Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 501: Time to Counterattack
Just when Levi helped Lieutenant General Maginot out of the office, the two of them saw a scene that they would never forget in their lives - a giant "centipede" with a diameter of more than 50 meters and a body length of more than 100 meters just exposed outside, crawled out of the collapsed pit and stood up!
If there were any survivors at the reconnaissance team's support base who could see this scene, they would be surprised to find that the body of this "centipede" had expanded more than ten times compared to when it first appeared before human eyes! And this process only took a few days...
"What...what kind of monster is this? Why have I never heard of this thing? Is it an indigenous creature?" Marshall asked nervously. Although he tried his best to hide it, the fear deep in his words couldn't help but reveal itself.
"No, General... I'm afraid that's not an indigenous creature..." Levi's face was tense, his cheeks were pale, and he shook his head with some difficulty, "That thing... is a man-made monster..."
As if to verify what Levi said , the huge mouth on the top of the centipede's head suddenly opened, and countless pale flesh balls rolled out of its mouth. Maginot looked closely and found that those white flesh balls were actually balls of tentacles entangled together, and when these tentacles fell to the ground, they began to wriggle and struggle, like an octopus waking up from hibernation.
"It's the Seed of Corrosion!" Maginot recognized it immediately. "The one who attacked us is really a heretic sect!"
At the same time, Levi had grabbed the intercom and shouted, "Pass the order! Open the special ammunition depots No. 7 to 9 to all soldiers! The enemies invading the base are the seeds of erosion from the heretical sect! All soldiers who do not carry active ammunition gather over there! Soldiers with active ammunition set up defensive positions on the spot to stop the enemy! We must not let these things pass the fifth wall!"
As Maginot's adjutant, Levi already had the power to issue orders to the base garrison - even if this power was only granted to him temporarily by Maginot.
"Where is the commander? Where are the six commanders under me? Tell them to come to me immediately!" Maginot, who had come to his senses, shouted to Levi.
The commander of the Mukach military base is also the commander of the "Seventh Armored Mixed Division" stationed at the base. As a reinforced division, it has four combat regiments, one engineering regiment, and one logistics regiment, totaling six regiments with more than 10,000 people. The commanders of these six regiments are the senior officers in the base whose rank is second only to Maginot.
However, before Levi could ask, a hesitant voice came from the intercom: "The six captains... the captains... were just discussing the allocation of new models of mecha in the hangar..."
"Hangar? Which hangar?" Maginot and Levi were both stunned. Then, they looked at the giant centipede... and the big pit under it in a daze.
The voice with a hint of tears was still saying on the other end of the intercom: "It's... it's the hangar that was attacked... The captain and the others are trapped in it... No one has come out... Their life or death is unknown..."
What do you mean by unknown life or death? In this situation, there is no way there could be any survivors! Maginot looked down at the battlefield below with some despair. He could never have imagined that the enemy's first round of surprise attack would directly wipe out his middle-level commanders...
"Something is not right, General!" Levi said, "This is definitely not a coincidence! I don't believe this attack was just luck. The heretic sect must have had the relevant intelligence in advance... If I remember correctly, they agreed to discuss this matter two days ago, but the location for the discussion had not been decided at that time... The first and second captains even had a quarrel..."
Levi wanted to say that there might be spies from heretical sects inside the base, but now was not the time to discuss this.
"General! Since the first target of the heretic sect is the six leaders, their next target is likely to be you!"
The office of the military director of the Mukah base is located on a more than 60-meter-high artificial hill made of poured concrete. Inside the hill is a metal frame with ten floors, and there are nearly half-meter thick metal partitions between each floor. Perhaps because it is too difficult to break through, the heretic sect did not regard this office as the primary target of attack.
"Of course, it is not ruled out that the heretic sects have already known in advance that the military chief of the Mukach base has been replaced in the past few days... Compared with the generals who have just taken office, the six regiment commanders are obviously more important... Once the battle starts, these middle-level commanders will be the most threatening characters to the heretic sects." Levi thought to himself.
"Attack me here?" Makino was so shocked by Levi's words that the fat on his face trembled twice. "Then what should we do?"
The troops guarding the artificial hill are Maginot's direct guard battalion. Although this guard battalion has only more than 200 people, there are fifty new mechas alone. It can definitely be regarded as the most powerful force in the entire Mukach base... But when Maginot cast his eyes on the giant centipede in the distance, the little sense of security that the elite guard battalion brought to him disappeared.
He doesn't want to die here, he can't die here, and he shouldn't die here...
Although he had not personally witnessed the tragic scene when the Mukah base was breached, those shocking data were available to any general-level officer... He did not even need to look up those real photos. Just by browsing those strings of breath-taking numbers, he could imagine the tragic scene.
His strong desire to survive made him put his hope on the last straw he could grasp - Colonel Levi, who he had just promoted to adjutant: "Levi... Now, what should we do?"
According to the emergency response regulations, if an enemy breaks into the base, whether the enemy is an indigenous creature or a heretic sect, for safety reasons, the base's military chief must immediately move to the backup command post located in the bunker - that is, those compartments protected by heavy armor plates inside the concrete hill under their feet... But considering that the enemy is launching an attack from underground, the bunker is obviously no longer a safe place.
Levi thought for a moment, then said, "Let's go to the helipad!"
"Are you planning to make me leave the base?" Maginot was stunned, and immediately shook his head like a rattle, "No! This is absolutely not possible. As the military chief of Mukach, I absolutely cannot abandon the base and escape alone at this time!"
