Chapter 405 - 402: The Power of Humanity

Chapter 405: Chapter 402: The Power of Humanity

The hordes of Demons had clearly heard the noise, which was far louder than on any of the previous days, and many looked up toward the sky.

Amira and her companions snapped their heads up. Even though the planes were so high they were just tiny dots in the sky, their sheer, dense number was absolutely staggering.

They had never seen so many planes flying in formation.

Their hearts, once numb with despair, began to pound violently, pumping hot blood through their veins once more.

’It’s Hua Country’s air fleet! Wait, where are they going? Aren’t they going to drop their bombs right away?’

But even with their doubts, they understood that Hua Country had definitely not abandoned them. The strategies of military masterminds were beyond the comprehension of rookie deserters like themselves. Perhaps an inescapable trap was waiting just behind the ridge!

High above, hundreds of planes advanced in formation. They used ultra-shortwave radio to pass information between adjacent aircraft, ensuring smooth communication throughout the entire fleet.

Inside the heavy bomber serving as the central command, Major General Tie stared coldly at the Radar screen, occasionally glancing through the cockpit window at the black, oppressive mass of the Demon Tide below.

From this altitude, they looked like countless insects on the move.

"Attention, all squadrons. Maintain formation and begin descending. I repeat, do not drop your bombs. We need to approach the rear of their column. We can’t give them any chance to retreat!"

"Squadron 1, received!"

"Squadron 2, received!"

"Squadron 3, received!"

...

The Great Faceless Ghost stared at the dense cluster of dots high above, a vague sense of unease sharpening into clarity. It suddenly felt that its intuition over the past few days had been leading it astray.

Those strange, high-flying birds that didn’t flap their wings soon flew toward the rear, yet its sense of unease didn’t diminish in the slightest.

"The three of you... your hearts seem to be beating very fast."

Amira and her companions flinched, exchanging a quick glance.

"Yes, it’s beating fast. Because I’m scared, of course!!"

Her tone seemed to hold less terror now, and a bit more excitement.

"Once we cross the mountains ahead, we’ll be at the place I told you about. It has the largest population in the whole world!"

...

「On the border front line.」

Inside armored bunkers and trenches, within defensive garrisons, in tanks and armored vehicles...

Every Soldier gripped their weapon tightly. Most used binoculars to watch the horizon, fine beads of sweat breaking out on their faces.

Even the Evolvers, and members of the Dawn Association, clenched their fists in nervous anticipation.

There were too many! The reconnaissance planes had already used words like "uncountable" and "a dense mass," but seeing it for themselves was still an overwhelming assault on their Visual Sense.

Even from their position on the ridge, they could feel the ground trembling faintly.

Officers all along the line were roaring at the top of their lungs.

"Hold your fire! Everyone, hold! Do not fire prematurely! Let them enter our kill zone! Hold the line!!!"

The shouts were as much to steady themselves as they were to steady the Soldiers.

The front line was too long, and the massive illusion screen deployed by Dawn was a one-shot deal. Firing early would expose the entire defensive line.

Inside a large frontline command center, Qin Xiaoxia, Liu Yue, Lieutenant General Chu Jianfeng, and the general staff were all present.

General Chu raised his left wrist and looked at his watch.

With long-range communications unreliable, the old method of fighting by synchronized watches was put into use once more.

"The air squadrons should be nearing their designated position."

...

The Demon Tide continued its advance, but the Great Faceless Ghost and the Great Ghoul carrying Amira and her two companions had stopped, watching the flood of Demons press toward the mountain ridge.

Amira’s face was a blank mask.

These intelligent monsters were still cunning, but it didn’t matter anymore. She and her companions had confirmed that Hua Country had set a trap.

A few hundred meters ahead, a sign with several Chinese characters written on it was trampled and crushed under the advance of the Demon Tide.

Although her training had been brief and she couldn’t read the Chinese characters, especially from this distance, Amira knew such a sign could only mean one of two things.

It most likely meant something like "Minefield." There were no pre-existing craters, and nothing had exploded when the Demons trampled it, which could only mean it was a remotely detonated blast zone.

’They’re dead! They’re so dead!’

...

High in the sky, the air squadrons finally passed the tail end of the long Demon Tide, their timing almost perfectly matching the pre-calculated attack window.

Major General Tie keyed his comms.

"All squadrons, come about!"

A few seconds later, the planes that had just overflown the Demon Tide’s tail end began to bank, turning to bear down on them from the rear.

"All bomber squadrons, commence dropping C3 thermobaric bombs!"

The cavernous bomb bays on the bombers’ bellies opened one after another, and massive, new-model bombs began to fall, carried toward the earth by their forward inertia.

The Demons at the very rear looked up instinctively, not knowing what was falling. Some of the more astute Magic Creatures immediately began scrambling forward, trying to get away.

The objects falling from the sky accelerated, drawing closer and closer until a whistling sound became audible.

But they never touched the ground. At a sufficient altitude, they detonated, scattering countless agents like a celestial maiden strewing flowers. The payload instantly formed a massive, mixed aerosol cloud over a wide area.

The next instant!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

Innumerable fireballs flashed into existence. Violent, deafening explosions followed as fierce flames exceeding 2,500 degrees Celsius combined with shockwaves, unleashing the terrifying power of a man-made firestorm.

