Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 998 High-Power Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb
"EMP may not necessarily be effective. Even the sophisticated electronic equipment distributed by the field corps are equipped with protection devices against electromagnetic pulses. The undead crew should have considered the impact of EMP on the chips in the brains of these puppet soldiers... Otherwise, the opponent would not even need to use EMP attacks. As long as they lead these puppet soldiers to areas of high-intensity radiation or places with disordered magnetic fields, they would be able to win without a fight." Chi Hanfeng said.
"Regular EMP attacks are ineffective, that's just because the power is insufficient... Look, I found something great!" Layton's voice came from the other side of the console. When everyone heard him say this, they all looked towards the holographic screen floating above the console, only to see that in the list of available weapons, a line of words was marked with a highlighted special effect.
"High-power electromagnetic pulse bomb."
"High power? How much power do you mean?" Chi Hanfeng couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know the exact size, but the control system of Yaguna Tor gave a calculation result - originally the Star Destroyer could fire a shot at 0.2% power, but if this electromagnetic pulse bomb is used, the available power of the Star Destroyer will be sharply reduced to 0.17%." Leighton said .
"My goodness, 0.03% of the power of the Star Destroyer Cannon... and it's a non-lethal weapon..." The corner of the Hound's eye twitched, "This thing is enough to burn out the chips in those guys' heads, right?"
"But it will also affect our airborne troops. Those tactical mechas will be paralyzed, all team communications will be disconnected, and even those individual missiles controlled by electronic components will be unusable. In addition, we have to let the Skadi cruiser and other flying units retreat to avoid being affected by the pulse bombs." Ivan analyzed, "Even if EMP can get rid of these men in black and giants, the next battle will become more difficult."
"If we don't take action now, the airborne troops will be wiped out. We don't have time to think about what will happen next." Hound said, "My only concern is that using this electromagnetic pulse bomb will expose the existence of Yaguna Kator in advance. So, we have to vote on this matter."
"I agree to use it." Chi Hanfeng said, "Although Aguna Kator has activated invisibility, with the means of the Undead Crew, I'm afraid they have already detected our presence... So it doesn't really matter whether we are exposed or not."
"I agree." Ivan also raised his hand. "Either we are exposed, or Ke Lan and the others who are in the first batch of airborne troops are exposed. We should choose the lesser of two evils."
"If you all agree, then I agree too." Leighton looked around at everyone and raised both of his hands.
No one objected, and the proposal to use electromagnetic pulse bombs was unanimously approved by the top leaders of the God Hunters. Layton took a deep breath, grasped the virtual handle generated by the holographic projection with both hands, and aimed the firing crosshairs at the gap in the Ark's energy shield.
"The target has been locked." Layton said in a deep voice, "The launch device is charging... We will remove the camouflage in three seconds. By then, the launch port will have a super high energy reaction, and we will become extremely conspicuous on the radar."
"Send a message to Major General Alexander, asking the Skadi and all air combat units to quickly retreat five kilometers. Also, ask him to send an elite aviation force. I'm worried that the undead crew will cause trouble while we are gathering our strength!" said the Hound.
Upon receiving the message, the Skadi began to retreat with many transport planes and fighter planes, while the optical camouflage armor on the Aguna Tor in the distance began to fluctuate, revealing a vague outline in the air.
Although Yaguna Tor is not very conspicuous in the sky with the naked eye, on the radar map, the starboard side of Yaguna Tor looks like an exploding supernova, and its brightness overwhelms everything around it.
"This energy reaction is too great!" The hound felt a tingling sensation on his skin and quickly took out the bottle of anti-radiation, poured out a few pills and swallowed them.
The control console of Yaguna Kotor is located right next to the core energy supply array. When the core energy supply array is operating, it will release a large amount of radiation. In order to solve this problem, after driving Yaguna Kotor back, the first thing Ke Lan did was to spend a huge amount of manpower and material resources to build an oversized isolation cover for the core energy supply array.
