Chapter 66: Artillery Arc!

Swoosh—! Boom!

When the artillery shells cut through the air, producing a sharp, piercing friction, the experienced Black Eagle veterans instantly changed their expressions and quickly dived to the side.

Although they hadn't reacted to where the shells were being fired from, the sound alone made them instinctively realize that the projectiles were heading straight for their position!

Two infantry gun high-explosive shells landed right in the midst of the Black Eagle troops, instantly blasting several unlucky souls to the ground. One soldier, who was unfortunate enough to take a direct hit, was torn to pieces, his entire body blown into tiny fragments.

Amidst the panic, the Black Eagle soldiers lifted their heads again, staring at one another in disbelief before shouting toward the opposite bank of the river:

"What the hell is going on? That's our artillery position over there!"

"You idiots, you brainless donkeys, you're shelling the wrong side! The enemy is in front of you!"

One Black Eagle soldier roared angrily at the artillerymen across the river, little knowing that his conspicuous behavior had just caught the attention of the players.

In the next round, two more infantry gun shells once again traced a parabolic arc, landing heavily right in the middle of the formation, precisely beside this very soldier and blowing him into smithereens.

"Damn it, our artillery position has been flanked! When on earth did this happen?"

Witnessing the shelling from the other side, Lieutenant Colonel August hurriedly scrambled into his command-type Dreadnought mecha at top speed while letting out an involuntary cry of shock.

He never expected that he had only stepped away for a brief moment, having even left two infantry platoons behind to guard the vicinity of the artillery position.

Yet in such a short span of time, their artillery position had actually been overrun by the enemy!

"Major, are there any other Cambrian forces stationed around here? Or do the enemy have some kind of unknown crossing point?"

A clueless Lieutenant Colonel August asked his staff officer, but the officer was equally baffled, gesturing back and forth over the map without being able to figure out what was going on.

At least according to their previous reconnaissance results, the several Cambrian detachments in this vicinity should have been completely annihilated by them, leaving only this small town and another completely isolated pocket where enemies were still fighting.

Clearly, these people should not have had the capability to steal their artillery.

As for crossing points, if there really were any convenient places to cross the river here, they wouldn't have been fretting over the destroyed bridge.

The river right in front of them was rushing with a swift current, and because of the rainfall from the day before, it was currently the flood season. Let alone letting soldiers swim across, even crossing in rubber boats would be no easy feat.

Furthermore, it wasn't as if they didn't have men patrolling the riverbanks. If the enemy truly had boats to cross the river, the patrolling soldiers would have spotted them immediately!

And yet, in reality, the players had simply swum across.

Compared to normal humans, Battlefield soldiers possessed swimming abilities that were outrageously strong. After all, in certain special maps, there were even operations where players swam all the way beneath a dreadnought and then beat the ship to pieces with a wrench!

If they could swim across churning seas and make it all the way under a dreadnought to wreak havoc, their river-crossing capabilities in reality went without saying.

One could only say that these fellows' swimming abilities completely defied science; neither their swimming speed nor their breath-holding capacity matched what normal humans could possibly achieve.

Due to the preceding chaotic battle, the soldiers guarding the flanks of the artillery position had concentrated all their attention on the small town across the river that was currently under bombardment.

This caused them to completely fail to notice the players who had secretly swum ashore and swiftly launched an attack.

By the time they snapped back to reality, the players behind them had already swept them with submachine gun fire. In the end, not a single one of the surviving artillerymen and guarding infantry on the position managed to get a radio message out.

As for the gunfire breaking out here, it had been completely ignored by the Black Eagle soldiers, overshadowed by the ambush encountered by the Necromancer, the players' mortar barrage, and the fierce cavalry charge.

Though strictly speaking, as veterans, they shouldn't have ignored such faint gunfire.

But there was no helping it; players whose every single member possessed the prowess of Zhao Zilong were simply too eye-catching.

No matter who it was, everyone feared being suddenly charged by such cavalry. Busy as they were dealing with the horsemen, where would they find the leisure to investigate sounds from across the river? Besides, weren't the grenades thrown by these cavalrymen explosive enough?

"Hurry, fall back! Retake our cannons!"

With a furious roar, Lieutenant Colonel August gave the aggrieved command for the Dreadnought mechas in the rear, originally meant for fire support, to retreat.

However, at the same time, the infantry and supporting Hunter mechas advancing in the front were not recalled by the lieutenant colonel.

He knew recalling those troops was useless.

By the time these sluggish infantry and support mechas lumbered back, he would have already wiped out the enemy with his Dreadnought mechas.

Right around the time he issued his orders, two more shells flew back.

Through the unique overhead perspective of the shelling, the players locked onto the rear command post where Lieutenant Colonel August was located, and two consecutive shells smashed right into it.

The lieutenant colonel riding inside the Dreadnought mecha managed to escape in time, but the officers standing outside were not so fortunate.

Several officers were inexplicably killed or wounded by the sudden artillery strike, and the remaining officers scrambled to dodge in every direction, terrified that another shell would land on their heads.

Led by the lieutenant colonel, a full squad totaling eight Dreadnought mechas sprinted across the narrow bridge at top speed.

Although the bridge improvised by the armored vehicle was extremely narrow—just wide enough for a single mecha to barely cross, with the slightest deviation resulting in a fall—they had practiced on such bridge decks countless times in daily training. Even with their eyes closed, they were confident they could cross this bridge swiftly and easily.

Through the overhead perspective, the players who had seized the enemy artillery position and manned the guns immediately spotted the eight Dreadnoughts that had just crossed the bridge and were charging toward them.

"666, what a fast reaction! Hurry up and set up the anti-tank weapons!"

"Infantry guns and mortars, rain everything you've got on their mechas! Show them the majesty of our artillery arcs!"

If they were normal infantry, seeing eight big iron cans charging at them so rapidly would have long since frightened them into a rout.

But for the players, the stronger the enemy, the more excited they became, especially since they had upgraded their gear this wave, boasting plenty of anti-tank firepower!

Under the players' manipulation, two infantry guns rapidly adjusted their angles, while other players whipped out the mortars they had brought along, swapping to high-explosive shells to commence bombardment.

In an instant, over a dozen shells were launched one after another from this small position. Facing the continuous barrage raining down upon them, Lieutenant Colonel August actually thought he was assaulting an entire artillery battalion!