The Battle Begins

Standing within one of the hovercrafts, which was rushing toward the island, along with her men, Cordelia's eyes were brimmed with confidence.

As the operation's overall commander, she needs to keep her forces' morale in check, thus being anxious or nervous did not bring her any benefits at all. On the contrary, it might bring a detrimental effect instead.

The operation involves almost three thousand personnel consisting of Arguna soldiers, marines, members of JTF-10, the Association's rankers, and security contractors from Violet Global Security. And the plan was divided into two phases.

The first phase was currently being carried out by two Arguna marine battalions and one infantry battalion. Their objective was to storm and seize the beach, located on the target island's southern coast. Their success will pave the way for the rest of the forces to safely land on the island.

The second phase will be commenced after Cordelia's entire forces have landed and consolidated their strength. And the objective would be the enemy's fortification itself, situated on the heart of the island, as well as the destruction of the enemy's teleportation device. Members of JTF-10 and rankers from both the Association and Violet Global will be the main characters during this phase.

They would directly engage the enemy forces while the rest of the allies following from behind and act as support. At that time, the battle would be strictly rankers against rankers.

Even though normal soldiers also possessed cultivation, they lacked personal combat skills, techniques, or spells, hence they couldn't be considered as true rankers. Most of them only have meager talent in cultivating and their foundations were shallow. On average, the strength of ordinary soldiers in Gaia mostly stood at Bronze or Iron-class. They would be utterly destroyed if they went against genuine experts, even at the same rank.

Luckily, they're not completely useless. At least, the soldiers and marines were still able to deal some damage with the help of their weapons.

On this day of age, many weapon manufacturer companies around the world have produced lots of state-of-the-art weapons and munitions by combining the elements of science, technology, and cultivation. One of them was the M-3 Hybrid Assault Rifle, which was the product of a public company from a nation called Valencia Federation.

The M-3 has a modular design, the weapon's parts can be exchanged and customized flexibly depending on the user's needs. It was also easy to maintained and cleaned. That's why the weapon has become the most popular gun of its kind and the staple main rifle for many militaries throughout the world, including the Armed Forces of Arguna Republic.

It's basically a Gauss-type rifle capable of firing high-velocity projectile up to four or even six times the speed of sound. And users would only need to use their own martial essences to power the gun.

This rifle was deadly enough against any rankers below Gold-class. Therefore, in the hands of ordinary soldiers who lacked combat skills, even peak Silver-class opponents would still need to be on guard.

Suddenly, at this time, the sky turned dimmer…

Cordelia and everyone on the amphibious convoy shift their attention upward. And they were shocked and startled by the spectacle that appeared above them.

Purplish thunder begins to converge around the small figures of five people who were floating in the sky. In addition, there were other smaller projections of aura with different colors also emerged nearby.

Those projections radiating a combined power pressure that spread out throughout every direction, making everyone on the amphibious convoy below be suffocated and awed.

Then, once the auras completed their convergence and become united…

Boom!!!

It was immediately shot out in a velocity that cannot be followed by mortals' eyes, accelerating toward the target island, while at the same time, sending shock-waves and thunderous voices that shook the whole sea.

DUARRR!!!

Not long, a deafening explosion sound erupted as the projection hit and punctured the enemy's formation array that protected the island with a great force, which also created a massive light that was so blinding and intense.

Even from afar, Cordelia was able to witness the formation array that was so formidable and impregnable that not even thousands of missiles can damage has shattered like broken glass.

She was shocked and speechless because of it.

'Was that really the power that Diamond-class rankers able to unleash? It's unbelievable!' She exclaimed inwardly.

While being in the middle of a stupor, Cordelia quickly remembered that she still had a duty.

She gathered her mind back, and glanced at one of the men beside her, "The enemy's array has been destroyed. Quick! Send in another request for fire mission and make sure to tell them to throw everything they got!"

Hearing the stern order from his commander, the soldier, who was so fixated on the shocking scene, jolted and replied while flustering, "U-Understood, General!"

***

Meanwhile, on Eerie Island.

"Damned! I don't expect the array to be able to last forever but it's an abomination that it was destroyed this early…" The devil Dalgaroth cursed loudly, his expression was fierce and unsightly.

"Detecting five Diamond-class ahead of us. I believe they are enemy rankers." The third devil reported suddenly.

"Of course they're the enemies, fool! Did you see those people just wrecked our array?! It's obvious that they're not goddamn fishermen!" Dalgaroth retort angrily while throwing a sharp gaze at his comrade.

Seeing that, the third devil merely shrugging in response.

"That purple thunder earlier… It looks like that whore queen is here." The second devil spoke in a grave tone.

Then, he sweeps his eyes to the rest of his allies, "Do all of you recognize the other rankers?"

"I know them, I could recognize their identities based on their martial essences' signatures. One is a leader of the Gaia Association, a late stage Diamond-class human known as the White Sage. The other three are the Amethyst Queen's subordinates: Black Iron Ramon, the Raging Mary, and the Silver Dame." Answered the first vampire seriously.

"One peak-stage, two late-stage, and two intermediate-stage… That's quite a formidable composition." The second vampire gave his opinion while gazing intensely at the small five figures on the far horizon.

Dargaroth's face grew even more ugly from hearing his colleagues' words.

