Major Surme stared at the smoke and flames on the terminal screen, and for a moment, he felt utterly hopeless.
He knew all too well that, by this point in the battle, they had once again suffered heavy losses—and had even lost Brigadier General Mando. If they lost another major general, especially the deputy commander of the entire army, then he would be the only one left to take the blame. At that point, neither the Grand Marshal's Office nor Marshal Farrell of the Ring of Miracles would let him off lightly.
Even if King Bedo and King Vellent were willing to plead on his behalf, the best he could hope for was an undignified retirement, right? As for the position of governor of this beautiful holy planet, that was naturally out of the question.
Surme couldn't help but feel deeply distressed. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
But just then, he suddenly saw the giant on the screen—his massive body clad in three layers of armor—leap out from behind the blazing sea of fire. He raised his battle-axe high and urged everyone to keep charging forward.
Major Hongkas was still on fire. But given how energetically he was bounding around, he seemed to be doing just fine.
His courage immediately emboldened many of the panicking Imperial soldiers.
Major Surme had only just begun to feel a little relieved when missiles launched from the enemy's unmanned submarines offshore came screaming in. The endless explosions flared into blinding light once more, briefly obscuring the orbital reconnaissance craft's sensors.
Still, these troops had moved decisively and promptly. They should be able to avoid most of the blast radius, right? Probably... Major Surme reassured himself, then shouted:
"Still can't get through?"
The Kieyang communications chief reported with sweat pouring