The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2763 The Kali People, Lacking in Martial Morality
2763. The people of Kali, who lack martial virtue.

The Galactic Empire's operation to completely occupy the southern highlands did not go smoothly. Although they eventually gained control of the area, they paid a heavy price. A large number of armored units were destroyed in the attacks of exploding spiders, and bunkers continued to be airdropped from the sky, causing them enormous trouble.

This prevented them from ever establishing a solid defensive line in the southern highlands.

And at this time, news that nearly enraged General Maximilian Wells arrived again: the vanguard had discovered several field buildings belonging to the Kingdom of Dawn.

General Wells initially didn't care much; he simply ordered all the buildings to be destroyed. However, the footage from the front lines completely ignited his fury!

In the sky south of the Southern Highlands, more than a dozen buildings were flying slowly and steadily toward the positions controlled by the Kingdom of Dawn!
Can these buildings fly?
All that could be seen were anti-gravity devices and jet engines mounted beneath these structures, clearly indicating that takeoff and runaway capabilities were fully considered during their design and construction. Or to put it simply, these structures were essentially massive, slow-moving spaceships!
The largest of these was the command center! The shield generators were clearly visible on it, and thick smoke billowed from some of the compartments in the middle of the building—those were shield capacitors that had caught fire due to overload.

"What a joke!!" General Wells was furious, feeling humiliated. "These guys have caused us so much trouble, and now they want to run away?! Chase after them! Leave no one alive!!"

The Empire immediately deployed more armored units to climb the high ground, but the elusive exploding spiders caused them enormous trouble. The armored vehicle drivers were afraid of being blown up by the exploding spiders if they advanced rashly, but they were also reluctant to disobey orders, so they could only advance slowly and painstakingly.

In the sky, the air battle between the two sides remained fierce. The Imperial fighters were barely holding on thanks to their numerical advantage. Both sides' fighters were circling in the air, fighting relentlessly and firing at each other to test each other's strength, but neither side had any intention of accelerating to penetrate the other's positions for bombing.

With inadequate air support and slow advances by ground armored units, the only option was to wait for infantry to clear the high ground completely.

However, the army of the Kingdom of Dawn clearly did not intend to let them have it so easy.

A ball of pale blue light arrived in an instant and crashed directly into a massive 1-H super-heavy tank!
Boom!!! A pale blue explosion erupted instantly. The deflector shields on this super-heavy tank were completely ineffective; the explosion struck the armor directly, blasting a large hole in the front of the tank!

Another golden beetle?
Under General Maximilian Wells's bloodshot gaze, all he saw was the two golden transport planes carrying the Golden Beetles stop more than 50 kilometers above the high ground and unload the beetles. Then… the Golden Beetles opened fire again!
In mid-air, a pale blue light curtain protected the golden beetle, clearly indicating that it was another stronghold of the Dawn Kingdom.

General Wells seemed to hear the sound of the string called "reason" snapping in his brain!

"Don't stop! Keep attacking! Keep attacking!! No matter how much damage I suffer, I must destroy those two Beetles! Destroy them!!!" General Wells roared and cursed like a shrew.

The roar echoed through the communication channel.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of Kunda City, the Galactic Empire established a landing site.

This landing site was extremely busy. To facilitate the supply of the front lines, the Galactic Empire cleared the entire area within a radius of tens of kilometers, destroying surrounding villages and forcing residents into labor or massacring them. The area was then completely leveled and paved, and facilities such as command towers, hospitals, barracks, entertainment areas, repair stations, spaceports, and airports were constructed.

Transport planes constantly took off and landed, continuously delivering urgently needed ammunition, fuel, and troops to this steel jungle. Surveillance radars operated at full power, scanning every inch of the wilderness where potential threats might lurk.

However, due to the sudden and intense situation on the front lines, General Maximilian Wells, stationed in Konda, and General Zell Johnson, stationed in the Mosa settlement, were attacked by a mysterious weapon called "Raider" from the Kingdom of Dawn. As a result, both generals made the same decision - to launch a full-scale attack.

In order to sustain this series of unplanned offensives launched suddenly at the front, a lot of troops and supplies needed to be drawn from the landing zone. Many soldiers and tanks and armored vehicles were even rushed to the front line immediately after they got off the transport plane.

This caused the landing sites set up by the Galactic Empire behind these two cities to become incredibly busy immediately. The large-scale troop reinforcements had already made the landing sites very busy, but now they not only had to receive a large number of troops and supplies, organize and accommodate these personnel, but also send these troops and supplies out immediately!
As a result, these landing sites were incredibly busy, and could even be described as chaotic!
Near the landing zone, in a village destroyed by bombing, something seemed to be wriggling in the shadows, yet there seemed to be nothing at all.

Here, there exists a mysterious army that moves like ghosts among abandoned buildings and ruins, their bodies completely shrouded in cloaks covered with branches and mud. Their weapons are also wrapped in cloth strips and concealed with mud and leaves, so they reflect no light whatsoever.

This primitive and rudimentary method is very effective at blocking radar detection.

Each of the soldiers remained silent, their large feet making no sound as they stepped on the ground, and their movements were extremely agile; even when they crouched low, it did not affect their speed of advance.

They were also very experienced, making the most of their surroundings to conceal themselves as they moved forward, their every move seemingly blending seamlessly with their environment.

That's right, these warriors are the Kali people—the race in the Dawn Kingdom most skilled in guerrilla tactics!
Bentiras-san-Skar the Slaughterer walked at the very front of the formation. On the battlefield, he hadn't stripped down to his underwear, but was instead wearing a combat uniform and optical camouflage—because his massive body was difficult to conceal, and as the highest military commander of the Kali, he naturally needed to be fully armed to lead from the front.

