From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Chapter 65 Desperate Situation and Breakthrough (4000 words combined chapter)
  The battle in the mountains and forests suddenly became fierce.

On one side is the Imperial HCP, who has the 'advantage in me' and only needs to hold back the enemy while waiting for the friendly forces to close the network.

On one side are the remaining federal soldiers who suffered heavy losses from a sneak attack and are currently looking for opportunities to break out.

When Rudolf, who was driving the Zealot, resumed serious combat, he found that the federal soldiers who had been beaten and running around suddenly became organized and began to make some effective counterattacks.

The HCP's alarm device began to frequently detect a large number of attacks from the rear of the aircraft.

This forced Rudolf to give up his plan of standing still with his sword and pretending to be cool, and instead kept moving and adjusting the direction of his body.

Although the armor plate of the Zealot is strong and equipped with a deflection field generator, it is almost invincible to attacks by infantry and light armored units.

Even in the face of charged particle cannons or electromagnetic reconnection cannons equipped by some heavy units, they have the ability to parry and fight back.

But there is no invincible equipment in this world, and equipment as powerful as HCP also has its weaknesses.

That is the plasma propulsion array emitting faint blue light on the back.

This part cannot be equipped with armor plates, and the deflection field cannot cover this position when it is activated - after all, this force field cannot perform one-way defense.

Even when the warship is firing, it will briefly turn off the deflection field to ensure that its own attacks will not be blocked by the force field.

Although on the latest capital ships, after installing a new deflection field generator, a separate fire channel can be opened near the main gun or missile silo by changing the magnetic field constraints.

This eliminates the need to completely turn off the deflection field during an attack, which greatly improves the survivability of the warship.

But it is obvious that such technology will not appear on HCP yet.

Therefore, no matter what type of HCP it is, the propulsion unit behind it is their biggest vitality.

"It seems that the commander of this team has a lot of experience in fighting HCP."

"But how can the defenders on such a border planet have such experience?"

Although Rudolph was a little confused, the movements of his hands and feet did not stop.

Under his control, the bulky 'Zealot' maneuvered flexibly through the mountains and forests, avoiding all anti-vehicle missiles coming from the rear blind spot.

Although under the electronic attack of the ultra-short wave reconnaissance and interference vehicle, the detection unit of the 'Zealot' and the fire control system were affected to a certain extent.

However, the close-range defense laser gun tower and the Gauss rifle in the hands of the HCP were still firing rhythmically, harvesting lives one after another.

Immediately afterwards, the 'fanatic' raised his left arm and opened the multi-functional electromagnetic throwing device mounted under the left arm.

Then, like scattering jelly beans, a large string of plasma bombs distributed in a fan shape were 'scattered'.

After a while, dazzling fireballs rose in the forest.

During this season, the trees on Robert IV were secreting large amounts of natural resin, so it didn't take long for the plasma bomb to explode and a wildfire begin to spread.

For HCP, even if he is in a fire scene, he will not suffer too much damage. Even if the situation is bad, he can escape from the fire scene with a single jump through his powerful maneuverability.

But for motorized infantry and armored vehicles, they must be handled carefully. Although there is an adaptive thermostatic device, it cannot withstand being roasted in the fire.

In the cockpit of the 'Zealot', Rudolph, whose face was reddened by the surrounding firelight, had a cruel smile on his lips.

"If I come to set fire to the mountain, how should you respond?"

"What a fucking lunatic"

Seeing the fire gradually rising in the surrounding forest, he then looked at the expanding fire area on the tactical map.

Amber couldn't help but curse.

The pilot of this 'enthusiast' seemed to have lost his patience, so he took this extreme action.

But Amber also had to admit that this approach did work.

The increasingly larger fire field began to gradually reduce the space for the mobile infantry to move, and the 'Zealot' only needed to turn its back to the direction of the fire field to avoid most of the attacks on its back.

Just when Amber was in trouble, his long-awaited voice finally sounded from the earphones.

"Sir, Firepower Group B is in place at the preset position, and the portable electromagnetic gun has been set up!"

The long-awaited direct fire support was finally ready.

"Roger, we only have one chance to attack. The motor outputs overload voltage and is ready to attack at any time when I give instructions."

Amber climbed up from the ground in his hiding place and looked at the 'zealots' in the distance. His body began to tense up and get ready for action.

