The Sandfolk were counting on the Marauder warships to provide them with air cover, but that was no easy task. In fact, just as the three warships came swaggering over the rugged mountain range, dense artillery fire and anti-aircraft missiles were already screaming toward them.
During the time Akina-yama Yahata had been responsible for New Jade Gate's defenses, he had reorganized its transportation hubs and strategic chokepoints, setting up concealed firing positions at those locations. There was no other choice. The homeland couldn't send a fleet to help, so they could only provide as much equipment as possible. After all, compared with warships, there really wasn't much equipment that could be deployed within an atmosphere.
They had gotten their hands on so many different kinds of artillery. Not finding somewhere to set them up would have been a real waste.
The terrain around New Jade Gate helped, too. The northern foothills of the Qililuo Mountains were full of hills and caves, perfect for hiding firing positions.
But Yahata was a proper graduate of a strategic studies program, not some fool who'd put all those guns near Tulong City. Rather than turn the city into a hedgehog, he figured it was better to spread out the firepower and make the entire plain along the range's northern foothills part of the defensive network.
Now the Marauder warships had swaggered right into that kill zone. The ordinary soldiers were certainly awed by the colossal vessels, which looked like steel mountain ranges. But on second thought, something that huge hanging in the sky seemed even more smug than any target they'd seen in their shooting drills. It would've felt wrong not to concentrate their fire on it.
In an instant, the sky near the Qililuo Mountains was covered in dazzling flashes of gunfire. Behind