The Landing
Splash!
Splash!
The sound caused by water being touched by a pair of feet rippled as Cordelia descends from the hovercraft and make her way to the shore. Around her, thousands of marines and soldiers were also doing the same.
Duar!!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
Gunfires, as well as, explosions erupted and blazing while the amphibious force pushes their way forward, trying their best to seize the first objective. Overall, what happened on the beach right now was truly chaotic.
Not long, Cordelia stopped her movement and begin to take cover behind an amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC) belongs to Arguna marines, together with her command staff.
"General! A report coming in from the 8th Marine Battalion… They said that the enemy forces are slowly falling back." One of her staff, who handle the communication, suddenly reported.
Hearing that, Cordelia nodded in satisfaction, "Good! Tell them to maintain their position while continue engaging the enemy, but strictly warned them not to pursue. We must wait for the rest of our forces to land on the beach first."
"Yes, ma'am!" The communication operator complied before going back to fiddling with his radio.
Cordelia then deploys her Martial Sense to check up on the enemy forces. They were already retreating gradually deeper to the inner section, and the lush forest makes it hard for them to be seen directly by visual means, especially from Cordelia's position.
With her peak stage Titanium-class cultivation, Cordelia's Martial Sense was able to cover a maximum radius of 5km. And soon, she found that the invaders have indeed falling back slowly. But she can judge based on their movements that the enemy seems performing a delaying action rather than being forced to a retreat.
From this fact, she deduced that the enemy was still supposedly able to mount a fierce resistance. But instead of doing that, they did the exact opposite. She couldn't help but frowning, 'What the hell are they planning to do?'
Suspicious on what the enemies were up to, Cordelia reached out her hand and tap the communication operator's shoulder.
As the operator turned his head around, Cordelia opened her mouth with a stern expression, "Order the 6th Marine Battalion and 19th Infantry Battalion to quickly complete their respective tasks. I want them to do it fast! Also, contact the second wave, and tell them to proceed with the landing. I've decided to change my mind, we can't wait any longer."
The operator along with everyone nearby was flabbergasted. It's truly rare for the always decisive Phoenix General to have a change of mind in the middle of a battle. But he was not the one who has the capacity to question her orders. Thus, he simply nods and relays the messages.
After that, Cordelia returns to monitor the surrounding area using her Martial Sense.
The second wave of the amphibious assault, which consisted of JTF-10, the Association's rankers, and Violet Global's security contractors, were still at the sea currently. In the original plan, they should have landed only after the beach has been seized.
However, Cordelia got a bad feeling all of a sudden after seeing the opposite side's suspicious movement. Her intuition told her that her forces could not wait for long, everything must be done fast.
Suddenly, at this very moment…
Several dozens of spell attacks with different colors grazing across the sky and heading straight for the beach. Based on their trajectories, they seemed to be originating from the heart of the island.
As Cordelia saw them with her very own eyes, a horrified expression appeared on her face. Those were all high-level spells that were unleashed by none other than Diamond-class rankers!
"Watch out! Incoming strikes!" Her stern voice booming in the air, and it was heard by every soldier in the vicinity.
As soon as they heard it, all of the soldiers immediately duck for cover. And with quick reflex, Cordelia cast a protective spell around her position, which could protect her staff as well as the nearby men.
The velocity of the incoming spells was extremely fast, faster even than the speed of sound. It didn't take more than a few seconds for them to get closer to their targets. And all of them were spread out evenly as if they were intended to impact the whole area of the beach.
However, as they were about to descend upon their targets…
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
Another group of spells coming from the direction of the sea managed to intercept them!
Blasting them to dust, saving the amphibious forces in the process.
Cordelia was extremely relieved, and so were her men. The destruction that would be caused by those high-level spells was definitely not something that her forces can take. It certainly will create massive casualties among their ranks.
A catastrophic result would not be an exaggeration if those spells really fall on their heads.
Prior to the landing, Cordelia had been told by the Amethyst Queen that she had assigned one of her Diamond-class subordinates to accompany and escort the amphibious party from above. It was this very ranker who had intercepted many long-range attacks from the invaders which targeting the convoy when they were still on the way to the island. And it looks like that ranker was still protecting them even now. As a result, Cordelia was extremely grateful to their savior.
Because of the earlier attack, she was even more sure now that the amphibious forces can no longer remain to bog down on the beach. They must quickly resume their offensive and push deeper inland.
"General! Look! Over there…" Out of the blue, one of the men nearby shouted.
Cordelia was initially confused, but immediately shifted her attention and started looking at the direction that was pointed out by the soldier.
Her eyes widened at the sight of a group of rankers made up of tens of individuals, whom nearly half of them possessed different appearances and physiques that were vastly different from humans, emerged from the forest.
