Reldon reported to the field Reconnaissance unit. For the next few days, Han Xiao could only stay at the military base. However, since he had already completed his secondary career goal, he had no need to go into the city for the time being.
As the date of the Calamity drew near, the effects of the Tide became increasingly apparent. Everyone noticed the anomaly, and a faint whisper would always echo in their minds. It was a distant language, as if they had never heard it before, yet there was a strange sense that they could understand it. When they tried to listen carefully, it would disappear. It was eerie and abnormal.
The frequency of whispered thoughts aligns with the frequency band of brainwaves, which can influence emotional fluctuations. As a result, the mercenaries' behavior gradually became more irritable, while Sunil's soldiers, accustomed to it, remained steadfast in their thinking and unmoved.
This is the low-intensity Psionic Undercurrent formed by the Whispering Stone. Intelligent beings are more resistant to it and are not easily affected under normal circumstances. However, whenever the "Tide" surges and the intensity of the whispers increases, people can experience what wild beasts feel every day. Living in the brainwashing whispers for a long time, they only need a little trigger to lose all reason and follow their killing instinct. The "Tide" is the trigger, and it is also the source of the Calamity.
"Woo-woo-woo" That day, the piercing alarm sounded throughout every corner of the military base. Everyone knew the meaning of this sound—the enemy was attacking!
The atmosphere at the military base suddenly changed, becoming solemn and tense. Sunil's soldiers ran back to their positions with a thud, and the mercenaries, having received training over the past few days, quickly found their places.
Various armored vehicles and defensive tanks started up one after another, and a dense array of floating gun turrets rose up.
Buzz!!
Rings of air currents spread out, stirring up billowing dust, and nine interstellar-class warships slowly floated into the air, like nine aerial fortresses, guarding the skies above Forest City and occupying nine directions.
Han Xiao suddenly looked down; several pebbles were bouncing on the ground.
First came a slight tremor, then it grew stronger and stronger, and finally the sound of running echoed from all directions. The forests in all directions were swaying, and the loud, sharp, and ferocious roars of beasts turned into sound waves that shook the sky!
The swaying of the forest, like a snake winding through the grass, rapidly approached the edge where the forest met the plain.
Something was about to emerge. Countless people swallowed hard, their foreheads sweating with tension.
"Roar--"
The roars were like rolling thunder, trees felled, and wild beasts burst out of the forest from all over the mountains!
The herd of beasts, large and small, surged and roared wildly, like a rapidly spreading black tide, filling the field of vision.
Just looking at this scene, many people felt a sense of suffocation from the bottom of their hearts.
"Fire!" an officer roared menacingly.
Boom boom boom!!
The next moment, a barrage of artillery fire erupted from the defensive perimeter, deafeningly loud. Those in the position were surrounded by artillery fire that made their eardrums ring and almost caused them to lose their hearing.
Calamity has struck!
Forest City has five lines of defense. The first line is a deep, Impact Resistance zone, heavily fortified with minefields and automated artillery. According to the strategic plan, with the support of rear firepower, the first line of defense can significantly reduce the density of beasts. The second line of defense is a buffer zone composed of bunkers, trenches, traps, spikes, and high-voltage electric protective walls. Hovering turrets, war vehicles, and interstellar warships from the sky will launch a head-on attack on the beasts here.
The third line of defense is an ironclad defensive line, stationed with armored guards. If a beast pounces on this defensive perimeter, it will enter into close combat, and the guards will unleash a furious storm of metal upon the beast. Nivelle is stationed at this line of defense.
The last two lines of defense were artillery positions, providing fire support to the front. The penultimate line was home to reinforcements, ready to be deployed to fill any gaps. The final line of defense was the last, immovable barrier, responsible for logistical support, repairing a large amount of machinery and treating the wounded during the brief buffer period after each battle.
The Black Star Mercenary Group's position was on the penultimate line of defense in the north, and it was incorporated into a long-range heavy tank position, designated "G7". It consisted of three Fortress Class defensive tanks as its core, which could unfold their bases and embed themselves into the ground to become super-large turrets, equipped with eighteen mobile defensive heavy cannons, as well as a certain number of ground escort troops. As the tanks moved, they raised their angles and fired at the distant beast horde.
As a mechanic, Han Xiao's job is to operate a defensive heavy artillery piece, with only one mission—to fire! In this kind of positional warfare, Mechanic Class are basically assigned as Gunner, as mechanical bonuses can increase firepower, and Han Xiao is no exception. In such a massive disaster, unless one is incredibly strong, the strength of an individual seems extremely insignificant.
Boom--
From the Forest City defense perimeter, countless burning arcs of light shot up, flying into the distance, covering the sky and exploding into thick smoke and flames mixed with red and black amidst the beast horde. One after another, wild beasts were blasted into the air, limbs and broken bones flying together, blood and brains mixed in color.
The Black Tide's vanguard was blocked, and the beasts behind it advanced fearlessly, stepping over corpses and blood. A Rainstorm of steel pierced through flesh and blood, creating an extremely bloody scene.
