Chapter 441.2: COUNTERATTACK BABY

At that moment, a scout reported enemy vehicles in the communication channel.

Although the wind and sand carried rust, making the signal intermittent, he still caught a few critical words. After the scout repeated them several times, the call ended.

Stan set down his binoculars, adjusted the headset hanging to one side, and ordered in a merciless voice, "Attention all units, enemy forces are moving from the south towards area G5."

"Prepare for battle!"

As his words fell, a deafening explosion suddenly came from afar, a column of smoke slowly rising from the horizon. Stan's face showed a hint of surprise.

That seems to be where they were located...

How was it possible to be hit first even though they laid the ambush?!

His headset instantly filled with chaotic voices.

"This is Squad 7, 'Hunter' and 'Obsidian' destroyed! We're under attack by an enemy tank cluster! We need reinforcements!"

"Shit!"

A thunderous cannon blast interrupted the tank commander's voice. The gunner cursed and screamed as the loader strenuously stuffed a shell into the gun. From the clinking sounds and the coaxial machine gun's continuous firing, one could feel the tense and chaotic battle situation.

When he heard the Hunter was destroyed, Stan's brows finally furrowed as he turned serious.

The Hunter and Obsidian were the codenames for the 7th squad’s vehicles. They were a Conqueror No. 10 and Conqueror No. 11 heavy tank!

The former needed no explanation.

The latter had nearly 1.5 meters of armor! Not only with spaced layers and anti-penetration liners but also sandbags for cover!

Such a moving fortress shouldn't be penetrated by a single shot, right?!

Anyway... Whatever it was, there was no time to hesitate.

Stan had no time for surprise, nor did he waste another word. His body ducked into his Wanderer Tank. As a piercing electrical sound of static sounded, the gray-black tank's surface seemed to coat with a thin, transparent film, It even formed a light frost under the shadows of the barrel!

Their communications were completely cut off.

Before going silent, he transferred command to the commander of the 1st Armored Motorized Corps.

The price to pay was nearly invincible armor!

Those natives would never expect that the Army still held an ace up its sleeve!

Stan's mouth curled into a cold arc as he placed both hands on the controls of the cannon. He calmly turned on the rangefinder and optical zoom sight, simultaneously giving orders to the driver in front.

"Target area G5."

"Advance!"

It’s time to hunt!

...

In the endless sea of sand, the New Alliance's Skeleton Corps clashed with the Falcon Kingdom's 1st Armored Corps.

35 Tank 2s and 500 armored vehicles faced nearly 100 Conqueror No. tanks and nearly 1,000 light infantry entrenched in defensive fortifications.

Although the perception type players' crisis intuition and Elf Wang’s thermal vision helped the Skeleton Corps detect the ambush, allowing them to urgently deploy personnel and equipment before the battle erupted, avoiding a complete surprise, but it still couldn't change the numerical disparity between the two sides.

Both sides were elites of their respective camps, each hiding cards the other didn't understand.

It was destined to be a bitter battle!

As the clash of iron and blood just began, 200 kilometers away, the melee had already reached a fever pitch.

Nearly 20,000 spirited soldiers assembled under Lord Sien's command, following the guidance of faith towards the Lost Valley.

Every vehicle from Petra Fortress was conscripted. Whether they were motorcycles, trucks, or ox carts and horse carts, all were used to transport troops and materials as well as tow artillery, the vast dust resembling a rolling sandstorm.

And General McClennan was certainly no fool, quickly noticing the activity to the west. He immediately dispatched his subordinates to set up a formation along the remnants of Highway No.7.

Both sides engaged in intense fire 50 kilometers from the airfield.

As neither side was fully prepared, the firefight soon turned into a brutal melee. A continuous battle line over 10 kilometers long was filled with gunfire and cannon fire.

Both sides could only rely on rough directions, barely distinguishing friend from foe in the gradually falling dusk as they fired at the flickering gunflashes.

As for the advance and retreat of various units or local defense, they depended on the occasional small notes brought by messengers. The setting sun stretched the valley's shadows, coating the entire desert in a layer of blood.

As the battle heated to a climax, a cavalry unit of about a thousand armored riders, led by Lord Sien's personal guard captain, circled the Tzobar Mountains to the south of the Lost Valley.

The Army and the Falcon Kingdom's main forces were tied up on the east and north sides, forming a weak link in the defense line, with only a few machine gun positions and watchtowers standing in the middle.

The troop would act as a dagger, piercing into the soft belly of this beast, then bursting out from its spine, using the explosives and hand grenades on horseback to destroy the planes parked on the northern side of the camp's airfield, or at least damage the runway...

And accompanying them was a group from the Order of the White Bear, driving an armed truck.

"We should split up here." The guard captain pulled on the reins, rode ahead of the truck, and continued speaking to the three people and the bear on the truck. "We'll do our best to destroy those two planes, as for stopping them from summoning the evil spirits... We'll leave that to you!"

Sitting in the co-driver's seat, Sesame Paste nodded seriously. "Leave it to us... You should be careful on the road."

