Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

Chapter 67

The battle on the platform was fierce. The vanguard battalion, which had lost nearly half of its troops, had entered the second level of the platform. There were still mechanical equipment that had not been completely dismantled everywhere, and the huge vertical lifting shafts had become the fierce battleground between the two sides.

"Heads down!" A volley of short crossbow bolts struck the steel plate behind them, sending shards flying. "Six o'clock, two crossbowmen!"

"Watch out for grenades!" The grenadier pulled a test tube-sized metal device from his belt, slammed it down, and the fuse pierced the plastic cap and entered the inner wet component. "Dragonfire, watch out!"

The Dragonfire grenade explodes without a sound, only a hissing sound like gas leaking, as if it were thermite. It burns rapidly at the point of impact, releasing heat to the surroundings and illuminating the crossbowmen hidden in the shadows.

"Damn it!" The crossbowman lunged towards the corner, but his companion was half a second too late and was torn to shreds by a volley of arrows.

"There's no way to fight!" The crossbowman glanced at the crossbow in his hand that needed to be cocked. The enemy's firepower was several times that of his own, both in terms of sustained firepower and accuracy. The only advantage he had was that his crossbow was quieter when it was fired, making it less likely to be detected in the dark and complex environment.

However, this advantage was useless against the relentless waves of enemies. The only useful thing was the two electromagnetic piercers blocking the elevator entrance.

However, the attacking side also kept trying to destroy the two firing points by throwing bombs and using thermal cannons to burn through them.

"Ah!" A scream came from outside the window. An attacking soldier screamed and fell down. It seemed to be an attack squad that had climbed up the outer wall. They were trying to bypass the firepower aimed at the stairwell and elevator entrance and attack from the side to destroy these firing points.

"Bang!" The marksman pulled the trigger, ejecting the empty tower heat pipe. The Snow Rabbit Rifle was very useful in this kind of place. Although its rate of fire was not high, its penetration power was strong enough. As long as it was combined with good Originium Arts perception ability, it could kill some enemies hiding behind walls.

"Why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet?!" At the upper command post of the platform, the temporarily promoted commander was like an ant on a hot pan; there was no way to escape from this place.

Moreover, the increasingly intense sounds of gunfire and explosions below indicated that the enemy was about to attack.

"Sir, a sandstorm..."

"I don't care about sandstorms or reinforcements, when the hell are they coming?!" If they don't come soon, everyone here is going to die!

"Reinforcements are on their way!" a liaison officer rushed in excitedly. "Crescent Peak Base has dispatched a batch of reinforcements, and they will arrive soon."

"Good, very good!" The commander wiped his sweat. "Everyone, reinforce the passages and defenses, dismantle all those damn machines, block the roads. If we can hold out for just one hour, reinforcements will come and give them a good kick in the ass!"

While the platform was rallying its last morale, hauling over crates and production machinery as roadblocks in preparation for a desperate last stand, reinforcements from Crescent Peak were also ready to enter the sandstorm to rescue the defensive platform.

"I hate this weather, and I still have to go rescue those useless people." The young mechanic put down the wrench, climbed back onto the vehicle, and crawled inside the armored vehicle. In this kind of weather, it was impossible for infantry to set off; they could only be transported there by armored vehicles.

"Whoosh!" The lead vehicle started up and headed down the mountain road into the sandstorm dust that was beginning to thin out below. Gravel and gravel made a crackling sound as they hit the vehicle, so the lead vehicle had to be very careful.

Otherwise, if it were to drive off the cliff, at least half of the vehicles in the convoy would likely follow it down.

"Bang!" "Huh?" The car looks like it hit something. "Stop the car, there's a problem ahead!"

The convoy slowly came to a stop, and the scouts jumped out of the vehicles to check if the storm had blown any large rocks onto the road.

As it turned out, what blocked the vehicle was a huge stone pillar. When he looked up along the pillar, he saw a face made of rock and soil looking down.

"My day!"

"Bang!" Stone's fist slammed heavily into the ground, and along with the unfortunate man, a large patch of splattered flesh and blood instantly appeared on the front of the car.

"Go!" "Da da da!" In this state, there's no need for aiming at all; you can just aim in the general direction and shoot.

Caught off guard, the convoy hastily began to fight back and dodge, but they had clearly forgotten that they were on a mountain road.

