Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The Third Legion's overall output power was already much higher than that of other legions. The original mechs weren't even at their weight limit, and now they've been fitted with even more heavy armor. Add to that He Cheng's almost constant use of his command skills, and the entire legion's load reached a truly terrifying level.

He Cheng's ability theoretically allows him to reduce his own mass to 1% or even less of his normal mass. However, if he activates the skill in this way, he can only maintain it for a dozen seconds before needing to rest for a period of time before he can activate it again. But if he keeps the mass reduction constant at around 50%, that is, half of his normal mass, then he can basically activate his skill normally and cover the entire legion with the skill.

The boost this provides to the Third Legion is terrifying. The mass of each mech has increased to more than three times its normal mass. The heaviest mechs, without any weight reduction, weigh 50,000 tons, equivalent to a land battleship walking upright on the ground. Even the top warriors of the Yeti Legion would have a hard time defeating this behemoth in a one-on-one fight. After all, this behemoth doesn't just rely on its iron fists for offense. Its massive load-bearing capacity allows it to carry various heavy weapons. It has virtually no weaknesses in close or long-range combat. It's the type that could easily destroy a Level 6 monster in the Pacific Rim.

And within the legion, there were tens of thousands more mechs, each slightly smaller than the last. The sheer force of such a legion marching forward in perfect unison was enough to awe the entire Golden Family and the Yeti Legion.

The various legions also seemed to be centered around the Third Legion, using it as the spearhead of their attack, launching a frontal assault on the Yeti Legion.

In an instant, a massive amount of ice spikes condensed and rained down from the sky, bombarding the direction of the Third Legion. Ice spikes several meters thick slammed into the ground, enough to create craters tens of meters deep, but those hitting high-strength alloy armor only produced slight indentations. The dense, rain-like barrage of giant ice pillars had, at best, a superficial itch against these thick-skinned, iron-clad armors.

"So it's just a thick layer of hide. It's definitely tougher than those previous guys. But do you think just being tough is enough?" Duan Yun showed no fear as the Third Legion approached, because the Third Legion's attacks were equally ineffective against them. Large numbers of high-explosive shells were launched into the Snowman Legion's lines, but the explosives froze in mid-air, unable to detonate. They simply slammed into their ranks like lumps of iron.

As for the pure kinetic energy attacks launched by other legions, their effectiveness wasn't actually very good. The Yetis are individually quite strong, meaning their reaction speed is very fast. Furthermore, there's no need for them to form dense formations like ancient armies; each Yeti is tens of meters apart. Even at this distance, they can still coordinate the legion's strength. And at this distance, they are perfectly capable of dodging pure kinetic energy attacks.

Only the 13th Army Corps posed a real challenge for them. Even armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot rounds, with their extremely small area of ​​effect, still possessed a tracking ability. Moreover, this tracking ability differed from that of ordinary missiles; it wasn't affected by ultra-low temperatures, which allowed them to hit these high-speed evasive targets. Kinetic energy attacks from other units had virtually no chance of hitting them.

After all, the attack range of a shell using pure kinetic energy is very small. To maintain sufficient kinetic energy at long distances, the mass of a single shell cannot be too small. As a result, shells that can disperse like a scattering of bullets are basically out of the question. As for the dispersion at the terminal stage, this approach seems effective. However, in actual combat, very few missiles can successfully release cluster munitions at the terminal stage. Just as missiles struggle to lock onto and track targets in extremely low temperatures, the extreme cold renders most mechanical and electronic systems inoperable. In such an environment, mechanical structures that are unable to function properly cannot reliably eject cluster munitions. Usually, the mechanisms freeze, causing all the munitions to become encased together and crash into the target like a single shell.

However, the technological hurdles aren't that high. Given more time, the underground base could develop cluster munitions capable of dispersing in ultra-low temperatures for kinetic energy strikes. But for now, the main force of attack is still the 13th Legion, hidden in the shadows, relying on long-range attacks and target-locking kinetic energy strikes to single-handedly defeat the Yeti Legion. Over 60% casualties.

The approaching Third Legion's ranged attacks have so far only killed three or four Yetis, with the rest missing completely.

However, once they reach close enough for melee combat, the situation changes. Their massive size allows them to ignore most kinetic attacks. As for special types of killing moves, while theoretically possible to penetrate physical defenses, the human body is simply too small compared to the enormous mechs. Locking onto the precise position of a human inside the mech and launching a killing move is actually quite difficult, especially since the Yetis are indeed skilled in ice and snow-based attacks. Unleashing various bizarre and unusual killing moves would not only be inefficient but would also affect coordination with comrades on the battlefield. If the two sides were to engage in close-quarters combat, the Third Legion, despite suffering considerable casualties, could indeed cause significant trouble for the Yeti Legion.

Duan Yun's assessment was that their opponent was planning this: to engage in close-quarters combat despite the extreme cold, and then relentlessly bombard them using their massive size. Ultimately, the Yeti Legion couldn't withstand such attrition; their entire elite force was here. Although their overall strength surpassed that of the Golden Family combined, their numbers were still too few. The underground base already housed hundreds of millions of people. If this continued, they would undoubtedly be worn down and killed.

Therefore, the Yeti Legion decided to strike first, and also notified the Golden Family: "Tell your people to stop those people underground. Other legions, do not give them a chance to provide support. We must first devour this army piloting giant mechs."

