Xyrin Empire
Chapter 503: You Are Already Surrounded

Chapter 503: Chapter 503: You Are Already Surrounded

The vast Roman Legion took up its uniform pace at a single command. Those battle-hardened war machines, with their seeds sown in bloodshed, set into motion, causing even the ground itself to tremble incessantly.

It was like a wave of mud spreading rapidly; the desolate Gobi instantly kicked up a heaven-shocking aura of murder, crazily surging towards our position.

In a flash, Saber gripped her golden sword tightly, her body bending slightly forward in a stance ready to meet the assault. Meanwhile, the others quickly drew their weapons. Despite the cold sweat on their faces, not one person retreated.

Yet Tohsaka was amazed to find that those who should have been the first to attack didn’t move at all. Even the two little girls, who seemed rather eager for battle, were merely standing in place with their massive weapons drawn, showing no intention of advancing.

"Alien Uncle?"

She looked up in confusion, her tone filled with bewilderment.

"Raynor! Bring your ship in, all guns blazing, deploy the drop pods! Hit them!!" I did not respond to Tohsaka’s confusion but instead suddenly barked out an order into thin air.

Three seconds later, while they were still puzzled by my command, a blinding white light ball suddenly fell from the sky.

Like a mini sun tumbling down, the glaring light ball howled through the atmosphere with a sharp whistle and then smashed fiercely into the midst of the dense Roman square formation. The ensuing massive explosion turned the sight of every person who was looking directly at the light ball into a white blur. They could only faintly make out the scene of the Roman heavy infantry formation being lifted up by the invisible shockwave and thrown high into the air—similar to a punch into iron sand, where sand and blood fly together.

A friendly reminder, those who have not practiced the Iron Sand Palm shouldn’t think that they can cultivate a world-beating divine technique by simply pounding into a pot of iron sand daily. Most people succumb to infections in their wounds before ever achieving their divine skill.

Following the descent of the first light ball, many more appeared in the vision of the audience. In a continuous series of high-pitched air screams, they crashed down one after another. Within just a few seconds of saturation bombardment, the once dense and neat Roman square was now in disarray, the battlefield shrouded in smoke and chaos.

However, the constitution of the Heroic Spirits was indeed incredibly robust. Even if their projections were only a fraction of their true forms, they possessed astonishing defensive capabilities. The photon bombs from Protos technology were incredibly powerful, yet apart from those Heroic Spirits who vaporized instantly near the explosion center, most of the Roman soldiers who were blown away managed to survive. Dazed by the sudden attack from the heavens, they were now groggily rising from the ground, clumsily searching for their scattered weapons.

However, doomsday was far from over. A simple high-altitude bombardment certainly wasn’t enough to annihilate these Heroic Spirits, whose individual combat strength was nearly equivalent to a small army of mortals. What would truly reap them were the Marines to follow.

After the photon bombs had "swept" the landing zone, the drop troops cast down from low Earth orbit also made their appearance in the sky. When the overwhelming drop pods appeared all at once overhead, even the brave Saber couldn’t help but shudder, and Emiya, standing beside her, simply went weak in the knees, nearly collapsing.

The psychological shadow was too strong.

Huge landing pods, enveloped in red flames generated by their high-velocity atmospheric entry, plummeted rapidly from the sky before decelerating and making final adjustments above the battlefield. Then, under the bewildered gaze of the Roman infantry below, these behemoths shed their outer shells one by one.

The first things to greet their eyes were the numerous dark muzzles of guns and high explosives grenades raised high.

The jets of fire spewing from the electromagnetic rifles jolted the bewildered Roman infantry awake, while the devastating explosions of the oversized grenades wreaked havoc on the battlefield. Reynolds’s elite Marine Corps was accustomed to going all out against any enemy, so despite facing what seemed to be a rudimentary and primitive ancient army, they did not spare the firepower at their disposal, and this tactic proved to be the right one.

Although their armor was crude and flimsy, either leather or iron, the defense of these Roman infantry was not inferior to the Marine Corps’s power armor. Armor suffused with magic power could even withstand a dozen shots from an electromagnetic rifle within range, and their javelins and swords—however rudimentary they looked—I knew, could explode with the force of a small howitzer when thrown as projectile weapons...

The Heroic Spirit Army was no cannon fodder, although they seemed fragile when facing the Xyrin Apostles.

The initial caution was a relief to the Marine Corps soldiers, for they discovered that these primitively equipped ancients could actually damage their super alloy power armor with their swords and spears. Had they not chosen to suppress with firepower from the start, they might indeed have been embarrassed by these primitive troops.

"Full fire suppression on the enemy! Advance by squads! Photon bombardment arriving in three minutes; any unlucky bastards with a damaged photon shield device report immediately! Get back into the landing pod! If you get killed by these primitives, prepare to be the butt of jokes for your successors!"

In the public command channel, Tex’s rude and boisterous yelling resounded. I could see, among this wave of landing troops, one particularly conspicuous big guy in full blue armor, arrogantly pulling down his visor—and in his hands was not the electromagnetic rifle commonly used by infantry but an oversized rotary cannon. In Reynolds’s army, there was no one else like Tex, who seemed as if he had been infected by the Pandora Divine Sect’s crazed ways of combat.