"Lilith, all permissions for the exoskeleton are open. Connect to the system to help me fight."

"Understood, Master!"

"Master?"

Amber had no time to care about the strange name Lilith. All he could think about now was how to defeat the imperial HCP in front of him.

"Combat stimulant, psychic amplification potion, highest dose injection!"

Feeling two streams of cold liquid injected into his body through the muscles of both arms.

Amber immediately noticed that her physical and mental fatigue was gone, and her whole body suddenly woke up and entered a certain state of excitement.

A mysterious area deep in the brain also began to become active, and the 'psionic energy' that had bottomed out began to rise again, as if the floodgates had been opened.

At the same time, various parts of the exoskeleton were also making slight mechanical transmission sounds, which was the sound of Lilith performing a quick self-check and modifying the limiting parameters after being connected.

As a sound of "Restrictions lifted!" came from the earphones, Amber almost jumped out like an afterimage, and reactivated the optical invisibility.

From the beginning of the 'Trooper Carrier Soul Travel' to now, Amber has begun to fully display the strength of a level 3 psyker for the first time.

In previous battles, he mostly acted as a commander and controlled the overall situation.

Even when he raided the core communications room and attacked two heavy powered armors, he still had power to spare.

But this time, facing an enemy that poses too high a threat, you must use full firepower to act as the 'main C'.

"Everyone, while taking cover, start covering fire."

The next moment the order was issued, the forest became boiling.

All the soldiers who could attack were shooting at the 'fanatics' raging in the forest as if they didn't care about their lives.

The dense rain of bullets mixed with 40mm armor-piercing grenade attacks caused the red light of 'threat warning' to flash continuously in the cockpit where Rudolph was located all day long.

Just when he was thinking whether these remnants of the federal soldiers could finally bear to come out and die, a bold warning message flashed on the screen.

[Attention, level three psychic fluctuations have been detected. ]
  "Level 3 psychic power?!"

Rudolph immediately thought of the number one target in the combat mission, a federal psychic agent whose true identity was an imperial traitor.

"Haha, I won the jackpot!" Rudolph turned his head slightly to look in the direction where the psychic fluctuation warning was issued, and the main monitor of the 'Zealot' head also turned in sync.

The composite optical lens under the 'knight's helmet' zooms in and out of magnification while switching between optical, infrared and other modes amidst the 'sizzling' sound emitted by the stepper motor.

Finally, in infrared mode, a rapidly approaching humanoid unit was identified.

"This rat is finally willing to come out."

Rudolph turned on the 'pupil following' aiming, and the Gauss rifle in the HCP's hand and the laser gun towers on both sides of the main monitor on his head immediately followed suit.

But the next moment, two individual anti-vehicle missiles struck from the side, forcing him to turn his head and prioritize using close-in defense weapons to detonate the incoming missiles.

After such a delay, Amber rushed directly in front of the HCP.

When Rudolph wanted to lock onto Amber again, he found that this guy was moving so fast that he couldn't even keep up with his eyes.

"Spikulus, the fire control unit switches to automatic locking mode!"

At the moment when Rudolph gave instructions to the combat assistant AI, under Amber's guidance, the weakness of the 'Zealot's back was finally exposed in the preset direction.

"Group B! Now, fire!"

Amber's voice lost its calmness for the first time, but the two mobile infantry in the preset position were more nervous than him.

Almost at the same time as Amber's order was heard, and before he could finish speaking, the launcher "can't wait" and pressed the button to fire the portable electromagnetic gun.

At the same time that the motor of the portable electromagnetic gun began to increase the voltage in a super power state, an alarm suddenly sounded in the cockpit of the 'Zealot'!
  [warn! Strong magnetic field response detected! ]
  Rudolph finally realized that this was a trap aimed at him. He twisted his body desperately to avoid the weak spot in his back from the ray.

"Gan, it's too late!"

Since the attack distance is only a hundred meters, the tungsten alloy rod fired by the electromagnetic gun has already hit the target the moment it fires.

At this moment, the exterior of the 'Zealot' was like countless electric snakes swimming around. The entire body was wrapped in a layer of strong electric field, and even the weeds on the surrounding ground were scorched by the electromagnetic vortex.

However, compared to charged particle attacks such as heavy particle cannons and charged particle cannons, the kinetic energy attack of the electromagnetic gun requires the deflection field generator to output greater power in order to deflect it.

