Hidden Objective

General Blatter’s report had quickly been directed towards Jialipalan’s forward command department. Upon receiving this report, Bernadotte immediately called for an emergency meeting for a discussion on the current battle situation and passed on this report to the combat planning department, ordering every single research unit to submit their deductions and combat plans.

The staff officers within the combat planning department were racking their brains, sketching out their thoughts on the virtual map in order to deduce the line of thought the famous general of the Empire, Russell, had.

Several staff officers were even discussing softly amongst themselves. As the opinions started diverging, the staff officers began arguing louder and louder as everyone stuck to their own opinions, refusing to agree with the others.

The calmest person among them was still the one in charge of deduction in the 6th Research Unit, Tian Xing Jian, as only the 6th Research Unit did need not to submit any deductions nor plans.

Tian Xing Jian was currently daydreaming… about the information regarding Russell.

He gritted his teeth as he murmured to himself, “Is this chap still a person? He is truly a war machine!”

The intelligence department’s investigation on this famous Empire general was truly detailed. The information stored within the computer regarding him had been twice as much as other generals from the Empire, comprising of every single aspect of information one could get on Russell.

Russell was 42 years old and had no siblings. From young, he grew up in an orphanage. The information regarding how he was born wasn’t clear. This person was antisocial and did not like socializing with others. Due to his external appearances being similar to that of the Weibo race, at 6 years old, he had been sent to the Empire’s military institute all the way until he graduated at the age of 20 as a genuine second lieutenant officer, joining the land-based army of the Gyaca Woods Empire up until now. He was the most outstanding military genius amongst those his age.

Other than the period when he had just graduated and applied for a month of holiday to travel, he had fundamentally never left the military institute. The self-discipline of this person had reached a freakish level.

Russell had never exhibited the impulse of an adolescent when he was young. When he became an adult, his personality turned calm and steady and was someone who could bear hardships. While leading soldiers at the most fundamental level, he preferred fighting hard battles, and using his calm and flexible mind, he was able to determine the situation with abnormal accuracy. He would often lead the soldiers to attack the weakest point of the enemy, using astute and multivariate tactics which he was so experienced with that they became really fierce and creating circumstances where the enemies would not realize that they had fallen into his traps.

Ever since Tian Xing Jian learned from the forward command’s report that the previous airdrop in that specific location in Catosi Canyon had been planned by Russell, Fatty harbored fear for this person. Russell had even went according to the attacking postures of the Federation in his stratagem against the Galileo Starfield, dealing with it as if he were lifting light weights—it was effortless. He was akin to a brilliant artist, casually drawing several strokes on the battlefield, concealing the killing intent amidst the chaos such that when the entire piece of art was displayed in front of the enemy, the enemy could no longer turn back.

He himself was merely someone who relied upon a set of mystical deduction combination techniques and the suspicions towards the Myth Legion to chance upon the deduction he made. Even if that was the case, Russell had easily entered the backdoor of the deduced outcome, dissolving all the advantages the Federation would gain from it. He was so valiant even after the failure of his plan, and now, he was even personally here to lead the army on the Miracolo Planet. What could he do based on just this white color of himself [1]?

Fatty felt dismayed as he had a feeling of being totally helpless despite watching others committing a grievous act.

This wretched person could not help but think in his heart, ‘I am truly unable to fight against him. At most, I will end up as a prisoner-of-war. I was the one who broke through the other party’s plan, making it so that the bullsh*t royal family of the Gyaca Woods Empire could not step down from the stage. How will I be paying this debt? The moment they find out, this fleshy body of mine will be in their hands.”

The combat planning department’s staff officers sent over their calculated combat plans. Fatty had looked through every single one of them carefully, though all of them were of the deployment type based on countering the tactics used by the enemy. That was truly disappointing, as by the time the other party’s complete plan was revealed, it would be too late to act.

Even though they knew that there was a hidden objective behind the other party’s plan, regardless of how they much thought, they were not able to find out what it was, turning everyone mad. Thus, Fatty could only stare at Russell’s picture as he gritted his teeth, fantasizing how it would be good if he could just destroy him.

***********

Leray Federation’s 201th Mechanized Infantry Division had already turned mad. The two artillery teams that were directly subordinate to this division had been completely destroyed just an hour ago by the opposing coverfire. If it was not for the suppression by the artillery of the command headquarters, 201th Division would have been completely wiped.

