On the bridge of the Gastrell, the burly figure of the Duke of Wellington appeared somewhat stooped.
His eyeballs were covered in bloodshot veins; this Iron Duke, at this moment, looked only like an old man whose spine had been crushed under a heavy burden.
He gripped the railing of the porthole tightly. Below him, the army he took such pride in was now like a flock of lost lambs, awaiting the butcher's blade.
"They have lost their will to fight," the Duke of Windermere's voice sounded from behind him.
Her Sword Guard, those elites who had followed her in battle for years and could severance the brilliance of Arts, now numbered fewer than thirty, every single one of them wounded.
"In the face of such air-ground coordination tactics, what difference does having a will to fight make?" Wellington did not turn his head.
Windermere's wiping motion paused.
She looked at Wellington's back. That back, once the sturdiest spine of Victoria, now seemed as if it would collapse at any moment.
She knew this Duke did not fear death. What he feared was watching helplessly as Victoria turned to ashes in his hands, while he was powerless to stop it.
This was crueler than death itself.
"How are Cavendish and the others?" Wellington asked.
An adjutant replied with a trembling voice, "My Lord Duke... The Duke of Gododdin's flagship has a broken keel and is stuck at the central pass. He... he is personally leading his guard to organize infantry resistance at the pass."
"The gunship positions of the Duke of Abercorn and the Duke of Ashworth... we have lost contact. There is a high probability they are like the Duke of Fife..."
The sentence was not finished, but everyone understood what it meant.
Wellington let out a low growl; rather than anger, it was more like pain.
He slammed his fist against the wall, creating a dull, heavy thud.
Just then, a roar completely distinct from all other sounds on the battlefield came from behind them, from the direction of Londinium.
Everyone turned to look subconsciously.
They saw the city gates of Londinium thrown wide open, and an army surging out with unstoppable momentum.
Their formation was orderly, their steps unified, forming a stark contrast to the chaotic routed troops on Silverstone Cliff.
Every soldier wore specialized armor and held ferocious-looking firearms in their hands.
Flanking their columns were over a dozen massive mechanical constructs, standing several meters tall, marching shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
Those mechanical constructs had humanoid outlines. Steam sprayed from pipes at their joints, emitting hissing sounds.
Their metal arms were equipped with either massive hydraulic battle hammers or high-speed rotating chainswords. Every step they took made the ground tremble.
"It's... it's the Storm Assault Team!" a young noble officer cried out, his voice choked with sobs.
"And... Steam Knights! It's our Victoria's Steam Knights!"
Victoria's final trump card, the legendary special military unit, the pride of the Empire—the Steam Knights—had finally appeared on the battlefield.
The appearance of this elite force was like a shot of adrenaline instantly injected into the dying body of the coalition of Dukes.
Those soldiers who originally had numb eyes, prepared to wait for death, scrambled up from the ground one after another. They craned their necks, looking toward that army which represented the highest martial power of Victoria.
In the desperate darkness, a ray of faint light seemed to penetrate through.
On the bridge of the Gastrell, the Duke of Wellington spun around violently, staring dead at that army.
A trace of light reignited in his eyes.
He recognized the commander of that unit, a young man who had followed him since the era of the Model Army.
"Relay my orders!" Wellington commanded with a resonant voice.
"The entire army is to regroup! Center the defense line around the Gastrell and contract the formation!"
"Tell everyone: The Lions of Victoria have arrived!"
"Victory still belongs to Victoria!"
The Duke of Windermere also sheathed her longsword.
She grabbed the communicator and ordered the remaining members of the Sword Guard, "Everyone who can still move, follow me! Coordinate with the Storm Assault Team and tear open the formation of those monsters from the flank!"
On the desperate battlefield, the shouts of Victorian soldiers rang out miraculously.
At first, they were scattered, but soon they linked together, converging into a wave of sound that dispersed some of the permeating gunpowder smoke.
"For Victoria!"
"The Steam Knights are invincible!"
Oliver curled up behind a giant rock. He had just escaped the edge of death once again.
He had witnessed with his own eyes a Sarkaz shrouded deathsworn use two short blades to slit the throats of five of his comrades within three seconds.
He thought he was dead for sure.
But at this moment, hearing that tsunami-like cheering, he poked his head out, trembling.
He saw that legendary unit.
The Storm Assault Team did not pause in the slightest; they inserted themselves directly between the Leithanien army and the coalition battle line.
They did not form a phalanx like a traditional army. Instead, under their commander's orders, they rapidly dispersed into squads, constructing crossfire points between the wreckage of warships and rocks.
"Target! Enemy heavy units! Fire!"
