Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1475: Chapter 15: Weights on the Balance

Sunset Mountain.

Smoke and flames rise everywhere, the land engulfed in beacons of war.

Amidst deafening artillery fire, tens of thousands of Western Alliance Mecha, like a swarm of locusts, launched wave after wave of attacks on the Fei Alliance positions.

The sound of bugles charging, shouts of battle, and explosions thundered across the blazing and smoky hilltops. Battle-scarred Mecha and ragged soldiers fought to the death on the scorched earth.

The highways and bridges in the towns were already riddled with holes, and the residential houses were reduced to ruins. Dirt and stones flew up like water under explosions, and the fierce shockwaves swept across the positions again and again. The green hilltops were stripped by bombs and shells, revealing black and yellow dirt. Straight trees were ignited, turning into torches with billowing smoke, as one patch of forest after another was plowed through by artillery, lush leaves and trees shattered and scattered, branches snapped and crashed to the ground, leaving only glaringly white stumps.

From two in the afternoon to six in the evening, the Western Alliance Army had advanced the battle line thirty kilometers.

The central eighth resource highway leading to the Sunset Mountain Satellite City was the first to be breached, with four Suss Armored Divisions surging into the Sunset Mountain Basin through the breach in just an hour, swiftly maneuvering to encircle from both flanks.

The left flank troops of the Western Alliance, attacking southeast along the Socrates Mountain Range highway, and the right flank troops attacking northeast along the Charloks Mountain Range highway, were assisted by the central breakthrough forces, cutting off the connection between the two major strongholds, Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town, and the rear defense line of the Fei Alliance’s first defense line.

Each of the two major strongholds, defended by an Armored Division, had extremely fortified defenses. Originally, they were expected to withstand an attack from ten armored divisions for forty-eight hours. However, with the breach of the central resource highway, the Western Alliance Armored Forces appeared in substantial numbers on the flanks and even the rear, turning these strongholds into isolated islands.

The Western Alliance Army, with sufficient troops, did not stop.

After encircling Seven-star Town and Xiushui River Town with two divisions on each flank, they advanced six armored divisions as the vanguard, continuing to push towards the Sunset Mountain Satellite City. These units, ignoring threats to their flanks, disregarded the isolated Fei Alliance positions, pushing forward with the speed of quicksilver, while leaving the task of clearing behind them to the massive main force.

The battle immediately heated to a ferocious intensity.

Fully aware of the importance of Sunset Mountain, the Fei Alliance garrison fought with fierce determination, contesting every inch of ground.

If a hilltop position was lost, they counterattacked to reclaim it. If the town perimeter fell, they fiercely engaged the enemy in street battles. Many soldiers, who retreated during the enemy’s blitz attack, were scattered along the long road from the first defense line to the Sunset Mountain Satellite City. However, as soon as they saw the officers of the collecting forces amidst the sunset and dust, they congregated immediately, forming a temporary unit to rejoin the frontline battle.

This was a self-initiated discipline. Years of warfare had endowed these Chuckna Warriors with immense resilience.

They would retreat, flee, but they would not collapse.

Everyone understood the importance of Leifeng Star. Regardless of whether the command center was aware of what was happening on Sunset Mountain or had any countermeasures, they knew they must buy time for the headquarters.

Most of them were just ordinary warriors. They, their officers, and their officers’ officers, had no access to the command center’s strategic and tactical arrangements. All they could do was face the enemy right in front of them. With their blood and lives, they sought to gain time and fulfill their promise to defend this nation, protect their loved ones.

Under the desperate blocking by the garrison, the Western Alliance’s advance finally halted at the third defense line along the Sunset Mountain Range devised by the Fei Alliance.

This was the last barrier on the Sunset Mountain Satellite City Basin Plain. A small hill no more than two hundred meters high. Several high grounds and slopes beside the highway formed this not-so-strong defense line.

Before the defense line, the highway, bridges, large swaths of town, and high ground had already fallen into the hands of the Western Alliance forces. Countless Western Alliance units crisscrossed this vast area, maneuvering and encircling. They severed the stubbornly defended Fei Alliance positions, surrounding and annihilating the weary and isolated Fei Alliance forces.

Yet, the Chuckna Forces assembling on this defense line did not blindly defend to the death. While steadfastly defending Sunset Mountain with their shrinking forces, causing setbacks to the Western Alliance attack over two hours of intense assault, they quickly launched limited counterattacks, exploiting the time lag before some strategic points and passages fell under Western Alliance control, to conduct penetrative warfare.

Commander Admiral Chuckna Fran demonstrated his experience and courage at a critical juncture. Amidst the Western Alliance’s violent assault on the Sunset Mountain Defense Line, he launched ten elite armored groups in a counterattack, momentarily disrupting the attack rhythm of the Western Alliance’s vanguard forces.

Although these units could only infiltrate through mountain paths far from the highway, they still inhibited the enemy’s reckless offensive by appearing behind and alongside various Western Alliance units.

As two Chuckna Armored Groups rendezvoused with two thousand surrounded Fei Alliance Mechanical Warriors at a small village twenty-five kilometers northwest of the Sunset Mountain Defense Line, forcing a Western Alliance armored group to retreat south, exposing a large unguarded area, the unsettled Western Alliance troops could only order their vanguard to halt attacks, mop up stragglers, and consolidate control regions.