NOVPUBThe army marched directly into a position almost face-to-face with the Bug hive.
The fungal mat laid down by the Bug Race extended all the way there, the ecology atop it starkly different from the heavily bombed land outside, the border between them visibly clear.
The distant army began deploying their lines, as the enemy's Bug hive also started to spew out large and small bugs from all around, readying themselves for a tight defense.
Under the command of higher-tier bugs acting as node commanders, even those bugs crazed by the scent of flesh and blood were held firmly in place, vainly flashing their teeth and claws.
Two members of the messenger squad, granted permission by the Blackwater City high command, swept past the city's front, middle, and rear armies before finally returning to an armored vehicle at the very rear.
The returned squad members of the messengers had a strange look about them.
"What did you find? Speak freely, in the face of the Bug Race, all of us humans are forever on the same front line," the squad leader waved his hand generously, signaling the members to speak their minds.
The two messengers who had gone to observe the troops exchanged a glance, one of them swallowing nervously before boldly saying, "We noticed that our army's heavy firepower doesn't seem to be very plentiful?"
To fight the bugs, isn't it normal to first use heavy firepower to cleanse the area, eliminating at least eighty percent of their living force, and then send in the infantry to face-to-face charge and clean up the remainders?
In the two hives they took down in the imperial capital, they had massive firepower that was plugged straight into the mouths of the hives.
If it weren't for the fact that the core areas of the hives, including some strong units, had the ability to ignore artillery fire, they would have wished to simply blast all those bugs to death from a distance!
And even so, the bugs, also possessing long-range counterattack capabilities, could still inflict terrifying damage on their human armies.
In an era without the internet network, including related Intelligent Technology, the coverage distance of artillery fire was limited.
When humans could hit the bugs, the bugs could also hit humans.
It was for this reason that the efficiency of exterminating Bug hives in the imperial capital was limited.
All those cannon shells and munitions fired needed time to be replenished, right?
Not to mention, the loss of various manpower and resources also needed time to rest and recuperate before launching another assault on the Bug hives.
And now, Blackwater City was planning to take down a Bug hive of no lesser scale with far less long-range heavy weaponry than their imperial capital... wasn't that a bit too fanciful?
If initially the expectation for Blackwater City was to consider victory as planting the flag when down to the last soldier, now they felt that if the Blackwater City's army could retreat alive with some important generals, it would already be a victory.
That's far too short of the required firepower standard, isn't it?
The high command of Blackwater City present in the vehicle fell silent upon hearing this.
As a matter of fact, what the messenger squad members said was correct, Blackwater City did indeed prepare not much heavy weaponry this time.
Let alone compared to the scale of the imperial capital, even compared to the previous two offensives, it was far from enough.
This was unavoidable, after all, the last two offensives had nearly drained all of Blackwater City's heavy firepower.
And with Blackwater City's limited production capabilities, it was only natural that the amount of newly produced weaponry in a short time was less than satisfactory.
But at this moment, it was impossible to confess that it was because they had already launched two full-scale assaults on the Bug hives that resulted in the heavy firepower depletion.
So they could only brazenly respond, "This is enough."
Really enough? No one knew.
They had also worried about this issue before, so they did not arbitrarily give General Bai E, fully in charge of this expedition, a deadline they set, but instead left the decision entirely in his hands.
But if General Bai E said it took only five days, then they could only trust him.
Though General Bai E's behavior in personal interactions was not quite satisfactory, in battle, he had never disappointed anyone.
After a brief silence, an Elder from the Council wore a confident and mysterious smile, "Honorable envoys, please be patient, let us... just watch."
"..."
The messenger team and others did not speak further.
Since the other party had said so, to question any further would be impolite.
Still, they exchanged glances, each with a sense of strange emotions flowing between them.
What was the source of Blackwater City's confidence?
They couldn't beat the firepower.
When it came to equipment... Those dozen or so large metal shells certainly had some appeal but were technically a step behind the advanced models of the imperial capital.
Without mentioning anything else, aside from the one at the forefront, the movement of the other Mechas was not as smooth as those from the imperial capital.
Or maybe... the personnel?
How big can the gap be between elite soldiers?
The gap in high-end combat strength... could it be that someone was mightier than the "War God" of the imperial capital?
No matter what aspect was considered, Blackwater City's configuration just didn't cut it!
With a head full of doubts, the messengers finally saw through the drone footage a sea formed by countless bugs surging towards the army line deployed by Blackwater City.
The endless bugs, like a pitch-black tide, surged unstoppably towards the camera's direction.
No matter how many times one saw this sight, it would always be terrifying.
That ferocious, bloodthirsty aura seemed to be right in front of one's eyes, even from a thousand kilometers away, overwhelming!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
