The spaceship was conspicuous; after all, there was only one squad that could pilot top-tier spaceships to the front-line base these days, making them very easy to find.
Flying to the cockpit, the Ninth Legion Commander pointed inside and roared, "All of you, get out. The Commander-in-Chief has summoned you."
Upon hearing this, everyone became somewhat nervous. Wan Qianxin was the first to rush towards the hatch. "Let's go, let's go, we can't afford to offend the Commander-in-Chief at this time." "This is them settling scores after the autumn harvest." "But it should be after the autumn harvest. They wouldn't execute us while we're still fighting, would they?" "Should we run?"
They chattered amongst themselves, but no one dared to delay, immediately flying towards Ya. "Greetings, Commander-in-Chief." Captain Wan Lei clasped his hands and said.
"Did you guys wipe out the Second Battalion?" Ya's tone was neither pleased nor displeased, utterly calm. "Uh... your junior only managed to achieve a slight victory." "You're getting ahead of yourself. Do you know that because of your mistake, the front-line defensive fortifications are now unguarded, leading to a shortage of troops?" "It was this junior who did it. This junior is willing to accept punishment." They did indeed admit that their fight had prevented the Second Battalion from participating, and they were willing to be punished. However, this did not mean Wan Lei believed he was wrong. "Alright, the punishment will be postponed. There is an important mission for you now." "Your junior obeys." "Because of your mistake, the No. 5 defensive line on the southern city wall, which was supposed to be guarded by the Second Battalion, is now unmanned. Therefore, the responsibility of guarding this city wall falls to you. You must hold it, and you absolutely cannot let the demon race break through the line and kill their way in. If you hold it, your previous mistakes will be forgiven by this commander. The demon race you kill will have their merits recorded and rewarded with contribution points. If you fail to hold it, then all debts, old and new, will be settled. At that time, you will present your heads to me." "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief. We will definitely defend the city wall to the death and will not let the demon race take a single step forward." Wan Lei was ecstatic. He had been worried about not having an opportunity to earn merit, and now the chance had arrived. "Mm, you may go now. The defense line there cannot afford to be lost. Go and replace the crippled First Battalion. Ninth Legion Commander, send out all able-bodied remnants of the Second Battalion, teach them how to use artillery, and assist them in defense." "Yes, Commander." Wan Lei and the others immediately flew towards their spaceship, then piloted it towards the southern city wall. "Commander Ya, assigning these younglings to defend a two-thousand-man defense line, can they handle it? These are just a bunch of spoiled second-generation heirs," a nearby guard couldn't help but ask, frowning. "The battlefield is unpredictable, how can I know if they can hold it? However, since they enjoy far more resources than ordinary people, they should bear more responsibility than ordinary people. Even eaglets must go through storms before they can spread their wings and soar." When Wan Lei and the others arrived at the defense line, the demon race on the opposite side had already advanced a considerable distance, only tens of miles away from the city wall. At this distance, any attack could easily hit them, and the city wall's defenses were precarious. Without time to disembark, they immediately maneuvered the spaceship's artillery to bombard the distant demon race. The onboard weapons of top-tier spaceships were far superior to the standard military equipment. Under a barrage of intense cannon fire, and with the combined resistance of the defense lines on both sides, many of the advancing demon race were killed, and many were repelled. "The rest of you, follow me down. Dada, you stay on the spaceship and operate the ship's weapons on automatic attack. Don't be stingy with ammunition; this is war consumption, and the military will reimburse us if we run out." After Wan Lei finished speaking, he led everyone off the spaceship and headed towards the First Battalion, which was stubbornly resisting. The First Battalion was in a state of extreme misery. Under the palm strike of a demon god, out of the entire battalion of two thousand men, seven or eight hundred had died. The remaining were all injured, and a significant portion of their defensive fortifications had been destroyed, with their cannons twisted and cracked, rendering them unusable. The remaining hundred or so men could only operate the few heavy weapons that were still somewhat functional to bombard the enemy. "Brothers of the First Battalion, you can go back to rest. We'll take over here." The men of the First Battalion looked up, their hearts immediately filled with extreme disappointment. They had just seen a spaceship kill its way over and help them repel the demon race's assault, and their hearts rejoiced, thinking that reinforcements had arrived just in time. They assumed this spaceship could carry at least ten thousand men with ease. But who would have thought that only a dozen or so people would disembark? "I am the Deputy Battalion Commander of the First Battalion." A grizzled Taiheng Realm expert, missing an arm, stood up, looked the group up and down, and frowned, "Why are there so few people? Can you hold the defense line with just you? Is there no reinforcement behind you? We're not going down; we'll stay and defend with you." Seeing the extreme misery of these remnants, yet unwilling to leave the battlefield to heal, the group felt a touch of emotion and, for the first time, developed respect for the soldiers on the front-line base. "Don't worry, we are just the vanguards. Reinforcements from the Second Battalion will arrive soon. You should go back and heal. We will handle the rest of the battle." "By the way, where is the Second Battalion? Isn't the Second Battalion on rotation? Why aren't they here to replace us?" As the Deputy Battalion Commander finished speaking, a voice came from behind. "We are here." Turning around, they saw Battalion Commander Tian Ba of the Second Battalion flying over, covered in wounds, with four to five hundred injured soldiers from the artillery battalion behind him. After half a day of recuperation, some soldiers with lighter injuries were able to move. Some of the mortal realm soldiers with stronger divine souls, who had been knocked unconscious by Tian Suanzi, had also woken up and rushed to aid in the battle without delay. "How did you get beaten up like this? Were you transferred from another front line?" the Deputy Battalion Commander of the First Battalion asked curiously. "No, we were beaten by these people," Tian Ba glared at Wan Lei speechlessly. Hearing this, the Deputy Battalion Commander was dumbfounded. "The battle has already begun, and it's one thing for us to be crippled by the enemy, but your Second Battalion was crippled by your own people?" "Alright, alright, hurry up and take your men down to heal. You are not allowed to come out until the demon race retreats. While you're healing, if you see any from the Second Battalion waking up, tell them to come here quickly. Get going, get going." Tian Ba kicked the Deputy Battalion Commander, but his eyes were filled with affection. The First Battalion was completely crippled. Wan Lei and the others had no time to witness their camaraderie. They were all inspecting the defensive artillery, checking which ones were usable and which were not. But the result was predictable. Under the attack of a demon god, it would be a good outcome if even one-tenth of these artillery pieces were still usable. Wan Lei sighed repeatedly as he looked at the artillery and frowned, shouting to those behind him, "Second Battalion Commander, where are your Xuanhuang cannons? Bring them up and bombard them!"