With Bao incapacitated, the Earth Army dispatched a landing force of one hundred thousand troops, escorted by a fleet of Type [number omitted for consistency] warships.

In the battles of the preceding days, the losses were not confined to the massive capital ships; medium and small warships had also sustained considerable damage.

Although recent resupply efforts had managed to replenish some, the fleet had not yet returned to its original strength of over three thousand vessels.

The aerial and ground forces advanced in unison, shattering defensive lines layer by layer until they reached Fortress No.

2.

At the center of the ground contingent, the four Thunder Gods once again unleashed their devastating power; raising both arms, eight Level Five Sodium Cannons roared, bombarding the defensive line ahead, tearing it apart and smashing it into shrapnel.

Since the Thunder Gods entered the battlefield, the Ancient Legion had adapted their fortress defenses accordingly, redirecting many of the fortress cannons originally aimed at the starry void toward the ground.

This shift traded some anti-air capability in space for enhanced terrestrial defense.

By this point, the number of fortress cannons facing the ground at Fortress No.

2 had been increased to thirty.

These were all Level Six Hammer Cannons, possessing terrifying destructive force; a single strike on the ground could wipe out all enemies within a square kilometer radius.

Before the Thunder Gods appeared, the primary mission of these fortress cannons was to counter the Earth Army's escort fleets in the air.

Cooperating with anti-air turrets, five to six thousand fighter jets, and over twelve hundred medium and small warships, they had inflicted no small amount of damage on the Earth Army's protective fleet.

However, following the Thunder Gods’ arrival, the focus of the fortress cannons shifted entirely onto them.

To take down the Thunder Gods—which had proven so outstanding in previous fortress assaults—the Ancient Legion spared no effort.

On Io, a moon with a diameter of barely over three thousand six hundred kilometers, the issue of range was largely moot