𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟑: 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 (4)
In a flash, news of the inevitable establishment of a colony spread like wildfire, coinciding with the emergence of a new species capable of wielding unknown powers.
Originating from the colony, more Drop Cysts survived, deploying troops on the ground, while the colony itself gave birth to new Chimeraz.
The defenders of the cities now witnessed dark figures approaching from the distance, braving through a white blizzard.
“Whew. . .”
Their combat suits and mechanical weapons radiated heat in the cold. The evacuated city was deathly quiet, and the battlefield before the approaching dark horde was equally silent.
“Message to all troops.”
“The fleet battle and the orbital battle are at a standstill.”
“Consider air force and fleet support unlikely due to the Chimeraz aircraft and surface-to-air structure littering this vicinity.”
The dark horde revealed their grotesque forms in the blizzard. Ferocious teeth, piercing eyes, abhorrent tentacles, and drooling mouths, hungry for carnage, seemed to embody the very essence of these creatures.
“Approaching distance 800 meters.”
“All troops, engage.”
Rattle, rattle, rattle!!!
War machines unleashed hellfire from their machine guns. Various tanks, their barrels raised to their maximum angles, bombarded the front lines. Energy-based weapons carved bright, straight paths through the air. Gunships swooped in aggressively, while drone aircraft launched from ground carriers filled the sky, commencing a low-altitude bombardment.
Amidst the blizzard, successive white explosions illuminated the surroundings, splattering blood of vivid colors.
Screech!
Clang. . . !
As Tritula’s bone spikes flew towards them, Shield Support soldiers promptly deployed partial shields at the points of impact. Cresecters, flying above the blizzard, fired red plasma orbs, depleting the output of their shields.
Meanwhile, the Drone Hive, situated among numerous war machines, detected vibrations from underground.
➖Skeletunnel approaching.
➖Recommended countermeasure: Regional Perforator.
“We’re not letting those underground bugs get us again.”
“Wipe them out!”
At once, turrets resembling machine guns, installed along the defense line, elevated their positions. Their firing positions now higher, they aimed their elongated barrels diagonally downwards, shooting blue beams onto the ground in front of them.
Pow, pow, pow!
Extremely fast-spinning, drill-like bullets pierced through the snowy plains, plunging roughly 20 meters into the earth. The Regional Perforators, buried deep underground, exploded like laser grenades, causing the earth to tremble.
Rumble. . . !
Several beams of high-power light, originating from the underground, flashed towards the surface. Red blood splattered along the path carved by the beams.
➖Skeletunnel neutralized.
“Don’t let even one of them into the city!”
The Chimeraz pressed on, stepping on the corpses of their own kind. As the distance closed, Fayda’s regular army employed more powerful weaponry, unleashing explosions so massive that they were barely discernible from the snowy plains.
A powerful plasma weapon, in the form of a thick beam of light, obliterated a straight line of Chimeraz, generating a storm due to the expansion of air. Swarms of Robobugs, launched from various machines, swarmed like a swarm of locusts, diving onto vulnerable body parts of individual Chimeraz and exploding. The drones flying ahead engaged in aerial combat with the Cresecter horde amidst the violent air currents.
“Approaching distance 600 meters!”
➖Chaintroopers, dispatching unmanned anti-gravity tanks and humanoid platforms.
Anti-gravity platforms carrying humanoid soldiers in an upright position and anti-gravity tanks floating in the air moved forward. Utilizing their superior maneuverability, they split into left and right flanks, assuming fluid positions to strike the approaching Chimeraz horde from multiple directions.
Simultaneously, Chaintroopers, divided into left and right flanks, sliced sharply across the snowy plains, bypassing the Chimeraz horde and moving to their rear.
In response, the Chimeraz horde also split into front, rear, left, and right flanks, engaging in their own skirmishes.
“Approaching distance 300 meters!”
Thud! Thud!
Now, the war machines advanced with heavy footsteps. Unleashing all their onboard weaponry, they unleashed a torrent of deadly fire upon the Chimeraz within range. Additionally, multi-barreled tanks attached to building walls concentrated maximum firepower, employing not only their main cannons but also machine guns and grenades.
In the midst of this, the Mindrocker, positioned in the center of the horde, ruptured its bio-barrier.
