Chapter 442.3: Operation Sunset

His amazement lasted only a few seconds as he thought back to the training from the instructors from the Enterprise. Star River quickly switched on the onboard radar.

A pale blue cursor swept across the screen, scanning radio signals within 10 kilometers and any sign of life within a one kilometer radius.

At 100 kilometers out, it would take only 10 minutes for a Cloudfly cruising at over 500 km/h to arrive at their destination.

After burning through a quarter of its energy, the outline of a valley soon appeared across the distant desert.

At the same time, their eyes caught sight of a billowing dust cloud and galloping cavalry.

The Army’s machine-gun positions spat tongues of flame, crazily mowing down those horsemen.

Their stout breastplates offered some protection, but against 10mm heavy machine-gun rounds, they weren’t much use. The dust kicked up by hooves did more for cover.

They were brave. Even as comrades fell from their horses, the charge did not falter.

Unfortunately, there were at least six machine guns, five wheeled armored vehicles, and nearly a hundred infantry with automatic weapons standing in their way.

Even with superior numbers, their firepower was no match.

That gap could not be bridged by courage alone.

It was hard to say how many of them would still be alive when they finally crossed the enemy’s lines.

Star River, operating the onboard radar, was the first to spot them.

“Small radio signals detected ahead... What is that? Is that cavalry?”

Piloting the Cloudfly, Falling Feather pulled up the altitude slightly, broadening his view to observe the situation.

“That should be the cavalry from the Camel Kingdom.”

“Camel Kingdom? Weren’t they just sitting at the border?”

“They were, but from the posts on the official site, Tail and the others seem to be trying to persuade Petra Fortress to join the war.”

Hearing Falling Feather’s reply, Star River blinked in surprise. “... Is that even possible?!”

He’d heard before that in Wasteland Online, player’s actions could change the historical process and version progression of the world. But to actually see it happen...

It was even more shocking than the 100% realistic game.

After all, it meant the damn developers prepared at least an ungodly number of different versions before each update, to match all possible shifts in the world timeline...

“In any case, it’s good news for us. If they can tie down the Army’s supporting units, we can maintain low-altitude flight to break through to the edge of the airfield. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll last long.”

“Should we give them a hand?”

“Can you hit them from your position?”

“Not at this altitude, unless we climb another 50 meters...” Star River shook his head, but cut himself off mid-sentence, his face changing suddenly. “10 kilometers ahead, 60 degree elevation! There’s an unidentified flying object approaching at Mach 6!”

“Mach 6!?”

That could only be a missile!

Almost instinctively, Falling Feather stomped the left rudder and pulled up on the stick.

The Cloudfly, skimming the ground at high speed, jolted, almost blinking leftward and upward.

But even at near-teleport speed, it barely escaped that fatal strike!

The blast cloud was left kilometers behind by the speeding craft.

Yet before they could celebrate survival, a burst of autocannon fire screamed in, arriving with the red dot that had breached their radar boundary.

The boom of a sonic barrier broke overhead, followed by the roar of the guns up ahead.

“... Shit!”

Staring at the torn cockpit canopy, Star River cursed, whipping his head around, only to find no trace of the other aircraft.

“Damage report!”

“Right wing group two wings damaged, main engine intact, not a big problem.”

Before Falling Feather finished, Star River had already flipped the weapon systems on.

With a few whooshes, five rockets launched from their pod, streaking toward the five wheeled armored vehicles below.

With the neural-link system, he barely needed 0.3 seconds to lock on to his targets.

Those vehicles had no time to dodge. They didn’t even have time to aim their turrets at the suddenly appearing craft before being blasted into scrap metal by those metal hydrogen warheads.

The southern defenders of Lost Valley were dumbstruck. Their fierce fire network momentarily halted.

All they saw were a few white trails flying in from beyond the horizon before their armored vehicles turned into burning wreckage.

The cavalry of the Camel Kingdom were equally stunned.

The flames they were seeing didn’t bring fear. They brought hope of victory.

“It’s reinforcements!” The captain of the guard, galloping at the front, raised his carbine with a fixed bayonet.

Even though there were many bullet holes in his body, even if his shoulder and leg were stained red with blood.

His bloodshot eyes turned blurry as he roared a deafening cry.

“For the Kingdom! For the gods! For our homeland!”

“Charge!”

Above the sea of sand.

Struggling to steady the damaged wings, Falling Feather clenched his teeth and straightened his craft before screaming at Star River.

“Why did you fire suddenly?”

“There’s no time!” In the gunner’s seat, Star River had swallowed his gum. He analyzed coolly, “Radar shows that plane is at least Mach 2. Even if we climb and switch to cruise mode, we’ll top out at Mach 1... Another dive and he can finish us before we reach the valley.”

“... The Army has more than one jet deployed over Sunset Province. They have a wingman too!”

Expecting to pit their helicopter-like craft against a fighter jet was wishful thinking. Even with air-to-air missiles, there was no chance.

It wasn’t about tech level, it was about battlefield roles.

They survived the first strike only because the enemy hadn’t seen such a craft before, never imagining it could pull off a 90 degree lateral shift mid-flight!

They also had a nearly 9G acceleration!

But now, their trump card had been revealed.

If it were him, the next dive wouldn’t be a tap of the trigger. They would hold down their guns for a full one second burst!

He wouldn’t bet on a second enemy mistake.

If they couldn’t reach the airfield, they had to at least drop more enemy ground troops before crashing!

As he spoke, Star River’s hands kept moving, quickly switching to the 30mm guns and unleashing fire on the Army’s southern machine-gun nests.

Sensing his intent, Falling Feather cooperated, pulling the controls to climb and maxing the main engine output, trading maneuverability for acceleration.

“Ever been a backseater in a strike fighter?”

“No, why?”

“No reason.”

Falling Feather drew a deep breath. “You can try it out now.”

The 12 blade-like wings, damaged and fractured though they were, stopped fluttering and folded inward, overlapping into a single wing.

Blue arcs spewed ionized air as the Cloudfly shot upward, breaking the sound barrier in an instant.

In that moment, the Cloudfly became a streak of light!

Rain of bullets fell on the land like feathers shed from a bird, drenching the southern side of Lost Valley where the cavalry were.

The rain of death from above tore the machine-gun positions apart, silencing much of their fire.

A 35mm high-explosive shell didn’t leave a neat hole, but a crater the size of a washbasin!

Without the suppressive machine guns, the defenders were soon overwhelmed by the cavalry tide.

Some were trampled to pulp, some skewered with bayonets. Many more were gunned down behind cover as they fled.

After losing more than half their number, with support from the New Alliance’s gunships, the cavalry finally broke a hole through the Army’s southern line.

However, the fiery rain that had spurred the cavalry’s charge could not last long.

Just as they stormed the camp, anti-air gunfire arrived overhead sooner than expected.

Under the sweep of 20mm rounds, their twelve wings shattered instantly.

The cockpit canopy splintered as their engines sprayed red flames and sparks!

But before becoming scrap, the craft burned itself out, firing off its last rockets.

Two white trails burst from the flames and before countless watching eyes, one fell toward the valley and the other streaked for the airfield...