Chapter 64: Attack on the White Tower

"Falcon Four?"

"Falcon Four?"

"Report status?!"

"Falcon..."

Amidst the violent turbulence of the Stallion helicopter, Long Teng felt as though the last morsel of food in his stomach was about to be shaken right out.

Beside him, the deputy squad leader, who had been asking after Falcon Four, began retching repeatedly.

"Damn it! Old Xiao!"

The 77th Army Aviation Regiment, serving as an elite army aviation shock unit with deep operational ties to the Longteng Special Operations Force, maintained extremely close connections among its junior officers. As the special operations team leader, Long Teng was naturally very familiar with Captain Xiao, who was piloting the aircraft.

"If you keep flying like this, we'll all puke our guts out inside your bird before we even get close to the White Tower."

Under normal piloting conditions, the wide-bodied Stallion helicopter was by no means bumpy. However, these aircraft, having narrowly escaped the saturation bombing of the Yangji ground aviation forces, now had to contend with ground fire from Javelin launchers and heavy machine guns.

"Boom! Swish—!"

Seeing a Javelin missile launch once again, heading straight for the aircraft, Old Xiao no longer had the luxury of minding Long Teng's complaints. He hauled back the cyclic stick and initiated an emergency evasive maneuver to the flank.

Chaff and flare dispensers successfully jammed the rapidly incoming tracking missile.

"Son of a bitch!" Old Xiao cursed.

"Give these bastards a taste of the autocannons!"

"Drone Two, attack the Javelin firing point at eleven o'clock with me!"

"Copy that!"

The two scarred Stallion helicopters quickly adjusted their fuselages. Their rotors emitted a deafening roar as the two iron-winged beasts lunged toward the enemy firing position.

"Close-range twin salvo with the autocannons, repeat, close-range twin salvo!"

"Copy that!"

The weapons operator's gaze remained fixed on the chaotic enemy forces. The iron-winged beasts dove downward, and four autocannon rounds streaked straight toward the Yangji infantry like explosives tossed into a fishpond, instantly shattering limbs and torsos into scattered fragments flying through the air.

"Nice one, Drone Two!"

"Great job!"

The two aircraft quickly regrouped with the formation and continued their advance toward the White Tower.

"A nice hammer!" Long Teng hauled up the special operations troopers sprawled inside the cabin.

"Old Xiao, the Stallion can serve dual transport and combat roles, but you can't fly infantry carriers like you're piloting an attack chopper."

Long Teng felt as though the helicopter's rolling and dodging maneuvers had tied his intestines into knots. Even in his nearly century-long military career, experiencing turbulence and even crashes in helicopters was nothing new to him.

"Heh, if you don't strike them, those bastards will target passing tanks and armored vehicles. This is the best way to minimize casualties for our advancing brothers."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and get to the White Tower."

Long Teng leaned his upper body out from the cabin door, only to see beneath the helicopter formation several columns of steel dragons roaring forward toward the sacred White Tower.

The assault spearheads, composed of Long Teng's tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, were tearing apart the defensive positions established by the Yangji raiding forces along the main roads. Relying on the rifts ripped open by the evil god, the Yangji assault forces—supported by army aviation assets and a small number of infantry fighting vehicles—had managed to make significant progress within the first ring of Long City. They had even breached the White Tower's garrison and occupied the White Tower itself.

However, facing the ace 38th Division and the 9th Armored Brigade of the Capital Garrison Forces, the disadvantages of light forces confronting heavy forces quickly manifested.

Although Bradley fighting vehicles carrying anti-tank missiles tried their utmost to destroy the advancing Long Teng tanks, and despite the Yangji Marines and Rangers establishing defensive positions being elite fighters to the last man, under the unstoppable advance of the iron torrent, Long Teng watched as the defense lines near the main road of the first ring were ground to powder beneath the thundering treads of the Long Teng military.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"The position cannot be held!"

"Marines, move! All forces retreat toward the White Tower!"

Amidst the constant retreat orders shouted by the Yangji forces, the Long Teng armored infantry following the iron torrent were brimming with fighting spirit.

"Charge!"

"Rip them to pieces!"

The Long Teng army even sounded the ancient battle bugles of Long Teng's history. Amidst the rumbling bugle calls, Long Teng soldiers with fixed bayonets roared as they bit into the Yangji defense line.

The fearless assaults and absolute armor superiority gradually caused the Yangji defense line to collapse.

"All units, this is Overlord—"

The evil god's alluring voice once again echoed in the ears of the Yangji assault forces.

"Abandon your defensive positions! Immediately!"

"All units fall back toward the vicinity of the White Tower in an orderly fashion!"

"I will open another rift, and army aviation units will come through to cover your retreat..."

"I beg of you!"

The communication voice of 8th Marine Brigade Commander Sheffield reached Overlord's ears.

