Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1205

The soldiers were bewildered, is this battle... still ongoing?

As for the rebel soldiers in the forward positions, they were even more confused, and terrified.

Their original combat goal was to build a forward defense line in front of the main positions, relying on scattered pits and short trenches, to layer by layer impede the Defense Army’s advance and inflict as much damage as possible. The firepower from the rear positions was supposed to provide support; armored units ready to support from the rear could lead them in launching a countercharge.

But now, they are still locked in hand-to-hand combat with the advancing Defense Army, and the rear positions they hoped would provide strong support are no more.

What should they do now?

The soldiers were at a loss, and the officers weren’t much better. The mid-level and lower-level officers tasked with frontline command were instructed to hold the line here, but so far, this order was clearly meaningless. And the upper command center?

The command post has been blown to ashes.

The rebel soldiers lost their combat objective, and the earth-shattering firepower also terrified them.

But an even more terrifying event happened subsequently—they saw Interstellar Warriors in full red powered armor, bearing the winged skull symbol representing the Empire on their chests. From the red and gold trim on their powered armor and the flaming bird emblem on their shoulders, it was clear they were the Battle Monks of the Phoenix Battle Group once masters of Rage Owl Star!

Being fundamentally Rage Owl Star People, the rebel soldiers of the Cult grew up hearing legends of the Phoenix, just like all Rage Owl Star People.

They joined the Cult’s rebel army for various reasons, be it religion, brainwashing, or tax resistance. However, that didn’t mean they’d lost the memory of the legends of the past.

After all, legends were just legends; over a hundred years without a trace of the Phoenix, who would seriously worry their rebellion would bring about the wrath of the Emperor Angel? Even though they’d often joke among themselves saying things like ’Bring the Phoenix here to kill me if you can,’ it didn’t mean they wouldn’t be scared when seeing a Phoenix Battle Monk in front of them.

On the contrary, they were terrified to the point of nearly wetting their pants.

And their fear was very much justified.

In these forward positions, the remaining rebel soldiers only had light weapons to rely on. But firearms... those things couldn’t even leave a scratch on the power armor. The faint red paint on the armor seemed bulletproof.

The fragmentation grenades they held couldn’t breach the defenses either.

Thus, their only hope lay in anti-armor rockets for individual use.

These were originally designed to tackle tanks. At close range, a single anti-armor shot could penetrate the weaker side or top armor of a main battle tank.

However, these have large targets requiring aim. They were cumbersome for hitting big tanks while hidden in pits waiting for the tank to pass and attacking from the side. Yet, facing Interstellar Warriors, it was an entirely different matter.

In the automatic sensing systems of the Interstellar Warriors, as soon as they detected any threatening rebel units holding such anti-armor weapons, the Battle Monks would unleash a barrage from their blast bomb guns before the rebels could fire.

The standard explosive rounds, equipped with diamond-tipped bullets and reactive explosives, upon impact, cause far more destructive damage than regular rifle bullets. The explosive charge would detonate subsequently, inflicting secondary harm.

A shot like that could shatter both the rebel soldier and their gear, and if there were others close by, they’d be blown up too.

It’s abundantly excessive in power, but fundamentally the blast bomb guns were meant for taking on far stronger and more sinister enemies; using them against these essentially mortal rebel soldiers was overkill indeed.

Of course, during the course of combat, a Phoenix rookie did get hit squarely in the back by a rebel’s anti-armor rocket.

At that moment, he was blown up and thrown to the ground.

Nearby, the squad leader Reso immediately turned around, unleashing a volley of bombs to kill off the ambushing enemy.

Then, he irritably patted his head—before disembarking, Russell had said this battle was a test of their training results. And now, his squad had been hit with a sneak attack, they would likely face reprimand.

As for the comrade who got hit in the back by the anti-armor rocket?

No need to worry. That guy was getting up while cursing in the squad chat.

The armor-piercing rocket didn’t penetrate the power armor of the Interstellar Warriors. Even the relatively fragile backpack holding the power source got blasted but didn’t cause actual harm, only leaving a small dent on the armor.

As for that armor-piercing round? The severely deformed bullet head flew off to somewhere unknown.

Listening to his brother complain about his misfortune in the chat, the squad leader Reso scolded disappointedly: "Wicks Jones! You zoned out! If you’d concentrated, keeping alert, the automatic sensing system would’ve worked continuously, letting you foresee danger ahead! This was emphasized repeatedly during training, have you forgotten it all?"

Wicks Jones, the unfortunate person who got hit by the shell, protested: "I know, I know... but this battle, it’s too hard to keep focused all the time, right? Fighting these rebels, can it really be called a war? We can easily wipe them out, even if there’s hundreds in front of us, the outcome’s always a massacre. It’s much easier than what we’ve been trained for, yet I feel they’re individuals, just like us three months ago. The piles of corpses, ending each life by hand, felt strange, that’s why I couldn’t help but zone out..."

Despite his lengthy explanation, the following line in the chat left him speechless:

"Wicks Jones, your post-battle training will be doubled. I’ll personally spar with you."

This sentence came from Russell.

Hearing this, Jones drooped his head and could only respond with a ’yes’.

Double the training load was manageable; being personally trained by the War Commander was bad news. What made the young Battle Monk feel more ashamed was being singled out by the Commander for criticism—that was humiliating.

The chuckles from the channel made him even more uncomfortable.

Russell’s voice sounded again: "I hope you all take this seriously. If we were facing a true enemy, we might have already lost a battle brother just now."

The laughter immediately ceased, replaced by multiple "understanding!" echoing in the channel.

...

Russell shook his head slightly, these kids, they’re still too raw.

Before the battle began, he divided everyone into three combat squads. Each squad had four people, he led one, and Reso and Alec, imbued with sergeant-level combat experience and theoretically reaching official member strength level, led respectively.

During the cleanup of the cultists in the forward positions, the Interstellar Warriors displayed unmatched power.

The power armor they wore exhibited defense far stronger than locally produced tanks; the blast bomb guns in their hands were fearsome symbols of destruction for the cultists.

With their involvement, clearing these rebel squads and platoons went incredibly smoothly. The main force, once somewhat hindered, resumed their advancing speed.

Yet actually, their individual performance, in Russell’s view, was far from satisfactory.

This didn’t meet the level of Interstellar Warriors. Reso and Alec were barely passable, the rest were far off.

Honestly, they relied on their powerful power armor and blast bomb guns to impose dominance. Without the overwhelming advantage of superior equipment, the rookies would’ve been knocked down many times.

Three months of training was clearly too short.

Though anticipated, he was still a bit disappointed.

"Can’t rush, still have to take it slow... At least, they adapted to the battlefield this time, so it’s a bit of gain."

Thinking so, he stopped dwelling on it and shifted attention to the new gray mist notification just appeared:

[Code for Mission F.2: Completed, score rewards have been issued]