Book 6 Chapter 35.4 - Covered In Dust
Within the Blood Parliament’s territory, a brand new communication network was established in the shortest amount of time after the civil war ended. Even though it only had a single function, its effectiveness weak, it was an indispensable tactical installation. Right now, the communication network was already full of activity, large amounts of data completely filling the limited bandwidth, and as a result, all data that wasn’t of the highest level of importance were all pushed back. Right now, the various families that still had their own military strength and the powers that were still equipped with armed forces were busy, every command center noisy with voice. The young messengers were drenched in sweat, using the fastest speed to run along the aisles, staff officers grabbing phones, using the greatest volume, fastest voice speed to roar into the microphone in order to pass on information to those who needed to hear in the shortest amount of time.
In the Black Dragonriders, General Josh Morgan finally left his beloved office, making a rare appearance in the combat hall. He stood on the command platform that extended from the second floor, silently looking at the giant combat screen that occupied two whole floors. The combat hall below was full of a modern feel, moreover able to allow several dozen combat staff officers to work at the same time. Of course, right now, the hall was far from reaching full staff, but the twelve combat staff officers were no different from the Black Dragonriders when it was at its peak. Lieutenant Colonel Julio was so busy it was as if he was going to fly, his already fat body like a light bubble, drifting about the busying staff officers and piles of documents, his speed even a bit faster than when he was at his peak of his life. Back then, Julio was still only a captain, and he had to fight with his life on the battlefield. Between his chest and legs were six distinct abdominal muscles, and not the lump of fat there was now.
He was practically burning up his lifespan, his brain unprecedentedly clear, a sea of information flowing past like water, almost instantly finding the optimal plan of action, and then splitting up into several parts, issuing them to corresponding families or troops, telling them what they should do right now. Right now, Julio was serious, and he was also brilliant. His chubby face and bald head both shone, the feeling of having a sacred mission to complete not only filling his spirit, it even spilled out from him, from this infecting the entire combat hall’s staff officers. Almost of all of the Blood Parliament’s resources were under Julio’s command, at least in name. Whether or not the orders he gave the various families would be carried out, and how far they would be carried out, would completely depend on the various families themselves. However, at the very least, right now, Lieutenant Colonel Julio’s orders were completed with rather high efficiency, almost all of his orders carried out.
On the giant tactical screen, one could see that within the Blood Parliament’s territory, the light specks representing the various troops were currently moving, concentrating towards the various permanent or temporary strongholds. The great families’ military forces had already gathered as well, displaying a bright patch of light on the screen, their range of firepower control displayed through a ring around it. The various rings were linked up, turning the Blood Parliament’s territory into a whole entity. Meanwhile, outside the area of control, one could see three giant gray clouds moving slowly, just that enormous, a single look enough to make one feel despair!
Every single dark cloud represented a mechanical bug swarm, these clouds rushing at the Blood Parliament from three directions like pincer claws, wishing to crush the boulder that was the Blood Parliament blocking the way. At the edge of the dark clouds, all types of numbers were currently flying about, the concrete number of combat units within the mechanical bug swarms gradually appearing. Different colors were used to distinguish the degree of danger of the various combat units, red signifying extreme danger, while purple signified that the level of danger was unclear. What was most unsettling was that the bright red was currently spreading, but the ones that occupied the leading positions were purple-colored. Everyone knew that the unknown danger level represented combat units that had not appeared before, these units definitely representing even more powerful, more destructive, or more flexible new model combat units. Meanwhile, below all of the data, the total sum of the mechanical units was displayed. The three bug swarms’ numbers already exceeded seven digits, but it still climbing, the largest swarm of bugs at the center even more so closing in on eight digits!
This was the true main force!
Compared to the three bug tides, the number of bugs didn’t surpass a million, and most of them didn’t target the Blood Parliament, instead spread throughout the entire continent. The information sent back by the scouts indicated that the furthest wave of machines already reached the continental bridge connecting the two continents, moreover starting to cross the great sea, extending southward. The three waves that invaded the Blood Parliament consisting of a hundred thousand bugs were easily wiped out at that time.
However, only now did the Blood Parliament discover that this was the main force of the mechanical bug swarm!
Under the bug swarm’s sky covering numbers, even the most powerful ability users would feel despair. They would at most be able to ensure their own safety, completely unable to save anyone else. Not even the fastest off-road vehicle could outrun the mechanical bugs flying above. It wasn’t that no one doubted the size of the mechanical bug swarm, to the extent where complex and strict models were created, proving that the mechanical bugs’ upper bound was several millions, any more and there wouldn’t be enough resources to support their creation. Metal was limited, energy was also limited, which was why the model was strict to the extent where no one could argue back. The Blood Parliament’s preparations to engage in full on war became a bit lax as a result. The mechanical units were individually extremely weak, medium level, experienced ability users able to easily wipe out more than a hundred of them. With the unprecedented group of powerful ability users that had appeared after the war in the Blood Parliament, even if an inconceivable number reaching a million mechanical units appeared, they could still completely eradicate the enemy with controlled losses. In fact, many of the special equipment designed to specially for dealing with the mechanical bug swarm were researched in an extremely short amount of time, further strengthening the families’ confidence. There were some groups who already planned to set up expeditionary forces to track down and wipe out these mechanical bugs’ nests. These mechanical combat units possessed era transcending energy technology, artificial intelligence, and materials, behind them definitely a central intelligence system like existence. If they could capture it, then not only would the humans’ intelligence system technology advance by leaps and bounds, they might even be able to instantly break through the clouds of radiation, restarting the technology of space travel!