Wen Jifei and He Tangtang returned with Wu Xu. On the earthen knoll, the members of Squad 1777 hadn't retreated into their tents; instead, they crowded around Wu Xu, asking just how much that figure from behind resembled Han Qingyu.
Wu Xu said it looked very much like him.
When asked how, he replied that it just felt very similar, and the person was also carrying two dead iron straight swords on his back.
Yet on this battlefield where more than thirty thousand Azure soldiers had already amassed, people wielding two dead iron straight swords were hardly rare. Over the past two days, they had even seen seven or eight full-armor warriors who looked similar to Shen Yixiu.
A roaring din—a mixture of gasps and cheers—suddenly rippled out like waves in a wheat field, spreading outward layer by layer from near the snow-capped peak.
"What happened?!"
"What's going on?!"
Lao Jian and Qin Guowen hurriedly raised their binoculars to look, while Wen Jifei shouldered his rifle and peered through the scope.
In truth, neither was necessary... A little below the halfway mark of the distant snow mountain:
A section of white snow abruptly collapsed, the sheared area looking like a highway cutting straight up the mountain and exposing the dark brown rock face underneath.
*Whoosh...*
"Someone's coming down the mountain!"
"Great Spikes, too... dozens of them are getting killed!"
"It's like the mountain was plowed open!"
Someone was charging down the slopes, plowing a straight path through the swarms of Great Spikes that converged to intercept him, the immense shock of energy triggering a localized avalanche.
"He made it down! He's unhurt!"
"He crushed his way straight through and hacked down at least a dozen of them!"
"Incredible..."
Voices in various languages mingled as tremendous cheers erupted across the hills and slopes, bursting from one formerly tense and uneasy tent to the next... an enormous emotional release that echoed on and on.
"Who was that?"
"Yeah, what just happened?"
After countless eager questions, the answer quickly spread: a super combat power from the Huaxia Front had arrived on the field. Accompanied by a super combat power from Indedu and leading four top combat powers, the two had gone up the mountain together to scout things out.
That was all.
For more than ninety percent of those present, it was the first time in their lives seeing a super combat power—standing at the pinnacle of human martial might—personally take action.
"So our super combat powers are that strong?!"
"No shit."
"Doesn't that mean we actually hold the upper hand in this fight?"
Did they? At least for this battle, it seemed that way for now.
A direct comparison of numbers put them at roughly forty to one. Had it not been for their lack of experience with large-scale concentrations of Great Spikes, this number would already have been massive overkill, since even Azure's most ordinary squads only required about fifteen to twenty people to deal with a single Great Spike.
As for the dozens of blue-sheened Great Spikes among them—the elite squads mobilized by Azure this time were anything but scarce.
As human civilization's first large-scale campaign against the Great Spikes, the Azure Alliance approached it as the dawn of a new chapter in history. They not only had to guarantee safety and victory, but also build experience, bolster confidence, and prepare for a truly comprehensive war in the future.
That was why elite squads from every nation had flown in to take part, no matter how far they had to travel.
"What if there's a Red Shoulder? What do we do then? Legion Commander Chen isn't here!"
***
At the frontline command headquarters.
"It is a great pity that we do not have the opportunity to see Legion Commander Chen in action this time. However, we now have four super combat powers present, so even if a Red Shoulder appears, it should not pose a fatal problem."
Legion Commander Nitesh of the Indedu Front, who was in overall command of this battle, spoke as several interpreters translated simultaneously.
Human combat strength had developed rapidly over the past thirty to forty years, and the balance of power between super combat powers and Red Shoulders was no longer what people once believed.
That conclusion had initially shocked many, but the one who made the judgment was Chen Buer... the only man in human history to have decapitated a Red Shoulder.
In the room, the commanders of every nation concurred with that assessment.
"Therefore, the real issue now is how to handle the ordinary Great Spikes massing together. That will also be the greatest problem our Azure forces face if a full-scale invasion occurs in the future. Our warfare must enter a new era," Nitesh continued.
Historically, Azure's combat doctrine was designed to counter two Great Spikes at a time—at most, in the rarest circumstances, four. That design and practice had been dictated by two factors:
First, the typical circumstances of a shuttle-shaped craft's landing.
