A few days later.
South of the Fertile Plains, Tower Station 10.
Balshan lay prone outside the gun turret, gazing at the silhouette of the ancient city in the distance. She had read about the Northern Expedition in the weekly newspaper and knew that it was the historical Witch City of Taquila. In order to capture it, the demons did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles, but were ultimately repelled by the First Army.
And now, they were about to defeat a new enemy here and recapture Taquila.
One minute … Thirty seconds … Ten seconds …
She silently counted as she plugged her ears.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The roar of cannons resounded behind her. The continuous tremors transmitted through the ground to the vehicle, and she could feel her arms go slightly numb. That was the artillery unit's 152mm Longsong Cannon pouring fire at the target. Compared to the short-barreled field cannon on the tank, the sound was on a completely different level.
"Team Leader, are you still not used to the sound of cannons?" The driver, Bay, turned around and teased. He sat cross-legged at the front of the vehicle, holding a can of instant food in his hands. This was one of the things she admired about him — even in a battlefield littered with corpses and filled with the rotting stench of demonic beasts, he could still eat as usual. "That won't do. You have to learn to let your ears filter out those irrelevant noises so that you can maintain your focus."
"I think your ears aren't very sensitive." Balshan expressionlessly looked away. Although the driver and the gunner were experienced veterans, according to the rules, the commander was the leader of the team. Furthermore, in terms of actual age, she might even be slightly older than the two of them. "The only sound I need to listen to is the abnormal sound of the Screaming Stone — it's not the sound of cannons, nor is it your nonsense. Do you understand?"
"Team Leader … you're really harsh with your words." Bay smacked his lips. "I thought that Miss Witches were all sweet and adorable, just like Angel Nana …"
"Five years ago, Witches were the devil's minions, the embodiment of evil."
"Uh — no one will like you if you act like this."
"Who said that? I think Team Leader is pretty good." The gunner, Shure, interrupted. "He's straightforward and capable. He's never joined the army, but he's able to adapt to the battlefield in a short period of time. He's definitely the best choice for a commander."
The two of them looked at Shure.
The latter was stunned. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"No." Balshan shrugged. "Although you missed nine out of ten shots during training, you're not completely useless."
Gunner seemed to be enjoying it.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Bay quickly changed the topic. "By the way, Team Leader, who was the person waiting for you outside the campsite at Tower Station No.9? He also seems to be wearing the uniform of the First Army. Is he your friend? "
"Why do you ask?"
"I saw the medal hanging on his chest, so I wanted to get to know him. Those who can receive the medal are not simple. He should be a very powerful guy."
"I do know him, but he isn't that impressive. Without me, he would probably have become food for the demonic beasts." Balshan pretended to be indifferent, but her tone couldn't help but soften.
"Wow, you're too strict …"
Before he could finish, she covered her ears.
Another round of deafening bombardment.
Bay, who was completely unprepared, grimaced at the rumbling noises.
And this time, after the bombardment, three green signal flares flew up. That was the signal to attack.
"It seems like you aren't very focused either." Balshan patted the steel plate on the side of the turret. "Convoy 12, set off immediately!"
Bay didn't retort. Instead, he threw down the can in his hand and slipped into the car through the driver's window. Shure also retreated into the narrow turret and got ready for battle. Regardless of how they usually were, the two of them were not careless at the critical moment.
Balshan raised the telescope and saw that under the bombardment of the artillery, many demonic beasts had already escaped from the ruins and were fleeing towards the north. Turning back to look, the First Army soldiers had split into dozens of small teams and were steadily advancing along the tracks of the tanks.
This formation was obviously not meant to deal with ordinary demonic hybrids.
The deeper they went into the plains, the more blade beasts they encountered. It went from one every two to three days to a few a day now. As they were hard to detect with the naked eye, they were far more difficult to deal with than ordinary demonic beasts. Without a doubt, the strategy of the upper echelons of the military was effective. "Shriek — Resonance" allowed them to discover targets outside the firing range of the short-barreled cannons and annihilate them. However, the enemy didn't seem to be purely wild beasts.
They would hide behind all sorts of concealment and launch sudden attacks on the troops. The bombardment of artillery could scare off the demonic beasts, but it couldn't scare them away. Hence, it took a lot of effort to recapture the fortresses along the railway. After paying a certain price, the First Army quickly established a battle strategy with the armored troops as the core. Originally, the flintlock troops only treated the tanks as scouts, but now, they had learned to rely on them to clear the fortifications.
And the Taquila Ruins before them was the most complicated battlefield that wasn't in the wild.
Half an hour later, the vanguard, Convoy 12, drove into Taquila City. Beside Balshan were Convoy 9 and 17. According to the plan, they were in charge of clearing the area from the main street to the West Borough Square and recapturing the two fortresses that were set up there.
Looking at the surroundings, Balshan couldn't help but feel her scalp go numb. The numerous stone buildings made the situation in the city extremely complicated, and it greatly reduced the detection range of the Sigil of Screaming. She was currently monitoring multiple magic power sources, but was still unable to lock onto a specific target.
"How did you manage to conquer this place previously?"
"It's simple. As long as we get rid of the Red Mist towers and those skeletons, the demons will naturally retreat," Shure replied. "Have you found the enemy?"
"Not yet. But it's certain that there are plenty of monsters hiding in this city. " Balshan gestured to the soldiers behind her, getting them to move closer to the tanks and at the same time widen the distance between them and the other two convoys.
Not long after, a gray concrete fortress appeared at the end of the street. Although the First Army was forced to abandon this place, these sturdy fortifications weren't destroyed by the enemy.
And at this moment, a shrill cry clearly became louder.
Balshan frowned. That wasn't a sound that a blade beast should have.
She looked at the captain of Convoy 9, Amy, who shook her head, indicating that she was equally puzzled.
And when the convoy passed the fortress, the sigil's hum was so loud that even Shell could hear it.
Out of caution, she got the two convoys to stop temporarily and decided to take a look at the plaza. She also activated the Sigil of Resonance by her hand. Even if the target wasn't the blade beasts, she wanted to see where the magic power source was pointing to.
Soon, a fluorescent light appeared out of thin air, pointing straight at the center of the plaza not far away — but there was nothing there.
Could it be that she had encountered a new invisible enemy?
That's not right. Balshan quickly realized that the surface of the plaza seemed to have been pried open by something, and there were black traces of corrosion around it.
That thing was hidden beneath the ground!
Just as she had this thought, the mud beneath the bricks suddenly arched up — a monster made of flesh and ribs crawled out from the ground, and at the same time, it spat out a pile of "transparent bodies"! If not for the slime on those bodies, Balshan wouldn't have been able to separate them from the background.
Almost at the same time, the Sigil of Screaming emitted a high-pitched warning. She suddenly realized that those things were all blade beasts!
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