The bio-barrier, spread over a wide area, appeared pitch black, as if darkness had descended in broad daylight.
Wooooooosh. . . !
Small Chimeraz, their forms barely visible, moved like living shadows, protecting the horde.
Drones caught in the bio-barrier abruptly lost their course, while Robobugs smaller than the drones, disconnected from their main system, exploded erratically.
Energy-based projectiles fired by the regular army veered off at odd angles, and physical projectiles lost their momentum in the darkness, falling onto the snowy plains.
“Drone Hive! What is that?!”
➖Hostile smokescreen previously encountered by the Mobile Strike Force.
“Burn it down!”
Unfazed by the bio-barrier, the regular army employed intense plasma emitters. Blue flames, projected far forward, heated the air to the point of shimmering.
The snowy plains they touched instantly melted, revealing the damp earth beneath with hot steam, and part of the bio-barrier, unable to withstand the heat, was instantly dispelled.
However, in the spot where the bio-barrier was dispelled, another new species emerged.
A smoothly curved head resembling the letter ‘U’, a pair of crimson eyes, tentacles protruding from the concave part of the head, sharp legs, a blunt body, a pair of energy-emitting organs growing from its body, and something that resembled another creature crawling on tentacles, attached to its back.
Roughly 50 of these bizarre creatures revealed themselves from behind the Tritula ranks.
➖Unidentified Chimeraz entities detected.
“What the hell are those. . . .”
Their appearance was so bizarre that it defied description in a single sentence, as if they had sprung from the imagination of some deranged mastermind.
They were the Grounsecters.
Sizzle. . .
The Grounsecters ignited their energy-emitting organs one by one.
➖Rapid energy surge detected from said entities. . .
Bzzzt!
In that instant, several short, bright red plasma beams engulfed the regular army. Their power was no less than that of the Cresecters’ plasma mass.
🔷🔷🔷
Kreion was engaged in a full-scale fleet battle with Drake’s regular fleet and his own main fleet in the orbit of the gas giant Altblubber.
About half of the fleet that had been defending the capital planet had arrived. Consisting of various types of ships, each vessel possessed capabilities that Kreion had never encountered before.
Starting with their modest shield output, the accuracy of their cannon fire and the collective actions of their carrier-based aircraft resulted in an unfavorable kill ratio for the Chimeraz.
“After defeating Bluesteel, the Equillocke horde joined Fayda’s Jiannettera horde. . . . Additionally, Equillocke’s Shockphonia has infected the enemy fleet, revealing their tactical command structure. . . .”
Following Ludwig’s report, Gnox continued.
“It was a Hyper Mind-centered system. Under the Hyper Mind, there are Drone Hives and human commanders. And. . . . Do you see the mothership currently stationed at the capital planet?”
Kreion, his eyes closed, saw it clearly.
The colossal starship hovering in the atmosphere of Obsidia Drake, the capital planet in the Drake star nation’s fifth orbit.
“The Drake star nation’s flagship, the command ship that also serves as the ministry of defense, the Fractal.”
It was a monstrous vessel with a beam of nearly 46 kilometers and a displacement of 99 million tons.
“The artificial intelligence governing the Fractal holds a position equal to that of the commander-in-chief of Obsidiamon’s regular army.”
“I’ve heard of it.”
It was a renowned command ship, the largest vessel possessed by humanity. It was said that it could operate a force of approximately 60 fleets and even conquer another human nation by itself.
True to its name, Fractal, its form, from small parts to its overall shape, exhibited geometric patterns.
Fortunately, the Fractal remained on standby far in the distance, presumably dedicated to the defense of the capital planet.
Nevertheless, the reality was that the overall situation of this fleet battle was disadvantageous. If the battle continued without any variables, they would be defeated before even reaching the capital planet.
‘How did it come to this. . . .’
The Crolr invasion, the paralysis of the dimensional passageways, the weakening of the UNF.
This opportunity could not be missed, especially because their opponent was formidable.
They had to reach it, by any means necessary.
“Hyper Mind, Fractal, Drone Hive. . . . Drake is a force where artificial intelligence occupies every position, from the top of the military to the bottom.”
