Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"One calibration shot!" The calibration shell, trailing green smoke, landed on the front of the fortress. "Altitude 0.2, right deviation 0.03, prepare to fire!"

"Boom!" The shockwave from the Originium railgun was like the roar of giant beasts compared to the Ursus city defense cannons. Visible shockwaves spread across the ground, stirring up dust and gravel.

The shovel at the breech suddenly shuddered, and the artilleryman standing next to it lost his footing and was thrown away by the shockwave. The square barrel released high-temperature heat dissipation steam and emitted a shrill whistle like a steam whistle before being swallowed up by the violent explosion.

Compared to simple Originium bombs with limited shockwave power, Originium projectiles using both the W and Talulah modules are like small, stabilized bombs. The former will blast the Originium apart, creating a series of small explosions and releasing the first wave of energy.

The next tower tube will ignite all the remaining Originium, turning it into a continuously expanding, scorching plasma sphere.

The shockwave shook the mountain. After fifteen fireballs rose, half of the fortress walls and ancient towers disappeared, and the rocks turned red-hot, softening as if they were flowing lava.

The intense heat ignited the soldiers who were close together in the hiding place almost instantly, turning them into living people roasted alive. Those who were a little further away could only try to jump into the water storage areas to avoid the fire.

However, the water was quickly boiled, and strange, pinkish-white corpses floated to the surface, filling the battlefield with the nauseating aroma of boiled meat broth.

"Seriously, what kind of weapon is this?" The Colombian commander was dumbfounded. These fifteen fireballs had almost wiped out half of his defenses.

Although the outer outposts were unharmed, if the enemy continues to bombard them like this, it's only a matter of time before they are completely leveled.

Even the part that is attached to the mountain cannot be breached by such heavy artillery. The problem is that they have a small number of troops to begin with. The enemy only needs to destroy the outer positions and then have the infantry guard the various exits of the mountain. Even without using tactics such as poison gas, just blocking the entrances will prevent them from getting out.

They would either starve to death inside or surrender en masse. Even with sufficient food and supplies, they would be unable to threaten Ursus's supply routes, rendering the fortress's military strategic value meaningless.

The laws and procedures of war have been completely destroyed by the weapons of the new era. The new era of warfare has left every general feeling lost, whether it is Ursus or Columbia.

"Aren't you worried that their weapons will rain down on us?"

“I’m not worried, not because of the cooperation, but because…” Ivan thought for a moment, “the military has developed something even more powerful. In fact, if Ursus doesn’t upgrade its equipment, I suspect they might be wiped out by the Great Yan in one fell swoop, the technological gap is too big.”

Aside from Master Nian, no one knew the true situation of the Great Yan. Everyone felt that in the future world war, the Great Yan would definitely not let go of this opportunity to devour more land. At that time, Ursus would absolutely not be able to withstand it.

However, news from the Great Yan court did not reach Longmen. Therefore, even the Doctor was unaware that the internal opinion of the Great Yan was that "taking from the harsh and cold lands of the far west would be a waste of resources and manpower, and would only incite border conflicts; it would be better to return them to the other side to demonstrate the benevolence of the superior nation."

If Longmen hadn't truly been the royal family's purse strings and the only trading port where taxes were paid, it might have actually become one.

Of course, don't assume that the people of the Great Yan Dynasty did this because they were corrupt, backward, and unable to see the world clearly. In reality, they may be corrupt, but they are by no means backward.

On the contrary, it is precisely because they see things clearly, understand them deeply, and know the power of those at the bottom that they do these things.

To put it bluntly, when one's position is superior, one's head becomes a discarded burden. While royal rule is certainly undesirable, the rise of the common people is equally undesirable. Therefore, they oscillate between these two extremes, leading them to do things that are difficult for many to understand.

In contrast, the nobles of Victoria and Ursus were much simpler. They simply did not want the royal family to have too much power and completely ignored the voices of the lower classes. This gave the lower classes a glimmer of hope, and their considerations at certain times seemed a little more normal.

After all, whether it's your backside or your head, when you have to suppress two camps at the same time, you're bound to crack, right?

"Our current hypothetical enemy in terms of military capabilities is not Ursus, but Great Yan and Letania, or more precisely, Great Yan!"

The Moonport Fleet is truly terrifying. And with the Great Yan and Nima's three fleets, and the possibility of a fourth being brought out at any time, how could Kazdel, as a neighboring country, not have this monster as its first line of defense?

