Chapter 607: Chapter 351, ‘Prey’_2
He paused, then continued, “Next, I will assemble a division to establish a secret camp on this side of the cliff. After returning, you all should bring your troops here separately. We need to make some preparations in advance.”
General Nevys asked, “What about you, Governor?”
“I will wait here for all of you,” Gu Hang said in a low voice, chuckling, “Transporting over a thousand people, along with Ranger Knights and the hulking Warhound Titans, to the heart of Fino City is not an easy task. We have to pass through numerous obstacles and deceive a Great Demon; there is much to do.”
Upon hearing the term ‘Great Demon,’ everyone grew solemn.
Gu Hang spoke earnestly to the six people, “The Empire’s forces are on full alert, and the Empire’s citizens are doing their utmost to contribute to the battlefield. But the most critical part of this war still lies with us. We bear the heavy responsibility of stopping that den of demons in its tracks, even crippling its Void Shield, severing its link with hell. Although every person involved in this battle is an elite, even a hero in their own right, we still don’t know how many will be able to return alive. You must prepare your troops mentally.”
Georgette and Matins were among the first to stand out, “For the Empire!”
…
The rest hurriedly followed suit.
Gu Hang responded with equal seriousness, “For the Empire!”
…
One hundred and three Terra standard days later, the crawling Nest Capital ‘Fino City’ was now within striking distance.
The distance between it and Mingyan City was now just over six hundred kilometers.
But in reality, it had already encountered the western defense line of Mingyan City.
More than sixty million troops, making up over eighty Army Groups, covered a battlefield over two hundred kilometers wide, stretching out a strategic depth of more than six hundred kilometers. Bunkers, trenches, and watchtowers were densely packed between them, forming layers of defense lines.
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General Hans was indeed competent. Organizing an army of sixty million exceeded most people’s imaginations. Even with a massive staff and a large number of field officers possessing strong executive abilities, organizing such a behemoth over such a vast area was still an incredibly daunting task.
General Hans could no longer manage units at the division level; at most, he could only oversee up to the Army Group level. Each of the more than eighty Army Groups had their own defensive zones and were ready to be mobilized at a moment’s notice.
Even so, the human army still wove a vast net across this prepared battlefield of over one hundred thousand square kilometers, waiting for the ‘prey’ to arrive.
And now, the ‘prey’ had come.
But who exactly was the prey?
Fino City, as it crawled, seemed to consider the humans who had set the net as the ‘prey.’
The city, after swallowing another Nest Capital, had further expanded in size. The front facing the human forces was eighty kilometers wide.
Once Fino City came within range, the artillery barrage began.
The Empire’s artillery launched their fiercest firepower, slamming it onto the crawling Nest Capital.
A Void Shield composed of Subspace Dark Magic suddenly materialized, enveloping the entire city within it.
The shells stirred up waves upon the Void Shield, with a rather significant effect.
In previous battles, the firepower produced by accompanying self-propelled guns was far less than the density of fire prepared over several months. Now, under the arrangement of the generals and officers of each Army Group and division, the artillery was positioned most rationally. The current artillery arrangement was most suitable for intensive bombardment.
The impact of the countless shells falling was even close to matching the previous artillery barrage from the Tianma Fleet.
If Fino City had no response and simply let the countless human guns bombard it like this for a day or two, the Void Shield would indeed be broken.
Ants can overcome an elephant if there are enough of them, not to mention bona fide Land Forces heavy artillery.
But things were obviously not going to be that easy.
The Nest Capital, enhanced by Subspace Dark Magic, how could it possibly remain unresponsive?
Plague Fly Swarms blotted out the sky, howling forth from the city’s high towers. Wherever they flew, sunlight was obscured, and the sky darkened.
Countless anti-aircraft fire began to shoot upwards, without any need to worry about hitting their targets. With the swarm so dense, hitting them was inevitable.