The Gyaca Woods Imperial infantry soldiers down the hill were like the tide, dissipating apart before charging forward again. Under the protection of the Battle Mechas, the fearless soldiers once again charged up the hill which the 201th Division was defending for the 46th time.

During the initial charges, there were several times where the Imperial Army had actually reached the Federation’s base, though they were pushed back by either the Federation soldiers who had thrown themselves upon the swathes of enemies while holding onto fusion grenades or the soldiers who pushed them back by using their own body. The infantry division had a Battle Mecha battalion lose so many people due to the charge that it reduced to a Battle Mecha company. The next time the enemies charged forward and attacked their base, it would be unknown whether they could make them retreat.

How long had it been since such a war has happened?

The bloody battle of the infantry soldiers had occurred a very long time during the era of ancient Earth. Today, in this vast open long distance war, both sides had fought till the point where they were forced to use their bodies. It was truly unfathomable to think of how intense the current battle situation was.

The command and coordination system had completely been destroyed by the electronic battle, and the losses of the autonomous artillery teams were even more grievous. After doing their utmost to provide firepower cover, they were destroyed by an even more violent enemy artillery fire. As this exchange in firepower between the two nations lasted until even now, there was not much help coming for them. In view of the loss of the Sky Network System, the guided missiles that were used against Battle Mechas were randomly flying around like a blind man within the battlefield. No infantry soldiers dared to provide laser guidance amidst such dense firepower, as that was akin to committing suicide.

What was more bitter would be the fighter aircraft in the air. The several thousand fighter aircraft, during the start of the battle, had flown out from their various hangars, firing ground missiles that plowed the entire battlefield before engaging in a dogfight. In just a short few hours, the total number of fighter aircraft in the airspace above Garo Mountain that were either destroyed midair or shot down had reached the thousands.

The remaining fighter aircraft continued to tangle up as a bunch. With the electronic battle culminating in the usage of the most primitive form of battling, there were no ultra-long radarlock nor were there infrared tracing; there were only energy cannon fires and close-distance missile firing that were completely based on gut feeling. They were akin to vultures covering the sky, ferociously tearing apart each other in the gloomy sky without stop.

“F***! Kill them all!” Seeing the enemy infantry charging into the firepower range, 201th Division’s 3rd Regiment Commander Gutiérrez roared out his command. This giant, who was 2 meters tall with a muscular body, carried a heavy-sized energy machine-gun cannon that required two people to operate. Roaring madly, he fired the cannon.

The reverberating shouts of “Kill!” were accompanied by the ear-shattering cries from the firearm, causing the battlefield to be covered with smoke. The Federation infantry soldiers stationed in their bases were carrying a myriad of different weapons, with those wielding energy weapons firing, forming a dense rain of firepower which fell upon the charging Gyaca Woods Imperial soldier, sweeping into a complete mess.

The momentum of Gyaca Woods’ attacking soldiers had been curbed, with several undulating waves of scattered lines of soldiers being reaped like rice grains, burying them into the ground neatly. Soon, accompanying the huge steps by the Imperial Battle Mechas, these Gyaca Woods soldiers, who were extremely used to charging in the midst of the rain of bullets, started climbing up before following behind the Battle Mechas and moved towards the defense of the Federation.

At this moment, the Federation soldiers heard an ear-piercing whistle coming from the sky. This was a warning of the incoming mixed energy cannon shells coming from the enemy. The experienced soldiers immediately crawled to the temporary, excavated trenches, and soon after, a chain of loud resounding explosions could be heard. These trenches that did not resemble one had been bombed by the shells, forming deep holes all around.

“Damn, this is a good trench!” Two fortunate Federation soldiers who were in close proximity to the explosion had survived the attack as they jumped into the newly-made bomb crater happily. They did not need to dig them any longer, as this bomb crater could be used for a while. They had seemingly disregarded the consecutive exploding artillery shells that were near them. A soldier utilized this opportunity, the gaps between the explosions, to take out a cigarette before giving one to his comrade. The two began smoking the cigarette in elation while feeling that this was a much more enjoyable than living life as a deity.

[1] Figurative meaning, implying how clean and new of a state he is in terms of warfare.