Chapter 1368 — Thunder and Torrential Rain

King Odris also came to the observation platform. As he watched the heavenly fire blanket the earth and saw the "Truth" shells projected from the direction of the Holy River by the Cecil expeditionary fleet, this king was honestly not much calmer than his son—after all, all his knowledge of Cecil's modern weapons was limited to the footage in Cecil's official propaganda and a few imported medium- and small-caliber magitech cannons. Witnessing the bombardment of a warship's main guns up close was an entirely different matter.

"Father..." Lorin finally fully understood the necessity of his father's earlier order for a full retreat. "That kind of firepower can be produced by 'magitech cannons' too? Compared to what we're using—"

"The Cecil call it 'Truth,' and some of their soldiers prefer to call it 'Contemporary Art.' The medium- and small-caliber magitech cannons we can import are worlds apart from those main guns," Odris said in a low voice. "But rather than the power of those great cannons, I'd rather you start thinking about a deeper question from now on."

Lorin was momentarily confused, then grasped his father's meaning: "A deeper question?"

"What kind of nation can create and sustain such power?" Odris placed his hand on Lorin's shoulder, but his gaze went past his son's shoulder, looking down at the kingdom's soldiers who had just withdrawn from the battlefield and were resting in the fortress courtyard. "I'm truly a little envious..."

...

"First wave of attack has landed. Impact points within the designated area; deviation acceptable," Byron stood on the command platform of the Winterfall's bridge as Ashlaina's voice came through the Magic Web terminal before him. The holographic projection above the terminal flickered, displaying the earth under bombardment—in those ceaseless flashes, the foul tide of Aberrants kept throwing up enormous "waves" as though a boulder had been cast into it. Masses of hideous, twisted flesh and bone debris along with towering columns of earth and smoke bloomed in succession, a sight both thrilling and horrifying. "You may continue the bombardment."

"Bombardment effective. All main guns, full-power charge; continuous fire for fifteen minutes," Byron immediately ordered the gunnery officer beside him. "Engineering ships, prepare to make landfall. Immediately after, repair that hub tower we spotted in aerial reconnaissance. We need to restore direct communications with the Highland Kingdom and the Silver Empire before the sun sets today."

"Yes, sir!"

The military machine ran with precision and efficiency. The expeditionary fleet led by the Winterfall poured devastating firepower across the river, while in the skies over the eastern region, the heavy dark clouds continued to spread, beginning to advance rapidly due east.

Byron glanced at those clouds covering the sky and could not help turning to look at Cassandra standing beside him, his expression somewhat odd: "By the way, that 'signal' you gave the Highland Kingdom's defenders—they actually understood it..."

"It was mainly because His Majesty Gao Yang had communicated quite thoroughly with the southern front earlier," Cassandra said with a smile. "Of course, General Vanessa's battlefield wisdom was even more important..."

"Honestly, I don't think hanging a smiley face bigger than a city in the sky counts as 'battlefield wisdom.' That thing could give anyone with normal tolerance a psychological scar—and yet you managed to successfully convey the message 'friendly reinforcements incoming' with it. To me, that's practically a miracle," Byron twitched the corner of his mouth. "Lucky the other side had the intuition to match..."

"What choice did we have?" Cassandra spread her hands helplessly. "When we got here, we found all the Magic Web hub towers along the border had been destroyed by the Aberrants, and the mana environment on the battlefield was more chaotic than ever. The Winterfall's communications equipment simply couldn't reach Fort Greta, and the front line was about to bash each other's brains out—so we had to improvise. Anyway, let's not discuss the details; the final result was pretty good, wasn't it?"

"...Next time I hear you people mention 'battlefield wisdom' or 'improvising,' I'm going to ask for a full briefing first." Byron sighed, then his attention returned to the distant battlefield. In the aerial reconnaissance feed Ashlaina sent back, he could clearly see the Aberrant army's assault gradually crumbling under the bombardment, but he knew that this fire support alone would not be enough to retake the entire narrow plain north of Fort Greta.

From Fort Greta to the Yaoxiong Hall advance base in the east, the entire southern battlefield had a long, narrow, and complex front line—and this line, after a whole winter of repeated seesaw fighting, had been reduced by the firepower of both the Aberrants and the mortal defenders into a shattered, chaotic landscape strewn with ruins, trap zones, and mana distortion points. On such a broad and environmentally complex battlefield, fire support had its limits.

"After this round of fire delivery ends, it'll be time for General Vanessa's expeditionary force to 'land,'" Byron glanced at the mechanical clock mounted on the pillar beside him and spoke gravely to Cassandra. "According to the plan, we'll first secure the area north of Fort Greta, and after you've taken the region, establish a forward base. Then my marines will secure the northwestern border of the Highland Kingdom and completely cut off the Aberrant legions coming south from the Ogrey region, while you continue moving east by way of rainfall until you link up with the Silver Empire's Millennium Legion—any problems with that?"

Cassandra closed her eyes briefly, communicating through psychic resonance with General Vanessa, who was currently controlling the weather environment at high altitude. After a moment she opened her eyes and gave Byron a slight nod: "I've confirmed the follow-up operations with General Vanessa again. She's just waiting for your signal flare."

"Good." Byron let out a soft breath, then watched the mechanical clock's hands tick forward one notch at a time, feeling the vibrations transmitted through the deck with each main gun salvo. His mind grew calmer than ever before.

Fighting side by side with allies from the deep sea—this had not been part of his original plan. And because the Sea Sirens and the land races differed astonishingly in technology trees, combat methods, and physiological structure, their first joint operation was destined not to produce any finely tuned,默契 coordination. Rather than drawing up a pile of tactics only to have the chaotic battlefield generate endless problems from poor communication, he and Vanessa had both agreed to solve the problem with a simpler, more direct approach.

Step one: the Imperial expeditionary fleet, with its long-range heavy firepower, would conduct a firepower sweep on the Aldo River, hurling the most powerful shells in range at the Aberrant vanguard and blasting open a landing zone large enough to work with.

Step two: before the Aberrants could react, the Sea Siren expeditionary force's warriors would descend in righteous judgment from the heavens—with ample preparation and having undergone form-switching in advance, well-trained Sea Sirens could execute airborne operations in the form of rainfall without worrying about casualties. They would rapidly establish a forward position on the landing zone Byron had cleared, and at the same time, this carefully prepared "rainfall" would quickly transform the environment of the entire region, bringing it closer to an "aquatic environment" where the Sea Sirens could fight at full effectiveness.

The mechanical clock's hands reached the final notch, and the rumbling barrage on the river ceased.

"Send the signal," Byron ordered in a low voice. "It's time for rain."

(End of Chapter)