If it were the Kazdel of the past, they wouldn't have had to worry about this problem because they were too poor, but now they have some savings.

In other words, if someone is eligible to be robbed, then they must be worried about their burly neighbor who likes to brandish weapons.

Moreover, even if we concede that Kazdel is poor, Letania, Syracuse, and Casimir are rich. The story of "borrowing a path to destroy Guo" doesn't exist here, but similar things have indeed happened.

Therefore, Kazdel's primary hypothetical enemy is the Great Yan, followed by Letania and Victoria.

On the contrary, Ursus need not worry, because both Da Yan and Kazimir are neighboring countries, which is one of the reasons why the young emperor did not continue his father's war strategy.

With Ursus expanding to this point, the benefits of militarism have been exhausted, leaving only tough nuts to crack.

Moreover, the geopolitical situation has deteriorated drastically. To put it simply, if Colombia doesn't take down the Great Yan and Letania, it's as if Colombia was drunk that day.

If you take down Kazimir, Letania, Colombia, Victoria, and other three major cities, it'll be a miracle if Ursus doesn't get crushed from both ends.

Putting aside whether he could defeat both Da Yan and Columbia in a two-on-one fight, if he didn't deliver a powerful internal organ-killing punch to Casimir in the middle, it would be against the wishes of Casimir's ancestors.

Unless the young emperor becomes a King Xuan of Qi, and a spectacular drama unfolds where the four-nation coalition breaches Shengjun Fortress and the young emperor flees north overnight, it's likely that the neighboring Great Yan will have the strange illusion that their script has been stolen.

Therefore, Ursus is the least of Kazdel's worries right now. His only remaining threat is the small kingdom of Sami, and even then, the cost is unknown. Conversely, the powerful and nearby Great Yan is what Kazdel fears most.

Because the Great Yan Dynasty was famous for "establishing the country through military force and subduing people through virtue"—the virtue of martial virtue—anyone who encountered this geographical environment would have to be wary of it.

However, no one knew that the four fleets of the Great Yan only existed on paper. Only two and a half actually existed: one to guard the capital, one to deploy in the moon port, and the rest together counted as half a fleet.

As for the legendary fifth mothballed fleet, well, that's the Longjiang Shipyard, which was burned down to a pile of scrap.

The cause of the fire was naturally the shipyard's "mining of ore, smelting of metals, exploitation of the people's labor, and instigation of civil unrest." As a result, the shipyard's supporting factories and mines were mysteriously removed from the imperial court's list.

Even more miraculously, these illegal mines and factories that supposedly caused civil unrest are still operating today. The smuggled steel produced in Longjiang comes from the Longjiang Iron and Steel Plant, hence the name Longgang.

Chapter Nine: Upgrading War Preparations

Chapter nine

The Stone River Fortress only bought the Colombians a week before they had to face the Ursus army's attack. Now, the only thing that could delay them for a while was the Snow River during the high-water season.

When the Colombians evacuated, they blew up the only bridge over the Snow River, making it difficult for Ursus to transport heavy equipment, especially the heavy artillery used in the Battle of Stone River Fortress, in a short period of time.

The transport teams and reinforcements, delayed by the natural disaster, finally arrived on the riverbank before Ursus's large-scale crossing. Various vehicles, vehicles, and mobile fortresses built simple defensive positions on the riverbank, which were constantly being reinforced every day.

If the Snow River defense line is breached again, then it will only be a matter of time before the Sami people are destroyed. Even if Colombia enters a second mobilization, the first one was to call up retired soldiers and mercenaries.

This time, the goal was to gather all suitable young men, put them in military uniforms, and take them to the front lines.

"The Kazdel Republic observer mission will arrive in the Sami capital soon. They claim this is just a routine deployment and they will not participate in the war..."

"Colombia condemned Ursus for using extremely inhumane weapons of mass destruction in Stone River City, while Ursus has not responded."

"The stock market in Longmen has seen a slight rebound, but some investors are still taking a wait-and-see approach. Does this mean that the harsh winter is over?"

"The Victorian House of Lords has recently held a series of emergency meetings to address the current economic situation and unemployment. The Queen needs to explain these issues, and it remains to be seen whether this will lead to changes in the political landscape of Victoria..."

"The Republic of Kazdel has begun dismantling war fortifications in the Dividing Gorge, with plans to build a vital railway connecting the north and south to address the economic imbalance between the two regions. However, experts from several countries are pessimistic about the project's ability to withstand natural disasters..."

"Click—" The radio knob was turned off. The range of the Originium Communication receiving device is very short, and it usually requires a receiving tower controlled by a sorcerer to convert it into other signals and send it out.

With some simple Originium devices, ordinary people can also watch TV and listen to the radio.

However, this receiver produced by Kazdel does not require warlocks or complex and expensive relay stations; it can be used directly and is very popular among ordinary people.

“This thing is used in the camp too—” Sergeant Basil sat down at the table, watching the technical officer fiddling with the imported equipment that was neither cheap nor expensive. “The technology these days is really advanced.”

“Yeah, I still don’t understand how they did it…” Technician Victor gave up trying to figure out how it worked. “When do you think Ursus will attack?”

“That depends on when we make our escape.” Sergeant Basil placed his weapon on the workbench. “Victor, take a look, this thing seems to be malfunctioning.”

This is an electromagnetic crossbow manufactured in Colombia. It is a weapon that uses electromagnetic force to accelerate the bolts a second time. The electromagnetic force comes from training in basic Originium Arts and is provided by the Originium Power Block that comes with the crossbow itself.

"The power block is fine, and the coil is normal. It's probably a loose connection somewhere inside. Let me check it for you."

"To be honest, the weapons those Kazdel people have are much more reliable than our expensive technological junk."

Sergeant Basil watched as the technical officer disassembled the electromagnetic crossbow, inspecting the complex synthetic jade modules and crystal circuits inside one by one.

"The black market price is nearly 300,000 for one, with 400 rounds of ammunition included. Unfortunately, it's unavailable."

Victor quickly found a problem with the crystal circuit board, used fine needle-like tweezers to extract the faulty crystal structure, and then replaced it with another one.

"The Kazdel people are very strict. They release very few weapons and do not allow them to be carried on one's person. Ammunition and weapons are only issued to combat units on missions."

However, to be honest, it's really powerful. I've encountered a few, and according to the mercenaries, it doesn't malfunction whether dropped in mud or in extreme cold, and its trajectory is remarkably consistent. The only downside is that the ammunition is too expensive.

Especially the original needle-shaped bullets. However, the clever Terrans quickly came up with a solution. The key to the ??? drug was the electrothermal agent, and various black market dealers and technicians managed to replicate a barely usable electrothermal agent. As for the needle-shaped bullets, that was much simpler.

Especially those using Victoria electromagnetic steel, aside from being a bit less stable, actually have better penetration than the original. Most of these black market ammunition are like this, many of them are better than the original in some aspects, but their overall performance is always lower.

"But it really works," Sergeant Basil shrugged. When they went to scout near the river today, if it weren't for a "Volunteer Squad"—those official mercenaries—carrying a Kazdel single-soldier weapon, their entire platoon wouldn't have made it back.

The steady, precise, and fierce firepower did leave a deep impression on him, but after the battle, the mercenary looked like he was in a state of utter agony.

"Alright, it's fixed. Next time, be careful not to use it for close combat. This isn't like those Kazdel guns, where you can attach a bayonet and fight without any problem."

Like most new weapons, electromagnetic crossbows are very unstable, but compared to the old crossbows that could only fire once every two or three seconds, they not only have a longer range but also a faster rate of fire.

Its revolver-like cock and quiver allow it to fire one shot per second, up to seven times in succession. However, only three of these shots receive electromagnetic acceleration because the capacitor's charging speed cannot keep up.

However, on the battlefield, there was already a significant difference in firepower between them and Ursus's old-fashioned pneumatic crossbows and mechanical crossbows. Furthermore, the Lateran guns equipped with etched bullets would not be issued to frontline troops at all, because the ammunition was more expensive than those Kazdel guns.

Of course, when encountering heavily armored targets, the spell damage from the original guns and etched bullets is barely effective. This is because Lao Xia did not equip all the rifles with grenade launchers and supercharged long barrels; otherwise, they would have found that these weapons were much more useful than the guns.

"Woo—" The alarm sounded, and then several shells even exploded directly not far from the military camp.

Instantly, the once peaceful camp descended into chaos as countless Ursus troops appeared on the opposite bank of the river, resembling a sprawling black carpet.

