Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

The rough men of Ursus aren't very good at sophisticated operations; they prefer simple, brutal carpet bombing and saturation artillery bombardment.

However, compared to Kazdel's almost continuous and long-lasting air raids, Ursus's weak logistics meant that the air raids lasted only a little over an hour before exhausting the Legion's entire reserve of drones, spell grenades, and the energy reserves of various staves.

The Ursus vanguard, traveling in trucks and assault boats, rapidly approached the town. The assault boats fired binding crossbow bolts at the town's outer defensive barrier. After the bolts hit, they began to reverse, pulling apart or rather collapsing the defensive wall that served as the city's walls and defensive barrier, which was wrapped around the side of the mobile platform.

"Hurrah!" Groups of assault infantry activated their jetpacks and siege crossbows. The former allowed them to leap over the elevation differences of city blocks, while the latter fired high-penetration bolts while leaping, using the ropes at the ends to secure themselves to the side of the city blocks.

Meanwhile, the special arrows of the Siege Crossbow are equipped with Originium Blast Arrows, which can penetrate heavy shields and simple barricades, making them very useful when boarding town modules.

However, Kazdel and Columbia's counterparts have already switched to electromagnetic guns, sacrificing their armor-piercing capabilities.

However, Kazdel has a stronger close-range combat capability, using a dragon breath shotgun while Columbia uses a projectile shotgun. The former has greater destructive power, while the latter has greater penetrating power.

The assault troops' boarding gave Sami's defenders a taste of what they used to be like. The assault troops were nothing more than scimitars or crossbows.

Furthermore, Terra's jetpacks have a very short flight range and low accuracy; those that fall into gaps at town junctions or fly too far ahead and crash account for more than half of the combat losses.

When Sami's guards raised their traditional scimitars and leaped from their hiding places to pounce on the first assault troops, the Ursus assault troops, known for their fierce charges, scattered in all directions, as if they were frightened.

Before the Sami people could react to this abnormal state, a storm of crossbow bolts swept across the side corridor. The rapid-fire electromagnetic crossbows mounted on the assault boats fired nearly 500 bolts in a minute, with densely packed alloy arrowheads bouncing and flying in the narrow corridor.

The outdated protective gear worn by the Sami defenders was no match for this barrage of fire; had the weapon not been a magical device, they would have suffered even greater losses.

Two Ursus warlocks, soaking wet, rolled off the control panel. They had neither Kazdel's wet-work device nor Victoria's new technology, so they had to rely on manpower to make up for it.

"Hurrah!" The assault troops swiftly traversed the blood-soaked corridor, hacking the surviving defenders to pieces, and broke through to the upper levels of the town, where the city's defensive artillery, controlled by the Sami, continued to fire. Many Ursus assault boats were hit and turned into burning scrap metal on the snowfield.

As evening fell, the last remaining defensive fortress of Sami was breached, and an Ursus flag was raised atop the city walls, signifying the capture of this frontline town and paving the way for subsequent troops.

Meanwhile, in the Sami capital, Colombian troops were making final preparations before their departure. They could not afford to lose the Sami fortress located about 70 kilometers north of the capital, as the Sami army had given them very little time.

The vanguard of tanks left the parking area in a long line, followed closely by trucks transporting infantry and supplies. However, the heavy artillery and heavy weapons that the Sami people had promised were still nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, are we supposed to use our flesh and blood to surround the homes of these horned people?" Most of the Sami people have deer antlers and belong to the Elfila tribe.

"Wilmus, shut up," the platoon leader slammed a whiteboard and a stack of documents onto the hood of the vehicle. "We're following Colonel Job's men. We need to get here to set up camp before dark. We'll be the vanguard platoon controlling the bridge here."

It's said that a small group of Ursus troops has infiltrated this area. Be on high alert, and try to avoid any mishaps. If this bridge is destroyed, we won't receive heavy weapons and ammunition supplies until at least next month..."

"Great, where's our construction team?"

"They've run into some trouble." A common occurrence: a small-scale natural disaster swept across the southern plains of Sami in the form of tornadoes, forcing engineering corps and heavy equipment to halt their advance until the disaster subsided.

"In other words, we have to rely on an old fortress that's at least a century old to withstand the onslaught of an entire army of Ursus barbarians for at least a week?"

"Alright, Corporal Wilmes, I know those generals have brains that weigh less than an ounce, but complaining won't solve anything!"

