Chapter 316.1: Not Deep Enough? We'll Find Another Way To Penetrate It More!

"Damn it! These bandits run really fast!" Standing on the trench, Eye Owe Money pulled the bayonet out of the marauder's body and glanced down the slope in front.

He could see dozens of bodies lying contorted and twisted on the lower slopes of the hill beneath the high ground, and also rifles and shovels discarded by the fleeing marauders.

This was the high ground on the northern side of Pinewood Forest Valley, and also the position of Bear Fang's brigade.

A few minutes ago, the Death Corps, as usual, bombarded the marauders hiding in these trenches with mortars.

Having been harassed by the New Alliance's mortars all day, the marauders on the high ground had become accustomed to it. They calmly lay in their half-dug trenches, waiting for the shelling to stop before resuming their digging.

However, to their surprise, when they looked up, they were met with gleaming bayonets.

Those marauders working on the fortifications could not have imagined that the New Alliance would dare to charge at their positions with so few people!

What surprised them even more was that right after the enemy's mortar stopped, these people immediately charged at them.

In short, it was too late by the time they realised what was happening.

The sound of the charge and the battle cry flew over the still-smoking craters as they surged towards the marauders.

Many marauders still had shovels in their hands, rifles discarded on the ground, and some rifles were not even loaded.

Construction Boy jumped into the trench first, his automatic rifle spraying a burst of bullets, instantly creating a scene of bloodshed in the narrow passage.

The marauders sent to dig trenches were considered the third-tier combat force within their ranks. Though they had followed the Bear Fang from the north of River Valley Province all the way to the south, they usually chased others in battles.

They had never seen such a ferocious fighting style!

Especially witnessing the Company Leader, who was an ability user, getting stabbed by numerous bayonets. The morale of the remaining 200 men instantly collapsed, and they could not muster the courage to resist. One by one, they desperately fled down the mountainside towards the forest.

In less than 10 minutes, the battle was over.

Kakarot lifted the binoculars and looked to the north. The fleeing marauders had already escaped into the forest on the northern side of the high ground.

"... The reinforcements are probably coming soon. According to the intelligence from the airforce, the Bear Fang brigade seems to be stationed in a mountain pass about 5 kilometres to the north."

Eye Owe Money said with a grin. "Do they still have a thousand men?"

"I don't know. The organisation of these marauders is weird. A ten-person team could have twenty people, and the brigade may not necessarily have exactly a thousand men."

Construction Boy looked towards Sideline Slacking beside him. "Captain, what do you say?"

Sideline Slacking smiled. "What else is there to say? Bury the explosives!"

"The brothers from the Burning Corps said they wanted to blow all their shit up! We can't let our allies down, can we?" Suddenly recalling something, he quickly added, "Oh, and bring back the rifles, shovels, wheelbarrows for transporting soil, and the bags they left behind. We'll confiscate everything!"

Hearing this, everyone's face simultaneously showed an evil grin.

"Alright!"

After burying the TNT in the marauders' trench, Brother Sideline quickly led the group back to the southern hilltop before the enemy reinforcements arrived, and without a word, they dove into the bomb shelters.

They waited for a full hour before the enemy artillery finally arrived, firing several rounds of 100mm shells at their positions.

By the time the shells hit the players' positions, except for a few on guard duty still online, the rest of the players had long logged out. Some had even finished their dinner in the real world.

Under the encouragement of artillery fire and the threat of Bear Fang, the marauders who abandoned their positions and fled previously returned to the high ground. However, they were dumbfounded to find that the people of the New Alliance not only picked up the weapons and ammunition they had left behind, but also took away shovels, carts, and even bags used for filling soil. The entire battlefield was stripped bare and even the bodies were gathered and set on fire. There was not even a single strand of hair left.

Who... Who the hell are the marauders here?!

Due to the lack of tools, they could only wait for supplies to be sent from the rear while making do with whatever resources they had or resorting to digging with their hands.

When the marauders returned to the trenches, that was when their nightmare, accompanied by a series of explosions, truly began...

...

North of Dawn City.

Inside the weapon testing facility.

A scrapped Conqueror 10 tank stood in the centre of the open space.

The twisted steel had already deformed, leaving only three pairs of road wheels. The frame had a large hole in it and the entire vehicle was covered in soot.

Previously, the Black Snake brigade attempted to plunder the northern suburbs with this tank. But it was destroyed by a quadruped crawler robot carrying explosives, which blew up the ammunition rack and fuel tank.

Afterward, this tank was repeatedly disassembled and studied in the industrial area until it was drained of its last bit of value. Then, it was thrown into the weapon testing ground as a target.

