Chapter 532: The Battle of Stars and Stripes (Part 1)
West Extreme Territory, Star Stripe City.
As the first city-level territory in the Western Extremities to directly confront the Nightmare Army, this once prosperous city has now been transformed into a pure war fortress.
The city had long been emptied of civilians, replaced by 100,000 grim-faced county soldiers and 200,000 awakened individuals below level 7.
At various command points along the city wall, hundreds of first-tier commanders gripped their weapons tightly, staring intently at the eastern horizon.
There are no third-tier powerhouses here, nor any aerial forces.
The highest-ranking officer in the garrison was a 29th-rank Black officer, a handsome 42-year-old US Army lieutenant colonel named Marcus Williams.
At this moment, he was standing on the command platform of the city tower, his right hand firmly resting on the hilt of the command sword at his waist, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's.
On the city wall, the sliding rail transport system is operating at full capacity.
The lightweight wooden tracks laid along the inner side of the city wall gleamed with the light of torches, and the ironwood carts hummed continuously as their metal wheels rubbed together.
Each trailer was piled high with arrows, crossbow magazines, shotgun shells, and spare bowstrings, and was pushed from behind by a soldier as it slid rapidly along the tracks.
Meanwhile, in the Blue Star Strip City live stream room, the scenes of this defense battle have already attracted the attention of billions of viewers worldwide.
The barrage of comments scrolled wildly like a waterfall, with netizens from various countries clashing fiercely in different languages on the public screen.
【European Netizen】: "My God, I've been looking for ages, and there isn't a single high-level combatant at level 3 in this city? Is America planning to send 300,000 people to their deaths?"
【Netizen from Maoxiong】: "Vodka! What do you know? After the Nightmare Clan captured several county towns yesterday, their troop strength hasn't increased at all! The Western Region is planning to rely on its city-level territories and use their lives to wear down the Nightmare Clan's fighting strength!"
【DaXia Netizen】: "Without high-level combat power, relying on a bunch of low-level grunts to defend the city? Isn't that a joke?"
【Ottoman Netizen】: "Brother from Daxia upstairs, you don't understand. That advanced wonder of the United States attracted a large number of top-notch professionals. With these talents and the wonder's special effects, they managed to create a bunch of unreasonable black technologies. It's a pity that those things can only be used within the United States' own territory. Once they leave the country, they're just a pile of scrap metal."
【European Netizen】: "See that wooden rail? That's their rail transport system, used to quickly transport ammunition and wounded soldiers. It's grease-lubricated, and a single soldier can push it when fully loaded."
【DaXia Netizen】: "Holy crap, this is something else!"
Before the barrage of comments had even finished, countless dark purple dots suddenly lit up in the darkness at the edge of the screen.
Points of light emerged from the horizon, first a few scattered ones, then a small patch, and finally a vast expanse covering the sky.
They moved slowly and steadily into the darkness, until the entire darkness at the edge of their field of vision was filled with dark purple dots of light.
The rotting man's grayish-white skin appeared unnaturally pale under the dark purple light.
Their mouths were sewn shut, and they could only breathe rapidly through their noses.
【Annan Netizen】: "They're here! The Nightmare Clan is here!"
【American netizen】: "My God... how much is that?"
【DaXia Netizen】: "After the camera zoomed out, the entire screen turned dark purple. Roughly estimating, the strikers cost at least 50,000, and there are more behind them! Wait, what are those things?"
【European Netizen】: "Corpse Man, a level 19 Nightmare Clan low-level unit, has the passive skill Touch of Corruption, which inflicts poison damage with its attacks. When its health drops below 10%, it will pounce on you and hug you to die together."
【DaXia Netizen】: "Holy crap, they're going to die together? That's disgusting!"
On the eastern wall of Stars and Stripes, Marcus Williams stared intently through his binoculars at the approaching dark purple ocean.
The rotting man entered the 1000-meter line.
Marcus lowered his binoculars, clenched his right fist, raised it high, and then swung it down sharply: "Sentry crossbows, all fire!"
Inside the city wall, hundreds of operators simultaneously began rotating winches.
The metal casing of the Sentinel Crossbow gleamed coldly in the firelight. The six crossbow arms were connected in parallel inside the casing, and the crank was driven by a winch to wind and fire the crossbow.
With each rotation of the winch, one crossbow arm completes cocking and fires; the six crossbow arms cycle in sequence, forming a continuous torrent of arrows.
A loader squats next to the operator, responsible for opening the top cover to replace the pre-made arrow magazine after the magazine is emptied.
Each quiver contains six arrows, and the magazine capacity is three quivers for a total of eighteen arrows.
The loader's action of changing the cartridge is so fast that it's like a mechanical device. Lifting the cover, pulling out the cartridge, inserting the cartridge, closing the cover, and tamping it down, the whole process takes no more than five seconds.
The crossbow bolts were so dense that they formed a low-hanging dark cloud in mid-air before crashing into the ranks of the rotting men.
The arrow pierced the grayish-white skin, and purple fluid splattered out.
The rotting corpses in the front row fell down like harvested crops, but the rotting corpses in the back row simply crawled over or went around the pile of corpses, their formation remaining perfectly intact.
Because they have no fear, no pain, they just keep moving forward.
The barrage of comments erupted in a frenzy the moment the rain of arrows rained down.
【American Netizen】: "Time for some science! This is the T-7B Sentinel Crossbow, with a range of 1000 meters! It's operated by a single person with a winch and an assistant to change the magazine. It can fire 6 bolts in 6 seconds, and the magazine capacity is 18 bolts! Its attack power is as high as 350, which is 50 points higher than traditional crossbows!"
【Netizen from the Russian Bear region】: "Hurrah! Hurrah! This suppressive firepower is too intense!"
The crossbow bolts continued to rain down for nearly thirty seconds, and countless rotting men fell, but their numbers were simply too great.
The Nightmare Shadowweaver's mental pulses continuously transmitted commands: "Maintain formation, advance at a constant speed, and do not stop."
Meanwhile, the giant Nestweavers behind the Nightmare army began to retaliate.
They contract their abdomens, gather energy for about 1.5 seconds, and then shoot a dark purple energy ball from the front of their mouthparts.
The energy ball flew over the city wall and landed precisely in the ranks of the defending troops inside the wall, blasting several soldiers away.
Then came the second, third, tenth, and fiftieth shots.
Hundreds of energy orbs rose simultaneously from behind the Nightmare Army formation, trailing hundreds of dark purple beams of light, most of which flew over the city walls and crashed into the city.
Some exploded in the passageway, cutting the advancing reserve forces in two; others landed on the street, completely blocking the reinforcement routes.
Shallow craters were blasted into the outer wall of the city, and the tops of several arrow towers were sheared off by the shelling.
The entire city was constantly illuminated by hundreds of interwoven beams of light, only to be plunged into shadow again.
【DaXia Netizen】: "My goodness!! What is that thing?"
【European Netizen】: "Energy Explosion! The giant Nightmare Spider's ranged skill, with a range of 800 meters, 150% attack power shadow damage, and a splash radius of 5 meters upon landing."
【Annan Netizen】: "Brothers, did I switch to the wrong channel? Is this a Nightmare invasion or Star Wars?"
【DaXia Netizen】: "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm watching an old movie? What's it called again? It seems to be a sci-fi film! It jumps straight from medieval warfare to interstellar war!"