The platoon leader tapped his old subordinate's helmet. "Actually, Ursus can't deploy many troops. This is a river valley, and it's difficult for them to deploy a large force."

Moreover, the riverbanks were not sturdy, making it difficult for their assault boats to maneuver, and attacking the fortress with light armored vehicles and infantry using zip lines would be very challenging for them.

"But they have artillery, we don't. Hopefully, that old fortress can hold out."

"Whoa!" "Hey guys, the truck's here, get on!" The arrival of the truck interrupted the pre-battle briefing of this elite platoon. The Colombian soldiers packed their things and jumped into the truck.

"It's really ancient..." It's not a mobile town, but a fixed castle fortress. It looks at least two centuries old. It's made of solid stone and carved into the mountain. All the buildings are made of huge stones, and there are many hidden troop caves inside the mountain.

Seemingly designed to defend against natural disasters by relying on the mountains on three sides, this fortress was an ancient refuge. Instead of being located across the road, it sits on a high ground on the side of the valley, commanding the entire valley from above.

If this fortress is not captured, even if Ursus manages to cross the valley, its logistics and supply lines will be under threat from the enemy.

"Alright, enough talk. Prepare for the attack. Intelligence indicates that Colombian reinforcements are on their way and could be stationed at the fortress at any time. They are much more difficult to deal with than those Sami trash."

"Actually, the Sami people are quite formidable fighters. We lost at least half a battalion in the mountains of the northwest. The casualties inflicted on us by those hunters and rangers were almost twice that of their government troops..."

"Yes, but this is the main battlefield. Those cunning rats' tactics are completely useless here." "Our mission is to capture the bridge south of the fortress and destroy it!"

At 10 p.m., the Colombian platoon arrived at the stone bridge, which was built at least two or three centuries ago. Natural disasters and the passage of time have left mottled marks on it, and the steel beams reinforced by later generations, together with the ancient stones, made a wailing sound like ghosts crying in the cold wind.

"Occupy both bridgeheads, set up defenses, and do it quickly!" At both ends of the long bridge are small stone castles, each with three floors. Colombian infantrymen quickly smashed open the locked wooden doors and rushed in, carrying out the debris inside. They then used the mobile bunker parts they carried to block the doors and windows, and set up firing ports and firing positions.

"Sandbags!" A truckload of sandbags was dumped onto the bridge to build defensive shelters. The reinforced steel beams on both sides of the bridge were also inspected. The engineers believed they could support heavy vehicles, but some of the support frames were severely worn and could only support one heavy transport vehicle at a time.

Below the bridge flows the snowmelt river during the spring and summer. After measuring the water depth and current speed, the advance troops abandoned the plan to set up defenses on the riverbank. At this current speed and water depth, it would be almost impossible for the Ursus people to swim across, unless they could actually travel by land and tow their watercraft here.

Otherwise, the only fate of those all-terrain assault vehicle pontoons in such a fast-flowing river would be to be overturned or swept up and hit by reefs and riverbank rocks.

However, just in case, the two searchlights set up by the Sami people were repaired by the engineers and placed directly on the river surface on both sides of the bridge, in case the Ursus people really took the risk of crossing the river to launch a strong attack.

"Hey, Lieutenant, I heard that the Ursus people still fight with scimitars and spears, is that true?" a recruit asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah, they even defeated an entire Sami division with blowguns! Damn it, don't believe a single word of the nonsense from those domestic media outlets!" the platoon leader complained.

When they arrived, what were the domestic media saying again? They said that even if the Sami were a bunch of pigs, Ursus would still have to capture them for several days. They also said that Ursus lacked supplies and would find it difficult to launch continuous division-level campaigns by attacking across long distances of ice fields.

In reality, it might take Ursus a few days to capture a group of pigs, since pigs don't surrender en masse. Ursus has also proven that it can indeed launch continuous division-level campaigns, forcing the enemy to gradually lose the initiative through continuous attacks and a series of interconnected military operations.

This is almost a completely different tactic and strategy from the boarding and trench warfare of the past, which has led the troops on the Colombian front to have a rather pessimistic view of their future.

Of course, this is just pessimism, after all, Ursus wasn't the only one who witnessed the Kazdel civil war and made military reforms.

The Colombian army also made corresponding adjustments, at least in terms of equipment and strategy. As for how well the generals at the front implemented these adjustments, that remains to be seen.

