35: Chapter 35 Piercing Through the Insect Swarm! A Symphony of Steel and Gunfire

When the Bug Tide first entered the Northern Plains, Wang Pingan did not descend with an oracle.

He sat high above in the firmament, delegating all command to Wang Mu and Wang Shan.

This battle was not meant to test whether he could understand the battlefield, but whether his citizens could win on their own without the Divine Lord's reminders.

The Black Armor Beetle swarm sprinted along the ground, the Flying Scythe Beetle swarm dove from the sky, and the Corrosive Beetle mixed in the rear, continuously spitting out globs of gray-green liquid.

The defense line of the Northern Plains was completely locked down by the Bug Tide within a mere dozen breaths.

Two thousand Heavy Infantry were lined up in the center, leaving an open killing zone in front of the shield wall.

Fifty Psionic Heavy Cannon were mounted on the high ground in the rear, their muzzles already aimed at the densest part of the Bug Tide.

Five hundred Heavy Cavalry were positioned on the west side, remaining stationary for the time being.

Wang Mu stood on the high ground of the Artillery Battalion, raising his formation flag, his eyes locked on the distance of the Bug Tide.

He was in no rush to open fire.

The Psionic Heavy Cannon possessed immense power, but they could not be fired recklessly.

The Bug Tide was still advancing in a scattered formation; if the first volley was fired too early, it would only shatter the vanguard and fail to tear open the middle section of the swarm to the maximum extent.

Sweat beaded on the foreheads of the Artillery Battalion citizens as they injected spiritual energy into the cannon bodies in groups of three.

White spiritual patterns lit up from the breech to the muzzle, and the fifty heavy cannons began to emit a suppressed, vibrating hum.

A young gunner watched the approaching swarm, his breathing growing rapid.

Wang Mu did not scold him, but coldly ordered: "Steady. Until we reach the core of the firing range, anyone who dares to fire prematurely will be dealt with by military law."

This sentence immediately suppressed the panic in the Artillery Battalion.

The swarm drew closer and closer to the defense line.

Eight hundred zhang.

Six hundred zhang.

Five hundred zhang.

The Flying Scythe Beetle had already charged into the sky ahead of the rest, emitting shrill screeches as they dove, their forelimb scythe blades aimed straight at the Artillery Battalion.

Wang Mu turned his formation flag: "Sword Qi Battalion, intercept in the air!"

The Cultivation Citizens in the center army immediately raised their blades, and streaks of fiery light lit up on the crimson flame saber in succession.

Hundreds of blade beams slashed obliquely into the sky, hacking the leading Flying Scythe Beetle into fragments of virtual light.

Dozens of Flying Scythe Beetle still pierced through the blade beams, pouncing above the Artillery Battalion.

The cannon-guarding squads raised their shields to block, and the Cultivation Citizens finished them off with bursts of spiritual energy.

The first batch of Flying Scythe Beetle were beaten back before they even landed.

Wang Mu did not look at the sky, keeping his eyes fixed on the Bug Tide on the ground.

Three hundred zhang.

The middle section of the swarm finally entered the kill zone.

He brought his formation flag down sharply.

"First volley, frontal dense area, fire!"

The fifty Psionic Heavy Cannon roared in unison.

The white light at the muzzles was dazzling, and the entire high ground shook.

Fifty high-explosive psionic shells tore through the sky, trailing blazing white tails as they smashed into the middle section of the Bug Tide.

The next moment, the Northern Plains were swallowed by a deafening roar.

The psionic shells exploded one after another upon impact, the shockwaves lifting the dense Black Armor Beetle directly into mid-air.

Large swathes of insect limbs, carapaces, and fragments of light tumbled amidst the fire, and the Bug Tide, which had previously formed a continuous black wave, was forcibly blasted open with fifty craters.

The Black Armor Beetle in the rear could not stop in time, trampling over the wreckage in front as they continued to surge forward.

Wang Pingan sat in the firmament, a look of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

This volley of artillery fire had not been wasted.

Wang Mu had not been rattled by the Bug Tide, waiting until the swarm density was at its highest to open fire.

The firepower of fifty heavy cannons finally demonstrated its value in front of a truly large-scale target.

Wang Mu did not dwell on the victory, and immediately swept his formation flag across.

"Cool the crystal tubes, second group take over, calibrate on the Corrosive Beetle in the rear."

The Artillery Battalion switched groups rapidly.

Three charging citizens stepped back to catch their breath, and three assistants immediately filled their spots.

Cooling talisman fluid was splashed onto the cannon bodies, white mist rose, and the muzzles slowly turned again.