"Please use your divine might once more, and... open another rift for us!"

"If you do that, our heavy armor forces can enter... they can..."

Opening another rift into the Jade Realm, purely in terms of consumption of ethereal energy, was not a difficult task for one who had ascended to godhood. However, when the evil god had previously opened rifts with supreme confidence, he had perceived terrifying oppressive auras emanating from beyond the Jade Seal border—no, even from beyond the borders of the Seal itself. That oppressive aura was something even he, a newly minted god, could not resist.

Only one entity could make a divine being feel such profound dread.

"It cannot be opened... The rules of the Empyrean will not allow me to keep opening rifts..."

"What?"

Realizing his slip of the tongue, the evil god clamped his mouth shut, and the yellow ethereal energy surrounding his form rippled unhappily.

"Remember, Major General Sheffield," the evil god declared in the name of the divine bestower, Overlord, "my military genius and my power of yellow energy were both bestowed by the God of Yellow Energy."

The evil god lied to his playthings, yet his expression remained entirely unruffled.

"That does not mean I can abuse these powers. If that were the case, I would not need to trade your sacrifices for our Yangji victory!"

"I can only open a single rift to give you a final wave of army aviation support! As for heavy weaponry and equipment... see if it's possible to open a few small rifts on the ground to airdrop them."

Overlord's casual words left Major General Sheffield's heart turning icy cold. A veteran of countless battles, he knew very well that without the support of heavy armor, his marines and Ranger boys stood zero chance of surviving the wrath of the Easterners' vengeance.

"Therefore, you must consolidate your forces and hold the White Tower at all costs!"

"Modifying the three neutron bombs entirely with the divine power of the God of Yellow Energy still takes time!"

"Remember your Marine oath, General!"

Sheffield stared at the Magnum pistol in his hand, listening to the sounds of desperate rout echoing from all the assault units. He desperately wanted to put a bullet through his own head.

"Semper Fi... Lord Overlord."

"Semper Fi!"

"Good! Remember!"

"Hold fast! There is a way!"

Long Teng's armored torrent roared as it crushed the bodies of dying Yangji marines, even as one still clutched a photograph of his family in his hand.

A dying marine switched on his blood-stained portable music player, listening to country music from his homeland in the final moments of his life until he was riddled with bullets by vengeful Long Teng soldiers.

Yet their deaths were far from unearned in the eyes of the Long Teng soldiers. For it was precisely these dying men who, just hours earlier, had systematically executed thousands of Long Teng civilians captured within the first ring—sparing not even eight-year-old children—and had even used the corpses of the dead citizens as raw materials for booby traps.

Their justification was simple: the God of Yellow Energy required the sacrifice of inferior races.

Invaders only pray for so-called mercy in the moments before their death.

"The Marines are retreating toward the White Tower. It seems the rapid advance of the 9th Armored Brigade and the 38th Division has worked!"

"No, they intend to hunker down in the White Tower for a last-ditch desperate struggle."

"The Peace Square before the White Tower," Long Teng pointed to the location of Peace Square marked on the unfolded map, "the terrain directly facing our advance direction is completely flat with no cover whatsoever, save for the small hill in the central park."

"However, around the White Tower, a large number of government buildings have been constructed encircling the square, and temporary fortifications have been hastily erected by the Yangji troops right in the center of the square, all backed by the natural fortress of the White Tower itself."

A heavy trace of worry clouded Long Teng's gaze, but looking at his squad members covered in blood and dust, he spoke with unwavering resolve.

"Still, a trapped beast is a trapped beast!"

"Even if it's an armored turtle shell, we'll crack it open!"

Long Teng looked down at the armored torrent below, which was pressing forward in pursuit of the fleeing enemy.

"Hum~ hummm—"

An engine sound, distinct and sharper than the roar of tank engines, suddenly rang out. Long Teng looked on in astonishment as a Tiger armored vehicle sped forward at high velocity.

Logically speaking, the special operations team's Tiger armored vehicle should either have been left at the encampment outside the city or destroyed by enemy attack helicopters on their way transferring to the third ring. Yet this Tiger armored vehicle, though looking rather weathered, was completely undamaged.

"What the hell, am I seeing ghosts?"

What surprised Long Teng even more was that the armored vehicle was traveling while suspended in mid-air, hovering right above the armored column.

Long Teng instantly spotted Dai Longmei operating the machine gun mount and pulling the trigger frantically.

"Isn't that..."

The ancient-garbed compatriot he had rescued not long ago was firing wildly with the machine gun at the Humvees pursuing them from behind.

Those vehicles, too, were floating and moving through the air.

Long Teng could not comprehend the sight before his eyes, even though the compatriot's face possessed an uncanny sense of familiarity.

"Enemy attack!"

The roar of helicopters echoed from overhead.

From within a rift, terrifying Yangji attack helicopters burst forth.