CH 117

As the gate collapsed loudly, the command center sank into complete silence. Suddenly, we saw on the screen that a tank had rushed out and taken a defensive position behind the gate.

"Bao'er, is that your tank?" I quickly asked.

"Of course. The courage of Bluelings is known throughout the universe," said Zhang Bao'er gleefully.

From the screen, we could see the enemy fighters gathering. The fighters participating in this assault appeared to be several times higher in number than in the previous assault.

"Get all our weaponry in position. We must defend the gate. Hold it as long as possible," I suggested to Mayor Andi.

"Deploy all the heavy tanks and fighters pulled back previously and send them to the main gate. Hold against this wave of attack at all costs," commanded Mayor Andi.

All the weaponry and vehicles pulled back previously started moving toward the main gate.

"Intelligence officer, give me a status update on the damage to our cannons," said Baron Sisse loudly.

"The rail cannons and laser towers are protected by the city fortifications. Only 20 percent of them were damaged. We have retained almost all our offensive capability," said the intelligence officer.

"Shoot like your lives depended on it later. Also, I suggest deploying every combat-capable individual to reinforce the front gate. The intelligence officer and Mayor Andi can stay here, while everyone else should pick up their guns and come with me. We will fight until the very last one of us," suggested Baron Sisse to Mayor Andi.

"The prince commanded me to defend this city for three days. It has only been half a day and the main gate has collapsed. I will give you a mission to hold for two hours, giving the remaining forces enough time to retreat behind the second gate," said Mayor Andi.

'All things considered, it looks like the mayor is not stupid. By recalling the ground forces to the second gate and concentrating our military strength to defend it, we can reduce our losses and buy more time,' I thought.

"Mayor, with our forces being withdrawn, are we also going to stop interfering with their ground forces?" asked Baron Sisse.

"The main gate has been broken. There is no longer any strategic value to the interference. Command Dasille to pull all the soldiers back to the second gate and rest the soldiers. Our machines must hold the main gate for two hours. Those not involved in running interference, back up the main gate," commanded Mayor Andi.

"Roger," replied Baron Sisse loudly.

I followed the order and took the laser gun off my back as I followed the baron and the other staff members of the command center to the main gate. A vehicle was waiting outside for us. We entered the vehicle and headed toward the main gate.

Along the way, we saw countless people streaming toward the main gate. Shortly after, we arrived at the assigned defensive position. The place was already filled with reinforcements. There were about 300 of them, and they mostly came from various logistical units. The imperial fighters had yet to attack. They seemed to be preparing themselves for a massive assault to defeat us in one fell swoop.

"Nobles and soldiers, I won't say anything pointless. We had all followed the prince to this harsh environment for one reason. Freedom! Now, the Divine Empire has come to conquer us. They want to take our freedom in exchange for our lives. However, we, the followers of the prince, do not care for a comfort that comes at the cost of freedom! Among the vast starry sky, we only want a land of freedom!" roared Baron Sisse.

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All the soldiers were fired up by his speech, and they started roaring at the top of their lungs.

"Mayor Andi ordered the 300 of us to hold this position for at least two hours. We need to buy more time for over 2,000 of our comrades-in-arms. If I can't hold the enemy back before the period is up, I plan to die here. You may use my body as a shield in that case. Buy two hours for the retreating soldiers at all cost!" roared Baron Sisse.

The soldiers became even more fired up. Their eyes turned red as everyone roared for battle. After the speech, everyone took their defensive positions.

"Canyue, Canyue, can you hear me?" Zhang Bao'er's voice came from my communicator.

"Yes, clearly. What is it?" I asked.

"Are you among the 300 Spartans?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes. I joined the defensive unit at the main gate. I'm with Baron Sisse," I replied in a low voice.

Immediately after, the communication channel was flooded with static noise. I didn't know what Zhang Bao'er was doing.

"Baron, how many gates does Goldsteel City have?" I asked the baron.

"There are three main gates. The first two gates cover a large part of the city. The armory and supply are stored behind the second gate. If the second gate falls, we will only have the inner city left. The inner city is also the area housing the city's power supply and the tunnels leading to Milk City," said Baron Sisse.

While we spoke, someone suddenly tapped my shoulder from behind. When I turned back, I saw Zhang Bao'er crouched behind me.

"You! Why did you leave your post to come here? The enemies are attacking soon," I said.

"I'm going back soon. Take this," said Zhang Bao'er as he gave me my shield device back.

A warm current wrapped around my heart.

"Why don't you use it for yourself?" I asked.

"Are you stupid? I'm going to be hiding in a tank. I'll be fine. You need it more," said Zhang Bao'er with a smile.