WHOOSH...

The flames raged, and countless Demons were incinerated in an instant.

RUMBLE...

Vast swathes of forest were carbonized, the very topsoil was ripped away, and the ensuing heatwave and shockwave flung innumerable Demons into the tide ahead of them.

Twisted smiles appeared on the faces of Amira and her companions, their hands clenched into tight fists.

"What was that?! What was that?! Tell me!!!"

The Great Faceless Ghost felt the staggering power of the explosions far to its rear. It was as if it could smell the scorching heat even from here.

Suddenly, it, along with Amira’s group and the more perceptive Magic Creatures, snapped their heads toward the mountain ridge.

BZZZZZZT... RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT... BZZZZZZT...

BANG! BANG! BANG!...

Countless guns and cannons roared to life, lashing out from the ridge with fiery whips of tracer rounds. The Illusion Realm shattered in an instant, revealing a terrifying, dense array of weaponry.

THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!...

In an instant, every Demon near the ridge was torn to shreds by the terrifying rate of fire. The power of a 30mm anti-air cannon could shred heavily armored targets in seconds, to say nothing of mere flesh and blood.

Countless Demons died before they could even utter a scream.

In a rear artillery position, a Commander raised a signal flag, then swung it down forcefully. At the same moment, the self-propelled artillery positions received their orders.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

Heavy artillery pieces fired in staggered sequence, countless howitzers belching fire from their muzzles.

WHIIIIINE... WHIIIIINE... WHIIIIINE...

In the pre-dawn gloom, the shells streaked through the air, their friction creating trails of sparks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

Tens of thousands of shells created a rolling barrage, walking from the rear of the Demon Tide toward the front as fiery explosions blossomed one after another.

The sky and the earth shook...

"What are these things?!"

The Magic Creatures shrieked.

The unintelligent Demons instinctively fled forward, while the intelligent ones panicked, getting swept along by the tide and forced toward the deadly blockade on the ridge.

A rain of bullets met a storm of flying flesh and blood!

The Great Faceless Ghost was as speechless as Amira and her two companions.

"It was... an Illusion Realm... What are these things..."

Meanwhile, Amira and her companions were trembling with excitement, their eyes fixed on the terrifying battle line that continuously spewed fire, killing innumerable Demons with every passing second.

’Hua Country has cloaking technology!’

Inside a fortified position, the Evolver Officer in charge of an LW-3 Light Cannon narrowed his eyes. They had spotted a large number of Yin Spirits and other Demons that could interfere with one’s Visual Sense.

The Laser Cannon powered up instantly, and a peculiar heat seemed to emanate from the entire turret.

Far in the distance, the Great Faceless Ghost felt a sudden pang of danger and almost subconsciously leaped backward, dragging Amira and her companions with it.

FWOOSH—

A strange, almost imperceptible beam of light swept across its field of vision.

"Aaargh~" "Eghh~" "Aiii~" "Screee..."

The dozens of Yin Spirits that had been in front of it were vaporized in the same instant.

The Great Ghoul that had been carrying Amira and her companions was caught by two laser beams for several seconds. Its entire body glowed a searing red and was burned with horrific, slashing wounds.

"ROAR~"

The fluid in its eyes boiled and burst instantly.

Perhaps identifying the massive creature as a high-value target, the two laser beams remained locked onto it.

"Roa—" SPLURT!

Its skull was burned straight through.

With a thunderous CRASH, the Magic Creature’s heavy body collapsed, never to rise again.

FWOOSH—

Another beam swept out, turning countless Spirit-type monsters to ash. Hordes of Ghouls and other Demons were seared, and any exposed for more than a moment died instantly.

Rockets and even missiles with fiery tails began to appear in the sky...

The dense thrum of rotors drew closer as countless attack helicopters rose from behind the ridge. These iron birds were a far cry from the fragile ones they had encountered before...

"What did you do?! You knew about these... these weapons all along!!!"

The Great Faceless Ghost’s tentacles snatched the three of them. Amid the roaring waves of Magic Power, even ordinary people like Amira and her companions could feel its terror.

On the ridge, combat engineers stood by their detonators.

The Commander roared, "Detonate!"

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK... Scores of detonators were pressed.

At that moment, countless bursts of fire erupted from the ground of the dim forest.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

The underbelly is always a creature’s weakest point. Demons large and small, even heavily shelled insectoids, were blasted into the air and torn to pieces by the heaven-shaking force. Shredded meat, ichor, and severed limbs filled the sky. There was no telling how powerful the explosives buried by the Hua Country military had been.

High-yield explosives from heavy anti-armor mines detonated, creating long blast zones at thousand-meter intervals that partitioned the Demon horde. Any creature caught inside a blast zone was either killed or grievously wounded.

An explosion erupted just dozens of meters from the Great Faceless Ghost. The impact from the flames and heatwave staggered it, and it felt a distinct sting of pain.

"Hahahahaha! You filthy beasts from the Otherworld! What’s so great about killing civilians? Have you seen humanity’s true power now?! Have you?! You’re all going to die! Every last one of you is going to die! Hahahaha!"

Amira and her companions’ smiles were twisted, their faces contorted in a crazed ecstasy...