This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 324: Never Retreat!

Chapter 324: Chapter 324: Never Retreat!

"Team A, follow me up! B and C, flank! Keep your targets on lock, even if you have only one dive, drop those aerial bombs before you die!"

"For the Alliance!"

"Charge!"

Shouting loudly, Mosquito unlocked the communication channels for the entire squad, and the frequency was instantly filled with the excited shouts of the players.

"Aoooo!"

Fifty W-2 ground attack aircraft tilted their fuselages and split into three groups, three directions, diving towards the ground.

10mm cannons spewed tongues of fire.

Those propeller aircraft, with their gun flashes spiraling, descended like cavalry from the heavens, bringing a deadly rain from the sky.

Caught off guard by the rain-like bullets, the Looters following the tanks scrambled, desperate to flee towards the forest ahead.

Meanwhile, the tank commanders leading the fourth and fifth squads roared nearly madly,

"Advance! Full speed ahead!"

"Anyone who dares to retreat—"

"I’ll kill him with my own hands!"

This was the correct choice.

Against dive-bombing aircraft, stopping or retreating was the most foolish option.

Only by using the speed of the downhill rush into the pine forest could they hope for a slim chance of survival.

The ten tanks rushing to the front line had their engines at maximum power. The first Looter to reach the forest threw a smoke grenade, giving cover for the tanks behind.

The battlefield was engulfed in smoke.

Meanwhile, fifty quad-linked anti-aircraft vehicles accompanying the tank squadron to the front also shot tongues of fire into the sky.

The machine guns on these anti-aircraft vehicles varied in calibers. Although the original plan by Dylon was for all fifty trucks to use 12mm heavy machine guns, due to the Burning Corps’s airborne operations damaging many of the modification production lines, a large portion of the quad anti-aircraft guns ended up using 7mm small caliber guns.

Regardless, with 50x4 machine guns firing at the same time, the firepower was quite ferocious.

Bullets rushing from the ground to the sky were like reverse snowflakes; within moments, two gliders caught fire, hastily dropped their aerial bombs, and crashed into the forest.

"Fuck... these bastards actually managed to make tracer bullets!"

With two bullet holes through the cockpit, barely missing his thigh, Mosquito cursed as he flipped the aircraft, dodging the tracking anti-aircraft guns while looking for an opportunity to dive.

These Looters seemed to have learned from their last experience, this time adding copper salts to a few bullets! Every so often, a miserable green tracer shot from the ground toward the sky.

Though limited by the production technique and quantity, producing weak and sparse tracers, it was enough to help the gunners correct their shooting trajectories.

"I’m going all out against you guys!"

Falling Feather, with the cockpit turned over by a burst of bullets, stopped dodging altogether, stomped the throttle to the max, and directly dove toward the nearest tank.

Seeing the oncoming aircraft, that tank commander visibly panicked, immediately diving back into the turret, urging the driver to evade.

But it was too late.

The riddled aircraft burst into flames, but just a second before the battery exploded, an aerial bomb detached from the fuselage.

That massive bomb almost followed the remnants of the aircraft, striking the turret of the Conqueror No. 10, accompanied by a deafening explosion. The exploding dust and splattered mud were thrown into the air, tens of meters high.

A quad-linked anti-aircraft vehicle, being too close, had its engine instantly paralyzed; the driver and co-driver were killed by the shockwave shattering their internal organs, bleeding from their mouths and noses.

As for that tank?

The turret’s connection to the hull was visibly dented. Although it wasn’t blown away or caught fire, the crew inside were clearly beyond dead.

[Congratulations to the player "Falling Feather" for achieving the first tank kill in this battle.]

[As the player has chosen to make the achievement public, it will be recorded under the "Pine Valley Battle" entries...]

"Good brother! See you in three days!"

Watching a line of text float on the VM, Mosquito mourned his apprentice for a few seconds, then took a deep breath, turned on the beeper, and pushed forward the control stick.

"I’m going all out too!"

Aircraft after aircraft turned their course, plunging straight towards the ground below.

Not shot down.

But diving.