The smell of gunpowder and blood, mixed with hot air currents, swept into the battlefield.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every time Han Xiao fired the cannon, he could feel the powerful recoil and clearly see a burst of burning flame trailing smoke erupt from the muzzle, exploding in the horde of beasts thousands of meters away, creating an orange wave in the endless black tide.
The feeling of controlling a heavy cannon and firing at will is exhilarating—it's all about shooting everything apart!
The panel kept refreshing experience points. Using Sunil Race weapons reduced the experience gained from killing monsters. Han Xiao mainly used this to judge how much experience players could gain by killing monsters. However, judging from the excited expressions on the players' faces when firing cannons, he knew that the rewards and fun would be good. Being in such a large-scale army, each player had a special feeling, as if they were participating in a major event, which was novel and exciting.
The Black Tide was blocked outside the first line of defense. Faced with overwhelming artillery fire, it could not advance an inch, leaving behind a mess of blood and flesh.
Beside him was another birdman mercenary operating a heavy cannon, casually and relaxedly saying, "The Calamity isn't as terrifying as the Sunil people make it out to be; the beasts can't possibly get in."
Han Xiao glanced at him but didn't say anything. This birdman mercenary definitely hadn't listened carefully to the Sunil people's explanation of the Calamity. This was only the first wave of the Calamity's initial stage, consisting of a group of small wild beasts, the largest of which was no more than ten meters in size. According to the encyclopedia, these were just appetizers; the beasts that would appear later were the real nightmare.
The artillery fire raged for a full four hours before a hard-won lull appeared. The Logistics Department rushed to replenish ammunition and dispatched disinfection teams armed with flamethrowers to burn away the blood and corpses on the battlefield. At the same time, soldiers changed shifts, with several rotations for each position, as no one could work continuously during such intense combat.
Han Xiao also stepped down from the gun emplacement to rest. The roar of airplanes swept overhead as a new batch of Reconnaissance took off. The field Reconnaissance team and field combat troops had already gone deep into the forest. Their work was dozens of times more dangerous than positional warfare, and they could die at any time, like a small boat in a raging storm.
Not long after the rest, Reconnaissance intelligence from the field came back: the next wave of beasts was about to arrive, and the shift changers took their positions, ready for battle.
The scene from before repeated itself, but this time the black tide began to advance slowly, gradually approaching the first line of defense. At this moment, fighter jets took off, launching missiles from above, providing firepower coverage, and once again blocking the beast horde. The Sunil Race's fighter jets were small and very agile, with wings that resembled the Flying Serpent Mecha with steerable propellers. Han Xiao could tell at a glance that this design was very adept at agile aerial combat.
The enemy was far away, and even though the herd of beasts stretched as far as the eye could see, the mercenaries around them showed no signs of tension. It seemed that the distance brought them a sense of security, and the presence of steel fortresses all around them gave them the illusion that "I am very safe."
In contrast, the soldiers of Sunil had a heavy and worried expression on their faces, like dark clouds gathering between their brows.
Just then, dark shadows appeared on the distant horizon, and flying beasts appeared, rapidly approaching. Among them were small flying beasts less than a meter long, and medium-sized flying beasts with wingspans of several meters. Their appearances were extremely ferocious, and they were all creatures I had never seen before. They looked like dung beetles that had become immortals.
"The bestiary says that flying beasts usually appear around the third day, but this time it's earlier." Just as Han Xiao had this thought, he heard the officer of the G7 squadron shout.
"Change to high-explosive shells, raise the muzzle, and fire at the air!"
One by one, the artillery formations followed suit, and sparks exploded in the sky as bloodied flying beasts plummeted to the ground.
The fighter jet climbed to a higher altitude, shaking off the flying beast's entanglement, its body swaying, the orange bullets fired from its machine guns resembling whips being lashed out.
The fighter jet was equipped with a simple energy shield. This wave of flying beasts could only attack with their sharp teeth and claws, creating crackling arcs of electricity on the energy shield. The fighter jet continuously broke the sound barrier at the tail end, charging in and out of the flying beast horde, like heavy armored cavalry repeatedly piercing through infantry formations.
This was already on the scale of a large-scale ground war; time flew by amidst the fierce fighting and pictures.
At first, the mercenaries were relaxed, but after only three days, the beast horde's strength increased rapidly, and gradually no one could smile anymore. After continuous high-intensity battles, everyone showed signs of fatigue.
Han Xiao did his best to fulfill his responsibilities and play the role of a cog in the chain.
On the fourth day, an enemy appeared that threatened the safety of the rear positions.
The ground undulated like waves. A group of burrowing beasts crossed the first two lines of defense, crashed into the alloy wall beneath the third line, and burst out of the ground. This was the first time the rear positions had seen the beasts up close.
The appearance of the burrowing beast signaled the official start of the engagement, giving the superhumans waiting behind the third line of defense a chance to prove their worth.
The third line of defense, the long-silent steel front, finally roared with gunfire.