Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Page 92

What happened next terrified Lemilia. The soldiers knew that shooting bullets through glass was overkill, but this "glass" suddenly became much brighter the moment the bullets hit it. Then, more bullets struck it. The lieutenant saw clearly that the high-speed metal bullets were instantly deflected by the "glass," like a handful of steel balls landing on a rapidly swung tennis racket.

The glass was completely undamaged, but several bullet holes instantly appeared on both sides of the glass and on the tunnel dome above, amidst a row of flying rubble and dust.

"Bounce, bounce, the bullet bounced off?" Lemilia wiped his face, slapped himself, and looked again with wide eyes. Yes, he wasn't dreaming; the bullet really had bounced off. If you didn't believe him, pick up your binoculars and look at those bullet holes glowing green!

"Since that's the case..." The lieutenant couldn't hold back any longer and shouted to the soldiers who had just set up the DShK machine gun, "Fire! Fire it!"

The DShK machine gun, now following the echoing rifle and submachine gun fire throughout the tunnel, spat out a long string of larger bullets. Should the "glass" shatter now? No! The "glass" shimmered even brighter, and more and more rubble and dust fell from the surrounding walls. The lieutenant had no idea that even the DShK's 12.7mm bullets were being deflected!

"Damn it! What's going on!" Lemilia muttered, yelling, "Anti-tank rifle! Where's the anti-tank rifle?!"

Still no use. The PTRS anti-tank rifle had exhausted its remaining five 14.5mm bullets, which was nothing more than setting off a few firecrackers in front of the "glass".

The lieutenant was speechless and didn't know what orders to give. He could only listen as the DShK machine gun fired the last bullet from its belt, and after a jam, he watched from afar as the unharmed doll appeared.

However, at that moment, the green "glass" suddenly disappeared. Just as the lieutenant was about to cry out in surprise, he suddenly noticed a dark gun muzzle appearing in his peripheral vision!

"hidden!--"

Now it was the puppet's turn. It must have seen the DShK machine gun roaring somewhere, and its ammunition belt caught up with the still-warm barrel. The machine gunner scurried to the side, and nearby anti-tank gunners ducked into holes and into the ammunition belt's blind spot, leaving the DShK machine gun standing alone, its tripod snapped in two by a single shot from the puppet's ammunition belt, and it fell straight to the ground.

"Phew..." The lieutenant watched as the machine gun rotted in the ammunition belt, like a scallion that had been swept down.

"This is the only way..." After the puppet's gunshot rang out, the green light "glass" reappeared, and the comrades could only continue to press the muzzle of their guns against it. Seeing this, Lemilia called out to one of the soldiers next to her.

"Go! Call Captain Antonovich! Have their rocket launchers smash that glass!"

"Ok!"

He watched as the soldiers stealthily crept away. Not long after, he looked at the other side of the tunnel, where two comrades had finished dealing with a pipe, and the rocket shot out with a whooshing sound.

"Hit... hhhh..." Lemilia thought this rocket would have a considerable effect, but to her surprise, after the fire cloud from the explosion dissipated, "Glass" was still there, shining brightly and openly embracing all the bullets that it had taken lightly.

"Damn it, what do we do now...?" The lieutenant was so angry he almost threw his helmet down.

"Huh?" He suddenly thought of something, "You can stop bullets, you can stop rocket launchers, but I don't believe you can withstand the high temperature..."

He quickly called to the engineer carrying a flamethrower, instructing him to quietly approach the tunnel entrance occupied by the dolls, and then, slightly sideways, pull the trigger. A serpent of fire enveloped the flamethrower's tube like a giant net, completely obscuring the "glass's" green light from the blazing flames.

The Russians used high temperatures to roast or boil people hidden in steel coffins until they were unconscious or simmered. They did this to deal with the foolish German tanks in urban warfare quite often.

The engineers finished their work and moved aside, but Lemilia kept his eyes fixed on the cave—the green light was still faintly visible there, and he couldn't let his guard down.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief at the next scene. The green light finally disappeared, and the mecha, which was glowing red in the firelight and covered in blue and white, began to retreat!

