Chapter 64 Hit it!
Accompanied by several booming cannon shots, the four Radiant Cannons on the Vanguard fired simultaneously.
Blinding light erupted from the muzzles of these four cannons, resembling the sudden release of a small asteroid.
At the very center of the enemy frontline, a glaring beam of light soared instantly upward, like a sun plummeting into the horizon.
A massive explosion and shockwave followed closely behind, churning the earth into rolling waves of dust and dirt.
A predatory city and a convoy located right at ground zero were instantly carbonized and twisted, turning into charred wreckage in a fraction of a second. Predatory cities and convoys slightly further away had their exterior armor scorched blistering hot in an instant, billowing thick smoke.
[Demon: The Hermit is down! The Hermit is down! We have now lost two members!]
[Sun: The enemy's strength is far greater than we imagined.]
[Emperor: What is there to panic about? Keep your composure, the advantage is still on our side.]
[Emperor: The Magician, The Judgment, prioritize concentrated fire to suppress the mobile city at the center of the enemy frontline. The Tower, The Sun, go deal with the enemies returning from the left flank. Death, the mobile city at the enemy's rear is yours to resolve.]
[Death: Rest assured, I never miss.]
At this very moment, within the Vanguard Alliance frontline.
"Incredible!" A look of surprise flashed across Li Ye's eyes.
He had not expected that having a greater number of Radiant Cannons would provide a cumulative boost to their firepower.
With this, the frontline might just be able to hold.
[Vanguard: The next round of fire support will arrive in 10 minutes. The Radiant Cannons deal extremely high damage, but they also suffer from the drawback of severe barrel overheating after firing, requiring a cooling-down period. Echo, are your cannons ready?]
[Echo: Cannons are ready, fire support will be delivered shortly.]
[Moon Shadow: I have successfully intercepted the enemy's path, engagement imminent.]
[Tomorrow: Two enemies are approaching from my front, engagement imminent.]
[Bronze Wanderer: I am currently engaged with the enemy and unable to break away.]
[Vanguard: The enemy's new round of bombardment is about to arrive, targeting my position... Give it your all, everyone.]
A few seconds later, the city bunker housing the Vanguard was engulfed by overwhelming artillery fire.
Li Ye no longer had the luxury to care, because the enemies had arrived.
The Tower, The Sun.
Operating as a defensive city, The Tower pushed directly against the artillery barrage, gradually accelerating as it charged toward Tomorrow.
The Sun followed closely behind, adjusting its cannons, deploying its convoy, and standing by for action.
"500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters..." Lin Xia called out urgently from the watchtower. "The enemy predatory city is about to collide with us, prepare for evasive maneuvers!"
The very instant The Tower lunged forward, Tomorrow locked its port-side treads while pushing its starboard side at full speed, causing the entire mobile city to execute a breathtaking lateral drift that narrowly dodged The Tower's charge.
The Tower plunged straight toward the rear. Due to the momentum of its high-speed charge, it could not turn around quickly to pursue, leaving its flanks and back entirely exposed to Tomorrow.
"Fire!" Li Ye waved his hand fiercely.
In an instant, Tomorrow unleashed an overwhelming barrage of firepower upon The Tower.
Dense artillery shells pounded against The Tower like a meteor shower, the flashes of explosions blooming successively across its heavy armor plates. Shockwaves transmitted along the steel framework, causing the city's structures to tremble.
Yet, after the smoke cleared, The Tower's armor showed only charred craters and minor dents.
Tier 2 city armor: "Protector."
Its thick composite armor plates and sloped design absorbed the vast majority of the kinetic energy and firepower from the shells. The only things capable of inflicting genuine damage were magma cannons.
However, even the fiercely powerful magma shells merely tore away a portion of the armor plates, exposing only the honeycomb-like buffer structure inside, while the deeper core compartments remained completely safe and sound.
Unlike assault-type cities, defensive-type cities mounted very few cannons and heavy machine guns on their decks, if any at all. Their role was to breach enemy frontlines and absorb enemy fire.
And its most powerful weapon was itself.
Reliant on its formidable propulsion, The Tower could gradually accelerate during combat, slamming into the enemy like a giant cannonball.
The city armor it possessed could withstand impacts, but any enemy mobile city it collided with would be shattered and destroyed.
While Tomorrow was dodging and sparring with The Tower, The Sun opened fire with its cannons and advanced its convoy.
Instructing the deck personnel to take emergency shelter, a cold smirk appeared at the corner of Li Ye's lips.
"Did you think that by having a companion entangle me, I wouldn't be able to counterattack?"
The next second, a vehicle charged directly toward The Sun's convoy.
It was none other than the Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
This Tier 2 vehicle charged straight through the dense barrage of fire, locking onto the enemy and opening fire.
Off-road vehicle after off-road vehicle was riddled with holes by the stinger autocannons, their fuel tanks ignited and exploding into blazing fireballs.
The Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle swept through the enemy convoy with unstoppable momentum.
Paved the way by its advance, Tomorrow's First and Second Convoys surged toward The Sun.
With its convoy nearly wiped out, The Sun lost its natural barrier in front and appeared precariously vulnerable.
Watching the enemies drawing closer and closer, the Lord of The Sun felt his eyelids twitch violently.
"Fire! Open fire!" he roared at the top of his lungs.
The cannons and heavy machine guns on The Sun immediately opened fire, frantically bombarding and strafing the incoming convoy.
The First Convoy suffered severe damage instantly and was forced to fall back. Meanwhile, the Second Convoy maneuvered through wave after wave of the barrage using serpentine charges, ultimately breaking through to the vicinity of The Sun's chassis.
As the combat personnel aboard the vehicles pulled their triggers, several Gale Rocket Launchers fired simultaneously, plunging The Sun's side wheels and treads into a chain of consecutive explosions.
The Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle followed up by launching light missiles from the opposite flank to bombard it.
Amidst the relentless explosions, The Sun's speed gradually slowed down, and the face of its Lord grew paler by the second.
"No, don't..." he muttered.
Under his desperate, almost hopeless prayer, The Sun came to a complete halt.
"The enemy predatory city has lost its mobility!" Lin Xia cried out sharply. "Location is approximately 700 meters to the northwest! Prepare for artillery strike!"
Faced with this once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity, Tomorrow found it difficult to capitalize.
The Tower was entangling it at close quarters, ramming back and forth, forcing Tomorrow to execute frequent evasive maneuvers that constantly altered its heading and distance, making it extremely difficult to aim.
Meanwhile, to shield itself, The Sun fired a massive volley of smoke shells in all directions.
Li Ye gripped the railing tightly and shouted toward a specific direction.
"Ning Wen!"
At this moment, the gunner Ning Wen had finished reloading the magma cannon.
The violent wind whipped up by Tomorrow's rapid evasive maneuvers battered the young gunner's hair and cheeks.
His expression was now feverish as he stared fixedly at the location of The Sun.
"I can hit it... I'm definitely going to hit it!"
He roared, shoving the firing lever hard.
The barrel of the magma cannon violently shuddered, spitting a blinding tongue of fire, the scorching white blast instantly illuminating the young man's face.
Amidst the smoke, a brilliant display of fireworks bloomed.