Some had a towering, monstrosity body that looked menacing and strong. Cordelia recognized these creatures were from the Devil race, her nation's primary enemy at the current moment. Also, the exact same members of the race she had seen and fought during her 'rite of passage' inside Heavenly Tower back in the past.
While others had body features that looked almost similar to humans but every soldier on the beach can felt that they exude a kind of aura that feels ominous and somewhat disgusting. Cordelia never had a chance to met or see a vampire before, but based on the knowledge and information about them she had learned, she believes that these creatures were precisely the infamous vampires. All of them wore a hood and cloak on top of their armors, covering their whole skins as well as their faces. It seems the rumor about the vampires having no love for sunlight was true.
Cordelia's heart sank after she sensed their power level. All of them have the cultivation base above Silver-class! With four among them, all devils, were at peak stage Titanium-class!
Those four were basically at the level of Devil General!
In a flash, this group assaults the vanguard of the 6th Marine Battalion, located approximately 400 meters northeast of Cordelia's position. Due to the gap between their strength, the marines stood no chance against the onslaught. Casualties started to pile up as the group cut through the battalion's line easily like a knife slicing butter.
"This is Phantom - 1 Actual, we're being attacked!!!"
"The enemies are too strong, request for backup!!!"
"Need medic, we got men down in here!"
Hectic radio chatters transmitted across every channel, making Cordelia's comm operator got a nasty headache from hearing it.
Cordelia gritted her teeth as wrath swelling up inside her heart. Then, she spoke, "Tell the 6th to hold their line steadfastly, don't let the enemy succeed in whatever they up to!"
"Roger that!" The comm operator complied and proceed to relay the order.
As the situation can't get any more worst, another barrage of high-level spells launched by the invaders from the heart of the island grazing once again across the sky. But this time, it seems their targets were not the beach, the spells only passed by and heading straight toward the sea instead, completely ignoring the amphibious forces.
Cordelia had no clue what the enemy was firing at. But she didn't have time to care about it as there was a more pressing matter in her hand right now.
The group that had assaulted the 6th Marine Battalion has broken through. Seeing that the line was broken so easily and quick, Cordelia cursed loudly while throwing a punch on the rear side of the APC, creating a deep dent on its steel-plated armor, "Bastards!"
She was extremely frustrated. Not to mention, four of the group's strongest rankers along with few others were racing toward her position, which confused her greatly, 'What the hell do they want?!'
Witnessing those rankers ignoring everything while keep advancing to her location directly, Cordelia couldn't help but wonder, 'Am I being targeted?'
There was no better reason for the group's behavior other than that they specifically targeting Cordelia herself.
'Did they know I'm the opposite side's commander? If they really know, then it makes sense.'
As a general and a student of war, she was no stranger to a decapitation strike, which basically a tactic that aimed at removing the leadership of an opposing army, in order to disrupt their command chain, and thus shattering their ability to wage battle.
What the enemy was trying to do right now was the same as the allied forces had tried to since the start of the battle, when the team under the Amethyst Queen trying to lure the enemy leaders to leave the island, so that they can confront them in an open duel.
And as an ancient proverb said: All fair in war.
Therefore, Cordelia couldn't blame the enemy for employing that kind of tactic, even though she herself was the target.
She had no idea how the enemy able to deduce her role as the commander. That information wasn't supposed to leak, considering that the military had the operation to recapture Eerie Island kept tight under ultimate secrecy. Only the participants as well as the highest-level echelons within Arguna government and armed forces have access to know about it.
Even local citizens have no knowledge regarding foreign worlds' incursion upon their country.
As the enemy group approaching closer, Cordelia realized she cannot avoid this combat.
Battle intent radiates from her body. In the end, she was still a dignified Titanium-class ranker, who will never back down in the face of a challenge.
Then, she unsheathed a silver curved blade that was strapped on her back and wields it with both hands.
Because high-level rankers have incredible speed and power, any kind of projectile-based weapons, even modern ones, cannot damage their defenses or even hit them at all. Hence, almost all rankers above Gold-class tend to fight using cold weapons and fought in a close range.
This silver blade was the most favorite and the only weapon Cordelia has. She got it as a spoil of war when she was competing against alien rankers in Heavenly Tower a couple years back.
Since then, this weapon always accompanies her in every battle she involves.
When the nearby men watched their commander had suddenly readying herself, they couldn't help but feel baffled.
But Cordelia didn't pay them any attention. Instead, she focused gazes toward the incoming enemy rankers.
'One versus many… I don't know how can I survive this.' As the strongest allied ranker currently on the beach, only her who had enough strength to contend with those rankers.
However, she shifted her eyes and looked to the sea. There, she saw that the second wave of the amphibious assault has gotten closer to the coast.
It won't be long before they commence the landing.
Cordelia turned her head around and let out a smirk.
'It appears I'm not going to fight alone.'