I nodded at Zhang Bao'er and said, "I'll buy you a drink after the battle. Be sure to complete the mission."

"Definitely," said Zhang Bao'er with a grin before turning and leaving.

Time passed, but the imperial army was still not attacking. Instead, more and more fighter drones were gathered in front of the main gate, to the point the sky was blotted out. Our ground forces used this precious opportunity to withdraw into the city.

Without our ground forces running interference, the first wave of the opposing ground forces arrived before the main gate roughly 30 minutes later. And the moment they arrived, the gathered fighter drones launched an intense attack.

Tens of thousands of them rushed toward the broken gate like a swarm of bees. A hail of red beams was then unleashed. The beams struck the shields of our heavy tanks and bird-shaped fighters, creating intense collisions.

"Everyone, open fire!" With a command from Baron Sisse, everyone behind the gate started shooting their weapons at the attackers.

Without the protection of the steel gate, the intense firefight resulted in casualties on both sides. Several heavy tanks around me had their shields pierced through before being blasted by the missiles shot by the fighter drones. Looking at the burning tanks rolling across the ground, I started worrying about Zhang Bao'er and Old Du.

However, the enemy had suffered an even higher number of losses among their fighter drones; over a hundred of them had been struck down from the sky. Unfortunately, the empire had too many fighter drones. Losing hundreds from the tens of thousands they had was akin to a drop of water in the ocean.

As the fighter drones got increasingly close to breaking through, the imperial ground forces also started their push, not giving us any respite. As far as my eyes could see, imperial soldiers were charging us alongside their heavy tanks.

The tanks unleashed one artillery shell after another. The shells landed among the defenders, their shockwaves sending many soldiers around me flying away. I madly shot my laser gun at the imperial foot soldiers. My morph-capable shield granted me great protection, but more and more enemies were joining the fight. At this rate, they might be able to charge through the main gate in a few minutes.

The fighter drones in front of the offensive had already rushed through the gate. The roughly 20 fighters we had left immediately took off from the bunkers to face the invaders. With the help of our fighters, we were about to strike down the vanguard of the enemy, creating intense explosions.

Baron Sisse adjusted the rail cannons and the laser towers and had them send a concentrated rain of artillery shells and beams toward the main gate, creating a literal wall of bullets. After taking down the fighter drones that had entered the city, the bird-shaped fighters turned around and helped with the defense.

The concentrated barrage temporarily stopped the fighter drones' advance, but at that time, their ground forces launched a push. Without the help of our defensive fortifications, there was no way the 300 of us would be able to stop so many enemies.

Thousands of soldiers mustered in front of the gate before charging forward under the cover of heavy tanks. Our defensive fortifications were focused on dealing with the fighter drones, so the 300 of us would have to pick up the mantle of dealing with the opposing ground forces. By the time we downed several dozen attackers, hundreds of them had managed to reach us.

And thus, a chaotic melee erupted between the ground forces in the many bunkers. Unfortunately, the imperial army held the absolute numerical advantage. Each of us was essentially facing several of them at the same time.

An Eternal with ferocious fangs took the chance to jump on me from my side while I was shooting at someone else. Before I could even turn around, my gun was knocked out of my hand by the brute force. The Eternal soldier grabbed my left hand with his right hand and stabbed the dagger in his left hand toward my eye.

During the moment of crisis, my morph-capable shield displayed its worth, and the red dagger's descent was stopped several millimeters away from my eye. With some struggle, I reached for the laser pistol strapped to my thigh, drew it, and shot at the Eternal's stomach.

Surprisingly, the Eternal soldier's shield was strong enough to block my shots. Seeing that I had a laser pistol in hand, the Eternal slammed his knee into my hand and then exerted more force with his dagger, attempting to stab through my shield and into my eye.

The intense struggle pushed me to my limits as I reached my assault rifle with my left-hand finger and unleashed thousands of tracking bullets at the helmet of the Eternal on top of me. The quick and violent shooting caused the Eternal to instinctively cover his eyes with his hands. I took the chance to stick a timed cluster bomb on his body before pushing him off me.

I scrambled up and dove into a nearby bunker. An oppressive explosion erupted behind me. When I looked back, I saw that the ferocious Eternal soldier had been blasted high into the sky by the cluster bomb.

I heaved a breath of relief, but before I could do anything else, hundreds of fighter drones came pouring in through the main gate. Clearly, our air perimeter had been broken. It had only been an hour since we were ordered to hold the gate. Three sturdy Eternal soldiers who had seen me blast away their comrade charged toward me, roaring all the way.