Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"One day, the intelligence department assured us that we had at least one day, and if we couldn't take the train station within a day, we would have to retreat."

"Time is of the essence, so let's not hesitate." The first to speak was the Ursus Grey Wolf light mobile artillery, which fired a total of twelve cluster shells directly toward the Lulai Railway Station. They were more like long cluster crossbow bolts fired by ballistae than shells, except that each bolt was shaped more like a slender missile.

"Click!" The device linked to the artillery sorcerer made a crisp sound, and then the shell landed, triggering a small explosion.

The most distinctive feature of the Grey Wolf's shells is that they are not very lethal, but they are equipped with a large number of Originium devices on the warheads. Their purpose is to use the shells for reconnaissance. The epitome of Ursus's art of firepower reconnaissance - a bomb that can take pictures - perhaps in the future it can be exported under the name of a camera that may explode?

This small-scale shelling posed no threat to the Lulai defenders. The train station's dome had been specially reinforced, and apart from some of the scaffolding used for reinforcement collapsing, it caused almost no casualties.

"This is difficult. We must take over these two areas in front of the station before the other side realizes what's happening!"

Ursus's rapid response force is not equipped with many heavy artillery pieces, consisting mainly of assault troops, mortars, Grey Wolf light mobile artillery, and a large number of light armed vehicles—to put it bluntly, it's primarily Terra-style armed pickup trucks.

It's not that Ursus doesn't want to use specialized infantry fighting vehicles, but rather that logistics are already running out. In this kind of tactical maneuver that bypasses the front and cuts off reinforcements, the pressure on logistics will be further amplified.

Meanwhile, at the Kavaleriaki capital railway station, the armored train, having completed its preparations, received an alarm that the Lule railway station had been attacked and immediately prepared to depart. However, at that moment, "Bang!" a loud noise came from the engine, and the entire armored train slowly came to a stop.

"What happened?" The person in charge, who had tripped and fallen, hurriedly crossed the carriage and came to the front of the train.

"Sir, sir, the boiler has exploded."

"Why did the boiler explode!?" The locomotive of this train is not driven by the Originium reactor like the one in Kazdel, which is too expensive. In order to obtain a sufficient number, it uses a museum-grade ancient engine, which is a steam power that uses Originium to boil water.

Before the Terrans could build mobile cities, they relied on these devices to quickly relocate various mechanical equipment and folding houses during natural disasters. And now, these cheap and inexpensive old men are once again putting on their armor.

After all, the manufacturing process for this thing is much simpler. With the casting and materials technology of modern Terra, it is quite easy to manufacture a short-distance, high-speed train platform without pursuing distance, and the price is also much cheaper than those advanced locomotives.

Not only did Kazimierz do this, but Ursus and Victoria did it too.

There's no way around it, the price difference is just too big. If it's just for homeland defense, the maintenance cost is also much cheaper. In the nearly ten years of war, the finances of all countries were in terrible shape, so every penny saved counts.

Even Kazdel has started using this old-fashioned gadget, as long as it's not for places where maximum speed, efficiency, and comfort are the priority.

For example, in mining commuting, it would be much cheaper to use this kind of steam locomotive—and most importantly, it would require far fewer operators and manufacturing workers.

"We're inspecting it!" The foreman pointed to the workers who were inspecting the Originium heater and steam power structure inside the locomotive. "Our initial assessment is that it's probably been used too frequently these days and hasn't been properly maintained. You know, this thing is older than my grandfather."

If the steam engines of Kazdel and Victoria were at least newly built and modernized, with significant improvements in fuel efficiency and thermal efficiency, then the Kavaleria and the like were truly old relics salvaged from a graveyard, repaired, and forcibly put into use.

"Hurry up, you only have 2 hours..."

"Sir, we'll do our best!" Two hours of repair time is enough for this old man whose structure is already simple.

Although their structure limits the transport of large quantities of goods and slows down their speed, they don't actually need a large volume of cargo or high speed.

"Two hours, plus travel time, we only expect to delay it for four hours. What should we do?" Two of the repairmen were whispering to each other. "The explosion wasn't thorough enough."

"We can't completely destroy it!" Completely destroying it would likely mean the other side would just replace the front of the car. Although it would waste several hours, overall, it would not only reveal signs of sabotage but also prevent further damage.

"Is there any way to delay this further?"