Innumerable sparks exploded in midair, scattering countless charred, broken bodies of giant flies onto the ground below.
But despite this, it was still impossible to stop such a massive number of Plague Fly Swarms from launching their attacks.
They were both living creatures, the lowest grade of Plague Demons, and ‘projectiles’ at the same time.
Group after group of Plague Giant Flies dived from the sky. When they descended to a certain height, even the firearms in the hands of human soldiers could kill them. Yet these mindless Demons persisted in diving downwards, aiming straight for various predetermined targets: artillery positions, anti-air defenses.
Seven corrupt Demon Dragons appeared under the cover of the Plague Fly Swarm. Their dense, corrupt breath enveloped vast swaths of ground fortifications in a plague toxin. Human soldiers directly engulfed in the breath screamed in agony as they died; even steel would temporarily animate into flesh under the terrifying power of these Plague Demons, only reverting to its original steel state after the breath dispersed, albeit already twisted and misshapen.
It was for this reason that soldiers on the front line were all issued protective masks and hazmat suits in these years. Otherwise, not only would everyone in the direct path of the breath perish, but even soldiers farther away might breathe in the virulent plague and contract the disease on the spot, losing their ability to fight and swiftly dying in the following days.
The sky above the battlefield was almost entirely occupied by Demons.
On the human side, there were actually thousands of combat aircraft.
However, this number might seem not small, but compared to the enemy, it was far too few. On the current battlefield, there was simply no way to rely on these few aircraft to wrest control of the sky.
But if we cannot compete, should we just give up?
Despite the huge numerical disadvantage, the first few hundred combat aircraft of various types took off from the ground. Their main objective was to work together with the ground’s anti-aircraft fire and reduce the number of the Plague Fly Swarm in a certain area as much as possible, protecting our valuable anti-aircraft positions and artillery positions.
Plague Giant Flies couldn’t fly too high and weren’t very fast either—these weaknesses allowed the human aircraft to seize numerous opportunities. After firing, they could climb to a higher altitude to disengage and refill their ammo before returning to the fight.
However, there were also those unlucky enough to be destroyed in the air—the corrupt Demon Dragons had none of those weaknesses!
They could even use Dark Magic to treat the Plague Giant Flies around them as ‘projectiles’, accelerating them and ‘throwing’ them high into the air; or, they would stealthily approach beneath the aircraft amid the cloud-like cover of the Plague Fly Swarms, then suddenly surge upwards, reaching the side of the aircraft at high speed, tearing it apart with sharp fangs and claws…
But the sacrifice of the human aircraft had value, as long as creatures of the grade of the corrupt Demon Dragons were still few, with only seven appearing in total. When their gaze turned towards the sky, the pressure on the ground would lighten a bit.
However, no matter how ferocious the anti-aircraft firepower was or how full of heroic spirit the human pilots were, the sky that could not be reclaimed remained irrecoverable.
The ground assault of the Demons also began.
Countless Demons surged out of the Nest Capital like a tide.
Unconcerned with ‘roads’, on any living wall, they might create a breach and then hordes of Plague Zombies would rush out chaotically.
In the hands of these corrupted enemies were firearms. Some resembled corrupted versions of human military weapons; others were simply firearms conjured on the spot from Subspace Dark Magic, firing venomous dark magic bullets.
The brutal ground combat began just like this.
The essence of human troops had to engage with the enemy in close combat under conditions where air superiority had been lost, long-range heavy firepower was continuously harassed by enemy air attacks, thus support was not timely.
And the huge cannons of the Nest Capital began to assert their power, savagely bombarding human positions again and again.
By the sixth hour after the battle officially began, the human army’s first line of defense had completely crumbled.
And during this process, the advance of Fino City did not slow down in the slightest, the human military had not managed to penetrate deep into the body of Fino City, failing to threaten its fleshly core, naturally unable to slow its advance.
Thus, Fino City steadily pressed forward a distance of twelve kilometers.