Steel steam and flame

It was nearly two minutes later when the sixth and seventh ground teams heard a violent explosion from their communicators that had not been turned off. The bombing did not last long. Although the load of the airship fully supported a full coverage bombing of that area, there was no such necessity.

The airship where the adjutant was sitting was slightly higher at the moment. Under the cloudless sky in the afternoon, the sound of the bombing had long been absorbed by the mountains and trees on its way here, but the rising gray smoke could still be faintly seen at high places. shadow. The other ground troops still followed the order and evacuated to both sides, avoiding that location as quickly as possible.

Soon after, the teams on the encirclement gathered together in twos and threes, and the order to stop closing the encirclement was given by the adjutant. After the rendezvous, the teams were asked to choose better terrain nearby to establish a defensive circle, and no further action was taken. Waiting, the adjutant gave the answer. The adjutants couldn't tell how long they would have to wait, and they were also worried about whether the enemy would continue to pursue the ground troops.

According to the enemy's speed analyzed in the latest information, it would not take more than ten minutes to catch up with other teams. Once locked, it indicates that the ground teams will be annihilated in a short period of time. In the eyes of the adjutants, the defensive circle they established was just a psychological comfort they gave those teams. It may delay the time of annihilation from three or four minutes to seven or eight minutes, but the result will never change.

The airship formation also flew to high altitudes, no longer clinging to the woods between the mountains. They all go to the top of the mountain, further widening the distance from the ground team, and maintaining the limit of the aerial bomb range to support the ground team. Everything with air superiority in the Ribbon Mountains has strategic significance, and in large-scale battles, their role is huge and effective.

The adjutants looked at the encirclement on the map, where a huge gap was opened. They also fell into waiting. The first thing that needs to be passed is a period of ten to fifteen minutes. If the ground team is not attacked again, it means that the enemy roughly understands what they mean.

"The ground team is parked in place. If we approach them unilaterally, the time to rendezvous with them will be extended by a little more than an hour. It will be about 4:30 in the afternoon when we get there." An adjutant reminded, "Mousse It will take about ten minutes for the adults to catch up with us. If we take a small airship later, we can compress the time to more than an hour. By the time we get there, the enemy should have evacuated long ago, right? They are just unlucky. When we were going deep into the mountains, we happened to encounter an ambush team? This was a bit too sudden and very unreasonable."

"Their strength can easily break through the encirclement, and they can leave directly without any hindrance. After the ambush team is annihilated, as long as the traces are cleaned up, there will be no problem in advancing deep into the mountains again. Or because they are too careful, So you chose to return directly? But the speed was too fast. The distance from the ambush team to the ground troops in the encirclement..."

"Two teams?" an adjutant asked, and something suddenly occurred to him. He looked at the other two lieutenants and saw the same thing on their faces. This was not a tacit understanding or accident, but something that his analytical ability could naturally come up with if he had enough information.

In less than a minute, the adjutant's airship formation lowered down to a position a hundred meters above the woods. They lined up according to the extreme radius of the temperature sensing range and moved forward while searching the interior of the woods below. At the same time, about fifteen minutes passed, and all the information was summarized again by the adjutants and put into Mousse's head.

"Two teams, the one in the encirclement should be to open a hole for the incoming team in advance and cover their unimpeded evacuation." After hearing the message, Mousse gave the final answer. His voice was filled with a smile and strong interest. Things may have exceeded their predictions. Even if the information is constantly improved and updated, it will only create more fog. "I want to know more and more what is going on." What's going on? But only by meeting the enemy and catching a few people for interrogation can we get some information."

"Be prepared, we will catch up with you soon. Including you, select 27 people from the team to form a team of 30 people, and rush over with me to have a look. If the speed is slow, the enemy will We should have evacuated long ago." The mood changed from doubtful thinking to relief. Is exploring the unknown always exciting? At least the answer here is yes.

"Continue to let the airship search below. You have done a good job in this. The team that encountered the ambush may still be running towards the encirclement. If we can meet in the middle, maybe we can know the identity of these two teams faster. specific situation."

After telling the estimated time, Mousse in the room put down the communicator and closed his eyes.

,,,,,,

The aerial bomb exploded behind him, and Cassia could feel the impact and heat wave in the woods. Having left that place, the only effect of the bombing may be to make Cassia hear several huge explosions.

I originally wanted to chase the airship formation based on the smoke trails left by the aerial bombs in mid-air, but Cassia gave up this idea after seeing the airships rising in altitude in an open position in front of them. The enemy guessed his purpose. When the height of the airship exceeded the top of the mountain, there was really nothing he could do about it without suitable weapons.

Then running along the edge of the arc, a few minutes later Cassia "saw" other ground teams setting up defensive positions on the spot. Three ground troops merged together, numbering close to 1,300 people. Occupy a small area and rely on a higher terrain to build a dense firepower network. Cassia saw no fewer than a hundred heavy machine guns alone. Together with other firearms and portable artillery, Cassia estimated that it would take ten minutes to completely annihilate it. And if you rush in when the low-pitched wave effect breaks out, you are likely to be injured. After all, the firepower network is indeed too dense.

"We have chosen to take the initiative to let go of the encirclement." Thousands of meters away, Cassia simply calculated the size of the hole in the encirclement and muttered, "At the speed of the airship, it will take the pursuing enemy to catch up with Isa and the others. Fifty minutes, still within the time it took me to rush back. But the enemy's current evasive actions are obviously under unified command. The person in charge of this area should have started to take action, but I am not sure whether it is him or his adjutants and subordinates. .”

Finally, he took a look at the team of thousands of people diagonally in front of him. Although ten minutes could exactly fill fifty minutes for Cassia, he still gave up after thinking about it.

The annihilation of the two teams was enough to attract the enemy's attention, and Cassia was unwilling to increase his strength in the enemy's information. Although identity exposure is inevitable, the length of time between exposure can affect the development trajectory of many events later.