Chapter 380.2: Heart of Steel's Weakness

In the headquarters in Dawn City.

On the wooden command table lay a frontline battle report organized by Little Seven.

Due to the yet-to-be-stabilized communication network, Chu Guang could only keep up with frontline dynamics through the official forum.

Based on the communication network established using the Morphogenic Field, running entirely in another unrelated parallel world, it ensured uninterrupted connectivity.

"30 hours of forced march, breaking down into small groups to infiltrate the defense area, crossing 15 kilometers and launching 5 continuous assaults, annihilating a force nearly equivalent to a full-strength 100-men squad—are you sure this is only a 20-person unit?"

Most crucially, only a few were non-fatally injured. No one died!

Vanus's face was filled with astonishment.

Honestly, he didn't quite believe it.

Watering down battle reports was a basic operation for frontline units, and he was well aware of their tricks.

Naturally, everything was understandable.

After all, the situation on the battlefield could change in the blink of an eye. 3 minutes on the ground without being carried away counts as a kill, being carried away counts as an injury, no one really held a stopwatch with a telescope, counting how many seconds a certain enemy unit stayed down.

As an excellent commander, the first quality required is to discern the truth and falsehood of the information sent from the front lines and make approximate judgments on the overall situation based on vague information, commanding people who might still be alive and executing orders that might be achieved.

If it were his subordinates sending such a battle report, or making it over the radio, he would be calling out the asshole’s bullshit instantly.

However, the administrator produced the battle report personally!

The administrator wasn’t someone clueless about war. Vanus heard that he not only fought the enemy with a Nitrogen-Powered Hammer but also led the charge early on.

Later, as more talents joined the alliance, he gradually moved behind the scenes after leaving behind a pile of incredible legends.

If Vanus were to rate him, he would place Chu Guang at the level of Klass and Griffin at the very least.

As for why not a higher level like an Army Commander or the Marshal... It was simply because ordinary people could only reach the level of generals...

Venus wasn’t the only person who was surprised.

Everyone who had seen the report were struck speechless.

"To be exact, only about 20 have arrived so far, with another 100 or so soldiers and logistics personnel expected to arrive within 3 days." Chu Guang said while revealing a trace of emotion.

"You don’t have to tell me that you don’t believe this. I felt the same way when I first received this report. However, I can assure you that this is most definitely authentic.” Chu Guang sighed.

Players discussing the battle on the forum would correct each other. The battle report organized by Little Seven had gone though multiple layers of verification.

It was the closest to the truth.

Hearing the administrator, the officers no longer questioned the battle report from the front lines.

Instead, they discussed the counter-strategy.

"According to frontline reports, the Heart of Steel seems to have engine trouble. We can see obvious suspension scaffolds on the hull's exterior, along with maintenance personnel working."

"At the same time, they've increased their ground deployment scale, sending about 1,000 troops, apparently planning to use Lucky Valley Municipality as a long-term base."

"However, their methods aren't sophisticated. They’re using the old routine of military threats, sending soldiers to extort nearby survivor settlements, demanding contributions of food, livestock, and labor to the airship, while using dinars to buy off mercenaries and raiders as auxiliary troops... Local survivors thus have quite a few complaints."

Looking at the map hanging on the rack, Chu Guang continued, "I've discussed with the frontline commander, and our thoughts are largely aligned."

"During the first phase of the campaign, we need to unite the local survivors strategically, tactically wearing down the enemy's living forces through guerrilla tactics."

"As long as we can reduce the enemy's strength by more than 2% in the first phase, it might force them to withdraw from this area.... Or, they might adopt a more aggressive strategy!" Chu Guang paused, scanning the officers present in the command room.

"If they really adopt a more aggressive strategy, the battlefield might not be limited to 150 kilometers. We need to prepare for the worst. At the same time, before the final battle, we must find a way to effectively take down that airship!"

Chu Guang suddenly looked at Vanus, who was deep in thought and asked, "Are you familiar with General McClennan?"

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Vanus was taken aback for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "I'm just a centurion... And a clone centurion at that."

“Reaching the position of captain before he was four years old... That man had a limitless future in the Army. There's no need for him to bother with a nobody like me."

The Army was known for its vast army of clones, but the status of officers commanding cannon fodder troops was only average.

Especially for an air fortress like the Heart of Steel, which belonged to a completely different system from the ground forces.

