Starting from the Planetary Governor

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Currently, we are at this critical point.

Gu Hang needs the human military to set foot in Fino City. It's not necessary for them to accomplish the task of capturing Fino City, just having enough people step onto it will strengthen the reality veil; as long as the body of Fino City is set ablaze, creating enough pressure on this living city, it will help reduce the erosion of subspace.

This will directly slow down the likelihood of Ge Wajia, the Great Unclean One, personally intervening in the battle.

Even if it doesn't completely prevent it, the more substantial the cost and the longer the time Ge Wajia takes to pass through the reality veil, the more it will directly impact the success rate of the special forces' mission.

This is a key operation to save the lives of forty billion people on the entire planet, so even though knowing that ordering General Hans to carry out the attack will result in enormous casualties, there is no room for anyone to be soft-hearted at this moment.

Of course, besides the sacrifices that ground troops will have to make, Gu Hang also hasn't forgotten the difficulty of their task.

It's not as if simply being willing to make the sacrifice guarantees that the troops can break through.

Gu Hang also needs to secure some extra help for the ground forces.

His options, in reality, are not many.

He made contact with Envoy Nell Lavis.

"I need more support from the space fleet..."

...

This was bound to be a sleepless night, whether for the warriors on the frontline holding out against the Plague Demon Army, the second-line troops responsible for transporting logistical supplies, or the combat strategists working through the night on stimulants; no one could sleep this night.

The ground troops and the strategists at Central Command had made an all-out offensive combat plan, breaking down the tasks among the subordinate Army Groups. The Army Groups' staff were also at work, and the corresponding tasks were further delegated to division-level units, and so on...

On the first day of Mr. Gu's order and the second day since the battle began, the entire defense line remained stationary, continuing with a defensive stance.

On this day, the human military didn't face too severe a test— at least, not as severe as the first day of battle. Casualties along the whole defense line were roughly over two hundred thousand.

This was still a horrifying number, but it was much better compared to the first day, with casualties of four hundred thousand within six hours, one million for the entire day, and the complete rout of more than a dozen Army Groups.

By the third day, the entire defense line was even retreating.

However, unlike the first day, this retreat was relatively orderly, a deliberate relinquishment of the position.

Furthermore, the troops stationed on the defense line were rotated out for a fresh batch.

The main reason for this was that Fino City had advanced nearly sixty kilometers in these two days. Without retreating, the human military's defense line would once again fall within the firing range of many Sinister Energy Cannons deployed within the living city.

This was also to avoid the Plague Demon Army, which would start another round of relentless attacks bolstered by more substantial fire support, putting too much pressure on the defense line.

This was trading space for time.

General Hans also explained his strategy to Mr. Gu: To break into Fino City, apart from actively attacking to penetrate it, there was another way, which was to wait for Fino City to come to them.

After all, that living city was moving.

It advanced sixty kilometers two days earlier, while the human military's defense line retreated fifty kilometers.

In the following days, the same pattern continued.

Fino City advanced thirty kilometers each day, and the human military's defense line retreated twenty kilometers daily.

The reason for this, rather than fiercely holding a single position, was because as Fino City drew nearer, the pressure on the human military would become greater. Furthermore, after several battles, the forward positions were severely damaged, while the rear positions, newly dug out, were relatively intact, which helped reduce casualties. Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

At the same time, some time was needed for the various units, especially those native defense forces, to adapt better to such brutal battlefield conditions.

Of course, this could also result in the total collapse of the native troops' morale.

But there was no choice, it had to be done. It was impossible to rely solely on the Dragonhawk Legion's forces for this battle. The native troops numbered over fifty million, and the extent to which they could be effective would have a decisive impact.

All that was left was to hope that they would adapt to the battlefield, not completely fall apart.

So far, the situation had not progressed in the worst possible direction.

At the rate of nearly ten kilometers a day towards Fino City, by the dawn of the seventh day, the front line of the human army was less than thirty kilometers away from Fino City. By then, a large number of Sinister Energy Cannons had entered range, significantly increasing the pressure on the front line.

But aside from enduring Sinister Energy Cannon fire, airstrikes, and being severely beaten, the enemy's ground assault was not too frenzied.

Up until now, the human army's total casualties had reached nearly four million. In general, the human army maintained an exchange rate of at least one to seven against the Plague Demon Army in combat, which meant the Plague Demon Army also suffered losses in the realm of thirty million.

Although the majority were plague zombies, wielding the most rudimentary weapons, the consumables required to transform these creatures were significant, not to mention the loss of many powerful flesh monsters in combat, as well as the death of numerous plague wizards, eternal devotees, responsible for creating, controlling, strengthening, and commanding the rank-and-file, during the battle.

This made the enemy somewhat hesitant to continue fighting.

It was during this time that General Hans's devastating counterattack began.

All the Lion King Tanks were committed to battle at once; several armored divisions formed a fist, with many Armored Brigades from the Rage Bear Legion also participating, initiating an armored cluster thrust in the very center of the battle line. A large number of elite infantry followed closely behind, ready to provide support.

And it was at this moment that heavenly fire descended.

Almost simultaneously, the starships of the Tianma Fleet arrived directly above the battlefield. Among them were even some Escort Ships and Destroyers left by Envoy Lois's Tax Fleet.

Most of the Tax Fleet had already left the Tianma Star Sector, having the important task of collecting Imperial Tax elsewhere. But the few escort ships and destroyers that remained supplemented the firepower of the Tianma Fleet.

This time, their targets were not limited to suppressing Fino City. The starships, undaunted by the exchange of fire with Anti-Orbit Cannons, began to apply more pressure on Fino City, forcing them to divert more of their Sinister Energy Cannons towards the sky for counterattacks and orbital interception.

This, in turn, significantly reduced the Sinister Energy fire that the human armored clusters on the ground had to endure.

At the same time, a massive amount of orbital strikes bombarded along the armored clusters' advancement line, conducting intensive bombing.

In particular, several shots from L-class heavy cannons caused earth-shattering effects.

The results of the bombardment, the number of enemies annihilated were secondary. The main thing was that the direction of the armored cluster's assault was so bombarded that the enemy was scattered and disoriented.

For a while, the ground forces' assault was incredibly smooth!

The distance was less than thirty kilometers in total, and by evening, the Void Shield of Fino City was within sight. The spearhead forces could even see the artillery fire from starships in the sky, intercepted by Sinister Energy Cannons, or those unintercepted ones causing large ripples as they smashed directly into the Void Shield.

"Charge, charge, charge! Long live the 35th Brigade!"

The forefront unit was a Composite Camp from the 35th Brigade of the Rage Bear Legion.

The 35th Brigade could be considered a meritorious unit of the Alliance, established early, they had earned their stripes during the unification war on Rage Owl Star, contributing to the reclamation of the North Territory. Then many of them followed Gu Hang into what was once the domain of the Primal Fury Owl, occupied by the Evil God, where they battled Storm Beasts and ultimately slew the deity.

Thereafter, they participated in the war against Blackbird Heavy Industries, which had violated the ban on Smart Mechanisms. Also, they were part of the first batch of founding forces to be integrated into Rage Bear Legion from the start, arriving early in Korolya to fight and achieving many victories. The unit's honor wall was filled with numerous awards from the Central Government, Star Realm Army Command, and the Military Affairs Department.

And now, this unit of distinction had once again risen to prominence. In the massive battle for Korolya, they took the lead, becoming the first unit to break through the Void Shield and charge into Fino City!

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It's terribly cold in the early morning, going to sleep...