I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 268 Awesome!

Monokuma glanced back in fear at the still-smoking iron shell on the ammunition truck's wheel, and cold sweat broke out on his brow.

Monokuma was terrified.

Suddenly, a shell flew towards his face at a considerable speed; most people would have no chance of dodging such a sudden attack.

Monokuma was clearly not an ordinary person; his instinctive reaction saved him.

At the same time, the fish-scale armor on Monokuma's body is a type of armor made of stacked plates, not the kind of armor made of large pieces of steel like Western plate armor, which allows for sufficient flexibility.

All these factors combined allowed Monokuma to perform the backbend of the bridge pose, thus avoiding a fatal danger.

Even so, when Monokuma came to his senses, he was still incredibly frightened.

Damn it, it almost got smashed to pieces.

Black and white bear was furious, but he was now powerless to do anything about the Bohemians who were still far away.

The artillery battle continues and will not stop because of anyone's anger.

Bohemia's first counterattack was quite powerful, with a barrage of cannonballs flying in, but the results were not very good.

The reason was simple: the Bohemians were desperate. They opened fire hastily without even calibrating their shots.

The shells flying everywhere landed in all sorts of random spots.

Apart from two or three shells that landed within the artillery position's range, the rest of the shells disappeared into the unknown.

The Bohemians' audacity in retaliating naturally enraged the player's artillery.

Without needing orders from the minions, the player's artillery crew automatically enters a state of rapid fire and free firing.

The cannons roared as both sides exchanged shells in the darkness.

Monokuma couldn't see how heavy the enemy's losses were, but after ten rounds of shelling, he could sense that the density of the incoming shells had decreased.

Clearly, the six-pound field gun performed exceptionally well in tonight's artillery battle, successfully suppressing the enemy artillery.

However, successfully suppressing the enemy does not mean that one's own side is unharmed.

Bohemian artillery still possesses considerable strength; in artillery duels, their accuracy is steadily increasing.

The sandbag bunkers and shield vehicles at the forefront of the expeditionary force's artillery positions took a lot of hits from artillery shells.

When sandbags are hit by cannonballs, even a low wall made of two rows of sandbags will collapse, and sand will fly everywhere as the sandbags break.

The quality of the four-wheeled shield vehicle truly justifies the significant investment Chris made in its deployment.

These specially designed tanks have wrought iron outer layers for their side armor, with double layers of oak planks embedded inside, and key areas are reinforced with crossbars.

When the Bohemian's six-pound cannonball came hurtling towards the shield-carrying vehicle, the armor surface instantly dented into a deep crater the size of a washbasin, accompanied by the shrill sound of tearing iron and the muffled sound of wood chips exploding.

But the twelve-centimeter-thick buffer layer absorbed the impact... The shell eventually got stuck between the second layer of oak and the iron frame, like a metal fang set in the shield.

The musketeers hiding inside the shield carts will scream, but will ultimately emerge unharmed.

However, the roar of the twelve-pound cannon was quite different.

A shell that hits the center of the vehicle will cause the entire shielded vehicle to groan in a sickening groan, and the two iron-clad wooden wheels at the front will shatter instantly.

The outer sheet metal was torn apart like brittle paper. The three layers of oak planks reduced the projectile's velocity by more than half during the penetration. Finally, the deformed iron ball, still carrying its momentum, crashed into the inner iron bar grid, completing the most dangerous penetration of the shield vehicle amidst a shower of sparks.

The musketeer squad hiding inside the shield carts would also suffer more than half casualties, their bodies riddled with bloody gourds from the flying iron bars and wood chips.

Bohemia didn't have many twelve-pound cannons, but they only hit the artillery position twice, causing fifteen casualties.

This forced the henchmen to dismount the shield wagons, and they, along with half of the heavily armored players, hid behind the hills.

Monokuma didn't leave; some people had to stay on the position. Otherwise, if the Bohemians on the other side suddenly launched an attack, artillery alone wouldn't be enough to stop the enemy.

"Replenish the sandbags! Bring over the spare wheels!"

The player, his face charred black, roared, and four soldiers immediately carried soaked sandbags to block the gap.

The craftsmen behind them swung their hammers and painstakingly chiseled through the wood from the barbed shell wreckage, the flying splinters drawing fine silver lines in the moonlight.

Three of the twelve outermost shield vehicles were completely destroyed after taking three 12-pound shells, but the tilted chassis still bought the artillery position valuable time for repairs.

In contrast, the Bohemian open-air gun emplacements were facing annihilation.