Even if they had met, McClennan probably wouldn't spare him a second glance.

Chu Guang nodded slightly, not saying much. "Well, it looks like we can give up on the negotiation option."

Although he never harbored that illusion...

“The key is that troublesome directional shield,” the First Corps' Commander Wrench, said with a frown. “If we get a very slow bomb and throw it at them..."

Vanus shook his head. "If it were as simple as you say, they wouldn't even be able to fly out of their doorstep, let alone from the West Coast."

The anti-aircraft machine guns spread across the body of the ship were more than enough to intercept any low-speed approaching targets. Not to mention they’re in an open area now. Explosives or armor piercing shells might not be very useful... The only thing we can do is to attack their engines.”

Those parallel rows of propellers weren’t exactly high-tech, and messing up a few wasn’t hard.

However, even if they were destroyed, they were like popping a tyre on a bicycle or destroying one of the tracks of a tank. It couldn’t move, but they wouldn’t have done substantial damage. They could continue to rain down death from above.

“Does it really have no weakness?” Wrench couldn't help asking.

Vanus fell silent for some time before he replied, “Of course there are weaknesses."

Chu Guang immediately asked, "Where?"

"The belly." Vanus pointed at the photo, right below the airship."This is the bomb bay. Compared to other areas, they have the weakest firepower density there. I've heard that survivors once caused them quite a bit of trouble with a dense balloon formation... Well... That survivor settlement was leveled though.”

The command room fell into silence.

A staff officer pondered for a moment before finally muttering, "Weakness in the belly. If we get anti-aircraft guns right under them and open fire, can we cause effective damage to that airship?"

Vanus shook his head. "I'm not sure about that, but I think their ground troops and the spotters on the airship aren't blind."

The First Corps' officer clenched his fists and growled, "Then let's try to get a vertical-launch carrier craft! We'll ambush them from below, then rush up like digging out a bird's nest! We have the strongest light infantry. We’ll just storm that fortress and we'll take that thing down in minutes!"

Vanus sighed without speaking.

This time, he didn't need to rebut. Even Wrench couldn’t help but snap at his officer. “Are you fucking dumb? They can just drop their bombs on your head when you’re attacking their bomb bay, right?!”

“Exactly! And what's a carrier craft that can launch vertically into the skies? I've never even heard of such a thing!"

Watching the officers discussing heatedly, Chu Guang also fell into contemplation.

Just then, he was interrupted by a phone call.

“I’ll take the call.” Leaving the sentence, Chu Guang turned and walked outside, leaving the discussion to the officers in the command room.

The call was from Luca.

As soon as his upper body appeared on Chu Guang’s VM, he couldn’t wait to speak. "Sir, the city hall of Boulder Town summoned our liaison office head this morning!"

"Dulong summoned them?"

"Yes!"

"What did he say?"

Facing the administrator's inquiry, Luca said with an intriguing expression, "He said a lot. For example, he asked if we needed help. He also mentioned that since we helped them share some of the burden at the beginning of the year, their military arsenal prepared for the Tide has quite a bit left if we're interested. Also, they're willing to sell it to us at a 50% discount."

Although that was undoubtedly good news, the terms offered were so generous that he couldn't decide if he was walking into a massive trap. As such, he called Chu Guang immediately after their New Alliance Office Head reported to him.

After listening, Chu Guang was also stunned for a moment. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are they selling us at a 50% discount, or at 50% their cost price?”

"Umm... 50% off their bulk purchase price. Also, Dulong said that if we don’t have enough money, he can loan us another batch just to buy firearms.”

What the fuck? Are there really such great things in the world?

Chu Guang was dumbfounded.

Although it was his idea to pull Boulder Town onto the New Alliance’s war wagon, the speed it was going at was just too fast, wasn’t it?

It seemed that the main cannon of the airship had brought a significant shock to the bunch of civilized people living in those walls. They weren’t even going to care about making money at this point!

Without any hesitation, Chu Guang gave the order. "Let them send it over quickly! I want as much as they have, the faster, the better! Also, remind them that just weapons for dealing with the Tide won’t be enough. We can make rifles and cannons ourselves. What we need are real weapons that can damage the airship!”

Also, he suddenly recalled the content discussed by the officers earlier and he unceremoniously added, "Especially high-altitude carrier craft and landing equipment!"

"If they can help our guys board that airship, even better!"