98: Chapter 98 Twenty Cannons Fire Simultaneously! Fragmentation Grenades Bombard the Ground

The vehicle's speed surged from zero to sixty in three seconds.

With the supercharger running at full power and the combined output of the diesel engine and the boiler, the Polaris turned into a shadow of steel, cutting a straight wake across the twilight-shrouded ice.

He didn't charge straight ahead, instead turning the steering wheel thirty degrees to the right.

The Polaris cut across at sixty kilometers per hour along a diagonal line toward the front-left of the lv.3 fortress.

He was flanking it, searching for that patched armor plate.

The fortress reacted faster than the combat vehicle.

A Lv.3 fire control system required no manual aiming.

The first cannon blast came five seconds after the Polaris started moving.

Bang!

A 105mm shell flew in from a kilometer away.

Lu Chen jerked the steering wheel while under supercharged acceleration.

The vehicle body completed a ten-degree lateral shift on the ice at seventy kilometers per hour.

The shell grazed past three meters to the right, smashing into the ice and exploding into a three-meter-wide crater.

The new tread suction array nailed the vehicle body firmly to the ice during the sharp turn; every inch of the lateral shift was under his control.

The second shot.

Bang!

Front left.

Ice shards and shrapnel slapped against the front armor.

The wedge-shaped surface of the angled sloped armor deflected the fragments.

The third and fourth shots rang out simultaneously.

Bang bang!

Two 105mm shells detonated at the same time, twenty meters in front and fifteen meters to the right of the Polaris.

A pincer attack from both sides.

Shrapnel and shockwaves slapped in from two directions.

The vehicle body swayed slightly.

He glanced at the armor status.

The outer armor was intact.

“City Lord!”

Lin Wan shouted while holding onto a support pillar in the planting area.

“It's fine.”

The fifth shot.

This one was different.

The sound was deeper, heavier.

Bang!

The shell flew from a kilometer directly ahead. Its speed was a beat slower than the 105mm, but the sound of the air tearing was twice as thick.

The City Lord turned the steering wheel the instant the shell left the barrel.

The Polaris performed a sharp five-degree turn at eighty kilometers per hour.

The 150mm shell grazed past seven meters to the left.

If this one hit directly, he didn't want to test whether the protection reduction effect of the angled sloped armor could block it.

Seven meters was close enough, but it missed.

Eight hundred meters from the fortress, the side began to become discernible. He could see that patched armor plate—a square area half a shade lighter than its surroundings, located on the lower-middle section of the city wall.

Eight hundred meters from the target, six hundred and fifty meters left to go.

The effective armor-piercing range of the Harpoon Cannon was one hundred and fifty meters.

A distance of six hundred and fifty meters would take twenty-seven seconds at eighty-five kilometers per hour.

In twenty-seven seconds, how many rounds could the fortress's twenty guns fire?

The 105mm had a reload cycle of fifteen seconds.

The 150mm had a reload cycle of around twenty seconds.

In twenty-seven seconds, the sixteen 105mm guns could complete one volley and reload halfway; the four 150mm guns could complete one volley.

In other words, in the next twenty-seven seconds, there would be around twenty 105mm rounds plus four 150mm rounds flying over.

Twenty-four shells.

The probability of all of them hitting was zero.

But even with only a twenty percent hit rate, if one of those five hits was a 150mm direct hit, this battle could end early.

He had to lower the opponent's hit rate.

fragmentation grenades.

His right hand gripped the trigger.

Seven hundred meters, close enough.

fragmentation grenades didn't need a close range of one hundred and fifty meters; their projection range could reach three to five hundred meters.

First round.

Puff puff puff puff puff puff!

Twelve fragmentation grenades ejected from the launch tubes on both sides, detonating at a fixed height above the top of the lv.3 fortress's wall.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

A rain of metal fragments poured down.

Four of the gun position lights at the top of the wall were smashed out by fragments.

The observation equipment of at least three guns was covered by fragments.

The optical aiming system was blinded.

A five-second window of chaos.

During these five seconds, he pushed the speed to eighty-five.

Full supercharge.

The distance closed from seven hundred to five hundred.

Second round of fragmentation grenades.

Puff puff puff puff puff puff!

Twelve more.

This time, he aimed at the gun battery on the left side of the wall.

The four guns directly above the patched armor plate.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Fragments struck the turret shields and rotating bases.

The rotation mechanisms of two guns were jammed by fragments, and the barrels tilted five degrees.

A five-degree barrel deviation meant a miss of eighty-seven meters at a range of one kilometer.

They couldn't hit.

Four hundred meters away.

The fortress's gunners began to return fire.

The thirteen 105mm guns that had regained visibility fired within the same second.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Thirteen shells exploded in a dense cluster within a hundred-meter radius of the Polaris.

Lu Chen performed a serpentine maneuver through the barrage.

Extreme maneuvering at eighty-five kilometers per hour.

Steering wheel left five degrees, right three degrees, left seven degrees.

Every change of direction was accurate to within two degrees.

The tread suction array nailed the vehicle body to the ice; there was no skidding, no loss of control, and every turn was executed exactly according to the direction in his hands.

Of the thirteen shells, the closest one landed four meters to the right.

Shrapnel hit the right angled sloped armor; there was a sound of metal clashing as the shrapnel was deflected, but the vehicle body jolted.

The vibration was twice as heavy as when the 75mm shells from the Ice-Rift Swarm had hit earlier.

How could the kinetic energy of a 105mm be compared to a 75mm?

Three hundred meters away.

Third round of fragmentation grenades.

This was the last pre-loaded round.

Puff puff puff puff puff puff!

Twelve fragmentation grenades detonated at extremely close range.

Fragments poured along the top of the wall.

The barrels of three guns were hit by fragments, showing visible bending.

Sparks flew as metal fragments struck the turret shields.

The visual equipment along the entire top of the wall was covered by a layer of metal fragments.

Blinded.

Three hundred meters, two hundred and fifty meters, two hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters—within range.

The City Lord placed the Harpoon Cannon's crosshairs right in the center of that patched armor plate.

The automatic target locking auxiliary system activated.

Electrified aiming compensation corrected the crosshair drift to within one millimeter.

This was the first combat aiming since the electrified fire control center had been unlocked.

The crosshairs didn't deviate by a hair; his index finger pressed the fire button.

Bang!

A fifty-catty pure steel harpoon jetted out from the cannon barrel.