Chapter 183 Chaos Ensues <TOC> Chapter 185 Tactics
Translator: SumTLMan
Billowing smoke filled the air as the once-proud armored force that had charged into Pagwa City was now trapped in an extremely perilous situation.
Three tanks were completely destroyed, their slanted wreckage blocking the escape route. The debris was covered in scorch marks, surrounded by reflective debris from the explosions. The ammunition within the tank hulls had detonated in a horrifying explosion, with flames still raging inside even now.
The ground was soaked with mud mixed with blood and littered with large shell casings. The remaining tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and power armor formed a makeshift circular formation, futilely attempting to repel the onslaught.
A constant rain of bullets whistled down, striking them relentlessly.
The ferocious Bloodthirsty Beasts roared and charged towards the armored force like a tidal wave. Their souls were filled with pain, utterly fearless; death was a release for them.
A high-explosive fragmentation round landed in the center of the Bloodthirsty Beast horde, instantly clearing a dozen meters’ radius of the beasts.
Nearly a ton of fresh blood splattered onto the ground like a sudden downpour.
The power armor and infantry fighting vehicles adjusted their cannons, firing frenziedly at the Bloodthirsty Beasts.
The howling shells swept through the horde of Bloodthirsty Beasts, raising a rain of severed limbs. The tide-like onslaught of the beasts was momentarily halted. However, the Soul Cult evidently did not intend to rely on the Bloodthirsty Beasts to overcome this ensnared force.
They were merely a distraction.
Several rockets screamed out from predetermined launch points in the surrounding buildings, trailing white smoke as they struck an inner-layer tank.
It was a thorn in the side of the Soul Cult, a persistent irritant. Its terrifying main cannon had thwarted the Soul Cult’s attacks several times.
A bright flash came and went in an instant. The tank was barely damaged, withstanding the high-speed jet of the armor-piercing warhead. Only the residual rocket propellant burned stubbornly on the outer armor.
These disposable rocket launchers had limited armor-penetrating capabilities, barely scratching the front armor of the tank.
The main battle tanks produced before the Great Catastrophe, utilizing the most advanced technology, remained unrivaled war behemoths on the battlefield. Even the descenders would have a hard time destroying them.
But the infantry fighting vehicles and power armor did not possess such formidable defenses. The high-temperature metal jet penetrated their weak armor effortlessly.
Screaming drivers opened the hatches and fled from their vehicles, only to be gunned down after a couple of steps.
Some unfortunate souls were tackled by stray Bloodthirsty Beasts that had slipped through the net, their bodies torn apart.
Exposed anti-tank fire points were instantly met with counterattacks from the affiliated forces. The howling cannon shells drew dazzling streaks of light in the sky, sweeping the unprepared armed cultists into a bloody pulp.
Power armor was not subject to the same angle restrictions as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, making them highly agile in urban combat.
In fact, if it were not for the desperate resistance of the Bloodthirsty Beasts, the power armor would have already cleared an escape route.
Temporarily halting the Soul Cult’s attack did not allow Captain Puls to breathe a sigh of relief, as he knew that the Cult’s manipulator-type awakened had not yet taken action.
The manipulator-type awakened’s first move was to use heavy anti-tank missiles, successively destroying three tanks at the rear of the convoy, blocking the escape route.
The armor units, caught off guard, suffered heavy losses.
The enemy precisely guided the missiles into the vulnerable rear exhaust fans of the tanks, penetrating the isolation doors and accurately detonating at the ammunition rack positions, causing instant explosions.
The cunning manipulator-type awakened, after completing the launch, did not give Captain Puls a chance to locate him and immediately chose to relocate.
Now, he must be waiting for a second opportunity, one that could completely destroy the entire armored unit.
Captain Puls sat inside the command vehicle, his whole body agitated and uneasy. Having already lost three precious tanks, his future was ruined. If the entire unit were to be lost here, he would face only two outcomes: either die at the hands of the Soul Cult or be executed on the spot by the commander.
“What’s the result of the call for reinforcements? Can the battalion contact helicopters to come over?”
He asked the communications officer. With the help of the vehicle-mounted transmission equipment, even a level-five psychic-type awakened could easily extend the range of their psychic link to about ten kilometers.
Thus, the entire armored unit had not lost contact with the rear battalion.
“The… the commander just told us to hold on.”
“Damn it! That old ghost doesn’t want Rajaral Santanu to know about the losses! Did you tell him that we’re nearly done for?!”
Captain Puls threw his cap onto the tank’s floor, yelling angrily.
Several more rocket shells landed on the tank, causing the entire platoon to shake violently. Fortunately, the composite armor managed to withstand this round of attacks.
Suddenly, his communications officer cried out in horror.
“No good! It’s the Cloak of Invisibility! The Soul Cult has released the Cloak of Invisibility on the large Bloodthirsty Beasts!”
The Cloak of Invisibility is a divine skill that nearly all herders of Bloodthirsty Beasts must master, as invisible Bloodthirsty Beasts can unleash astonishing destructive power.
“Idiots, have everyone activate their thermal imaging!”
However, merely delaying for a few seconds, over twenty high-level Bloodthirsty Beasts had already broken through the outermost defensive line. In the intense collision, the Cloak of Invisibility attached to them failed, revealing their hideous forms.
Among them, the most powerful Bloodthirsty Beast took the shape of a massive centipede, but its body resembled segments of bones pieced together, with limbs almost identical to human thighs, and covered in blood-drenched bristles.
An infantry fighting vehicle was directly knocked to the ground by it, its limbs ejecting sharp barbs that tore through the vehicle’s power armor, penetrating the weak points of the exterior armor and destroying the internal structure.
Another Bloodthirsty Beast, resembling an enlarged lizard, leaped onto the body of an infantry fighting vehicle, opened its mouth wide, and a strongly corrosive yellow gas spewed out, corroding the vehicle’s engine compartment cover directly.
Although the remaining Bloodthirsty Beasts were not as powerful, they still inflicted significant damage on the armored units.
The dull sound of machine guns firing and the whistling of shells bombarding the centipede-like Bloodthirsty Beast, which would usually effortlessly kill the creature, were less effective this time. The steel-cored bullet got stuck in the beast’s body, merely causing its body to continuously sway and emit faint screams of pain.
In the end, it was Captain Puls who took the risk of friendly fire, using the main cannon to thoroughly kill the creature.
An armor-piercing round created an arm-sized hole in its head. The other lizard-like Bloodthirsty Beast was also pinned down by the power armor, and dozens of shells smashed its head and neck.
A large amount of fresh blood flowed from their bodies, soaking the ground into a bloody swamp.
After paying a heavy price, the armored units managed to withstand this assault, gaining a rare opportunity to catch their breath.
The Bloodthirsty Beasts retreated like a receding tide, and the Soul Cult cultists controlling them from behind reached their limit, requiring rest. The armed cultists took advantage of this rare opportunity to drink water and dress their wounds.
Captain Puls directed the power armor units to move the remaining concrete blocks in Pagwa City, constructing makeshift shelters.
At this time, the infantry, who had been abandoned by the armored units, arrived at the battlefield. The platoon leader nearly collapsed upon seeing the corpses of the Bloodthirsty Beasts.
His most intense battle prior to this had been clearing out scavenger tribes, never having witnessed such a horrific scene.