knights paused for a moment, then turned around and shouted to the artillery crew behind him.

“Change ammunition! Fire all five rounds in rapid succession!”

The loader nodded. He reached toward the lowest layer of the ammunition cart and carefully lifted out a black shell. After placing it onto the loading mechanism, he rotated it three times to adjust the delayed fuse.

Before going to the battlefield, this batch of shells had only just been delivered to them. Their superiors had repeatedly warned them that the value of these shells was even slightly higher than the artillery pieces themselves and that they must handle them carefully.

After another series of sharp whistle blasts, even more soldiers shouted “Ura” and rushed forward, mixed among them were large numbers of Mechanical Soldiers over three meters tall.

The Church officer, who had been restraining himself the entire time, immediately brightened. This was exactly the second large-scale assault by the Tsarist Nation he had been waiting for.

He instantly ordered the artillery units to cover the engagement zone.

If this round went well, the Tsarist Nation would suffer severe losses. Losing a few magic-powered cannons would be acceptable to him.

However, before the messenger could finish repeating his verbal command, several more volleys of shells came flying toward the rear of the Church forces.

These shells were different from the previous conical armor-piercing shells. Their heads were round and shaped like small canisters.

When they flew above the Church’s magic shields, a small explosion sounded from inside the shell. The nitrated fiber attached to the inner shell wall burned rapidly, releasing high-pressure gas that burst the entire shell open like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.

Large numbers of small submunitions clattered across the Church’s wide-area magic shields, rolling down along the surface in all directions. Then the short fuses on the submunitions burned out and detonated. Amid a series of crackling explosions, gelatinous material inside was revealed, and flames mixed with smoke began spreading outward.

The shield covering the Church army suddenly dimmed and vanished.

Countless fragments from the small shells fell down, striking the Church soldiers with continuous clattering sounds. The physical damage they caused was almost negligible.

But the Church commander felt as if a bucket of icy water had been poured over him in the middle of winter, chilling him from head to toe.

“It’s over…”

The chaotic scene that had been filled with flashing lights and flying magic suddenly emptied out.

Large numbers of mage soldiers knelt on one knee, and the magic-powered cannon positions also fell completely silent.

Within the smoke-covered area, Magical Elements were being violently repelled at an astonishing speed, forming a vast anti-magic zone. Only the sounds of machine guns and rifles continued.

【Ura!!!】

Tsarist Mechanical Soldiers carrying giant swords and tower shields charged forward through the heavy machine gun fire, clearing a path with madness.

Behind them, Mechanical Soldiers carrying Maxim heavy machine guns rapidly opened up gaps, allowing the slave army to break through the battle line.

Within a short time, both sides were locked in chaotic close combat. The Church army, still unable to react to the anti-magic state, was caught completely off guard and immediately scattered, losing its organizational structure. The situation was reversed in an instant.

【If elemental suppression can appear at sea, then why can’t it appear on land?】 — Father of the Alliance Submachine Gun, Grace.