Preparatory Bombardment

Of the three supporting forces, Bowers' side fared the best. They encountered little resistance and quickly took control of the goblin rear area and most of the supply depots.

However, the flanking and intercepting force led by Zijin began to encounter challenges on the widest section of the plain.

The five-kilometer-long interception line here was too wide in front. On the one hand, some of the remaining goblin troops, having discovered that their escape route had been cut off, deployed on the spot and began to organize an orderly attack.

On the other hand, reinforcements from the goblin heartland also launched an attack from behind the blockade line. They attempted to tear open the passage to rescue their trapped allies.

Su Ming immediately ordered Zijin Zhimeng and her group to evacuate through the main passage at the mountain pass.

Zijin, Ruixiuli, and Jielusi leaped onto the back of Zhimeng and sped back towards the main position of the Dragon Claw Regiment Third Battalion.

"Abandoning the mountain pass is fine; letting some goblins slip through is acceptable," Su Ming's voice came through the communicator. "Moreover, opening this passage will create a funnel effect, attracting goblins to converge here and relieving the frontal pressure on the plains interception line."

Zijin turned on the LCD display on her wrist to check the battlefield situation. On the East of the Ridge side of the plain interception line, several goblin troops, totaling about 20,000 men, had gathered, and their strength was still increasing.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the goblin heartland, a fresh goblin force of ten thousand is advancing at full speed and is about to make contact with the interception line.

Clearly, that side is far more important.

"Understood," she replied.

Noticing the enemy's aggressive approach, Zijin ordered the Dragon Claw Regiment's interception line to begin to contract inward.

"The enemy's command structure is still intact, and it's operating quite well," Su Ming said softly, staring at the enemy and friendly forces' positions on the electronic map.

"These greenskins have always been very well-organized," Dragon King Gelie Lie remarked from the side. "Especially when they're facing us dragons, these little dwarves suddenly exude an air of unwavering resolve."

"That's only natural," one of the advisors chimed in. "If goblins hadn't banded together for warmth, they would have been eaten like snacks by you Dragon Race thousands of years ago."

"Hmph, speaking of that," a hint of reminiscence flashed in Gelie's dragon eyes, "It's said that the flesh of goblins in the primordial era was quite delicious. It's a pity that after the great war among the Feather Race a thousand years ago, all races signed a pact not to hunt intelligent life, and no dragon has tasted that flavor since."

"All races?" Su Ming keenly caught the word and asked curiously, "Besides dragons, what other races are there?"

"Simply put, it's all races except humans." Gelie's deep voice carried the weight of history. "Because humans are universally recognized as the most delicious food in the world. Even the goblins on the other side are keen on secretly capturing humans for a feast, not to mention trolls and Bearfolk Clan."

"It's truly remarkable that humanity has been able to thrive and multiply to this day," Su Ming couldn't help but sigh.

"So when humanity became powerful, the first thing they did was push for the signing of the treaty," Gelie concluded, "Which finally changed the dietary habits of the entire world."

****

Zijin and her group quickly returned to their main position on the plain.

As she issued further orders, the three battalions continued to tighten their formation. Meanwhile, the goblin armies on both sides, like iron filings drawn by a magnet, surged toward the area held by the Dragon Claw Regiment.

Su Ming quickly calculated the distance and timeline of the battlefield, grabbed the walkie-talkie, and said, "Zijin, you can begin guidance!"

"Received!" Zijin replied.

Su Ming quickly switched channels with his fingers, "Attention Long-Range Fire Battalion! Targeted attack coordinates have been uploaded, launch immediately!"

At the rear rocket launch site, rows of Hongxing I medium-range rockets stood proudly, their robust 400mm caliber bodies gleaming with an eager metallic sheen in the sunlight.

As soon as the launch command was given, the launch site sprang into action. The mages quickly activated the wind magic arrays on the rockets, and a powerful airflow rushed in from the air intakes, creating a supersonic airflow.

After completing the final checks, the mages quickly withdrew to a safe distance.

