Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 193 The Mountain's Wrath (Sixth Update)

Inside the combat command center of the Arasaka Mokujiro aircraft carrier, the air was so heavy it was almost suffocating.

On the huge holographic tactical sand table, the dots representing the three assault forces and heavy weapon systems went out one after another, eventually solidifying into glaring red "loss" markers, firmly nailed to the locations of the eastern highlands, the western coast, and the southern factory area.

On the auxiliary screen, the last fragments of images transmitted in real time rolled silently—the burning remains of the "Amaterasu" array, the twisted and broken "Takemikazuchi" orbit, the "Susanoo" core unit melted through by the plasma cannon—each frame was like a silent slap, heavily striking the face of every officer.

For nearly a minute, the command center was completely silent, with only the low hum of the equipment and a few suppressed, heavy breaths.

"boom!"

A muffled thud suddenly broke the stillness.

Director Shintaro Takayama slammed his fist hard onto the alloy base of the tactical sand table, the force of which caused the entire sand table to tremble.

His hair, which was always meticulously combed, now had a few strands falling loose across his forehead, but he seemed completely unaware of it.

His usually composed face was taut, and the veins on his neck were faintly bulging.

His chest heaved violently twice, as if he were forcibly suppressing the anger that was about to erupt.

“…Useless!” The word was squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a chilling coldness that was more oppressive than a hoarse roar: “A bunch of utterly worthless trash!”

He turned around abruptly, his gaze sweeping across the silent staff team behind him like a razor.

The young officers all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze, for fear of becoming the focus of his overwhelming rage.

"Powered armor units! The powered armor units we placed our hopes on!" Gao Shan's voice suddenly rose, each word sounding as if it had been tempered with ice. "On the Eastern Front, they were being picked off one by one by those ragtag troops like the Ghost Hounds!"

On the western front, they were used as moving targets by mercenaries on the Lhasa Road for practice!

In the southern factory, not even a proper resistance was organized before Mann and his gang of street rats wiped out their hideout!

He snatched the tactical tablet from the technical staff officer's hand, quickly pulled up the battlefield data analysis report, and his finger almost pierced through the screen.

"Look! Open your eyes wide and take a look!" He projected the data from the tablet onto the main screen. "The enemy's power armor model has been identified and confirmed. It's the basic framework of the military technology 'Assault-VII'!"

On paper, its specifications are on par with the 'Onimusha-IX' we deployed in battle! There is no insurmountable performance gap!

His fingers traced a series of comparative data, his voice trembling slightly with excitement: "But what was the result? What was the exchange ratio? All four 'Onimusha' units on the eastern front were wiped out, while the enemy suffered zero losses of power armor!"
The two units on the western line were instantly destroyed! The three units in the factory area couldn't even buy any time!
Is this just a performance gap? This is a generational gap! An absolute generational gap in tactics and equipment application!

He paused, took a deep breath, and tried to regain his usual composure, but to little avail.

He pointed to the faint, rippling pale blue halo around the enemy power armor in the image.

"The problem lies with this shield!" Gao Shan's voice was resolute. "According to battlefield records, our small-caliber machine guns, automatic rifles, and even some armor-piercing rounds have had their kinetic energy effectively deflected or weakened by this shield. Meanwhile, the enemy's attacks can pour onto our armor without any hindrance!"
They can force their way in under our firepower and engage in battles where they trade blows or even fight without taking any damage!
While our pilots were still hesitating about firing angles and evasive maneuvers, their pilots, thanks to the extra margin of error provided by their shields, had already charged right up to our faces!

He surveyed the crowd, his eyes filled not only with anger but also, more profoundly, with a chilling sense of powerlessness born from being technologically outmatched: "This isn't a matter of the soldiers' courage, nor can it be fully explained by the commander's tactical errors. This is absolute technological inferiority!"
Military technology, or rather the 'sage' behind them, has used a technology we don't yet fully understand to coat their power armor with a shell that we can't easily penetrate!

Then, using this tortoise shell, they turned our meticulously trained power armor troops into live targets on the training field!

Just then, Arasaka Yorinobu, who had been standing silently by the porthole, slowly turned around.

His face was covered with frost, and his eyes were sinister, as if a storm was brewing.

He had also witnessed the entire defeat, but unlike Gao Shan's anger, which was based on military logic, his anger was more like a performance, a carefully calculated emotional outburst.

"Enough!" Lai Xuan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling edge, instantly overshadowing Gao Shan's rebuke: "Once was a failed probe, twice the shield was troublesome..."

Now, even our most core heavy assault weapons and powered armored units are being torn apart like paper in direct combat!

He walked slowly and heavily toward Shintaro Takayama, his steps carrying an invisible sense of oppression.

"Uncle Gaoshan, tell me, how much of Arasaka's dignity and the Empire's face are left now?" His voice was sarcastic. "They're being rubbed into the ground repeatedly by a bunch of mercenaries, rebels, and street rats!"
The whole world is watching us, watching this 'Moby-Dick,' watching how we stage such a clumsy farce here!

He stopped in front of the tactical sand table, his gaze sweeping over the three glaring red loss markers before finally settling on Gao Shan's face.

“Since conventional methods are all useless, and you hesitate to use unconventional methods…” Lai Xuan’s lips curled into a cold smile, and a hint of almost insane obsession flashed in his eyes. “Then I’ll ask you one more time, Director Gao Shan, will you hand over the authorization code to activate the tactical nuclear missile or not? Do you really have to wait until the enemy hits this flagship before you’ll admit that only destruction can wash away the humiliation we’re suffering right now?”

The air inside the bridge instantly became extremely tense.

All the officers held their breath, their eyes shifting back and forth between Shintaro Takayama and Yoriyuki Arasaka.

Using nuclear weapons would undoubtedly open Pandora's box, and no one can predict the consequences.

Shintaro Takayama's chest heaved violently once again in the face of Yorihiro's almost coercive attitude.

But he quickly regained control of his emotions, and the flush on his face caused by anger slowly faded, replaced by a deep solemnity.

He knew that Lai Xuan was using this as an excuse to try and force him to make concessions or test his bottom line with extreme proposals. He absolutely could not lose his temper at this moment.

“Lord Lai Xuan,” Gao Shan’s voice regained its composure, though suppressed anger could still be heard, “I understand your anger, and like you, I am heartbroken by today’s defeat. However, using nuclear weapons is still an absolutely unacceptable and worst possible course of action.”

He stepped forward, meeting Lai Xuan's gaze without flinching.

He knew he had to stop Lai Xuan's reckless behavior.

(End of this chapter)