Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 970 The Blank Space of the Moment of Destruction

Inside the command vehicle, the sharp radar warning sound only rang out shrilly the moment the Kh-23 missile engine ignited!

That death-locking, highest-level shriek pierced everyone's eardrums and hearts like an ice pick.

On the screen, two rapidly approaching points of light flashed with a blinding red light!
"Missile! Missile! Extremely low altitude! One o'clock! Get out of the way! Get the fuck out of the way—!!"

A staff officer let out a desperate scream that echoed through the metal can.

It's all too late.

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely, or perhaps it froze in an instant.

Brigadier General Lumar turned around abruptly. His face, usually so composed and in control, now clearly reflected, for the first time, an extreme and incomprehensible astonishment and bewilderment under the dim blue light of the screen.

He saw the two points of light on the screen that represented the Grim Reaper, the faces of the staff officers distorted with extreme fear, looking like demons under the red alarm light, and the two blinding beams of light outside the bulletproof window that stretched rapidly in the darkness like the Grim Reaper's snares...

His mind went blank.

All the calculations, all the plans, all the arrogance and confidence, collapsed and shattered into dust in the face of absolute power and sudden death.

He didn't even have time to think about "why," or feel angry or scared.

There was only a cold, absolute blank space, filled with the rapidly expanding light of destruction outside the window.

Outside the command post, on the ZU-23-2 twin-barreled anti-aircraft gun position, which had just become somewhat relaxed due to the pressure on the right flank.

The gunner was wiping the dew off his night vision scope with his greasy sleeve, cursing the damn cold wind and the boring guard duty.

The thunderous roar of engines from the distant horizon was initially drowned out by the intense gunfire from the right flank, until the sound became as if it were exploding overhead, so fast it made one's scalp tingle!

A blinding trail of flame tore through the night sky, heading straight for the command vehicle!

"Enemy aircraft! Extremely low altitude! One o'clock position! Missile! Fire! Fire! Fire!!"

The piercing scream from the observation post tore through the air, carrying a despairing, broken tone that was chilling in the empty night.

The gunner, as if struck by a high-voltage electric shock, rushed to his gun position, frantically turning the heavy traverse and elevation mechanisms with all his might.

The cannon barrel struggled and clumsily rose, trying to catch the shadow of death that swept low overhead.

Through his night-vision goggles, the target was a blurry, fast-moving heat source and a blinding trail of flame. His heart pounded as if it would shatter his ribs, and cold sweat instantly soaked his icy back.

too close!
too fast!
He didn't even have time to aim the cannon at the point in front of the target!

"Fuck your mother..."

He cursed desperately, his fingers instinctively reaching for the trigger.

But just as the cannon had spewed out a few futile tracer rounds—

boom--! ! ! !

The first Kh-23 missile, carrying all of Alexander's hatred and Song Heping's precise calculations, struck with thunderous force and pinpoint accuracy into the weakest gap in the armor on the top of the command vehicle!
A fireball rose into the darkness.

The warhead exploded the instant it penetrated the armor.

A violent explosion occurred!

That was no ordinary explosion; it was a violent release of metal and energy compressed to the extreme!
This sturdy command vehicle—the brain of the Lumar armored group—was torn open from the top like an eggshell being crushed by a giant hand!

An indescribable, blindingly white fireball instantly expanded, engulfing everything in sight!
The violent shockwave swept outwards in all directions like a ball!

The steel bulkheads were twisted, torn apart, and thrown around like pieces of paper!
Sophisticated electronic equipment, flickering screens, and communication devices turned into powder and burning fragments in a fraction of a second!

People—staff members, communications soldiers, operators, along with their frozen-upon-the-last-moment shock, fear, and bewilderment—were instantly carbonized, torn apart, and vaporized under the absolute heat and impact.

The command vehicle instantly transformed into an ultra-high pressure, ultra-high temperature steelmaking furnace, where everything, living and dead, was completely destroyed and mixed into a mess.

A massive fireball, billowing with smoke and deadly fragments, burst forth like a death flower blooming in the heart of the Lumar armored group, like a flower of death blossoming from hell on earth.

It illuminated the darkness within a radius of several hundred meters as brightly as day.