"I'll do my best..." The biggest problem when repairing this old-fashioned equipment is finding spare parts, but the biggest advantage is that many parts can be repaired using rough methods. As long as it doesn't blow up when it gets to the front line, it's considered a victory.

A spy recruited by Ursus successfully sabotaged the engine of an armored train, causing it to be delayed for more than two hours before it could depart.

However, the other side failed, and a small armored train equipped with six twin-mounted light Originium railguns and multiple Victoria Fencer cannons successfully set off.

It is expected that the high-speed armored train, which does not use the old man's engine but the modern city platform engine of Kazimir, will arrive at the train station in 45 minutes.

The Fencer Gun is a collaborative project between Victoria and Lateran, designed to counter the increasingly formidable Kazdel molten metal weapons and air forces on the battlefield. It utilizes oversized etched projectiles for firing.

Because the base of the etching projectile is enlarged, the manufacturing process becomes much less difficult, allowing for larger spell circuits and more Originium energy to be filled.

The drawback is that the cost has not decreased, but has actually increased significantly compared to etching bullets, because the large-diameter pure synthetic jade disc used as the base is very difficult to manufacture and has an extremely high scrap rate.

In contrast, Colombia is preparing to adopt Kazdel's approach—finding a cheap but acceptable substitute for synthetic jade.

However expensive it may be, as long as these deadly high-explosive cluster shells fall on the heads of the Ursus, it is worthwhile for the Kazimirs, and it makes sense to discuss the price of weapons and ammunition after the battle.

However, discussing how expensive something is on the front lines is meaningless; any weapon that can kill the enemy is worth it, no matter how expensive it is.

Meanwhile, the battle at Lulai Railway Station was also intensifying, with Ursus launching a full-scale attack. The defenders abandoned the outer town area and retreated to the inside of the station.

It must be said that this sturdy train station gave the Ursus people a lot of trouble. The Ursus people set up a defensive line in the hall and used the height difference of the atrium to beat them up.

Their troops were mostly hidden in the underground station. It was difficult to kill the defenders' manpower with the light artillery of the rapid deployment force. The commander could only send in one battalion after another, almost stepping on corpses and blood to break into the station hall and compress the defenders' controlled area from the entrance area to the waiting area.

"Hurrah!" Groups of Ursus infantrymen in dark gray uniforms stepped over the corpses of their comrades and debris in the station to climb over the roadblocks. They used the pillars, various tents, supply boxes and other odds and ends in the station as cover to exchange fire with the Kazimierz infantrymen who were holding out near the control room.

"Boom!" An Ursus officer was sent flying backward as the etching bullet blew open his breastplate and his entire chest cavity. His ribs snapped open and broke, leaving a bloody mess in the dented area, and his internal organs were all turned into minced meat.

"Damn, where did these Kazimierz get so many etching bullets?!" It was a storm of etching bullets. The light machine gun, clearly produced by Laterano, was spitting out tongues of fire. The warlock operating it gradually turned pale until a layer of Originium particles appeared on his body, at which point he collapsed to the side. The assistant gunner kicked him aside and took over the firing.

"Belt-fed etched ammunition?" The Ursus people were utterly dumbfounded. Were these Kazimirians planning to give up on life?

However, it was all in vain. The long, etched ammunition belt slowly swallowed the gun barrel and then turned into a rain of bullets that poured over the Ursus attacking force.

Most infantry armor is meaningless against etching rounds. Even Kazdel's mobile exoskeleton and power armor cannot withstand the bombardment of large-caliber etching rounds, let alone Ursus's standard crudely made breastplate.

Etched bullets are not gunpowder-propelled weapons, and the efficiency of barrel heating is far lower than that of gunpowder firearms.

In other words, the machine gun overheated for a longer time, especially when the new assistant gunner grinned and pulled out a tactical staff, the tip of which was covered in frost. Almost all the Ursus soldiers suppressed behind cover turned pale.

The combination of a full 2000-round ammunition box and the warlock's human-powered air cooling system creates a long-lasting barrage of bullets. The only drawback is that the warlock, as the launcher, has to take on the function of "gunpowder" and will soon be exhausted.

"Sniper! Take him out!" The Ursus squad's marksman, armed with a Snow Rabbit rifle, had found a good firing angle. The Kazimierz machine gunners, slaughtering their own men, had absolutely no concept of concealment. Well, as users of a new type of weapon, their performance was perfectly reasonable.

