CH 70

We landed behind a small hill 30 kilometers behind the college.

"All teams, wait for my command before attacking. The two groups in charge of the walls, get in your positions but don't attack first. Wait for my order," commanded Giorno through his communicator.

"Why don't you have everyone attack simultaneously? You can confuse the enemy that way," I asked.

"No. I intend to concentrate our main offensive on their forward base. Then, we'll use the forward base to lure the enemies out of the college before attacking their defenses. We will suffer fewer casualties that way," said Giorno.

At this time, everyone had already left their ships. Giorno gathered three tanks, all our drones, his vanguard, and his personal guards to form an offensive front of 120 people. With this group, he intended to attack the police force stationed at the forward base.

"Kamo, Edo, lead 20 soldiers each to the left and right behind the forward base. Wait for my command and attack at the same time. Kalun, lead all our heavy shooters and launch a frontal assault with me. Great explorer, stick with me. After everyone is in position, we will start our assault," commanded Giorno.

Kamo and Edo quickly left with their orders. After Kalun gathered all the heavier units, we started pushing forward. The sky was starting to turn dark while the three planets of the Betelgeuse System rose in the sky like moons. The silvery white light they reflected upon the planet shone upon the marching soldiers. An intense battle was imminent.

When we were about three kilometers from the forward base, the situation and defensive posts within the base became clearly visible to us. Our ambushers were hidden in the bushes around the walls, awaiting Giorno's command. Immediately, a gust of fierce wind started blowing, bringing thick purple clouds from the horizon, covering half the sky above us.

"Looks like a storm is coming," said Giorno in joy. "Even the heavens are helping me."

Time marched on as Giorno sank back into complete silence while sprawled on the ground in the meadow. The others did not dare to make a sound.

"Hide yourself well. Nobody acts rashly. Wait for the command before attacking," commanded Giorno.

"You're waiting for the storm before attacking?" I asked.

"Yes, great explorer. We'll borrow the help of the storm and catch them by complete surprise. Even God Betelgeuse is standing on our side," said Giorno proudly.

The wind grew fiercer and fiercer and thick purple clouds covered the sky. The three planets were no longer visible. Our surroundings sank into darkness. A purple flash streaked across the sky followed by a deafening rumble. The scale of this storm was at least two times larger than the largest storm on Blue.

In less than a minute after the lightning strike, heavy rain fell. I had never seen rain so heavy with such massive raindrops. It was as though a waterfall was falling from the sky. In the span of a few minutes, a flood formed, and powerful water currents loudly roared through the landscape. Our visibility dropped to less than one meter. I immediately turned on my infrared vision. Beside me, Giorno suddenly moved.

"Drones will open fire first. Aim at the center of the forward base and focus fire on the laser towers there. Tanks will go next. Focus fire on the very front of the base. Everyone else advances behind the tanks. Kamo and Edo, attack after our first wave of attacks," commanded Giorno.

'The battle is finally starting. There is no turning back now,' I thought to myself.

I could feel adrenaline pumping throughout my body and my heartbeat accelerating. The 10 air defense drones took off together, heading toward the forward base. The rest of us followed behind the tanks. Through my infrared vision, I could see our drones quickly arrive above the base. Thanks to the cover of the intense storm, the base did not react at all.

The 10 drones combined all their laser beams together to form a massive red beam that dropped down at the base. The battle began. A blinding radiance flashed as the red beam struck the forward base's defensive shield, with the point of impact caving in.

As the torrential rain poured, the red beam continued focusing on the same spot. The purple shield turned thinner and thinner. It looked like the shield was on the verge of being broken. Next, a series of violent explosions erupted as the three tanks opened fire on the base. Over a hundred artillery shells streaked forth with yellow tails trailing behind them. The electromagnetic artillery shells struck the shield, creating countless depressions.

"Spread my order. Do not bother to save energy. Attack with all you have. Break through their shield," yelled Giorno into the communicator.

It was at that moment that the alarm of the forward base rang, informing our enemies of the attack that had come from behind the cover of the storm. Countless red plasma bullets shot toward us. The number of incoming bullets surpassed my expectation. The intensity of our battles on Lidu was nothing compared to this battle.