"Ignite!" the on-site commander ordered.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Five rockets at a time, roaring and tearing through the air. Twenty groups of one hundred rockets, like angry fire dragons, rose one after another from the ground. Trailing long, incandescent white trails, they hurtled towards the plains battlefield a hundred kilometers away with overwhelming force.

Inside the command center, the dispatchers had already issued an airspace clearance order, and all drones, including the Rainbow Drone, were fine-tuning their cruise trajectories to avoid the missile's flight path.

From the launch site to the plains position, an aerial corridor appeared, with hundreds of death trails piercing the sky.

"Second wave, launch!" Su Ming's command did not stop. The launch site roared again, and another wave of a hundred rockets soared into the sky, following the path of the vanguard, whistling towards the front line.

Then comes the third wave!

In a short period of time, three hundred rockets were unleashed in a single volley. Such a massive expenditure prompted one staff officer to mutter, "So many at once—"

Each Red Apricot I rocket weighs approximately two tons; three hundred rockets would amount to six hundred tons of steel and flames—an enormous number in the eyes of beings from another world.

"The goal is to completely obliterate the enemy in one fell swoop!" Su Ming explained simply, "You're not used to the scale of industrial-grade firepower delivery yet."

On Earth, this would be equivalent to the firepower preparation phase of a battle.

"Long-Range Fire Battalion! All launchers, begin reloading immediately!" Su Ming ordered.

He put down the walkie-talkie and turned to the staff officer, "That's the significance of the Ruby Base's production! Whenever the battle demands it, we will not hesitate to launch a second, third, or even more waves of attacks!"

****

On this side of the plain interception line.

On the vast wilderness to the east of the East of the Ridge, an army of 20,000 goblins spread out like ants swarming across the sand, along a battle line only a few kilometers wide.

They operate in groups of five to ten, forming hundreds of tiny combat units, each teeming with equipment that requires multiple people to operate in coordination.

This dispersed formation was originally intended to counter dragon breath and area-of-effect magic, but at this moment, under the commander's orders, the goblin squads were spaced even further apart.

The horrific scene of lightning striking from the sky on the battlefield was still fresh in their minds. The commander chose to disperse the enemy as much as possible, not daring to leave them even the slightest chance to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

Looking down at the sparse enemy ranks, Ruixiuli frowned slightly. "These goblins, they're convinced they can't afford to trade dragons, aren't they?"

This formation is doomed to lose if it gets attacked by a dragon, but it can at least reduce some casualties.

Unfortunately, the dragons' long breeding and growth cycle is the biggest weakness of this race.

It takes them three hundred years for their next generation to grow up. In the same amount of time, goblins can reproduce fifteen generations. As long as resources are sufficient, goblins can easily achieve exponential growth in their population.

Even if a dragon wins a battle, if it cannot control casualties, its war potential will be quickly exhausted in the second and third battles.

The observers responsible for fire guidance have moved forward and are quickly marking the impact points.

Zijin connected the communication, "Su Ming, do we have enough long-range firepower?"

Inside the command center, Su Ming glanced at the frantically refreshing data stream on the fire control screen. Thousands of scarlet dots spread across the digital map like a plague, and continued to increase as the observers worked.

The "Electricity-Swallowing Beast" frantically calculates and continuously derives and allocates the best attack path.

"It's a bit tight," Su Ming replied. "Considering accuracy, we can only cover two-thirds of the combat units."

Upon hearing this, Zijin's tense jawline suddenly relaxed.

"This is more than enough!" she said, dissatisfied.

Zijin raised her hand, signaling to the waiting Dragon Claw Regiment Third Battalion. The dragons immediately lowered their bodies, their claws gripping the rocks, their muscles taut beneath their scales, ready to unleash a thunderous strike.

****

The first wave of rockets tore through the clouds and came into view, their exhaust streaks leaving blinding trails of light against the leaden sky.

Among the goblin array, many powerful individuals with keen senses detected these rapidly approaching death trajectories in the sky.

However, the absolute speed of Mach 5 is beyond the reach of most of them. Combat professionals below the High Rank are powerless to interfere with flying objects at this speed.