The shrill screeching sounded like a blown horn; whether tanks or infantry, they fled desperately. In the eyes of those Looters, those flame-spewing planes seemed no longer mere aircraft, but the reaper’s sickle.

The anti-aircraft gunfire could not stop them.

Often, one plane would explode, and very soon, a second would take advantage of a gap in the firepower net and charge through, crashing into them regardless of everything...

"Have they gone mad?" Watching the successive fighter planes, Bear Tooth on the northern high ground wrote fear all over his face.

Just a few minutes had passed, and five tanks were scrapped, the remaining five tanks recklessly rushed into the pine forest.

Although they temporarily avoided the crisis, they found themselves in a difficult and embarrassing situation.

The continuous casualties weren’t limited to the Conqueror No. 10 tanks but also to their quad-linked anti-aircraft vehicles. Those bloodshot-eyed planes no longer limited themselves to tanks, instead diving toward any target they could attack.

And it was almost a suicidal dive!

Dylon furrowed his brow.

Compared to the opponent’s reckless attack methods, what concerned him more was their almost irrational tactical choice.

Honestly, when the rain had just stopped earlier, his heart nearly stopped for two seconds. Because he expected that the opponent’s pilots would not sortie in stormy weather, their anti-aircraft units were almost dispersed and deployed on the northern high ground, waiting for an opportunity.

Once those aircraft made the first, second, and third squads, totaling seventeen tanks, their attack targets, the two-kilometer interval of anti-aircraft firepower would hardly form an effective deterrent, undoubtedly resulting in heavy losses on his side.

Dylon pondered that if he were in command, he would order the air force to prioritize those tanks that had lost their mobility due to breaks in their tracks, hunt them down, and exit the battlefield before the anti-aircraft units arrived, waiting for an opportunity for a second air raid.

However...

The planes of the New Alliance, on the contrary, concentrated their firepower on the advancing fourth and fifth squads in a break from convention.

It was almost like charging straight into the face of the anti-aircraft vehicles.

These moth-to-flame type attacks could be described as "minimally effective", with many planes turning into sieves on their dive.

Although they lost a good number of anti-aircraft trucks, compared to the precious tanks, those losses were negligible.

As long as they could exhaust all the New Alliance’s planes, what did it matter if their anti-aircraft trucks were all wiped out? Those anti-air weapons were intended for planes after all...

Dylon frowned.

"I’d like to know what they’re really up to."

Tu Men probably guessed what his superior was thinking and, after a moment’s thought, spoke up.

"Perhaps in their eyes, those tanks that had lost their mobility were not worth considering? Seeing our deployment, they must have guessed our intentions. Once our fourth and fifth echelons join the first echelon, exploiting a point of attack would definitely tear an opening in their defense line."

"That makes sense, but it also doesn’t," Dylon said gravely, "compared to the fourth and fifth echelons, the second and third echelons posed a much greater threat flanking. After all, from their perspective, Pine Valley is definitely indefensible; exhausting our tanks would be the optimal solution."

Unless...

The New Alliance thought they could block them with just a few trenches.

Dylon smirked.

Quite ambitious.

And not afraid of biting off more than they can chew!

Bear Tooth listened blankly to their conversation, not understanding a word.

Optimal solution?

The enemy’s planes were already nearly wiped out, and with their numbers, just spitting at the mountain would be enough to drown the opposition!

Dylon raised his binoculars, observing the high ground to the south.

Although the assault team suffered heavy casualties under machine gun fire, the enemy was clearly in the same situation, continuously being shredded by machine guns, or blown high by the tanks’ 100mm main cannons.

The soldiers from the New Alliance brought out recoilless guns, yet ordinary armor-piercing bullets couldn’t even scratch the Conqueror No. 10’s armor, let alone stop its advance for a second.

Watching the sparks fly off the tank armor, and with only about twenty meters to cover, Dylon’s lips curled into a cold smile.

"It’s over."

After his infantry followed the tanks into the trenches, a massacre awaited the enemy defenders!

As he spoke, Dylon was about to lower his binoculars, but just then, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

More accurately, it was a flurry.

A flurry of six-rotor drones took off vertically from the trenches; after a brief hover, they burst forth like arrows released from a bow.

