Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 158 Breakthrough to the Core
"The federal troops have entered the passageway. Drive them out immediately!"

"Immediately deploy the reserve forces; the passage must be secured!"

Under the orders of the frontline commander, a large number of Zeon troops rushed towards the position of the Nemesis Training Corps, while the Nemesis Training Corps also advanced. Subsequently, the two sides engaged in a battle in the underground passage.

"kill!"

When the two mobile suits collided, their positions reversed. In the past, it was Zeon's Zaku that launched close-range attacks, with the GM providing cover with its gun and shield. But now, it was the Assault GM that launched the charge.

"Stop them!"

Zeon's Zaku quickly raised its machine gun in the passageway. As the GM surged forward, it pulled the trigger. The roaring machine gun spewed out scorching flames, and heavy brass cartridge cases, steaming hot, were ejected from the ejection port, landing on the ground with a crisp sound.

To the surprise of the Zaku pilots, when the powerful 120mm shells landed on these GMs, they only produced large amounts of metallic sparks. Before the smoke cleared, the GMs wielding double-bladed beam spears had already charged forward.

The Assault GM's double-edged spear is equipped with an angle adjustment device at the spearhead, which allows the double blades to bend at a 90-degree angle, thus turning the double-edged beam spear into a scythe that can be used for slashing.

At that moment, the machine piloted by Lieutenant Yuji charged forward, wielding a scythe-like spear.

Braving the Zaku's barrage, his Strike GM charged into the Zeon ranks like a rampaging boar, then slammed his powerful beam scythe into the Zaku in front of him.

"Damn it, Lieutenant Kio was killed by him!"

"Let's attack together! Take him down!"

As the Zaku was smashed, coolant gushed out and sparks flew everywhere. The Zaku pilots behind it shuddered. After all, that blow had ripped the Zaku open, and even if the pilots inside weren't vaporized by the beam, they would be gruesomely slashed.

After taking down the Zaku, the Assault GM drew its spear, straightened the spearhead, and returned it to its spear position before heading towards the Zaku further behind.

A Zaku, wielding a thermal axe, charged forward with long strides, its other hand holding its shoulder shield. Lieutenant Yuji gripped his spear tightly and launched a swift, powerful thrust at the Zaku's lower body. The Zaku pilot immediately tried to deflect the attack with his shield, but Yuji seized the opportunity, abruptly withdrawing his spear and thrusting it again at the Zaku's chest.

Startled, the Zaku pilot could only retract his shield again, while Lieutenant Yuji suddenly thrust his spear at another Zaku in a different direction. Caught off guard, the latter could only try to block, but Yuji pierced its leg joint with a single shot. Subsequently, the massive machine lost its balance and overturned to the ground. Seeing its ally fall, another Zaku eagerly tried to rush forward to rescue it, but Jim once again launched a counterattack, knocking open the Zaku's shoulder shield, and then delivered a follow-up thrust to the heart, destroying the Zaku.

The Zaku that fell to the ground was then caught off guard by friendly mobile suits behind the Assault GM, who delivered the finishing blow.

In confined spaces, the ground-based Zaku is no match for the assault GM, which is specialized in close combat. Even in close-quarters combat, the length of the weapon makes all the difference. The Zaku's heat axe can't even reach the assault GM, while the assault GM can overwhelm the ground-based Zaku with its solid armor and excellent combat performance.

After a fierce battle that lasted less than ten minutes, the Zeon forces lost nearly twenty Zakus, while the Federation forces only had four GMs destroyed, and none of the Strike GMs were damaged.

"Damn it, we can't hold out!"

As friendly mobile suits fell one by one, the remaining Zeon mobile suits could only try to retreat to a longer passage and set up 175mm recoilless rifles to barely hold off the Federation forces' attack.

The Federation forces did not hold out on a single point. The Nemesis Training Corps then decisively withdrew from the battle, handing over the position to the arriving allies. They then maneuvered to the outer perimeter and chose a new breakthrough point to launch an attack.

