43: First encounter with Mars and phase beams

The Phase Beam fired by the "overseer" crystal carried a spatial-tearing shriek, instantly crossing several kilometers to strike directly at Forward Camp Alpha!

"Get out of the way!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's roar came through the communicator, mixed with static interference.

The soldiers in the camp reacted extremely quickly! The Rocket Troopers scattered to both sides, while the American Soldiers dove for the nearest cover—the broken skeleton of that giant warship!

But the Phase Beam was too fast! Its target wasn't individual soldiers, but the newly deployed Communication Relay Station and Energy Barrier Generator in the center of the camp!

"Boom—!!!"

Blinding purple light swallowed the center of the camp! A violent explosion kicked up clouds of reddish-brown dust! The Communication Relay Station was instantly vaporized, and the Energy Barrier Generator turned into twisted metal wreckage! The shockwave sent several nearby American Soldiers flying!

"Report casualties!" Sun Zheng was anxious on the bridge; the communication was heavily interfered with, and the video feed was intermittent.

"Cough, cough... Communication relay destroyed! Barrier is down! Three lightly wounded! No fatalities!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's voice was mixed with coughing but remained steady. "The enemy firepower is too intense! We're being suppressed!"

"Landing Crafts! Take off immediately to support the retreat!" Sun Zheng ordered at once.

The engines of the nearby Landing Crafts roared as they tried to approach the camp. But the "overseer" crystal had anticipated this; another spike at its tip lit up, and a thinner but faster Phase Beam shot out, accurately piercing a Landing Craft's engine!

"Boom!" Fire erupted from the tail of the Landing Craft as it tilted and crashed to the ground, completely losing its mobility!

"Damn it!" Sun Zheng slammed his fist onto the console. The retreat path was cut off!

"seagull one, can you provide fire support?" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon asked.

Sun Zheng looked at the scan. The gull-class transport ships were only equipped with light laser cannons for defense against space debris; their lethality against heavy ground units was limited, and the risk of rashly lowering altitude into the enemy's range was too great.

"We cannot provide effective support. You must hold your ground with existing forces and wait for reinforcements!" Sun Zheng said through gritted teeth. He had to be responsible for the entire fleet.

At this moment, more Scrin units emerged from the edge of the interference zone! Several Reaper Minions and new hovering, mobile Phase Walker vehicles surrounded the overseer crystal as it launched a ground assault on the camp!

"Enemy ground forces approaching! Prepare to engage!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's voice carried a sense of resolve.

The remaining soldiers used the wreckage of the giant warship as cover to resist desperately. Rocket Troopers circled in the air, attacking the Scrin ground vehicles with missiles, but to little effect. The rifles of the American Soldiers only caused occasional sparks when hitting the Reaper's armor.

The situation was critical!

At the critical moment, the sense of crisis and a strange "resonance" transmitted from the glimmer keystone intertwined in Sun Zheng's mind! He suddenly realized that the keystone seemed to have a special reaction to the energy fluctuations of the overseer crystal!

"Falcon! Use high-explosive weapons to attack the support structure beneath the crystal! There's a node in its energy field there!" Sun Zheng issued an intuitive command based on the vague sensation from the keystone.

"Understood!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon didn't hesitate and ordered the American Soldiers carrying rocket launchers to aim!

"Swoosh—Boom!"

The rocket trailed fire and accurately hit the inconspicuous protruding structure at the base of the overseer crystal!

The structure clearly shattered in the fire of the explosion! The massive crystal jolted violently, and the purple light surrounding it momentarily became chaotic and dim! The next Phase Beam that was being condensed was forcibly interrupted!

"It worked!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon was overjoyed!

"Continue attacking the node! Suppress it!" Sun Zheng saw hope.

Taking advantage of the overseer crystal being temporarily suppressed, Sun Zheng made a bold decision: "lü ou ii! Risk a low-altitude flight and deploy the fortress one battle fortress to the flank of the battlefield! Open a gap for the ground forces!"

"lü ou ii understands!"

The massive transport ship began to lower its altitude, rushing toward the battlefield regardless of the risk. The Scrin Phase Walker vehicles immediately turned their muzzles, firing a dense barrage of phase shells into the sky!

"Cover lü ou ii!" Sun Zheng ordered the flagship and seagull three to provide suppressive fire.

After paying the price of multiple hits to its hull, lü ou ii successfully reached the designated drop point. The hatch opened, and the massive fortress one battle fortress thundered down along the rails onto the Martian ground, kicking up clouds of dust!

"fortress one deployed! Crush them!" The battle fortress pilot's voice was full of power.

The addition of heavy firepower to the battlefield instantly turned the tide! The battle fortress's autocannons and missiles poured down on the Scrin ground forces like a storm, tearing Phase Walkers and Reapers to pieces!

The pressure on the ground forces was greatly reduced!

"Well done! All personnel move toward the battle fortress! Gradually withdraw from the battlefield!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon commanded the remaining troops to begin their breakout.

After paying a heavy price, the first contact battle on Mars finally stabilized. But Sun Zheng knew this was only the beginning. That overseer crystal and the interference zone behind it were the real threats.