Daniel had guessed one thing right.
His superior command headquarters really had run into trouble.
And it was no small trouble, either.
Just as the Skeleton Corps launched its attack on his position, five "Cloud Dragonfly" ornithopters had already slipped through the left flank of their defensive line and continued pushing deep behind it.
Flying at an extremely low altitude, practically skimming the ground, the five ornithopters had gone unnoticed by Position G40-1 under the artillery barrage, while the rear radar had been completely unprepared.
By the time the five ornithopters appeared on radar, the radio-guided missiles they had launched had already struck the Legion's anti-air positions along the hilly ridgeline with the precision outlined in the plan.
The flashes and shockwaves of the explosions instantly swallowed the anti-aircraft guns and sandbags alike, leaving countless anti-air gunners dead or wounded on the position.
From the front line all the way to the command post, twisted steel and burning positions littered the route. Viewed from the air, they looked like countless scattered campfires.
At the very moment the air-defense system in Sector 40 was crippled, twenty H-1 "Dragonfly" transports arrived above the battlefield on schedule. Carrying five hundred Burning Corps elites, they flew straight over the defensive line held by the 40th Thousand-Man Unit and charged toward the Ten-Thousand-Man Unit's command post.
Fifty W-2 "Mosquito" attack planes took off one after another from the Heart of Steel, joining the Dragonfly transports arriving from the rear. They escorted the formation while providing air support for the airborne troops.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Meanwhile, the faces beneath the shadows cast by the aircraft were filled with terror and bewilderment.
A centurion looked up at the sky and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Planes! The Alliance's planes!"
Not far beside him, the