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

Chapter 249 Earth-Shaking Thunderclap
The YMS-16M Zamel, a specialized mobile suit produced by the Zeon forces to offset the Federation's ground firepower advantage and provide fire support for their own troops, leaves a deep impression on anyone who sees it.

After all, not every machine can carry a 680mm low-pressure cannon.

Zamer was created to address the pressing situation the Zeon forces faced in ground battles during the Earth Descendant operation. The Zeon forces were plagued by the long-range artillery firepower of the Federation ground forces, as it largely negated their numerical advantage in mobile suits at the beginning of the war.

Therefore, the Zamer was created to engage in artillery duels with the Federation forces. However, as mentioned before, this thing was born at the wrong time. The Federation forces had already achieved an overwhelming victory on the ground, and this type of firepower unit had just rolled off the production line. As a result, a small number of Zamer were captured by the Federation forces before they were even delivered to the Zeon front-line troops.

After the war, a considerable amount of unnecessary Zeon military equipment was destroyed and dismantled, since the Federation forces did not have the capacity to maintain its operation. Among these were large mobile armors like Apsaras, as well as captured Musai-class mobile suits. Mobile suits, aside from those used for research, mostly met a similar fate.

If it weren't for the Federal Army testing that cannon at the Perth test range, Zamel would probably have been taken away for dismantling. So, Makarius's request for deployment was timely, allowing this thing to actually go to the battlefield one more time before being dismantled.

Soon, the C88 transport plane delivered the Zamer, which the Federation Army was using for testing, to Taal Island. Also arriving were two gray-haired veterans who had been doing this kind of testing work for many years, spending their entire lives dealing with large-tube weapons. They even had hearing problems, and you had to shout to communicate with them.

"What? Sir, speak louder!"

"I said, see that tunnel? The enemy has a modified Zaku tank inside. My men can't get in, so it's yours!"

"No problem, leave it to us!"

The two veterans, whose uniforms were almost worn smooth, grinned and shouted at Makarius, revealing teeth stained yellow from years of smoking.

"This stuff has a strong aftereffect, so your men need to stand back!"

"No problem, let's get started!"

"OK, take a good look!"

Then, under the watchful eyes of a large number of Federation officers and soldiers, the huge machine, which looked rather bulky and resembled a triangular barrel, began to move.

Although the Zamer weighs a hefty 121.5 tons, the addition of thermonuclear jet engines to its legs and rear skirt armor by Zeon designers ensures its mobility remains unaffected. It can move at high speeds on the ground, similar to the Dom, reaching a top speed of 220 km/h. This ground speed is unmatched by anyone except the Dom, a terrifying feat for such a massive machine. It allows the mobile suit to quickly reach firing positions, unleash devastating artillery fire, and then retreat before a counterattack can occur.

Upon reaching the tunnel entrance, the machine quickly switched to artillery mode, lowering the reinforced shovels on its feet and embedding them deeply into the ground. This allowed the machine to absorb a large portion of the recoil when firing.

Then, the massive cannon barrel carried on the back of the machine was slowly raised. Because the length of the cannon barrel exceeded that of the machine itself, Zamel's cannon was folded up. As the cannon barrel was assembled, the loading mechanism at the rear of the cannon began to push the shells into the chamber.

"Target identified!"

Inside the two-person cockpit of the mech, the veteran test pilot responsible for operating the weapon had already aimed the cannon sight at the dark center at the end of the tunnel. At this moment, the Nanyang Alliance's mobile suits were still strengthening their defenses there as much as possible. Therefore, through the sound capture equipment, the Federation pilots could naturally hear the clanging noises.

Unbeknownst to them, just a kilometer away, a high-explosive shell weighing several tons had already been pushed into the gun barrel by the feeding machine. Then, the veteran sitting in the weapons section let out a long sigh of relief.

"This feels amazing!"

The next second, he slammed down the pedal, and after a slight delay, the shell, propelled by the firing pin, began to whistle along the barrel until it flew out of the cannon.