While these Marine Corps soldiers took advantage of the first wave of photon bomb bombardments and landing pod exhaust suppression to gain the upper hand, another phenomenon caught everyone’s attention—that the Roman infantry were being bisected out of nowhere amongst the gaps in the electromagnetic rifle fire.

It was as if an invisible blade madly danced among them, slicing the limbs of the Heroic Spirit Soldiers as they ran, dying with eyes wide open in rage, unable to close them even in the face of such a sudden, eerie death.

"How did that guy Zeratul fix the Spark Source in the end?" I leaned into Sandora’s ear and asked softly.

"He didn’t fix it, but our research institute helped make a more effective Spark Source. With that thing, Reynolds is almost becoming the savior of the Transformers. In contrast, Zeratul still doesn’t dare show his face near the institute."

"Oh." I nodded and said no more, mourning Uncle Z in my heart.

Those harvesting the lives of the Roman Soldiers invisibly were naturally the Dark Templars brought by Zeratul—powerful warriors who spent hundreds of years honing their combat skills, whose spiritual blades were invincible. On such a chaotic battlefield, they were a formidable addition, turning the firepower gaps created by the Marine Corps into even more dangerous death zones. And watching their skilled cooperation with the human infantry, it was clear that this kind of combined battle was not their first.

In just over ten minutes, the first wave of charging Roman Infantry Corps had already been almost entirely wiped out. Even though the combat strength of the Heroic Spirits was much greater than that of ordinary human soldiers, the situation was dire. First, these Infantry Spirits were merely projections whose strength had diminished. Second, the members of the Marine Corps who had landed on the battlefield had all received enhancements through Xyrin Technology to some extent. Their sudden arrival threw the Roman legions, who had never faced this kind of warfare, into complete disarray. With the strengthening of one side and the weakening of the other, the Heroic Spirit Army was oppressively subdued by the troops of ordinary mortals, even showing signs of a one-sided massacre. This fully demonstrated one thing: science is power.

Hmm, let us delve into science and venture into the interstellar world.

As the infantry square formation neared collapse, the enemy cavalry finally joined the battle. They seemed to have realized that the reaction speed of the soldiers wielding firearms was only at the level of ordinary humans and attempted to exploit the enormous mobility advantage of the Heroic Spirit Cavalry to bypass the enemies. However, just as the Light Cavalry had broken away from their own formation and were racing toward this side, a second wave of long-range attacks from the New Eden Federation almost instantaneously annihilated them.

It was a barrage of Light Balls shot from the true west, very similar to the Photon Bombs that had rained from the sky earlier, but slightly smaller. Although they were not as powerful as the former, these horizontally fired Light Balls came in greater numbers and were much more accurate. If the previous close orbit bombardment could be considered wide-range, indiscriminate suppression, then the current Photon Bombardment should be treated as precision targeted elimination. The Light Cavalry, just having broken away from their formation and being bombarded by the incoming Light Balls, were sent tumbling, men and horses alike. Their Defense Ability, which was already weaker than that of the Heavy Infantry, coupled with being unguarded in a high-speed charge and colliding head-on with the shockwave, meant they suffered double the explosive damage.

Besides targeting the cavalry troops specifically, about one-third of the Photon Bombs fell into the midst of the already disarrayed infantry square. The Power Armor of the human Marine Corps clearly employed new Technology. It swiftly generated milky-white Energy Shields, completely deflecting the scorching streams of photons radiating across the battlefield. Not only were they unharmed by the friendly fire, but their Power Armor also multiplied its force and area of effect several times. The Infantry Spirits, already on their last breaths from the concentrated fire of the electromagnetic rifles, were engulfed by these intensified Photon Jets. Within a few seconds, they had been reduced to ashes, returning to the Heroic Spirit Hall.

"Drop your weapons! This is the New Eden Federation’s Holy Expeditionary Army ’Hibernian.’ Your surviving troops have been suppressed by us! Resistance is futile! Repeat, drop your weapons! The Expeditionary Army has surrounded you! Resistance is pointless!"

A deafening sound storm swept across the battlefield. Even though it was just a call for surrender, it felt as thunderous as a sonic attack. Regardless of the psychological impact of the call, physically it sure was shocking.

"Wow—!" Tohsaka and Ilya, already stupefied with shock from the orbital bombardment that had descended from the sky and the Photon Bombardment from the Marine Corps and distant attackers, were jolted awake by the thunderous broadcast and let out loud cries of astonishment. "Spaceships! Alien spaceships!!"

The New Eden Federation flagship, the Hibernian Strategic Cruiser, engaging in a Space Jump, directly entered the battlefield. That colossal ship, spanning the breadth of the sky, blocked out the light of the Red Moon. The series of lights from its underside only shone on the cold, metallic armor of the spaceship, reflecting a metallic shine. Although it could not compare to the large warships of the Xyrin Empire, or even to our medium-sized warships, for Tohsaka and others, the gigantic spaceship slowly cruising across the sky was the kind of grand wonder one would only see in a science fiction film.

