Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1090: 595 Chapter_2

But the sacrifices had only just begun.

Illusory Moon wasn’t exactly a place blessed with a hospitable natural environment; the undulating terrain was bereft of dense forests and instead filled with bizarre boulders and pits of varying depths.

This did provide some cover, but hardly enough to make a difference.

They still had to face long-range bombardments and the relentless waves of Furyflame swarming toward them from all directions.

The Torch of New Era, lacking room to maneuver, was forced to confront their former comrades under the harshest conditions, blade against blade.

Oh, it wasn’t as if they were unfamiliar with this situation—after all, they had done it once just a few years ago.

However, they couldn’t make up for their disadvantages in every aspect, and their numbers continued to dwindle at an alarming rate.

In just a short ten minutes, more than thirty people had already fallen.

The total number of casualties had surpassed the losses sustained in guerrilla warfare over the past half year.

Most critically, the morale of the battle group had collapsed entirely.

Were the warriors of Torch of New Era born traitors?

Not exactly.

Betrayal and backstabbing—it’s dishonorable regardless.

Back on Tianyuan VI, when they stabbed the Battle Nuns of Crimson Rose and another battle group in the back, resulting in the death of thousands, that was different. In that battle, they had an absolute advantage; the sense of unease didn’t stop them from elongating their victory.

But now, not only were they the traitorous side, they were on the losing side as well, which made the situation even harder to bear.

In merely ten minutes, losing over 15% of their warriors could still be considered secondary. The real issue was that the entire formation of the battle group was showing signs of complete collapse.

This was something Wang Mengsong hadn’t anticipated.

He originally thought, no matter how dire the situation was, they were still three hundred Interstellar Warriors. Holding out for fifteen minutes shouldn’t be an issue, right?

As it seemed now, by the end of fifteen minutes, their lines would be completely broken. By then, certainly not everyone would be killed, but when Georgette’s reinforcements finally arrived, surrounded, their formation shattered, cut apart and systematically slaughtered—how many of the Torch of New Era could survive the aftermath?

Wang Mengsong felt a chill in his heart.

But fortunately, at the tenth minute, a turning point emerged.

It wasn’t that Georgette’s reinforcements had arrived; she couldn’t possibly make it that fast despite her utmost efforts.

What arrived was firepower support from Alliance warships stationed in Illusory Moon’s orbit.

The moment they turned against Furyflame, Wang Mengsong had called for reinforcements. He had sent out coordinates, marking only the area of rocky terrain planned by himself and his warriors as untouchable for strikes; all other surrounding areas were free to bombard.

The naval officers, even now and forever, despised pointless bombardments on the surface.

But this situation was obviously an exception.

Although the untouchable coordinates designated an area free from strikes, the designated bombardment area covered a sprawling expanse of mountainous terrain. With confirmation that a large force of enemy Interstellar Warriors occupied this zone, that was explanation enough.

What’s more, preserving the lives of a mere few hundred Interstellar Warriors with one strike was a cost worth paying.

To avoid hitting Torch of New Era, the warships in orbit specifically refrained from using weapons with overly large blast areas. Instead, they selected two weapons types—light spears and missiles—for this ground support mission.

Light spears, when striking the ground, didn’t cause violent explosions in the immediate vicinity—explosions from the destroyed targets were another matter entirely.

However, this didn’t mean light spears couldn’t fulfill ground support roles.

Dozens of beams of varying thickness descended from the sky, illuminating the surface, sweeping back and forth across designated areas. The hit rocky ground scorched, cracked, and melted rapidly. In regions scoured by the light spears, nothing intact was left behind.

Even the most agile and nimble of Interstellar Warriors ultimately couldn’t escape the reach of light.

Of course, while light spears were precise enough, unfortunately, the orbiting warships couldn’t accurately target the moving Interstellar Warriors in the mountainous terrain. The ones actually killed numbered merely three or five. The greater function of the light spears’ sweeps was to intimidate, deter, and envelop the designated area, preventing enemy forces from recklessly advancing.

This nearly encircled the area Wang Mengsong had marked.

Following that, the descending missiles achieved greater widespread destructive effects.

Centered around Wang Mengsong’s marked area, the surrounding forty kilometers became a total bombard zone. Sky-splitting Axes targeted the peripheral edges for massive coverage and devastating damage; precision surgical strikes were aimed at the zones close to where Torch of New Era positioned itself to avoid collateral damage.

Under the ferocity of the bombing, even the earth shuddered.

Although spared by careful avoidance, the warriors of Torch of New Era were still forced to huddle in cover, heads down, to avoid injury from shockwaves, flying debris, and boulders propelled by impact points too near.

Yet the Furyflame forces within the bombard zone managed to push forth against such firepower!

The reaction was not unreasonable; although they didn’t know Wang Mengsong’s exact mapped coordinates, proximity to Torch of New Era lowered their risk of getting hit.

But sound decisions are always easier said than done, and far harder to actually enact.

The Torch of New Era failed, thus suffering heavy losses all in one go.

Wang Mengsong was furious, deeply disappointed in his battle group for a moment.

Yet this was his battle group, after all.

He staggered forward amidst the trembling earth to launch an assault; amidst the deafening blasts, he roared with all his might, his voice transmitted through communication channels to every helmet in Torch of New Era:

“Fight! Fight! Torch of New Era will never be cowards! We fight to survive! Only courage lets us live on!”

As the Battle Group Leader, his cries… could only say they had some effect.

The warriors of Torch of New Era began moving, albeit hesitantly.

Only his trusted aides and the few company commanders showed steadfast resolve—altogether numbering barely thirty.

Nonetheless, through their valiant resistance, they managed to repel Furyflame’s assault amidst orbital bombardments.

Furyflame wasn’t invincible; the number of warriors capable of counterattacking under such conditions was limited.

Besides, Politos himself harbored retreat in his heart.

Failing to capture Wang Mengsong and annihilate his battle group swiftly meant the opportunity was lost.

Now was orbital bombardment—what came next?

Those annoying Battle Nuns and Glory Guard Corps were certainly en route aboard fighters already. They had likely been standing ready inside those fighters, prepared to mobilize at full speed the moment combat erupted. Deployed elite forces within a two-hundred-kilometer radius, factoring in takeoff and acceleration times, would likely arrive here in under fifteen minutes.

If not retreating now, then when?

Even if they could fend off a small number of Battle Nuns and Glory Guards in swift strikes, what followed would likely be air-dropped reinforcements from orbit by the Navy Marine Corps;

If they managed to handle that, the next wave would surely be the Alliance Army’s large-scale encirclement of the entire mountainous region.

The more they fought, the more hope slipped away.

A swift retreat and breakout were now their optimal choices.

Yet at that very moment, Politos saw through the lingering smoke of orbital bombardments—fighters breaking through the air had already come.

These Wind Falcons and Qilin Fighters unleashed volleys of missiles upon descent, continuing to suppress Furyflame’s Interstellar Warriors, pinning them down from lifting their heads. Meanwhile, elite human warriors rapidly descended via airborne deployment.

After offloading their soldiers, half the fighters turned back, likely to load more troops for deployment; the remaining half remained in mid-air, machine guns pouring relentless firepower toward the ground to support advancing nuns and guards.

Furyflame, despite losing a portion of their personnel in the previous bombardments, didn’t suffer catastrophically as one might assume.

The survival capabilities of Interstellar Warriors remained exceedingly formidable.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!