Border Stalemate
midnight.
The first group of goblins finally crossed the border. They spread out across a front about fifty kilometers wide, forming detachments of several hundred men each, spaced about five kilometers apart, and began their advance toward Dragon Valley in batches.
The goblin troops had a clear division of labor: the first detachment was mainly composed of engineers, responsible for cutting down bushes and clearing obstacles in the dense forest to open up basic passageways; in the subsequent detachments, some were responsible for transporting equipment, while others undertook reconnaissance missions.
Under the cover of night, approximately 30,000 goblins infiltrated the area one after another.
Su Ming frowned slightly as he watched the footage transmitted back by the drone, feeling somewhat puzzled by the situation.
"Judging from their speed of movement, the goblin troops are carrying very limited supplies." He asked Katharine, "Is this normal?"
They were fast, but these goblins weren't here for a vacation. Besides, with only 30,000 of them, they were clearly outnumbered as the attacking force.
But Katharine was unsurprised. "These are just cannon fodder, used to wear us down."
"Cannon fodder?" Su Ming couldn't believe it. "Using a full 30,000 goblins, just for the purpose of attrition?"
"Goblins' lives are worthless," Katharine said matter-of-factly.
The drones continued to monitor the enemy's movements. After confirming that the enemy's first wave of troops had been fully deployed and that there were no further unusual movements, Katharine issued the order to engage.
The dragons that have been gathering at the front lines during this period have already completed their initial training and have been organized into the "Dragon Scale" regiment. Apart from the "Dragon Claw" regiment, which is training in the Silver Moon Forest, these dragons are considered to be the most warlike group in the entire Dragon Race.
The Dragon Scale Corps has a total of 500 dragons, organized into five battalions, but Katharine only assigned the First Battalion to engage them. Each group of five dragons formed a tactical team, for a total of twenty teams, which then plunged into the night.
On the back of each dragon rode a necromancer, serving as an observer and support. They wore headsets to receive instructions from the command center and communicate with their teammates; touchscreens on their wrists displayed real-time battlefield information.
Upon arriving at the combat zone, the necromancer quickly marked the approximate enemy range for the dragon.
"Approximately 500 targets in the forest area on the left ahead!"
The two more agile dragons immediately stepped forward, lowered their altitude, and began to unleash magical attacks, with blazing flames cascading down like a waterfall of lava!
As flames struck the ground, the firelight illuminated the area, instantly revealing the large group of goblins who had been hidden among the trees!
"Fire!" The commander of the attacked goblin force roared in anguish. Almost simultaneously, a dozen thick, black shadows, accompanied by sharp whistling sounds, shot out from the ground with a "whoosh"! They were the goblins' heavy anti-air ballistae!
The dragon in the air reacted swiftly, immediately making an evasive maneuver by rolling to the side.
The necromancer on their backs also cast spells, deflecting or knocking away the heavy crossbow bolts. In recent times, their main focus of practice has been dealing with various projectile weapons.
On the ground, the goblin commander shouted hoarsely. The heavy ballista had a reach of four meters, and they even cut down trees to use as a base for securing it for firing. After firing, a dozen goblins frantically cranked the heavy winch, trying to reload the ballista.
However, the other two dragons behind them had already locked onto these exposed threats. They didn't give the goblins another chance to fire, swooping down and unleashing their scorching dragon breath, blasting the ballista and the goblin operating it into pieces.
"You've trained these dragons so well!" Katharine exclaimed sincerely, watching the coordinated battle on the screen.
Teaching dragons how to deal with ballistae isn't difficult; the challenge lies in getting these powerful creatures to execute tactics seriously. From a dragon's perspective, goblins are only one-twentieth or one-thirtieth the height of their creatures.
For humans, this is roughly the ratio of facing rats. In the past, these dragons probably wouldn't have been able to restrain themselves and would have pounced down and crushed them.
"They suffered too many losses in the simulated battles," Su Ming explained.
He only discovered this problem after taking command of the dragons. The dragons were already used to charging straight in when facing enemies of vastly different size.
Fortunately, the virtual battle system DSCWorId features a large number of realistic battle levels where players can fight against goblins.
The dragons displayed an almost fanatical superstition towards novelties like "games." A hundred earnest words of advice in real-world training were far less effective than a single "level-clearing guide" in a game.
Furthermore, being shot down by goblins in simulated battles will result in severe penalties; conversely, outstanding dragons will receive medals and physical rewards.
With a combination of measures, they finally managed to cultivate some tactical discipline in these dragons.
****
The battlefield changed as the goblins launched a different type of spherical projectile. When the necromancer duo tried to intercept it, it exploded in mid-air, spraying out large amounts of viscous, bubbling acid!
Caught off guard, a giant dragon was drenched in the gushing acid. Acrid blue smoke, mixed with the Magic Power glow of curses, immediately rose from where its scales and wing membranes touched.