Although he was afraid of death, Maginot also knew what it meant to desert the battlefield... Rather than being stripped of his military rank and all his honors, then sentenced to death by a military court, and finally dying in shame on the execution ground, Maginot would rather live and die with the base - at least, this way of sacrifice could be considered glorious.
Although Maginot had become more and more yearning for fame and fortune during his decades of service in the garrison, as a soldier of the Ark, there were some things that were always engraved deep in his heart... and when he received the transfer order, even if he was extremely unwilling in his heart, he still had the necessary awareness - even if he died here in battle today, he would never step out of this base!
"No, not escaping!" Levi was stunned for half a second. Obviously, Maginot's attitude was a little beyond his expectations. "The ground is no longer safe, but if we take a vehicle to a high altitude, we should be able to avoid enemy attacks... It will be more convenient for you to command the overall battle from a high altitude... You must not die, at least not before the base falls."
Levi knew that if Maginot died, the situation would be hopeless... Losing the commander would be a heavy blow to the morale of the soldiers, not to mention the chaotic situation where there was no unified command and different troops were fighting on their own.
He even made a second-hand preparation - if General Maginot wanted to escape from the battlefield, he would just shoot him to death, and then command the troops under Maginot's name... As for the news of Maginot's death, he would never announce it until the battle was over.
He would not hesitate even if he would be held accountable afterwards.
But he was somewhat relieved that this new military commander, who seemed somewhat unqualified, did not seem to be that bad - at least, he still retained the backbone that a soldier should have.
"Yeah!" Hearing Levi's words, Maginot nodded repeatedly, and then said to the guard battalion commander who was waiting on the side, "Let the guard battalion go into battle immediately!"
"But... the guard battalion's top priority is to protect your safety!" said the battalion commander of the guard battalion hesitantly.
"Just assign two people to protect me. There's not enough room on the plane anyway." Makino said, "You are the strongest force in the base. Good steel should be used on the blade, not hidden in the scabbard!"
After saying this, Maginot supported the steel on his head and, protected by several soldiers, quickly ran towards the helipad.
The helipad was not far from his office, only about 300 meters away, but for Maginot, who had not exercised for many years, it was like running a marathon. When he arrived at the helipad panting, all the aircraft parked here had taken off to support the battle, leaving only a large helicopter left specifically for him.
Maginot, Levi and several soldiers from the guard battalion quickly boarded the helicopter, and the rotating blades began to make a loud noise... But before the helicopter was less than two meters off the ground, a louder explosion came from the office on the top of the hill!
The loud noise even drowned out the sound of the oars nearby, making Maginot's cochlea buzz.
"Oh my god..." A soldier couldn't help but swallow his saliva, "I remember that the protective steel plate of the bunker was nearly half a meter thick, right?"
"And there are twelve whole floors..." said another soldier.
Maginot couldn't help but feel his hands and feet getting cold - if he was still standing on the top of the mountain, he would probably have become a pile of rotten meat by now?
"Levi..." He turned his head and looked at the adjutant beside him.
"General?"
"You know... I was transferred from the garrison... To be honest, I still don't understand the purpose of this transfer order, but this is the intention of the higher-ups, so I can't speculate... But there is one thing I have to tell you the truth."
"You say." Levi nodded.
"In fact, I have no experience in commanding a base attack and defense like this." Maginot said, "Perhaps... No, not perhaps, but definitely... Any one of the six captains must be better than me. But they are all gone now... I hope you can command this battle in my place. Can you do it?"
Makino looked at Levi with a glimmer of hope.
The other party is a veteran who has been in this base for four years. In terms of combat experience, he is definitely better than him, a general who sits in the office reviewing documents every day.
"I..." Levi hesitated for a second, then nodded vigorously, "I'll try my best."
"Thank you... I leave everything to you. Don't worry. I will take full responsibility." Maginot said solemnly.
…
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At the same time, inside the ancient battleship "Yaguna Kator", the power room.
The members of the reconnaissance team who were "hanging" on the ground endured nearly thirty seconds of acceleration before the huge force pressing on them disappeared, and the ship, which was originally tilted upward, gradually returned to a horizontal state.
"...The battleship rushed out of the magma pool? Are we...are we now above the molten mine area?" The Hound rubbed his chest and asked while panting.
"That should be the case... Unfortunately, I can't see outside..."
As soon as Layton finished speaking, a circle of phantoms like a holographic projection suddenly appeared around him. When everyone looked closely, they realized that it was the lead-gray clouds above the mining area.
As if he had thought of something, Layton immediately lowered his mouth and then shouted, "Look at your feet!"
There were also phantoms on the floor - or rather, the floor itself became a phantom, and everyone seemed to be suspended in the air, with a panoramic view of the Molten Mine Area directly below!
The flowing lava rivers, the smoking fissures, the jagged fractured plates...even the heretic sect troops traveling through the mining area could see them clearly.
And those people on the ground also saw the giant object floating in the sky.
For some reason, even though those people had less influence than a grain of rice, the hound could still see the horrified looks on their faces.
"Damn! It's a heretical sect! Those are humans wearing protective suits! And there are also species of erosion! Look, over there, and over there, they are all mutants! Wow, there are so many!" exclaimed the Hound.
"Ke Lan? Ke Lan?! Can you hear me? Is there any usable weapon on this battleship? We can hit those guys on the ground - damn, we are being forced like rats in a gutter by these guys, now, it's our turn to fight back!"
