Book 6 Chapter 35.8 - Covered In Dust
No one knew just how many lives were taken in the ten minutes since the war began, only able to see from the tactical screen that during this short period of time, the Blood Parliament already lost one fourth of its territory. Meanwhile, the bug swarm was still advancing into the Blood Parliament’s core territory with a speed of a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. In another ten minutes, the bug swarm would have reached Dragon City, roughly fifty minutes later, the bug swarm would reach the deepest parts of the Blood Parliament: Dark Red Castle’s skies.
This was a battle that was not equal at all. The mechanical bug swarm not only had a numbers advantage, their mobility and firepower also far exceeded their opponent. Wherever the bug swarm passed, high-energy light beams and miniature guided missiles practically overturned the entire great earth, all terrain and landforms changed, only scorched earth left behind. If one totaled up all of the energy released, it would be equivalent to a nuclear warhead landing every few minutes.
At this time, war already no longer had a front line or a back line, the battlefield was everywhere, all areas surrounded by thousands upon thousands of enemies at all sides. On the battlefield, there was one small stronghold that persisted especially long, its surrounding companions already completely destroyed by the bug swarm, yet it still tenaciously survived through the never-ending attacks. Within the black sea, this isolated island was especially striking.
The stronghold was established on an abandoned town, remodeled based on the original terrain. After many waves of attacks, the buildings on the ground were already blasted full of holes, but there were still people continuously moving between the ruins, the retaliation of firepower never stopping either.
Within a small house that already had its roof removed, a man shouted loudly, “David, go and get some more reflective steel plates! Damn it, these toys get used up too quickly. Let those below prepare the guided missiles and await my orders… no! Get everyone underground, guided missiles, it’s guided missiles! Damn it, they’ve increased in numbers again!”
His roaring voice possessed a unique penetrative force, able to transmit into the distance even through the sounds of explosions. Several nimble figures disappeared between the buildings with a flash, clearly all elite soldiers.
This fort belonged to the Fabregas family, the location couldn’t be considered good. The Fabregas Family previously stood firmly on the chairman’s side, and their relationship with General Morgan wasn’t that good either. That was why when the war ended, the family’s strength was greatly weakened, and they were given quite a few difficult tasks, for example, defending this military fort. Their job was precisely to defend against possible attacks from the bug swarm, and that was why this defensive point was hurriedly built, the one in charge of command precisely Ricardo. He almost completely vanished during the civil war, moreover not doing much, while once the civil war ended and the threat of the mechanical bug swarm began to appear, he appeared from who knew what corner, moreover willing to became the commander of this stronghold. Those who were sent to this stronghold were all the family’s criminals or people they weren’t fond of, so for someone like Ricardo who might very well succeed the family to come here, those who knew about this all thought that he was crazy.
It was true that Ricardo didn’t do much for the Fabregas family, but this didn’t prevent him from being someone with authority in the family. Just like many ability users, Ricardo’s abilities greatly strengthened during the civil war, when he reemerged, his strength as number one in the family was immediately stabilized. That was why if he wanted to become the family head, he could take on the role at any time, of course, as long as he killed all those who opposed him.
It wasn’t like this type of thing never happened before.
At this time, waves of shrill screaming sounds could be heard from the sky, an expanse of miniature guided missiles throwing themselves over like locusts, their tails continuously vibrating when flying quickly, releasing soul-shaking screaming noises. This group of missiles were at least a hundred in number, drawing out strange and nimble trajectories through the air as they flew towards this stronghold.
“Why are there so many of them?!” Ricardo cursed out. He didn’t hide underground like his comrades, instead picking up a strange looking energy rifle and jumping out of the bunker. The instant he leapt out, his eyes were already covered in a blood color, a formless force field spreading in all directions from him, extending out until it covered a range of several dozen meters. Once the miniature missiles entered the force field, they would immediately lose track of their target and fly everywhere in disorder. Sparks would continuously appear from the missiles, and soon afterwards, they would explode one after another, eventually, the blast waves of the missiles in the front detonated all of the remaining missiles! Over a hundred miniature guided missiles exploded, the power completely comparable to an olden era mid-range targeted guided missile, to the extent where it was even a bit greater. The shock wave of the explosion, under the guidance of the force field, scattered in all directions, and only then was a small half of the town’s buildings barely preserved.
When the explosions erupted, Ricardo had long moved into the underground defensive structures. The bunker was ten meters underground, able to offer ample protection. Less than an hour into the war, all of the fortifications made on the stronghold’s surface were already completely destroyed, so they were now completely relying on the underground bunker for safety. However, could this ten meter deep bunker offer absolute safety? Even an olden era earth drilling bomb could easily deal with these types of bunkers. The only thing they could hope for was that this mechanical bug swarm was just like those of the past, only having high energy light beams or guided missiles. However, this was most likely only an extravagant hope.
Even when in the underground bunker, one could still sense the powerful vibrations, one could imagine just how powerful the explosions on the surface were. Ricardo raised his head to look out, under the dusky lighting, several soldiers’ faces were pale, unable to control the fear they felt. This was already the fourth round of missiles. The bug swarm had their own logic and intelligence, when dealing with these twenty or so people in this stronghold, at first, they fired less than ten miniature guided missiles, in their perspective, these missiles had 120% certainty in completely wiping out everyone in the stronghold. However, all of the guided missiles either exploded in midair or were shot down, and as such, the second round had more than twenty missiles, the third round more than fifty, now reaching this fourth time which consisted of more than a hundred missiles. Then, what about the next time? If thousands to tens of thousands of miniature guided missiles attacked at the same time, Ricardo’s vibration force field might be able to make them explode, but he himself definitely couldn't jump out of the explosions in time.