Chapter 663 - 412: Death Charge

The smoke from gunpowder filled the air above the battlefield, creating an unprecedentedly heavy atmosphere.

The Capital Soldiers stationed on the city wall stared intently at the distant rebels. A large number had already been wiped out by landmines and artillery fire, but no one wore a relaxed expression.

It’s eerie.

Truly too eerie.

Whether it was the rebels’ unaffected morale or their deathly silence, it was all too eerie.

With 80% of their troops eliminated, any other unit would have retreated, yet they just stood there quietly, as if nothing had happened.

An uneasy feeling enveloped everyone’s hearts.

Lu Yangming held his binoculars and looked into the distance, only to see more rebel forces surging at the horizon, spreading like a black tide, making the whole world seem constricted and suffocating under the enemy’s pressure.

At that moment, the rebel soldiers suddenly stopped; their movements were so precisely synchronized that it was uncanny, with no observable deviation before or after.

Earlier, they advanced slowly, using their bodies to scout for mines and clear the way for those behind.

But after the recent artillery barrage, they seemed to have changed their strategy.

With a sudden synapse in that black tide, a full-scale charge began.

The sound of footsteps pounding the ground erupted, as rebel warriors charged at full speed toward the Capital City wall, like an earthquake being unleashed.

During the charge, the rebels frequently triggered mines, with explosions continually erupting at the forefront of the formation, launching swathes of earth into the sky, coming closer and closer like a wall of earth in relentless advance.

Meanwhile, the rebel forces at the rear also launched a charge along the path cleared by the vanguard, their vast momentum resembling a surging black tide.

Ignoring all casualties, the rebels launched a full-scale assault, brazenly pushing through the minefield. Lu Yangming was startled by this mindless brute force tactic and immediately shouted, "All personnel, fire at will! Artillery units, rapid fire!"

Normally, artillery combat requires precise data calculations and trajectory corrections to ensure accurate hits, a process that involves observation and computation and usually takes time.

But rapid fire means no calculations, no corrections, no pauses, firing prepared ammunition at maximum speed.

Normally, rapid fire results in poor accuracy, but now, accuracy no longer had much significance for the Capital Soldiers.

Because the overwhelming number of enemies outside the city meant that there was no need to aim; they could hit someone even with eyes closed.

Thousands of heavy cannons on the inner fortifications roared furiously, their intense ferocity causing the glass of many buildings to shatter successively. Countless shells, ablaze with a fiery glow, arced toward the battlefield outside the city, exploding into fiery blossoms, transforming that area into a hell of fire.

All the fortress heavy cannons mounted on the city walls had also been activated, hundreds of high-energy beams ripping through the skies. Deadly red arcs of electricity danced across the battlefield, instantly vaporizing any rebel they touched, leaving behind only lava-filled trenches on the ground.

It was no exaggeration to say the battlefield had become a literal hell. The frail bodies were barely worth mentioning, even the Titan Mecha designed to absorb fire couldn’t withstand this frenzied onslaught for more than a few minutes.

The rebel soldiers at the forefront were completely covered by heavy firepower, their bodies relentlessly shattered by solid shells and energy arcs, while the omnipresent landmines exploded continuously, scattering them in all directions.

Yet every soldier continued to charge forward without hesitation, no matter how powerful the blast. They appeared to lack any sense of pain or fear, their cold and ruthless momentum sent a chill deep into one’s bones.

Not only that, but each demonstrated astonishing tactical acumen.

Though they charged with immense force, upon closer inspection, it was all about the details. They didn’t charge individually but covered and sheltered each other, using every crater on the battlefield for cover, continuing their charge once the artillery density lessened.

If necessary, they would even voluntarily divide and have some act as meat shields to draw the fortress heavy artillery fire on the city walls, sacrificing themselves to create more space for their comrades.

The sheer number of enemies was overwhelming, requiring artillery units and fortress heavy cannons to maintain continuous fire to suppress such a charge, leaving no room for rotation.

If any cannon fired even slightly slower, it could result in the rebels advancing further.

The charge and bombardment continued for over eight hours without a break, a truly relentless engagement.

Rebel soldiers fell one after another in their charge to death, their body parts littering the minefield, many reduced to mere dust, creating a deathly haze that suffused the battlefield.

All kinds of heavy cannons belonging to the Capital’s garrison were overheated, their barrels glowing red like branding irons, with box after box of coolant being desperately poured in, only to be consumed at visible speed.

The logistics soldiers responsible for supplies were on the verge of collapse. Even though various transport equipment had taken over most of the work, each person, equipped with exoskeletal support, was still operating at full capacity. Some were so exhausted from carrying supplies that they collapsed on the ground vomiting, even coughing up blood while retching.

To say the Capital garrison, securing their defenses while refreshed, was exhausted is one thing; the rebel forces charging through mines and artillery was far more brutal.

By now, the losses sustained by the rebels were outrageously excessive, with entire units effectively wiped out, and initial estimates suggested at least 600,000 lives had been sacrificed in that minefield.