The moment Wu Liang's arm swung down, the command surged through the entire Black Rock Army like an electric current.
"Rifle Battalion! Prepare!"
"Raise your rifles!"
Behind the shield wall, commanders of several rifle phalanxes roared in unison.
The first row of riflemen, who had long been on standby, moved in perfect unison, extending their dark muzzles through the gaps in their comrades' tower shields and over their shoulders.
Their eyes were locked onto the surging torrent of steel ahead.
Hearts pounded in chests, and palms grew slick with sweat from the tension.
But their rigorous training allowed them to suppress their inner fear, their fingers resting steadily on the triggers.
That torrent of steel drew closer and closer.
Five hundred meters... four hundred meters... three hundred meters... They could now clearly see the hideous visors of the heavy knights, feel the scorching breath exhaled by the galloping warhorses, and hear the piercing clatter of clashing armor.
The earth beneath their feet trembled more and more violently, as if it might split open at any moment.
A massive sense of oppression, like a great mountain, weighed on the heart of every Black Rock Tribe soldier.
Some shield-bearers even closed their eyes, bracing themselves for the devastating impact.
"Hold steady!!"
Akomann stood at the front of the formation, her voice like a clap of thunder exploding in the ears of all the soldiers.
"Trust the weapons in your hands! Trust your King!"
"Fire!"
With the commander's final order, nerves that had been stretched to their limit were finally released.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Over a thousand Black Rock Type-1 rifles spat tongues of fire simultaneously.
The dense gunfire merged into a sharp, piercing roar, instantly drowning out the thunderous sound of hooves.
A dense hail of bullets shrieked as it tore through the air, forming a curtain of death that slammed head-on into the unstoppable torrent of steel.
"Clang! Clang! Clatter! Clatter!—"
A dense sound erupted, like hailstones battering a tin roof.
The knights of the Griffin Knights Regiment charging at the very front felt a series of violent impacts against their bodies.
Their enchanted steel plate armor provided them with excellent protection.
Some of the bullets were deflected upon hitting the heavy breastplates and helmets, or merely left shallow dents behind.
"Hahaha! Is this all the power these savages' weapons have?"
"They can't even pierce our armor!"
"Charge! Crush them!"
The knights burst into laughter, letting go of the last shred of vigilance in their hearts.
However, the expressions on the faces of Taiwen Merlin and Arthur did not relax in the slightest.
For they could clearly see that within that dense hail of bullets, not all attacks were ineffective.
Some bullets pierced through the knights' armor and helmets.
*Splurch!*
Blood and brains splattered out.
Some knights fell headlong from their galloping horses before they could even let out a scream, only to be trampled into pulp by the thundering hooves behind them.
Even more bullets hit the warhorses, which were also clad in heavy armor.
Although the Empire's pureblood warhorses were magnificent, their armor lacked magical enchantments and was ultimately not as durable as the steel plate armor worn by the knights.
Especially in relatively weak spots like the legs, bellies, and necks of the horses.
*Whinny—!*
Shrill neighs of horses rose and fell.
Dozens of warhorses were hit in vital spots by bullets during their high-speed charge, collapsing to the ground with mournful cries.
The charging formation instantly fell into a moment of chaos.
The horses behind them had no time to dodge and slammed hard into their fallen comrades; in an instant, men and horses were overturned, and screams echoed incessantly.
"Damn it!"
Arthur cursed angrily.
Although the casualties weren't heavy, this undoubtedly slowed their charging speed and broke the integrity of their formation.
"Fire! Aim at the cavalry and fire at will!"
On the Black Rock Tribe's position, orders were being executed methodically.
Soon, the cavalry of the Roland Empire could no longer laugh.
Once again, men and horses were sent tumbling.
The distance of the charge seemed to have been infinitely stretched.
A distance that should have taken only a few dozen breaths to cross now felt like a road of death leading to hell.
Every step forward came at the cost of blood and life.
"Mage Corps!!"
Taiwen Merlin could no longer bear this situation of being passively beaten, and he let out a furious roar.
"Destroy their positions for me! Use fireballs and boulders! Burn them to ashes, crush them into pulp!"
Behind him, the hundred-man Mage Corps, which had been prepared for a long time, finally began to act.
The mages raised their staves and began chanting obscure incantations.
In the air, violent fire elements and earth elements began to gather frantically.
Fireballs the size of human heads quickly formed above the mages' heads, radiating scorching heat.
The sky also began to turn dark.
Huge burning rocks trailed long tails of flame, as if descending from beyond the heavens.
The soldiers of the Black Rock Tribe, feeling the oncoming heatwave and the aura of destruction from above, changed expression drastically.
"Hold steady! Raise shields!"
The shield-bearers in the front row roared, lifting their massive tower shields high, attempting to form a dome to resist the death falling from the sky.
But everyone knew that against magic of this level, ordinary shields would be completely useless.
Wu Liang looked at the dense fireballs and meteors in the sky, a cold sneer playing on his lips.
Finally lost your patience?
This was the moment he had been waiting for.
He didn't look at the magic about to fall, but instead cast his gaze toward the twenty hideous steel creations that had remained silent until now.
"Suina."
His voice was calm and cold.
"Let these hicks see what a real massacre looks like."
"Maxim machine gun platoon! Prepare!"
Suina, who had been waiting by the heavy machine guns, had a flash of fanatical excitement in her eyes upon hearing this.
She ripped away the oilcloth wrapped around the muzzle, revealing the dark opening that radiated the aura of death.
"Disengage the safety!"
"Target, enemy charging cluster!"
"Open... fire!!"
As Suina's slightly crazed roar subsided, twenty machine gunners who were already prepared pressed the butterfly triggers of the maxim heavy machine guns almost simultaneously.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!"
The sharp, rapid roar instantly resounded across the entire battlefield!
Twenty curtains of death, composed of tongues of fire and shell casings, spat frantically from those dark muzzles.
Canvas ammo belts were rapidly consumed at the feed ports, and scalding brass casings poured out from the other side of the machine guns like rain, instantly piling up into small mounds on the ground.
Inside the water-cooling jackets wrapped around the barrels, the fresh water began to boil within seconds, sending up billowing clouds of white steam.
A rate of fire of six hundred rounds per minute!
Twenty heavy machine guns meant twelve thousand rounds per minute!
A visible, airtight curtain of death, composed of countless high-speed rotating metal warheads, instantly swept across the entire battlefield!
"What... is that sound?"
The Griffin Knights Regiment, in the midst of their full-speed charge, all froze for a moment upon hearing this unprecedented, terrifying sound.
Then, they witnessed a scene they would never forget.
Death had arrived.
The first row of heavy knights charging at the front didn't even have time to react.
"Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh—!"
It was no longer the crisp sound from the previous rifle fire that could be deflected by armor.
Instead, it was a scalp-numbing sound of bullets burrowing into flesh and tearing through steel!
The bullets of the Black Rock Type-1 rifles might not have been able to easily penetrate their thick steel plate armor.
However, the maxim heavy machine guns used specially formulated gunpowder and custom steel-core bullets with greater power and higher muzzle velocity!
Under the continuous impact of dozens or even hundreds of bullets in an instant, even the Empire's top-tier enchanted steel plate armor was as fragile as paper!
The armor was violently torn open!
The knights' bodies were instantly riddled with holes like a sieve!
Blood, shredded meat, and fragments of organs, mixed with torn armor, exploded backward.
In just a single encounter!
The hundreds of heavy knights at the very front were wiped away as if by an invisible giant hand; men and horses alike were instantly turned into a mist of blood!
"Aaaaaah—!"
"Devils! What kind of terrifying weapon is this!"