Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 392 Night Raid
For the army of the Kingdom of Krant, this day was a nightmare.

First, the offensive against the Sun Fortress of the Duchy of Tiris was directly repelled by the suddenly appearing Imperial Army. Of the 57,000 vanguard troops, less than 20,000 survived!
Not only that, on the same day, the Fifth Fleet of the Imperial Royal Navy suddenly set out, crossed the far north sea and launched a bombardment on Delai, the second largest port city in the Kingdom of Krant, completely blocking the northern shipping lanes of the Kingdom of Krant!

When Krant's General Staff learned of this news, they were all shocked.

When they initially formulated their plan, they mainly considered enemies bordering their country, such as the Western European Empire, Francis, and the Duchy of Tiris. The Empire and the Kingdom of Krant were separated by the far north sea, and the Duchy of Tiris served as a buffer zone, so the Krant General Staff did not give much thought to this aspect at first.

At most, the plan was slightly adjusted to ensure that the invasion of the Empire could be resisted after the conquest of the Duchy of Tiris was completed.

Unexpectedly, while other countries were loudly proclaiming their intention to mobilize for war, the Empire had already quietly prepared for battle!

In other words, the Iron-Blooded Queen of the Empire had long ago made up her mind to fight this war!
This greatly shocked the Kingdom of Krant. Dealing with an attack from two sides was already troublesome enough, but the Empire had struck first, turning the situation into a three-way siege. One can imagine how excited the Western European Empire and Francis would be if they learned of this!

So, should the plan be changed?

After much deliberation, the Krant General Staff made a final decision.

The plan remains unchanged!

Intelligence indicates that the Empire has only deployed its Third Fleet, consisting entirely of air force, primarily composed of the Cyclops-class airship and armored airships. Destroying this air force would halt the Empire's offensive momentum. It's worth noting that the Empire did not conduct any prior war mobilization for this surprise attack. While this has somewhat lulled the Kingdom of Krant into a false sense of security, it also indicates that the Empire's frontline forces are currently limited. If the Third Fleet can be eliminated, the Empire will be unable to launch another attack in the short term!

The Sun Fortress had been mostly destroyed in the previous offensive. If we hurry, we still have a chance to take over the Duchy of Tiris before the Empire can regroup and continue the "Double-Headed Eagle Plan"!
The reason the General Staff made this decision was not because they were stubborn, but because the Kingdom of Krant did indeed have weapons that could target the Imperial airships!

Although they hoped to save it for later, it seemed that they had to quickly quell the empire's arrogance, otherwise the Western European Empire and Francis would never let go of this opportunity to attack from three sides!
And this was also General Aug's idea.

"The Empire's surprise attack was indeed unexpected, but that doesn't mean we have no way to retaliate!"

Although General Aug was covered in dust and looked terrible when he escaped from the front lines, he was full of vigor and showed no signs of defeat when he reappeared before his soldiers.

"Tonight will be the day the Imperial Fleet is destroyed!"

General Aug was partly trying to boost the morale of the remaining troops, and partly he himself believed that the reason for his failure was that he had misjudged the speed of the Empire's actions. In fact, he did bring weapons that were designed to counter the Imperial fleet, but at the time he thought that the Empire would not be able to move out so quickly. Therefore, General Aug's initial idea was to take out the secret weapon after capturing Sun Fortress.

This is also the source of his confidence in confronting the Imperial air fleet.

However, General Aug should be glad that he left the secret weapon in the rear to speed up the capture of the fortress. Otherwise, after the Empire bombarded the position, his secret weapon might have been destroyed before it was even used.

But now... it's time for the Imperial Fleet to pay the price!

Thinking of this, General Aug's expression turned serious. He turned his head, looked at the officers beside him, and then gave the order.

"Set off."

Soon, night falls.

For the soldiers of the Sunlit Fortress, it was a brutal and unbearable day. In fact, even now, they were still playing hide-and-seek with the remaining soldiers of the Kingdom of Krant in the tunnels. Although Krant's main camp had been completely destroyed due to the Empire's attack, those soldiers seemed to have been prepared for this situation. They manipulated their burrowing monsters to quickly disappear into the depths of the tunnels, while the soldiers of the Duchy of Tiris were exhausted from running around and had no idea how to deal with these enemies.

In the end, the furious Tiris soldiers could only blow up all the tunnels as a way to barely console their wounded hearts.

However, they managed to stop the attack from the Kingdom of Krant, and with the appearance of the Imperial fleet, the soldiers of the Duchy of Tiris could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Under the cover of night, a group of people were silently climbing up the sloping hillside. Beside them were animals that resembled goats, but these animals were much larger than goats. In terms of size, they were even about the same height as a light training mech.

However, these strong and robust animals walked more steadily on the steep slope than the soldiers beside them, as if they were walking on flat ground rather than on a slope.

Not to mention that these animals are also carrying large cages on their backs.

The group reached the mountaintop, and the lead soldier blew a soft whistle. The giant goats immediately curled up and lay down obediently. Two other soldiers approached and glanced at the distant Sunfire Fortress. Although it was already evening, it was still brightly lit, clearly indicating that the enemy was also afraid that the Kingdom of Krant might launch a second attack under cover of darkness.

However, their concern wasn't with the fortress itself, but rather with the massive warship positioned above it. It blended almost seamlessly into the darkness, but the occasional flashing navigation lights still made its location clear.

Another soldier took out a wind vane and did some calculations.

"Northeast wind, the wind direction is just right, let's get started."

"Yes."

Upon hearing the order, the other soldiers stepped forward and went to the iron cages carried by the giant goats. These cages were covered with pieces of black cloth. The soldiers tore off the cloths, and the creatures inside seemed startled, flapping their wings incessantly. The soldiers, enduring the scattering feathers, opened the cages as quickly as possible.

