Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 507 Line Infantry
Gwen gripped the hilt of her sword, her face grim as she looked at the army opposite her.

She knew she would encounter trouble along the way, but she didn't expect it to come so quickly.

The resistance left Sladedinburgh in the afternoon, and before it was even dark, they encountered the enemy.

Logically speaking, they shouldn't have encountered the enemy at this time—nighttime warfare was almost impossible in this era.

Aside from the lighting problem, the proportion of night blindness among the soldiers in the North is very high; they are practically blind at night.

Moreover, given the level of military capabilities in this era, even locating the enemy is a problem; engaging in combat? Impossible.

But at that moment, the resistance forces did indeed encounter the enemy at dusk.

“Something’s not right.” Isaac leaned closer. “Look at those people, they’re not even fully equipped, and their mental state seems off.”

Gwen squinted and looked closely. Indeed, these people's equipment was ridiculously poor. They didn't look like a regular army at all; they looked more like guards from a small town.

They were indeed somewhat absent-minded, but that's not the point.

What truly made Gwen believe these people had mental problems was—

They numbered less than two hundred, yet they blocked the resistance army's path.

The resistance force numbered in the thousands.

What do you think is going on?

"It was the work of the investigator," Isaac said without hesitation.

"Investigators are incredibly versatile superhumans, and these mortals may very well have been seduced by them to come and block our path."

"Then us"

"Leave it to me." Isaac sneered. "I'm an investigator too."

Isaac approached them alone and chatted with them for a while. Then the soldiers shouted and charged forward—they charged in another direction, as if there were enemies there.

Ignoring the soldiers who were running further and further away, Isaac walked back to his unit alone.

"The situation is terrible. They are militiamen from nearby towns—not just one town, but people from five nearby towns came, which is how so many people were gathered."

"In other words, there are quite a few investigators in the nearby towns; they are really watching us."

Gwen interjected, "Why don't they just come and cause us trouble?"

"I don't know. Although we are in the military, our numbers should be enough to deal with the two of us. They are still testing us, and I don't know what they are afraid of."

“Indeed, this is very strange.” Gwen stroked her chin. “What are they afraid of?”

This probing was just an appetizer. The resistance did not force a march that night, as advancing through the unlit wilderness at night was too risky, and many people would definitely get lost.

Besides, there are wild animals. The coyotes in the North are very dangerous, and if they are starving, they might fight people to the death.

There was no attack during the night, but Gwen could vaguely hear a lot of noise coming from afar.

The next morning, as Gwen was preparing to leave, she was surprised to see that her mother-in-law's face was very pale.

“Yesterday we fought with the superhumans on the other side. Grandma was injured, but two of them died.”

Isaac explained.

"Where are you hurt? Let me bandage you!" Gwen quickly tried to find a bandage, but her mother-in-law waved her hand. "It's nothing serious, just that both of my legs were chopped off."

Gwen looked down in surprise and found her mother-in-law walking perfectly fine on the ground.

"This is the ability of the [Nymph]. Granny does not have any organs in the conventional sense. Simply put, she has no weaknesses and can recover from any injury—of course, it is not without any cost."

The old woman coughed weakly a few times, but she was quite energetic. She laughed and said, "Don't be fooled by my chopped leg. I used only my upper body to unleash the Dragon Breath Cannon, which caught them off guard and killed two of them. Haha, both kills were mine!"

Isaac nodded somewhat helplessly: "There are too many of them on the other side. My previous estimate may have been a bit conservative. This time, we're probably in big trouble."

"Wouldn't you be safer if you stayed with the resistance forces?"

Gwen interjected.

"Yes, for both of us, but..."

"But then we can't get weapons."

The old woman sighed: "We came from the train side, and we had to hide and disguise ourselves the whole way. We had enough weapons to protect ourselves, but we couldn't bring any extra. Isaac brought a machine gun, and apart from that, all of them were dragon breath cannons. Dragon breath cannons can only be used by superhumans."

"But we have quite a few muskets!"

"The muskets you use are completely different from Castel's Gatling gun. Isaac should have realized this in the last six months."

Isaac nodded: "The firepower of one Gatling gun is equivalent to that of dozens of musketeers. If we had twenty machine guns, we wouldn't even need to retreat like this. We could just hold our ground in Sladedinburgh, and they wouldn't be able to break through."

"That's amazing?" Gwen's eyes widened, and she said in surprise.

"It's even stronger than you think. The coalition forces that besieged you before were wiped out by this kind of weapon. If the resistance forces can each have a gun, the entire North won't be able to do anything to you."

"It's a pity. Actually, our mission was originally to transport weapons, but the Vatican's blockade was too tight. It was impossible to carry a large number of weapons through the blockade. We had to go ourselves. To be honest, the role of a superhuman is not even as good as that of a machine gun."

Gwen was momentarily captivated. Judging from their tone, this machine gun wasn't anything particularly valuable, at least not as valuable as something possessed by a superhuman.

Just who is Castel, who possesses such a magical weapon?
Gwen was really curious.

"Boss Gwen, there are enemies ahead! Lots and lots of enemies!"

A shout came from afar, and Gwen quickly looked up.

A scout on horseback was approaching from the front of the column, and Isaac's figure had already frozen in place.

After a moment, he spoke directly: "Prepare for battle. They look like a regular army, but they're not flying any flags, so they might not belong to any duke. It doesn't matter, we must charge in!"

How many people are there?

"More than 500 men, with fairly good equipment, this is going to be a tough battle."

The resistance forces did have a numerical advantage, but this was not a direct confrontation. If the enemy could delay the resistance forces for a while, the pursuing troops would catch up.

The enemy clearly knew about this as well, and although their numbers were small, their morale was quite good.

The two sides soon drew close, and Gwen was finally able to see the group of enemies.

These soldiers were not wearing armor, but each of them was holding a musket.

This is the most common line infantry in the Empire.

(End of this chapter)