Amber felt as if time slowed down near the 'Zealot'.

He watched helplessly as the tungsten alloy penetrating rod flew at high speed, breaking through one arc after another. However, the trajectory was still twisted under the influence of the magnetic field, and finally drew a line on the shoulder armor of the 'Zealot', almost killing it. After the bullet marks worn through.
  Was bounced away.

The HCP who survived the catastrophe, almost at the same time as he bounced off the tungsten alloy penetrating rod, followed the electromagnetic gun's attack path, swept it with a Gauss rifle, and added a short-range missile.

In Amber's command interface, the portraits of the two mobile infantrymen representing Firepower Group B also turned gray with no vital signs.

"Fuck, I'm so unwilling."

The result of the attack was that Amber almost carried it in one breath.

The speed of time has returned to normal again, and HCP, who is like a steel demon to ordinary people, has turned around again.

The optical lens assembly under the 'Knight's Helmet' was staring at him, and the red light emitted from it looked so ferocious at this time.

"Game over, little mouse."

A rough male voice came from the HCP's external loudspeaker.

Amber threw out two anti-infrared smoke bombs without thinking, and at the same time, his whole body dwarfed and rolled towards the rapidly released smoke.

The pilot of the ‘Zealot’ seems to have already taken the lead at this time, and HCP’s weapon switched back to a physical epee at some point.

Under the control of Rudolph, the mechanical arm held the heavy sword and slashed towards Amber in the smoke when she disappeared, and at the last moment, he changed the slash to a slap.

The sudden increase in attack range made Amber subconsciously slide and lower her waist, almost leaning against the edge of the epee attack to avoid it.

At this time, Amber also discovered that although the HCP pilot in front of her was a pervert, he had excellent driving skills and was definitely not a fool.

“A bit too much”

Amber kept moving around the 'Zealot' and dodged attacks from the entity's heavy sword.

The other party's plan to kill him gave him a chance, but not many.

The existence of the deflection field made all his weapons useless.

Even the airgel grenade originally intended to blind the opponent's sensors will be of no use for a while.

Just when Amber was about to take a gamble by unleashing a psychic shock on the 'Zealots'.

A series of attacks hit the outer armor plate of the Zealot.

This is a shot from a 40mm chain gun.

With the roar of the engine, a 'Mongoose 4' armored vehicle broke through the smoke and slammed into the steel giant while stepping on the accelerator.

The 'Zealot', who had just completed a vertical slash, had no time to sheath his sword and was directly hit by the front of the armored vehicle on his right foot.

The deflection force field was also activated again at this time, and the violent electromagnetic vortex ablated the front half of the armored vehicle beyond recognition.

The moment when the giant waved his left arm and punched the armored car away.

Amber saw two figures appearing in the forest in the distance.

He recognized one of them as Randall, and the other as the wounded man who had escaped with him to the planet's surface.

It seems to be called Tom.

Two federal navy soldiers who had never experienced a land battle were operating a single anti-vehicle missile launcher at the moment, locking the target in the firelight behind them.

"Amber!!!"

Amidst Major Randall's roar, a man-made anti-vehicle missile flew out of the forest with a trail, and finally hit the Zealot's plasma propulsion array.

The energy-gathering armor-piercing warhead even hit the rear energy circuit after penetrating the propulsion array.

[warn! The plasma propulsion array is under attack! ]
  [Damage situation under assessment. Array dead pixels 40% 65%]
  [The energy circuit is damaged and the output power of the subcritical reactor decreases! ]
  A series of warning messages plunged Rudolf into a rage. He didn't expect that this group of hiding rats would capsize his boat in the gutter.

With some difficulty, he pointed his sword-holding right arm in the direction of the attack, and threw another set of plasma bombs.

Amber, who was too late to stop all this, watched helplessly as the plasma bomb fell in an arc near Randall and the others, and then a ball of fire rose up and swallowed their figures.

A complex emotion suddenly surged up, and then rushed into the mysterious area deep in Amber's brain uncontrollably, breaking through some kind of shackles.

When Rudolph pulled his gaze back to look at the psychic agent who had just struggled to survive under his sword.

A dark red message appeared on the main screen of the cockpit all week long.

【warn! Level five psychic fluctuations detected! 】

　Today the two chapters are published together, it seems to be more coherent~
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)