“According to the information brought by Equillocke, all fleets are currently under the control of the Fractal. The Fractal supports everything from cannon fire and shield deployment to the calculations necessary for tactical formations. As a result, its decision-making capabilities far exceed those of humans at any given moment.”
“They’ve begun actively employing plasma emitters to counter the Mindrocker’s bio-barrier in ground battles. . . . Also, in fleet battles, assault ships and defense ships are responding to the threatening Shockphonia. . . .”
Gnox’s assertion was reinforced by Ludwig.
“Whenever we introduce something new on any battlefield, they establish a countermeasure system almost instantaneously on all battlefields. . . .”
“They’re sharing tactical information and judgments from all battlefields. Even the term ‘real-time’ falls short. This is. . . . It’s almost at an electrical speed. The entire military force of this star system is fighting as one.”
“That could rather be a disadvantage.”
“How so?”
Kreion separated his consciousness, which commanded the vast fleet battle, from the consciousness that could contemplate other matters.
“If we destroy only the Fractal, their military’s combat effectiveness will plummet. It’s similar to our collective consciousness.”
“Are you saying that the vulnerability of a centralized control system applies to them as well?”
“A single judgment becomes the judgment of the whole. In other words, it may be swift and efficient, but the damage sustained before a single judgment is made is the same across all battlefields.”
“Ah, then we can gain an advantage in that area.”
Gnox responded as if he understood, while Ludwig tilted his head.
“I don’t quite understand what you mean. . . .”
Kreion then explained in a very simple sentence.
“Just keep showing them something new.”
Whenever something new was introduced on the battlefield, they suffered damage from it and then devised countermeasures in an instant.
In other words, by introducing anything new on the battlefield, they would always gain an advantage at least once.
That was Kreion’s conclusion.
“To defeat the Drake star nation, we must fight intelligently.”
If the same method no longer worked, they had to keep breaking through with new methods, one by one.
“It means that we’re up against an opponent that requires more brainpower than any enemy we’ve faced before. Conversely, it’s an opponent we can never defeat without using our brains.”
Kreion then gave Ludwig an order.
“Inform all the leaders and Mindrockers on the battlefield.”
The method to defeat the Drake star nation.
That methodology converged into a very complex yet simple conclusion.
“Let each of you unleash your ‘creativity’.”
🔷🔷🔷
Equillocke had received orders from Jiannettera to capture Fayda’s military base.
A military base heavily guarded by 13 Drone Hives and various ground weapons. Drop Cysts were intercepted as soon as they descended, and the Drop Cysts that barely survived and landed were quickly eliminated as they became their targets.
➖Equillocke. It has been said that the master has instructed us not to employ strategies that have been used once.
‘Have the enemies already prepared countermeasures for Grounsecters and Mindrockers?’
➖That’s right. I took advantage of the Grounsecters’ and Mindrockers’ initial appearance to establish a colony and expand the front lines to a nearby city.
➖I’m sorry, but I think you’ll have to come up with a different way to attack that military base.
‘I understand.’
➖Planet Fayda has become a strategic stronghold where a colony has been established for the first time in this battle. Master and Ludwig-nim are struggling in the main fleet battle in Altblubber orbit, so we need to hurry up and turn Fayda into a full-fledged colony planet to support the main fleet battle.
‘Yes. I fully understand the importance of Fayda.’
➖I have heard much about your exploits. So I trust in your excellence and will not meddle with you any further.
➖Conquer that military base.
‘Leave it to me, Jiannettera-nim.’
As soon as Equillocke finished his conversation with Jiannettera, he gave orders to his horde.
‘It’s time to exploit their technological prowess.’
Just then, an infected fleet appeared in the sky above the military base.
The aircraft launched from the infected fleet were half-mechanical, half-organic beings covered in the Chimeraz’s living tissue, with sharp thorns and fluttering tentacles.
‘Descend upon the military base.’
Another wave of Drop Cysts rushed over the military base.
Naturally, the military personnel at the base opened fire into the sky in an attempt to intercept the Drop Cysts.
‘Now. Protect the Drop Cysts.’
The troops, who had been firing countless beams of light and projectiles into the sky, could not help but be taken aback by Equillocke’s strategy.
Ziiiiiiiing!
The infected aircraft each attached themselves to the Drop Cysts and deployed their shields.
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