Chapter 335: Heavenly Descent

Noon.

A 'large' town covering about 15 square kilometers, located on the north bank where the river meets the sea.

The town's buildings are no higher than twenty meters, mainly concentrated in the most prosperous area, few in number; most others are low structures built of wood and stone, or simple thatched huts.

Moreover, only the main roads running north-south and east-west are paved with stone bricks; the rest are simple dirt roads, and farmland surrounds the town, with many crops already ripe, waiting for people to harvest.

Yet such a town steeped in ancient atmosphere is actually docked with large numbers of out-of-place transport craft, attack aircraft, and various ground armored units.

It's as if a future army had collectively time-traveled to ancient times.

In fact, these 'future troops' are the Titan ground forces that have lost fleet support, while the town is inhabited by indigenous residents of a prehistoric planet, who have built and developed their settlement along the coast of the Second Continent up to the present.

Within the town at this moment, Titan soldiers wearing powered armor can be seen everywhere, carrying out searches and suppression; at the wider intersections, there are also mech units equipped with heavy firepower.

As for the so-called suppression…

It is exactly that in literal meaning: Titan soldiers are carrying out a bloody suppression of the indigenous people dressed in hemp and cloth, with long hair.

Pfft… pfft…

Ah! Ah!!

Gunshots and screams echoed between the streets.

Bright red blood, no different from that of humans, soaked the ground; corpses were gathered together and then burned.

At first, indigenous soldiers wearing leather or bronze armor tried to resist, but facing absolute technological superiority, they had no power to fight back.

With bows and spears of backward craftsmanship, destroy powered armor and mechs?

How could that be possible.

From last night until now, the indigenous soldiers haven't even managed to injure the Titan side in the slightest.

And the Titan forces that have come to this town, knowing they are no match for humanity, have chosen a suitable location to station and set up camp, establishing a temporary base in preparation for a protracted war.

Unfortunately, this town has caught their eye.

According to the original plan, the Titan Empire intended to turn this prehistoric planet into a refuge, and thus never thought of leaving the intelligent species living on this prehistoric planet.

If we can't beat humans, could we not even beat the natives?

Holding this mindset, the Titan side launched the massacre behavior they are most 'skilled' at when dealing with weak races, venting their resentment on the indigenous people.

At the town's edge.

Six Titan soldiers were chasing a group of panicked indigenous residents fleeing for their lives.

They had guns but didn't use them, and their pursuit pace was neither hurried nor slow, as if deliberately driving the residents to flee toward the intersection ahead.

When the terrified residents had passed through the streets and reached the intersection…

"Tong! Tong!" The heavy cannon boomed.

"Pfft! Pfft-splatter!" The fragile flesh was blasted into chunks and meat pieces by large-caliber shells, blood and entrails flying everywhere.

Only see a five-meter-tall mech deployed at the intersection, using its twin large-caliber machine guns to pick off the unarmed residents.

In the blink of an eye, the residents who rushed into the intersection all became a puddle spread across the ground.

Ah~

A young woman holding a swaddled infant, being the slowest runner and thus at the rear of the crowd, had managed to survive, but the ground covered in flesh and blood made her feet slip, and she couldn't help but cry out 'Ah' as she fell to the ground.

However, as she fell, the woman instinctively clutched the infant tightly and fell sideways to the ground.

"Thud, thud!" The mech approached.

The six Titan soldiers that had been tailing the chase also arrived, then surrounded the woman whose face was etched with extreme terror, sometimes speaking in their language, sometimes emitting a thin, awkward 'haha' laugh, as if discussing how to execute her to increase their amusement.

The woman, meanwhile, kept clutching her child, struggling to rise and continue fleeing, but her legs simply wouldn't obey, trembling uncontrollably.

"Nai… Nai…"

Seeing two Titan soldiers approach her, the woman desperately shook her head, pleading for mercy… or praying.

Suddenly, all the Titan soldiers present stopped their horseplay and looked up toward the west.

The woman didn't know what had happened to this bunch of lunatics; she only knew she mustered her legs, struggled to rise again, and the child in her arms, now awake and about to wail loudly, took the chance to flee.

But the woman didn't know that the mech had already swiveled its gun barrel, about to aim at her back.

However, before the mech could finish locking on, an air gunboat swooped low, and the roar of many engines echoed over the entire town, causing one assault craft after another to appear in view.