The moment he clearly saw that drone, Dylon’s pupils dilated sharply, a sudden ominous premonition arising within him.

As if confirming his suspicion, the drones, as if guided, swarmed towards the tanks below and above the slope.

The tank closest to the trench bore the brunt; the co-axial machine gun’s fire couldn’t keep up with the speed of the drones, especially in such a short time, it was impossible to react.

One of the drones effortlessly slipped under the "skirt" of a tank.

The crew hadn’t even realized what had happened.

The Looters advancing with the tank were in the same situation.

Just as they were about to crouch down and see what had gotten under the tank, a blinding light burst before their eyes.

Without time to think, the scorching shockwave hit them like a heavy hammer, sending broken bodies and flesh flying like kites without strings from the soaring flames and thick smoke.

The hot blood splattered over the face of a Looter down the slope.

The Looters crawling down the slope were petrified by the scene and, for a moment, even forgot to move forward.

"What in the world was that?!"

With his chin pressed to the ground, Vabu raised an eye to watch the slope, terror written all over his face, unresponsive to the gravel hitting his face and scalp.

He saw only a dark shadow, almost flush with the ground, slipping under the chassis of the tank that was almost reaching the trench.

Following that, the ear-shattering explosion and the rising flames engulfed the tank and the ten-men team behind it...

The scrapped turret and load-bearing wheels tumbled down the slope.

The soil mound beneath the tank was blasted into a deep pit, revealing the wooden stakes of the reinforced earthwork.

And the drones did not stop, soon the second, third... also targeted the fragile undercarriage of Conqueror No. 10, instantly gutting three more tanks.

Hundreds of rotor drones scrambled in the air, their buzzing like the howling of a swarm of bees.

"Fire with the machine guns!"

"Shoot down those drones!"

"Otherwise, we’re all dead!"

Seeing the armor formation of the right-side position virtually annihilated, Bagro, commanding the first echelon, had his eyes bulging, nearly splitting at the seams.

The coaxial machine guns of the seven tanks fired in unison, and nearby Looters wielding submachine guns, automatic rifles, and light machine guns also fired together, suddenly weaving a dense fire-web on the position.

If it had been quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns firing, maybe, just maybe, they could have stopped these small aircraft.

However, trying to intercept high-speed drones on a battlefield filled with dust and whizzing bullets, using just a few rifles, was nothing short of a fool’s dream.

Let alone, besides the drones, there were allies crawling up the slope...

The armored spearhead on the right side was completely pulverized, then it was the left side, and in just a few moments, nearly ten tanks were blown into scrap, and those Looters charging with the tanks also suffered immediate and severe casualties.

In the blink of an eye, the three-pronged assault on the New Alliance’s defense line was reduced to just the middle spearhead.

And even that one had its leg broken.

Seeing the swarm of drones charging towards him, Bagro made a split-second decision to climb out of the tank and rolled and crawled towards the forest behind.

Almost simultaneously, the hot blast and shrapnel struck his back, and he blacked out without even managing to groan...

The seven tanks of the first echelon were quickly rendered useless, with no chance to escape.

Seeing the dire situation, the fourth and fifth echelon tanks quickly retreated; however, treads were no match for drones, especially since they were trapped in the pine forest.

The retreating tanks were quickly caught up by the drones, and explosions lit up the pine forest, scattering the Looters who had charged with the tanks in all directions.

In the chaos, in addition to those blown to pieces, many were grazed by stray bullets in a panicked spray of fire...

In the distance, on the high ground to the north.

The binoculars slipped from Dylon’s hands.

Staring at the battlefield draped in heavy smoke and the iron coffins reduced to scrap metal, a hint of despair slowly crept onto his expressionless face.

Twenty-seven tanks obliterated...

Over half of the fifty anti-aircraft vehicles destroyed, and the infantry advancing with the armored units suffered countless casualties.

The losses in this battle far exceeded his expectations!

The only silver lining was that the fifty enemy gliders were completely wiped out, and the swarm of drones was expended... if those were all that the New Alliance had left.

"...What should we do now?" Tu Men asked the commander nervously.

Dylon’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swiftly regained his composure.

