Chapter 90: Corpse Bombs
From Gretel’s sharp perspective, the governor’s soldiers who had just taken out those few enemies had done an excellent job. Bullets accurately and meticulously entered the heads and chests of those armed workers, each receiving two shots.
With almost no protection, the enemies who were hit in vital areas by G9 bullets were undoubtedly doomed.
Confirming the results of the battle was a necessary tactical move, and Gretel did not interfere. In fact, her gaze had already shifted elsewhere.
The resistance fighters emerging at this moment, although scattered, were quite numerous.
The armed workers who survived the bombardment were using the half-collapsed factory ruins as makeshift cover and positions.
As the governor’s soldiers approached to sweep the area, these workers popped up to launch counterattacks.
The soldiers’ advance was hindered, and they had to seek cover to return fire.
But, similar to the scene Gretel had just witnessed, in most cases, the governor’s soldiers, relying on superior training and equipment, achieved overwhelming victories.
There were, of course, some losses, but they were minor; on the contrary, the emerging armed workers suffered heavier casualties.
If there was a location where a larger group of armed workers had gathered and were fighting cautiously, only exposing their gun barrels to snipe, Gretel did not intend to waste time. She and her sisters would directly engage.
In her eyes, these armed workers mixed with heretics were all despicable traitors.
However, just as she set her sights on a particularly stubborn resistance point, an unexpected change occurred in the area she had previously thought was secure and resolved.
In Gretel’s perception, a strong surge of stormy dark energy suddenly appeared there.
Her expression changed, and she immediately shouted a warning, “Danger! Get away from there!”
But it was already a bit late.
The corpses of the dead armed workers exploded like corpse bombs. Their bodies burst apart, as if compressed air bombs had been buried inside them.
The soldiers who heard the warning but did not understand where the danger was were blown several meters away by the sudden blast of compressed air.
When they landed, their limbs were twisted, and the intense shockwave damaged their internal organs. Sharp air blades tore through their unprotected bodies, faces, limbs, and throats, ripping them apart, leaving them bloodied and mangled.
Gretel immediately shouted again, “Do not approach the enemy’s corpses! They will explode!”
This accurate information, along with the just-happened scene, was witnessed by the surrounding soldiers and quickly spread.
The governor’s soldiers’ actions became much more cautious.
The tragic deaths of their comrades due to the corpse storm bombs provided a profound lesson for the soldiers.
They altered their standard tactical procedures, no longer confirming kills at close range but rather opting to take additional long-range shots if convenient, or else disregarding the confirmation entirely.
This change mitigated the risk of approaching corpses as if they were landmines. However, the enemy quickly devised new tactics.
Among the armed workers, individuals dressed in blue robes began to appear. These individuals exuded the power of stormy dark magic.
In Gretel’s eyes, these blue-robed figures were not particularly formidable sorcerers, but their numbers were substantial, and they acted timidly.
Their actions did not involve directly using dark magic to attack the governor’s soldiers or the battle nuns. Instead, they conjured gusts of wind to blow the corpses of the slain armed workers towards the governor’s soldiers’ positions.
These corpses, like compressed air bombs, caused significant trouble for the soldiers.
Though these wind-delivered bombs were not as powerful as 155mm howitzer shells, they were notably precise.
Soldiers hiding behind the sloped remains of collapsed walls or in small recesses saw the wind whipping up and sending a corpse their way.
Even if they saw it in advance and fired to destroy the corpse, it was often futile. They had to quickly flee. The corpse bomb exploded, killing three soldiers.
What once seemed like a relatively safe cover position now proved unsafe.
In fact, nowhere was safe anymore.
The soldiers’ movements were hindered by the corpse bombs.
Even with the support of the battle nuns, the problem was only somewhat alleviated.
While the battle nuns could effectively pick off the blue-robed figures from a distance, it required the sorcerers to reveal themselves. Hidden behind several meters of building debris or in shell craters, the explosive shells of the nuns’ guns could not penetrate.
Conversely, the sorcerers did not need to expose themselves to blow the corpses towards the soldiers.
In this dire situation, Gretel made a decisive resolution.
“Sisters, for the Emperor! Charge with me!”
She leapt forward, and her sisters followed suit.
The ‘Holy Golden Halberd’ in her hands was an extraordinary weapon blessed by divine magic; the other nuns did not possess such powerful items, but it did not matter.
Whether armed with ordinary battle swords or explosive guns, they had enough firepower. In fact, the Holy Golden Halberd in the hands of the nun superior often resulted in excessive damage.
Compared to their weapons, their defensive capabilities were equally despair-inducing.
As they began their charge, their bodies fully exposed, they naturally faced concentrated fire from the armed workers.
However, the skill level of the armed workers was not particularly high, and the nuns of the Holy Mercy Lily moved swiftly and agilely. As a result, the accuracy of the enemy’s shots dropped significantly.
Even when they did hit, it was ineffective against the nuns’ power armor.
The Holy Mercy Lily nuns advanced with unstoppable momentum, charging forward while firing their explosive guns.
Simultaneously, the governor’s soldiers behind them intensified their firepower to provide cover, suppressing the enemy and causing additional casualties.
The nuns successfully broke into the enemy lines, starting to eliminate them at close quarters.
Their targets were not the ordinary armed workers but the blue-robed cultists who functioned as ‘artillery,’ projecting the corpses of the armed workers as bombs.
Their presence dealt a devastating blow to the enemy.
Whenever a battle nun approached a position, the cover lost its effectiveness, and the explosive guns could wipe out the entrenched enemies. When close enough, the blades in their hands became even more efficient weapons than bullets.
However, killing these enemies was never the nuns’ biggest problem.
The real issue was the explosive corpses.
Even the nuns in power armor did not want to be caught in a close-range dark magic bomb explosion.
The nuns had the ability to counteract spellcasting, but they needed to be relatively close to the caster.
Moreover, corpse explosions did not seem to be a spellcasting process. Or rather, the spellcasting was already complete, only lacking a triggering action.
This action was subtle and challenging to suppress.
The nuns could counteract spellcasting but could not nullify all supernatural forces in an area.
There was a fundamental difference between the two.
The shockwaves from the dark magic bombs could damage the power armor if the distance was too close.
Taking a few hits could potentially cause cracks, reducing defensive performance and leading to casualties.
Therefore, after killing at close range, the nuns would quickly pull back to avoid the explosions.
As long as they maintained some distance, the shockwave’s power would diminish, keeping the damage within manageable limits.
In some cases, they might only approach to kill the blue-robed cultists, leaving the armed workers who could become corpse bombs behind or dealing with them from a safer distance.
The armed workers who exploded after death were not the real problem. The blue-robed cultists were.