In the boundless, clear expanse of the starry sky. The Sun and Jupiter hung on the left and right sides, framing the crimson darkness. The starlight clearly illuminated the grain of nearly half of Jupiter.

Though it was only one o'clock according to standard time, it was broad daylight here. The sunlight, while not as intense as on Earth, was still bright enough to illuminate the surroundings. The greyish-white surface was riddled with impact craters, large and small. They were dense, overlapping, as if not a single inch of the ground remained intact. This monotonous terrain stretched all the way to the horizon.

After an initial flurry of activity on the landing zone, the soldiers had finally accepted the existence of the Thunder God. The sight of such a behemoth at first glance was indeed as awe-inspiring as Yang Ying had predicted. However, once the shock subsided, the soldiers' confidence and morale soared. The tension that had been building internally about the impending battle seemed to have been swept away by the massive and imposing frame of the Thunder God.

Blade, before landing, had already received the mission parameters and confirmed the sequence of operations. The Tran Mercenary Group, as a mercenary organization outside the military, participated in the war by contract, not obligation. Although they had to follow superior orders on the battlefield, they enjoyed far greater freedom than the regular army in many aspects.

Once the army was fully assembled, tens of thousands of infantry boarded various vehicles and set off toward their objective.

Not a single person walked; that would be far too slow. In order to seize every possible advantage against time, the entire landing force moved using armored vehicles. Tens of thousands of hover-bikes, battle-wagons, troop carriers, and various other armored vehicles formed several long serpents, advancing abreast across the land.

In the sky, over ten thousand various fighter jets provided air cover for this force, but to avoid being shot down by enemy anti-air defenses, both the fighters and support craft maintained a low-altitude flight profile.

According to the plan devised by the relevant planners, it was deemed more effective to commit to a single thrust rather than split forces. Therefore, the entire landing force would concentrate all its strength to attack Military Fortress One, striving to break the deadlock in the shortest possible time.

The landing zone was also carefully selected; it allowed them to evade enemy anti-air fire while minimizing travel distance, aiming to reach the target in approximately sixty minutes.

After the entire army set off, Blade summoned his own Ghost fighter and ascended back into the sky.

Shortly after setting out, a sudden, brilliant flash erupted on the horizon, briefly outshining the sun itself!

Blade’s pupils contracted sharply. He had seen this sight before, both in the data files and now in reality.

As the intense light gradually faded, a mushroom cloud rose from the horizon.

It was the spectacle of a nuclear detonation!

Fortunately, the distance was still great—the explosion occurred several hundred kilometers away—and it caused no casualties among the landing troops. However, it startled many. Officers disciplined some soldiers whose fear was so pronounced it began to affect morale, and the entire unit continued its advance without slowing down.

Blade queried the command center about the incident and learned that Fortress One had launched a nuclear missile targeting the landing force. The missile was spotted shortly after launch by the Allied Fleet, which intercepted and destroyed it from its position in the planet's outer orbit.

Blade had worried about the possibility of the Ape-men launching a nuclear strike, but he had ultimately set that concern aside. The Allied Fleet was well-prepared for the possibility of an attack by nuclear weapons, and after years of conflict, both the Earth Forces and the Ancient Legion had developed countermeasures against such threats.

This time, the missile was only destroyed mid-flight because the Allied Fleet was not directly facing Fortress One. Had the Fleet had a direct line of sight to the Fortress, that nuclear warhead would have been annihilated the moment it left the launch silo.

Having survived the nuclear crisis, the landing force pressed on, gradually nearing its destination.

From the images relayed by the Observers, Blade saw that Fortress One was actually an underground complex, situated beneath a massive impact crater ten kilometers in diameter. All the gun emplacements were concealed, whether they were anti-air batteries or main fortress cannons.

Since the Earth Forces still lacked complete intelligence on Fortress One—not knowing precisely what was hidden where—they had very limited actionable intelligence, which inherently restricted their tactical flexibility.

As they drew closer to the objective, the Ancient Legion’s reconnaissance aircraft became more numerous. Given Io's monotonous surface and lack of cover, any slight disturbance was difficult to conceal from eyes in the sky.

Fortunately, the satellites orbiting the moon had already been eliminated by the Allied Fleet's offensive from outside the planet, meaning the Ancient Legion could only rely on these manned or unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to gather intelligence on the landing force.

Just as the landing force spread out its formation and began closing in on Fortress One, hundreds of hatches around the Fortress suddenly sprang open, revealing black, gaping maws of cannon barrels.

These were all large-caliber, physical, indirect-fire artillery pieces. On Io, where gravity was far lower than on Earth, the shells could travel much farther.