After the Black Armor Beetle were blasted open, the Bug Tide still did not stop.

They bypassed the craters and continued to charge the defense line from both sides.

The Corrosive Beetle hid in the rear, and the gray-green liquid globs began to pass over the front row, smashing into the shield wall.

The liquid landed on the Black Iron Shield, making a hissing sound, and the runes on the shield surface were corroded with several dark spots.

The Martial Dao Citizens in the front row groaned, but did not retreat.

Wang Shan stood in front of the Cavalry formation on the west side, his eyes fixed on the Corrosive Beetle swarm.

He desperately wanted to charge.

But he knew it was not the time yet.

If the Cavalry charged out too early, they would be engulfed by the Black Armor Beetle swarm, and their speed advantage would be swallowed up.

He had to wait for the Artillery Battalion to tear open a path.

Wang Mu waved the flag for the second time.

"Second volley, Corrosive Beetle swarm, fire!"

The fifty Psionic Heavy Cannon roared again.

This time, the shells flew over the Black Armor Beetle vanguard and smashed into the pot-bellied Corrosive Beetle swarm in the rear.

The roar kicked up a cloud of gray-green virtual mist.

A large number of Corrosive Beetle were blasted into fragments of light before they could spit out their second volley.

The pressure on the frontline shield wall suddenly decreased.

Wang Shan finally waited for the opportunity.

He raised his Cavalry lance sharply and shouted to the five hundred Heavy Cavalry: "Mount up, follow me and charge!"

The five hundred Martial Dao Cavalry vaulted onto their horses, their movements so synchronized that the ground shook along with them.

The Iron Hoof Warhorse were clad in talisman armor, the Cavalry lances held level, and blood energy flowed from the cavalrymen into the lance shafts and horse hooves.

Wang Shan pointed his lance tip directly at the flank of the Bug Tide: "Pierce through them!"

The five hundred Heavy Cavalry started simultaneously.

The sound of heavy hooves echoed from the western plains, the warhorses kicked up large chunks of mud as they ran, and the entire Cavalry unit rapidly accelerated.

The Black Armor Beetle swarm discovered the movement on the flank and immediately split off a large portion of insects to pounce toward the Cavalry.

Wang Shan did not change direction.

He only lowered his Cavalry lance even further.

"Charge!"

The five hundred Cavalry crashed into the flank of the swarm.

The Black Armor Beetle at the very front were pierced through by the Cavalry lances, and then crushed by the iron hooves of the warhorses.

The Martial Dao Citizens' blood energy connected into a shock front, the lances piercing through in the first round, and the thick-backed Cavalry sabers slashing down in the second.

The flank of the swarm was forcibly torn open.

Wang Shan charged at the very front, his Cavalry lance shattering three Black Armor Beetle in succession, before slashing down a pouncing Flying Scythe Beetle with one strike.

He did not let his Cavalry get bogged down in battle, leading them straight through the flank of the Bug Tide.

The swarm was cut with a diagonal gash.

The Heavy Infantry in the center immediately seized the opportunity.

Wang Mu's formation flag pointed forward: "Shield wall advance, Xianwu Meat Grinder Array, press forward!"

The two thousand Heavy Infantry began to advance.

The Martial Dao Citizens in the front row raised their shields, blood energy poured into the Black Iron Shield, and red patterns on the shield surface lit up in unison.

The Cultivation Citizens in the middle row connected spiritual energy to the nodes with their crimson flame saber, and blade beams sprayed out from the gaps between the shields.

The front of the swarm collided with the shield wall.

The Black Armor Beetle at the very front frantically gripped the shield surface with their appendages, their mouthparts colliding with the Black Iron Shield, only to be cut open directly by the subsequent blade beams.

The shield wall did not stop.

One step.

Ten steps.

Thirty steps.

The Black Armor Beetle were pressed in front of the shields and shredded by the crimson flame saber beams.

The Flying Scythe Beetle dove from above, but were slashed down by the blade beams split off by the Cultivation Citizens in the rear.

The Corrosive Beetle attempted to get close again, but were blasted over by the Artillery Battalion's third volley.

This was no longer a battle of a single unit type.

The infantry held the front.

The Artillery Battalion blasted the dense targets to pieces.

The Cavalry cut open the flanks.

Once these three forces connected, the numerical advantage of the Bug Tide began to be dismantled bit by bit.

Wang Pingan watched the battlefield, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest of his divine throne.

He did not speak.

Wang Mu and Wang Shan had already established their own rhythm.

