Counterfeit Hero

When all communication with the 3rd Battalion was completely cut off and the sound of thunderous cannon fire came from the west of Puluo Town, Kodell already had an ominous premonition—given Assault Group One’s equipment and the situation on this planet, communication breakdown on such a large scale should be impossible.

With only a distance of over twenty kilometers and hundreds of Mechas in the area where the 3rd Battalion was located, not one could be contacted. Apart from electronic interference, Kodell couldn’t think of another reason. This judgment immediately made him tense.

To reach the 3rd Battalion, Kodell ordered the Second Battalion to move towards the 3rd Battalion’s position while rapidly dispatching three armored reconnaissance teams. Out of the twelve Mechas from the three teams, only two returned. The news they brought back left him both shocked and regretful!

The 3rd Battalion was essentially decimated. This standard battalion of 360 ”Fire Element” Single Soldier Mechas and 10 medium-range support ”Terrain Dragon” Mechas was now reduced to merely sixty or seventy Mechas scattered across more than a dozen blocks. Most were already segmented and surrounded by the enemy, badly damaged, and on the brink of annihilation.

What caused all this was not the attacked Commerce Alliance, but the so-called Sect Mutual Aid Alliance, which had always maintained a stance of retreat. They had ruthlessly struck!

Kodell knew this was his first mistake!

When he first arrived in Puluo Town, those Black Mechas had already abandoned the Greenland Avenue line, conceding nearly forty blocks to the east of Puluo Town. Their determinedly defensive posture made him overlook these mere dozens of Mechas from the start.

The second mistake was even more fatal: he never imagined that the enemy had electronic suppression capabilities!

In the Free World, even if you managed to procure old-fashioned warships and a few military weapons through various means, high-tech military electronic interference equipment and technology were strictly prohibited from being exported to the Free World by human society.

Let’s not even talk about exporting to the Free World—within each country, anything related to the SkyNet System, radar system, anti-reconnaissance system, information interference system, and deception system was considered top secret. The control over equipment and personnel was exceedingly strict. After all, in modern warfare, if communication, command, and battlefield coordination are suppressed by the enemy due to technological leaks, it means you’ve already lost the war.

Thus, even though the Free World gathered many scientists, mechanics, and experts in various fields, very few electronic warfare experts managed to escape to the Free World alive. Among those who survived the assassinations by national agents, those who had the funds and equipment to conduct research were even rarer!

Without talent, the Free World’s electronic technology could only depend on civilian purchases and self-trained scientists for research.

While Free World scientists had distinct achievements in many subfields of electronic technology, their research primarily focused on radar, communication, and anti-natural interference used by adventurers’ ships exploring the universe. These were all civilian passive devices.

When it came to proactive electronic warfare weapons for military operations, such as jamming and shielding, the Free World was utterly lacking.

Everyone wanted these technologies, but without powerful research capabilities and funding, without years of military application technology accumulation, and without a chance to evade the Human Supreme Council’s oversight and strikes, it was wishful thinking for any organization to develop military electronic technology strong enough to rival sovereign nations.

In this regard, the Northern Commerce Alliance was the most advanced organization within the Free World. President Selwal had long realized that electronic warfare weapons provided an overwhelming advantage against the various sects of the Free World. However, with Philip’s support, he could only secretly obtain some obsolete equipment and technology from Gazalin.

Though unable to produce dedicated electronic Mechas, leveraging these equipment and technologies, the ”Fire Element” was already considered outstanding among Free World’s armed Mechas in terms of anti-interference capabilities.

Who could have known that over three hundred ”Fire Element” Mechas would get sliced through like butter! Not only did they fail to resist interference, but from long-range firepower to close combat, they were completely suppressed. Even the rigorously trained on-the-spot blockades and formation dispersals for chaotic situations were utterly ineffective!

Although Northern Alliance’s Mechanical Warriors were not Sect Mechas and most were only at a general level of Mecha control, Kodell had always prided himself on training the First Armored Assault Group, considering them truly professional soldiers for war in the Free World. He couldn’t accept such an outcome.

However, as a veteran of Binart’s elite Armored Division, he quickly calmed down.

Years of military training in Binart Army had taught Kodell that a Commander unable to rapidly accept defeat and formulate new strategies was unqualified. At this moment, the most important thing was to face the enemy head-on and quickly devise countermeasures.

Though the 3rd Battalion’s fiasco cost him nearly a tenth of his forces, Assault Group One undoubtedly still held a manpower advantage compared to the enemy. Moreover, this defeat provided him with a direct assessment of the enemy’s combat strength and equipment level. Knowing the enemy’s electronic suppression capabilities, he would never make the same mistake again.