After all, while Ursus achieved continuous campaign-level operations, there were still many shortcomings and various mishaps, and they almost crashed in the northwestern mountainous region due to coordination problems.

Chapter Seven's title is "Killing Gods in Norse mythology."

Chapter VII

“This is not a good situation,” the Ursus vanguard commander said, looking at the bridge that had been lit up in the night. “Two pneumatic ballistae and one Thunderhammer, plus two platoons of infantry, we need to discuss this carefully.”

Currently, only the six divisions guarding the royal family in Ursus have been equipped with new gear, while the divisions at the front lines have only had some of their equipment upgraded or been issued a small amount of advanced equipment.

Even for the vanguard squad with enhanced equipment, it was just an addition to the original assault troops: a short staff developed by Ursus technology. This technology was jointly developed by the Eastern Kingdom and Victoria. It was only about the length of a forearm, making it portable, and naturally, its power was much weaker than a real staff.

It is suitable for assault troops to perform more tactical missions, and its function is also very simple, such as releasing electric current or expanding one's Originium Arts.

However, because Originium Arts are highly dependent on individual physical constitution, it is difficult to form an organized army. Therefore, the built-in unified spell effects are used more often.

"Besides the standard equipment, we only have two portable mortars and three grenade launchers. A direct assault would be suicide!"

Pneumatic crossbows are not as good as the most advanced electromagnetic crossbows, since the high-pressure gas cylinders can only support a limited number of shots.

However, its cluster crossbow bolts are a veritable slaughterhouse for infantry on terrain like bridges.

Each crossbow bolt is 1.3 meters long and 2.1 centimeters in diameter, with a cone-shaped armor-piercing arrowhead. One shot can pierce through three or four people. In places like bridges, the attacking side has almost no cover available. Without fire support, they would die in droves on their way to the front.

"Our mission is to blow up the bridge, not to fight a positional war with the enemy. So, all we need to do is figure out how to take down those two searchlights."

They were equipped with some mechanical grappling hooks, based on Kazdel's civilian patented technology.

However, some resourceful frontline technical sergeants realized that this was a very useful tool for scaling walls. So, they modified some of the grappling hooks used for logistics into these grappling hooks.

This allowed them to use the reinforced beams on both sides of the bridge to quickly enter the blind spots beneath the bridge and plant bombs.

However, there is a prerequisite: you must distract the other side and take out those two searchlights.

Otherwise, the scene would turn into groups of soldiers being bombarded by infantry grenades and pneumatic crossbows on the exposed riverbank.

"Sniper?"

"Too far, our weapons can't reach it." The sniper looked at his crossbow and shook his head. At this distance, only those people's Snow Rabbit rifles could reach it, but the few firearms that Ursus could get their hands on were all reserved for those elite divisions.

"Rumble—" A Colombian convoy slowly crossed the stone bridge. Only one of these 7-meter-wide and 22-meter-long half-track trailers could pass at a time.

However, it can transport hundreds of tons of ammunition and various supplies to the front line at a time, and it also has a certain defensive capability and firepower.

In the wild, it can be quickly encircled to form a mobile defensive outpost, which can be regarded as a unique Terra "base vehicle". The vehicle body can be used as a defensive wall, and the turret in the middle of the vehicle body can be raised to serve as a defensive weapon station.

Once the support frame is opened, an outer barbican and high firing positions can be quickly constructed using alloy plates. Outposts composed of multiple of these vehicles can provide supplies, repairs, and various services to the front lines. When opened from the side, it becomes a workstation that can be used as a hospital, ordnance repair shop, repair shop, and catering vehicle.

However, due to its large tonnage, after inspection by the engineering corps, the bridge could only accommodate one vehicle at a time.

Otherwise, they might be crushed. It takes about 3-5 minutes to cross the bridge. Then they regroup in the open space on the other side of the bridge and head towards the Shihe Fortress under the cover of other combat vehicles.

"We'll make our move after this convoy leaves..." The convoy was carrying anti-aircraft guns that had proven useless in the Kazdel Civil War, but were faster at slaughtering infantry than anything else. These rapid-fire guns, using Originium high-explosive fragmentation shells, were a type of spell cannon, and even Columbia didn't have a good way to achieve that muzzle velocity. Therefore, they could only make them into spell coilguns.

The cannon has multiple staff-like spell rings on its barrel, requiring two sorcerers to operate and two more to assist in charging, thus achieving a high rate of fire and muzzle velocity.