The shockwave from the artillery fire instantly created a violent hurricane in the area centered on Zamer. The shockwave even rushed down the mountain at a visible speed, causing the trees in the rainforest to sway. Near Zamer, it was as if a mud rain had fallen, with countless stones and mud droplets being blown away and then falling back down with a crackling sound.

Even with the shovel absorbing the recoil, Zamel's machine still shook violently, and the ground even cracked.

Then, just moments after the artillery fired, an even stronger shockwave erupted from the tunnel entrance, also creating gusts of wind.

Elder Doni felt as if he were having a dream, a beautiful midsummer night's dream, and this dream seemed to be incredibly long and incredibly wonderful, so much so that he was lost in it and did not want to wake up.

"Elder, Elder..."

Just as he was trying to recall the specific details of that dream, he suddenly heard a familiar call in his ear. The voice seemed both close at hand and far away, sometimes clear and sometimes ethereal.

"Elder, Elder..."

After being called out to so many times, Donnie finally grew tired of it. He tried to dispel the voices, but found that his body wouldn't obey him.

"Damn it, stop yelling!"

He was roaring this loudly in his subconscious, but the voice seemed not to hear him and kept repeating itself, which made Donny so angry that he wanted to punch someone.

"Enough, shut up, stop arguing!"

Increasingly annoyed, Donnie grew more and more irritable, his roars growing louder and louder. In the midst of his roars, he discovered that his limbs seemed to be regaining a little feeling.

But the feeling was very faint. Both my arms and eyelids felt incredibly heavy, and it was extremely difficult to lift them even slightly.

"Damn it, is the elder still not awake?"

"no!"

"Give him a cardiac stimulant, then perform CPR!"

"Administer a cardiac stimulant? CPR? Who? Is someone in trouble?"

"Elder, wake up! Monk Lei Fan still needs us to protect him!"

The sound rang out again, and at this moment, Doni, who heard Lefan Hu, felt that his consciousness seemed to clear up a bit, and his senses seemed to be much stronger. In particular, he felt as if someone was tap dancing on his chest!

"How can such insolence be tolerated in this sacred Buddhist site?"

"You wretches, I think you want a beating!"

Donnie's warnings had no effect; the tap dancing continued, fueling his growing frustration. The pain and the force of the taps relentlessly tormented his already taut nerves. "I said, that's enough!"

When his anger finally reached its peak, Donny unleashed the greatest rage he had ever felt since his conversion to the Order, and this time, he finally felt his body move.

"No more tap dancing!"

Elder Doni, shirtless, suddenly sat up from the ground and roared angrily at the people around him.

After the roar, Doni sensed something was wrong, because everything in front of him seemed unfamiliar. The pungent smell of gunpowder kept filling his nostrils. In the ruins where flames were everywhere, countless wounded soldiers were wailing. In front of him, several monks who were so smoky that they could hardly see anything were breathing heavily.

"This is?"

"Elder, you're finally awake!"

"what?"

At this moment, Donny's sluggish brain seemed to finally regain consciousness, and chaotic thoughts surged back, making his brain swell.

"Aren't we fighting?"

"We can't hold out any longer, Elder!"

One of the monks still had two clear tear tracks in the corners of his eyes. He grabbed Doni's hands and cried out incessantly.

"The Federation forces have deployed powerful artillery; the defenses are finished!"

Seemingly to verify his claim, a series of conspicuous tracer bullets flew out of the tunnel entrance, followed by a series of explosions coming from inside the base.

"What's wrong with me?"

"You've been blown away!"

One of the monk soldiers pointed to the Zaku tank, which was no longer recognizable from its original form, not far away, and then said.

"The Federation forces used some kind of large-caliber artillery. One shot vaporized all our comrades in the tunnel defense line, and your machine was also blown away by the shockwave. We barely managed to pull you out, and you were already in shock!"

"explode?"