Despite his massive size, San-Skar was still incredibly agile. As the most powerful warrior of the Kali, he moved with ease even in such complex terrain, concealing himself completely with his optical camouflage.

For this surprise attack, he dispatched four divisions of the Kali forces, totaling over 40,000 men, to infiltrate and spread out across an area spanning tens of kilometers. Like an invisible tide, they silently swept through the gaps in the battlefield, precisely avoiding the Imperial army's patrol routes and reconnaissance points.

Their operations were conducted in company-level units, with each unit acting independently, strictly adhering to the prior operational plan and the on-site improvisation of the frontline commander. This level of discipline and coordination alone surpassed that of almost all land forces in the galaxy, and even the Dawn Kingdom's own army could not match it.

This is natural, after all, so far only the Kali people in this galaxy have managed to defeat an interstellar civilization with a civilization based on cold weapons.

The instinct for battle is ingrained in the blood of the Kali people. Their battles do not require constant communication and command for coordination. They only need to explain the battle plan before setting out, and then the commanders of each unit and even every soldier under their command will understand what they should do.

Such quality made the Kali army a true ghost army!

Because this army doesn't emit any electronic signals as it advances! And they are incredibly hardy, requiring only the nutritional supplements they carry or whatever they find on the spot to sustain their operations. Along the way, even the Galactic Empire patrols along the roads failed to detect this army of 40,000!
The patrol teams had no idea that while they were swaggering around in their hoverbikes, surveying the area and reporting to headquarters that "everything was normal," thousands of eyes were watching their every move from the shadows.

It was nearly dawn, the time when the morning fog was thickest, and the Kali warriors had quietly arrived at their designated positions.

The guards and sentries inside the landing zone were at their most exhausted and relaxed at this moment. San-Skar raised his arm, tapped the multi-tool on his wrist to confirm the location one last time, and then waved his hand gently.

This simple action set the stage for the battle!

His elite guards immediately sprang from their concealment and pounced on the outer watchtowers like ghosts!

Snipers in the army immediately opened fire, extinguishing the searchlights around the Imperial base and killing the sentries. Gunfire pierced the thick fog in the darkness, precise and deadly.

The assault teams swiftly penetrated deep into the base, charging straight towards their respective objectives! Every Imperial soldier and staff member they encountered along the way was precisely killed!

Even if the Kali warriors aren't snipers, their marksmanship is extremely accurate. Every single shot is concise and deadly; once a shot is fired, a target is bound to fall!

Four divisions, more than 40,000 Kali warriors, rushed towards the landing base from all directions. There were no deafening shouts of battle, only increasingly dense gunfire and explosions. Every soldier silently carried out the killing.

The Galactic Empire's military was completely unprepared for this attack! The alarm system had barely been triggered when they were subjected to a full-scale assault! They didn't even know who was attacking them or where the enemy was!

The laser fence surrounding the base was quickly destroyed, and all the lights that could provide illumination were constantly going out. The brightly lit base was being shrouded in darkness at a visible speed.

The invading Kali warriors were all light infantry, equipped with pickaxe sniper rifles and Valkyrie assault rifles, as well as a large number of M-57 short spear rocket launchers.

The short spear rocket launcher is an improved version of the M-41 rocket launcher previously used by the Dawn Kingdom's army. This rocket launcher is lighter and has a very easy-to-disassemble two-round magazine. Its overall weight is about half that of the M-41 rocket launcher, making it very suitable for rapid infiltration and assaults like those of the Kali.

The Kali warriors didn't engage with the heavily armored units at all, and some of the assault companies charged directly toward the armory inside the Imperial landing site.

The local inhabitants of the planet who were captured by the Imperial army to work as laborers had already revealed the general layout and situation of the base to the Kingdom of Dawn. Coupled with the high-altitude reconnaissance by the reconnaissance aircraft, the Kalli raiding force could be said to know everything about the base.

Chaos reigned inside the base. An AT-AT walker, before it could even be fully loaded with crew, began heading toward the direction of the attack, its turbine laser cannon firing continuously.

However, before it could fire more than a few shots, several large-caliber shells from the side blasted straight into it! The Kalli warriors on the ground also bombarded the AT-AT's four long legs with M-57 short spear rocket launchers.

Soon, the huge walking machine collapsed to the ground, billowing thick smoke. An AT-AP walking machine emerged from the other hangar and turned its cannons to fire wildly towards the Imperial base!
The base's outer defenses were quickly breached, and a large quantity of newly delivered equipment was captured by the Kali warriors. Within an hour of the battle beginning, the Kali had at least 50 armored vehicles of various types!

The most miserable were the soldiers of the Galactic Empire. They were completely unprepared, and many of them even ran out of the barracks in their underwear. Forget about their white polymer alloy armor, they now had to run naked for hundreds of meters to the armory on the other side to get their weapons!
In contrast, the Kali army's entry into the area was like tigers entering a flock of sheep, and they immediately launched a massacre!

Vast numbers of Imperial soldiers were precisely targeted and killed in the darkness, their screams and explosions mingling together.

The warehouse was bombed and destroyed, all discovered power lines were cut, and the towering command tower was completely destroyed by hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades. Communications were cut off, the command system was in chaos, and the entire base was utterly disorganized.

The base, including robots and laborers, has at least a million people, but fewer than 50,000 are actually capable of fighting; the rest are non-combatants or unarmed soldiers.

The fiercest resistance in the entire base came from the KX series security robots; everyone else seemed to be running around aimlessly. Because they couldn't coordinate their attacks and were fighting in isolation, they were quickly destroyed.

Furthermore, the Kali warriors' goal was very clear—to kill!
They didn't have many heavy weapons, so their only objective was to kill. But the most tragic thing was that this landing base was now teeming with people!