"Goblins really do mix and match everything," Su Ming said, frowning as he stared at the screen.
In the squad, the magic dragon waiting in the rear quickly cast cleansing and protective spells, relieving his teammate's danger and allowing him to continue fighting.
With the dragon squad's well-coordinated tactics, nearly half of the five hundred goblin troops below were quickly wiped out.
The goblins were completely devastated, and the remnants fled in panic.
"Don't chase!" The command center's real-time instructions were clearly transmitted to the squad, along with a new attack coordinate. The fleeing goblins would scatter in all directions, making a pursuit too costly and not worth wasting time.
"Information on the acid bombs should be immediately synchronized to all squads!" Su Ming ordered.
All observers received the notification. Those waiting in the rear read the notification carefully and discussed response strategies with their partners and teammates; those on the front lines quickly scanned the identification methods and effective handling procedures when they had a spare moment.
"Your information-based warfare system is terrifying," Katharine exclaimed. "The world's top mixed elite forces might theoretically be able to achieve this level." She paused, "But they definitely couldn't reach every individual combatant without consuming Magic Power."
"Dragons, being an elite type, are also very suitable for this system," Su Ming replied.
****
Some goblin squads began to break up into smaller groups of a dozen or so, each carrying some combat equipment, and scattered into the bushes.
This caused trouble for the Dragonscale troops who were clearing them out.
Previously, a whole goblin army could easily be routed by the dragon's swarm attack. But after breaking into smaller groups, the dragon needed to attack each small enemy unit separately. Now, in the pitch-black night, the goblins couldn't see the dire situation of their neighboring units, making it difficult for a chain reaction of morale collapse to occur.
Moreover, due to the dispersed nature of the targets, the command center faced enormous pressure in information dissemination and dispatch.
Katharine swiftly ordered the dragonscale troops to change tactics. After the dragon breathed out and killed a group of goblins, the necromancer on its back immediately began summoning skeletons and controlling these undead creatures to participate in the subsequent encirclement and suppression.
These goblin skeleton warriors weren't particularly strong, but fighting skeletons summoned from the corpses of their own kind was extremely demoralizing. Moreover, as the number of skeletons on the battlefield snowballed, even the most oblivious goblins realized that the battle was turning against them.
About an hour later, the entire 30,000-strong goblin army collapsed. They left six or seven thousand corpses on the battlefield, while the rest fled back to the border in panic.
"These people really are just cannon fodder," Su Ming sighed, looking at the scene.
These goblins were far too inferior in both soldier quality and equipment, and they weren't even carrying weapons like Dragon-Breaking Cone. Sending them out was truly a death wish, a way to wear down the dragon's stamina and Magic Power.
On the surveillance footage, there were new developments at the goblin positions. Another goblin force of similar size, also around 30,000, began to advance and take turns entering the battlefield.
The first First Battalion of the Dragon Scale Corps, which had launched the attack, had returned to base and entered a rest period. The logistics personnel had already prepared food to replenish their strength, and many of the dragons devoured it in a few bites, then lay down on the ground and fell into a deep sleep.
Dragons' tendency to sleep is indeed a problem during prolonged battles.
However, given their ample rotation depth, Katharine dispatched the Second Battalion of the Dragon Scale Corps to engage them.
Su Ming opened the analysis software and began to analyze the data returned from the first battle.
The total flight distance of each dragon, the precise number and intensity of its dragon breath/magic attacks, and other indicators were statistically analyzed and summarized. The total Magic Power reserves of dragons do indeed far exceed those of small individuals such as humans, but the energy consumed by a single powerful attack is also truly astonishing.
The goblins' common strategy of spreading out meant that the dragons had to move back and forth to find targets, and each dragon breath or magical attack could only cause a limited number of damage effects.
Overall, calculations show that in the first wave of attacks, the participating dragons generally consumed 60%-70% of their stamina and Magic Power.
This figure is much higher than Su Ming had anticipated before the battle.
"No wonder the goblins dare to wage a war of attrition." He showed his analysis to Katharine. "Their tactics certainly make sense!"
"Under normal circumstances, a hundred dragons would be insufficient to handle an attack of that scale," Katharine nodded. "At least three or four times that number would be needed. It's your information-based command technology that has elevated combat efficiency to an incredible level."
As the two analyzed the situation, the second wave of combat began. The dragons launched another thunderous attack. After a limited group resistance, the goblins were once again forced to resort to guerrilla tactics of fighting back in small groups.
The heavy darkness significantly reduced the accuracy of the goblin ranged firepower. However, on the dragon's side, the observers, based on real-time information pushed by the command center, had a clear understanding of the enemy's situation on the battlefield and were almost unaffected by the darkness.