Having experienced last night, the woman naturally knew these 'iron lumps' that can fly in the sky not only can fire artillery like thunder, but can also 'descend like heavenly soldiers,' dropping large numbers of Titan soldiers to slaughter the neighborhood.

What puzzled the woman, however, was what crime or grave offense they had committed to invite such 'heavenly punishment'……

"Alien scum!!!" A sudden metallic battle roar rang out, yet it cut off the woman's collapsing will.

"Waa~! Waa!!" But the battle cry frightened the child who had just woken up.

"Bang!!" Immediately after, a loud thud came from behind her as some huge figure trampled and flattened the mech.

??

The sudden change made the woman, while soothing the child in her arms, involuntarily turn her head to look behind.

!!

This look once again refreshed her understanding of the world.

Because a rookie with a striking red-white umbrella insignia on his left shoulder pad, wearing white ceramic-steel armor, and holding an explosive-arrow gun in his right hand was standing on the wrecked mech.

Just as if he had jumped down from the air, using his tonnage-level weight and inertia, he had crushed this mech, and dark purple blood kept oozing out from its seams.

"Clang! Clang!"

Then, he gave none of the Titan soldiers present any chance, firing five shots that blew the heads of five of them.

The speed was such that the remaining Titan soldier had no time to react, while the rookie had already reached in front of it and extended his left hand, spreading his fingers to tightly grasp its head.

One lift.

The rookie effortlessly lifted the Titan soldier who was struggling violently.

One squeeze.

Puchi!! Juice burst.

Blood spurted directly from the cracked helmet, splattering onto the ground and also onto the white paint of the tau steel armor.

"Hmph, trash, only dare to bully innocent weak trash."

The rookie muttered contemptuously, then flicked his left hand dismissively, tossing the limp, powerless corpse aside, then slightly turned his head to look at the woman already stunned on the spot.

"Chi! Chi!"

"Pong! Pong!"

At this moment, gunfire from explosive arrows echoed throughout the town, or the airborne gunboats and attack boats fired their ground-attack cannons in unison.

At the intersection, however, it was the combination of Astate and tau steel armor that produced a unique heavy footfall when walking, along with the wailing of innocent children, and…

"NaiYiBuPa…" the woman's words.

Only saw the rookie walk up to the woman who kept shaking her head, speaking something in their language, standing before her.

Facing the Astate tall enough to block the sun, the woman with no retreat leaned against the house wall, tightly embracing the wailing child, eyes closed, awaiting death.

But the rookie merely held a shell from an explosive arrow and swayed it in front of the child.

As if trying to cheer the child up??

"Ah~ hehe…!"

The originally crying child was actually soothed by the rookie with a shell, stretching out two tender, chubby little hands, showing an innocent smile as if wanting to take the shell.

?!

The woman, who had long awaited death, opened her eyes, utterly unable to believe what she saw before her.

The previous 'big guy' who killed without blinking, able to crush a skull with one hand, actually acted in a manner completely opposite to his image.

Thus, in astonishment, the woman extended her still-trembling left hand, took the rather heavy shell, and placed it in her bosom for her child to play with.

"NaWu…?"

She had just wanted to say something when she saw the rookie already gripping the explosive arrow gun, turning the corner, and continuing a one-sided crushing assault on the Tau soldiers.

"..."

For some reason, the woman gazing at the now-empty street corner always felt that the Astate were truly "gods descending to earth," helping them punish the Tau who wantonly slaughtered.

She recovered her senses.

The woman no longer lingered in place; instead, she held the child and ran into an alley to avoid attention, secretly praying that those godlike Astate would keep her and her child safe.

Outside the alley.

Above the town, fourteen assault craft circled, two attack craft equipped with air-to-ground weapons, and one gunboat slightly smaller than the Vulture.

Setting aside air power, the ground also had over a hundred Astate recruits, either alone or in pairs moving through the streets, conducting sweeps in a leisurely manner, killing every Tau they could see, and incidentally rescuing indigenous civilians who had suffered misfortune.

On the other hand, looking at the Tau side:

They lashed out at the indigenous people who had no weapons, wishing to massacre them completely, but when they encountered humans that no amount of attack could 'break defense' against, their first reaction was to flee, the second to beg for mercy.

But unfortunately, the recruits followed Sui Bian's order to kill without mercy, giving the Tau not a shred of chance to plead.

