Chapter 200: Chapter 151, it’s so big, so green
The axe-wielding warrior, along with the dreadful iron tank he was piloting, was blown to death by fifty descending 155mm howitzer shells.
The dense barrage smashed down; just as he regained power, he had no time to escape the blast zone.
Even if his armor was extremely strong, it couldn’t withstand such intensive artillery bombardment.
Of course, in this process, collateral damage was inevitable.
Within two minutes, quite a few of our soldiers couldn’t make it to a safe place in time. Even if they found cover on the spot, being too close to the explosion meant they still couldn’t avoid death.
But this was a necessary price to pay.
Gu Hang’s proactive strike merely minimized this cost.
Saving a hundred or two hundred soldiers was, of course, valuable.
The death of the axe-wielding warrior also signaled that the Green Skin Orcs’ front, which had been confronting the human forces for over a month, had completely collapsed.
Furthermore, with their morale shattered, the Green Skins had no path of escape.
With human forces encircling them from all sides, even if they could fly or burrow, escape was still no easy feat.
And this was precisely Gu Hang’s goal.
What he wanted was not just a defeat, but an uncompromising annihilation.
Although the casualties, on the whole, were not few, with more than a thousand soldiers likely wounded or killed in the full assault, the victory achieved was at least four thousand Green Skins annihilated. Among the enemies, 70% perished under the initial rain of artillery fire.
It was at this time that Gu Hang saw a new change in his “Event” panel.
[Event: Green Skin Threat]
[Mysteriously appearing on this planet, the Green Skin Orcs had grown into a formidable threat over the years. But under your leadership, the valiant warriors not only held off the Green Skin Orcs’ incursions but, with orbital bombardments, artillery cover, and full-scale assaults, annihilated their main force. Yet, whether it’s the intelligence gathered from the front or your own feeling, these Green Skin Orcs seem unusual. They don’t appear to be wild orcs independently evolving on Rage Owl Star, nor do they seem like space orcs invading from beyond the stars.]
[Phase 1 Objective: Completed]
[Phase 1 Reward: T5-level additional troop training option – Beast Slaughter Group, obtained]
[Phase 2 Objective: Ascertain the cause of the Green Skins’ rise.]
[Phase 2 Reward: Important intelligence data]
…
The reward for the first phase of the “Green Skin Threat” event had been distributed in the “Event” panel.
Gu Hang was now able to see the “Beast Slaughter Group” training option among the additional troop types on the “Troop Card” interface. As long as the unit is T5 or above, by spending some extra grace, they could add some special attack effects against the Green Skin Orcs.
As for the ‘Beast Slayer’ Trait, that the 3rd Independent Regiment got for free, it could be counted as part of the rewards for the first phase, saving him sixty points of grace.
The second phase, on the other hand, was something Gu Hang intended to do anyway. But he was somewhat intrigued by the reward of so-called “important intelligence data.”
What could it be?
He would find out in time.
After briefly checking the updated event information, Gu Hang no longer paid attention to it.
The situation on the battlefield was still the foremost priority.
After collapsing the main resistance of the Green Skin Orcs, the bulk of the troops took a rest on the spot, and at 5 p.m., they unifiedly consumed the dinner supplied by the logistics, rested for another hour and a half, and departed at 6:30 p.m. toward the depths of the Tower Ruins.
This was not considered rash.
There were likely still a few Green Skins surviving in this area, but they were no longer of significance.
It wasn’t feasible to completely ignore them, as subsequent forces would still need to fulfill their missions deep within the Tower Ruins, and logistics supplies also had to be transported through this area, so the security of this place still needed to be safeguarded.
Therefore, Gu Hang left behind the Sixth and Seventh Garrison Divisions, one to the north and one to the south, responsible for continuing to eliminate any possible surviving scattered Green Skins within the area and to serve as a reserve force to ensure the safety of the supply line.
Let’s put aside the mopping-up task for a moment; it wasn’t difficult anymore.
And the main force advancing deeper faced no real difficulties either.
The previous orbital bombardment was no joke. Under such a scale of strikes, very few Green Skins could have survived.
Especially the most crucial targets: the departure positions of the Green Skin offensive forces and their main camp had been the focus of the strikes.
Other areas received lighter firepower, but there were inherently fewer Green Skins there to begin with.
As the troops advanced, indeed they still occasionally encountered some isolated Green Skins, but they posed no threat.
Of course, for the sake of safety and future progress, every twenty kilometers traveled, one Garrison Division would still be left behind.
While ensuring supply routes, they also had to take on the duty of eliminating the local Green Skin Orcs.
Fast forward to nearly midnight that same day, the troops arrived at the rallying point of the Green Skin Orcs, which had been reported by the interstellar warriors.
According to the latest intelligence before the orbit bombardment, this place was meant to have gathered over 4000 Green Skin Orcs and three times that number of cannon fodder grunts, along with a significantly larger number of heavy-duty equipment, more sophisticated than anything encountered before.
However, now all that was left was a vast crater and a vast expanse of wreckage.
In the center of the Green Skin rendezvous lay an immense crater, empty. Atop this massive crater, logically enough to contain thousands of individuals, there was now no trace to be found.