Ten thousand I am across the heavens

In the conference room of the underground base, representatives from various legions were fiercely debating the upcoming battle plan. None of the legion commanders who had survived to this day were cowards. But the task of acting as bait wasn't something everyone was qualified for.

The first to be eliminated was the Seventh Legion of Speed. Although the Seventh Legion was fast, it was inherently too fragile. In pursuit of extreme lightweight design, most of its armor had been removed. This made them extremely fast and agile, but once cornered, they were very vulnerable and could be wiped out in an instant.

"Even seasoned veterans with high resistance to mental attacks cannot guarantee a quick recovery of combat effectiveness. Therefore, we do not recommend that legions that rely more on their superhuman abilities in combat participate in this mission. After being attacked, both legions will almost simultaneously fall into a brief state of unconsciousness, which may only last for a dozen seconds. However, it is hard to guarantee that no enemy soldiers will escape attack during this time. The legion that falls into unconsciousness must have the ability to ensure its own survival even while unconscious."

The engineering department provided more detailed requirements. To reiterate, many more legions were quickly eliminated after being used as bait. The eleventh elite legion was swiftly eliminated. While formidable, their over-reliance on their signature combat tactics made them relatively vulnerable once they fell unconscious. Although they were highly attractive to the enemy, the entire legion couldn't be allowed to perish here.

The 13th Legion is a typical ranged unit and is not suitable for use as bait. Although the 10th Legion is a unit with strong defense, its defense relies more on its Legion Killer skill. Once it loses its Legion Killer skill, it is not much different from a base Legion.

The three elite units were all eliminated. While the Eighth Burning Legion possessed specialized firepower against Yetis, its overall combat strength was relatively weak compared to other units, making it somewhat unsuitable as bait. Therefore, it was quickly eliminated. As for the Fifth Legion, the ability to manipulate light and shadow was crucial, especially in reconnaissance and command, playing a vital role in the entire army group's operations. Furthermore, they were not adept at defense, so they were also excluded.

In fact, the underground base lacked defensive-oriented units. Only the 10th Legion seemed suitable for defense. With the modernization of warfare, battlefield operations increasingly involved eliminating enemies beyond visual range. Concealment became far more important than defense. In this environment, defensive units used in ancient times to hold the line were inevitably phased out. No single legion was particularly suited for this task. Ultimately, the 3rd Legion stepped forward. Their commander, Shen Daji, declared that they could undertake the mission.

The Third Legion isn't exactly an elite legion, but its strength is certainly not weak. However, because its abilities are relatively simple, it hasn't consistently delivered outstanding performances on the battlefield. The Third Legion's killing moves can be broadly categorized as power enhancement. Compared to other killing moves that directly interfere with the fundamental physical laws of the world, their killing moves are relatively comprehensive. This usually means that the killing moves themselves are difficult to develop to a very high level of depth, but it also means that they can be extremely powerful from the very beginning.

They can achieve higher power output for various types of engines by altering a variety of complex physicochemical properties. The more detailed the soldiers' understanding of the engine's structure and operating principles, the more effective their power enhancement strategy will be.

Their other trump card is structural reinforcement, which greatly enhances the intermolecular forces, significantly increasing the strength of materials. This can be considered a defensive skill, but it's usually only effective against physical attacks. Its effectiveness against mental attacks and supernatural penetration is limited; more often, it allows them to strengthen their vehicles, subjecting them to even higher overloads. This makes this legion the only one equipped with massive mechs. Ordinary soldiers' mechs already exceed 10 meters in height. Elite warriors pilot mechs that are 20-30 meters tall. The legion commander and other officers' mechs reach around 50 meters in size. The increased material strength allows these enormous machines to support their own structural integrity. With reliable defense and significantly increased power output, this legion is well-rounded in both offense and defense, but lacks unique special techniques.

However, this is also thanks to the protection of the large mechs; many veterans within the legion have survived countless battles. Although their combat techniques, in terms of potential, are far inferior to those that directly interfere with the fundamental laws of physics, they are still slowly improving through continuous development. Overall, their combat strength is actually among the top of all the legions. Other legions' combat techniques may have higher potential, but whether they will have the opportunity to unleash their potential is another matter. If their survivability is insufficient, premature annihilation renders even the highest potential useless.

Now, the Third Legion has become the legion with the best overall defensive capabilities among all the legions.

“I can temporarily step down as legion commander. My command skill, reducing energy consumption, is very suitable for regular operations. However, in the upcoming war where we'll be acting as bait, my skill doesn't match the legion's tactical objectives. I hope He Cheng can take command of the Third Legion. His abilities allow the legion to carry more weight, and we can improve our defense in all aspects by increasing the thickness of our armor.” Shen Daji didn't care at all about handing over command of his legion to someone else. The underground base was currently going through its most difficult period, far from the time for power struggles.

He Cheng pondered Shen Daji's suggestion for a moment and nodded: "This can indeed bring out the Third Legion's power advantage. Only the Third Legion can support the engine to run at high power and drive the heavy mechs. I can use mass control to make the Third Legion bear a heavier load for a short time. Although this will reduce their endurance, their passive defense will also be improved as a result."

Even without human control, those heavy mechs cannot be destroyed in a short time.

However, before I awoke, the heavily armored legion would likely have difficulty moving. My own genetic lock should be unlocked enough to ensure I woke up relatively early. The mission itself is highly feasible.

