Chapter 596: Chapter 596. Mobile Machines
Zee Min’s army marched slowly. All the soldiers walked with a defeated gait. They only clashed one ti against the enemy’s force and lost terribly in that clash. They were not given the chance to avenge their defeat and already had to retreat. This was no different from them getting defeated a second ti.
Almost all soldiers walked with their heads drooped. The march, silent as a funeral procession, carried a heavy gloom. If it were any other ti, Zee Min would have tried to lift their spirit, but she didn’t have the drive to do that because her own morale was at its lowest.
This total silence was disrupted by the sound of shouting from the rear. Those at the rear looked back and saw a Khode Soldier on a steed running toward them. He was shouting about sothing, but they couldn’t understand because he was too far away. Suddenly, he jerked and fell from his horse.
Everyone was bewildered by the scene. Their low morale caused their reaction to slow. Silence returned, but it was soon dispelled by the sound of an abrupt explosion. The deafening sound startled everyone. Soon after, another explosion was heard, and another.
Those at the front soon realized the sounds ca from their rear. They looked back and saw the aftermath of multiple elental explosions. Loud voices ca from the distant rear as they witnessed an army appearing behind them. This army was rushing at them. Many Yuanxu Cannons were with this army atop fast-moving wagons. These Yuanxu Cannons soon fired a second round of bombardnt.
Lang Gu, who witnessed it, cursed, "Fuck this! They chose to face us now when we decided to retreat?"
"General, should we fight back?" A captain asked.
"Of course, we should!" Lang Gu exclaid. He had massive pent-up frustrations he needed to let out. "They have let go of their advantage. Ti to teach them a lesson!"
"Ready our cannons!" Zee Min ordered. She also thought this was an ideal situation for them. The enemy had chosen to co out of their shell. They were no longer protected by the town’s barrier.
Those who stored the cannons’ components in their space rings imdiately took them out and started assembling. The assembling took ti, so Zee Min ordered them to be done at the head of their army. As for their rear, which was currently receiving bombardnt, she ordered them to continue running to the front. They would draw the enemy to advance until they were within their cannons’ firing range.
"General, what about the field barrier?" The captain asked.
"It is too late for that!" Zee Min said. "Have the talisman masters ready their barrier talismans near where we position the Yuanxu Cannons."
While a field barrier using barrier rods could be turned on quickly, setting it up took a long ti. The barrier rods needed to be set in an encapsulating formation before the tech specialists linked each rod to one another.
As for the barrier talisman Zee Min ntioned, it had the sa function but required less ti to set up. The drawback was that it required a lot of talisman masters to activate and maintain. The barrier talismans were also the type Xuang Feng used during his first battle with Jiang Tong.
While the tech specialists assembled the twenty-eight Yuanxu Cannons, the talisman masters took positions around them. Another shortcoming of barrier talismans compared to barrier rods was that the barrier created using talismans covered a much smaller area. It couldn’t cover Zee Min’s entire army. Hence, Zee Min could only use them to protect the Yuanxu Cannons.
Khode Army’s rear continued to be bombarded by Echos’ Yuanxu Cannons. They could not move any faster because that would an leaving their supply carts. They were already short on those supplies. To lose those carts ant they would have to continue their march without any rations. Khode soldiers did their best to shield the carts using their defensive arts, but many lost their lives in the process.
"Fucking hell! How did their Yuanxu Cannons move so fast?" Lang Gu cursed.
Xuang Feng had inford them about the speedy wagons used by Echos during his battle, but Lang Gu didn’t expect it to have this kind of speed. Compared to theirs, their wagons used to transport the Yuanxu Cannons might as well be turtles. That’s why the Yuanxu Cannons were designed to be disassembled and assembled onsite as needed. Otherwise, these cannons were a hassle to move around.
With the mobility of Echos’ Yuanxu Cannons, there was no need to disassemble them. The cannons could march together with the army, allowing them to be used instantly when needed. Khode’s tech specialists were baffled by this discovery. They hoped their side could get their hands on one of the enemy’s wagons. That way, they could study it and maybe replicate it. This ant they had to win the battle first.