The goblin commander's pupils contracted, but he wasn't overly worried. These rockets were much smaller than the bombs the dragon had previously dropped, so their power was significantly reduced.

At this moment, his troops adopted an extremely dispersed formation. The results of these cloud bursts would be less than one-tenth of what they were before.

But before these missiles could get close, they suddenly disintegrated several kilometers away in the air!

Under the horrified gaze of the goblin commander, each missile split into ten bullets, and the tail ignited a second time, spewing out a ghostly blue propulsion flame.

One hundred instantly became one thousand!

These thousand intelligent swarm warheads, like a school of piranhas smelling blood, deftly adjusted their attitude in mid-air, swooping down with precise malice towards their respective targeted goblin squads.

"Boom! Boom! Boom--!"

The continuous roar of explosions shattered the tranquility of the plain.

The chosen goblin squad suffered heavy losses in an instant. Deadly pre-fabricated shrapnel and shockwaves swept through, tearing half of the squad apart, while the rest were violently blown away by the raging blast.

The alchemical weapons they had painstakingly carried twisted and disintegrated in the explosion, some even exploding in a secondary explosion, sending orange-red fireballs billowing into the sky amidst black smoke.

"Amazing!" Zijin exclaimed, her bright eyes reflecting the continuous explosions of death flowers below. "These sharded projectiles, while not effective at killing powerful individuals, are incredibly efficient at eliminating ordinary soldiers!"

On the command center screen, large patches of light representing enemy units dimmed.

"A battlefield with one-way transparent information, coupled with zero electromagnetic countermeasures capability from the enemy," Su Ming said, "This is practically cheating!"

****

The second and third waves of rockets arrived on the battlefield one after another.

They split gracefully in the air, metallic flowers blooming against the leaden sky, transforming into slender, segmented warheads. These deadly raindrops, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, poured down upon the goblin army.

Fireballs, billowing with smoke and debris, shot into the sky. As far as the eye could see, the area where the goblins had gathered was engulfed by rolling flames and choking smoke, the scorching heat distorting the light and shadow of the battlefield.

The goblin commander collapsed to his knees on the scorched earth, his rough face contorted with extreme terror. He stared blankly at his men, who had been roaring and charging just a moment before, now reduced to mangled limbs.

The unit didn't even have time to break up before it lost nearly half its troops.

"Is this the descent of an evil god?!" His cracked lips moved, and an aura of despair permeated his entire body.

Before the thick smoke had even cleared, the horde of dragons, which had been poised to pounce, charged in from the edge of the smoke-filled battlefield at Zijin's command, accompanied by a fierce wind!

Their massive bodies swept low overhead, their hard scales gleaming with an even more dangerous light in the firelight.

The air currents whipped up by the dragon's wings stirred up the thick smoke, and its giant claws tore through the air, grabbing at the goblin squads that had been lucky enough to escape being targeted but Soul·Scatter had already been scattered.

Those war machines that escaped destruction were dismantled and trampled like children's toys under the power of the Dragon Claw's claws, emitting mournful cries of twisting and breaking.

Suffering a sudden and devastating blow, and facing the dragon's imminent arrival, the surviving goblins offered no resistance whatsoever. They let out shrill screams, discarded their weapons without hesitation, and fled frantically in all directions.

The battlefield once again turned into a one-sided chase and slaughter.

"Tsk, it feels like the whole battle just boils down to chasing, chasing, and more chasing," one observer couldn't help but complain.

His colleague beside him echoed the sentiment, "We must suggest to the chairman that we add these elements to the DCS simulation training!" He thought for a moment, "We also need to add the goblin retreat training exercise to the actual combat training."

****

"Su Ming! Can you hold back a bit?" Zijin complained into the communicator, "One volley of rockets from you and the goblins went up in chaos! It made us look like we were rushing in to scavenge for trash!"

She meant it literally—the metal casings and unexploded stabilizing components of those modular rockets were scattered all over the ground and definitely needed to be recycled and reused.

On the goblin heartland, the 10,000-strong goblin force that had rushed to provide support halted their advance after witnessing the horrific scene of their friendly forces being annihilated in less than a few minutes.