Even with these inconveniences, the advent of portable cannons greatly changed the battlefield of Terra. However, the speed of the artillery fire and the depletion of combat sorcerers were indeed quite rapid.

Using the human body as a charging circuit to guide Originium energy into the cannon is a very laborious task.

Even with the use of various advanced technologies to alleviate the condition, there is still a high probability that warlocks will develop Oripathy due to Originium Particle radiation in a short period of time.

Therefore, the best disposable human shells are: infected individuals, who possess an energy recharge limit that surpasses biological limits. Furthermore, as long as they can be used for more than a minute, it's a win. As for the Oripathy-induced and exacerbated condition, for most countries in Terra, it's actually a good way to solve the social problems caused by the increasing number of infected individuals.

It wasn't until late at night that the convoy and its accompanying artillery finally passed through. The assault troops knew they couldn't waste any more time there. With each additional convoy that passed, the density of artillery fire on the main force at the front would double. The Ursus had already experienced the effects of artillery bombardment once before, and they had no desire to be on the side of being bombarded.

"It's so peaceful. I thought the Ursus people would attack this bridge. So, they gave up?"

The new recruits observed the surrounding area from the firing port for a while. Maintaining order and organizing the convoy to cross the bridge had taken a toll on their energy, and now they could only combat this fatigue by smoking one cigarette after another. "I'm starting to miss the instant coffee from the battalion headquarters."

The cheap coffee beans sourced from Sargon and Minos were ground into powder and used as a common consumable for frontline troops. Unfortunately, this supply is now rarely seen.

"I heard that the Sami people did a pretty good job in the Northwest Woodlands, giving the Ursus a heavy blow." The recruit continued rambling on, "They used deadly traps and ingenious firing positions to wipe out at least a thousand Ursus soldiers. Come to think of it, I thought the Sami troops were all the kind of people... how should I put it, who would wet their pants at the sight of the enemy."

“Yes, those troops are all on our side…” The platoon leader rolled his eyes. All the capable, daring, and brave young men in Sami were on the rebel side, and their will to resist was extremely firm, and their combat effectiveness was also very strong.

Despite lacking supplies, materials, and ammunition, they managed to wipe out almost an entire regiment of Ursus troops.

However, that was all the manpower and resources they could manage. Unfortunately, the Sami media barely mentioned it, while the Colombian media gave it extensive coverage to smear the fighting capabilities of Ursus.

"Cheer up! If we can just get through tonight, reinforcements will arrive tomorrow, and we can go back to our warm barracks and get a good night's sleep."

The platoon leader shouted that the troops that would be advancing to reinforce the bridge defenses would arrive at six o'clock in the morning. There were only four hours left. As long as they could get through this, everything would be fine.

However, he also knew that if Ursus knew of the bridge's existence, they would definitely take action tonight, otherwise the losses of their frontline troops would reach a terrifying level.

Meanwhile, a group of dark figures were creeping through the woods on the opposite bank of the river, slowly approaching the bridgehead. "The firing window is too small."

"Try your best!" That was all the assault platoon commander could say. At this distance, it was too difficult to shoot an arrow through a gap no bigger than a human head and kill the sentry inside.

Eliminate the sentries, then approach and destroy the searchlights. Next, another platoon will launch a feint attack to draw the enemy's attention and provide counter-fire. Then, the assault team will use the grappling hook to fly onto the bridge and carry out the demolition.

Destroying this bridge would mean that even if subsequent supplies from Colombia were to be transported in, it would take much longer to reach the Stone River Fortress.

By then, the Ursus army had completed battlefield concealment, making it extremely difficult for supplies and heavy weapons like artillery to be transported across the valley to the fortress. For a besieged fortress, its fall was only a matter of time.

Moreover, even if Ursus's logistical support is poor, it's not without resources. New artillery will be delivered from the rear soon, to reiterate.

Since Rhodes Island extensively used artillery and air strikes during the Kazdel Civil War, Terra's war mentality has been changed.

However, neither Ursus nor Columbia realized that a permanent stone fortress and a mobile town that makes extensive use of lightweight, flammable materials such as carbon materials are two different concepts, with the former being far more capable of withstanding artillery fire.

Especially now that the Terrans haven't developed heavy artillery shells and corresponding train guns to counter these permanent stone fortresses, the effectiveness of conventional light and medium rapid-fire cannons against enemies hiding inside will be greatly reduced, since most Terran shells currently rely on fragmentation damage.