This night was destined to be long for the Zeon forces in California. The Nemesis Training Corps launched more than ten raids in one go, successfully creating seven or eight breaches. Then, the Federation forces pressed forward. Although the Zeon forces used the terrain to block the passage with heavy firepower as much as possible, they had no ability to drive out the hundreds of Federation mobile suits that had entered the defensive line.

Thus, the two sides could only engage in a meaningless exchange of fire in the passage. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Federal Army quickly sent a large amount of supplies to the front-line positions to stockpile them in preparation for the next assault.

Once daybreak, it became even more difficult for the Zeon forces to launch a counterattack. The Second Air Fleet, whose backbone had been broken, could not even guarantee air superiority over its base. As a result, the Federation Air Force could now confidently and boldly deploy its Sky Saucer reconnaissance aircraft independently at high altitudes to provide fire correction for the artillery fire below. With the guidance of these reconnaissance aircraft, the Zeon forces' strongpoints were then bombarded in turn by heavy aerial bombs and large-caliber naval guns. Once these thorns were removed, the Federation forces began a simultaneous advance on the ground.

"Sir, let's fight back!"

By dusk the following day, a large number of Zeon commanders began to request permission from Garma to launch a counterattack, at least to recapture some of the occupied positions. In fact, although lacking mobile forces, it was not impossible for the Zeon army to launch a counterattack. Inside the California base, there were more than a dozen newly produced D-Days treadmills, two squadrons of high-mobility Zaku, and B-3 Tigers of commanders at all levels. If used properly, they could still pose a threat to the Federation forces.

However, Kalmar could not bring himself to launch a counterattack. The Union Army's offensive had not yet truly reached the core of the California base, and the losses to the outer positions were still within an acceptable range. Was it too early to launch a counterattack at this time?

"Don't forget, everyone, the Red Dragon is quietly waiting for us to enter the fray in some corner!"

There were dissenting opinions among Zeon officers, especially among Char, who had already gained legendary status within the Zeon military. Because of his numerous encounters with the Red Dragon and his successful escapes, many Zeon pilots even considered him a bastard child of Lady Luck, and some pilots would touch Char's mobile suit before sorties. Of course, Char knew perfectly well how he had escaped, but revealing it would certainly lead to a military trial. Therefore, he maintained a stance of neither spreading nor believing rumors, nor denying them; by not denying them, he was essentially admitting them.

Therefore, despite some people's criticism of Char's decision to return alone, Karma remained steadfast in her support for her friend.

"If any of you think you can escape unscathed from the Red Dragon, then go and try!"

As it turns out, the Zeon pilots were quite realistic. If they had to choose between taking down the Red Dragon and taking down Reibil, they would have chosen the latter without hesitation. At least the latter still had room for maneuver. As for the former, the elite Zeon pilots who had died at the hands of Macarius since the Zeon Intervention SID6 had already forged his reputation with their countless corpses, and the fact that his mobile suits were gradually stained red was still fresh in the minds of countless people.

For Zeon pilots, there is nothing more demoralizing than this: using the blood of the enemy as the color of their armor. Only Makarius could do that.

Meanwhile, the Federation forces continued their offensive operations in an orderly manner. In addition to the land offensive, the naval fleet approached the San Francisco Bay Area, adopting a posture of preparing for a landing. Furthermore, the Himalayan-class aircraft carriers belonging to the Federation Navy launched carrier-based aircraft to bomb the California base. However, a larger-scale amphibious landing operation was not actually carried out, because compared to the disadvantage on land, the Zeon marine forces firmly maintained control of the coastal waters. In addition to various types of underwater mobile suits standing ready at sea, the Zeon forces also manufactured various types of underwater attack submarines. With them around, the Zeon coastline was at least safe.

However, on the third day, the Zeon forces' defenses began to falter again, as the Federation forces delivered more GM Special Edition mobile suits, including the Strike GM and a large number of modified protective components, which were loaded onto transport planes and sent to the front lines almost overnight. These Strike GMs were then immediately deployed to the front lines for surprise attacks.