After a brief silence, without the slightest hesitation, the entire 10,000-strong procession, like the receding tide, turned around and fled in a panic several times faster than it had come, completely losing its order.

Seeing the enemy retreat without a fight, Zijin felt even more frustrated.

She and Zhimeng had rushed over from the battlefield, only to find the battle over before they could even cast a single spell. "Su Ming!" she exclaimed, pointing to the rapidly receding green tide. "Any rockets left? Let's fire another wave! I'll send a squadron of dragons over there and wipe out these too!"

"No need, let them go." Su Ming's voice was calm. "After this enemy force is defeated, the remnants will flow back into the hinterland, causing limited losses. Our rocket resources should be used to exchange for more valuable gains."

"Alright then." Zijin didn't insist; Su Ming must have his reasons.

She fulfilled her command duties, making minor adjustments to the dragon's formation and tactical details, and then there was nothing more to do—it was a tailwind chase, so there really wasn't much she needed to do.

"Actually, your mission here is quite demanding," Su Ming said. "The Dragon Claw Regiment Third Battalion needs to stay in this position for at least two days."

The difficulty Su Ming was referring to was not a problem of combat, but rather the dragon's endurance. Whether it was high-intensity flight, breathing fire, or close combat, the physical exertion on the dragon was enormous.

The Dragon Claw Regiment Third Battalion had rushed here and had been fighting all day. It was foreseeable that these behemoths would soon be exhausted and would need at least a dozen hours of sleep to recover.

"Understood, I'll arrange for shifts to rest immediately," Zijin replied.

She issued the order, "All units, pursue for a limited distance of five kilometers! Then immediately turn back to preserve your strength! Repeat, no lingering engagements!"

"Received!" the observers responded quickly.

Zijin rubbed her stomach, glanced at her wrist, and said, "It's lunchtime."

As the infiltration unit that penetrated the furthest behind enemy lines, the 3rd Battalion of Dragon Claw carried no food supplies other than essential battlefield first aid kits and communication equipment.

After fighting for so long, the dragon must be starving.

"Hello, Su Ming." She picked up the communicator again, "Where's our 'takeout'?"

Su Ming checked the real-time situation.

According to the battle plan, after Bowers ' Second Battalion controlled most of the goblin supply depots, they sorted out the captured supplies on the spot and then transported them to the Dragon Claw Regiment Third Battalion on the plains to provide logistical support.

Under the command center's coordination, the work proceeded smoothly. However, the goblins' supplies were very fragmented, consisting of small bags of grains, dried meat, or miscellaneous tubers. This took them a considerable amount of time to sort out the junk.

The packaging of these supplies was extremely primitive and unsuitable for dragon transport. The necromancers working together made containers out of what they had on hand and packed the supplies into bundles that could be strapped to the dragon's back.

At this moment, several giant dragons carrying "takeout" have taken off and are en route to the plains column.

"The delivery is slightly behind schedule," Su Ming calculated the distance and speed. "It will arrive about half an hour later than planned." He paused, "I also slipped a packet of cookies into the bag of raspberries I gave you this morning."

"--Everyone else is starving, it's not good for me to eat alone." She muttered into the communicator, her tone unconsciously carrying a hint of grumbling.

For a moment, Su Ming almost let go of the communicator. To Zijin, it sounded somewhat like she was being coquettish?

Is this what happens when you're hungry?

"Well, you can eat it secretly," he suggested. "For example, pretend you're talking to me on a walkie-talkie, and then deftly slip a piece into your mouth with your fingers."

"Why not give them to them?" Zijin looked ahead and saw Ruixiuli and Jielusi searching back and forth for the goblin warriors on the battlefield, killing them like whack-a-mole.

Zijin had a strange feeling that the two of them looked like they were on a picnic.

"That works too," Su Ming said. "By the way, the cookies I gave you were made with potato starch, so they have a unique texture and a pleasant potato flavor."

Zijin fell silent upon hearing this.

A moment later, Su Ming heard a soft, chewing sound, like a mouse, coming through his earphones.

Su Ming couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.