A series of collisions ensued, with both transport trucks rolling down the hillside and a loud explosion following.

The mud golem, operated by Mudstone, kept pounding the ground and the vehicle. Of course, it didn't last long before being blown to pieces by fire from both sides.

After all, in this level of visibility, it's almost impossible to accurately attack the enemy, except for maintaining a general direction.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain path, another infantry battalion responsible for the raid had climbed to a point almost out of the sandstorm's cover. "Deploy blocking positions and fire positions!"

If the enemy comes to rescue the group of people sent out earlier, they will be ambushed. If they do not come to the rescue, then this position will become the preparation position for the subsequent attack.

As expected, the base garrison did not hesitate to abandon sending reinforcements and instead chose to hold their ground. At this point, sending reinforcements was like the Calabash Brothers trying to save their grandfather; without knowing the number, size, and location of the enemy, holding their ground and waiting for reinforcements was the best approach.

Soon, the gunfire within the sandstorm ceased. Perhaps the reinforcements had successfully eliminated the enemy, or perhaps they had already been wiped out. In this deathly silence, the pressure on everyone's hearts was constantly amplified.

"Fertile Soil!" "All troops attack!" The assault force, wrapped in mud shields, rushed up the hillside at lightning speed, charging towards the Crescent Peak base, which retaliated without hesitation with electromagnetic crossbows.

"Watch out for the gunners!" "Whoosh!" A strike drone swept across the battlefield and the barren rocks, plunging into the bunker. "Boom!"

Flames flew everywhere. After discovering that even metallic hydrogen was not enough to destroy the fortress with the assault drone, its explosive charge was changed to an incendiary bomb for professional ignition.

"And there are bunkers everywhere on the mountain!" Heaven knows how much effort Theresis put in. Or rather, heaven knows how much effort the Doctor put in back then.

At least two-thirds of these bunkers were set up by the Doctor, each one more cunning than the last, with various crossfires and constant counter-attacks. The only good thing is that the enemy's firepower isn't too strong.

Otherwise, sending half a regiment of Mudrock's troops here would be pointless. "Again!"

"We're out of drones!" As light infantry, they didn't carry many drones to begin with. "What about the armored company?"

"Climbing the hill!" With the help of towing equipment, the armored vehicle, which had struggled to climb the hillside, finally came into position. The infantrymen quickly removed the tools and equipment from the vehicle, and the turret on the vehicle also tried to suppress the enemy's firepower.

"Watch out!" "Bang!" The steel cones launched by the large electromagnetic piercers swiftly pierced through the armor layers, almost pinning the entire vehicle to the ground.

"Electromagnetic Piercer, take it down!" The large electromagnetic piercer looks a bit like a ballista, but it is much larger. On both sides are arc-shaped Originium capacitors. The operator is lifting a piercing bullet to load it.

"Sniper, take out the gunner!"

"Snapped!"

Thanks to the excellent accuracy and range of the MA12 and Snow Rabbit rifles, snipers and marksmen played a significant role in the battle. They didn't have to worry about any enemy countermeasures except for mortars; they only needed to find high-value targets one by one.

While the nature of warfare has changed dramatically, soldiers' habits remain difficult to change. For example, the old habits of seeking high ground and neglecting personal cover, stemming from close-quarters and mid-range combat, are tantamount to handing kills to snipers.

"Cluster Bombing Crossbow!" Launching multiple crossbow bolts loaded with explosives in a cluster is a common tactic for Terran anti-infantry charges, especially when the enemy appears relatively dense due to the converging effect of mountain paths.

"Take cover!" Unlike the old-fashioned army, these newly trained soldiers have been given a strong emphasis on taking cover from the very beginning of their training. In live-fire exercises and training, they are facing the intense firepower of their own side. Those who do not know how to take cover have either been retired or taken by their instructors to the "Patriots' Wonder House" for extra training.

The flying debris was just as deadly as shrapnel. In this wave, Mudrock lost seven or eight men and a dozen or so with minor injuries. For Mudrock, whose forces were already stretched thin, this was not a good sign.

"Take it down!" The finally assembled portable mortar began to unleash its power. This type of individual artillery from Ursus was very effective in mountainous terrain. Together with another light self-propelled mortar vehicle in position, the arrogance of the defenders was finally somewhat suppressed.

