Doctor, I'm really strong!

Next up is the new gameplay of the new Arknights storyline. One of my favorites is calling in friendly artillery support. Completing the corresponding mission in each stage increases the number of artillery support attempts. Each artillery support can deal massive damage to all enemies on the map. This corresponds to the real scene in history where our artillery completely suppressed the enemy's land-based ships. Hypergryph really put a lot of thought into it.

Regarding the new operators, I never expected it. Hypergryph, you really dared to do it, and you even succeeded.

First, let's introduce the six-star Guard Patriot. This heavy-armored powerhouse has entered the gacha pool. A Guard with a block rating of 3, are you scared yet? Upon entering the field, she increases the attack speed and spell damage of all Sarkaz operators. If there are five or more Sarkaz operators in the team, the talent effect is doubled. After Elite 2, after triggering the first talent, the second talent will apply the enhancement effect to every operator in the team. However, for non-Sarkaz operators, the enhancement effect is reduced by half. A pillar operator in the making.

Skill 1; Heavy Armor Warrior, when activated, increases attack and defense, and increases block by one. The enhancement effect is simple and straightforward.

Skill 2: Wendigo Bloodline. When activated, all allied Sarkaz operators gain 100% increased attack speed and their attack damage is converted into true damage, but they will suffer a 20% health deduction per second.

Therefore, everyone must pay attention to the health of our operators when activating skills, because the health deduction is based on 20% of the operator's total health, and you can die instantly if you are not careful.

Skill 3: March. When activated, all our attacks are converted to true damage and no longer deduct health. However, after the skill ends, all our operators except Patriot are forced to retreat. It is a full-burst skill. If used well, it can take down any boss at this stage. However, we still remind everyone that this is a final battle skill, and it changes from a possible instant death to an inevitable instant death. It is not recommended to use it in stages with high troop numbers.

Next, the second heavyweight, community leader Liu Jiuli, joined the battle as a six-star support.

I find it unacceptable that he's not a Guard or a Caster, but considering the historical combat strength of the leader, if he were to be deployed, the enemy would be in serious trouble, not to mention game balance. So this is actually Hypergryph's "Regarding the fact that the operators I'm looking for are so strong that they can only be used as support for the sake of game balance."

Liu Jiuli's first talent, Battlefield Medic, heals all allied operators by a percentage. Note that this is a passive skill; it applies to the entire map as long as Liu Jiuli is on the field, making it extremely useful. His second talent, Faith, forcibly locks the health of all allied operators for 20 seconds when their health drops to 1%. After 20 seconds, if a medic is available to heal them, they don't need to leave the field. This is a talent for surviving pressure, and I can already imagine players who pull him easily clearing high-pressure maps.

Skill 1, People's Army: After activation, all allied operators' attack power, attack speed, and defense are increased by 50%. This is easy to understand. However, you should pay attention to the fact that this mechanism is locked to the panel. In other words, you can give other operators the full buff before activating this skill, and then further enhance them on top of that.

Wow, is Hypergryph overdoing it? Do they want to explode the stats?

Skill 2, Charge Horn: When activated, all allied operators' attack speed is increased by 500%. The skill effect lasts for 10 seconds, during which time they are immune to all special effects, whether it's the SAN drop from Heinrich's Souls, the stun from the Electric Gun, or other bomb or bleeding effects, even environmental effects can be ignored. It truly is a warrior skill that allows you to fight your way back against the enemy. I love it!

Skill 3, Long Live the People: After the skill is activated, all non-boss enemies on the field temporarily become our units and actively attack the enemy. At the same time, the attack range of all our ranged operators briefly covers the entire map for ten seconds. After ten seconds, Liu Jiuli is forcibly removed from the field. It doesn't sound like a long time, but if you seize the opportunity to deploy, ten seconds is enough for the enemy to die a hundred times. This is the first character in Arknights to completely raise the combat mechanics of all operators.

However, it's worth noting that Liu Jiuli is not a limited-time gacha character; you won't be able to get him through the pulls. Only the first 100 players to log in after the Arknights update will be able to obtain him. Everyone else can only drool over him. I hope I can pull him when the time comes.

Alright, that's all for this episode. If you enjoyed it, please like, comment, and subscribe to encourage more updates. I'm Xiumu, see you next time (you can imagine the background music yourself).

Chapter 203: Cannon Fodder

(Third update! Where are everyone's votes? (?ω?))

"Land-going ships? Where did those Xi Jinpings get their land-going ships from?"

"Pavel is just making excuses for his failure."

"According to our intelligence, even if the Xi people on the other side have land-based ships, they only have a few at most. Based on his description, the other side must have at least a fleet."

"However, the damaged warships are not fake, which means that the enemy has a large number of guns deployed."

