Reborn General: My Interstellar Arsenal Slays Magic

Chapter 7: Reign of Shellfire

Twelve kilometers away, Grand General Marcus Vane rode at the head of the 7th Imperial Iron Legion.

His Rank-5 Sword Saint aura rippled around his silver plate armor like an invisible coat of liquid steel, radiating enough heat to melt the snow five feet around his warhorse. Behind him, three thousand elite cavalrymen marched in perfect, synchronized discipline.

"Grand General," the archmage leading the caster square called out, holding his glowing crystal staff. "Should we deploy the Great Aegis barrier before entering the pass?"

General Vane let out a deep, booming laugh that echoed off the frozen slopes. "Deploy a strategic barrier for a handful of starving commoners and a disgraced boy? Do not embarrass the Solaria flag, Archmage. Save your mana for when we tear down their stone walls."

Suddenly, a strange, high-pitched shrieking sound tore through the upper atmosphere. It sounded like the sky itself was being ripped apart by an invisible blade.

General Vane’s instincts, honed by decades of high-tier combat, screamed a frantic warning. He snapped his head toward the clouds. "DEFENSIVE FORMATION—!"

BOOM! BOOM!

The two 155mm high-explosive artillery shells detonated fifty feet directly above the center of the legion.

A blinding flash of orange fire and supersonic shrapnel rained down over a hundred-yard radius. The proximity fuses functioned with brutal mathematical precision, spraying tens of thousands of jagged steel fragments downward into the unshielded ranks.

The middle of the marching column instantly turned into a nightmare of fire and blood. Over a hundred cavalrymen were blown from their saddles; armor was shredded like paper, and warhorses screamed as the pressure wave flattened men to the frozen earth.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" the Archmage shrieked, covered in the blood of his fellow spell-casters as half his circle was wiped out in a single second. "AN ATTACK FROM THE CLOUDS?! WHERE ARE THE MAGES?!"

Before the panic could settle, another shrieking sound cut through the air.

BOOM! BOOM!

The second salvo from the Paladins five miles away slammed directly into the rear vanguard, shattering siege towers and turning supply wagons into burning splinters.

"RETREAT TO THE ROCKS! COVER!" General Vane roared, drawing his massive greatsword and slashing a wave of blue aura upward to deflect falling shrapnel. His face was pale, his eyes wide with absolute horror. There were no magic circles in the sky. No spell chants. Just unseen thunder raining death from beyond the horizon.

At the mouth of the canyon, three miles ahead of the disorganized legion, a massive wall of snow exploded outward.

ROAR!

The twin twin-turbocharged diesel engines of the two M1A2 Abrams tanks howled to life, tearing out of their camouflaged snow bunkers. Their sixty-ton steel frames slammed onto the main road, treads throwing up chunks of frozen dirt as they accelerated to forty miles per hour. Behind them, the four Bradley Fighting Vehicles fanned out into a lethal wedge formation.

Inside the lead Abrams, Kael gripped the commander's handles, his heart hammering against his chest as he looked through the thermal targeting optics. The red heat signatures of the panicking Imperial legion filled his screen.

"Target locked on enemy vanguard," the conscript gunner yelled from beside him, adjusting the laser rangefinder. "High-Explosive Anti-Tank round loaded!"

Kael took a deep breath, remembering Leonidas’s training. "FIRE!"

BOOM!

The 120mm main gun backslid in its housing, driving a massive shockwave across the snow. The HEAT round traveled down the straight road at over four thousand feet per second, slamming dead-center into the vanguard’s heavy armored cavalry line.

The explosion blew a thirty-foot crater in the road, sending armored bodies and horse limbs flying into the air.

Before the survivors could process the strike, the four Bradleys opened up with their 25mm M242 Bushmaster chain guns.

TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!

High-explosive dual-purpose 25mm rounds rained down at two hundred shots per minute. The dense armor-piercing shells tore through silver-runed plate armor, stone barricades, and shield mounts effortlessly.

General Vane stood in the middle of the slaughter, his grand sword trembling. He looked down the canyon road and saw the two tan steel behemoths charging toward his legion, their massive cannons smoking in the freezing mist.

"Demons..." Vane whispered, his voice shaking as the roar of iron engines drowned out the screams of his men. "The North has summoned iron demons..."