Front Line

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat...

The scene before Xia Jin’s eyes felt familiar; the soldiers operating their weapons and firing continuously were just like machine gunners.

As expected, the Dawn Empire had developed rapid-fire firearms.

Magic was incredibly versatile. Since they wanted a higher rate of fire, they only needed to modify the magic arrays accordingly.

A wind-element acceleration array could solve the issue of rapid cycling.

An ice-element cooling array could solve the problem of barrels needing frequent replacement.

However, magic itself had limitations. The more complex an array, the more energy it required. The purity of magic crystals was finite, and high-purity crystals were too rare to be used on a large scale for standard firearms.

Consequently, the fire rate of the weapon before Xia Jin was maintained at roughly two rounds per second, or 120 rounds per minute.

Of course, this fire rate was still terrifying. When several guns were grouped together to provide suppression, the resulting crossfire was devastating.

...

Nearby soldiers also opened fire with their large-caliber rifles, filling the air with the roar of gunfire.

At that moment, the Swarm’s rockets streaked in from the distance.

A charge could not be launched without preparation. Once positioning was finalized, the enemy’s lines faced large-scale bombardment.

On the Dawn Empire’s side, only two anti-aircraft vehicles were deployed. A dozen missiles shot out, quickly intercepting some of the rockets, but many more slammed into the positions.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground, already battered by previous strikes, was churned up once more.

This wave of attacks forced most soldiers to keep their heads down to avoid being injured by shrapnel—or rather, chitin shell fragments.

The immediate result was a brief weakening of suppression fire. Even though the machine guns continued to fire, the reduction in fire density allowed the Zerg to close in on the human lines much faster.

As the density of the falling rockets thinned, two zerglings were the first to leap onto the position.

Hum—

One Tier 7 warrior unsheathed his weapon and engaged a zergling in close combat.

As he swung his blade, the soldier was horrified to see the zergling’s body suddenly accelerate, its entire chitinous shell gleaming with a cold light.

He realized the enemy's speed was incomprehensible.

While dodging his attack, the creature swung its massive scythe-claws from the side.

This was the zergling's Frenzy skill.

It was used frequently in actual combat with great success. In battles between those of equal rank, it allowed the Zerg to gain an advantage even against well-equipped soldiers.

The result of this Frenzy was that the Zerg maintained a constant edge in speed, offense, and defense.

Only the most exceptional battle masters of the same tier could hope to fight a zergling to a standstill.

Facing the zergling, the Tier 7 warrior felt an overwhelming pressure. Suddenly, after a swing of a scythe-claw, his entire arm was severed.

Amidst the intense pain, cold sweat poured down his face.

Fortunately, a nearby warrior let out a roar.

“Sir, I’ll help you!”

Bang!

After a Powerful Strike, the zergling was knocked back several steps.

A large hole appeared in the middle of its body near the waist, leaving it held together by less than half its torso.

The zergling immediately swung its weapons, leaping forward to lash out at the man with its blades.

“Look out!”

Seeing that the Tier 5 warrior was about to be hit, the officer shouted a warning.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The blades whistled through the air. The Tier 5 warrior swung his own blade, which was powerful enough to cut halfway through a several-ton block of steel, but he was still easily killed by the zergling.

The officer struck the zergling with another blow, but the creature’s counterattack impaled his abdomen.

Just then, another soldier fired, completely shattering the zergling’s head.

The skirmish ended.

But in that moment, several more zerglings and dozens of locusts rushed forward.

Ssss—

Venom was sprayed.

Several banelings were launched from afar by Zerg catapults.

On this side, about ten to fifteen mortars returned fire.

A battalion commander picked up a magic communicator and roared into it: “Front-line position requesting artillery support!”

“Copy that.”

A reply came quickly.

Since most officers carried tracking devices, the artillery units combined that with intelligence from reconnaissance planes to quickly aim at the requested coordinates.

Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

Twelve kilometers away, over thirty 150mm cannons that had just been readied opened fire on the Swarm’s territory.

Enemies that reached within a kilometer were dealt with by mortars.

For those even closer—within two or three hundred meters, or even tens of meters—roughly one in every ten soldiers carried a shell-launching device instead of a rifle.

It was a scaled-down version of a mortar with a 60mm caliber. Once aimed, a shell could be dropped in and fired with a thump.

This device could also be used for direct-fire, but its performance in that mode was poor, and with bad luck, the range would be very short. Consequently, most soldiers disliked using it that way.