550: Chapter 551 Sword Qi Slashes Across the City Gates, Mechs Roar as They Traverse the Ancient Castle

The victory in the naval battle was merely the prelude to this war of punishment.

With the Ming fleet securing command of the sea, a transport fleet laden with the Ming Army carried out a forced landing at the Port of Calais in northern France.

This was the gateway to Paris and one of the most heavily fortified fortress complexes on the European continent.

"Warriors of France! For the King! For God!"

French Marshal Suchet sat atop a tall horse, followed by thirty thousand heavy cavalrymen of the "Gods Punishment Knights," clad in heavy armor and fully armed.

Empowered by the power of evil spirits, these knights and their horses had expanded in size, their eyes blood-red and their bodies emitting a black mist. They were confident that even the demons of Hell would be crushed beneath their iron hooves.

"Charge!!!"

With a blast of the horn, the thirty thousand heavy cavalry surged like a black tsunami, launching a death-defying charge toward the newly landed Ming Army.

The earth trembled, and the sound of hooves was like thunder.

Facing this overwhelming charge, the newly landed Ming Army did not panic and form ranks; instead... they opened a path.

From the massive hatch of a landing ship, a group of strange "giants" stepped out.

They were about five meters tall, crafted entirely from brass and steel, with white steam venting from their joints. They carried massive mana-crystal power packs on their backs and held three-meter-long chainsaw swords or multi-barreled rotary machine guns.

These were the kings of land warfare developed by the Ming Ministry of Works, combining Mohist Mechanism Arts, steam power, and otherworldly mana-crystal technology—the "Xingtian-class" mechas!

"What... what kind of monsters are those?"

The French knights charging at the front were stunned.

Before they could react...

Hum—

The multi-barreled machine guns in the mechas' hands began to spin.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!

Tongues of fire spat out, and a metal storm instantly swept through the cavalry formation.

The plate armor, reinforced by "Divine Power," was more fragile than paper in the face of specialized armor-piercing explosive rounds.

The knights in the front row were instantly riddled with holes, turning into piles of shredded meat along with their horses.

"Roar!"

A mecha took a massive stride and crashed into the charging cavalry.

Bang!

A knight's lance struck the mecha's leg and snapped instantly.

The mecha swung its arm back, and a massive chainsaw sword swept out with a piercing screech.

Squelch—

Several knights and their horses were sliced cleanly in half, blood and organs spraying across the ground.

"For the Great Ming!"

The soldiers of the Shenji Camp piloting the mechas roared, controlling these steel giants as they plunged into the cavalry swarm.

It was like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

A mecha's massive hand reached out, lifting a knight right off his horse and crushing him like an insect; with a stomp, man and horse were crushed into pulp.

The so-called heavy cavalry charge became a joke in the face of the mechas.

Half an hour later.

The Calais plains were strewn with corpses. The thirty thousand Gods Punishment Knights were completely wiped out.

Meanwhile, the Ming mecha unit had only suffered a few scratches to their paint.

...

Having cleared the outer forces, the Ming Army arrived at the city walls.

Facing that sturdy castle, reinforced by magic shields and claimed to be impregnable.

"Commander, should we blast it with heavy artillery?" an adjutant asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, dressed in his Flying Fish Robe with a Spring Embroidery Saber at his waist, shook his head.

"Too slow."

"Besides, His Majesty said to try not to blow up all the good things in the city."

He stepped forward, followed by twelve Thousand-Household Officials of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

These men had all Cultivated the revised "Great Ming Martial Classic: New Edition" by Lu Chen; their True Qi had long since merged with magic elements, reaching a brand-new Realm.

"Form the array! Tiangang Big Dipper Sword Array!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave the order.

The twelve Thousand-Household Officials unsheathed their sabers, their True Qi exploding forth.

"Rise!"

Twelve crimson Saber Qi columns shot into the sky, converging into a giant light sword over a hundred meters long.

This light sword not only contained the sharpness of a Martial Artist but also burned with the destructive fire of a Flame Demon's Heart from another world.

"Strike!"

Zhu Yuanzhang made a grasping motion with both hands and slashed down fiercely toward the castle.

Boom—!!!

The giant sword fell, and that layer of so-called magic shield shattered instantly, as fragile as an eggshell.

Immediately following, the sturdy city walls and towering turrets were sliced open like tofu under this heaven-shaking strike.

A bottomless fissure, ten meters wide, tore straight through the entire castle.

"It's... open just like that?"

The defenders on the city walls looked at that terrifying fissure, their weapons falling to the ground in fear.

Was this even human?

"Surrender and you shall live!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sheathed his saber, his voice cold and indifferent.

...

Deep within the castle.

The "Glutton" summoned by the Pope was shivering in a dark corner.

It had originally thought this world was its buffet.

But what had it just sensed?

That terrifying artillery fire from the sea, those steel giants devoid of life yet incredibly powerful, and that Sword Qi just now that contained the Law of Destruction...

This is a low-magic plane? My foot!

This is clearly a battlefield of gods and demons!

"Run! I must run!"

The Glutton wanted to tear open a spatial rift and escape back to its home.

However, the very moment it opened the rift.

A massive hand shimmering with purple-gold light appeared out of thin air, grabbing its tentacle.

"Since you've come, don't be in such a hurry to leave."

A playful voice echoed in its mind.

Though the person had not arrived, the pressure that made its Soul tremble had already locked onto it.

"It just so happens that my 'biological laboratory' is still missing a living specimen."

Screech—!!!

The Glutton let out a desperate scream, and then, like a little chick, it was forcibly dragged out of the spatial rift by that massive hand and stuffed into a glass bottle sealed with runes.

Spring, the ninth year of the Ming Era.

All of Europa was pacified.

The so-called resistance became a brief and tragic joke before the Ming's iron armor and Divine Abilities.