"That's strange. Why weren't the enemy's guns and cannons concentrated in Steelgrad?"

In the Ursus Empire's general staff, a group of Ursus staff officers were discussing the situation in Kharkov. Pavel, the commander of the newly formed Fourth Army responsible for the attack there, had been subjected to terrible firepower and his troops had suffered heavy losses and were regrouping.

Although the facts were undeniable, with countless photos of damaged warships, the staff simply couldn't understand how the Terra Red Army had acquired so many guns and cannons. Given the industrial level of the Far East, where did they get the raw materials to build so many guns and cannons? How did they manage the industrial system? How did they handle deployment and transportation?

The only feasible method is to purchase a large number of heavy weapons from other countries. However, the problem is that none of the surrounding countries have such transaction records. Even if Yan Guo and the predecessor of the community, the Red Guards, have an ambiguous relationship, such a large military order cannot be completely kept secret from all countries. There will always be clues.

But now there's not even the slightest clue, which is really strange.

"Could it be that they produced it themselves?"

"Do you think it's possible that those Red bandits dug up some prehistoric relics or something?"

"It's not impossible, but how massive would it have to be to support an army of tens or even hundreds of thousands?"

"There are too many suspicious points here, but the enemy certainly doesn't have as much heavy equipment as we do."

"That's for sure. We are a complete country. They rely on that harsh, cold land. It's unlikely they can last long."

"But waging a war of attrition is really shameful."

"Why a war of attrition? The enemy has deployed such a large force in Kharkiv, which means they can't possibly deploy the same size force in Irongrad. Once we take Irongrad, the community can expect to be surrounded."

"That's right, so the next operation will revolve around Steelgrad. By the way, has Leitania made any moves yet?"

"Their target is Kazdel, and that's also Rembitox's target."

"Being attacked from both sides on the Great Plains, the Red Bandits are doomed."

"It was unwise to hold out in Kazdel to the end. It seems the leader of the Red Bandits is a military idiot."

"So, what's the reaction from Syracuse?"

"They say they are neutral."

"Tch, a bunch of spineless gangster trash."

The coalition forces have already contacted Syracuse, but the Queen of Sicily remains unyielding, adopting a "I just want to do business" attitude, which has drawn ridicule from within the coalition.

In their view, poor Syracuse had been terrified by its previous defeats and was no longer able to stand up for itself.

Little did they know that the Syracuse generals who had been brutally beaten viewed them with the same attitude. Although there were indeed voices within Syracuse wanting revenge, given the current situation, unless the coalition forces gained a significant advantage immediately, Syracuse would only obediently maintain neutrality. They did not want to experience what it would be like to be stormed into the capital.

It's not a pleasant feeling to turn a war of aggression into a battle to defend the capital, is it, India?

"The Red bandits' territory is just ahead."

A Ukrainian military guide pointed ahead, and next to him, a man from Kazimir was observing the situation through binoculars.

To be precise, they were mercenaries of the Kazimierz government. Their most elite Silver Spear Pegasus refused to fight alongside the Ursus Empire's army. As the commercial federation that promoted this alliance, they could only hire soldiers through other channels and form a Kazimierz Expeditionary Force. In reality, this was a force composed of infected and arena knights, with some assassins from the Unarmored Alliance who were mainly responsible for reconnaissance.

Kazimir's target was Yansk, which had the worst environment among all the targets.

The local temperature is still -11 degrees Celsius. Down jackets and cotton-padded coats are daily necessities here, and summer clothes have no market at all. Winter and even colder winters are the eternal theme of this land.

Although Kazimir came to help, weak nations have no diplomacy. Facing the Ursus Empire, the army Kazimir sent had no autonomy and was completely under the command of the Ursus army. The Ursus side also "thoughtfully" sent them to the most dangerous place to fight to the death with the Terra Red Army.

This force consisted of only twelve land-based ships and a total strength of just over 30,000 men. It was entirely intended as a diversionary force, since Yansk was defended by a force of 50,000 men, and they simply couldn't break through.

Incidentally, Amiya and Talulah are in charge of the area; Amiya is in charge of administration, and Talulah is in charge of military affairs.

The two elevated Liu Jiuli's proposed "three-dimensional defense system" to a strategic level. On the snow-covered land, numerous bunkers and trenches crisscrossed the landscape. Since Yansk itself had the capability to produce land-based ships, there were also three newly assembled Barrage-class land-based ships and five Type 59 land-based ships. Meanwhile, other engineering docks were under construction. It was expected that in a month, Yansk would have a strategic force of more than thirty land-based ships.

In addition, Yansk has another advantage: it is close to Komsomolsk, a doomsday fortress that Liu Jiuli began planning long ago. There are more than 100 engineering docks used to build landships alone. Because it is a fixed city, it is very large in scale and area, with a total population of over one million. More than half of them are workers, and the rest are basically workers' families or related people. The service industry also supports Komsomolsk's industry.