The next moment, these barrels simultaneously spat out deadly fire. A massive volley of shells arced through the air toward the advancing column! The projectiles traveled several kilometers before detonating within the ranks, flipping over a cluster of armored vehicles. Most were tossed into the air, spun a couple of times, and crashed down as scrap metal. A few vehicles were particularly unlucky; shells detonated right beside them, or they were struck directly, their armor ripped to shreds and blasted upward and outward with the pulverized rock!

Due to Io's low surface gravity and near-total lack of air resistance, the debris was lofted hundreds of meters into the sky before slowly drifting down, causing the scattered fragments to cover an alarmingly wide area. The visual effect was terrifying, resembling the aftermath of several miniature nuclear bombs detonating on a planetary surface, although their destructive power was far less.

Following the barrage, the main gate and several auxiliary entrances of Fortress One simultaneously burst open, and a cloud of Ape-men fighters poured out—clearly having been waiting for this moment.

The direct artillery shells had not struck the Tran Mercenary Group’s formation; the nearest one landed over three hundred meters away. The biggest immediate problem was the falling debris that blanketed several kilometers, severely reducing visibility.

Blade flew low, hearing the crackling sound of debris striking the hull of his Ghost fighter, but it caused him no hindrance.

Blade activated his comms and ordered, "Tanks, set up your stabilizers. Use the Observer feeds for targeting. Wipe out every exposed muzzle around the objective! Heavy Mechs, prepare for anti-air defense!"

Over the past six months, the tanks and heavy mechs had also been upgraded to the third generation, with significantly improved performance. In siege mode, even on Io with its extremely low gravity, they could extend their indirect fire range to cover the area around Fortress One.

Tank shells in siege mode were not propelled by explosives but by the immense energy of plasma converted into kinetic force to launch the projectile. This was the highest-damage weapon available to the ground forces.

After issuing this command, Blade delegated command of the ground forces to the supreme commander of the tank corps—a Colonel who was both a tanker and an artilleryman. He then pushed the flight stick forward, and the Ghost fighter accelerated rapidly, surging toward the Ancient Legion’s fighters.

Simultaneously, the three massive Thunder Gods lumbered forward, striding toward Fortress One.

Their movements appeared unhurried, each step measured as if they were leisurely strolling, but when scaled to their immense size, it became clear their speed exceeded that of some hover-bikes renowned for their velocity.

Blade's fighter led the way, flying ahead of the Earth Forces' main fighter wing, plunging into the Ancient Legion's fighter swarm once more, like a tiger among sheep.

Unleashing his floating turrets and projecting his massive beam net, he swept through the Ape-men fighters before him. With a single volley, one hundred and seventy rotary cannons fired their piercing beams, scattering like blossoms thrown to the four winds!

Of course, if Blade had to manually aim at all one hundred and seventy targets, it would consume a significant portion of his focus. To dedicate more mental energy to the fight, he needed computational assistance.

The aiming method for the floating turrets was not solely reliant on telekinesis; there was also the latest fire-control system from the Floating Continent Research Institute, capable of locking onto the maximum number of targets in the shortest time, allowing the fighter pilot to conserve most of his energy to monitor other threats.

As soon as Blade engaged, the Ape-men fighters began exploding in swathes. His Ghost fighter acted like an actively aggressive porcupine, leaving no blind spots above, below, or to the sides. The beams were numerous and dense, yet the hit rate was astonishingly high. Once he unleashed his attack, the efficiency was staggeringly effective.

Whenever Blade spotted a dense cluster of Ape-men fighters in one direction, he would unleash a torrent of beams—the beams acted like a wide brush, clearing a section with every sweep.

Two special-model Viper fighters, displaying exquisite piloting skill, weaved and dodged through the dense beam fire, charging toward Blade in a desperate gambit. Simultaneously, they unleashed all their missiles without restraint and peppered Blade with continuous fire from their Hammer-fire machine cannons.

"Come then!"

Blade recognized that the two Viper fighters were piloted by Quasi-Masters, but which Quasi-Master could match his peak of 90,000 points in telekinetic strength? Or possess the combat instincts of the Blade Emperor transformation?

With a sharp twist of the flight stick, Blade drove straight toward the two Ape-men Quasi-Masters. At the same time, his floating turrets instantly fanned out, encircling the two Viper fighters from above, below, and the sides.

"Even Master-level experts cannot stop me, let alone you two!" Blade roared, and the floating turrets began firing successive, sharp bursts!

Volleys relied on the density of the beam net, while rapid-fire bursts depended on tricky angles; both had their advantages.

The two Viper fighters desperately evaded, but after dodging four or five beams, they became overwhelmed, unable to cover all angles, and were repeatedly struck by the remaining energy lances. The beams obliterated the fighters, and then continued to vaporize the two escaping Ape-men Quasi-Masters into fragments?

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