The devastating shockwave, like an invisible hammer, slammed viciously into the Eiffel Tower.
“CLANG—!!”
“CREAK—!!”
The entire colossal tower shuddered violently under the terrifying impact, emitting teeth-grating metallic groans.
The rows of Magic Crystals and glass windows on the exterior of the tower’s summit were instantly reduced to powder as the shockwave swept past.
Even Master Eiffel, floating in the air, was nearly blown away by the violent blast.
He swayed unsteadily in the air, barely managing to stabilize himself with the help of electric currents.
After the tremors subsided, a look of horror and rage appeared for the first time on Master Eiffel’s distorted face.
“Damn it! Damn insects!” He let out a silent roar.
This sudden high-altitude strike had completely disrupted his deployment.
He was forced to mobilize more reserve mana to expand the range of his electrical defense to intercept the falling Radiant Crystal Reaction Shells.
However, this played right into the hands of Colonel Chloe, captain of Armored Airship No. L28.
“Second batch! Drop!”
On the bridge of L28, Colonel Chloe watched the spectacular explosions below and roared excitedly.
Another batch of Radiant Crystal Reaction Shells fell from the clouds.
This kind of high-altitude bombing, although lacking any precision, wasn’t intended for accurate hits anyway.
Both Armored Airship captains and Morin’s group knew very well that the high-altitude bombing was meant for saturation harassment and suppression.
Using the most expensive Radiant Crystal Reaction Shells to draw the Eiffel Tower’s attention, they created a precious opportunity for the ‘Odin’ advancing on the ground.
Almost simultaneously with L28’s bombing, Armored Airship No. L29, positioned over the eastern defense line of Paris, also broke in from the east side of the city.
Schneider knew very well that once he commanded L29 to penetrate the city, the friendly forces on the ground would lose crucial fire support.
So he directly ordered a climb in altitude while dropping Radiant Crystal Reaction Shells along the way, clearing out a portion of the “Undead Sea” surging towards the outskirts for the ground troops.
The Radiant Crystal Reaction Shells, equipped with traditional impact fuses, quickly exploded into massive fireballs one after another within the city.
The violent shockwaves acted like a giant hand, pushing Armored Airship No. L29 sharply upwards.
On the bottom deck of the Armored Airship, two twin-mounted 203mm naval guns positioned near the front began firing once they achieved a firing angle.
Meanwhile, at various positions outside Paris, the battle had reached its fiercest moment.
Artillerymen no longer needed to worry about precision; as long as they fired forward, they were guaranteed to send shells into the black ocean of undead creatures.
Then, amidst explosion after explosion, countless undead were blown sky-high.
Just over a hundred meters in front of the artillery positions, Saxon infantry and Armored Knights used their flesh and blood as a wall, firmly blocking the undead army counterattacking from within the city.
Sky, ground…
At this moment, all remaining combat power of the Saxon First Army Group was mobilized.
Like a group of hunters working in tacit cooperation, they launched a final encirclement from all directions against the beast entrenched within the city.
At this moment, Master Eiffel, now “dominated” by Chardonnet, fell into complete panic.
Attacks coming from multiple directions overwhelmed him.
He was forced to use the vast majority of his mana to maintain the massive lightning defense net because he realized that the Saxons’ weapons could damage the Eiffel Tower itself.
But now, he was like a clumsy juggler with too many balls in the air; a single mistake would lead to total defeat…
While he was frantically dealing with these attacks from all sides, the Armored Train ‘Odin’ seized this precious opportunity to break through the final interception of the undead army, its speed slowly decreasing.
Through the observation window, Morin could clearly see the steel railway bridge spanning the Seine ahead—the Bir-Hakeim Bridge.
And on the other side of the Seine, across the open Champ de Mars, stood their ultimate goal—the Eiffel Tower, swaying madly amidst electric light and artillery fire.
“Attention all! Prepare for battle! We only have one chance!”
Colonel Lucas’s voice transmitted through the communicator to every carriage of the Armored Train.
The massive wheels of the ‘Odin’ screeched against the rails, emitting a piercing shriek.
Finally, fighting against immense inertia, the steel behemoth slowly came to a halt at the northern bridgehead of the Bir-Hakeim Bridge.
This position was perfect, just enough to bring the Eiffel Tower within the ‘Gungnir’s’ limited 45-degree field of fire on either side.
Almost at the same time the train stopped, the flesh constructs and countless undead units clinging to the roof were thrown off.
All the 150mm cannons, 88mm cannons, and MG08 heavy machine guns on the Armored Train also conducted an omni-directional sweep, clearing out the surrounding undead creatures.
As the gunfire ceased, the heavy iron doors of the troop transport carriage slid open to both sides with a grinding metallic sound.
A thick stench of gunpowder smoke, blood, and rot immediately flooded into the carriage.
Just a step outside the door lay hell.
Countless undead creatures were swarming towards the stopped train from all directions.
“For the Lord! Purify the evil!”
An aged but powerful roar rang out from inside the carriage.
Archbishop Maurice was the first to jump out.
With hair and beard bristling, his massive “scepter” glowed with holy white light, and he smashed it unhesitatingly into the sea of undead ahead.
“Boom!”
With a muffled sound, the dozen skeletons and ghouls charging at the front were smashed into flying bone fragments and minced meat by his hammer.
