Chapter 239 : Calling This an Airborne Division? That’s Putting It Too Mildly
Chapter 239: Calling This an Airborne Division? That’s Putting It Too Mildly
At a point a thousand meters ahead, the cargo bay at the bottom of a freight airship over 500 meters in diameter opened, and one container after another dropped from a height of 200 meters, each attached to a large parachute.
This type of specialized freight airship was a soft airship, using a massive gasbag as its main body. The cockpit was positioned atop the gasbag, while the cargo bay was enclosed within a concave section beneath it.
It had completely abandoned the traditional ballast-water release system. Instead, it relied on large-scale anti-gravity units to adjust gravitational values and achieve ascent and descent, while the ballast liquid remained sealed inside the gasbag at all times.
The advantage of this design was that, due to its own weight, the airship could ascend and descend rapidly. The liquid ballast at the bottom of the gasbag could also fill any punctures if leakage occurred. Its carrying capacity was considerable, and its speed was relatively fast.
The drawback was that this design essentially discarded all self-defense weaponry. Moreover, soft airships themselves were not suited for battlefield operations.
In fact, they had never been intended for combat use from the very beginning, serving merely as aerial transport carriers for civilian purposes.
Not long after the airship units completed their mission and ascended away, the main force of the airborne divisions also arrived at the battlefield.
“Quick! Move, move, move!!!”
As the rear hatch of the aircraft slowly opened, Sergei loudly urged the soldiers to charge out in sequence.
From the ground, one could clearly see a continuous stream of white parachutes emerging from the tail of the aircraft. Soon, the entire sky was filled with snow-white parachute canopies.
“Ah! May the Empress protect me…”
Watching the ground draw closer and closer, even Land—despite having trained countless times—felt his heart tighten. Carefully, he adjusted his parachute, aligning himself at the correct angle for the final descent trajectory.
The moment his legs touched the ground, a clear hydraulic spring sound echoed from his legs. Using the momentum, Land bounced into the air, adjusted his posture midair, then hit the ground and rolled twice before finally dissipating the impact force. Only then did he let out a breath of relief and stand up to observe his surroundings.
Thanks to the exoskeleton, the impact force from landing did not concentrate on his legs. Instead, it was transmitted through the exoskeleton on his feet across his entire body, dispersing the pressure. This force was then converted into kinetic energy and released by the exoskeleton.
If one adopted the wrong posture when rebounding—using the head instead of the arm-mounted exoskeleton to absorb the impact—the outcome would be unimaginably disastrous.
In other contexts, this design was not necessarily a flaw, but for airborne troops, it was far from ideal. Improvements were still in the experimental stage.
He removed the flat backpack tightly strapped to his back and took out an AKMk-type assault rifle with a simplified structural design and a folding stock, along with four magazines.
Inside the bag were also food and water sufficient for three days, as well as a simple water purification device.
After checking his supplies, Land opened the miniature storage compartment on the inner side of his left arm and took out a headset made of soft material. After putting it on and pressing the internal button, the radio transceiver integrated into his arm activated, and Sergei’s voice came through the headset:
“Follow the nearest-priority principle—move quickly toward the closest container to you and complete your armament. Remember, follow the guidance of your heart. The Empress will guide you within the spiritual world.”
Land touched the red cross on his chest and offered a brief, devout prayer. When he raised his head again, countless light pillars—near and far—shot straight into the sky, clearly visible. A smile appeared on his lips as he quickly ran toward the nearest one.
As time passed, Mitia had developed various new applications through divine spells. This kind of faith-based encryption between believer and sovereign was quite effective—those who were not her followers could not perceive anything unusual at all.
It also served as a subtle method for screening soldiers’ loyalty.
Especially for elite units like airborne troops, who enjoyed the highest待遇 in the Alliance, infiltration by any other elements was absolutely unacceptable.
This large-scale airborne operation was practically an open secret to both sides. After all, the scale made it impossible to conceal. However, the Alliance had chosen an excellent drop location—positioned midway between the beachhead defensive line and the surrounding cities.
It was not too far from either side, and the terrain was flat, making it unnecessary to establish defensive positions there under normal circumstances. Now, with the front lines under intense assault, reinforcements from the rear yet to arrive, and the cities in the middle unwilling to dispatch troops rashly, it became the perfect location for an airborne landing.
Rushing at full speed, Land finally reached the area of the light pillar just before its color shifted from white to white-red. Seeing the situation around the container, he let out a sigh of relief.
By now, seven or eight comrades had already gathered there, and each container provided equipment for a ten-man squad.
Land nodded to the others he passed and quickly entered the container. Inside, there were still two standard-issue mecha kneeling in place.
He removed the badge carrying his own aura from his chest and inserted it into the slot on the chest plate of the mecha. A faint stabbing pain rose in his mind.
Enduring the discomfort, he maintained contact with the badge. After about ten seconds, authentication was completed. The chest armor opened outward, and he climbed inside, activating the mecha’s arms to complete the final stage of his armament.
With a series of mechanical hydraulic sounds, he stood up. He then rummaged through the weapons cabinet welded onto the container and took out an MG34-type general-purpose machine gun, briefly disassembling it to check for damage.
Six bulging soft-linked ammunition boxes, each containing 12,000 rounds, were placed one by one into the mecha’s backpack. The ammunition alone weighed 270 kilograms. Satisfied, Land nodded and stepped out with heavy strides.
Mitia had assigned the MG34 to mecha soldiers to use essentially as a submachine gun. Otherwise, using mecha-exclusive weapons against ordinary infantry would be wasteful.
After all, with a height of five meters, their standard weapons could hardly be called guns—they were essentially small-caliber cannons. Even Mitia found it wasteful to use them against regular soldiers.
Meanwhile, the MG34’s terrifying rate of fire, even with standard 7.62 rounds, was more than enough to devastate most enemies. For mecha soldiers, it was highly practical—after all, as long as the load capacity was high, anything could be carried.
Not all troops in the two airborne divisions were mecha soldiers. Outfitting forty thousand troops with mecha was something even Mitia could not afford. However, the main assault troops had all been fully mechanized with heavy mecha.
The remaining soldiers were armored troops, responsible for operating the medium tanks and 152mm self-propelled howitzers dropped from the air, as well as transporting ammunition and repairing machinery. These logistics units did not participate in direct frontline combat.
Thanks to advancements in chemical etching techniques, anti-gravity technology had begun to be applied across various military fields. Even heavy armored vehicles and mecha could be airdropped without suffering severe impact damage.
The Church might have anticipated that Mitia’s airborne forces would cause them some trouble—but even in their wildest imagination, they could not have foreseen that what she deployed was not a minor nuisance, but a decisive force capable of determining the outcome of a battle on the main front.
Rather than calling these two units airborne divisions, their full designation should be Airborne Heavy Mecha Division and Armored Division. Once assembled into full formation, not a single exposed human body could be seen—only cold steel everywhere.
As for the traditional mechanical bodies of the magic continent, after fully mastering the technology, Mitia had already shifted them into civilian use—applied in infrastructure construction, mining, and other heavy labor industries. At the same time, she had fostered publicly and privately operated mecha companies to further explore applications of mechanical bodies in other fields.