With a single command, hundreds of Storm Assault Team soldiers opened fire simultaneously.
The heavy firearms in their hands sprayed tongues of angry fire, and a dense rain of bullets instantly covered the advancing Leithanien mobile infantry.
Those Leithanien soldiers coordinating with the tanks fell in swathes on their charge.
Their armor was as fragile as paper before the specialized ammunition of the Storm Assault Team.
Several "Tiger II" tanks noticed this new threat. They turned their turrets, their muzzles beginning to aim at the Storm Assault Team's position.
"Anti-armor team! Prepare!" a Storm Assault Team squad leader calmly issued the order.
Several three-man teams flashed out from behind cover. They carried a peculiarly shaped launcher on their shoulders; the front of the launcher held a massive crossbow bolt.
"Loose!"
Whoosh—
Several bolts dragged blue tails of flame, whistling as they shot toward the "Tiger II" tanks.
A Leithanien tank commander saw this scene through his periscope and smiled contemptuously.
"Victorian crossbow bolts? Are they trying to tickle us?"
His laughter came to an abrupt halt.
One bolt accurately hit the tank's track. Accompanied by a massive boom, the shockwave of the explosion blasted the thick track apart directly.
Another hit the junction between the turret and the chassis. Although it failed to penetrate the armor, the violent explosion instantly jammed the turret's rotation mechanism.
This arrogant land beast instantly turned into an immobilized iron coffin.
"Beautifully done!"
Wellington, seeing this from the bridge, couldn't help but roar.
Those were no ordinary crossbow bolts, but the supreme masterpiece of Victoria's military industry—blasting bolts equipped with Originium explosives!
The cost of a single shot was comparable to a small artillery piece!
The appearance of the Storm Assault Team effectively curbed the momentum of the Leithanien ground forces.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the battlefield, the southern line, those dozen or so Steam Knights were putting on an even more violent show of slaughter.
"For the glory of the Empire—Charge!"
The lead Steam Knight, his battle armor painted pure white, held high a high-speed rotating chainsword. Like a cannonball leaving the barrel, he was the first to crash into the military formation of the Sarkaz blood-kin progeny.
Boom!
Where he landed, several progeny warriors were directly vibrated into meat paste by the massive impact force.
The chainsword danced, emitting an ear-piercing roar. Every horizontal sweep cleaved three or four progeny warriors in two, along with their grotesque flesh-and-blood tentacles.
Foul-smelling blood and broken limbs splashed everywhere, but upon touching the Steam Knight's high-temperature armor, they evaporated instantly.
The other Steam Knights followed close behind. They formed a sharp arrowhead, stabbing ruthlessly into the Sarkaz line.
Every time a hydraulic battle hammer smashed down, it left a large crater in the ground; no enemy in the vicinity was spared.
These Steam Knights were ultimate war machines built specifically to counter unreasonable enemies like the Sarkaz.
They ignored pain, ignored fear, possessed infinite strength, and had astonishing defenses.
Facing these steel giants, the blood-kin progeny's proud bodies of flesh and blood, and their fearless charges, appeared so powerless for the first time.
At the Kazdel command position, the pleasurable expression on Sanguinarch Duqare's face disappeared for the first time.
He watched those steel monsters rampaging through the ranks of his children, his brows furrowing tightly.
"Victoria's Steam Knights... are much stronger than described in the intelligence."
Theresis remained expressionless, merely watching all of this coldly.
The battle situation at Silverstone Cliff fell into a stalemate due to the arrival of this fresh force.
The reignited fighting spirit of the Victorians clashed fiercely with the powerful strength of the Leithanien and Kazdel coalition on this narrow battlefield.
Shouts of killing, explosions, mechanical roars...
On the Gastrell, the Duke of Windermere had already led her Sword Guard charging off the flagship to join the battle.
The Duke of Wellington stood on the bridge and picked up his command saber once more. His voice echoed across the entire battlefield through the amplification device.
"Soldiers of Victoria! Hold your positions!"
"Behind us is Londinium! It is our home!"
"Reinforcements have arrived; victory shall belong to us!"
Hope, a word that had nearly been forgotten, returned to the heart of every Victorian soldier.
They believed that as long as the Storm Assault Team and the Steam Knights were there, they could win.
Londinium would not fall!
________________________________________
Get rewarded for helping with our community goals!
🎯 Reward for all: +1 bonus chapter at 50 Powerstones.
🚀 Tier Reward: Help us reach 20 members for +5 chapters on all stories!
🔥 20% CODE: MEDUSA2
👻 Join the crew by searching Ms. Medusa on (P). You know the spot! 😉