Chapter 1169: The Combat Effectiveness of Ordinary Soldiers of the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance

Kalivento's three eyes scanned the battlefield images on the holographic projection in turn.

Those tiny figures still stubbornly firing amidst the artillery fire.

Every time he thought the defensive line was about to collapse, new fire points would always appear, and soldiers would always emerge from seemingly impossible places, continuing to fight with laser guns, kinetic weapons, and even melee weapons.

"And those troops in blue-gray uniforms,"

Craig continued to report.

"They are slightly better equipped, and their tactical discipline is terrifyingly strict. Even after suffering orbital bombardment, their remaining artillery units are still firing with precision."

"Those troops whose 'combat effectiveness should have dropped sharply' are using their last few broken cannons to inflict casualties on us! The reality is that our fleet of forty-two warships cannot take down a secondary defensive node that doesn't even have Space Marines!"

Kalivento walked to the viewing window and looked at the gray-blue planet below.

Fengkaodunxing was rotating slowly, and that massive rift looked like an ugly scar.

It was this "scar" that was devouring his troops, devouring his time, and devouring his honor.

"Sir, perhaps we should re-evaluate our tactics."

A senior tactical officer suggested.

"The enemy's will to resist exceeds expectations, and the cost of a frontal assault is too high. We could adopt a siege strategy, cut off their supplies, and slowly weaken them with orbital bombardment..."

"We don't have time to slowly weaken them!"

Kalivento turned around, his three eyes flashing with a dangerous light simultaneously.

"The deadline I gave Commander-in-Chief Valken was to take the breakthrough point in twelve hours! How much time has passed now! Do you know what this means? It means other sub-fleets may have already achieved a breakthrough, while we are still entangled with a group... a group of ordinary soldiers!"

Disgrace.

He was one of the most promising of the younger generation of commanders; his family had high hopes for him, and his colleagues were both envious and jealous of him.

This attack on Fengkaodunxing was supposed to be the perfect opportunity for him to prove himself, to independently take a strategic node and show his face before the Commander-in-Chief, perhaps earning a promotion after the war.

But what about now?

If he told the Commander-in-Chief, "I'm sorry, I was held up for an entire day by a group of ordinary soldiers without Space Marine support," what would the consequences be? Ridicule? Contempt? Or worse, being removed from his command position to spend the rest of his life in some Logistics Department?

Craig said softly.

"Sir, perhaps we underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance's ordinary soldiers. The intelligence might be outdated or incorrect..."

"Shut up!"

Kalivento said, his emotions out of control.

"The strength of the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance lies in its Primarchs and Space Marines; this is common knowledge! It is a truth verified countless times! If not for those superhuman monsters, they would be nothing more than another weak civilization about to be conquered by us!"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but failed.

Anger had already occupied his reason.

"Order: All warships, concentrate fire and conduct a saturation orbital bombardment on the rift area. I don't care if we accidentally hit our own troops; I want that rift to disappear from the map!"

"Sir!"

Several officers exclaimed at once.

"Our Airborne Troops are still down there! There are at least thirty thousand people fighting!"

"Then let them sacrifice themselves for the glory of Fengqi!"

Kalivento roared.

"If they cannot quickly take the objective, living is also a disgrace! Execute the order!"

Craig's face turned pale, but in this state, the Commander's order was beyond question.

"All warships, attention, reallocate fire targets. Concentrate fire on the rift area, saturation bombardment. Repeat, saturation bombardment."

The order spread through the fleet via encrypted channels.

The warships' turrets began to rotate, and the main cannons began to charge.

Kalivento returned to the tactical table and stared at the screen.

He watched the green dots representing his own ground troops, which were still entangled with the red enemy dots.

Soon, orbital fire would cover that area, and the green and red would disappear together.

"This is war."

Kalivento whispered, as if trying to convince himself.

"When necessary, even one's own people can be sacrificed. Victory is the only goal, and honor is the only reward."

I will tell them with even more intense firepower: in the face of absolute power, will is meaningless.

"Charging progress?"

"85%, sir. We can begin the first round of salvo in three minutes."

"Enemy signals in the target area?"

"Still dense. They seem... to have no signs of retreating."

Kalivento sneered.

"Then let them turn to dust along with their positions."

At the bottom of the rift, in the Temporary Command Center.

Colonel Sitelake's mechanical prosthetic eye captured the anomalous data of surging orbital energy readings.

"All units, attention, large-scale orbital energy accumulation detected. The enemy is about to conduct a saturation orbital bombardment. Predicted coverage... the entire rift area."

There was dead silence in the Command Center.

The officers looked at each other, reading the same understanding in each other's eyes: this meant that the friendly forces in orbit were unable or unwilling to stop this bombardment, and it also meant that the enemy commander had gone mad enough to sacrifice his own ground troops.

"Suggestions?"

Sitelake's voice remained calm.

"Immediately retreat to the deepest underground fortifications."

A staff officer said.

"But we can only accommodate 30% of the personnel at most."

"Evacuate non-essential personnel to the edge areas of the rift, but those areas lack cover, and the survival rate..."

"What about the Krieg units? Most of them are still on the front lines."

Sitelake looked at the Holographic Map.

The icons representing the Krieg units were densely distributed in the middle section of the rift, which was exactly the area predicted to have the most intense bombardment.

"Contact the supreme Commander of the Krieg."

He said.

After a brief wait, a hoarse voice sounded on the communication channel.

"This is temporary Commander 123-7-79 of the Krieg 123rd Regiment. Please instruct."

"The enemy is about to conduct a saturation orbital bombardment, covering the entire rift area. I advise you to evacuate to the sides of the rift immediately."

On the other end of the channel was a longer Silence.

Then 79 said: "If we retreat, the enemy will occupy our current position. The cost of retaking it will be even greater."

"The survival probability, if you stay in place, is near zero."

"The survival probability of a Krieger is never a factor in decision-making, Colonel. We will hold our position. At the very least, we can force the enemy to kill their own troops during the bombardment."

"Your sacrifice..."

"It is not a sacrifice, it is duty."

79 interrupted him.

"Please notify the brothers of Dian: we will hold until the very last moment. If there are any enemy troops left alive after the bombardment, leave the cleanup to you."

The communication cut off.

Sitelake looked at the tactical screen and gave the order.

"Notify all Dian units: enter the deepest bunkers immediately. Remaining artillery units, calculate the positions of surviving enemy troops during the gaps in the bombardment, and open fire immediately after the bombardment ends. Also... record the final communication of the Krieg 123rd Regiment. They deserve to be remembered."