“Okay, then…” But before he could say more, while the flames in the cave were still burning, a large number of ammunition belts suddenly stepped on the flames and flew out of the darkness, rushing to the side of the Soviet soldiers!

"You beast..." The lieutenant had no choice but to swallow his anger and withdraw the order to launch a heavy firepower assault.

"Wait, then……"

……

It was at this moment, at the platform entrance of this subway station that rises to the ground level, two streets away from here.

"I understand, Major. I'll send someone to deliver the message right away."

Haven't seen Anton in a long time, have you? After all, as a member of the guard company, he can't be involved in frontline attacks all the time.

What are he and his superior doing here? We just received word that Lieutenant Petrovsky and his men are in trouble in the subway tunnel. It looks like we'll need to call in more men to cover for them.

Of course, that's not the main thing. The big boss they're looking for is at the intersection in front of this street.

"Hey……"

Anton sighed, frowning as he looked at the pile of rubble—no, it looked like a tank had been built into the street, a pile taller than a tank—that had broken the road and the sidewalks on both sides in half.

No Soviet soldier understood how this pile of earthen wall, made of excavated soil, collapsed bricks and tiles, and even the broken arms and legs of those steel dolls, had appeared out of thin air. All Anton knew was that if it wasn't removed, the tanks wouldn't be able to advance.

"Hey! Comrade!" At that moment, Anton turned around and saw a soldier calling to him, "Step back! We're about to open fire!"

"Oh! Got it!"

Anton walked into the house next door and took one last look at the ML-20 152mm howitzer that was squatting on the street, pointing at the earthen wall.

Chapter 86, Section 136: Drawing a circle on the ground as a prison

[A note at the beginning: If you encounter unfamiliar Britannian mech names in my articles, please refer to the Britannian mech shield setting in the setting book. It contains some mech designs from CG series games and comics that I intend to include in this article, along with some information about their performance. I won't go into further detail in the main text. Thank you.]

The deafening explosions echoed through Berlin day after day, but the roar of artillery and tank engines could not bring the city forward.

So, where did these earthen walls and ruins blocking the streets of Berlin come from?

……

Just over two kilometers to the west of the earthen wall in front of Anton and his group, next to a subway station, several people were gathered around a large pile of things, examining them.

The soldiers on guard were dressed in black military uniforms; they were naturally Britannian soldiers. What were Lieutenant Colonel Eddie Hill and another major doing here?

"Is this a clever trick? Haha."

The lieutenant colonel smiled mischievously, looking at the steel support erected next to the subway station—that was specifically used for parking and maintaining KMF mechs, and next to it was a sturdy mechanical arm.

Now, a Sunderland arm is parked under the support frame. As the device secures it, a robotic arm slowly extends and detaches the Sunderland arm. Then, the robotic arm, gripping the arm, slowly begins to turn it towards the subway station entrance.

Is there something on the stairs at the entrance? It's a conveyor belt laid out by the engineers. The robotic arm placed Sunderland's arm onto the conveyor belt, and then the conveyor belt's axle began to slowly rotate, gently sending the mech arm into the subway through the black carpet.

And you've probably guessed what's inside the underground platform, right? It's the same old steel frame and sturdy robotic arm. The arm steadily places the KMF's limbs and torso, which are pulled down from the conveyor belt, onto the frame. This process is repeated, and a KMF is thus "dismembered" and transported underground, then reassembled, ready for deployment in underground combat.

“I must say, Lieutenant Colonel,” the major beside him flattered Eddie Hill, “the weapons designers of the Britannian Empire were truly visionary, making the joints of the KMFs easy to disassemble, so they can break them down into smaller parts in various ways. Firstly…”

"So you've left the KMFs with the problem that their backs can be snapped by steel cables? Hmm?" The lieutenant colonel chuckled, looking at him with a subtle expression.

"Ah, well... never mind, that's not important. By the way, what's the current casualty ratio of the KMFs underground?"

“I know all that. It’s much better than fighting on the streets. Although the enemy infantry have weapons that can penetrate armor, in the subway where there aren’t many gaps to squeeze through, as long as they know what’s good for them, they won’t blindly charge into the KMF’s machine guns and recoilless rifles.”

