First Light of a New Age

Chapter 97: The Cavalry Has Arrived!

"Alright! Everyone listen up!" The commanding officer spoke over the intercom linking to the V-45 Peacemaker's passenger holds. "We will be dropped into the Capital city in support of the distress call from a stranded team. Our objective is to locate and extract the Special Ops unit and bring them back to the Empire safely."

He paused for emphasis before speaking in a hardened tone. "This is a rescue, plain and simple. There is no point thinking of who is attacking, that's not our concern right now. Your priority is to make sure that our fellow battle brothers aren't captured or killed. Nothing else matters."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the soldiers roared in unison, and their voices echoed off the steel walls.

The officer allowed himself a small grin, satisfied with the hotblooded soldiers' determination. "Good. Here's the plan, we'll drop at the closest emergency rendezvous point and advance toward their last known location. Following that, Section Two will remain aboard the Peacemaker to provide backup, while Sections Three and Four hit the ground running."

His voice shifted to a more measured tone as he concluded, "ETA to the landing zone is forty-nine minutes. Use the time wisely, get some rest if you can. It's going to be a long march home!"

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Kingdom Of Edgelaff, Capital City, Centre Plaza, In A Formation, In A Cover.

1st Year of God, Thursday, 3rd Week, Month Of Jonah.

Thunderous shots were being fired all over the surroundings as the entire Austronesian Force found themselves completely surrounded to the brim. Each spot the dwarven occupiers could use as a cover, they efficiently took full advantage of every possible cover.

By this time, they had already understood that the enemy was indeed using repeating muskets, though of a design unfamiliar to the Iron Kingdom.

This alone raised questions, confirming that the attackers likely hailed from neither the Iron Kingdom nor the Third Civilization Zone.

What puzzled the dwarves even more was the absence of any detectable mana or magical energy from their enemies.

But the only trace of mana they sensed is within some magic artifacts they carried. That is all they could find from them.

Still, this anomaly baffled not only the frontline troops but would soon confound the Iron Kingdom's headquarters and mainland strategists.

After all, muskets required considerable mana to unleash bursts of raw magical energy. The wielder's magic power typically amplified these blasts, making firearms an extension of their own arcane abilities.

Not only that, the dwarves' reliance on magic firearms came with its own constraints, as the ammunition for their magic muskets depended entirely on the user's mana reserves. For instance, an average dwarven soldier with a Magicule Level of 1,000 could only fire about ten or less shots before exhausting their energy.

Transcendents, on the other hand, with their unparalleled mana pools, could unleash hundreds of bullets, but such individuals were rare.

Meanwhile, the Austronesian Forces had no such limitations. One of their soldiers, a normal manaless human, quickly deployed a tripod for his light machine gun (LMG).

As the weapon's barrel gleamed in the chaos, he began firing in controlled bursts to conserve ammunition. His LMG, equipped with a massive high-capacity magazine holding 300 rounds, was far heavier than the dwarves' magic guns.

But for Angelo and his team, thanks to the MK-I exosuits they wore, these light machine gun weights felt negligible, as though the weapon were made of feathers.