Volume 2 chapter 10
"Damn it all!!"
The next morning, the high command of the Southern Army Group surveyed the ruins of their forward camp. Ash and twisted metal stretched as far as the eye could see. Their faces were twisted with rage.
"This is unacceptable! We cannot let this stand without retribution, Your Majesty!" Schnet, the Elven Warlord, turned to Empress Theia, his voice thick with grief and fury.
Theia frowned deeply. In last night's raid, nearly 100,000 Elves had been killed or wounded—casualties several times higher than all previous engagements combined. Although human casualties were even higher, a dark premonition gnawed at her heart.
She glanced at the Hero, Hayato, who was still wailing and shouting in a state of utter panic, his courage shattered. Her frown deepened.
"Your Holiness Farragut, should we leave the Hero behind and execute the decapitation strike on the Demon Lord ourselves?" Theia proposed to the Pope.
Even Farragut was uncertain. The original plan was to temper the Hero through battle, preparing him to face the Demon Lord. But looking at the broken mess before him...
Honestly, Heroes of the past weren't like this.
Even the untitled Heroes, those without the "Golden" moniker, possessed steely wills. Under the full nurturing of the nations, they would typically reach the Ninth Rank within a few years and ascend to Sainthood within twenty.
But this one...
"This... let us call Curtis and Wade for a meeting. We must discuss this," Farragut sighed, shaking his head as he looked at Hayato.
_______________________________
The success of the Talisk night raid electrified the Demon Army's morale. It proved that with fighter escorts, bombers were devastatingly effective. The Demon High Command immediately absorbed the lesson and prepared for a larger strike.
Night Three.
Clar, a Fifth-Rank Succubus, piloted her Type-2 Bomber at an altitude of 20,000 meters.
The sky was silent, save for the steady drone of engines.
Below lay a sea of clouds. Above, the stars burned cold and bright. A full moon hung like a pearl on black velvet, surrounded by scattered diamond dust.
Clar looked around. A dense swarm of aircraft moved between the cloud sea and the stars, like a flock of birds migrating across an ocean, or a meteor shower traversing the void.
"It's so beautiful..."
Her wingman, a Fourth-Rank Blood Demon named Vivian, sighed over the radio. This was her first mission, her first time flying this high.
"The view is nice, but the mission comes first," Clar reminded her, playing the veteran.
"Ah... Yes, Ma'am!" Vivian straightened up in her cockpit.
"There are a lot of rookies with us tonight. Watch your spacing. Don't crash into another greenhorn!"
"I won't! I trained for ages in the rear! I definitely won't crash!" Vivian protested indignantly.
"Hehe..." Clar chuckled. "The battlefield is a lot more complicated than the training grounds. You're still tender!"
"Ugh... Ma'am, you only have two more missions than us!" Vivian muttered, but the radio picked it up clearly.
"Hah..." Clar shook her head. Just then, the fighter lead reported in. They were approaching the camp of the Western Army Group.
"Wake up, girl! Stay close to me!" Clar's expression tightened, her teasing mood vanishing.
"Yes, Ma'am!" Vivian replied seriously.
"Here we go!"
Clar led the charge. Behind her lay the First Bomber Wing—560 aircraft.
Further back was the Second Bomber Wing—520 aircraft.
1,080 Heavy Bombers. An unprecedented scale. Almost every operational Type-2 Bomber was here.
Including the fighter escorts, the total force exceeded 2,000 aircraft.
Due to the shortage of experienced pilots, nearly half the force consisted of rookies fresh from training.
"Ma'am, do you think we'll go down in history...?" Vivian asked suddenly, a non-sequitur born of nerves.
"Shut up! Full speed ahead! Enemies incoming!" Clar shouted.
Below, several figures burst through the cloud layer.
DA-DA-DA-DA-DA...
The bomber gunners spotted the targets instantly. Hundreds of turrets swiveled and fired.
The firepower of a bomber formation was terrifying. Long tongues of fire spat into the night, illuminating the sky.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The 75mm Tail Turrets joined the chorus, pumping out armor-piercing shells at 15 rounds per minute.
One figure charged straight into the formation, ignoring the 40mm cannon fire pinging off his mana shield. He seemed invincible—until a 75mm shell struck him in the chest.
CRACK-BOOM!
The shield shattered, and the figure plummeted.
Seeing this, the other knights’ faces changed. They abandoned their direct charges and began to evade.
This reduced the hit rate, but the bomber formation was like a hedgehog. A dense wall of fire was hard to dodge completely. Under the rain of shells, two more figures were shot down.
However, three figures managed to breach the defensive screen and plunged into the bomber formation.
The slaughter began.
"All units! Break formation! Proceed in squad elements at full speed!" Clar screamed. "Vivian! Follow me!"
Ahead, the fighter squadrons engaged the knights in a chaotic dogfight within the clouds. Explosions bloomed as planes were destroyed, falling like broken birds.
The three Eighth-Rank Knights who had breached the line moved like streaks of light. Every pass destroyed a bomber. But against a dispersed swarm of over a thousand planes, their efficiency was too low.
Moments later, Clar saw the ground through a break in the clouds. The lights of the enemy camp twinkled below.
"Target sighted! Descend! Drop the payload and blow them to hell!!"
Clar yelled, pushing the stick forward into a dive.
20,000 meters... 15,000... 10,000!
"Vivian! Open bay doors!! DROP!!!"
At 10,000 meters, Clar released her bombs.
"Roger!" Vivian's nervous voice crackled back.
The bomber wings followed, raining death upon the earth.
This time, the payload wasn't high explosives. It was 1,000kg Incendiary Bombs.
Packed with explosives and Fire Oil—a volatile liquid found only deep underground where fire mana congregated—these bombs burned at 3,000 degrees Celsius. They could melt steel.
BOOM! RUMBLE...
As more bombers broke through the interception and dropped their loads, the Alliance camp turned into a sea of fire.
The heat wave was so intense it rose ten thousand meters into the air, buffeting Clar's plane.
"Mission complete! Return to base! Vivian!"
"Yes!"
Before turning away, Clar glanced down. The camp below was no longer a military base. It was an inferno.
Comments (1)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.