Chapter 620 — Iron and Fire

Mid-channel, three magic-guided warships led by the Pathfinder spread their mana wings; brilliant rune-light blazed above the waves of the Gorgon. Vast energy was gathered, compressed, and channeled. The heavy "Truth-I" magic-crystal rail cannons made minute adjustments to their angles with the aid of mechanical devices, and amid the deafening roar of shells tearing through the air, obelisk-like magic-crystal projectiles shot off the rails and hurtled straight into the sky—

With a shrill shriek, the shells dropped from the heavens onto the earth like fire from the sky, splitting the ground and shattering the mountains. Countless crystal giants wandering aimlessly across the wastelands and wilds were reduced to nothing before they could even react. The strike exceeded the limits of their sight, even the perceptual limits of the strongest among them; amid the ceaseless rain of heavenly fire, mutated limbs and crystal clusters were annihilated, and the vast crystal legion fractured, each fragment fighting on its own in the chaos, searching for enemies hidden who knew where.

On the high ground by the riverbank, steel ranger warriors in black armor climbed onto the observation platforms of their vehicles and opened their tactical eyepieces, watching the crystal monsters surging in from the plains while continuously signaling back to the warships in the channel, guiding round after round of naval cannon bombardment.

After several rounds of naval bombardment, the vehicles began to push forward, clearing the way with tank guns and long-range howitzers from the rear, wheels and treads crushing the already warming earth, advancing step by step toward the regions contaminated by the crystal giants.

Amid this devastating torrent, the "Steel Ambassadors" raised their reinforced shields and drove out ahead of the column. In every Steel Ambassador vehicle, the most alert soldiers watched the images reflected in the observation windows—windows enchanted with the "Detection Distortion" spell effect.

In the observation field tinged red by the spell's effect, the entire land was cloaked in surging magical power, and those crystal giants swaying amid smoke and dust glowed with arcane light as conspicuous as candles in the dark night.

Some individuals among them burned with especially conspicuous candlelight.

The scouts relayed the targets to the howitzer gunners at the first opportunity, while signaling back to the troops behind: "Command individuals observed. Beginning fire direction."

The Steel Ambassadors serving as observation vehicles halted briefly; once their hulls were stabilized, they activated their mounted howitzers—these low-power "main guns" had no great killing force, and were sometimes even intercepted by the shields of exceptionally powerful crystal giants. But as their long-range shells screamed through the air and fell upon the distant earth, the hundreds of "Warhammer-I" main battle tanks in the rear would immediately concentrate their fire in the direction marked by the shells—an attack of that magnitude could not be intercepted by one or two powerful casting units no matter what.

After a brief but devastating bombardment, a considerable portion of the enemy would inevitably fall into disarray.

The tide of crystal giants charged at the enemies that entered their field of vision. Their commanders had died before the charge even began, and the charging giants... in the process, would gradually degenerate into uncontrolled beasts.

It would take them about another hour to weaken completely, but most would not live to see an hour pass.

For they would hurl themselves without organization or order against the line of death woven from cannon fire and burners, neither dodging nor avoiding, until they were reduced to ash.

Because of the crystal giants' instinctive aggressiveness once they lost control, the legion did not even need to deliberately seek out those hiding in blind spots or far in the distance—so long as the cannons still thundered, nearly every monster within a hundred li would come willingly to the blazing purifying flames.

On the high ground in the rear, Gaoyang stood beneath a sunshade, quietly watching the scene on the distant plains. The battlefield ablaze with gunfire and the flashes from the direction of the Gorgon River (occasionally a rainbow beam of astonishing scale and momentum would sweep across the riverbank) filled his vision. Near him, a mobile magic-net relay vehicle was rebroadcasting the dense communications from the Pathfinder and the ground forces; several magic-net terminals projected different images, and signalmen and orderlies bustled between equipment and tactical maps, orders and reports pouring in from every direction.

In a daze, he even felt a faint sense of temporal dislocation.

On the other side, the young Philip Qian was standing not far away at the map table with a group of officers, watching the changes on the battlefield, while Byron's holographic projection floated beside Philip—through the magic-net terminal, Byron, far away aboard the Pathfinder, seemed as though he were present in the army command post itself.

The plan for amphibious advance had been proposed by Gaoyang. In it, he required the river fleet to support the ground forces with heavy guns; after the crystal giants' legion arrays were initially torn open, the land tank forces would advance, using long-range howitzers and the like for a second sweep of the field; then, before the crystal giants could react, the land forces would swiftly seize favorable positions and, relying on heavy burners, flamethrower infantry, the White Knights battalion, and other forces, thoroughly purify the entire battlefield.

Philip Qian, building on this, drew up a more detailed operational plan for the land forces—using Steel Ambassadors as reconnaissance vehicles; leveraging their mobility and range advantage, plus reliable shield devices, these vehicles would swiftly lock onto the command nodes within the crystal legion ahead and remotely direct artillery fire to destroy those nodes.

After that, the loyal Cecil legion would use equally loyal incendiary weapons to annihilate the enemies who had lost control.

These plans proved astonishingly effective.