Chapter 344, Creeping City
There was actually nothing wrong with the judgment made by the commander of the Pegasus fleet that was providing orbital support in Koroja.
It is impossible for the Navy to engage the surface's anti-orbital firepower under these circumstances.
This is unrealistic.
They have a 'never-falling' planet's surface for defense. Without solving the anti-orbital firepower and void shield problems, this battle cannot be fought.
The void shield is secondary. Even if you break it, the enemy can hide the anti-orbital guns in the lower nest and separate the guns, and still fire at you.
Is the starship hard, or is the planet's surface hard?
This is obvious.
They asked the Army to resolve anti-orbital firepower or they would refuse to continue fighting, which was not an excessive request.
but……
After fighting in Fino City for so long, the brothers in the army knew clearly how terrible the things in Fino City were.
Although they were not going to capture Fino City independently, but only to enter the hive to find and destroy the anti-orbital point, and it would be best if they could also shut down the void shield. However, Lieutenant General Hans had no idea how many of his troops would die in order to achieve this goal.
They say that the Astra Militarum are not afraid of sacrifice, but the key is that if they all die, what will happen next?
What's more, who is really not afraid of death?
They had been unable to enter the Underdeck of Fino City for two years. If they tried to force their way in, the Underdeck would swallow up everyone who dared to enter.
No matter how elite the Astra Militarum is, it cannot withstand a war with a casualty rate so high that it is impossible to estimate.
At the beginning, these interstellar armies gathered around Fino, feeling terrified that tens of millions of plague troops would rush out and things would be out of control.
But that didn't happen.
It had been a year since they had evacuated the hive, the orbital strike had failed, and the navy had refused to continue the fight, and the situation around the city of Fino was surprisingly calm.
Despite the current calm, it is still quite frightening. Those plague demons have proven their power. In the past few years, they have not solved the problem of the bottom nest area, allowing them to develop void shields and anti-orbital guns. Now, they have occupied the entire city and have been working quietly for a year. Who knows what big thing they can come up with?
But no matter how worried you are, what can you do?
It is impossible for the Astra Militarum to keep so many people in this place where there is no war.
As the problems in other hive cities became increasingly serious, and the city of Fino had been quiet for a long time, troops were gradually transferred to other places to suppress cults and rebels.
But no matter how chaotic other places are, Fino City dare not relax too much. Even now, at the least, there are at least five million Star Army and ten million Planetary Defense Forces, "basking in the sun" here, just watching.
Many people, such as Luigi Licosi, can actually see that the city of Fino is a huge time bomb.
No one knows when it will explode, but there is no doubt that it will explode someday.
However, when the day of the explosion finally came, everything that happened still seemed so unexpected.
And this time is exactly this moment.
Li Kexi was still gazing at the huge nest city in the distance, lost in thought, thinking about the past, when he suddenly felt that the entire city seemed to move.
He woke up suddenly.
He first wondered if he had seen it wrong.
That's actually normal. The air in Koroja is full of yellow dust. It's non-toxic, or slightly toxic, but no one wants to breathe in a nose or lung full of dust. The troops are equipped with corresponding breathing masks to filter out these harmful particles, and some local defense troops who don't have this condition can only wrap a few more layers of scarves and make do.
And these dust particles filled the air, making the sunlight from the sky dim all day long and making it difficult to see clearly.
Under abnormal air refraction, staring at an object for a long time will cause hallucinations, which is normal, right?
But what happened next ruthlessly shattered Li Kexi's last bit of hope.
He saw the entire nest come to life!
Those steel structures that were originally motionless in his field of vision began to twist and wriggle in his eyes.
Even he could see the twisting even from such a distance, so one can imagine how terrifying the distortion would be if it was up close.
A huge sense of uneasiness arose in his heart.
What happens next?
He didn't know, he had absolutely no idea.
He hurried back to the headquarters and asked his subordinates to get the information back as soon as possible.
Even though they had completely evacuated the city, they did not completely relax their surveillance of Fino City. Although the base camp was set up dozens of kilometers away from the city, there was a forward sentry camp closer to the city; there were even several sentry points inside the city. If the pressure was greater, they would temporarily withdraw; if the pressure was less, they would go back and set up a few more sentry points. In short, they could not be completely ignorant of this devil's den.
The results are very pessimistic.
There is no news from the sentinel point.
The troops of the Forward Barracks were attacked by the enemy from the nest. A large number of plague flies covered the Forward Barracks. The anti-aircraft firepower of the military has done its best to cover the brothers of the Forward Barracks. Some artillery units have even replaced air-burst bombs and attacked the area about one kilometer in front of the Forward Barracks. The flying altitude of the plague flies is generally not very high. The air-burst grenades at an altitude of about ten to twenty meters can have a significant impact on these flying monsters about the size of a human torso - especially since they like to move in a dense manner.
Under the cover of various firepower, the soldiers in the forward camp finally retreated.
Although the losses were considerable, they still managed to bring back valuable information.
As Li Kexi saw from afar, the whole city came alive.
The building surfaces, which were originally made of steel and cement, began to twist like living organisms and were covered by a layer of something that looked like flesh and blood and an organic organism.
This is very bad news, but for the time being, no one knows exactly what these changes will lead to.
Li Koshi was called by Lieutenant General Hans to attend a military meeting. At the same time, the Astra Militarum also continued to dispatch reconnaissance troops to closely observe the changes in the hive city.
In the following days, various intelligence continued to be transmitted back.
The buildings turned into irregular pieces of pus and flesh, with a large number of twisted limbs appearing. Plague demons, zombies, and swarms of plague flies were drilling in and out of the holes and flying around.