The chain shot fired by the Expeditionary Force's six-pound cannons danced a deadly dance in the night sky, the spinning chains easily severing the exposed gun mount legs.

As the smoke cleared from the seventeenth salvo, the Bohemian counter-fire was sporadic, like the convulsions of a dying man. However, their artillery sacrifice had successfully achieved its tactical objective… to cover the infantry's advance.

Monokuma stroked the bullet holes of varying depths on the shield vehicle beside him by the moonlight, revealing a wistful smile... These mobile fortresses successfully withstood more than 70% of the heavy artillery bombardment and saved his life more than once.

At this moment, the NPC musketeers hiding behind the hill also lined up and jogged forward. They passed the black and white bears and came to the shield vehicle cover, where they began to form three horizontal lines.

The players carrying the Tiger Crouching Cannon were also quickly preparing to fire.

A burst of gunfire suddenly erupted from the darkness ahead, tearing apart the smoke and fire under the moonlight with the unexpected barrage of bullets, and rows of Bohemian phalanx soldiers suddenly emerged from the darkness three hundred paces away.

Taking advantage of the time gained by the artillerymen at the cost of their lives, they finally pushed their artillery fire to the edge of flintlock range and preemptively opened fire on the artillery positions.

With his excellent eyesight, Monokuma's gaze went over the shoulders of the musketeers in front of him, and he could even see the grotesque, distorted faces of the soldiers in the front row beneath their helmets.

These Bohemians slung their muskets over their companions' shoulders and loaded them during the charge.

The enemy's firing caused some casualties to the musketeers and player artillery in the formation, but not many.

The presence of good armor and shield vehicles effectively protected our side.

Now it was the expeditionary force's turn to open fire.

"put!"

With the henchmen's roar, three rows of flintlock muskets spewed forth a continuous stream of fire.

Lead bullets flew, and seven Bohemian soldiers fell like straws struck by an invisible scythe.

But the second rank of enemy soldiers immediately crouched down to fill the gap, and the roar of more than a hundred matchlock muskets exploded simultaneously with the second rank of the expeditionary force's musketeers firing in unison.

A heart-wrenching scream came from Monokuma's ears... Some unlucky guy, who was always wearing heavy armor, took off his helmet because he was hot, and was hit in the face by a ricocheting bullet. Now he was rolling on the ground, clutching his bloodied face.

"Tiger Crouching Cannon!"

The player, covered in wooden spikes, kicked aside the ammo box blocking his way.

"Blow the hell out of there!"

More than thirty short-barreled cannons mounted in front of the shield vehicle simultaneously spewed out waves of fire, and thousands of small lead bullets unfurled in the air in a deathly fan shape.

The Bohemian phalanx at the forefront was instantly torn to pieces.

With just one volley of fire, the arquebusiers that were previously able to exchange fire with the players suddenly fell silent.

In Monokuma's view, even if these two hundred or so guys weren't completely wiped out, there wouldn't be many left.

The Bohemians should retreat at this point.

But many of the enemies did not retreat as Monokuma had predicted.

Instead, more Bohemian infantry poured out of the smoke, these lightly armed soldiers running like hyenas over the corpses of their comrades, their three-meter-long hook-and-sickle spears gleaming blue in the moonlight.

This caught the player completely off guard.

However, this was nothing. A single charge by light infantry was not enough to break through the shield car defenses. The flintlock musketeers only needed to fire three volleys to easily take out these assault teams.

however…

"Left wing! Cavalry!"

The screams from the watchtower sent chills down everyone's spines.

When Monokuma turned his head, he saw a large group of cavalrymen charging toward the artillery position in a dark mass.

Damn it, it was the Bohemian cavalry from that previous assault transport convoy.

The Earl's cavalry failed in their duty; instead of repelling the enemy, they allowed these light cavalry to circle around and attack the undefended artillery positions on the flank.

"Chain ammunition ready!"

Even the henchmen's roars changed tone. The two six-pound cannons were urgently turned around, but the roar of the cavalry charge was already close at hand.

The lead cavalryman held aloft a three-meter-long flag-spear, the tip of which was covered with burning oil-soaked linen, indicating the direction of the charge for the cavalry behind him.

Without needing orders from his henchmen, Monokuma, with fewer than fifty Han-Tang warriors, left the artillery formation and set up a very rudimentary double-row line formation on the left.

"Here we are, brothers, turn on your personal cameras, our glorious moment has arrived."

(End of this chapter)