The moment the cage was opened, hundreds of birds shrieked as they flew out, transforming into a dark cloud that soared into the distance.

"Are those birds really useful?"

Watching the flock of birds fly away, one of the soldiers asked in confusion, while the other nodded.

"It will be useful. They are our aerial trump cards. They won't let those steam-powered creations go unpunished. Soon, we will be able to see the Imperial warships completely destroyed."

In the darkness of night, a flock of birds flapping their wings and flying forward would go almost unnoticed, not even by Li Wei. In fact, it wasn't Li Wei who first noticed the anomaly, but the puppet bird he sent out to patrol the area. Because of the [Mimicry Control], this puppet bird, which also served as a drone, would automatically patrol around the airship and report everything Li Wei saw.

Therefore, when it discovered a large flock of birds, Li Wei naturally received a warning from the puppet bird.

This naturally alerted Livy—it was summer, not yet the bird migration season, so where did these birds come from…?

He opened [Soul Vision] and glanced at it, then immediately frowned.

“Lieutenant Horn, inform General Howe that a flock of birds is flying toward them.”

"A flock of birds? Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Horn had not witnessed the conversation between Levi and General Howe, so he was somewhat surprised when he heard Levi's order. However, Lieutenant Horn did not waste any words and quickly relayed the information to the Cyclops.

Unfortunately, General Howe wasn't in his office at the moment. As the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Fleet, he had to attend to some diplomatic engagements. In fact, just moments before, General Howe had finally finished his long, rambling conversation with General Leman of the Duchy of Tiris, and dragged his weary body back to the Cyclops. "I'm really not cut out for politics. Next time, the Empire should send someone specifically to handle this."

Back on the Cyclops, General Howe yawned and muttered a complaint as he walked forward, while his adjutant was already waiting beside him.

"You're back, sir."

"Well, what's the matter?"

"No."

The adjutant shook his head, then seemed to remember something.

"By the way, the Sky Eye just sent a message saying that a flock of birds has been spotted flying towards our flight path."

"oh………"

General Hao nodded subconsciously, then realized what he was doing and stared wide-eyed at his adjutant.

"What did you say? A flock of birds!?"

"Yes, sir..."

"When?"

"About half an hour ago..."

Why didn't you tell me sooner!

"Because we consider this news insignificant..."

"idiot!"

General Hao quickened his pace and ran towards the bridge. He still remembered what Li Wei had said to him back then!
"Didn't I say that all messages from the Sky Eye must be reported to me immediately? Damn it! Immediately issue orders to prepare for alert, take out all the bird nets from the warehouse and hang them up, and have the reconnaissance airships at the front get ready!"

General Hao quickly issued the orders; he could only hope that it wasn't too late!
Meanwhile, inside the forward-deployed "Beacon of Progress" ship, everything was normal. The soldiers on night duty were idly looking through their observation scopes when...

"report!"

The communications officer looked up at the captain of the "Beacon of Endeavor".

"The Cyclops has sent an order requiring us to prepare for aerial surveillance."

"Airborne surveillance?"

Upon hearing this order, the captain immediately tensed up. He stood up, looked at the dark night sky ahead, and asked in confusion.

"I did not see any enemy air force —"

"Boom!"

However, before the captain could finish speaking, a loud crash rang out, startling everyone. They turned to look and saw a black bird perched on the glass in front of them.

Another silly bird that got hit and killed?
The captain wasn't surprised; birds always had a penchant for foolishly crashing into the glass, seemingly oblivious to it. During flight, a few silly birds would always ignore the glass and fly straight in, only to crash into it. Luckily, the glass on modern airships was specially made and not easily damaged… Wait, where did these birds come from in the middle of the night?

However, the thought only flashed through the captain's mind for a moment, and the next moment, a flash of fire appeared before his eyes.

"boom---!"

The bird that crashed into the glass exploded, blasting a large hole in the glass in front of it. A cold wind rushed in, and at the same time, a series of hoarse and piercing cries, like waves, rose and fell!
"Gaa ...

Accompanied by these eerie, ghostly cries, birds crashed into the glass of the airship's cockpit, making a continuous series of "thump-thump-thump" sounds.

Immediately following was a series of flashes of light.

"boom------!"

The flashing flames suddenly became incredibly bright, even illuminating the night sky. Seeing this, General Hao felt a chill run down his spine.

"what happened?"

"It was a guiding light for progress, but it was attacked by an unknown force and has crashed!"

The biggest weaknesses of airships are their slow speed, large size, and vulnerability to being shot down. Just like now, the forward navigation beacon has turned into a huge fireball, its gasbags have completely exploded, and the raging flames are falling to the ground like meteors—it's easy to imagine that the people on board have virtually no hope of survival.

"Turn on the searchlights!"

General Hao coldly issued the order, and his adjutant beside him was startled upon hearing it. This was certainly not in accordance with nighttime patrol regulations!

But since the order had been given, they had no choice but to comply. Soon, the searchlights on the Cyclops came on, completely dispelling the surrounding darkness.

At this moment, General Hao also saw that a large flock of black birds, like clouds, was rushing towards him. Once the airships that blocked their path were swallowed up by the flock of birds, they would explode completely in the blink of an eye. Obviously, these reconnaissance armored airships were no match for the flock of birds!

Damn it, what kind of monster has the Kingdom of Krant created?

"Hang up the bird nets, protect the power unit, prepare the anti-aircraft guns! Shoot down all those damned birds!"

Staring intently at the flock of birds ahead, General Hao gritted his teeth and gave the order.

(End of this chapter)