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

Chapter 248 I've never seen anything like this before.

The bombardment had a far greater impact on the Nanyang garrison at the base than on the Federation forces. While the particle cannons were bombarding the buildings, large numbers of monk soldiers were still busy at their posts.

Then, the entire base shook violently. Amidst the creaking and swaying, large amounts of dust fell from the base's ceiling, and even the walls cracked and crumbled. The water pipes installed in the base's walls also broke.

Some unlucky ones were caught off guard and were hit by the falling debris. The worst off were the maintenance workers below the base. The strong tremors in the mountains caused underground hot springs to gush out. These volcanic hot springs, with temperatures reaching seventy or eighty degrees Celsius, instantly scalded the unlucky ones, causing them to grimace and scream in agony.

"what happened?"

"Sir, the Federation forces are directly shelling the mountain; the high ground west of the base has already begun to collapse!"

"They actually chose to blow up the mountain?"

Doni hadn't expected the Federation forces to be so reckless. More importantly, because of the base's layout, the important military facilities were all located below, while the upper part of the mountain housed personnel dormitories and other logistical spaces. Once the Federation forces broke through, their defense would inevitably face immense difficulties.

"Quickly, get the assault team there and in position!"

Given the urgency of the situation, Doni had no choice but to order the counterattack forces to abandon their preparations and rush to the higher levels via the counterattack tunnel below the base, while the personnel at the higher levels quickly began to evacuate.

The Federation's artillery bombardment continued, the mountain was still shaking violently, and the cracks were still widening. The monk soldiers who rushed to the blasting point quickly set up a defensive line under the falling rocks and rubble.

Soon, the sound of the explosion became clearly audible, and the tremors underfoot became increasingly violent until suddenly, the base wall seemed to be pierced by something and exploded open with a loud bang.

"Ahhhh!"

The aftershocks of the explosion also promptly unleashed a storm of debris. The dense rubble and debris, propelled by the shockwave, created a barrage of close-range bullets, catching many of the unprepared defenders off guard and leaving them with bloodied heads.

"Evacuate the wounded, guard the entrance, and don't let the Federal Army in!"

Through the rays of sunlight streaming into the fortress through the opening, the monk commander at the front thought he saw shadowy figures moving around. Thinking that the Federation troops were entering the passage, he immediately gave his men battle orders.

In reality, those figures were not Federation troops who had entered, but rather some exploration robots that they had deployed. Although the mountain had been blasted into a huge crater about thirty meters in diameter by the continuous bombardment of the four Pegasus-class ships, the Federation troops were not yet sure about the strength of the tunnel, so they sent out exploration vehicles to check it.

Soon, through these vehicles, a steady stream of exploration data was transmitted back to the Federal Army.

"The cave is primarily composed of granite, which is strong enough to support mobile suits. However, we recommend that the tunnel be reinforced!"

"Understood. Let Makarius act!"

Djamitov glanced at his watch. The Pegasus-class firepower took less time to penetrate the mountain than he had expected. Now it seemed that this tactic was indeed of considerable reference value!
"What an unfathomable guy!"

Djamitov thought to himself.

On the ground, when the exploration robots at the forefront were attacked by enemy fire from inside the mountain, the Federation forces were already prepared to attack, and Jamitov's order was given.

Marcarius then shouted slogans in the communication channel to avenge WALL-E.

Who is WALL-E?

"It's that destroyed robot. We came up with that name five minutes ago!"

The federal engineers in charge of operating the robots were also very involved. The engineer commander even knelt on the ground, holding the remote control, and wailed loudly. To an outsider, it would seem as if they had really lost an important comrade.

But in reality, the atmosphere had already been built up to this point, and what was lost was no longer important. What mattered was that the Federal Army troops were ready for battle!
"Brothers, rush!"