Black Loulan had rarely been treated with such arrogance before, but now the Golden Family was truly hopeless. So far, their army, trained based on information gleaned from prisoners at the underground base, had only managed to release Xuan Qi; they hadn't even condensed a single deadly war technique. After all, the various families weren't united, and even within the same family, those of different statuses held differing opinions. Without a shared vision, it was extremely difficult to forge a truly deadly war technique.

The Golden Family warriors, who were originally the main force in the decisive battle against the underground base, are now relegated to the sidelines. They can only play a supporting role, intercepting enemies and stalling for time. Hei Loulan desperately wanted to refuse this mission, but even the entire Golden Family, united, was no match for the Yeti Legion. He had no choice but to accept it. He also wanted to use this opportunity to develop his newly formed legion and forge its own unique war strategy.

Hei Loulan had already noticed the lack of shared ideology among them. The probability of a mixed army composed of different families developing its own unique war strategy was almost zero. Therefore, the army he currently commanded consisted entirely of elites selected from the Hei family alone. Although the Golden Family's total numbers were not as large as the underground base, and might even gradually fall into a disadvantageous position as more people joined, the quality of the elites from each family was still far superior to that of the underground base. Years of exploiting remote tribes had cultivated elites whose strength was undoubtedly considerable. If they could truly develop a war strategy, their strength should surpass that of an underground base army of similar level.

Black Loulan and the various clans led their warriors to intercept the reinforcements from the underground base. However, the interception was fraught with difficulties. The enemy's firepower was too fierce, and even the Seventh Swift Legion, which usually valued manpower and was unwilling to fight to the death, began to actively charge towards Black Loulan's army. When necessary, they would even deliberately crash into important command nodes, sacrificing themselves to severely damage Black Loulan's command system.

This fierce fighting style compressed the Golden Family's defensive lines, forcing them to retreat continuously. Admittedly, this was indeed due to the underground base's overwhelming offensive. However, another factor cannot be ignored: their opponents were also holding back. The Golden Family and the Yeti Legion were clearly not of one mind; their races were different, and if it weren't for the fact that the Yetis might be creatures raised by legendary immortals, and if they hadn't learned from their backers that these Yetis could be partners, they probably would have already started fighting the Yetis, or even joined forces with the underground base to wipe them out first. If they didn't know the other side's true nature, under the banner of common human interests, the conflict between the underground base and the Golden Family wasn't necessarily irreconcilable.

Although they now know from various sources that these yetis are their comrades, the two sides are ultimately of different races. The Golden Family members are not united, and it's impossible for them to be willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the yeti army. It is precisely because the Golden Family lacks a reason to fight this battle that their battle lines have been forced back, back to the vicinity of the yeti army. And without a reason to fight, although the battle is extremely fierce, no Golden Family unit has been able to muster a decisive and effective fighting strategy.

Hei Loulan realized that his soldiers were unlikely to grasp the meaning of life in this battle. Therefore, he began to hold back, constantly retreating his lines. Their mission was simply to buy time. If the Snowman Legion failed to eliminate the Third Legion as promised, the problem would fall on the Snowmen, giving them more leverage in future negotiations. However, a vague unease lingered, an intuition that prevented him from retreating too quickly while maintaining a cautious approach. Their lines were slightly more resilient than those of other families. If the enemy's objective was to encircle them, holding their lines meant that any attempt to break through would be less difficult than with other legions, making escape much easier.

The Golden Family members each held back a trump card, but the Yeti Legion and the Third Legion were truly locked in fierce combat. Neither side held back; the Yeti Legion concentrated their icy power around themselves, lowering the temperature in a small area to a terrifyingly low level where ordinary people could not survive.

All missiles within this range have lost their effectiveness, unable to track targets or even ignite. Logically, these massive steel behemoths, powered by ultra-powerful internal combustion engines, should also lose their formidable performance in this extremely low-temperature environment. Previously, when they attempted this tactic, it had already caused numerous enemy tanks to break down, with some drivers even freezing to death inside, unable to continue operating them. Now that the enemy has delivered themselves to their doorstep, there's no reason not to take advantage.

However, once the two sides actually clashed, the situation was beyond the Yeti Legion's expectations. The warriors riding the giant steel golems seemed completely unaffected. The extreme cold didn't even affect the agility of these war behemoths. Several Yetis in the front ranks were sent flying by powerful punches, and some unlucky ones were even blown to pieces by near-point-fire artillery bombardment.

Duan Yun hadn't expected that any enemy could withstand their extreme cold and charge up. He quickly switched his perspective, changing his view to thermal imaging mode.

They immediately realized something was wrong: each mech contained a massive super boiler burning a continuous supply of fuel. This fuel didn't provide power; instead, it generated enormous amounts of steam that flowed through the various pipes inside the mech, counteracting the effects of the extremely low external temperatures and maintaining the mech's temperature.

This tactic is not new. Mammals have been able to outperform reptiles in high-altitude, cold regions by maintaining their body temperature through blood and other means, thus ensuring their mobility in low-temperature environments. Now, heavy mechs have achieved the same thing by using their size advantage and installing huge boilers to solve combat problems in ultra-low temperature environments.

[To be continued]

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