At this moment, Doni seemed to finally remember. He staggered to his feet, and then, accompanied by another clanging of metal, he saw two Zanis lying helplessly on the ground, riddled with bullet holes. Looking in the direction they fell, he saw several fully armed GMs pouring out of the tunnel entrance, the machine guns of the leading GMs still steaming.

"Stop them! Stop them!"

Donnie struggled to stand up, but the impact was too strong, and he swayed and fell back down.

"Elders, quickly take the elders away and leave this place to us!"

A blood-soaked monk commander, holding a rocket launcher, gave orders to two monks beside Doni.

"But, Uncle-Master, what will you do?"

"I have a plan, you all get out of here!"

As the monk commander spoke, he turned and staggered toward the tunnel entrance. Behind him, a large group of equally wounded monks, armed only with light weapons, were shouting and charging toward the Federation mobile suits that were entering the base.

The rocket launchers launched a fierce attack from the ground, but the flashes of the individual rockets were obvious, and the Federal Army GMs who had advanced into the base easily raised their shields to block them.

Then came Jim's Vulcan cannon sweeping across the battlefield...

The barrage of bullets swept across the crowd, weaving a bloody storm like a meat grinder, with splattered blood even landing on Doni's face as he was being dragged out of the battlefield by the monks.

"Let me stay, let me stay here..."

Doni tried to struggle, but the monks dragging him didn't give him the chance. They took a simple cart and dragged him away.

As soon as they rushed into the outer corridor, they saw a new batch of reinforcement monks arriving.

Several Tigers and seven or eight Zanis, armed with a jumble of weapons, rushed into the already-fallen base area under the cover of a group of armored vehicles. Then, even more intense gunfire echoed in the narrow space. Immediately afterwards, Doni, who was being dragged away, saw a burning infantry fighting vehicle retreating from the gate in a disheveled state. Then, several monks, their bodies on fire, jumped off the vehicle in a disheveled state.

Before they could extinguish the flames on their bodies, a tiger wielding a finger cannon retreated in reverse. Amid the firing of the finger cannon, hurried footsteps sounded, and then a red machine wielding a beam spear appeared before Doni.

Under Doni's watchful gaze, the red Gundam seemed like a ghost, effortlessly dodging the dense barrage of bullets while wielding its beam spear with precision and speed, severing the entire arm holding the spear. Then, with a clean flourish, it thrust the beam spear back into the Tiger's cockpit. After penetrating the cockpit, the Gundam, as if not satisfied, twisted the shaft of the beam spear, creating a huge gash in the Tiger's chest.

The tiger was pinned to the wall by the spear, and the head monitor that was flashing red dots went dark. Then, when the Gundam retracted the beam spear, the tiger's body slid limply to the ground.

With just one shot, Zamel destroyed the defenses of the Nanyang Alliance. Several Nanyang Alliance mobile suits within the blast radius were reduced to parts, and the infantry within hundreds of meters were killed instantly. If it weren't for friendly mobile suits acting as shields in front, Zani inside the Zaku tank probably wouldn't have survived. Even so, the Zaku tank was twisted into a pretzel shape.

Now, having destroyed the defenses of the South Pacific Alliance, the federal troops, led by Makarius, swiftly stormed into the South Pacific Alliance's volcanic base.

"Expand the occupied territory, do not pursue rashly, wait for reinforcements!"

Marcarius, carrying a gleaming beam spear in one hand and an MG79 machine gun in the other, vigilantly watched both sides of the passage. He saw Doni fleeing in a disheveled state, being covered by his men, but he didn't rush to pursue. Let the other man savor the fear before death. After all, destroying a person's body is easy, but destroying their spirit is much more difficult. Marcarius was eager to see whether Revanhu's faith was stronger, or whether the threat of death he brought was more terrifying!
Now that the Federation forces have entered the volcano base, the next step is very simple: just wait for the follow-up troops to arrive, and then trap them!

(End of this chapter)