Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1486: Chapter 9 Volume 18: Blitz (Part 1)_3

However, Forbes now had a bad feeling.

Powerful electronic interference had severed all contact between him and the first echelon. For several hours, he had received no news about Frenso Town.

And as he led his troops to a location less than half an hour away from Frenso Town, they encountered enemy ambushes along the way.

The vanguard troops fought several battles in confusion. As the nimble enemy repeatedly turned entire squads and platoons of mechas into wreckage in the mountain and forest, not even the model, unit number, or scale of the enemy mechas could be identified. The last half-hour’s journey dragged on for an hour, covering less than a third of the distance.

As a commander, Forbes instinctively felt wary about the enemy’s attack, which clearly aimed to delay them.

He meticulously examined the battlefield where the troops had been ambushed; judging from the various traces left behind, the opposing force was clearly no ordinary unit. Their attacks were precise, swift, and fierce, consistently hitting the target and withdrawing intact. Their choice of targets, attack locations, and retreat routes were all meticulously arranged, very seasoned.

The presence of such a unit west of Frenso Town strongly indicated that the first echelon’s grip on Frenso Town wasn’t as strong as imagined.

Forbes didn’t know what was currently happening in Frenso Town; his only thought was to reach Frenso Town as quickly as possible, to crush any unexpected threats in their infancy!

The enemy’s delay tactics proved their desire for time. If the second echelon could reach Frenso Town even a minute earlier, it would increase the threat to the enemy!

Following the third issuance of command from the staff to accelerate, the troops picked up speed again.

Four armored divisions, with combat units numbering as many as 28,000 personnel, and nearly 10,000 logistics and support troops. Over 22,000 combat mechas, hundreds of electronic mechas, over a thousand engineering mechas, transport mechas, and heavy trucks, stretched across dozens of kilometers through the mountains, on the road.

From the western mountainous area where the troops were located to Frenso Town, there were two roads in total. The distance between the roads is about fifteen or sixteen kilometers.

The main force was divided into left and right wings, with the majority advancing along the roads, while a smaller group proceeded through the gentler slopes of valleys and hilly areas. The units traversing the mountains usually consisted of the highly mobile Single Soldier Mechas, which crossed mountains both to alleviate road load pressure and to protect the flanks of the larger forces.

From the local SkyNet view, the entire formation resembled a ripple fish, pointed at the front, wide in the middle, with the logistics troops trailing behind like a tail, swimming through the green mountains.

With the increase in forward speed, the distances between many units expanded. At the very front, the 1st and 2nd Groups of the Jiepeng 81 Armored Division had already stretched almost five kilometers ahead of the main forces behind.

Though the troops appeared a bit scattered, this did not concern Forbes.

This is an inevitable phenomenon in high-speed marches through mountainous terrain. As long as battalion-level units can maintain communication and coordination, there is no danger.

In fact, if he could learn any news of Frenso sooner and reach the war zone quicker, Forbes wouldn’t mind his troops being a little more spread out. With the strength of an entire army, no matter how chaotic, it wouldn’t be easily shaken. To take down these troops, the Fei Alliance would need to deploy at least ten divisions in this area, and spend at least a week!

While speculating about what might be happening in Frenso Town, only less than thirty kilometers away, the pacing Forbes suddenly heard a staff officer loudly report.

”General, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Group of the 81st Division has encountered an attack.”

Forbes turned to look at the screen.

The attack site was in a canyon less than ten kilometers from the Dorai River, with red warning signs constantly flashing on the virtual map. The 81st Division’s 3rd Group, which had lost nearly twenty mechas, had already stopped, and the group leader dispatched two companies to recon towards the southwest.

”Tell General Joe Hart, division commander of the 81st Division, to halt this foolish reconnaissance by his 3rd Group and accelerate their pace! The distance between them and the 1st and 2nd Groups is already far enough.” Forbes quickly reviewed the battle report and snorted coldly, instructing the staff.

It wasn’t only the 3rd Group of the 81st Division that had been attacked. In fact, omitting the earlier attacks faced by various units, even as the 3rd Group encountered their attack, there were two or three attack reports on the local SkyNet.

The enemy intended to delay the troop’s advance, with their attacks becoming more frequent as they neared Frenso Town. Forbes did not believe stopping to clear the area was a wise choice.

The entire four armored divisions were like an indestructible war machine. The mission of this war machine now was to march to Frenso Town. Any harassment that wasn’t part of a large-scale attack could be ignored!

”Yes!” The staff accepted the command, inputting Forbes’s orders into SkyNet, trying to use the command system to convey it to the 81st Armored Division.

However, after several operations, the staff found no response to the transmitted orders.

What’s going on?

The staff frantically searched for the cause, drenched in sweat.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

Before him, a string of red alert symbols, like raindrops in a storm, rippled densely across the SkyNet screen.

The foremost 1st and 2nd Groups of the 81st Division were completely engulfed by the red ripples, and behind, the just-paused 3rd Group frantically sent out distress signals after their initial attack report. Behind them was the 3rd Group of the 106th Division, also 15 kilometers away, on another road, the Suss 92 Division......

The staff used almost all his strength to turn his stiff neck and looked toward Forbes.

Forbes was standing right behind him, his mouth agape, his face pale.

.

.

. It is only now that I am realizing that many scene descriptions and plot handling are new challenges for me. Although I have written over three million words, this is my first book after all, and I don’t want to repeat previous materials, so there is still a lot I haven’t experienced.

.(To be continued. For more details, log on to www.qidian.com, read more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)