"Order the artillery and the third thousand team to get ready... The New Alliance’s resistance is at its last gasp. We can’t let the sacrifice of the vanguard be in vain."

Thinking about it from another angle, the enemy had played all their cards.

Although their own casualties were heavy, the enemy must have also suffered greatly!

With a trembling voice, Dylon issued the order.

"At least, we must take down this highland!"

"Yes..."

Tu Men swallowed, moved his stiff neck, and quickly nodded.

Even during the battles at the Grand Canyon in the north, he had never seen such a terrifying expression on this man’s face.

Even then, the situation they faced had been far more severe than it was now...

...

On the New Alliance’s position.

Looking down at the chaotic battlefield below, the construction site youngster named Brick, with blood streaming down his forehead, excitedly punched the trench.

"Hahaha! Nicely done!"

The nearly twenty points of strength almost punched a hole in the wooden stakes.

What a pity.

In such a bullet-raining positional battle, raw strength wasn’t very useful; if it had been hand-to-hand combat, he could have taken down a ten-man team by himself.

Lying nearby, the washing machine couldn’t help but feel exhilarated as well.

"This time it’s really satisfying."

Six months ago, in the battle against the Chewing Bone Tribe, the only decent equipment they could muster were the inhumane Mosquito rockets and the 20mm "Cavalry Gun" from Factory No. 81. Their firepower was completely suppressed by these natives who had inherited the Army’s legacy.

The only tank they managed to destroy was by exploiting the cover of heavy snow and the explosive power of the metallic hydrogen battery for a surprise victory.

Unlike now, with machine gun bullets relentlessly firing, swarms of drones rushing above the ground, propeller-driven planes bombing from the sky, and the continuous barrage from 100mm cannons...

They had never fought such a well-equipped battle!

"Damn, you guys had fun; I almost passed out..." Debt Giant Eye, wearing headphones, climbed out from the anti-cannon hole, his head spinning, muttering under his breath.

Operating five drones simultaneously put a significant strain on his brain.

It felt like having five eyes and thirty hands, each part mounted on different spots.

Controlling the all-directional rotor drones was much more difficult than handling four-legged "crawlers." Even though Xiao Qi’s operating system simplified the controls, without sufficient "brain capacity," it was tough to manage.

However, no one noticed Big Eyes’ quiet complaint.

Firstly, almost everyone had been deafened by the cannon fire, and secondly, the whole position was engulfed in an uproar of joy.

Without shouting, no one would hear what was being said.

"Twenty-seven tanks wiped out, the Looters below the slope almost completely annihilated..." Edge Shoveling, holding the binoculars, his face full of excitement, "Good heavens, we just wiped out at least a thousand-team!"

Plus half an armored battalion!

At this point, whether or not the position could be held was irrelevant.

Even if the Ya Clan took the high ground on the southern side of Pine Valley, without armored support, they would completely lose the capability to attack Qingstone County.

Unless they were willing to commit nearly ten thousand troops and accept several times to a dozen times the casualties.

Yet...

Even if their leaders had the guts, did those soft Looters have the courage to follow through?

High casualties inevitably led to high war weariness.

After all, they were neither clones produced every three years nor had they undergone any form of psychological castration or similar black-tech enhancements, and the mere pretense of their involvement in the war was for plundering.

Only consecutive victories and spoils of war could unite a group of unorganized, undisciplined ruffians. Once those victories ceased, what seemed like a solid fortress would soon disintegrate into scattered sand...

A notification flashed on the VM screen strapped to his arm.

[Mission: Hold the South Side Position of Pine Valley (Completed)]

[Briefing: Soldiers, you have blocked the Ya Clan’s tanks with your bodies and thwarted their arrogant plans! Our enemies have lost all their tanks, and without armor protection, they are like wolves deprived of their canine teeth, unable to threaten our land any further.

You have gloriously accomplished your mission. The New Alliance counterattack will begin in two hours, please return to the rear for rest...

]

[Sub-mission 1 (Optional): Destroy the supply, move to the assembly point for rest.]

[Reward: "Silver Shield" Medal, war score determined by the number of survivors.]