Carrying large shields, the GMs, piloted by their pilots, rapidly advanced towards the tunnel entrance along the attack path cleared by the engineers. Behind them were two squads of sniper GM SP2s. These sniper GMs, armed with live ammunition, were responsible for providing fire support to the shield GMs in front. The use of live ammunition was mainly to control the power, since it would be bad if a beam sniper rifle accidentally injured friendly fire in such a confined space!
Macarius did not follow. His Gundam was responsible for the second wave of entry to provide support to the front-line troops. In order to ensure that the mountain would not be affected by the aftershocks of the battle, his full armor components also needed to be removed, especially the large-caliber shoulder particle cannon and missile launcher. Macarius did not even carry the twin beam rifle.

His primary weapon was a modified MG79 rifle equipped with a high-capacity drum magazine, with a triple grenade launcher attached below it. In addition, Makarius also carried a shotgun and an extra beam spear, a complete close-combat configuration.

Meanwhile, the Federal Army troops responsible for leading the charge had entered the tunnel and began to advance along the cratered tunnel created by the artillery fire. Behind them were the engineering vehicles driven by Federal Army engineers. These engineering vehicles, equipped with extra armor, were responsible for filling in the craters and clearing away other obstacles to ensure the succession of the troops.

"Get ready, we've passed the midpoint!"

Commander Jim looked at the tactical map on the screen and then gave instructions to his subordinates.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a rocket roared from the end of the tunnel.

"rocket missile!"

The two GMs traveling side by side in the tunnel stopped abruptly and braced their shields with their hands. The next second, a violent explosion came from in front of them, causing the GMs' arms to tremble.

In the end, it only shook a few times. Jim's large shield easily caught the Zaku rocket attack, and the main body of the shield was not even damaged. The explosion and jet only created a crater the size of a mobile suit's palm on the shield, which did not affect the use of the shield at all.

"No problem?"

"no!"

"Then let's continue!"

Then, Jim, holding the large shield, took another step forward, and an even denser barrage of fire followed. The whistling rockets and the continuous barrage of live ammunition turned the once dark passage into daylight under the flames of the explosions.

"Hold on, hold on!"

Commander Jim, watching his men sway like a lone boat in a raging storm, was frantic. He desperately wanted to take their place, but the tunnel was only wide enough for two GMs to move side-by-side, leaving him hopping mad with worry. Behind the rows of GMs ahead, the sniper GMs belonging to the Grey Ghost had removed their tactical goggles. These skilled marksmen expertly used ambient light filtering to block out the flashes of explosions from their monitors. Now, all that appeared on their dim, fluorescent screens was the flickering light from the tunnel's end.

Those were the monk soldiers who were firing. They were holding firm at the end of the tunnel, using the makeshift firing positions built with prefabricated building materials that had been delivered to them to keep firing at the Federal troops advancing into the tunnel.

120mm machine guns, Zaku rocket launchers, 100mm machine guns that the Federation Army had already phased out, plus a few MMP80 machine guns, and other weapons plundered by the Nanyang Alliance were all roaring incessantly, and the golden shell casings had already piled up into a thick layer on the ground in a short time.

Just as a Zani was firing wildly with its weapon, a flash of light suddenly appeared in the darkness in the distance. The next second, the Zani's head flew off like a bursting watermelon.

"Quickly, remove the damaged machine!"

The monk commander exclaimed in alarm, after all, the mecha had only had its head blown off, not its cockpit destroyed. As long as the head was replaced, the mecha could still be used.

The Federal sniper who missed hit his head in regret. He looked at the flash of the bullet and realized he had shot too high. The Zanis were standing behind cover, not with their weapons at their waists, but in a stance similar to that of infantrymen, with their weapons parallel to their heads.

However, he quickly corrected the trajectory and successfully penetrated the Nanyang Alliance's bunker with the next shot. After cutting through the bunker, the high-speed armor-piercing bullet did not slow down at all and shot into the cockpit of another Zani.

The Zani, whose cockpit had been destroyed, then swayed and fell to the ground, sending shell casings flying everywhere.