But at this time, a dazzling emerald green light emerged from the joint of the isolation cover, the alloy cover body began to dissolve, and the temperature and radiation intensity in the entire core area began to rise sharply.
"Will this isolation cover explode?" Hound glanced at the precarious isolation cover with some concern. "This is only 0.03% of the power of the Star Destroyer Cannon... If it is 100% power, the operators in the core area will probably be burned to ashes, right? What kind of crap did the Alphas design? How can they put the bridge and the reactor together?"
"How would I know the Alphas' design ideas... But from a safety perspective, putting the control room and the core function array together reduces the fatal weakness of Agunakotor from two to one, which is more conducive to resisting foreign enemies." Layton muttered.
"Yeah, yeah. Everyone on the ship has been fucking cooked by the radiation, so naturally there's no chance of any external enemies... What should we do when the star destroyer cannon is activated later? Should everyone wear protective clothing?" The Hound said with a frown.
"Protective clothing... I'm afraid it's useless." Layton shook his head. "0.17% of the power of the Star Destroyer is enough to melt this isolation cover... By then, the radiation from the core power array will be released without any obstruction. Wearing protective clothing will also lead to death."
"…Then what should we do?"
"The radiation is too strong and will affect the remote control device. Even if you use a wired remote control, the circuit board will be burned and it must be operated manually." Layton paused for a moment before continuing, "When we start the Star Destroyer Cannon, you all retreat to Ecological Block No. 1 and I will stay and fire the cannon."
"Then you will die." The hound's face suddenly fell, "Do you want to die?"
"If we lose this battle, everyone will die." Layton suddenly laughed foolishly. "Besides, for a weapon fanatic like me, it's so fucking romantic to be able to activate a weapon that can destroy a planet before I die! This is the way I dream of dying... How do you say it in Chinese? Oh, yes, it's called 'Smiling in the Nine Rivers'!"
"Damn it, that idiom is 'smiling in the grave'." The Hound cursed through gritted teeth, "Don't rush to die. The Star Destroyer is only the last resort. It's still unclear whether it will be used or not."
"How about I stay?" Chi Hanfeng stepped forward and said.
"Forget it. If Valentina comes back and finds you gone, what do you think she will think and do?" The Hound raised his eyebrows. "This girl has already regarded you as her father. You should know this better than the rest of us. Even if someone has to stay, it should be an old man like me who stays."
"Okay, stop arguing." Layton suddenly raised his voice, "If you want to activate the Star Destroyer Cannon, I will be the one to carry out this mission! It's a deal! If anyone argues with me, don't blame me for turning my back on you!"
"You bastard—"
The hound wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Layton this time: "Old dog, you know me very well. You know what I like... Don't argue with me this time. What I said just now is the truth. I didn't say it to fool you."
"Okay..." The Hound stared at Layton and took a few deep breaths before nodding with difficulty, "Just as you say."
The charging progress of the electromagnetic pulse bomb has reached 80%. The light and radiation released by the core energy supply array have finally gradually subsided, but at the same time, the charging speed has slowed down - the charging rate curve of this weapon has a similar characteristic to people charging electronic products. When charging from zero to 80% or 90%, the speed is very fast, but the last half bar of electricity takes a while to be fully charged.
"It will probably take another five minutes to fully charge." Layton glanced at the countdown on the screen that kept changing slightly. As soon as he finished speaking, a shrill alarm sounded in the control room.
"Something has locked onto us!" Layton said anxiously, "Sure enough, the Undead Crew will watch us charge up our ultimate moves!"
"Activate all external monitors of Yaguna Tor and find out what is locking us!" said the Hound hurriedly.
Hundreds of holographic screens unfolded in the air like a scroll. The images captured by the monitors at various angles of Yagunakotor were transmitted back to the control room. Among them, about ten screens had eye-catching red light on the edges, which meant that the thing locking onto Yagunakotor was in these ten screens.