Even though on the surface, the strength of his side was slightly more powerful than the enemy since his own cultivation stands at peak stage Diamond-class while the rest of his colleagues were all in late stage. But the opposite side had the Amethyst Queen supporting them.

In his own opinion, that wretched human female was really abnormal and truly frightening. Back in the past, two peak stage Diamond-class rankers from Devil race has fallen under her hands, and Dalgaroth knew one of them personally. That particular ranker was really strong, but even he was killed easily in a confrontation with the Amethyst Queen.

Dalgaroth, although slightly brash, know his own strength and capability. He didn't have the confidence he usually has knowing that he was about to face that woman.

However, as a veteran who had gone through hundreds of battles, he still can keep his emotion barely in check. Thus, with a slightly stirred heart, he spoke, "Alright, let's just calm down. We should follow our original plan, which is defending the island as long as possible until the arrival of Lord Lycidas. Those high-level enemy rankers seem to have the intention to bait us to leave the island and engage them one by one, in order to prevent us from harming their amphibious forces. Therefore, we must stay on the island and focus our attack on those boats instead. All of you need to sink as many as possible."

"That's right… Once Lord Lycidas is here, even the Amethyst Queen won't be a problem anymore." The first vampire said in agreement.

The second devil nodded, "Very well, I'll relay the instruction to my team. The rest of you should do the same."

And soon, all five of them were communicating with each of their own forces as they prepare to welcome their opponents.

***

"Hmm… It seems the enemy did not take our baits." The one who spoke was Ramon, while he was scrutinizing the island with cold glares.

"I've heard that Dalgaroth, the third strongest amongst the fifteen Devil Lords, is rather a brash fellow. But he appears to be really cautious now." Said Helena in a lazy tone, after sensing that there was no major movement from the enemy rankers.

The White Sage beside her smiled bitterly, "I think it's because they have recognized you, Lady. Your name is really renowned within the Devil's circle, you know. Especially after you killed that powerful incubus from back then and took his castle."

Helena lightly snorted, "That's not my fault, old man. He's the one who brought doom to himself when he tried to rape me… What should I do other than killing him? Just lay down, spread my legs, and let him do everything he wants? Humph! He deserved it."

The old sage just sighed and shook his head.

Helena then continued while being serious, "But this could be problematic if we're unable to cut off the enemy's heads. Not to mention, we still haven't discovered the presence of their Star-class ranker."

The White Sage felt his heart jerk for a moment upon hearing Helena's words. On his mind, the appearance of a Star-class powerhouse could definitely be a game-changer.

However, although his organization has received a tip that indicated an unidentified Star-class ranker from the Vampire race was actually the one who commands the incursion, that information was really vague and cannot be verified. It's more like a rumor than an actual intel.

Furthermore, the enemy was currently only led by five Diamond-class rankers. Even after the formation array has been destroyed, they found no one with the cultivation base above Diamond-class amidst the enemy's ranks.

Hence why the old sage really hoped that the info about the enemy's Star-class powerhouse was nothing more than hearsay. Otherwise, things will become extremely horrendous for Gaia.

"Well, anyway… It's useless to complain about the bait's failure. We might as well try a different approach and keep taunting those bastards, see if it works." Helena spoke once again.

The other four nodded their heads almost simultaneously as they agreed with Helena.

"What do you want us to do, Mistress?" Mary asked.

Hearing the question, Helena contemplates for a while. Even though she wasn't the commander of the operation, she was allowed to conduct a freedom of movement, which also included the other four Diamond-class rankers. That's why she can improvise her tactic even when the battle was raging on without communicating with Cordelia.

Her team's first task was to destroy the enemy's formation array, which they have successfully executed. The second task was to eliminate all of the enemy's Diamond-class rankers. However, barging straight to the island itself to fight them right now was definitely unwise, since the island was still invested by hostile troops.

Therefore, Helena and her team initially intended to fish the opposite rankers to leave the island and battling them afterward. Unfortunately, their plan has gone haywire because the enemy leaders merely ignore them, instead of, taking the bait.

Since the situation has become like that, Helena had no choice but to come up with a new tactic.

A moment later, she looked at Lydia, "Lydia, you go follow the amphibious convoy. It would take some time before they reach their landing zone. During this time, the enemy will surely attack them from afar and trying to destroy as many boats as they could. Your job is precisely to protect them and make sure to keep friendly casualties at a minimum. You clear?"

"Roger that, Mistress." Lydia complied happily before she goes toward the convoy.

After that, Helena looked over to both Mary and Ramon, who were floating side by side, "I want both of you to get closer to the island and harass the enemy position. Just keep creating some disturbances and deal damages to their ranks. No matter how cautious those devils are, knowing their natures, I believe they would soon get annoyed if you keep bugging them. And once you in there, be careful of their anti-air defenses and watch out for the incoming missiles, they could mistakenly lock on to you both instead of the enemy."

Receiving the task, both Ramon and Mary nodded their heads and replied at once, "Understood!"

Just like Lydia earlier, they too immediately depart to perform their job.

"Young Lady, what about me then? These old bones also need to work…" The White Sage asked jokingly.

Helena rolled her eyes and spoke teasingly, "It's not good for an old gentleman such as you to play around. You should stay here and accompany this queen."

The sage's eyes lit up and he chuckled, "Hehe, that is more to my liking… Of course, I accept the offer."

Both of them then keep monitoring the battle that was about to unfold.