Zee Min could only grit her teeth as her army’s rear was harassed by the enemy’s cannons.
"General, we might as well charge forward," Lang Gu suggested.
"No," Zee Min said. "If they stop and wait for us to co. We will be further at a disadvantage. Their cannons are still outside our cannons’ range. Wait until both our cannons are at each other’s range first, or at least, until they are within the range of our Greater Yuanxu Cannons."
The Greater Yuanxu Cannons were the three giant-sized cannons. They could shoot three elental balls simultaneously and had a slightly longer range, but they also took a longer ti to assemble. Those three were positioned behind the other Yuanxu Cannons.
Hence, Khode soldiers situated at the rear continued to suffer through the bombardnt as they protected the supply carts. After several minutes of agony accompanied by countless sacrifices, the supply carts finally rolled past the Yuanxu Cannons. The talisman masters acted then. They were positioned in a circular formation with large talismans in their hands. These talismans glowed, linked with each other before forming a large do barrier that protected the Yuanxu Cannons and supply carts.
Zee Min gave her order then, just as the Yuanxu Cannons from their sides opened fire. "CHAARRGEEE...!!!"
Both sides rushed at each other amidst cannon bombardnts. Their cannons were within each other’s range, but Khode’s cannons were protected by the do barrier. As for Echos’ side, a few of Khode’s cannon shots fell near their Yuanxu Cannons.
Zee Min was rushing forward with her soldiers. To her surprise, the enemy Yuanxu Cannons, assailed by their cannon blasts, were not in pieces. "What...? How?"
One of her nearby aides, who had the Eagle Eye art, inford her, "General, the enemy Yuanxu cannons were housed in strange wagons. Not only did the wagons have more wheels, but they also had plates covering the entire cannon except for its nozzle. Words of power flashed around those protective plates. I saw a thin barrier surrounding the wagons."
Those were the additional upgrades Amon commissioned Zhong Yuan to implent. With those upgrades, the Yuanxu Cannons were now truly transford into mobile tanks.
There was nothing Khode could do about the enemy’s Yuanxu Cannons. All they could do was win the battle and capture those cannons to study. In this situation, both sides were equal in the sense that their Yuanxu Cannons were protected as they fired freely. The deciding factors would be in the clash between their soldiers and battle puppets, but Zee Min was confident. They had way more Yuanxu Cannons than the enemy. This ant the enemy would fight under more bombardnts. The enemy should lose their troops faster.
As the two forces neared one another, Zee Min noticed that all enemies in the front line were human puppets wearing the signal receiver modules.
"How can they send these human puppets so far away from Surly Gate Town?" Zee Min asked in confusion.
The answer revealed itself soon. Far in the distance, behind the enemy’s force, Zee Min saw the looming pillar with a glowing orb on top. It was the ntal Regulator Transmitter. The giant device sat atop a humongous moving platform. The platform was ford of several wagons lined up beside each other and moved synchronously.
"Curse them...!!!" Zee Min exclaid in frustration. The enemy was using their citizens as at shields. She saw Echos’ soldiers charging behind these human puppets. She yelled to her soldiers, "Do not falter! Slay the enemies!!"
The two forces clashed. During the fierce confrontation, Zee Min noticed another weird matter. She didn’t see any battle puppets fighting on the enemy’s side.
*
As the Khode Army charged forward, the area inside the do barrier beca less crowded. The only ones who remained were the talisman masters who maintained the do barriers and the soldiers who operated the Yuanxu Cannons.
Most of the talisman masters who maintained the barrier were Martial Realm cultivators, because they needed to fly to take their positions for the do barrier. One of these talisman masters, a Beginning Mystic Stage cultivator, looked down. He looked down because he sensed soone there. Almost everyone had rushed forward. Why did one soldier stay behind?
When his gaze landed on where he sensed the presence, he was confused. He saw no one there. He called out, "Is soone–"
He didn’t complete his sentence because a flying knife suddenly shot out and pierced his head.
From where he sensed the presence, an army of battle puppets materialized.
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