"They came down from the treetops!" said the sharp-eyed Chi Hanfeng. "There are a lot of them! They seem to be some kind of mutated insects!"
"It's a bit like what we encountered in the Gray Mist Forest." The Hound stared at the red-glowing screens, "But it doesn't seem that similar... Where's the support from the Skadi?"
"We have arrived at the designated coordinates and are re-forming our formation in preparation for the attack!" Layton replied.
Dozens of fighter jets soon appeared on the screens. They raised their noses to an angle almost perpendicular to the ground and flew toward the treetops directly above. As they flew, they used their machine guns to fire at the insect-like monsters that dived down from the treetops.
These fighters had just participated in the battle to attack the energy shield, and they did not have time to return to the mothership for replenishment of the consumed missiles. The only weapons they could use were live ammunition machine guns and laser weapons equipped on a few models. Faced with the dense swarm of insects, the killing efficiency of these weapons suddenly seemed a drop in the bucket.
"No, the fighters can't stop these bugs! Let all the fighters retreat and let the Skadi provide fire support! Don't worry about accidentally hurting us, use maximum power and just bomb the hell out of them!" shouted the Hound.
However, before the order to retreat was issued, the fighter jets of the survivor alliance had already come into close combat with the Zerg - the two were heading towards each other, and both were running at maximum speed, so the distance of tens of thousands of meters was covered almost in an instant, and more than a dozen dazzling sparks suddenly exploded in the sky.
"It was a self-detonation... The pilots of those fighter jets detonated the power reactor themselves! They treated their own planes as the last missile and fired them out..." There was a slight tremor in Chi Hanfeng's words. The middle-aged man who usually had a stern face had red eyes at this time, and he was only relying on force to hold back the tears from rolling down.
"They are using their lives to buy us time..." Ivan muttered, "Even if we eject at the last moment before the explosion... it would be difficult to survive facing this number of insects..."
Not all the fighter jets that rushed forward chose to self-destruct. After crashing into the swarm, some of the flying mechas transformed into human form, with their energy shields directly pulled to maximum power, and they rampaged through the swarm like a fireball. The individual strength of these insect monsters was not very strong, and they would be roasted into charcoal if they were slightly touched by the energy shield... But their numbers were too large. The damage caused by more than a dozen flying mechas rushing into the swarm was too insignificant compared to the overall number of the swarm.
The diving swarm of insects was still accelerating, their speed was even faster than the speed of their dead companions falling freely - a strange scene appeared in the sky: the living insects were all rushing downward, and the remains of the dead insects were left behind. If you compare them from top to bottom, it seems as if the remains are floating in the air.
"Where is the fire support of the Skadi? Let them hurry up!" The hounds have switched to roaring mode. The swarm of insects only has the last ten thousand meters away from the Yaguna Tor. At their speed, they will crash into the Yaguna Tor in the blink of an eye.
Even though Yagunakotor also has an energy shield, perhaps the energy shield also has its limits. If these bugs gather together and crash in, although the outermost layers of bugs will be directly vaporized and the bugs in the middle layer will be roasted into charcoal, the bugs in the innermost part of the sphere will be able to survive. Once they get close to the launch port of the electromagnetic pulse bomb, the consequences will be disastrous!
Just as the hound's roar was echoing in the control room, two thick laser beams shot straight over from the direction of the Skadi cruiser and swept across the air - suddenly, the sky that was covered by dense swarms of insects became clear... This attack killed at least 70% of the insects!
"Major General Alexander sent a message saying that the core component of the Skadi's laser launcher has melted because of the previous attack. It will take at least fifteen minutes to replace the core component and recharge it. They can't fire a second shot." Layton turned to the Hound and said.
"Then send out our own air combat forces! At all costs, we must not let the remaining bugs get close to the launch port!" said the Hound.
"Old dog, the air combat forces have all been transferred to the Skadi. Only a few logistics personnel are left on the Yaguna Tor..." Leighton said with difficulty.