"Hold the passage! Hold the passage!"

Seeing the purple beam of light shooting towards them, a Zaku squad leader shouted hoarsely into the comms, while his machine gun continued to fire relentlessly into the dark passage ahead.

Amidst the shattering flames, a thick shield, though battered and ravaged, still prominently displaying its crescent and star emblem, slowly crawled forward.

"Where's the rocket launcher I asked for?"

"Gomez is dead. He's run out of ammunition!"

A Zaku picked up a rocket launcher from the wreckage on the ground and replied.

"Damn it, give me grenades, give me grenades!"

Seeing the approaching shield, the Zaku squad leader immediately took the anti-mobile soldier grenades from the few remaining mobile suits, quickly bundled them together, pulled the fuse, and threw them into the tunnel. The next second, a violent explosion came from the tunnel, and even several pieces of broken armor flew out from it.

"We took him down?"

A Zaku, looking down at the still-steaming fragments of armor painted with GM markings, instinctively maneuvered its machine back towards the passage. But the next second, a beam of light shot out from the billowing smoke, tearing apart half of its head.

"Damn it, they're still here!"

"Fire quickly!"

Seeing the Zaku stagger and fall, the other Zeon pilots could only raise their rifles again and fire into the passage. But just as they raised their guns, two Strike GMs charged out, wielding beam spears.

"Don't come over here!"

Seeing the beam spear radiating intense heat, one of the Zeon pilots at the front couldn't help but scream in pain and tried to retreat. However, he had teammates behind him who had already drawn their heat axes and were ready for close combat. Then, the two mobile suits collided one after the other. The two Strike GMs didn't pay any attention to the accident. They had more teammates behind them, and the two mobile suits charged directly at the Zaku squad leader with their beam spears.

Unable to pull out his axe in time, Squad Leader Zaku could only use his machine gun as a weapon to smash at his opponent, and then use this opportunity to pull out his thermal axe. His attack did indeed knock away a GM's rifle, allowing it to stab Zaku in the lower abdomen. Then, Squad Leader Zaku became ferocious. He grabbed the opponent's rifle with one hand to prevent it from being pulled out, and with the other hand, he pulled out his axe to give the GM a headshot. But before he could raise his axe, another GM's rifle stabbed Zaku in the back again.

While the two assault GMs were ganging up on the Zaku squad leader, more GMs equipped with the external armor used by the ground combat GMs rushed out of the corridor. As they passed their fallen comrades and enemies, they launched a swift offensive against the remaining surviving enemies.

As main roads fell one after another, massive amounts of GMs and other equipment poured in. Many Zeon troops were still holding their positions when they found themselves surrounded and cut off by the enemy in the blink of an eye. The California base was an expansion of the Federation base, and as the Federation forces penetrated deeper into the base, their progress became even faster. This was because they were familiar with these passages, making their attacks much easier.

The Zeon forces were far less familiar with certain deep tunnels than the Federation forces. As a result, by the fourth day, the Zeon command painfully discovered that despite their continuous efforts to block the Federation forces' breakthroughs and to redeploy troops, the Federation forces' progress was not slowed down in the slightest.

Some Federation troops even crawled out of the underground and were shocked to find that they were only a kilometer away from the Zeon command building, which had been the former headquarters of the Federation Army and was now razed to the ground by artillery fire.

Although the Federation forces were subsequently forced to retreat in disarray from the ground due to a counterattack by the Zeon forces, the news still encouraged the Federation forces still fighting underground.

At this point, Zeon finally began to mobilize for a counterattack. After all, their own forces on the various divisional positions were only divided rather than annihilated. As long as they could restore communication between the various units, they could drive back the Federation forces that had invaded the base!
This is the perfect opportunity. Although the Federation forces are making rapid progress, the troops have not been rotated for several days. The soldiers are fighting on the back of their high spirits, which are motivating their tired bodies. After all, no army would be willing to withdraw from the battlefield a second before victory. Launching a counterattack at this time will be something no one can expect!
(End of this chapter)