"Next one, quick, move up!"

The monk-soldier mechs waiting in line outside the bunker were then dragged aside by the destroyed friendly units. Then, another mech picked up the fallen weapons and took over the work of the other, until it was also destroyed.

The sniper GM's attack was very effective, almost immediately suppressing the enemy's firepower. The GMs in front also took this opportunity to rotate and fill in the gaps. The door shields were strong enough, but they were also struggling under repeated bombardment. The shields in the hands of the two GMs that were initially at the front were now at their limit.

After the rotation, the squad continued to advance. With the cover of sniper Jim, the squad's advance speed was much faster. After all, the former had already established a rhythm. Under the alternating fire of several sniper rifles, Zani who dared to show his face could not stand for more than ten seconds. As soon as he dared to appear, the next second, his fragile armor would be torn apart by armor-piercing rounds.

Seeing that the Federation forces were about to break through the defenses, the South Pacific Alliance became increasingly anxious. Many of their mechs braved sniper fire to try to block them, but the result was just one more mech destroyed.

"Damn it, are we going to lose this position?"

Just then, the heavy sound of tracks came from behind the Nanyang Alliance's defensive line, and then a Zaku tank, which had clearly been modified by the Nanyang Alliance itself, drove out of the passage.

"Elder Zani?"

"Thank you for your hard work, let me do this!"

Sitting inside the Zaku tank, Elder Zani clasped his hands in respect to the monks who had made many sacrifices.

Then, the Zaku tank, which had two 180mm howitzers mounted on each side of its body, drove to the tunnel entrance and pulled the trigger at the advancing Federation troops.

The 180mm howitzer used on the Zaku Cannon had a much greater yield than rockets. The two GMs at the front felt as if they had been hit hard by a train and were thrown backward. Their shields were also damaged by the fierce shelling.

"Hurry, hurry, load it!"

Seeing the massive explosion bring the Federation troops to a halt, Zani knew the weapon was effective. Unfortunately, because it was assembled by hand by the engineers, the weapon lacked a dedicated loading mechanism. The four howitzers were like old-fashioned rifles, requiring manual ejection and reloading.

Fortunately, he had friendly mobile suits nearby. Four Zaku tanks quickly moved forward, removed the spent cartridges, and reloaded ammunition. Then, the Zaku tank moved forward again and began firing salvo at the Federal Army soldiers who had not yet established a firm foothold.

"what!"

One of the GM Cs was hit directly by a cannonball because its shield was damaged. The explosion knocked the machine out of control, and even the pilot was knocked unconscious by the attack.

"Damn it, so close!"

Commander Jim, seeing the remaining distance, had no choice but to order a retreat. Although the door-panel shield was good, it was still insufficient in the face of absolute force. After all, while the shield could withstand the attack, Jim's structure could not.

As for the sniper team, they couldn't provide sniper support either. The Zaku tank was much shorter than Zani, and with the cover, they couldn't see the enemy's position at all. However, the Zaku tank only needed to aim at the general target and fire.

Left with no other choice, they had to drag the damaged friendly aircraft back out.

"Fine, fine, you think you can take advantage of the fact that my Steel Tank isn't home!"

Looking at the horribly mangled friendly mechs, Marcarius couldn't help but laugh. He used to be the one holding the cannon and firing in other people's faces, but now he was the one getting cannons fired at in his face.

"Contact Gabro and have them send over the assault tanks!"

"Sir, the steel tank unit has been sent for dismantling and further research!"

"So, we don't have anything with a larger caliber?"

"Gundam's bazooka?"

"No, no, no, that's not powerful enough. Let's check the armory and nearby friendly bases. What can we use?"

"Sir, we've found it! At our military's testing range in Perth, there's a Zamer captured from the Zeon army!"

"That's it! Have a transport plane send it over immediately!"

Makarius immediately gave the decision!

(End of this chapter)