The sounds of wind, rain, thunder, explosions, and yelling soldiers blended together to create a cruel symphony of war. A deafening explosion erupted as a pillar of fire soared in front of us, shooting high into the sky.

"The air defense drones broke their shield. Brothers, time to attack! Charge!" Giorno roared. "Kamo, Edo, attack with all your strength!"

I could see that a big hole had appeared on the shield of the forward base. The hole was expanding rapidly, reducing the efficacy of the shield at a high pace.

"Kalun, take 10 men with you. Form a suicide squad and charge straight to their defensive shield device. Don't allow them to create any new shields. Blast it apart," Giorno commanded.

"Yes," Kalun replied before charging forward with a group of 10 elite warriors.

Our tanks took this opportunity to fire fiercely at the forward base, bombarding our enemies with massive electromagnetic artillery shells. I saw the resulting explosions blast away many imperial police officers.

"The imperial police is nothing special, after all," said Giorno, becoming smug.

At that moment, the storm weakened, allowing me to see the base being attacked from three directions. Suddenly, more than 10 massive fireballs rose from the base. The fireballs whistled through the air as they shot toward us.

"Not good. Everyone, watch out! Take cover!" I shouted.

The massive fireballs landed, creating powerful explosions and shockwaves. The few Liyates at the very front of the line were directly blasted into smithereens. One of the fireballs struck a tank in front of me, creating a large explosion that sent the vehicle flying into the sky. The tank dropped as a pile of scrap iron. With my shield running at maximum capacity, the explosion wasn't able to deal much damage to me.

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"Boss, the enemy's firepower is too strong. The enemies protecting the shield device also have strong firepower. Over half our suicide squad is dead," Kalun's voice came from the communicator.

"That is not what I want to hear. If you fail, just die there," said Giorno ruthlessly.

I noticed more than 10 air defense drones flying out of the base. They engaged our drones in combat. Massive fireballs continued raining down upon us. Due to the suppression from our opponents, the chaotic front line consisting of police regained order. Numerous beams and bullets shot toward us once again.

I rushed toward Giorno and roared, "This won't do. Their fireball cannons are too powerful. We need to destroy them. Have your drones switch targets. Don't bother with their drones and focus on the fireball cannons. Have your tank provide cover for Kalun's unit."

He looked at me with slight hesitation before shouting at a subordinate beside him, "Do what the great explorer said. Change our plan."

The order was carried out promptly. Borrowing the cover of the storm, the tanks altered their targets and provided cover for Kalun's unit. As for the 10 drones on our side, they withdrew from the air battle, turned on their shields to block the numerous laser beams shooting at them, and flew toward the fireball cannons.

The enemy's attack was exceptionally fierce. The drones' shields were being weakened at a rapid pace, gradually turning from gold to red in color. Suddenly, the 10 drones fired a volley of laser beams toward the base. A massive explosion erupted, and a mushroom cloud rose from the base. The dark sky was painted red by the intense light of the explosion. The drones had succeeded.

The explosion created a disturbance among our enemies. The Liyates started gaining ground from all three directions. Unfortunately, three of our drones were struck after their shields failed due to the intense attack bombarding them. They exploded and dropped to the ground.

"Withdraw the remaining drones. Brothers, provide cover to the drones!" commanded Giorno.

The remaining drones hurriedly retreated while the advancing Liyates fired at the enemy drones to cover the retreat. The cover fire worked; the pursuing drones stopped aiming for our drones. Instead, more than 10 laser beams dropped from the sky and sliced numerous attackers apart, covering the ground with Liyates howling in pain.

"Kalun, Kalun, how's your progress?" The focus was now on Kalun now that the fireball cannons had been destroyed.

However, no reply came.

"Damn it! That fellow must have died," Giorno cursed. "We need to destroy their shield device. Any volunteers?"

His personal guards and the other Liyate thugs wore fearful expressions when they heard his question.

"Reporting, boss. A group of reinforcements has been gathered in the college. There are about 30 of them. From our initial observation, they are Eternal guards. They seem to be heading out to support the forward base," a voice came from the communicator.

"Excellent. The enemy has fallen for our trick. All that's left is to destroy the shield before their reinforcements arrive. Otherwise, all our sacrifice up to this point will have been for nothing," said Giorno.

Alas, nobody offered to go.

"I'll go," I said.