“There’s one more thing.” Eddie Hill turned around and looked directly at the major. “Thank you for bringing the Sunderland Crab model from General Marendor’s legion.”

Yes, Eddie Hill originally belonged to the 41st Army Group, not the Dragon Roar Legion under the current acting commander of the army group, Maren. He temporarily took over the work during the period when the former Viscount was seriously ill.

"Ah, the mech with the shield, is that it?" The major nodded. "Indeed, this type of mech has been produced in very small quantities so far. It's already quite an achievement for you, General, to have obtained them. Their shields might not be able to withstand a tank cannon, but they can certainly withstand one or two rocket launchers."

"Although the general has always had a fiery temper, I am truly grateful to him, really." The lieutenant colonel paused. "I don't quite approve of his methods, but at least he genuinely wants to manage us. You mentioned earlier that the night vision goggles from the infantry would occasionally malfunction in dark operations due to the bright light and the protective devices failing to activate. Would you like to know what's going on?"

"how?"

"Our viscount embezzled some of the funds intended for clearing out old and malfunctioning equipment in order to participate in an auction. He won the bid for his beloved Siberian brown bear, which rendered the soldiers' new hardware useless. Fortunately, only the infantry, who usually just sit idly by, suffered the consequences. Luckily, the KMF and tanks didn't have any problems."

"Oh? Is it that bad?"

"Otherwise what? Do you think the reason we're so highly motivated but haven't been able to shed the title of 'army group' and get to the 'legion' is because of this?"

"Alright, in that case, I hope the new night vision goggles the infantrymen are using won't cause any problems."

"If something else happens, the subway and underground storage sites will be lost, and our plan to launch a night raid to take advantage of the enemy will likely fall through."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore, Lieutenant Colonel. Let's go look at another place."

……

Eddie Hill and the major crossed an intersection where another group of soldiers were busy using KMFs and bulldozers to build obstacles from piles of rubble and sand into the street. Hidden in the still-covered mud was an abandoned infantry fighting vehicle—a stunt akin to stuffing stones into snowballs during a snowball fight. Artillery can blast through walls, but it can't reduce a steel vehicle to the size of a cardboard box dismantled by blades.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building's exterior wall, several KMFs were busy doing something: one of them shot the grappling hook in front of his chest onto the exterior wall, and then the other mechs came over and tugged at the steel cable behind the grappling hook's tail like a tug-of-war—the KMFs' bodies, weighing more than 7 tons, couldn't guarantee that they could be dismantled entirely by weight.

After a few back-and-forth movements, a large, substantial chunk of the building's exterior wall fell off during this violent demolition.

"Look at this, Lieutenant Colonel," the Major joked. "By the Emperor, what could have come up with such a brilliant idea to slow down those troublesome enemy tanks?"

"Practice makes perfect, sir. After all this time, it seems I'm the only one who discovered this first."

"But wouldn't that also block the direct fire trajectories of our assault guns and KMF's recoilless rifles?"

“So I do have a way that sounds a bit far-fetched.” Eddie Hill scratched his face. “I wonder if the engineers have the ability to take some shells, modify them, and turn them into a bomb that can be thrown.”

That's right, the lieutenant colonel's idea was pretty much a "human-powered mortar," except that they didn't actually have the concept of a mortar in their minds.

“Shells, throwing…” The major thought for a long time. “You mean, it’s like modifying a super-sized time bomb, throwing it over the building, letting it land on the enemy on the next street, and then, Boom?”

"It seems your comprehension is much better than many idle officers." Eddie Hill smiled, then took out his flask filled with cola and rum, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.

"Want a sip? I bet you've never tried drinking it this way before!"

"Ah, well... I..." The major hesitated a bit. After all, everyone in the command center knew about the lieutenant colonel's unique taste, and not many people dared to try his whimsical drink.

"Don't be shy, come on in..."

But just then, the two officers and the soldiers around them suddenly sensed something was wrong.

"Hey! Sir, watch out! Enemy planes!"

Before the words were even finished, several bright green planes appeared in the low eastern sky, seemingly heading straight for them!