"I will." The guard captain grinned, tapped his steel breastplate with his right fist, then pulled the reins, turning his black warhorse around. He grabbed the carbine hanging on the horse's back.

There was no grand speeches, no loud slogans.

He just kicked the horse's belly, leading the charge, followed by the tacit agreement of the cavalry.

Then they charged.

The sound of hooves rolled like thunder on the ground, kicking up endless dust on the desert, charging headlong towards the Army's camp without looking back.

"Never thought I'd see a cavalry charge in the 24th century..." Surprise was written all over Roshan's face as she stared to the north without blinking.

“Hmm...” Tail looked to the north while also supporting her machine gun. She eventually murmured softly, "I hope you make it back alive."

No matter what, those people felt alive to her.

"We should move too." Sisi glanced at the rearview mirror, then at her co-driver.

After receiving resolute looks in response, she restarted the truck, heading towards the south side of the Lost Valley. The cavalry's target was the southern side of the defense line and the northern airfield. They had a 50% chance of piercing through the line, and that was in the most optimistic scenario. As for them, their target was the Lost Valley.

Sisi hadn't expected that they could still receive a mission from the administrator outside the communication range.

But the destination of the mission coincided exactly with their current objective, right within the ruins by the riverbank. According to the clues gathered, the Army was looking for something there. Whatever it was, it absolutely could not fall into their hands.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Speaking of which, something seemed strange.

She was the only one updating the information about Oasis No.4 and the Lost Valley on the official website. In theory, the New Alliance NPCs shouldn't know what was happening here.

Could NPCs also use the internet?

If that's the case, then this game is perhaps too damn real...

...

On the north side of the Lost Valley, inside the command tent.

General McClennan stood in front of a strategic map and a radio set, directing the deployment and dispatch of frontline forces.

The soldiers of the Camel Kingdom were no match for those of the Falcon Kingdom, not in military theory nor in organization.

The former's only advantage might be their devout faith, which often failed to play a significant role on the frontlines. The nearly 20,000 troops at Petra Fortress could not possibly stand against him.

Although everything was still under his control, standing around still made him feel uneasy. It was a pity that reclaiming the Heart of Steel would take a bit more time.

As he thought about it, McClennan couldn’t help but curse.

Only then did he begin to realize that he might have been used as a pawn by that skunk. He was clearly there to look for that Titan's shield core!

His plan was to secretly take the core away, then turn it into a weapon and fire at the Heart of Steel. Once that was done, he would bring that thing down from the sky.

Before he knew it, Griffin suddenly threw an order at him, demanding him to build some airfield.

Although he was very happy to drop a nuclear bomb on the New Alliance's head, turning into the vanguard was another matter.

Well... Fuck.

The New Alliance had seen through that skunk's lousy plan and somehow convinced the fence-sitting Camel Kingdom to take part in the war. There were only a battalion or two for the time being, which wasn’t hard to hold off, but what would come next? .

Since the nuclear strike plan was seen through, the New Alliance definitely already dispatched troops. The nuclear bomb they would send over to Clearspring City wouldn’t wipe them all out!

Not only that, the current troops they would face were merely from Petra Fortress! There were nearly 100,000 regular troops stationed in neighboring Oasis No.4! Even if the Falcon Kingdom's troops trained by the Army were more elite, they weren't supermen who could fight ten at a time! By then, he might have to take a plane to flee...

"It’s time." The pilot inside the command tent looked at his watch again.

Actually, there was still some time before the planned moment, but staying there always made him feel a strong unease.

McClennan waved his hand and growled, "Go... Hurry up and come back."

The pilot nodded, picked up the helmet resting on the table, and walked out of the tent.

The escort planes had already taken off at his command, confirming the safety of the distant airspace. The H55 Hurricane that held the bomb would soon take off.

And just as the pilot left the command tent, an officer quickly ran inside, saluting to General McClennan. "Report! We've spotted a cavalry unit to the south!"

Focusing on the strategic map on the table, McClennan calmly ordered, "Redirect the 5 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles in the camp there. Tell Wester to bring the camp's motorized infantry to the southern defenses immediately for support! Make sure they prevent the enemies from coming near the airfield's runway!"

"Yes!" The officer saluted and quickly ran out.

Watching the disappearing figure at the door, McClennan relaxed slightly. He had kept the troop in reserve, not deploying them to the front line just to guard against these natives' sneak attacks.

Those barbarians really came!

Cavalry?

McClennan sneered.

He would show them how foolish it was to oppose the Army. But just then, an air raid siren unexpectedly blared outside the tent. McClennan paused, briefly believing he had heard wrong.

Other than where they were... How could there be another airfield nearby capable of sending planes?!

The next second, an officer lifted the tent flap and walked in quickly. From his panicked expression, McClennan learned the severity of the situation.

Before he could ask, the officer reported, "There's an airplane approaching us..."

"Is it from the New Alliance or the Enterprise?" McClennan grabbed his collar and roared, “Our planes... Have they taken off?"

A series of questions made the officer's scalp tingle.

Looking at the nose almost poking into his eyes, he gently shook his head. "I... I don't know."