The cover of night prevented the goblin commanders from clearly grasping the current battlefield situation. They could only grit their teeth and continue sending wave after wave of goblin troops into this brutal exchange, hoping to create conditions for the subsequent general offensive and praying for everything to go smoothly.
However, the drastic change in the dragons' efficiency has rendered the goblins' plan for a war of attrition a complete joke.
****
Katharine stared at the battlefield map, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing her chin. "The opposing commander is probably imitating the classic tiered attack of the military genius Meiwu'er."
"Oh?" Su Ming had also heard of this Legendary commander of the Star Empire. "Even a war god would use such attrition tactics, sacrificing lives for survival?"
"Meiwu'er's battle was fought under specific circumstances," Katharine explained. "Twenty years ago, when the trolls broke through the natural barrier of the Odu Mountains, Meiwu'er only had a hastily assembled local garrison, whose personnel quality and equipment were far inferior to the enemy's."
Su Ming pulled out a simplified version of the "Green Bamboo Slip" from his waist, turned to the corresponding chapter, and wrote, "In the Battle of the Odu Mountains, Meiwu'er's 10,000-strong garrison was indeed at a disadvantage against a 3,000-strong troll army."
"He's certainly not like a goblin—" Katharine paused, finally choosing an adjective, "Rough and ready. Meiwu'er employs a meticulously calculated rotational engagement strategy, alternating cover during retreats, which significantly reduces his own casualties."
Su Ming's gaze swept over the battle statistics on the "Green Bamboo Slip": "In the end, 2,500 people were sacrificed, and 1,500 elite trolls were wiped out. This is indeed far lower than the exchange ratio in a regular battle!"
"A merciful general cannot command an army," Katharine said. "War is a brutal exchange of data and cold calculations..."
Su Ming looked up at the large screen. "This tactical concept of staggered attacks isn't complicated. Why are you so sure the opposing commander is imitating Meiwu'er?"
"Meiwu'er used a 3:3:4 wave ratio back then." A glint flashed in Katharine's eyes. "If the enemy's third wave of attacking forces happens to number forty thousand—" A smile played on her lips, "Then congratulations, we're facing a commander who simply follows the rules!"
****
At 3 a. m., the battlefield fell into a brief silence once again. As their second hundred-dragon squadron returned to rest, the goblins finally launched their largest military operation of the night.
This attacking force presented a completely different picture – the goblin squads were more sophisticated, carrying twice the amount of weapons and equipment. The drone footage showed that these goblins moved with the skill and efficiency of well-trained soldiers, clearly the main force of the elite.
As the identification system completed its final count, the number froze on the command screen: 40,200.
Katharine shrugged and chuckled, "See? The enemy commander copied their homework perfectly!"
Taking advantage of the lull in the battle, Su Ming had already deployed close-range cameras in some areas. Soon, these cameras began to transmit images back.
Among the trees, groups of six goblins laboriously carried metal poles over three meters long, their tips wrapped in tarpaulins, as they trudged forward.
"The Dragon-Breaking Cone has arrived!" Su Ming declared.
This batch is clearly a lightweight, improved version, with only a single warhead that cannot split, and is specifically designed to accompany infantry maneuvers.
They also discovered that the goblins were carrying another weapon, only half the size of the Dragon-Breaking Cone. Thanks to the work of their intelligence personnel, Su Ming already knew that this was also a rocket-type weapon called the "Scale-Eroding Adhesive Cannon." In comparison, it was less lethal, but its explosion covered a wide area, effectively disrupting the dragon's flight ability, making it a kind of weapon that could restrict the dragon's flight.
This information was quickly pushed to the standby squads, and the heat map of enemy distribution and the list of attack priorities were updated simultaneously.
With the battle order issued, the third wave of dragons taking to the air numbered 250.
"Then you stay here and play house with the people across the street." Katharine grabbed her coat. "I'm going out to play for a while?"
"Have a pleasant trip!" Su Ming waved and said.
The remaining fifty dragons of the Dragon Scale Corps were also fully prepared for battle. Elder Zhimeng was among them, her emerald scales shimmering faintly in the moonlight.
Katharine jumped onto the back of the Zhimeng, leading these giant dragons into the sky, flapping their wings and flying into the night sky.
Zhimeng's wings fluttered, emerald Magic Power flowed like fireflies; the lip ornaments on Katharine's body shimmered, and the magic book in her hand turned, with azure runes rising from its pages.
"Emerald Vision!"
"Water Curtain Heavenly Splendor!"
Amidst the ripples spreading from the double illusion barrier, the dragon horde dissolved into the depths of the night like ink drops into deep water. Transforming into invisible blades, guided by drone information, they pierced through the weakest point of the goblin defenses and entered enemy territory.
****
On the border battlefield, the third wave of goblins completely changed their tactics, advancing by being relatively concentrated in space but with spacing between squads.