Currently, Chu Guang was standing at the edge of the shooting range with Vanus, inspecting the latest anti-armor weapons developed by Goblin Technology.

According to the frontline reports, the marauders had become smarter and considered converting light-duty trucks into anti-aircraft vehicles.

Although the Goblin Corps' air force had already bombed the marauders' factories with the cooperation of the Burning Corps, Chu Guang did not believe that they would put all their eggs in one basket.

Those marauders would undoubtedly be more cautious after that.

They might even move their factories underground.

The marauders had clearly realised that without reliable anti-aircraft weapons, their tanks would become easy targets on the frontline.

And without the armored unit's protection, they would have to endure much higher casualties to recapture Bluestone County from the New Alliance.

Before the tanks of the Fang Clan advanced to the frontline, the New Alliance needed more and more effective anti-armor measures to deal with the ever-changing battlefield.

"Begin testing of Equipment Number One."

"Copy that!"

Upon hearing the administrator's command, Mosquito waved his hand and Killing Gods immediately trotted to the edge of the shooting range.

Half-crouched behind the cover constructed from sandbags, Killing Gods skillfully retrieved the recoilless cannon barrel from a box, unfolded the foldable stand, and completed the setup.

Loading, aiming, safety off...

The entire set of actions flowed smoothly and it was executed in one breath.

With a loud blast, dense smoke and an armor-piercing shell burst out of the launcher, trailing a column of smoke as they roared toward a tank 100 metres away.

The moment the missile hit, sparks and thick smoke erupted from the armor on the left side tank.

"Direct hit confirmed!"

Seeing this, Chasing Souls, who had been waiting on the side, yelled in excitement before running over to inspect it. "It's through! It went through!"

The other Lifestyle Profession players watching from the side could not help but cheer as well.

"Awesome!!"

"That's sick!"

"This is insane!"

Many of these players were newcomers who had only joined during the Beta version. They were recruited into the Goblin Technology by Mosquito because of their unique talents.

They had heard Mosquito bragging on the forums for a long time, and now they were finally witnessing it firsthand.

Of course, there were also veteran players expressing their indifference.

"What's there to brag about blowing up a piece of junk?"

"This tank looks like it's on the level of a T72 at best."

"Exaggerated. At most, it's at the peak level of World War II. There is no reactive armor after all. An RPG would penetrate it in minutes."

"Nonsense, you think a Tiger Tank had this kind of defence? Clearly, it's composite armor!"

2 players started arguing about the tank's performance.

But that was just a minor episode.

Standing on the side, Chu Guang looked at the wreckage of the Conqueror 10 not far away, with a satisfied smile on his face. However, due to his dignified persona, his smile was not very conspicuous when there were many people around.

There was only 1 person in the entire shooting range with a serious expression, and that was Vanus.

As a former Brigade Commander of the Army, he understood the true capabilities of the Conqueror 10 tank better than anyone else.

He shook his head and poured cold water on the excitement. "It's useless."

"This is already the 12th experiment."

"Even if it penetrated the armor, it doesn't prove anything."

Although he could not understand what those people were shouting, their elated expressions did not require much guessing. He could guess easily what those people were happy about.

It took them a total of 12 shots to penetrate a tank that had already been scrapped, and they only managed to pierce through the side armor.

The infantry and vehicle-mounted machine guns weren't decorations; on an actual battlefield, they wouldn't have so many firing opportunities.

Mosquito also seemed to realise this issue. After the initial excitement wore off, he scratched his head in confusion. "This doesn't make sense..."

"This armor is just too resilient!"

If it was compared to a T72, the T72 would not be this sturdy.

Before the improved models were introduced, its side armor was only around 80mm. Moreover, they were using hollow charge anti-tank rounds.

Without adding NERA, explosive reactive armor or slat armor on the sides, even the M1 and Leopard 2 would have to be cautious, not to mention the Russian T72. Especially the Leopard 2, with its ammunition stored in the hull, if a hole as small as a pencil was created on its left side armor near the front, it would be disastrous.

To enhance armor penetration capabilities, Mosquito even sacrificed effective range by increasing the weight of the Type III projectile's warhead by a significant 1.5 times while keeping the propellant unchanged.

Currently, this model was named the Tandem-Charge Armor-Piercing Shell. Despite its quite limited range of only 150 metres, the maximum penetration depth against vertical armor had already reached an astonishing 400mm!

Examining the armor on the Conqueror 10 tank, it did not appear to be that thick, and there was no visible reactive armor on the exterior either.

After much contemplation, Mosquito could only come up with two possibilities.

There was a bug!

In any case, it definitely was not his problem!