Syracuse's mortars are better suited for attacking mountain targets, while Ursus's mortars are better suited for bombing exposed targets on high ground. One uses some kind of incendiary shell with a certain degree of diffusion, while the other uses a simple high-explosive shell, which is meaningless against heavily armored targets and armored bunkers.

The fire began to spread. The high-altitude defensive line served to contain the enemy's offensive front, but it also meant that their own area was small and they were easily bombarded by enemy artillery. The disadvantage of Theresis's troops having no experience in modern warfare began to emerge.

The purpose and intended use of the defense line designed by the doctor was to allow all personnel to retreat into the dense mountain tunnels during heavy enemy fire, and then quickly emerge again once the artillery fire subsided.

Of course, each firing point was set up according to the standards of the former Terra, and Theresis had to dismantle part of the fortress to make room for his mixed-use equipment, turning it into an open platform.

However, none of these losses can compare to the losses caused by a lack of experience. His men, while conducting the blocking operation, were completely unaware that the enemy would launch a counter-fire, let alone the issue of artillery preparation.

After successfully inflicting some damage on the enemy and taking a round of artillery fire, instead of immediately taking cover and waiting for the counterattack to end, they tried to outfire Mudrock to see who could fire faster.

To put it bluntly, a group of people just stood there on the position waiting to be bombed, and in order to maximize the damage to the enemy, they didn't even move their heavy equipment in time. Then, they were tragically covered by incendiary bombs.

One electromagnetic piercer was blown to smithereens by a high-explosive bomb, while two other bunkers were turned into volcanoes by incendiary bombs. The defenders, having suffered heavy losses, realized that they should have decisively taken refuge in the tunnels instead of staying on the front lines as they had previously relied on close-quarters combat with melee weapons and crossbows.

Because you can't use melee weapons and crossbows like that. The distance between the enemy and yourself is too close. Before you can even climb out of the tunnel, the enemy will jump in and fight you hand-to-hand.

Moreover, due to the distance, the enemy's artillery fire would not be too strong, so to avoid killing friendly forces, staying on the position and waiting to receive the attack was the normal combat tactic.

However, the new era is a completely different story. The nearest skirmisher platoon is more than 100 meters away from their position, not to mention that they do not charge in a swarm but instead provide cross-cover.

Stunned by the bombing, some of the defenders, following past experience, jumped out of their bunkers to launch a bayonet counter-charge, only to be met with a powerful attack from the attackers who had already found cover and were under the cover of friendly platoons.

Some troops, following their commander's orders, retreated into the tunnels to prepare for hand-to-hand combat and street fighting, instead of waiting for the suppression fire to end before re-entering their positions to intercept the enemy. This disjointedness caused Niyan to lose almost an entire platoon. Finally, the entire army broke through the first line of defense, and the enemy's heavy firepower fell silent.

"Seize the enemy's weapons and clear their positions!" Now the enemy is outnumbered. At the same time as the battle began at the Crescent Peak base in Alpha, the main armored regiment also broke camp and began its attack. Under the cover of the sandstorm, the armored forces were only discovered when they were almost at the ground anti-armor bunkers.

These bunkers were set up to counter land-based naval assaults. To put it simply, they consist of numerous concrete pillars, about 10 meters high, and metal frames, 3-4 meters high. They would quickly get caught in the tracks of the land-based naval vessel, jamming it and preventing the naval vessel from using the "crash it!" tactic of directly ramming the dock and then boarding the ship – a thuggish and underhanded approach.

Behind these bunkers are numerous direct-fire weapons and heavy equipment, preventing land-based ships from directly attacking. As soon as the forward hatch opens, a heavily armed guard rushes out with a whoosh and starts hacking away – this is Ursus's most common tactic, and Terra is well-known for it.

[In the original storyline, Chernobog used this tactic: crashing into the gates, then with a whoosh, the entire army charged out and started hacking people down ojpg...]

"Fire!" The storm-type Titan's fiery torrent swept across the battlefield like a giant flaming sword, instantly blasting the defenders of Crescent Peak who were debating whether to support them.

The attack was so sudden that the commander didn't even have time to react, and the soldiers fought on their own. Some ran away, some prepared to take cover, and some headed straight for the anti-tank weapon station.

