Boom!
The familiar church collapsed with a thunderous roar.
The Ice Emperor's actions were remarkably cautious.
If it were merely opening a portal on the surface, it could have achieved that much when Lu Xing was "invited" to the Great Rift space.
The result of such a long preparation was now fully manifest—a portal so exaggeratedly large it could teleport the entire legion in one go!
Assorted types.
The Honkai Beast legion, numbering over ten thousand, appeared without any warning, descending like divine soldiers from heaven and instantly razing the village to the ground.
The Emperor's "finesse" had paid off.
Less than three minutes after the Honkai Beast legion appeared, rockets and artillery shells, arriving simultaneously from east and west and filling the entire sky, rained down like a torrential storm!
In terms of scale alone, the saturation of this barrage was over a hundred times more intense than what Lu Xing had previously endured!
Lu Xing stood atop Cheche's head, leaning against its horn. Given Cheche's defensive capabilities, such an attack would likely only count as a tickle. And if Lu Xing were to lean down slightly, Cheche's external armor plating would shield him completely.
However, there was no need for Lu Xing to do so.
A legion was a legion precisely because its comprehensive capabilities were strong enough to face any kind of offensive!
Thud!
A dull impact sound echoed nearby.
Cheche and the other two Emperor Guards made no move.
The commander of this legionary war and its strongest combatant, the Temple-class Honkai Beast known as "Frost Lightning," was the first to issue a command—
As it forcefully plunged its deep cyan lance into the ground, small Honkai Beasts hidden in the shadows suddenly swarmed out:
Rotor-class and Acid-class.
As ranged attackers, they formed an exceptionally standard phalanx above the other Honkai Beasts. The next second—
Swoosh!
Hiss!
Diamond-shaped, solid [Crystal Shot] fired continuously like anti-aircraft machine guns, their dense web of fire detonating all incoming rockets high in the sky. The extremely corrosive liquid [Strong Acid] spread from points to cover areas, directly dissolving the sturdier artillery shells into nothingness.
The army's first wave of saturation bombardment was nullified with a wave of the Temple-class's hand.
Not only that, Lu Xing also noticed a few jellyfish-like Honkai Beasts floating in the shadows of the Temple-class and Chariot-class beasts.
As ranged attackers on par with the Temple-class and Chariot-class, these Floater-class Honkai Beasts, though not intercepting the incoming ranged attacks, had Honkai energy slowly coalescing around them, already forming deep purple granular crystals.
In other words, if needed, the Floater-class could instantly condense crystal lances; and these [Honkai Lance Projections] were prepared for any potential missiles and fighter jets.
The tactical arrangement was flawless.
Boom!!
While Lu Xing was marveling at the Temple-class's power, a violent collision resounded behind the Honkai Beast legion. Although Cheche wasn't good at conversation and its thought processes were slow, its combat intuition and reactions truly lived up to its "reputation," which was not much weaker than the Temple-class's.
The Ballista-class began [Stone-Throwing Preparation].
Yes, [Stone-Throwing Preparation] was a skill. This ability allowed the Ballista-class to gather its attacks more quickly while standing still. And these "Ice Stone-Throwing Beasts," which served as the legion's ranged strike force, along with their advanced variants, the "Tsundere-type Honkai Beasts (there were also fire-attribute Arrogant-type Honkai Beasts and lightning-attribute Airhead-type Honkai Beasts... don't doubt it, these are their actual names)," had all readied their [Ice Stone Ballista].
Swoosh!!
Hundreds of enormous spheres launched forth!
This was Lu Xing's first time witnessing what a truly authentic, long-range Ballista attack looked like. The bombs, formed from condensed Honkai energy, were not merely thrown by the Ballista-class's strength. The surface of the [Ballista] projectiles had three output ports for jet propulsion, responsible for acceleration and trajectory changes.
"Hmm..."
Lu Xing felt a strange sense of déja vu.
It seemed the jets he used in his "Big Universe" form were quite similar to this?
The [Ice Stone Ballista] projectiles were returned along their original path.
Although not as exaggerated in scale as the human barrage, these special ballista shots, besides being immensely powerful, also carried an extremely troublesome freezing effect. After the baptism of explosions and shockwaves, the detonated [Ice Stone Ballista] would release frost energy covering an extremely wide area.
Ordinary humans would find it difficult to survive in this severe cold.
The operation of various machinery would also be greatly affected.
Not to mention... the Honkai energy corrosion inherent in the ballista explosions themselves.
If this wave of [Ice Stone Ballista] successfully landed, the army positions that were, and still are, relentlessly projecting dense firepower would likely be permanently silenced in an instant.
However, the Ballista-class was a common type of Honkai Beast—at least, it was very common in Australia—and humanity had long since figured out countermeasures against it.
Whether it was close-to-medium range surprise attacks or exploiting the Ballista's cooldown period as it gathered its next shot, both were effective methods of annihilation.
If it truly came down to a long-range bombardment exchange... human anti-aircraft firepower was not to be trifled with!
Clack! xN!
Generally speaking, most of the tactics employed by Honkai Beasts were copied from humans.
When it came to weaving an anti-aircraft firenet, humans were definitely better at it than Honkai Beasts. Specialized tracked anti-aircraft vehicles could project an incredibly dense barrage into the sky in just a few seconds.
The [Ice Stone Ballista] projectiles weren't slow.
But compared to artillery shells and rockets, they were still a couple of tiers slower. Adding the disadvantage of their large size...
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of [Ice Stone Ballista] projectiles were cleared out in one go, the intense explosions continuing unabated in the sky...
No, wait!
The [Ice Stone Ballista] projectiles weren't shot down by the army's anti-aircraft fire!
After covering the required flight distance, they were remotely detonated ahead of time by the Ballista-class!
Lu Xing was still far from capable of such precise control over the [Ballista] skill. And what was even more astonishing followed—the self-detonated [Ice Stone Ballista] projectiles split in mid-air into countless smaller projectiles, yet their coverage area increased severalfold...
Cluster bombs!
BOOM! xN!!!
Even from a great distance, the continuous explosions were still deafening.
Billowing smoke and dust rose from afar. The long-range strike capabilities of the human forces on the eastern flank were completely wiped out by a single volley from the [Ice Stone Ballista].
The barrage from the western flank also ceased for a moment. Lu Xing actually wanted to ask: the legion was waiting for the Ballista-class to "reload ammunition," what were you humans waiting for...?
They were waiting for air-ground coordination!
The Ballista-class's offensive power was immense, but their reloading time (condensing the ballista projectile) was not short either.
In the instant both sides fell silent, a firenet several times denser than before rose simultaneously from all directions, along with fighter jets roaring high above—
Closing in together!