Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 512 The Sound of Gatling Gunfire
Gwen gripped her longsword, flicked off the blood, and panted heavily.

She looked up, trying to figure out where Isaac was.

The Gatling gun still didn't fire.

Heavy machine gun ammunition is extremely precious, and they are almost certain to obtain supplies here. Once they have used it all up, the Gatling gun will become scrap metal. Isaac himself did not have many bullets, so they had to use them in the most critical situations.

Before the battle, Isaac had made an agreement with her that if the Dragon Tooth Duke's main force arrived, or if the resistance was completely defeated and the situation became such that he had to intervene, Isaac would open fire.

The fact that no shots have been fired means the situation isn't that bad yet.

Gwen shook her head, brushing away the mud mixed with blood and sweat, and tried to open her eyes wide to look at the enemy in front of her.

Her vision blurred, and she felt she had reached her limit, that she would die if she fought for another second longer—this feeling had lasted for half an hour.

Despite her exhaustion, she dragged her increasingly stiff body forward, gritting her teeth and persevering on the battlefield.

As long as the heavy machine gun hasn't fired yet, we can still hold on.

Gwen looked up at the enemy in front of her.

These cavalrymen, dressed in light armor and with muskets at their waists, were currently engaged in close combat with the resistance fighters.

Gwen had assumed these cavalrymen were like Bazel's pistol cavalry, relying on their mobility and circling around them, but they weren't.

They fired a single shot from a distance, then charged forward and began fighting without regard for anything else.

Two cavalrymen spotted Gwen, spurred their horses forward, and charged at him, their longswords dripping with blood.

Gwen took a deep breath, ignoring her heart pounding as if it were about to explode, and forced out the last bit of strength from her muscles to sprint—and swing her sword.

A gleaming white streak flashed through the air, cleaving the cavalryman in front of her in two, armor and all. The blood, propelled by the momentum, drenched Gwen, staining her already dark red armor with an even deeper crimson hue.

The cavalry behind showed no sign of stopping; their longswords were already swinging towards them.

Gwen only glanced at it, but she knew she couldn't avoid it.

She had no choice but to throw down her weapon and use her arm to block the longsword. Sparks flew as the blade collided with her gauntlet, and then the cavalryman and his horse charged at her.

Gwen's feet sank half a foot into the ground as she was thrown backward. Veins bulged all over her body as she gritted her teeth and shouted to withstand the impact. She reached out and pulled the knight down, then grabbed the horse's head with her other hand and slammed it against the horse's head. Both of her hands went limp.

"Damn it, could I really be some kind of superhuman?" Gwen gasped for breath. "That shouldn't be the case. I don't remember ever coming into contact with superhumans. Maybe these enemies are just too weak?"

She braced herself on her knees to catch her breath, and the fatigue seemed to subside a little. She picked up her sword and looked up to find her next enemy.

There are no more enemies.

All that remained around were the resistance fighters, some carrying spears and straight knives, others mechanically loading muskets, then raising their guns, unsure where to aim.

The ground was piled high with enemy corpses, densely packed. Gwen had never imagined that there were so many people, even in a village. Sometimes there were hundreds of people, but the corpses in front of her were piled up like a mountain.

None of these cavalrymen fled for their lives, nor did any of them show any fear. Although they were clearly equipped with muskets and longswords, they chose to charge directly after firing their guns.

Longswords were never the primary weapon of cavalry; lances and spears were. Longswords were only used for self-defense, like the sabers of crossbowmen.

These cavalrymen were strange; their eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood, as if they had a deep-seated hatred for the resistance army and were determined to fight them to the death regardless of anything else.

But at least, at least they won. We can ask Isaac about that later; the cavalry has been wiped out anyway, so we just need to regroup for now.

A faint smile appeared on Gwen's tired face as she bent down, preparing to find a cloth to wipe the blood off the sword.

But the next moment, her smile froze on her face.

The heavy machine gun fired.

Like a sudden downpour, it spread out in one continuous stream.

She stood up stiffly and turned her neck to look into the distance.

The army, densely packed and seemingly endless, pressed forward, their eyes bloodshot and weapons raised.

Another train rattled along the railway.

The expeditionary force skillfully used flag signals to gradually slow the train down, eventually bringing it to a stop in front of a brand-new fortress.

"Wow, it's being built pretty fast. This fortress is already quite impressive."

"Actually, this is just a showpiece, Mr. Erwin. It will take more than twenty days for the concrete to fully harden, but it will have good strength in a few days." Kyle came up and shook hands with Erwin.

Erwin grimaced as he pulled his pale hand away from Kyle's grasp, glanced at Kyle's strong, bear-like physique, and chose to forget about it.

"This is the last train. The lord has determined that the supplies here are sufficient for the time being. You can send the train back now, and bring back intelligence along with it. If you have any needs, you can also raise them with them."

"Our needs are actually not too bad; we have no shortage of supplies. The biggest problem right now is that we can't find anyone. We've been searching for days for the Resistance Army, the Grand Duke of Dragon Fang, and Count Bazel, but we haven't found any trace of them."

As they talked, the two walked forward, gradually leaving the train and heading towards the expeditionary force's temporary camp.

The expeditionary force soldiers responsible for unloading the cargo skillfully opened the truck doors and unloaded boxes of supplies from the truck beds.

No one noticed that a little girl with white hair was quietly peeking out from under the train carriage.

Gwen glanced around warily; the expeditionary force seemed to be busy with their own affairs. She looked up at the sky.

"Stop looking, just come out without worry, nobody's paying attention to you here." The unicorn impatiently stomped its hoof and pointed with its horn to a fortification on the side: "Just run over there, nobody's there."

Gwen nodded, gathered her strength, and with a few leaps, she passed through the piles of supplies on both sides of the track and rushed into the newly built fortifications that were waiting to be solidified.

As she concealed herself, her friends appeared one by one in the air.

"What do we do next? Where do we find the resistance? You all heard it just now, even the expeditionary force hasn't found them yet."

"do not know."

"do not know."

"do not know."

The friends immediately started shouting and making a racket, but none of their efforts were effective.

Gwen, somewhat annoyed, pointed at the girl leaning on her longsword, clad in bright silver armor: "Little Gwen, you haven't said a word, you must have a plan, right?"

(End of this chapter)