The Snow Rabbit rifle's electro-optical sights circled the group of crazed killers, and then, "Bang!"

The high-powered pyrotechnic bomb ripped the machine gunner's skull off. Well, to be precise, his entire head disappeared from his neck, leaving only a charred section of his cervical vertebrae.

However, the tracer effect of the Tarzan rounds also revealed the sniper's position. The heavy weapons operator carrying the Victoria-made man-portable gun immediately engaged in a tense and exciting "sniper duel" with the other side - a sniper duel? I'll use a 40mm gun.

Although they successfully turned the Ursus marksman into a firework, the position, now without machine gun cover, was breached at high speed. Ursus quickly took control of the station control room and prepared to lower the barricades and close the gates.

Just then, a whistle sounded, and a metallic monster slammed open the descending gate, causing the entire train to derail. The massive armored carriages and locomotive crushed the soldiers on both sides who had no time to dodge into mincemeat.

Before the stumbling Kazimir reinforcements could even climb out of the carriages, the artillery carriages, located a few carriages behind the derailed train, raised their rapid-fire cannons and unleashed a spectacular close-range volley on the Ursus follow-up troops outside the station.

"Why is this thing here?!"

"Damn it, retreat, retreat!" The Ursus were forced to retreat as the enemy's armored train had already arrived, although it had successfully disrupted some of the station's functionality.

However, this can only buy some time and reduce pressure on the main battlefield; it cannot actually cut off the enemy's supply lines.

Not to mention, if one train arrives, won't the others be late? If they don't run now, they'll be stuck around the station by this thing, making the already insufficient Ursus forces even more strained.

A fierce battle lasting about two hours ended with Kazimierz successfully saving the station.

However, it will still take some time for the high-speed armored train that forcibly rushed in and derailed to be lifted back up and for the twisted rails to be repaired.

Having learned their lesson, the Qazimirs reinforced Lule Central Station to prevent Ursus from launching another such attack. Compared to this narrow victory on the battlefield, the Qazimirs faced far greater difficulties on the main front.

Chapter 84: Sniping? My 305mm naval gun

Chapter 84

"Click...click—" The monotonous sound echoed in the empty room, bounced back from the four bare walls, creating an even more monotonous echo, "Click!"

The monotonous clicking sound stopped, and a hand picked up the cylindrical ammunition from the box on the table, holding it between the thumb and forefinger, exposing the red dragon emblem on the side to the dim light.

"Boom!" The violent explosion shook the entire room. The chandelier above swayed back and forth, casting shadows that bent and stretched repeatedly on the wall, as if an invisible demon was making a ridiculous and silent mockery.

"Click!" The last Tahir grenade was loaded into the magazine, tapped lightly twice on the table, and then inserted into the magazine pouch of the tactical vest. Why should a Sarkaz be fighting here for the Kazimirs?

The man, whose hair was already gray, scratched his face, momentarily lost in thought, until the roar of the second shell and the fine dust falling from above brought him back to his senses.

A former Sarkaz royal guard, he had no skills in making a living other than killing and plundering. In New Kazdel, he could find no place to realize his self-worth, and the army would not want someone like him.

It wasn't his political background that was the problem, but his deeply ingrained fighting habits and his numerous injuries. Someone like him, who had been allocated land and a job, was simply wasting his life in a gatehouse of a biscuit factory, which was not the proper fate for a soldier.

The battlefield, death, and gunfire seemed to possess a certain magic, calling him back. On the battlefield, he longed to return to his hometown and be an ordinary farmer.

But when he actually became a farmer and a gatekeeper, he realized that this was not his destiny. His soul seemed to remain in that place filled with death and slaughter, and only his body had left.

So he returned, as a freelance mercenary, just as he had left, the only change being that his weapon had changed from a sniper crossbow to a new type of rifle—no warrior would refuse a good weapon, and neither would he.

"Damn it, these Ursus people are getting more and more outrageous. Are you done yet? It's your group's turn."

"Alright..." The Sarkaz sniper picked up his rifle leaning against the wall and followed his squad leader through the long corridor, up the stairs leading to the upper deck, where the dim light ended to brilliant sunlight and... horrific death.

"Hurry, put out the fire!" The damage control team, pulling on the fire hoses, shouted hoarsely as they moved the outer deck of the city.