Moreover, the originally fine 'wilderness survival' drill had been interrupted, and last night they had permanently lost many comrades; these young Astate likewise harbored resentment—how could they possibly show mercy?

And outside the town:

The armored and mechanized vehicles parked and ready to launch were instantly destroyed by a barrage of 'blue light' and 'silver light' spiritual energy shocks.

NuoWa and Sara, wearing HES, were coordinating with two squads of recruits to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Tau unit.

Ghosts excel at ambush and assassination, no doubt.

Even if some Ghosts opt to inject a stabilized version of the enhancement serum for greater efficiency, their physical quality remains far inferior to that of the Astate.

After all, the Astate inject the 'serum supplement' every week, equivalent to drinking the enhancement serum as a beverage.

But if one factors in spiritual energy…

In a one-on-one situation, a Ghost can reliably defeat an Astate.

Of course, the precondition is not to face someone like Genro Siegfried or the regiment champion—such 'veterans'.

However, such one-on-one conditions apparently do not apply to NuoWa and Sara at this moment.

The battle had barely begun when it was already over.

Lacking spiritual users and heavy fire support, the Tau side was completely annihilated by the regiment led by NuoWa within a mere half quarter-hour.

Immediately after the battle ended, two assault craft landed, disembarking over a dozen armed technicians who used alien strong acid to destroy all of the Tau's vehicles, weapons, and corpses.

During this time, the surviving indigenous inhabitants all hid in the shadows to observe.

Once all destruction was completed, NuoWa led Sara and all personnel back to the assault craft; as they took off and rose into the sky, the residents emerged into the open, kneeling and bowing their heads to the receding formation.

Among them was also that young woman.

Inside the cabin.

"..."

Sara, seated on the left side of the cabin, gazed at the scene below and fell silent, unsure how to evaluate the indigenous people's kneeling gesture.

NuoWa, having finished reporting to Rog, first issued an order to all pilots to head to another target location, then closed communications, crouched up, walked to Sara's side and sat down, likewise extending her legs outside the cabin, lowering her head to look down at the scene below.

"How do you like the feeling of being revered and worshipped?" NuoWa only spoke when they could no longer see the town.

"No." Sara lightly shook her head: "It just makes me think of the divine miracles recorded in ancient human history—could it be that we are like that too?"

"Maybe." NuoWa retracted her left leg, turned her back to the cabin wall, and said to the somewhat puzzled Sara before her: "We have guns and cannons, and we can fly; to a primitive civilization we are gods and spirits."

Saying this, NuoWa slightly turned her head, glanced at the two Astate squads inside the cabin, then faced Sara again and continued:

"What's more, those kids with terrifying height—whoever sees them would surely think they are gods, heh… but… why worry about that? The company and the chairman will handle everything; just rest a bit." After saying that, NuoWa closed her eyes to rest.

"Yes, commander." Sara also gave a soft acknowledgment.

Actually, she wasn't troubled; she merely lamented that society's mainstream 'atheistic thought' seems applicable to any era, any species.

Afterward, Sara gazed out at the distant, sparkling, tranquil sea, no longer pondering whether their combat would affect the future of this planet's indigenous civilization, after all the company had them covered.

While admiring the scenery, they flew low over villages untouched by war.

Upon hearing the disturbance in the sky, many villagers were astonished and looked up at the formation; some, like in the town, thought they had encountered deities and immediately knelt in worship; conversely, a group of children cheered and ran out of the village, chasing after the formation.

Seeing this, Sha La, her heart swelling with affection, couldn't help but smile and wave her right hand at the children.

This action instantly caused the boys to blush, standing there dumbfounded, watching the flying formation disappear into the horizon, and also provoked the accompanying girls to pinch and slap, as if they were vying for Sha La's affection.

After last night, most towns rich in resources became targets for looting by the Titanium Army; only such small villages escaped.

Next.

NuoWa, Sha La, and over five thousand new soldiers, following Rog's command and deployment, continued to mercilessly slaughter the remnants of the Titanium forces.

Having encountered each other in field trials, this encirclement indeed brought much combat experience, but the new soldiers felt that fighting the Titanium people lacked the excitement of fighting dinosaurs.

Only after seven Earth days later, upon learning of the arrival of the entire expeditionary force, did the new soldiers' fighting spirit ignite.

(End of chapter)