Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 59: Chapter 19: The Demon Tiger Again

Although they had been away from the battlefield for a long time, the soldiers of the Leray Federation would immediately exude a sense of indifference once they experienced artillery fire.

The 3rd Group Commander Gutierrez didn’t hide; he just stood there, continuously firing his energy cannon. Suddenly, he tilted his head, his expression changed, and he somersaulted into a nearby trench to lie down. Almost simultaneously, a shell blasted a huge crater where he had just been standing, and the energy machine gun was deformed by the shockwave.

Looking at the soldiers in the trench laughing at him, Gutierrez climbed up awkwardly, spat, pulled out a military canteen filled with alcohol, took two big swigs, and cursed, ”This damn shell hit so accurately, I was almost blasted to one meter twenty!”

He gritted his teeth and poured the alcohol on his leg. Only then did the soldiers notice the large fragment embedded in Gutierrez’s thigh. The tall commander bit his teeth and used a belt to bind his leg before he started pulling out the shrapnel. Although the main arteries weren’t hit, blood still gushed from the wound. The medics rushed over to give him emergency treatment, while Gutierrez examined the shrapnel, grinning as if proud of his quick reflexes.

The thunderous shelling lasted several minutes. The Federation soldiers curled up on the battlefield, covering their ears and gasping for breath like fishes out of water.

Finally, the Federation artillery located the enemy’s artillery positions. Continuous shelling completely suppressed the Imperial Army’s firepower.

For the 201st Division soldiers, this level of firepower coverage felt like a mere itch, vastly different from the start of the war. After the bombardment, they emerged from the battered trenches like mice after a downpour. The enemy had gotten significantly closer during the artillery barrage, and the Federation’s firepower instantly intensified. Gutierrez rudely pushed aside a soldier who was enjoying firing his standard energy machine gun, grabbed the gun, and with a strange battle cry, stood up again. The machine gun’s precise hits impressed the disgruntled soldier, realizing the difference between being a commander and a regular soldier.

Gutierrez’s energy cannon roared furiously, destroying several of the Imperial single soldier mechas with his accurate strikes.

With no fire suppression or strong mecha cover, why did these infantry and single soldier mechas crazily rush to their deaths? Gutierrez was puzzled.

Then, he suddenly saw hundreds of beast-shaped mechas moving at high speed through the artillery fire, heading towards the 4th Group’s defensive positions on the left.

To his astonishment, these beast-shaped mechas could nimbly dodge in such dense artillery fire. Their continuous evasive maneuvers left Gutierrez gaping. Perhaps having noticed these mechas, the 4th Group suddenly intensified their firepower blockade. Ordinary energy bullets hitting these mechas only caused ripples in their energy shields, like stones thrown into a lake, while the energy shields still emitted a cold, bluish glow.

Without thinking, Gutierrez quickly adjusted the direction of his energy cannon and shot rapidly at one of the beast-shaped mechas, finally turning its energy shield to a pale red.

The hit mecha immediately changed direction, charging straight at Gutierrez, its chest-mounted energy cannon suppressing him with fierce firepower.

Crawling to a different position, Gutierrez ordered the communicator to call for artillery coverage. He could tell that these beast-shaped mechas were extremely dangerous: fast, agile, well-coordinated, precise in movement, and heavily armed.

Moreover, their survival ability in artillery fire was too strong. Their rapid evasions dodged most threatening energy bullets, and even if hit, their powerful energy shields provided ample protection.

But the most troubling threat to D1 Heights wasn’t these factors. The infuriating part was that these beast-shaped mechas could run up seventy, eighty-degree steep slopes as if walking on flat ground. If they breached the defensive positions, it would be a disaster.

The Federation’s self-propelled artillery swiftly roared in response to the front-line emergency call, fiercely covering the area a few hundred meters before D1 Heights, especially the 4th Group’s positions. Under the request of the communication soldiers, the artillery was densest at the point of contact.

The beast-shaped mechas, intermingled among numerous Imperial infantry, didn’t retreat under the artillery fire but sped up, charging towards the 4th Group positions amidst the barrage.

Over a hundred remaining mechas from the 201st Division’s own mechanical armor battalion engaged the resistance, attempting to block the path of these beast-shaped mechas with cannon fire. This tactic had some effect; under the self-propelled artillery cover, some beast-shaped mechas, with no room to maneuver, were hit and transformed into exploding fireballs as their energy shields turned from blue to red.

However, one company’s mecha force was too few. The enemy had at least a battalion attacking the 4th Group positions.

Gutierrez surveyed the situation, decisively giving two orders to a communicator: First, immediately seek reinforcements, asking headquarters to dispatch the armored division, as the infantry division alone couldn’t hold D1 Heights. Second, take his battlefield recorder back, as the markings on these mechas suggested they might be from the enemy’s Royal Special Soldier Mecha Division Mythical Army.

Then, Gutierrez ordered the deputy commander to take over. Since the deputy usually commanded battles anyway, Gutierrez had no qualms about relinquishing command, leading a battalion’s worth of soldiers towards the 4th Group.

Why was the Mythical Army here, and what consequences an infantry division without portable missiles would face against a frontal attack by such a mecha battalion? Whether reinforcements could save the day, or if he himself could return alive, weren’t Gutierrez’s concerns.

All he knew was that the critical task was to help the 4th Group withstand this onslaught. Even though he never got along with the 4th Group Commander, and frequently quarreled upon meeting, he couldn’t let comrades die before his eyes. Gutierrez suddenly felt like laughing; if he returned alive, he’d become the ’savior’ of that frail-looking commander, forever holding it over him. The prospect was exhilarating!

As Gutierrez led his soldiers towards the 4th Group’s positions, an interstellar battle that would decide the fate of the Newton Star System was unfolding in the vast Miloke Planet space.

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