The entire force of 40,000 elite goblins, organized into several well-ordered columns, stretched out across an open front of about three kilometers, like a slowly moving tide of steel, steadily pressing forward.
Under the command center's direction, the horde of dragons once again swooped down from the sky and launched an attack.
However, upon first contact, they immediately sensed the vastly different strength of this enemy. The dragons' initial wave of magical attacks was either dodged or blocked by the goblins on the ground with their shields, reducing the damage by more than half.
Conversely, almost simultaneously, countless flames lit up the jungle below. In an instant, thousands of Dragon-Breaking Cone soared into the air with sharp whistles, weaving a deadly net of death!
The goblin elite forces clearly possess the ability to scout and aim at enemies at night, which is their confidence in launching attacks at night!
For some time now, Su Ming had been using homemade small rockets to simulate the attacks of the Dragon-Breaking Cone, conducting targeted training for the dragons. The two hundred-plus dragons that attacked at this moment performed well in dealing with the attack.
However, this technique works well against sporadic attacks, but it immediately becomes ineffective when faced with such a large-scale barrage!
However, those training sessions were not entirely without benefit. At least all the dragons immediately recognized the deadly threat, and without hesitation, they flapped their wings and swept backward with all their might, trying to create a safe distance.
Just as the large group of dragons were scrambling to escape, a ground force not belonging to the goblin ranks began to move in the forest below them. They unleashed magic, felling the large trees that had originally concealed themselves but were now obstructing their line of fire.
Twenty circular defensive positions instantly appeared. In the center of the positions stood a massive structure, as large as a truck.
A skeletal summon in spider form.
It had long since undergone a transformation—eight thick, bony limbs, deeply embedded in the earth, supporting the weapon platform on its back. Infrared sights flickered faintly, a small fire control radar rotated silently, and four slender gun barrels were proudly raised, pointing towards the sky.
When the radar detected the signal of a large number of Dragon-Breaking Cone approaching, the entire weapon station was instantly activated! The hydraulic system hissed as it adjusted its angle, and within a fraction of a second, the muzzle of the quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun locked onto the target airspace.
Then, the automatic fire control system opened fire! A barrage of 14.5mm armor-piercing electro-optical rounds shot out like a storm of scorching metal, precisely targeting the swarm of Dragon-Breaking Cone in the sky. Infrared equipment rapidly captured the trajectory and target dynamics, making millisecond-level real-time corrections, weaving a dense, impenetrable curtain of steel bullets in the air.
The deafening explosions immediately filled the air! The vast majority of the Dragon-Breaking Cone were blown apart in mid-air by this sudden and fierce firepower, turning into clusters of dazzling but non-lethal fireworks.
Many managed to slip through the barrage, but the dragons and their observers were capable of intercepting them. In short, after the goblins' long-planned attack, only two of their own dragons were injured.
Witnessing this scene, the goblin commander was completely stunned. According to their plan, such a deadly volley should have immediately devastated the dragon horde in the sky!
However, the battlefield gave him no time to be shocked. The dragon horde, which had just been forced to flee by the Dragon-Breaking Cone, turned its massive bodies around and, fueled by boundless rage, launched a fierce retaliatory attack.
In an instant, dragon breaths of various colors and overwhelming magical radiance descended from the sky, crashing down on the exposed goblin firing positions like divine punishment, unleashing a series of explosions and destruction!
Su Ming finally relaxed and let out a long sigh of relief—the battle on this side of the border was no longer going to cause any significant trouble.
On the combat support system screen, the software also displayed the close-in defense system's performance results. Su Ming glanced at the crucial interception rate and showed a hint of surprise.
He immediately contacted Miao Xin and relayed the data to Jisu.
"An interception rate of only 90% against a mere Mach 0.8 target?!" Jisu's eyes widened instantly, her tone filled with disbelief and frustration. "How is this possible! This is too embarrassing!"
"It's related to the ballistic characteristics of the intercepted target," Su Ming explained. "Those goblin-made contraptions fly erratically in the air." He gestured with his Little Spiky Head bone claws, "And every now and then a 'bang' bursts out from behind, their flight paths twisted into jagged lines."
Jisu carefully noted it down. The military technicians clearly lacked understanding of the unique characteristics of goblin weapons, resulting in an overly "idealistic" fire control system algorithm that failed to adequately adapt to the chaotic reality of the goblin battlefield.
"And then there's another problem," Su Ming added, "Goblin rockets sometimes suddenly disintegrate in flight, even losing their tail fins or something. This is within the realm of 'normal,' but our close-in weapon systems might mistake this for a successful hit and shift their fire to the next target."
"----This goblin, how come he seems even more outrageous than Third Brother?" Jisu couldn't help but sigh, rubbing his forehead. In this situation, he felt that he really couldn't be too harsh on his own military personnel.
"I think they're about even," Su Ming shrugged.