[Sub-mission 2 (Optional): Fight to the last moment.]

[Reward: "Gold Shield" Medal, war score determined by the number of kills.]

Watching the text flicker on the VM screen, Edge Shoveling cracked a dry smile.

He seemed to have already obtained a Silver Shield before.

No one has yet unlocked the Golden Shield achievement.

A fighting spirit gradually ignited in his eyes, Edge Shoveling switched the voice to the command channel, and shouted loudly,

"Report casualties, each squad!"

A uniform voice came through the headset.

"A1 team has 3 left! 7 dead!"

"A2 team has 4 left, 6 down!"

"..."

Out of thirty teams, ten were completely wiped out and the others were mostly understaffed.

During the previous firefight with Looters, the position turned into a meat grinder, men at the front fell, those in the anti-cannon holes immediately took their places. The mortar position alone had been replaced by three batches of men, and numerous corpses, twisted and contorted, lay beside the machine guns.

Among them were enemies and friends alike.

"102 left..."

Edge Shoveling couldn’t help but be astonished after counting the numbers.

Originally, there were 300 people in the Army, 198 were lost, just shy of two-thirds reduction in their numbers. Although many were still alive, they were barely able to make a sound.

Like the players with Body Constitution System, even with intestines spilling out, they wouldn’t die immediately, and could even push them back in and keep shooting.

"This is truly turning into a deathmobile..."

He quietly started computing the remaining supplies.

Edge Shoveling pondered for a moment, switched to all-channel audio, stood on the top of the dirt pit of the anti-cannon hole, and shouted toward his brothers in the Army.

"Brothers! We have completed our mission!"

"Now, the command has given us two options, one is to abandon the position, destroy the supplies, and head toward the evacuation point to regroup."

"Or—"

He paused, glancing at his comrades.

"Fight to the last moment!"

This question seemed somewhat superfluous...

It’s a full ten kilometers back from here, running back on two legs wouldn’t be faster than dying.

Death penalty?

Just three days.

Sequence progress?

Experience from one battle isn’t enough to level up.

In "Wasteland OL," unlike traditional MMORPGs, Sequence Level isn’t everything in the game, it even accounts for a very small part of it. Including Contribution Points, silver coins, regional reputation, Job Level, Proficiency level... even the unseen favorability can be factors that increase combat strength.

Beyond character level, in this near-perfectly realistic virtual world, there are more worthy pursuits.

Players aiming for a survival rate wouldn’t be standing here initially.

Since they chose to stand together on the same front, it was because of shared values.

They had an almost similar understanding of the game—

Death!

It’s the norm in this game!

"Screw the retreat! Whoever wants to retreat, let them retreat!"

Someone shouted first, and soon there was a chorus of voices across the position. Pair after pair of pupils filled with burning fighting spirit; not a single person showed fear or hesitation.

"Fight those damned things to the end!"

"Never retreat!"

"Ultimate battle!!!"

"Offer loyalty to the Manager!"

"Wait, you just mentioned loyalty!"

"Ooh!"

The players successively put on gas masks, fixed bayonets to their rifles, and those without rifles took out engineer shovels, placing them within easy reach.

Deafening roars echoed over the position, causing the over two thousand Looters progressing through the pine forest to shudder.

Bear Tooth, personally commanding the battle, raised his head toward the high ground that was blasted beyond recognition and for some reason, felt a trace of dread.

Even though the enemy was on their last legs, the two thousand men behind him could drown them with just their spit...

He glanced at the wing fragments stuck in the mud and the nearby tank wreckage and shattered corpses. The burly man couldn’t help but mutter,

"What are these ground squirrels shouting about..."

His confidant nervously said,

"No, I don’t know..."

He couldn’t understand what those people were shouting nor did he doubt their ability to take this battlefield that had been plowed over by artillery time and again.

But intuition told him, those people wouldn’t let them charge easily...

A hundred men?

Two hundred?

Or perhaps leave even more bodies behind...

Either way, this was going to be a tough fight!

-

(Feeling a bit better after my fever, I found it odd, my vision is usually quite good, but it worsens with a cold, adding astigmatism... confusing.)

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