Chapter 463 - 464: Imperial Technology
"Then…"
"The Great Jura Forest."
"What?"
Feldway did not understand what Michael meant. He had never paid attention to that area.
Hinata leading the Holy Knights to subjugate the Great Jura Forest was a sensational event, but the Eastern Empire was too far from the Western Nations.
The Empire's high-ranking officials did not have much information about it.
They only knew that after Hinata was defeated, she disappeared for a period of time.
By the time she reappeared, she had already withdrawn from the Great Jura Forest.
Of the 3,000 Holy Knights, only a little over a hundred Temple Knights survived, retreating from the Great Jura Forest to the Holy Empire of Lubelius.
It was after this that Hinata began pursuing Yuki, until she forced him into the Eastern Empire.
"These matters should have been handled by someone else."
As for who had been in charge, there was no need to say it. It was naturally the suddenly vanished Scorch Dragon, Velgrynd.
"It seems we neglected that forest."
"You mean…"
Feldway said, "Could this be his doing?"
"Possibly."
Michael supported his face with one hand and said unhurriedly, "If the guess is correct, then the only one who could make Velgrynd disappear without a trace is Velzard, who is also a True Dragon."
"True Dragon against True Dragon, huh?"
"When the time comes, remember to open the gates of heaven immediately."
If he reclaimed all of his power, then even if these True Dragons advanced further, he would still not fear them.
In terms of pure strength, Feldway was far above Michael.
But Michael was more composed.
Through all these long years, Michael had been like Feldway's spiritual pillar, guiding him forward and showing him the correct path.
Whenever something like this happened, he would discuss it with Michael and then follow his opinion.
"I will."
Michael nodded in agreement, then summoned someone at the same time.
It was a man close to thirty years old, with a resolute face and dressed in a white military uniform. His entire bearing was very similar to Emiya Kiritsugu, whom Rin had once met.
The man's name was Kondou Tatsuya, director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, known as a strange man who fed on information.
Furthermore, Kondou Tatsuya was also a Transmigrator from the world before Hakurou's grandfather, Araki Byakuya, transmigrated.
When Rin and Velgrynd were searching for Rudra's soul fragments, they had also arrived in that world, but the timeline was slightly later than the period when Kondou Tatsuya had transmigrated.
Of course, Kondou Tatsuya had transmigrated many years ago. He had long since reached the realm of an Awakened Demon Lord, free from the limits of lifespan.
"Your Majesty."
Tatsuya respectfully saluted, waiting for the Emperor's order.
"Notify everyone to prepare for war."
"War?"
Tatsuya first accepted the order, then asked, "May I ask, what is our target?"
"The south!"
"I understand."
Tatsuya was a pure soldier. He upheld a soldier's duty and absolutely obeyed the Emperor's orders.
"Also, summon the Imperial Guard Knights."
The Imperial Guard Knights were a team of only one hundred people, established solely to protect the Emperor.
The commander of the team was still Tatsuya.
This alone showed how much Rudra valued Tatsuya, as well as the man's powerful strength.
As one of the very few Otherworlders who could awaken as a True Demon Lord through talent alone, Tatsuya's aptitude was definitely not inferior to Hinata Sakaguchi's.
Or rather, he was stronger than Hinata.
Because Tatsuya had not only reached the level of a True Demon Lord, but had also obtained his Ultimate Skill, Lord of Condemnation.
Excluding Rin and Rimuru from the original work.
In the entire Cardinal World, those who could awaken an Ultimate Skill through their own power were, without exception, top-tier powerhouses.
It should be known that even Luminous, one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, had not yet obtained an Ultimate Skill before this.
The Imperial Guard Knights were similar to the Temple Knights of the Holy Empire of Lubelius.
They were ranked by number and divided into two groups, double digits and single digits.
Among them, the members ranked from 11 to 100 each possessed strength no less than Clayman, the weakest of the Ten Great Demon Lords.
All of them were Demon Lord Seeds, powerful beings comparable to Saints and Heroes.
And when it came to the single-digit members, every one of them was an Awakened Demon Lord.
If the Ten Great Demon Lords were Guy's elite force, then the Imperial Guard Knights were equivalent to the Ten Great Demon Lords plus the entire Western Nations.
Yes, the Empire's power lay not only in its top-tier combat strength, which could rival the Ten Great Demon Lords, but also in its vast army, capable of sweeping across the entire Cardinal World.
Unlike the Western Nations, which were still in a medieval era, the civilization of the Eastern Empire had already entered a new age.
Their mechanical army, formed through a fusion of magic and technology, numbered more than 2 million.
[Armored Remodeling Corps]
A total of 120 corps, with 10,000 people in each corps.
These soldiers had undergone special modifications and possessed extremely terrifying endurance and stamina, while consuming very little food and water.
Furthermore, the average strength of the soldiers was at least C+, with the strongest reaching A-rank, and each one was equipped with the Empire's latest standard equipment.
[Magic Remodeling Division]
This division possessed 9,000 magic tanks, ten meters long, 3.1875 meters wide, with a maximum range of thirty kilometers and an effective range of three kilometers. A single shot could knock down an A-rank Dragon or break through the gates of an armed nation.
Each tank required five people to operate, carried fifty rounds of ammunition, could fire 5 rounds per minute, was equipped with a magic cannon, and the initial velocity of its shells was 2 km/s.
What kind of concept was this?
One tank could fire 50 shots, each equivalent to a full-power strike from an A-rank monster.
When 9,000 magic tanks focused fire at the same time, it was equivalent to 9,000 A-rank monsters attacking at once.
And with sufficient ammunition, this force could even continue bombarding for several hours.
A full-power strike.
This was already equivalent to a small-scale nuclear magic attack.
In the world of Earth, it would be comparable to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The horror of 9,000 intercontinental ballistic missiles bombarding at the same time was unimaginable.
[Aerial Combat Flight Corps]
They possessed 800 airships, each one a crystallization of Otherworld technology and a treasure of the Empire.
The maximum speed of these airships approached the speed of sound, each could carry four hundred people, and operating just one required fifty people.
Aside from high-altitude drops similar to bombers, each ship was also equipped with magicules disturbance radiation technology, which could cause magicules to run wild and weaken opponents.
(To be continued.)