The elder, over sixty years old, looked like a god of war from scripture, carving out a small foothold in the ocean of undead with his not-so-large body.
He stood like an indestructible reef, blocking the first and most turbulent wave for the troops about to deploy behind him.
“For the Lord! Charge!”
Following Archbishop Maurice’s earth-shattering roar, the group of armed priests behind him poured out of the carriage like tigers descending a mountain, shouting war cries.
Without hesitation, they followed closely behind the Archbishop, using their flails, war hammers, and kite shields to form a sturdy defense line filled with a holy aura.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Every swing of a heavy blunt weapon inevitably resulted in an undead having its bones shattered.
These clergy members used their most primitive and effective methods to tear open a breach in the sea of undead, buying precious time and space for the subsequent troops to deploy.
“First Company! Dismount! Cover fire! Quick!”
Morin was also infected by the Archbishop’s fearless spirit. He grabbed his MG14 light machine gun, shouted to the soldiers behind him, and jumped off the train right after the armed priests.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt something sticky underfoot, unsure of what he had stepped on.
But Morin had no time to think; he immediately gripped the handle of the MG14 and aimed the muzzle at the group of ghouls attempting to flank them.
“Da-da-da-da-da!”
Tongues of fire spewed from the muzzle, the whip-like trajectory sweeping across, instantly blasting seven or eight ghouls and skeletons into flying flesh and shattered bone fragments.
“Light machine gun teams and flamethrower teams! Clear the path ahead!”
Morin shouted hoarsely while strafing.
The soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion also rushed out of the carriage quickly and orderly, rapidly deploying a defensive formation around the train.
Dense rain of bullets formed insurmountable walls of fire, mowing down swaths of undead creatures attempting to approach the train.
Four teams of flamethrower troops bravely charged to the front of the line under the cover of others, roaring as they pulled the triggers.
Four thick white fire dragons, blessed with holy oil, spewed forth, instantly turning a large area ahead into a sea of fire.
The undead rushing into the fire, whether skeletons or ghouls, let out silent wails under the thousands of degrees of heat.
Their bodies ignited, then rapidly carbonized and shattered.
Fire, rain of bullets, holy light.
A fierce wave of attacks allowed the group to successfully clear a relatively safe area.
A circular position centered on the Armored Train was forcefully established within mere tens of seconds.
However, there were simply too many undead.
They crawled out endlessly from both ends of the bridge, from the banks of the Seine, and even from the river water, assaulting this small position wave after wave like a black tide.
“Battalion Commander! Too much pressure on the left flank! Big ones are coming!” A platoon leader shouted a report to Morin.
Morin turned to look and saw two flesh constructs, four meters tall, braving heavy machine gun fire on the left side of the position, approaching step by heavy step.
Bullets hitting their bodies, pieced together from countless corpses, only splattered mists of blood but could not stop their advance.
“Armored Train Artillery! Where the hell are your 150mm cannons?!” Morin roared anxiously. “Blast those two big guys!”
“Boom!”
A 150mm naval gun deployed at one end of the train responded immediately.
Although only one 150mm naval gun could fire at a time given the angle and distance, the power of the 150mm High-Explosive Shell proved to everyone that as a naval gun, it was no joke.
The violent explosion completely shattered the foremost flesh construct, and the one behind it was also flipped to the ground by the blast.
But before the soldiers could cheer, three even larger monsters emerged from deeper within the sea of undead.
“Damn it! Is there no end to this!”
Morin spat fiercely.
But he also knew they had no choice now but to cover ‘Gungnir’ to complete its final preparations.
“Colonel Lucas! We can’t hold much longer! How much longer for ‘Gungnir’?!”
Morin had a soldier fill his spot while he changed the ammo belt and rushed to the door of the command carriage.
“The technicians have disembarked! They are deploying! Give us a little more time, just a little!”
Lucas’s equally anxious voice came from inside the carriage. He was holding an artillery model P08, sweating profusely from nervousness.
Morin looked back and saw the heavy armor plates of the carriage carrying ‘Gungnir’ slowly opening.
A dozen Magitech Engineers and engineers were busy around the carriage carrying various strangely shaped instruments.
Fear was written on all their faces, and their bodies were trembling slightly, but their hands moved without any delay.
In a sense, these people were treasures of the Saxon Empire, key to operating this ultimate weapon.
An accident happening to any of them could likely cause an accident for the entire plan.
“Everyone! Tighten the defense line! Protect the technicians at all costs!” Morin issued the order again.
He himself abandoned suppressing the distant undead and instead aimed his gun at the undead attempting to approach the ‘Gungnir’ carriage, firing precise bursts.
Archbishop Maurice and his armed priests also gave up on active attacks and retreated to surround the technicians, using their shields and bodies to form a final barrier.
“The Lord is with us!”
They prayed loudly, their weapons swinging impenetrably, smashing any approaching evil into pieces.
Countless undead creatures were blasted apart every second, but Saxon soldiers and clergy also fell to the ground.
At the distant Eiffel Tower, explosions continued at the top, and bolts of lightning shot into the sky, changing the color of heaven and earth.
On the other side, the massive Armored Airship charged desperately towards them, its inverted naval guns roaring constantly, trying to interfere with the giant tower’s operation.
Time, at this moment, seemed incredibly long.
The novel has already been fully translated up to the last updated chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair