Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

How long can this city hold out?

"That depends on how well our artillery brothers do." The platoon leader sat on a wooden ammunition box, leaning against the corner of the wall. "If there's no artillery counterattack, and if the Ursus missiles have enough of those, then we'll be trampled to death in the ruins like a swarm of rats..."

As they were talking, a powerful artillery barrage came from afar, mixed with the shockwaves of enemy shells hitting the ground. The soldiers on the front line felt as if a massage cushion was placed under their buttocks.

Then came a series of explosions outside the city. After several campaign-level engagements, both sides' artillery learned the skills of rapid maneuvering and repositioning. New vehicles and technologies for measuring artillery trajectories also appeared on the battlefield.

Generals might find it quite difficult to learn new things. However, those in foxholes learn much faster, because those who can't learn are already dead.

"Bearing -27,177,261!" a soldier with a strange horn-like device wrapped around his body shouted. The messenger quickly passed the coordinates to the artillery, and then the Ursus soldiers adjusted their firepower again, covering the coordinate area.

This is a rough method for detecting target artillery positions. It uses a horn-like microphone to collect the sound of artillery firing, which is then used to determine the approximate distance of the firing artillery.

Next, using this distance as the radius, draw circles with the multiple shell impact points as the basis. The intersection of these circles represents the possible location of the enemy artillery.

Of course, this kind of judgment is very inaccurate, and after being countered a few times, new counter-countermeasures will soon emerge, such as multiple points landing at the same time, making it impossible for you to hear the difference in the landing points.

Furthermore, multiple volleys of artillery fire can be used to create the illusion of artillery fire by varying the angles at which the shells land simultaneously.

During the more than three-hour-long preparation phase of the firepower, soldiers on both sides could only hold onto their weapons, hiding behind foxholes or the reverse slope of trenches, praying for protection to any god or ancestor they knew, while listening to the seemingly endless roar of the god of war.

In the three hours or so, one’s martial arts skills, techniques, and bravery are meaningless. The fine armor on one’s body and the weapons in one’s hand can only provide a little psychological comfort. If one is hit by a large city defense cannon, one’s whole body will be shattered.

Those experts who possessed powerful defensive skills were nothing more than a leaf in a storm in the face of such violent power. Even if they weren't easily torn apart like ordinary soldiers, they would simply go from collecting corpses with shovels and buckets to collecting them with stretchers.

"Thud!" A slender hand rolled off the head of recruit Alex, a cracked metal bracelet still attached to the charred arm. "Ah!!"

As a newly recruited soldier, the boy, not yet 17 years old, let out a scream like a groundhog.

"Tsk, I hope there are still field hospitals when we get back." The veteran next to him seemed much calmer or numb. In any case, the psychological pressure on soldiers is actually lower in wars with hot weapons than in wars with cold weapons.

Even the severed limbs blown off by artillery fire are more pleasing to the eye than those chopped off by one's own hands; at least one won't be covered in blood and gore, and one won't smell the stench of blood and internal organs.

The veteran picked up the severed arm, took off the bracelet, and then threw the rest outside the trench. "I said, stop yelling. Are you trying to deceive the enemy with your voice, that there's another hidden artillery piece here?" The veteran grabbed the recruit by the collar and threw him to the ground.

"I want to go home! I don't want to fight anymore! I don't want to!"

"Another one's broken down," another veteran kicked the guy twice. "Listen, kid, if you don't want to be hung on a wooden frame by those black dogs, you'd better stop spouting this bullshit. Who the hell wants to fight?" Alexei was lifted up and shoved into the corner of the trench.

"Come on, have a drink. After a cup of the Water of Life, you'll be fearless, hurrah!" A mouthful of spicy liquid was forced into his mouth. "Pfft, cough cough, what is this!?" This wasn't wine at all.

"What a waste. It's not easy to get this stuff on the battlefield." The veteran looked at the liquid on the ground with regret.

"Just dilute the antifreeze with water, add a few drops of medical alcohol, and it'll be fine." The old soldier shook the flask, took a small sip, and exhaled a breath of stale air. "That's really good."

As for the issue of it blinding them, for these people who could be blown into the sky by enemy fire at any moment, it's the same as farting.

There are no atheists in foxholes, but you need alcohol, tobacco, and religion to avoid becoming a madman running around in the seemingly endless shelling and getting taken away by the black dogs or enemy fire.

“I’ve had my limit, just a small sip a day.” The old soldier’s flask was snatched away by his comrade, who then took a sip himself. “Kid, I remember you said you were kind of an artist?”

"I... I was a trainee in an opera company..."

"Oh, then sing a couple of lines, have some fun..." The veterans are just numb to fear, not that they are incapable of fear. Therefore, they also need some means of entertainment and distraction.

“Now? Now?” Ariksay paused for a moment.

"What else? Go up to heaven and sing for that bitch, the Goddess of Death, and see if she'll let you come back?"

“But I…” Alexei finally cleared his throat and started singing. To be honest, his voice was trembling and off-key, and it was hard to say that it sounded good. But with the sound of rumbling cannons, it didn’t sound so bad.

Until a shell landed in the trench, both the singing and the veterans' clapping ceased abruptly, leaving only the silence of death and the scattered, smoking dirt.

Chapter Twelve: The Enemy Approaches the City

Chapter 12

On the fourteenth day of the siege surrounding the capital city of Sami, the surrounding towns and villages had been completely razed to the ground, with almost no trace of any buildings remaining, only craters and scorched earth left by artillery shells. The intense use of Originium spells and the consumption of Originium had also caused a small-scale natural disaster to strike the area.

The blizzard left large clusters of Originium in the city and suburbs, halting the fierce fighting between the two sides for an entire day to deal with these Originium clusters.

For a complete city, natural disasters can destroy 90% of its production and residential functions.

But for a city that has evolved into a meat grinder and strategic stronghold, the only thing a small-scale natural disaster can do is force everyone into underground or deep-deck shelters.

However, in order to further avoid the battle being disrupted by natural disasters, both sides unanimously chose an auspicious day to temporarily cease hostilities, replenish ammunition and supplies, and replenish troops, while waiting for the clouds in the sky to dissipate.

Never before in Terra had there been such intense and prolonged large-scale battles. Most of the fighting was concentrated on warships or boarding operations from the core city, and the fierce head-on conflicts would only last for a few hours before ending.

Neither warlock spells nor weapons and devices using the Originium system would be used on such a large scale, for such a long period, and with such intensity. Therefore, in the past, wars in Terra never triggered natural disasters.

Now, this perception has been rewritten, and both sides need to revise their strategies and re-evaluate the Originium artifacts that have accompanied the history and growth of the Terrans.

The mess left by the snowstorm continued. The persistent low temperatures and fine snow caused considerable non-combat casualties for the attacking side. The rear was completely unprepared to deal with the natural disaster, which meant that the soldiers on the front line could only wear thin spring and summer uniforms and stay in trenches and muddy artillery pits with no insulation in the midst of winter temperatures.

A cold wind tore through the curtains blocking the command post's door, bringing in a clump of fine snow. Large pieces of wood burned in the heater in the corner, providing a meager amount of warmth to the reinforced semi-subterranean space.

"Major Gehrman, you've come at a very inopportune time..." The commander stood in front of the wooden table covered with maps, placing the cup in his hand on a corner. "There is no glory or victory here, only a garbage dump soaked in mud, the stench of corpses, and death. And right now, we have a far bigger mess than the war itself. I hope you haven't just brought a bunch of empty commendation documents or some other nonsense rewards."

“That’s why I came here,” Major Gehrman, the emperor’s special envoy who also brought a supplementary force, said. “I’ve brought some ammunition and new weapons. Of course, there’s also the artillery you need most—the kind that can blow through the enemy’s shell.”

The commander shrugged, noncommittal. "If you had come two days ago, I would have warmly welcomed you. But now we need new warm clothing, fuel, heating equipment, and medicine, especially antibiotic spray to deal with those damn saprophytic bacteria!"

Because severe skin diseases account for half of the non-combat casualties, Sami's climate is more humid than Ursus's. Two water systems flow through it, and its basin structure makes the humidity much higher than that of Ursus.

After a catastrophic snowstorm, there was continuous light rain and fog. They hadn't seen the sun for two days. What does this mean?

This meant that the trenches would be very muddy, making it difficult for soldiers to dry their socks and trousers.

Next, ulcers will quickly appear in areas such as the feet, backs of the legs, and perineum, where the unique saprophytic fungi of the Sami people will happily grow.

More than once, nurses and doctors at the field hospital complained that they felt like they were picking mushrooms from a piece of rotten wood, needing large amounts of antibiotic spray and fuel, and even needing to build a makeshift drying room.

“I’m sorry, our transport capacity is limited, and this is all I can bring. Besides, if we can take that city, I don’t think we’ll need these things anymore. We can move into their houses and use Colombian heaters to keep warm.”

"The premise is that we can actually take it down. We've already left tens of thousands of bodies under this damned city, and the subsequent natural disasters have left us with nearly four thousand more bodies, and new deaths are being added every day. They didn't die from the weapons of the Colombians and Sami people, but from the cold and bacteria."

The commander was very pessimistic about this, even though the two army groups together numbered at least 25 men.

In reality, after deducting logistics, transportation, clerical staff, and special professions such as artillerymen, sorcerers, and drone operators who are unlikely to carry guns in the front lines, and further subtracting the troops that must remain in the occupied areas, the actual number of people who can actually take up arms and go to the front lines is only about 6.

Having already lost nearly a third of their available forces, the state of civilian officers and even hospital nurses picking up crossbows and daggers to fight the enemy to the death is simply not present here, nor in this army.

Conversely, after the brutal war drove the Sami people to utter despair, this phenomenon was observed among the enemy.

After all, they are the warriors who defend their homeland, while we are just invaders. Invaders don't have such a strong will to fight.

The Soviet Union was like this. In the Winter War and the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union's fighting strength and fighting will were completely different. If it were like Tsarist Russia, the fact that it did not collapse on the spot was already a bonus brought about by taking the initiative in the war, which made everyone believe that even if they could not win, they could at least maintain the current state and retreat to the Stone River Fortress to regroup.

Holding onto this hope, the veterans and new recruits managed to hold on through this meat grinder-like siege.

In fact, allowing some of the well-performing troops to withdraw to Stone River Fortress for rest and reorganization did temporarily maintain the morale of the Ursus army, since they had a large number of men and could take turns wearing them down.

"Alright, what exactly did you bring? How many reinforcements do you have?" In any case, the presence of reinforcements and replenished equipment could boost morale somewhat. The soldiers would feel that they had a chance to be rotated out to the rear for rest and recuperation, warming themselves by the fire in the warm fortress houses, and drinking a glass of potato liquor made on a northern farm.

"I brought two battalions of reinforcements, both newly formed, including a vehicle battalion and an artillery battalion."

"You have a vehicle? That's good." Tanks are useful no matter what. Even if they are destroyed, they can still serve as a steel house, providing soldiers with a simple shelter or even a place to keep warm temporarily.

"Including two Titan-class battle vehicles purchased from Kazdel, those are really big!"

It is indeed a large vessel, but it appears quite small among a group of land-based ships and large assault boats. However, its propulsion system is quite powerful.

"This thing... I remember... never mind." The commander banished the unpleasant memories from his mind. As the legion stationed in the north, he had dealt with those private armies from the farms quite a bit, and it wasn't the first time he had been blown to pieces by Titan tanks.

"Regarding artillery, I brought a new type of high-pressure cannon manufactured by Saint-Germain Castle. It requires six sorcerers to operate, and the shells are brand new. It can easily level any obstacle in its path."

"I hope so." New weapons are no longer enough to make a decisive difference in this battle, not to mention that more casters and more Originium bombs mean that natural disasters are more likely to break out.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the Titan's power reactors emitted warm air currents. Clever technical officers extracted the waste heat from the Titan's still-functioning thermal reactors, enveloping the entire wooden repair shop and the adjacent makeshift field hospital in a layer of warmth, so that the wounded no longer had to suffer in the cold.

Because Terra's heat furnace doesn't require warlocks to operate it, it only needs to be replenished with Originium blocks. And on battlefields ravaged by natural disasters, there are plenty of Originium clusters and blocks. Just stuff in a couple of blocks and you can maintain warmth for a whole day.

Compared to its performance on the battlefield, its mechanical devices and heat furnaces, which were deeply hated by the Kazdel people, were welcomed by the Ursus people first. Difficult to repair and freezing to death were, in any case, easier to accept the former.

On the other side, the Sami and Colombian coalition forces were in much better shape, since this was their city after all. They salvaged clothes from last winter from the ruins and collapsed warehouses, and the city's power generation facilities and backup power stations, which had not been destroyed by artillery fire and natural disasters, provided them with considerable warmth.

Most importantly, Sami's sewers and under-deck piping system also served as an excellent heating shelter due to the issue of waste heat discharge.

Almost all Colombians quickly learned the Sami people's rat-catching tricks and their unique skills in starting fires using scrap iron sheets, discarded synthetic jade coils, and broken carbon building materials.

Of course, the Sami specialty, stinky dried fish, which was initially deeply hated by everyone, is not so unbearable now.

Or rather, inside the bunker filled with the stench of feet and sewers, one's sense of smell had long been completely numbed to the point that one could no longer smell the rotten dried fish.

Sami's stinky dried fish isn't stinky from the start; it actually smells quite good when it's being smoked. But after a while, it turns into something that looks like a military knife, and you probably wouldn't be at a disadvantage if you used it to fight the Ursus people.

Before eating, it needs to be wrapped in paper and buried in the soil to absorb the moisture from the soil and soften it before it can be eaten. However, if you do that, putrefactive bacteria will spread all over the surface of the dried fish, making it more bloated than before. When eating it, you need to use a knife to scrape off the surface layer.

This way of eating fish was introduced by the Sami guerrillas and the Citizens' Guard. Under normal circumstances, smoked dried fish only needs to be steamed and is known for its aroma, spiciness, and freshness.

Simply lighting a fire and steaming fish on the battlefield is like loudly telling the Ursus artillerymen: "There are dozens of heroes here preparing to eat, quickly play some lively percussion music to liven things up!"

Therefore, the soldiers on the front lines could only get cold, hard, dried fish that could be used to kill people if necessary. At first, they could be heated by pipes, but later, as the logistics and storage became increasingly strained, many dried fish were buried under the rubble and turned into rotten dried fish.

"Actually, we use this for hunting..." the young Sami sniper said, holding the stinky dried fish in his hand. "This smell can attract wild animals from dozens of miles away, and the stench can greatly mask our body odor. And here, it has another use."

He was referring to the primary source of protein for Colombians and Sami resistance fighters—

Rats are extremely sensitive to the smell of decay, and they can quickly make deals by exchanging rotten meat for fresh meat using dried rotten fish.

Compared to the Ursus people, the Sami and Colombians are not under much pressure regarding warmth.

However, the pressure on food is immense. Ursus is practically under siege, which means it's very difficult for Colombian supplies to get into the city.

Compared to the food that needs to be consumed every day, other supplies are consumed at a much slower rate.

After all, a magic staff can only be used hundreds of times before it becomes unusable, a turret is destroyed faster than cannonballs are used up, and the capacitor and various parts of an electromagnetic crossbow can be salvaged from other electrical appliances and miscellaneous devices in the ruins for repair. As for crossbow bolts, you can make them yourself by finding a piece of sheet metal.

However, food was truly a problem. The sturdy dried fish was the only food available at the moment. The bombing of Ursus destroyed a significant portion of the warehouses, burying a large amount of food under the rubble. Not only was it difficult to dig it out, but even if it were, it was questionable whether it was still edible.

Especially after the devastation caused by the natural disaster, the snowmelt seeped into the ruins, and it is estimated that all the food inside, such as flour, was ruined. Only canned and bottled foods might still be able to be dug out and eaten.

However, the quantity and the amount of energy consumed by the labor were almost disproportionate. Even so, Sami organized some citizens to dig up the supplies buried under the ruins and distribute them. Compared to Ursus, who could eat bread with sawdust, Sami was almost out of even sawdust with bread.

Because of the price and land cost of moving city blocks, most of the storage materials are located on the edge and suburbs of the city, which means that the warehouses that store the city's food and vegetable consumption are destroyed as soon as the war starts.

Not to mention, the battle that took place in the spring was a huge pressure for Sami in itself.

Because of the winter, most of the food and other supplies stored in the city had already been used up, and Sami's farms and agricultural production bases were mostly located near Ursus.

The country is now entirely dependent on agricultural imports from Colombia for its livelihood. It must be said that this war has been a lifeline for Colombia, as Colombian farmers who were on the verge of bankruptcy during the economic crisis and depression have finally found a market for their products.

Whether the Sami people could raise so much money after the war is another matter; at least for now, the money is coming from the Colombian government.

Colombia's money comes from the issuance of war bonds, the returns of which are guaranteed by the reparations from the Sami and Ursus after the war—whether they can actually pay those reparations is another matter.