The reflection showed the pale, distorted faces of all the soldiers around them, contorted with extreme terror.

Almost simultaneously with the flash of the first missile hitting and exploding, and before the fireball had reached its maximum size, the second Kh-23, carrying the lingering force and momentum of death, slammed heavily between the three BTR-80 armored medical vehicles parked right next to the command center.

These vehicles were packed with medicines, high-pressure oxygen cylinders, and spare fuel!
Rumble——! ! !
An even more earth-shattering secondary explosion occurred!

A chain reaction! The flammable and explosive materials in the medical vehicle were instantly ignited, turning into a terrifying super bomb.

A larger, hotter fireball shot into the air, instantly engulfing the flames of the first explosion, its brightness increasing several times over.

The shockwave, amplified by the aftershocks of the first explosion, was like an invisible, devastating tsunami, tossing the nearby T-72 tanks and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles around like toys.

The heavy vehicle was thrown off the ground and then crashed down again.

The explosive reactive armor (ERA) blocks on the vehicle's surface were blown up like startled beetles, flying everywhere and crashing into other vehicles and the ground with a clanging sound.

Flames soared into the sky, thick smoke billowed, forming a raging pillar of death that connected heaven and earth, illuminating the entire Rift Valley battlefield.

Lumar's brigade-level command center, along with his core command personnel, communication network, decision-making capabilities, and crucial medical logistics nodes, were completely wiped out both physically and informationally in just two seconds!
It turned into a burning, twisted, steel tomb reeking of burnt meat and molten iron! This destructive fire in the darkness became the final epitaph of the former supreme commander of the Sena government forces surrounding it!
"Hurrah! Hit! Repeat! Target destroyed!"

Alexander's ecstatic roar echoed in the violently shaking cockpit of the MiG-23. The massive shockwave from the explosion and the destructive fire that illuminated the sky below could be felt even through the canopy, its heat and ferocity palpable.

The thrill of revenge surged through his body like a high-voltage current. He saw it! The destructive fire that lit up the night sky, the image of his enemy's head being severed!
he made it!

Without the slightest hesitation, the instinct for survival and training memory instantly took over.

He jerked the stick back and simultaneously slammed the rudder to the left! The MiG-23 spun a breathtaking, incredibly tight turn at low altitude, the immense G-forces like a boulder several times its own weight, slamming him hard into the ejection seat! His vision went black instantly, gray appeared at the edges of his field of vision, and blood was being violently pulled down to his lower limbs by centrifugal force.

He gritted his teeth, relying on his strong body and the excitement of revenge to persevere.

We must run immediately!
This airspace, illuminated by fire, has become a boiling hell of Avengers and a trap of furious anti-aircraft fire.

Just as he completed the turn, pointing the nose towards the relatively safe, dark depths of the southwest, preparing to engage the afterburner for a full-speed climb and escape the airspace illuminated by the flames of death—

call out--!
A deadly man-portable air defense missile, trailing a grayish-white contrail, shot out like a venomous snake that had caught the scent of blood, from behind a pile of burning truck wreckage illuminated by the flames of the command vehicle explosion.

It's a man-portable air defense system!
The piercing, sharp, and ear-piercing radar lock-on warning (Missile Launch Warning - MLW) ​​instantly filled Alexander's ears.

The chill of death, like the icy winds of Siberia, instantly froze his boiling blood and ecstatic nerves!

"No--!!"

He let out a roar of resentment.

It was entirely driven by muscle memory formed through training and countless simulations: the left hand slammed the accelerator lever to the power position, and the right hand slammed down the flare release button!
At the same time, the body instinctively leans back sharply, and the legs forcefully push off the pedals to resist the impending impact!

A blinding burst of orange-red flame erupted from the tail of the MiG-23, and dozens or even hundreds of scorching hot decoys were sprayed out in a fan shape like festive death fireworks, driven wildly by compressed gas!

In an instant, a brief, bright, high-heat interference cloud formed behind the fighter jet!
boom--! ! !
The infrared seeker of the man-portable air defense missile was briefly blinded by a dense barrage of heat decoys at the last moment, but the distance was just too damn close.

It was detonated just a dozen meters from the MiG-23's tail nozzle.