In the chaos, the melee-type Storm Titan directly crushed the low trenches, its front end equipped with a breaching shovel smashing through the roadblocks and running over the enemy's flesh, while several thermobaric cannons and light machine guns around it were firing wildly.

This Titan is not equipped with Originium railguns, but rather volcano cannons and a large number of light weapons. It can also accommodate an extra five-man squad, making it a good breaching unit.

If we don't consider that its cost is three times that of a regular Titan and its logistical requirements are ten times higher... ah, this has nothing to do with the Master Ke, but rather with the Volcano Cannon.

The saying "three hours to reload, five seconds of fun" refers to this weapon. It takes three hours for a logistics ammunition vehicle to refill its ammunition, but it empties its ammunition in half a minute when firing at full speed.

However, when used in a blitzkrieg-style rapid attack, this Titan is extremely effective. No defense or firing point can survive this torrent of flames; it tears a hole in the defense almost instantly.

"Lower the ramp!" Just when things were going very well and all three battlefields had made a favorable breakthrough, an unexpected event occurred: the mountain gate opened, and a land-based destroyer, or rather an armored ship, slowly sailed out.

"Holy crap!" The sudden change, as abrupt as hiding a cow in one's crotch, left everyone dumbfounded. Where did this armored ship come from?

"What a relief!" The base commander breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they had worked overtime to repair the damaged land-based ship. Although there were still major problems with the operational structure and some of the armor had not been repaired, it was, after all, a new type of Victorian warship.

On the other hand, if it weren't for Victoria's new technology, which forced the technicians to go to Victoria to ask for help, it should have left port and returned to the front line the day before yesterday. It's no secret that Kazdel obtained the information about the "old, abandoned ship" from Da Yan; no one could hide such a large ship from them.

If that's the case, it's only a matter of time before the port falls, even though the doctor's setup is very ingenious and very secure.

However, the differences in tactics and infantry quality between the two sides, as well as the impact of weather conditions, prevented them from fully utilizing their capabilities.

"Everyone, concentrate your firepower and destroy that warship!" Titan's Originium railgun fired first. The landship was currently executing the departure procedure and was moving at the slowest speed. You could see the crew rushing to their respective combat positions, which was its most vulnerable moment.

The beams of the thermal cannon and the shells of the Originium railgun attacked the warship. The former had weakened to the point of leaving only a red-hot spot due to the distance, while the latter caused effective damage.

However, the next second they were hit by the warship's cluster explosive crossbows and city defense cannons, and the two siege-type Titans were instantly reduced to piles of scrap metal and red-hot junk. Of course, the enemy didn't fare much better; the Originium railgun nearly destroyed half of its superstructure.

"Spread out! Everyone spread out! Do not engage the warships! Charge quickly and take cover below the port platform!"

Because of the field of fire, once inside the shadow zone below the platform, all the warship's weapons will be blocked by the port platform, making it difficult to cause any damage or destruction.

Chapter Sixty-Six: Winning Hearts and Minds is Paramount

Chapter 66

Anything can happen on the battlefield, and contingency plans are not foolproof.

In other words, some battles or military operations cannot have contingency plans, especially those extremely risky operations. If something goes wrong, the only contingency plan is to grit your teeth and fight anyway.

The idea that there's a Plan B only exists in movies. In reality, most risky military operations don't have a Plan B.

If problems arise that could jeopardize the operation, either ignore them and gamble on luck, or abandon the operation altogether.

Conversely, if intelligence is clear and detailed, the rear is stable, supplies are unimpeded, the target's combat capabilities are clear, our mission is well-defined, and we are fully prepared, then this is not a military adventure, but a sure-fire reaping operation.

Because, in essence, you've already won. As long as your commander doesn't have a serious mental illness, victory is essentially a predictable certainty.

In fact, in most military operations, one or two of the above conditions will inevitably go wrong, and technological advantages can at most reduce the severity of the problems.

However, in military adventures, all of the above conditions are likely to go wrong—why is it called a military adventure? Because it's a gamble!

Gambling on the enemy's insufficient strength, gambling on the absence of the enemy's main force, gambling on the good cooperation of friendly forces, and advancing steadily without engaging in military adventures is the kind of war that all generals hope for.