In particular, these land-based port areas were attacked by Ursus heavy artillery and naval gun corps, with burning flames and collapsed buildings everywhere.

Even the urban module itself was blasted open, revealing a chaotic mess of the city's rail transit system, with crowds of people running around like headless flies everywhere, including the open docks and drone landing pads.

In the distance, clusters of crimson flames and white smoke, mixed with a strong aura of death, rushed towards you. Being in this place felt like being among a swarm of panicked ants. Only those steel behemoths were the masters of this world, and you were nothing more than a pitifully small ant among them.

"Listen, your mission is to stop the Ursus people from climbing up. Your position is over there!"

The squad leader grabbed the somewhat distracted mercenary, pointed forcefully at the tower not far away, and shouted at the top of his lungs in his ear. In this state, amidst the various explosions and artillery fire, no one could understand what he was saying unless he shouted like that.

Looking out from the city module, the ground appears to be covered with countless ant colonies swarming toward the edge of the city.

In reality, they weren't that closely spaced, and these "ants" weren't Ursus's army, but rather refugees from Kazimir; Ursus's armored forces and boarding troops were still behind them.

The Sarkaz sniper glanced back. In the distance was the Lublin City Administration Building. He was in one of the two port areas on the outskirts of Lublin City, which resembled the two pincers of a crab.

Agricultural products from the north and minerals from the south were unloaded at these two ports, then transported to Lublin for processing via the intercity rail system. The products were then transported to various cities in Kasimir via the two ports and the central station.

These two areas are naturally the main focus of Ursus's attack. Once captured, Ursus's fleet will have a supply port and maintenance area, which can strengthen the siege of Lublin, or even go further and bypass the fortified city of Lublin to attack Kavaleria.

I rushed up the rusty iron frame to the tower, where there were already several people. This tower was originally used for lookout. Before the invention of modern guidance and observation technologies, people had to rely on their eyes to observe land-based ships and arrange their entry into port in a timely manner.

The Ursus will not choose to engage in a thrilling maze-like street battle with the Kazimirs in the lower levels. They will most likely choose to use assault troops to fly directly onto the deck, or rely on landing ships to approach and directly occupy this area and the control room behind the tower, open the blockade gates, allow more transport ships to enter the berths, and then release more attack troops.

"Sarkaz?"

"Hmm!" The sniper didn't speak, found a spot and lay down. Ursus and Kazimierz used the sniper in a similar way to the sniper operators of the past, always in a team configuration, rather than having them form their own sniper teams to independently snipe high-value targets.

He skillfully checked the condition of the rifle, then took out a slightly shriveled green tangerine and placed it aside. This was one of his strange habits. Sniping is a job that tests patience and concentration, and this extremely sour green tangerine can effectively stimulate the mind and prevent falling asleep or losing focus.

In addition to his rifle, he also carried a lightweight folding sniper crossbow. He didn't have many turret ammunition, which he needed to reserve for high-risk, heavy targets; he would use crossbow bolts to deal with ordinary rifles.

Compared to the increasingly sophisticated sniping tactics employed by Kazdel and Columbia, other countries do not yet have their own unique sniper tactics. Simply put, current sniper operators still operate in the old way, occupying high ground and remaining stationary with minimal movement.

Of course, it's also because Terra doesn't really have powerful long-range and individual explosive weapons. Otherwise, if they gave you a few more opportunities to engage in sniper duels with 125mm smoothbore guns or 155mm artillery groups, these idiots would disappear.

For example, nowadays, the sharpshooters of Letania are used to only carrying 3-4 special crossbow bolts when they go out, and they run away after firing. They will never stay in one place for more than 3 minutes, because in at most 3 minutes, Kazdel's chain fire will be right above their heads.

Even Columbia has learned this trick, because Ursus's mortars arrive faster than Kazdel's Hummingbird drones.

Moreover, the Colombian guys have even mastered real and fake sniping positions, cross-fire sniping, and ultra-long-range sniping. They've also learned how to use directional bombs and remote-controlled crossbows for sniping.

He is arguably the one who has made the most progress in sniping tactics in Terra, mainly because Ursus taught him well. He often uses Hummingbird and mortar teams to counter sniper combinations—and Ursus's good habit is largely thanks to the Sami Ranger Guerrilla's sniping tactics.