Chapter 136 : Hellfire
Chapter 136: Hellfire
After Kaluka was occupied by the Seris Federation, a large number of cargo containers were airlifted in by transport airships — most of which carried materials such as cement powder.
Over the next half month, the troops stationed in Kaluka were to construct a massive fortification using blast walls, to prepare it for the use of the following units.
At the same time, they also needed to clear out a wide stretch of hardened land and pour cement to form a makeshift airstrip for bombers to take off, land, and refuel during transfers — thereby extending their bombing radius.
Meanwhile, the chemical factory had begun to dispatch the first batch of two-ton thickening agents to the front lines at Kaluka, where special gasoline tanker trucks were already waiting to mix them on site.
With Kaluka captured, Coparac Port bombed, and armored units still maneuvering toward the Royal Capital, the Kingdom of Paria once again faced the threat of enemy troops closing in on its gates.
Yet this time, the enemy they faced was far more terrifying than the Allied Forces of the first invasion.
However, they hadn’t completely lost their ability to resist. When the Seris Federation bombed the Church fleet, two advance divisions of an A-Class Legion had already reached the Royal Capital to garrison it.
A single A-Class Legion of the Church was composed of four divisions, so two divisions were already a sizable force. Furthermore, the advance detachment’s task included transporting part of the Legion’s heavy firepower — retaining nearly seventy percent of its total armament.
At this point, their morale was still remarkably high, since they had no idea their supply lines had already been cut off — the Church had deliberately concealed the news.
The great naval battle at sea had ended with the Church’s “Invincible Fleet” being completely annihilated. The consequences of that battle were far-reaching.
It could be said that Mitia had delivered a resounding slap to the Pontiff’s face — one that left him fuming but helpless, for he had no ships left…
As embarrassing as it sounded, that was the truth. Building wooden sailing ships wasn’t particularly difficult, but high-quality ship timber was far scarcer than imagined — it was a strictly controlled material across all kingdoms and empires.
And even if they could build new ones, what good would it do? The Church’s fleet had just been utterly crushed by the Federation Navy’s steel warships. Even a fool could tell that wooden sailboats had reached the end of their era.
Constructing new steel warships, however, was an entirely blank field for the Church — everything had to start from scratch.
There was also another often-overlooked issue — the Seris Federation Navy’s strike had been brutally thorough, and the destruction of so many warships meant a massive loss of sailors.
Training an experienced seaman — especially one with military discipline — was even harder than building ships themselves. Yet the Federation had nearly wiped them all out. That was the truly crippling blow.
Even if the Church were to magically conjure a new “Invincible Fleet,” they would still face the awkward reality of having ships but no one to sail them.
It could be said that the captured Church sailors held by the Federation were now worth their weight in gold.
The louder the Church had shouted at the Alliance Congress back then, the harder their face was being slapped now. They had been warned not to interfere — and still couldn’t resist meddling.
The restless Kingdoms of Ixia and Pue Lent, too, fell silent, no longer daring to stir up trouble. The Kingdom of Pue Lent had even engaged the Federation Navy once before — and thought them unimpressive…
This time, the Church’s crushing defeat wasn’t only due to weapons, but also to perception.
Perhaps the Church’s “Penal Legions” were indeed formidable, but in direct confrontation, they stood almost no chance of victory.
While the Church still waged two-dimensional warfare — deploying troops and forming battle lines on land — Mitia had already begun steering her forces toward multidimensional strikes across land, sea, and air.
Inside the Paria Royal Capital, countless cannons and catapults had been set up. The defending units, with abundant grain reserves, still deluded themselves into thinking that the Federation Army would dash itself bloody against the walls.
But outside the city, the enemy’s numbers grew by the day. Half a month passed, and yet not a single assault was launched — as though they had no real intention of storming the capital.
Only after the Church’s army had inevitably relaxed its vigilance did the Federation finally strike.
And again, the attack did not come from the ground — but from the sky.
Previously, when Mitia organized a hundred bombing runs on the naval docks, those bombers were one-way missions — landing on improvised desert airfields for forced regional landings, dismantled on site and transported away in parts.
This time was different. Beginning from the Pralo line, hundreds of bombers soared over the Paria Royal Capital, dropping their payloads before turning toward Kaluka Airport to refuel and then returning to Pralo for rearming.
Every day, countless bombs rained down on the Royal Capital. The defenders had no means to counter high-altitude bombing. The bombers flew higher this time — so high that even captain-class Mechanical Bodies couldn’t reach them for melee interception.
However, because of the extreme altitude, the actual lethality wasn’t great — its main effect was psychological terror.
At the same time, the Federation continued air-dropping surrender leaflets, urging the defenders to capitulate — warning them that refusal would bring dire consequences.
The Church convened another Alliance Congress on the Main Continent, loudly condemning the Seris Federation for waging war without declaration, hoping to draw the two empires’ representatives into voicing support.
But both empires watched the Church’s “performance” with amusement. They were far from the Federation — but uncomfortably close to the Church.
The Church had never stopped its external aggression in its quest to expand its faith territories; its domain was now nearly as vast as an empire’s, and behind it stood the Goddess of Light herself.
They were more than happy to see the Church suffer a blow — it benefited everyone.
Though the empires refrained from intervening, the Church’s outcry only grew louder, as if preparing for a full-scale war against the Seris Federation. Reading those reports day after day gradually wore down Mitia’s patience.
She no longer wished to waste time entangling with them — she wanted to cut the knot swiftly and bring this localized war to an end.
Inside the hangars at Kaluka Airport, countless ground crew bustled about. Ammunition handlers carried oval-shaped rubber tanks, hooking them under bomber wings. They scooped out large spoonfuls of powder from an iron barrel and poured it inside.
Nearby, another worker inserted a fuel hose into the tank to pump in gasoline and asked, “This looks kind of big — what’s the capacity?”
The soldier responsible for mixture ratios looked up with a grin: “Of course it’s big — it’s a hundred gallons!”
The man fueling the gasoline asked curiously, “Does this thing really work? More powerful than bombs?” He had never seen such a bomb before.
The soldier shrugged. “I don’t know either — but I do know its codename.”
‘What is it?’
“Hellfire.”
Under the control tower’s direction, bombers took off in waves, each forming squadrons in the sky before flying off into the distance.
Meanwhile, the Church soldiers, who had been nervously monitoring the Federation troops outside the city, suddenly noticed something strange — the Federation’s ground forces were withdrawing in an orderly fashion, as if abandoning their assault plans.
The thought brought joy to many soldiers. They had never truly feared the Federation’s army — some had even opened the gates to launch attacks, only to lose thousands of Mechanical Soldiers before retreating in disarray.
Even hiding within the city, they lived in constant fear of incoming shells and bombs raining from above.
Now, seeing the enemy retreat, they couldn’t help but feel relief.
Yet among them, one sharp-eyed Church officer noticed something odd — among the withdrawing troops was a girl dressed in robes resembling those of a Church priestess.
She was facing the city — performing a prayer of repentance.
At that instant, an overwhelming sense of danger surged within the officer’s chest — so intense it took his breath away.