"Run!" The major grabbed Eddie Hill and pushed him into a nearby house. Immediately afterward, an explosion erupted on the street, turning the entire intersection into a giant gray mushroom.

"Cough cough cough, cough cough cough cough..." The sound of the airplane propellers faded into the distance, and only then did the two men emerge from the house, still filled with fear.

“What a pity…” the lieutenant colonel frowned. “The enemy’s air power is launching ground attacks more and more frequently.”

"Sir!" At this moment, a soldier came over and reported the situation of the air raid. Only one plane dropped bombs on us, and there were no casualties or equipment damage. The other formations of planes also dropped bombs at different distances from here. So, they probably didn't detect us.

"A harassment?" The lieutenant colonel seemed to understand the situation. "Okay, I understand."

"Let's go, Lieutenant Colonel. We'll go back now and discuss with Colonel Carry and the others what to do about the planes."

“Okay… but, oh?” Eddie Hill looked down and suddenly realized that the lid of his flask was missing.

"Hiss, let me see, let me see..." After searching for a long time, he finally found a piece of metal next to the curb.

Yes, the metal flask lid had slipped off and fallen to the ground as he rushed to take cover, directly exposed to the shockwave and turning into popcorn.

Eddie Hill stared silently at the tin popcorn in his hand, then at the liquor flask...

"It seems that a problem I can't figure out a solution to is about to arise..."

Notice: Due to numerous reader feedback that the pacing of the plot is too slow, I, the author, have decided to significantly accelerate the plot in the next few chapters. As a result, there will be fewer chapters describing the Berlin street battles, and some planned descriptions of Soviet heavy firepower will have to be postponed to later chapters. Please forgive me, thank you.

Chapter 87, Section 137: A door? No way!

It's a new day in District 11.

There's nothing worth seeing in the Tokyo concessions, but now, 200 kilometers north of Tokyo, in a place called Fukushima Prefecture, there's something that's worth noting.

In Fukushima Prefecture, there is a city called Aizu-Wakamatsu. There is an ancient castle built on a high ground in the center of the city—Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle. Its pure white and holy appearance has also earned it the nickname "Castle of Cranes".

This place is in Japan, and it used to be a popular tourist destination for Japanese people. All this beauty ended with the invasion of the Holy Britannian Empire.

Crane City did not survive the massive attack by Britannia intact; instead, it was left with broken eaves, blackened walls, and a large pile of collapsed city wall rubble.

After being driven out of the city by the army and sent to work in the suburbs, the Japanese became residents of Area 11. The city of cranes also became a place visited by the Grim Reaper's pets—the city of crows. No matter how bright the weather, under the sky, all that could be seen was the dying face of this neglected city.

Nobody comes? Then you can do a lot of things with peace of mind.

Now, in the open space in front of the towering castle in the center, surrounded by trees, a huge city gate has been built at some point—does it look familiar? That's right, it's almost exactly the same as the Camelot Gate in the Tokyo Concession City Hall.

Yes, it seems that "Eternal Protocol," the organization responsible for developing portal technology, is about to make a big splash here.

……

"Doctor, everything is ready."

"Very good, this experiment will definitely be a success. We'll just have to see what the world on the other side of the door is like."

The doctor in charge of the site seemed very confident. All he had to do was sit in the command center and wait for the "explorers" to put on their equipment before giving the order to open the portal.

This is not the first time the "Eternal Protocol" has been tested. The lessons learned from the past have led them to make many improvements to the steps before entering the door.

Let's first look at the team of "explorers" dressed in spacesuits. The first team to enter the portal consisted of only one person. He was dressed in red and held an assault rifle. He was responsible for scouting the other side of the portal to see if there were any hostile creatures that posed a significant threat to humanity, and how many there were.

That's right, this is the most dangerous position. This job is usually done by "low-level people" such as criminals who have been captured. As long as he is alive, the second team can follow behind and enter.

The "Eternal Protocol" has killed countless "Crimson Death Knights"—Prince Schneizel said that so far they've only opened the gate to District 45? Don't be ridiculous, use your brain. If places outside District 45 are unusable, why would His Highness say that?