He Cheng seemed completely unconcerned. He didn't care what unpredictable risks mental pollution might pose to him; since he was the most suitable person to carry out this mission, there was no reason for him to refuse.

“I also agree with this plan. If I lead the Eleventh Legion to ambush nearby, concealing our presence as much as possible, we could even try to use the ability of time reversal after the attack. We could directly rewind the entire Third Legion to before the attack. However, this would only restore their combat effectiveness; the mental pollution they suffered would not be removed.”

Blue City had somewhat anticipated that time travel wouldn't be able to eradicate mental pollution. After all, previous tests had shown that mental pollution permeated the entire river of time, as if those affected were born that way. Their past was altered; even if their time were rewound to infancy, the mental pollution remained rooted in their minds. According to theoretical physicists, this was due to the unique spacetime structure of this world. The river of time, as a unique spectacle, could materialize, making time travel and time reversal much easier in this world than in other universes. However, this also created a necessary connection between upstream and downstream timelines. Mental pollution spread simultaneously upstream and downstream along the river of time. Therefore, even if an individual affected by the pollution traveled back to before the pollution occurred, they remained in a state of contamination.

Such a dangerous weapon would never have been deployed in actual combat unless it had undergone detailed testing and confirmed that there was virtually no risk of proliferation.

After confirming the general strategy, each department began to formulate detailed tactical plans. Compared to ancient warfare, where decisions were largely based on the general's judgment, combat was much more methodical. Typically, a strategic plan was first formulated, then tasks were assigned to each legion, and contingency plans were developed for legions that might fail to complete their tasks on time, allowing for flexibility in mission execution.

While this command approach lacks flexibility, it can actually maximize one's own combat effectiveness when the enemy lacks a commander capable of flexibly deploying every unit across the entire battlefield.

Time quickly moved to the next day, and the underground base took the initiative to launch a full-scale attack. In their previous encounters with the Yeti Legion, they had not gained the upper hand. In fact, the Eighth Burning Legion was almost caught by their opponents once, suffering hundreds of casualties before successfully withdrawing.

This time, their confident and all-out attack completely exceeded the expectations of the Golden Family and the Yeti Legion. However, the Yeti Legion hadn't been wasting their time. While the ability to use deadly combat techniques was novel, it ultimately conformed to the basic rules of this world. By applying the same approach to developing conventional killing techniques, they could certainly develop their own. The Yeti Legion's ability ultimately stemmed from temperature control; when the temperature dropped to a certain level, molecular thermal motion almost ceased, resulting in extremely high levels of power for both offense and defense.

When they first awakened this power, they couldn't use it properly, allowing the cold air to spread out and form a frozen, snow-covered area. While this seemed like a huge advantage and created a formidable spectacle, it was actually due to their ineffective use of their power. A great deal of waste occurred during its application, resulting in the entire battlefield turning into a frozen wasteland.

They have now gradually learned to restrain their power, limiting its influence to their immediate surroundings, generally affecting only a radius of three to four kilometers.

However, this also means that temperatures in this area will drop to an extremely dangerous level, often falling below -150 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, many gases will freeze, conventional internal combustion engines will be unable to operate, and without sufficient cold-weather protection, no military force can approach them. No type of high-explosive ordnance can detonate within this range.

In the face of such extreme low temperatures, the attacks of Gu insects are often frozen to death immediately, preventing them from advancing any further.

The Yeti Legion has not only mastered the ability to create such ultra-low temperatures around its own territory, but also, based on its past experience in developing lethal techniques, it can create ice tornadoes within these ultra-low-temperature environments and then release them. These tornadoes can move at relatively high speeds across the battlefield, destroying targets from a distance.

This largely compensated for their previous weakness in short attack range. The Yeti Legion had a significant shortcoming in reconnaissance compared to their underground bases, which were already heavily equipped with radar. However, they compensated for this weakness in an unconventional way. The ice storm's strike radius reached 3-4 km, meaning that wide-area strikes could be achieved without precise reconnaissance; simply launching the storm was enough. Even if the strike was inaccurate, it didn't matter. If they couldn't pinpoint the enemy's location within meters, surely they could pinpoint it within kilometers? Under such extreme temperatures, anyone falling within the ice storm's attack range would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

The Yeti Legion had just developed this powerful killing move and was eager to test its power. The enemy delivered themselves to their doorstep—what more could they ask for? All forces mobilized. Every Yeti, fully armed, took to the battlefield. The icy blue mist above their heads was much thicker than before, signifying their increasingly profound mastery of the war-making techniques. Although they had only activated one killing move, with continued practice on the battlefield, they would inevitably advance further, making the legion even more difficult to deal with.

The battlefield was no longer the simple contest of soldiers versus soldiers, king versus king, of the past. Both sides had learned to fight as large groups. At the start of the battle, both sides politely exchanged a barrage of long-range fire. Whether these long-range attacks were launched from conventional long-barreled cannons or super-large slingshots, the density of fire on both sides was incredibly high. The already withered grasslands were gradually scarred by their artillery fire, while the rapidly moving legions constantly changed positions, trying to pinpoint the enemy's location. Everything seemed the same as before. Until a legion appeared, its every step heavy enough to shake the earth violently.

[To be continued]

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