The entire hive city came alive!
It's not that they don't want to change the situation, but before there was no change, they couldn't even break into Fino City, let alone now. Those plague monsters are very violent, becoming more aggressive and more powerful.
Pulling the artillery into range and firing artillery fire at the hive city that was coming to life, it had no effect. They were too lazy to open the void shield at the beginning. It was said to be a heavy artillery grenade, but what would it mean to an entire hive city?
Until later, after being bombarded for a long time, they lazily opened their shields, showed a little respect, and then completely cut off the idea of the Star Army.
Then, something even more terrifying happened: the living hive began to move.
It generally retains the appearance of a city or a hive city, with many buildings connected together by the original pipes, roads, foundations, and underground structures, forming a large flesh and blood monster that looks like a city.
It seems natural for a living thing to be able to move, right?
But when all this really happened in front of them, they still felt their scalps tingling.
When a huge hive city that could accommodate a billion people began to approach the Astra Militarum with the force of a mountain, the only thought left in people's minds was "fear".
The nest was crawling forward on the ground. The observed speed was actually not that fast, only about two kilometers per hour, which was much slower than the walking speed of a person.
But the scary thing is, it works day and night!
In just one day, 'Fino City' had moved forward nearly thirty kilometers!
Even the Astra Militarum, known for its elite troops, has begun to lose morale, not to mention the ordinary planetary defense forces.
The main force was deployed dozens of kilometers away from the hive city. It seemed quite far away, but after just one day, it was almost within reach.
At this time, the command meeting of the Astra Militarum had not yet come to a conclusion.
Some people insisted on holding on, saying that there was no reason to retreat just because the battle was difficult. If they retreated, what else on this planet could stop such a creeping city?
But more people think it cannot be stopped - the key is what to stop it? The flesh and blood of millions of people? Not enough for this creeping nest to swallow!
And when the first day of chaos passed, the Astra Militarum commanders who had not yet reached a consensus no longer needed to continue discussing.
The grassroots soldiers have made the decision for them.
The first to collapse were the planetary defense forces on Koroja. When the creeping city was less than 20 kilometers away from them and was pressing forward step by step, they instinctively began to run back.
At first, before running away, I could still pack up my things, but before I could finish, an hour later, the huge monster that blocked out the sky and the sun came much closer. How could I dare to continue packing? I ran away!
This was almost a mutiny, the kind that even the military judges couldn't control.
Moreover, aren’t military judges afraid?
Same fear.
After the planetary defense force collapsed, the Astra Militarum also collapsed.
Involuntary, forced.
The Astra Militarum can fight to the death with vicious enemies under heavy artillery fire. Even on a microscopic level, many soldiers are willing to fight to the end even if they die, and they are not impossible to carry out missions that will require their death.
However, this situation is too special.
I dare to die because I have hope. I want to sacrifice myself for the victory of the whole situation.
But now?
No one knows how to win, and there is not even the thought of taking someone with you before dying.
Who should I pull?
This is simply not something that human power can fight against!
Under such circumstances, what's the point of holding a military meeting?
Lieutenant General Hans got very angry, but in the end he could only sigh and order the entire army to retreat.
But...how easy is it to retreat?
People walk faster than in 'Fino City', but they cannot march for 24 hours without sleep.
People need to sleep, rest and eat.
To the extent that the army is concerned, the troops must be organized and have logistical support…
Being chased by a creeping nest that moves at a speed of 30 kilometers a day, let alone whether they will be caught up, the entire army structure will be broken apart just by running all the way.
Forced to do so, Lieutenant General Hans made two decisions.
The troops began to disperse and run to both sides, avoiding the route of 'Fino City'. It can't chase people, right? Even if it chases, it can only chase in one direction.
Secondly, they organized several company-sized suicide squads to attempt to counterattack the city.
Those who dare to go against the current are undoubtedly warriors.
Then, they saw two companies. When they approached, several holes appeared on the "skin" of the creeping hive, and dark green heavy artillery covered it.
The troops were alert and brave enough. They faced the artillery fire, accelerated their charge in vehicles, and tried to counterattack the extended gun muzzles with some vehicle-mounted weapons.
Immediately afterwards, the troops, which had suffered heavy losses, rushed into the city in one breath.
The creeping hive generally maintained the appearance of a city, except that every inch of the 'ground' was like a meat carpet, which, together with the underground structure, dragged the hive, gnawing a huge scar several hundred meters deep on the surface, and continued to crawl forward.
They stepped onto what was once a road but was now just a wriggling carpet of flesh, and continued to rush into the interior of the 'city'.
Then, a large number of monsters rushed out from those pus-oozing flesh buildings. They soon could no longer advance and started a battle with a large number of plague monsters in the nest.
"We are almost...lost, lost, lost...to the last man...we will...bomb...Long live the Empire!"
The communication signals that should have been in constant communication with the headquarters became extremely unstable after they entered the hive. The above sentence was the last message sent back by a company.
Then, the commanders who were watching from afar with military binoculars saw an explosion in a shallow place in the nest. Huge gaps were blown out of several flesh and blood buildings, and flames rose violently for a moment.
Since they were carrying out a mission that meant they would definitely die, each company of theirs carried extremely powerful bombs, including melta bombs and radionuclide incendiary bombs.
The destructive power is considerable, but not enough to destroy a city.
Not to mention, this is no ordinary city.
The fire was quickly put out. The damaged part was like a big abscess. It couldn't be repaired, but it didn't affect anything.
The crawling nest only slowed down a little, stopped for about twenty minutes, and then started moving again.
(End of this chapter)
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