It is no exaggeration to say that Yansk's strategic defense capabilities are second only to Stalingrad within the community.

Expecting a mercenary force of over 30,000 to attack such a city is like choosing a glorious death for oneself.

Blood Knight is one of the leaders of this unit, but he himself has no command ability. He became an officer entirely because of his great prestige among the infected and was elected by the infected competitive knights.

Besides him, there were representatives from the Unarmored Alliance, representatives from the Ursus Empire, and non-infected representatives from the Arena Knights; the four of them formed a theoretical roundtable meeting.

In reality, the Ursus Empire representative holds the most power, followed by the Stomachless Alliance representative, then the non-infected Arena Knights representative, and finally the infected, represented by the Blood Knights.

This is the true state of affairs on Terra. In places where shared ideals have not reached, deep-rooted discrimination persists, turning the world into a bloody mess.

Now that the Kazimir Legion has arrived at the battle site, it's time to hold a meeting to formulate a battle plan.

Chapter 204: War Breaks Out in an Instant

(I'm pretty busy today, so updates might be a bit slow... please understand ε=('ο｀))) Sigh)

Representatives from the Ursus Empire, the Unarmored Alliance, the Arena Knights, and the Infected Knights held an internal meeting aboard the flagship Glory.

The meeting's content was very simple: how to launch an attack.

In terms of content, these people are crazy, but Blood Knight knows very well that they are not crazy at all. They just want to use the lives of the infected to test the enemy's defense. If they can break through, they can take the opportunity to earn some military merits. If not, they can find an opportunity to create some military production.

For example, capturing enemy weapons, or borrowing heads from nearby villagers.

This kind of behavior exists in every country; no one's hands are clean, so no one should laugh at anyone else.

The outcome of the meeting was obvious: a 3-1 vote was passed to have the infected competitive knights lead the charge, with the others providing support.

“I hope you are serious. I don’t want the sacrifices of my compatriots to be in vain.”

"Of course, we will definitely take action."

"We will follow up as long as the infected launch an attack."

"We are all comrades-in-arms on the same front, and we will provide fire support."

These people spoke sweetly, but the Blood Knight knew very well that they were just trying to trick the infected into going to their deaths with gentle words. As for their assurances, taking them as comfort was just self-deception.

Back on the landship where the infected were, the Blood Knight announced the battle plan to everyone.

"This is sending us to our deaths!"

"Damn it! Those bastards were up to no good from the start!"

"What's so strange about that? They use dirty tricks in the arena, so what?"

After listening to everyone's protests, the Blood Knight said in his deep but authoritative voice, "Alright, complaining is pointless. This is the situation of us infected. If we want to change it, we can only fight for ourselves, and even more so for our families and compatriots."

Everyone lowered their heads after hearing this and expressed their support for the Blood Knight's decision. Next came the preparations for the battle.

The infected knights were the vanguard, but their equipment was the worst. They were basically using the same equipment they used in the arena. To put it nicely, it was to meet their individual combat needs; to put it bluntly, they were a motley crew with no standard equipment and a jumble of weapons.

Their training couldn't even guarantee the most basic team formation, let alone a relatively complete formation for advancing. But they would soon realize how foolish it was to test the Red Army's defenses with a dense formation.

The Red Pine Knights are the strongest team in this group of infected, so they have their own private rooms. Flametail, Farfang, Grayhair, and Wildhammer are maintaining their equipment to ensure they don't fall behind on the battlefield.

While wiping his spear, Ye Bin suddenly asked, "What do you all think a real battlefield is like?"

While counting his ammunition, Gray said, "A duel after the troops have lined up in formation, that's war."

Nobane nodded: "In other words, it's not much different from a duel in the arena."

While adjusting his scope, Yuan Ya added, "With more people involved, the situation will become very complicated, so everyone needs to be careful."

Nobane looked at Flametail, who was standing by the window: "Captain, what do you think?"

At that moment, Flame Tail was lost in thought and didn't react at all. It wasn't until Nobane called her a few times that she came to her senses.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. What are you talking about?"

Nobane stretched out his hand and said, "It's a battlefield, a battlefield. Aren't we going to the battlefield? What's a real battlefield like?"

Flame Tail shook her head: "I don't know, but..."

Flametail's gaze swept over his comrades, then he said firmly, "We'll come back alive together!"

Gray Hair walked over and patted Flame Tail on the shoulder: "Of course, Captain."

Seeing the smiles on his comrades' faces, Flame Tail became even more determined in his belief.

Suddenly, Nobane asked, "Listen, there seems to be a sound, like moaning..."

The massive explosion instantly engulfed the surrounding scene, and at the same time, similar explosions rang out one after another.