"Big brother! Big brother, is that your spaceship?" Ilya immediately started tugging at my arm and shaking it frantically, her face alight with extreme excitement. "That’s so awesome!! So big brother, are you really that powerful?"

"Much more than you could imagine," Tsuruya said with a proud look. "That spaceship isn’t brother’s, oh no. It’s just the flagship of one of the forces under the command of brother’s subordinates. Compared to our main fleet, it’s no more than a small boat!"

"Commander Zuotian, while what you said is correct, it really sounds quite disheartening,"

A voice suddenly emerged from the side, drawing everyone’s attention. I had already sensed someone approaching, but I couldn’t help but express surprise when I saw her face: "Kerrigan? You came too?"

"I’ve returned to the military, at least to make amends for what happened in the past. Fortunately, after Doomsday, a lot of humans can’t be bothered with my history anymore. They need any reliable force they can get... Raynor and I came here to reclaim that warship ’stolen’ by the Little Princess. We received your Command and landed with the troops. Commander, who exactly are these enemies? Their equipment looks as primitive as that of Ancient People, but their combat power is almost on par with fully armed Marines. I’ve never seen such foes."

So that’s impressive, huh? These aren’t even the fully realized Heroic Spirits. If they were the true Heroic Spirits, their combat power would surely be more than twice as strong as that of the average Marine Corps soldiers!

Of course, whether they could withstand an exchange of fire with an interstellar warship is another matter altogether, but who said special agents have to be badass enough to dismantle a Gundam with their bare hands? For those middle and lower tier fully realized Heroic Spirits to be several times stronger than an ordinary interstellar soldier is already pretty good.

After all, these guys are the ones I have high hopes for, even planning to use them as special forces vassal troops. If they can’t even beat the most ordinary soldiers of the New Eden Federation humans, that would be a huge disappointment.

I didn’t explain in detail the matter of the Heroic Spirits to Kerrigan—after all, that information is available in the public database. The battle is already drawing to a close. Moments ago, the Roman Legion, which seemed so majestic and powerful as to drive Tohsaka into despair, under the covering fire of the Interstellar Army, had become a broken and defeated force, falling one by one to the precise shots of the Marine Corps soldiers. And the fire from the west has not ceased; there, a dense siege tank position has been established. With the guidance of Xyrin Technology, the technology of both the Kepulu People and the Protos Divine Race has achieved a preliminary integration and leapfrogging development. One of the results is the new generation of Photon Cannon Siege Guns, featuring the long-range capability and convenient form transformation of human siege tanks, the high firing rate (relative to regular siege tanks) and high damage of Protos photon cannons, capable of easily targeting agile flying units in the air. The entire energy supply adopts the junior Ghost Energy Technology, providing a more enduring power source. A new model of Photon Cannon Siege Gun has a combat power almost more than five times that of its predecessor and, I heard this thing gave the Transformers a hard time. Their bulky figures almost suffered full damage when facing the Photon Cannon Siege Gun, as Bubbles put it, "When you run across them, red numbers just keep popping over your head!"

A Marine Corps soldier wearing Power Armor retreated from the gradually calming battle line and came over to us, giving a military salute, "Emperor, Chief Governor of the New Eden Federation humans, James Raynor reporting for duty!"

"You’re still personally leading the charge," I chuckled and then signaled with my eyes to the side, "Also, you might want to step back a bit..."

Raynor looked down in confusion, just in time to see Pandora and Visca looking up at him slightly, causing him to shiver and hurriedly retreat more than two meters.

"Ah ha, I didn’t expect these ancient people to be so fierce!" Tex’s booming voice came from behind Raynor. This erstwhile interstellar convict, who had regained his freedom, seems to have found his joy in Raynor’s new government army. He walked up to me with big strides, gave a casual military salute, "New Federation Captain Tex reporting for duty, boss!"

This unlucky fellow just happened to stand where Raynor had just been, and Pandora and Visca’s gaze hadn’t yet been taken back. It’s said that when you’re unlucky, you can throw out your back just standing still.

See, you got thrown out there.

"Alien... Uncle?" Tohsaka was still in a dazed state just now, but now she finally recovered, looking warily at the "Alien Soldier" in front of her, "Are all these your soldiers?"

"We have not had the honor to become the great mentor’s warriors," a sudden low and hoarse voice startled Tohsaka, and a tall figure gradually materialized in the air, its strange appearance eliciting exclamations of surprise from several bystanders. Zeratul came forward and respectfully bowed, "We have captured the aging human, but I am very sorry that the most powerful energy life you requested has died under the bombardment."

Uh, Octavian got knocked off?

So awesome a Heroic Spirit, causing so much trouble, got literally blown to death by a siege tank? That is indeed an embarrassingly suffocating way to die.

As the energy source of the Roman Spirit Army came from Red Moon, Octavian’s death did not cause these soldiers to disappear immediately, and the broadcast from the Hibernian calling for surrender could not make the Heroic Spirit soldiers give up, so it took some time to eliminate them completely. While the Marine Corps soldiers and Dark Templars were clearing the battlefield, a lean old man was thrown in front of us by two tall Protos Warriors. (To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, with more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)