Of course, this is just an illusion. They wouldn't concentrate too many troops on such a narrow battlefield; that would be asking for artillery bombardment. The Pegasus Knights of Kazimierz almost lost everything back then, and at that time, Ursus only had low-level artillery consisting of war mages and mortars.

Now, whether it's Columbia or Ursus, the power and quantity of their artillery have increased several times over. If another Casimir War were to occur, no Knights would be able to escape alive.

Even the most skilled expert can't withstand hours of heavy bombardment. Master Nian couldn't withstand it either. He could only withstand two hits. He had to use his skills starting from the third hit, and at most he had to run away after the fifth hit. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be left as ashes in a minute.

Ursus has prepared a large number of amphibious assault boats. These large monsters are the main components of the Black Carpet. Their wide bodies allow them to maintain a certain degree of stability in the swift river water, while the cannons mounted on top can quickly suppress the riverbank defenses with firepower, opening up channels for river crossing operations.

"Watch out for artillery fire!"

"Air defense!" Colombia is the unit that places the highest priority on air defense. There's no other way; their observers and support technicians have experienced the relentless bombing by the Little Witch Air Assault Team of the Aviation Sorcerer Corps on the Kazdel battlefield, and have long suffered from air raid PTSD.

"Get to the air raid shelter quickly!"

"Load the explosive crossbow bolts!" The anti-aircraft gunner forcefully inserted a cylinder with a diameter of half a meter into the ammunition feeding mechanism. With the rattling sound of the chain turning, the magic bolts quickly filled the rotating magazine.

"Connect the power!" "Crack!" The cables extending from the generator, sparking as they were shoved under the turret, were pulled out. Sergeant Rolle, unable to find the gunner, jumped into the gunner's position himself, quickly cranking the handle to aim the mechanical sights at the artillery vanguards who were hovering and guiding their spellcasting.

"Fire!"

"Boom boom boom!" The electromagnetic anti-aircraft ballista continuously fired deep purple spell arrows into the sky. These spell arrows, which used special arrowheads, were originally equipped on spell drones. They would activate and explode shortly after being fired, turning into a directional spell shock.

The sky above the riverbank was stained with crimson guiding beams and deep purple anti-aircraft bullets, and explosive crossbow bolts flew through the air like fireworks, their fragments crackling against the armor of the artillery vanguard.

Drones were constantly being pierced by the spells and crashing into the river. Anti-air towers were also being destroyed by the guided spell bombardment. The power of the Originium spells guided by the war sorcerers was between that of a man-portable rocket and a 107mm rocket launcher. They could destroy the poorly protected anti-air ballistae with a single shot.

Compared to the truly overwhelming air raids on the battlefields of Kazdel, Ursus's drone attacks were merely impressive in name only.

After all, the Artillery Precursor is just a type of guidance drone; it doesn't have any weapons of its own. In order to guide the accuracy of artillery fire, it hovers during attacks to maintain gimbal stability.

For anti-aircraft guns, this was a perfect sitting duck. Air raids and magical bombardments yielded almost no effective results, while some of the idle anti-aircraft ballistae were laid flat and strafed the amphibious gunboats that were speeding across the river.

"Thump thump thump... Click!"

"Reload!" Sergeant Basil roared. The anti-aircraft electromagnetic crossbow in front of him was emitting hot air, and the empty cartridge case was also 70 or 80 degrees Celsius. Without hesitation, the loader reached out and grabbed the handles on both sides of the cylinder. Before he could even feel the burning pain in his palms, he quickly grabbed another cartridge case and loaded it.

"Click... rattle..." The ammunition belt rolled, followed by the continued rhythmic sound of gunfire. The constant magical explosions were like a violent storm hitting the Ursus's attacking vanguard, with gunboats being sunk and disappearing into the whirlpools on the river.

Meanwhile, more gunboats and larger land-based warships continued to arrive from behind and slowly entered the river. The turbulent currents created a thunderous roar as the warships churned between their tracks and sides. The white waves that surged up resembled clumps of snow enveloping the warships, and the friction between the tracks and the riverbed could be clearly heard through the water.

"Boom!" A naval shell exploded near Sergeant Basil, the shockwave knocking him and the anti-aircraft ballista over. His head was spinning, his vision blurred with alternating black and red, and his limbs felt like noodles, making it difficult to exert any strength, until a medic grabbed his shoulder strap and pulled him behind an overturned truck.