Second, the combat limits of ordinary Azure soldiers.
That mode of combat had persisted for nearly a century since its inception. It was well-honed, but it also suffered from numerous limitations.
Simply put, humanity currently had no way to engage the Great Spikes in a direct, large-scale frontal clash, because they could not form a stable fifteen-to-twenty-on-one encirclement under such conditions.
"Thus, we may not be able to change our combat doctrine outright for the time being. We can only consider how to flexibly adapt our familiar tactics to a large-scale battlefield."
Alliance General Jackson said this as he opened a diagram on the wall.
A combat model—where super combat powers divided the battlefield, elite squads moved in to cut forces apart, and ordinary squads surrounded and eliminated the pockets—was displayed in detail.
"These are our current findings," Jackson said, turning back. "If no one has any objections, we will begin practical operations immediately."
Silence fell over the room.
"General Liu, what is your opinion?" Jackson asked.
At the conference table, a Huaxia face shook his head. "I have no objections."
He was the frontline general dispatched by the Huaxia Front this time, Commander Liu Yiwu of the Sole Witness Legion's First Army.
Jackson nodded and looked at Nitesh.
"Then I hereby declare: Codename 'Voice,' Azure's first large-scale offensive, is ready to commence."
Nitesh stood and saluted.
***
Preparations for battle unfolded swiftly as orders trickled down.
As a frontline combat unit, Squad 1777 had been selected and received the mobilization notice. In a gathering of nearly forty thousand soldiers, alongside the elite units from every nation, the forty members of Squad 1777 became utterly unremarkable.
"So what this means is that all we have to do when we go up is follow an elite squad, right? Once they cut out a target, we take over and finish it off."
At the squad's pre-battle meeting, Qin Guowen spoke.
Lao Jian nodded.
"Then which squad are we attached to? Does the notice say?" a veteran nearby asked with some unease. Under this sort of combat model, the difference made by following different elite squads was bound to be enormous.
Faced with a mass of Great Spikes, if an elite squad made a mistake in slicing them apart and an ordinary squad got dragged into a cluster of enemies, they would essentially be crushed to pieces.
If it were up to them, 1777 would naturally choose Golden Eraser, but Golden Eraser hadn't arrived for this operation.
"There are no specific assignments yet." Bearing immense pressure, Lao Jian shook his head... It turned out they were still so far removed from the truly elite squads. He was starting to worry that 1777 might be buried right here.
"They won't have us follow a foreign elite squad, will they?" the veteran continued.
"I don't know that either." Lao Jian lowered his head in silence for a moment, then looked up. "No matter what, let's just do our duty. Everyone, put on your gear and inspect each other. We... head out to assemble."
"Yes, sir!"
All forty finished strapping on their devices and completed their checks. This time, there was none of the usual excitement that accompanied setting out on a mission. Having been formed so recently, combined with a certain person's presence and their recent string of glory, 1777 had never experienced being so ordinary—and so vulnerable to being wiped out at any moment. They were unaccustomed to it.
"Morale feels a bit low," Qin Guowen murmured worriedly.
"Yeah, that's unavoidable. But I doubt it's just us; every ordinary squad here is probably feeling the same way right now. After all, none of us have ever fought a battle like this before. Once we actually step onto the field, swing our swords, and see red, it'll all pass. Besides, we've got Wu Xu and Shen Yixiu with us. As long as the whole battlefield doesn't collapse into chaos, we should be fine." Lao Jian knew this wasn't cowardice; no one could stay cheerful in the face of a meat grinder.
He figured he would find a way to fire them up once they reached the assembly point.
Because a few of the greenest recruits had been left behind at base, exactly forty people had come with 1777 this time. The forty members lined up in formation on the earthen knoll outside the tents.
"Move out," Lao Jian ordered.
The forty soldiers walked in silence toward the edge of the slope.
And then... they froze.
Down below, a familiar figure wearing a Huaxia Front combat uniform, carrying two swords on his back with their hilts emerging over his right shoulder, was walking up the knoll with his head tilted down.
Lao Jian tried his best not to look too overwhelmed.
"How did you get here?"
Han Qingyu looked up, gestured toward the tents blanketing the mountains, and flashed a brilliant smile. "You guys were really hard to find."
Chapter 247