Chapter 41: Artillery

As the morning sun rose, all survivors stood ready. At the very front was Yingzhou's Death Korps of Krieg, who would serve as the first line of defense behind the traps to confront the Zerg.

As for those survivors, Yingzhou had them form a Second Defense Line behind the Death Korps, and he even used system points to exchange for a large number of inexpensive monomolecular bayonets. He had these survivors use discarded water pipes or steel bars found in the ruins to assemble makeshift combat spears.

Behind the Second Defense Line was the area where he was currently located, about 200 meters from the Second Defense Line, on flat terrain. Yingzhou planned to try to unlock the Krieg branch units when the Zerg broke through the first line of defense.

"Ajie, you said the Zerg would start hunting the Humans in the Hunting Ground when the sun rose. Do you know what type of Zerg they usually are?" Yingzhou asked Ajie, who was beside him.

"Last time, I only saw the more common Swift Zerg. I have heard of other types of Zerg, but I have never seen them," Ajie replied after a moment of contemplation.

"I have seen other Zerg once, though I was quite far away and didn't see the Zerg's appearance clearly. But it was two or three meters tall, covered in sharp spikes, and had many tentacles in its mouth. I saw it eat all the adults of a family hiding in an abandoned building, and the young children were tied up by its tentacles and taken away," a bald man said from the side.

"Kent, you've actually seen other Zerg! I thought those were just rumors among the Humans in the Hunting Ground," Ajie said to Kent in astonishment.

"Regardless, the hunt has already begun. With so many of us this time, I expect many more survivors will gather here in a while, which will cause the Zerg's power in the Hunting Ground to converge. This is very unfavorable for us," Ajie said with a worried look.

"It's fine. Trust in our long preparation. Let's show those filthy Zerg what we're made of!" Yingzhou smiled, patted Ajie on the shoulder, and comforted him.

He then shouldered his Chainsword, looked toward the distant defense line, and asked the system in his heart once more.

"System, once I unlock the branch units, they are summoned directly, right?"

"Host, please trust in this system's integrity. As long as the host's Legion limit is not reached, the host can of course summon them directly!"

At this moment, on the battlefield of the first line of defense, the scattered Swift Zerg seemed to have discovered something and began to run toward the Humans in front.

However, when they were still about 100 meters from the Krieg soldiers' positions, the Swift Zerg at the very front suddenly fell into the pits that had been dug in advance. Then, the Krieg soldiers on the defense line quickly raised the laser carbines in their hands and aimed forward.

The moment those Swift Zerg climbed out of the pits, they pulled the triggers without hesitation, blowing the heads of these Swift Zerg directly apart as soon as they emerged, with green fluid splattering everywhere.

Soon, these scattered Zerg were all wiped out by the Krieg soldiers on the first line of defense, which greatly boosted the morale of the survivors on the Second Defense Line.

"Hahaha, these Zerg don't look like much!"

"We have hope! We have hope to survive!"

"Screw the Zerg, these guys are actually so fragile!"

There were many such remarks. What Yingzhou wanted was for these people to first eliminate their fear of the Zerg. Of course, this was only temporary; once they truly engaged with the Zerg, they would understand that it was not that the Zerg were weak, but that the Krieg soldiers were stronger than them.

Now that the morale of the Second Defense Line was high, Yingzhou felt a slight sense of relief. What he feared most was that the survivors of the Second Defense Line would be scared into scattering and fleeing by the cruelty of the Zerg the moment they engaged.

However, this had just begun, and they needed to hold out here for two nights. This situation continued until the evening of the next day; the Zerg only appeared as scattered Swift Zerg, all of which were wiped out by the Krieg soldiers of the first line of defense, making Ajie and Kent feel that this hunting operation could likely be endured.

But just then, the ground of the first line of defense began to tremble violently. A giant Zerg suddenly burst out from underground and lunged straight at the Krieg soldiers. It opened its bloody maw, revealing sharp, pointed Liaya, attempting to tear them to shreds.

Along with the appearance of this giant Zerg, many Swift Zerg followed behind it, swarming into the position and engaging in fierce close-quarters combat with the Krieg soldiers.

However, the Krieg soldiers' defense line did not collapse due to this change. On the contrary, they reacted quickly the moment these Zerg appeared and took decisive action to kill the giant Zerg. But the tunnel dug by the giant Zerg underground became the problem; a steady stream of Swift Zerg poured out from the hole, bringing new pressure to the defense line.

The Krieg soldiers had to divert a portion of their strength to approach the hole, attempting to suppress the Swift Zerg pouring out.

"Damn it, there's an extra hole at the first line of defense, and it's a Zerg I've never seen before!" Ajie cursed angrily after observing the situation at the first line of defense.

Yingzhou lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Next, the Zerg will very likely treat us as their primary hunting target. According to what you said, their hunting time is about to end, so they will naturally choose places with more people for their final attack."

"Then can we still hold on? The first line of defense has already had a tunnel dug out by the Zerg, and there is a steady stream of Swift Zerg pouring out. Although your soldiers are doing their best to remedy it there, I am still worried that the current situation won't last long. Should we let the people from the Second Defense Line go up to support?" Ajie asked with a hint of anxiety in his tone, looking into Yingzhou's eyes.

"No need, I will arrange for support here." Yingzhou walked out of the trench and stood on the flat ground.

"System, help me exchange for Krieg Artillery with points." Yingzhou looked at the battle situation at the first line of defense in the distance and thought to himself.

"Points consumed, Krieg Artillery unlocked. The host's remaining points: 5834."

Because some Krieg soldiers had fallen at the first line of defense, Yingzhou immediately began to summon Krieg Artillery.

10 Basilisk Self-propelled Artillery units and 30 Krieg soldiers were summoned by Yingzhou, the 132mm caliber barrels emitting a grim, cold light.

Ajie and Kent, who had followed Yingzhou out, were both stunned by these ten artillery pieces. Although they knew that Psionics in the Human Alliance had some unfathomable abilities, they had never heard of a Psionic being comparable to an Armory!