The raging storm of pre-fabricated fragments swept across the land at supersonic speeds, like the scythe of death.

The fuselage jolted violently!
It felt like being struck hard by an invisible giant hammer! The violent tearing of metal and the twisting groans were clearly audible in the cockpit!

On the dashboard, the right-side warning light suddenly burst into a blinding crimson light.

Immediately following, a piercing failure alarm wailed mournfully.

The hydraulic system pressure gauge plummeted like it was diving, quickly returning to zero!
A pungent smell, a mixture of fuel and burnt metal, instantly filled the cramped cabin!
The roar of the right engine abruptly stopped, replaced by a piercing whistling wind and a strange metallic scraping sound.

"'Razor' has been hit! Right engine failure! Hydraulic system completely destroyed! Repeat, right engine failure! Hydraulic system failure! Attempting to land! Attempting to land!"

Alexander roared with all his might, his voice distorted and strained by the immense overload, the uncontrolled shaking of the machine, and extreme tension.

He gripped the unusually heavy control stick tightly.

The joystick is very, very heavy.

The hydraulic pressure is gone, it's incredibly heavy...

He used all his strength to fight against the out-of-control pitch and yaw.

The MiG-23, like a broken iron bird riddled with bullet holes and with clipped wings, trailed billowing black smoke and leaking fuel, leaving a distinct oil slick in the night sky. It shook and lurched violently as it struggled toward the southwest of the battlefield...

The government army command post at the forefront of the main battlefield in the Rift Valley.

After a brief hiss and background noise on the communication channel, Alexander's intermittent report, interspersed with loud noise, panting, and alarm sounds, came through: "Hit! Repeat! Target destroyed!"

"'Razor' has been caught by a ground-based missile! Right engine is destroyed! Hydraulics are destroyed! Attempting an emergency landing!"

The command post fell into a deathly silence...

The air seemed to freeze.

Song Heping remained like an iron statue, standing in front of the chaotic command post.

Bloodshot eyes stared intently at the main screen, which had turned into a black screen filled with static—proof that the "Sky Eye" satellite had lost contact.

However, urgent calls from the forward observation posts and fragments of images from drones—though shaky and blurry, they were still quite striking—were pouring in.

The two enormous, billowing, mushroom-shaped pillars of fire that rose from the depths of Lumar, accompanied by towering flames and thick smoke, were clearly visible even in the pitch-black night sky. They were the most irrefutable evidence and the most spectacular declaration of victory.

The last frame captured before the satellite lost contact showed that Lumar's forward armored group had already begun to show obvious chaos, stagnation, and disorganization.

The effects of the decapitation of the command center spread rapidly in the darkness, like a plague!
The final moment has arrived!

Seize the opportunity, and you seize victory!

There is no time for sadness!
He grabbed the microphone from the general communications channel, his voice trembling slightly with excitement:
"Attention everyone! This is the forward command post! Lumar is dead! Their command center has been completely wiped out! Victory is within reach!"

He paused, letting the shocking news explode in the hearts of every soldier who had fought so valiantly, letting this declaration of victory tear through the darkness of the battlefield! Then, his voice suddenly rose, transforming into a vengeful storm that swept across the battlefield:
"All units! Hear my command! Full counterattack! Crush them! Avenge our fallen brothers! Leave no one alive—kill!!!"

"Kill them! For our fallen brothers—charge!!!"

"Kill all of Lumar's lackeys—charge!!!"

The communication channel was instantly flooded with wild roars in various languages!
The sounds coalesced into an invisible, yet destructive torrent, powerful enough to crush any will to resist, sweeping across the entire Rift Valley battlefield.

On the front lines, the government soldiers and mercenaries, already exhausted, covered in blood, wounded, and enduring the cold and fear, were injected with the most potent stimulant.

The soldiers, already bloodthirsty, roared like wild beasts as they leaped out of the trenches, from the charred shell craters, and from behind the smoldering wreckage of armored vehicles!
Like a black flood bursting its banks, shrouded in death and fury, it surged forward under the cover of night, launching a final, deadly counterattack against the Lumar armored group, which was now commandless, in complete disarray, and spinning around like headless flies or firing blindly in the light of the explosions!
(End of this chapter)