Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1676 - 950: Battle for Survival

Lu Baigang had already considered that his expedition wouldn’t be easy, although it was manageable at the start.

The thermite incendiary bombs dropped by the air force opened up a path which was certainly worthwhile. Seizing the moment before the bone vine proliferated too much, the Alliance army suddenly accelerated their pace and advanced a long distance forward.

During this journey, the enemy attempted harassment, but it was mostly in vain.

Without the bone vine acting as a labyrinthine foundation to forge the ecological environment, the enemy’s threat was greatly diminished. The few Ratman troops sent to test the waters were nothing but cannon fodder, unable even to close in, easily shot into minced meat by machine guns from a distance.

However, towards the latter half of the journey, the difficulty level heightened.

The bone vine had silently grown considerably. A thin mist began to spread once more. Obstructing the field of vision posed some trouble, with visibility at only one or two hundred meters. At this range, much of the human artillery was disadvantaged. Many tank cannons could directly shoot up to two kilometers away; within the Armored Corps, there were armored self-propelled guns capable of reaching thirty kilometers away under normal circumstances.

However, in essence, these artillery units with strike ranges of tens of kilometers didn’t rely on visual sightings for targeting.

They couldn’t see anyway.

The main reliance was on positioning provided by frontline units, which then calibrated the guns to fire directly, testing the artillery skills significantly.

However, the visibility range for frontline units was also limited, making it challenging to directly reach further places and ascertain the enemy’s precise position with one or two hundred meters visibility. But that didn’t matter; observing the direction from which the Ratmen emerged from the mist, a range of two hundred to one thousand meters was bombed collectively.

This indeed was not as accurate as under normal circumstances, but it still had considerable effectiveness.

However, tank cannons and machine guns faced some difficulty, only able to bombard with bullets and shells recklessly into the mist in the direction the Ratmen charged from.

The efficiency was clearly somewhat lacking, and still many Ratmen charged from various directions, reaching within visible range of two hundred meters.

Further firepower strike becomes challenging. Although the Ratmen’s weapons were shoddy, at distances of a hundred to two hundred meters, under mutual fire, humans inevitably suffered some damage.

Especially the occasional Mouse Giant, with its strong resistance to strikes, at this sight distance, tank cannons or anti-tank weapons in soldiers’ hands might not be able to hit accurately and swiftly.

And if the Mouse Giants charged into the soldiers’ positions, it would be a massacre. Ordinary soldiers using laser guns at close range caused only very limited damage.

Often at this point, only relying on Interstellar Warriors to maneuver within the positions can quickly deal with these high-threat targets.

Even a single Black Hammer warrior facing a Mouse Giant is quite dangerous, with only about a fifty percent chance of eliminating the enemy without damage, easily resulting in injuries or even death.

Only a three-person squad can ensure quick and safe elimination of enemies.

Enduring the interference of the bone vine, enduring the obstruction of countless Insect Swarms, the entire army trudged through the mist.

Ultimately, after paying considerable sacrifices, they finally reached the target location of the phase.

It was a tunnel, and according to intelligence, this tunnel could lead directly to a place very close to the mission target area.

The good news was that the tunnel was still there, although its entrance was blocked by the bone vine, once they located the target, they could use the thermite incinerating spray weapons to burn it away.

But the bad news was that this underground main passage had been gnawed by the Ratmen, the tactical intelligence marked “safe passage” alloy corridor, upon their actual arrival, although the road hadn’t changed, the passage itself had become incredibly fragile, with very poor accessibility.

At least, the heavy armored units of the human army, especially several Titan units, heavy tanks, truly couldn’t pass through.

Only some small light armored vehicles could barely make it through.

This situation was anticipated, the main force of the operation remained the Black Hammer Interstellar Warriors, supplemented by a small number of troops from the Armored Corps, including some elite companies, sentinel mechas, light armored units.

Altogether less than two thousand people, entered into what was actually a considerably vast underground passage.

The remaining troops stayed outside the tunnel entrance, waiting while also responsible for support, ensuring some security during the troops’ retreat.

And the troops entering into the tunnel began their action.

The alloy walls exuded a greasy sheen under faint light, a mark of the digestion liquid secreted by the live vines soaking in. The air thick enough to feel like a shroud, the strong smell of humus and flesh decay filled every helmet filter port.

Initially, there were only sporadic fungal clusters rolling off from the occasionally seen bone vines, a “poof poof” bursting sound spraying mucus.

But upon stepping into the middle segment, the dome suddenly shed large patches of wriggling crimson flowers, hundreds and thousands of Ratmen like a foul waterfall poured forth to assault!

They emitted no roars, only the rapid friction sound of joints, “squeak squeak creak,” and the dull, unpleasant sound of their inferior weapons firing bullets.