Wang Mu was responsible for the overall firepower and formation scheduling, while Wang Shan was responsible for seizing openings to charge the flanks of the Bug Tide.

This was the legion he wanted.

It did not need the Divine Lord to remind them sentence by sentence.

It did not need the enemy to be so weak that it shattered at a touch.

Facing a Zerg-type enemy—the most annoying kind due to their numbers—the legion could still find its own way to fight.

The Bug Tide, of course, did not collapse so easily.

The middle section was blasted apart, the flanks were pierced, and the front was pressed, but new swarms continued to surge from the cracks in the rear.

A batch of larger Black Armor Beetle stood at the front, hard-carrying the artillery fire as they crashed into the shield wall.

These insects had thicker carapaces; the crimson flame saber beams required two or three strikes to hack through them.

The advancement speed of the shield wall suddenly dropped.

Several small formations were pushed back by the thick-armored beetles.

Seeing this, Wang Shan immediately led the Cavalry to circle around.

"Second round of charges, hit their backs!"

The five hundred Cavalry turned in a large arc, cutting in from the rear of the Bug Tide once again.

The Iron Hoof Warhorse trampled over the edges of the craters, still maintaining their charging speed.

The Cavalry lances pierced into the backs of the thick-armored beetles, blood energy erupted, sending a whole row of them tumbling away.

The shield wall in the front seized the chance to press forward.

crimson flame saber beams sprayed continuously from the gaps between the shields, shredding the toppled thick-armored beetles one by one.

Wang Mu seized the opportunity created by the clustering of the thick-armored beetles and immediately ordered: "Artillery Battalion split into two sections, twenty-five cannons hit the crack entrance, twenty-five cannons hit the thick-armored beetle swarm."

The Artillery Battalion quickly adjusted their formation positions.

Twenty-five psionic shells smashed in front of the void crack, and the swarms emerging were blasted back.

Another twenty-five psionic shells landed in the middle of the thick-armored beetle swarm, tearing them apart.

The Northern Plains were filled with craters, insect fragments, and the traces of the shield wall's advance.

The ordinary citizens hid in the rear safe zone, looking at the distant battlefield with faces full of both fear and fanaticism.

They witnessed with their own eyes the Divine Lord's army advancing through the Bug Tide.

They saw those terrifying insects blasted to pieces by heavy artillery, trampled by Cavalry, and crushed into virtual light by the shield wall.

The awe of the Kingdom citizens for the legion rose rapidly during this battle.

When the battle continued to the second hour, the number of the Bug Tide remained massive.

The Artillery Battalion's consumption of spiritual energy was heavy, and some gunners were already overdrawn, their bodies swaying slightly.

The front row of the shield wall also suffered significant mental damage.

Although the corrosive liquid and insect limb impacts could not cause real death, they continuously stacked pain and fatigue.

Wang Pingan still did not intervene.

Wang Mu did not request aid from the Divine Lord either.

He directly mobilized the reserve Cultivation Citizens to rotate the Artillery Battalion, ordering the front-line cannon groups to retreat and take medicine to recover.

Wang Shan had the first batch of Cavalry return to the camp briefly to change horses, while the second batch of Cavalry filled the position to attack.

They had already begun to operate in the manner of a real war.

Rotation.

Resupply.

Suppression.

Assault.

The defense line did not fall into chaos.

The legion did not retreat.

By the third hour, the momentum of the Bug Tide's advance had clearly slowed down.

The insects emerging from the void crack began to decrease.

Wang Mu raised his formation flag, his voice spreading throughout the army formation: "Final three volleys, pierce through the frontline of the crack!"

The fifty Psionic Heavy Cannon lit up again.

The Artillery Battalion citizens pressed all their remaining spiritual energy into the cannon bodies.

The first volley, the middle section of the Bug Tide was severed.

The second volley, the Corrosive Beetle swarm was cleared.

The third volley, the area in front of the crack turned into a dazzling white light.

Wang Shan seized the final opportunity, leading the five hundred Cavalry to complete the third full-army charge.

The Heavy Cavalry killed their way in from the west side and out from the east side, cutting the remaining swarm into two halves.

The Xianwu Meat Grinder Array pressed forward from the front.

The shield wall closed in.

Blade beams slashed in succession.

The last dive of the Flying Scythe Beetle was intercepted and slashed down by the Cultivation Citizens.

The last wave of the Black Armor Beetle charge was held off by the Martial Dao Citizens using the shield wall, and then all were swept away by the crimson flame saber.

Wang Pingan sat in the firmament, watching the Bug Tide on the Northern Plains gradually thin out.

This battle of attrition had been withstood by the legion.