I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution Chapter 83
It took two days for Unica to carefully plan out the evacuation routes and gathering points.
The ponytail man and the nun were responsible for leading ten subordinates to attack the Steam Train Station and create chaos.
That area happened to be the most densely populated with people coming and going, and the transport hub extended in all directions, making it ideal for diversion.
The brown-haired youth was teamed up with the strongman, leading the remaining soldiers to assault the palace.
Their mission was the most dangerous, so the two individuals assigned were second only to Unica in strength.
Finally, Commander Unica would act when the opportunity arose.
Once the first two teams had drawn away most of the Federation troops’ attention, she would personally find a chance to take Miwei away and give the signal, while the others dispersed and escaped.
It took a certain amount of time and a stable space environment to release a mech from the spatial ring—it could not be summoned and used instantly.
Therefore, that very evening, the ponytail man and the nun, along with the others, checked into the top floor of an inn near the train station.
By noon the next day, the spy squad had quietly taken care of all the residents on the top floor, sealed off all communication from above, and set off ahead of time toward the train station area.
Stretching lazily, the nun said unhurriedly: “Let’s begin. The efficiency of the magic engine in this dump for absorbing elements is too low, so we can only rely on internal energy supply. That means we have to finish the battle in ten minutes, and keep five minutes of energy in reserve for emergencies.”
“Mm...”
Five minutes later, a loud ‘crash’ resounded from the inn’s top floor.
The civilians inside the lower floors looked on with confusion and panic:
“What happened? Where did that explosion come from?”
“Could it be an earthquake?!”
Just as they tried to flee the inn in panic, a massive shadow loomed over everyone at the entrance.
‘Boom!’
A heavy impact shook the ground, knocking people flat.
A towering steel giant, gleaming with golden light, slowly stood upright.
Nearly two stories tall, its massive frame was terrifying.
The ponytail man felt the mech’s all-around double amplification to his own body and closed his eyes in pleasure.
Ignoring the few unlucky ones crushed into meat paste under its feet, a radiant golden shield slowly condensed in front of him.
With a burst of energy beneath his feet, he shot forward down the main street like a catapult.
“Hahahahaha... Splendid!!!”
The ponytail man laughed madly as he crushed everything in his path like a heavy truck.
The once bustling and lively street, filled with pedestrians, turned into a hellish slaughterhouse in an instant.
Countless people had no idea what was happening before being smashed into minced flesh.
The patrolling guards tried to fire back, but their bullets deflected off the giant’s shield, ricocheting wildly and causing even more casualties.
The guards at the nearby Steam Train Station quickly noticed the disturbance.
They sounded the alarm, and four pre-set interlinked machine gun emplacements swiveled toward the giant and opened fire.
The dense barrage of large-caliber Maxim bullets struck the giant, the furious rate of fire and the torrent of ammo rapidly dimming and destabilizing the golden shield.
The ponytail man reached behind the mech and pulled out a massive alloy greatsword as tall as two stories, raising it to block the fire.
Finding the firepoints made things easier.
Two breaths later, several fire-dragons streaked down from the sky, blasting apart the machine gun emplacements fortified in steel.
The violent elemental explosions evaporated the positions on the spot—no bodies remained.
On the inn’s rooftop, the nun drew out two more giant arrows from behind the mech, pulled back her longbow, and loosed them again.
The other two emplacements met the same fate.
After four successive explosions, the main station building collapsed entirely, burying both the guards rushing out and the civilians attempting to flee beneath the rubble.
In her office, Mitia suddenly stood up, sensing the successive violent elemental surges.
At the nearby desk, the cat-girl secretary quickly rose in alarm: “Your Majesty, what is it?”
The piercing citywide alarm wailed sharply.
“Something’s happened! You stay here.”
Before she could move, Sherria, who had been playing nearby, appeared beside her and stopped her: “Something’s wrong. Don’t run around. I’m afraid this is a diversion.”
“But...”
Mitia hesitated.
Those two energy waves had already far exceeded the standard of a normal ninth-rank mage.
Against enemies of that level, the guard units would struggle to cope.
Sherria’s small face was solemn: “You stay here. I’ll go! I’ll be back quickly.”
‘Rat-tat-tat...’
A squad of wheeled armored vehicles rushed onto the battlefield.
The twin-mounted machine guns on two of the vehicles opened fire, while soldiers alongside also concentrated their fire on the clearly visible steel giant.
But from afar, another massive arrow shot into the convoy, exploding between the two armored cars.
None of the surrounding soldiers survived.
At the same time, a rocket was fired high into the sky, exploding above.
‘Boom!’
‘Boom...’
A few Ceres soldiers in the distance, each carrying a recoilless cannon on their shoulders, knelt and aimed at the giant steel mech on the rooftop.
Several huge shells exploded against the nun’s mech shield.
The once brilliant barrier flickered violently, dimming in and out, startling the nun mid-draw.
She hurried to dodge.
She had clearly not expected such an unassuming tube to possess such devastating power.
Meanwhile, not far from the Empress’ palace, the strongman and the brown-haired youth received the nun’s signal.
They climbed into their cockpits and activated their mechs.
The two smashed through walls and charged onto the street.
By now, the civilians had mostly vanished, having already rushed home or hidden as soon as the alarms sounded.
Seeing this, the brown-haired youth actually let out a sigh of relief.
He maneuvered the mech’s massive hand to the ground, beams of light spreading outward from the palm.
The lines converged into a magic array spanning thirty meters.
It was a spatial magic array, meant for their escape.
Unless absolutely necessary, they had no intention of retreating on land and running headlong into the main Ceres forces.
The strongman’s mech stood guard with an enormous shield and single-handed sword.
Only once the array dimmed and faded did they move toward Mitia’s palace.
The brown-haired youth rose into the air, chanting quickly with both hands raised to the sky.
The runes engraved on his mech shifted from gold to red.
Countless fire elements gathered around him, forming into small dragon shapes at his back.
As the incantation progressed, more and more little dragons appeared until they filled half the sky.
With one hand extended toward the palace, the vast swarm of dragons converged along the route he pointed, fusing together as they advanced.
By the time they were within a hundred meters of the palace, they had merged into a colossal, lifelike fire dragon with wings spanning hundreds of meters, spewing scorching flames as it hurtled forward.
Yet just before it reached the palace, a crystal-clear wall rose from the ground, blocking its path.
The two forces clashed, hissing violently.
As the struggle continued, the crystal wall thickened, transforming into a towering glacier.
Steam roiled where the two forces collided, until finally the fire dragon exhausted its power and dissipated.
The elemental force within the glacier rapidly scattered.
From the boiling mist, two white flaming arrows shot forth, streaking toward the two men at frightening speed.
A voice filled with murderous intent echoed in their ears:
“Daring to play with fire before me? I’m your ancestor!”