I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

The Galaxy-5 is a new generation of subsonic medium- and long-range tactical cruise missile developed by China more than a decade ago and equipped by the Chinese military. Its warhead can carry high-explosive or nuclear warheads, and its flight speed can reach 800-900 kilometers per hour. Its combat range is 1500 to 2500 kilometers. It can use satellite navigation and ground laser signal navigation. Only three countries on Earth can produce this type of missile. The other two are the former E country and the currently chaotic M country. The missile technology of these two countries has been finalized for many years and has not changed much in decades. As the last of these three countries to develop this type of missile, China has gained some advantages after technological innovation. Therefore, the Galaxy-5 is the most powerful subsonic medium- and long-range cruise missile currently in service with the armies of various countries on Earth, and it is also one of the weapons of the Chinese army.

The Yinhe-5 missile is a land-based launcher, which can be launched from a missile silo or a missile launcher vehicle, but it is generally launched from the accompanying missile launcher vehicle. Because the Yinhe-5 missile body is long and narrow, nearly nine meters in length, the missile launcher vehicle is also more than ten meters long.

The land where the temporary camp was located was an irregular, nearly rectangular area. All the available space combined was only about 200 x 300 square meters. After deducting the area occupied by the main force, there was simply not enough room for several missile launchers. Moreover, the launchers couldn't all be packed together; a certain distance had to be maintained between them during launch. Furthermore, the ground at the launch site had specific requirements—it had to be sturdy. However, because the temporary camp was surrounded by crimson swamps, the outer layer of soil was very soft, further reducing the available space for the missile launchers.

In conclusion, if my Galaxy V is to be allowed to enter, this area will indeed need to be expanded.

But Xiang Feng still didn't quite understand what tactics Ivan was planning.

"Commander, what are we doing bringing in the Galaxy-5 missiles? To bomb the Arrogant?"

Ivan nodded: "That's right, we'll bomb it."

Xiang Feng was stunned; he hadn't expected Ivan to nod in agreement.

Is this tactic really that straightforward?

Just as Xiang Feng was filled with questions, Ivan gave his final explanation.

"Of course, it's not about ignoring everything and just starting to bombard it. Just like I said before, our large army is a big target, while the arrogant one is a small target. Not to mention that it will continue to control the Corrupted Root Serpent to hinder us on our way there, even if we find it with great difficulty, it can still move and escape before we arrive. So our best approach is to simply, brutally, and directly bombard it."

"It can only absorb the aura of destruction through the roots of the World Tree, so no matter how it hides, it can only stay in this space. So we will use drones to find it, keep searching for it, and once we find and confirm the target, we will use laser guidance to bomb it."

A look of doubt appeared on Qin's face: "Pride survived the great war against the Teyvat Old Gods. Can bombarding it really kill it?"

Ivan shook his head and said, "Arrogance has declined considerably in strength compared to its peak. Missiles may not be able to threaten its life. Moreover, our main objective is not to kill it, but to use missiles to constantly interfere with it, forcing it to interrupt its recovery process and ultimately compelling it to come to us."

At this moment, Diluc, who was standing with his arms crossed, reminded us, "What if it continues to wear us down with guerrilla tactics? Do we have enough weapons?"

Ivan sighed: "The key to blocking Pride's range of operations is not missiles, but drones. If we can use drones to form an absolute surveillance network over this space, Pride will understand that it will be found no matter where it moves. If I were Pride, I would definitely not sit still."

After Ivan finished explaining, the straight man, Mu Ze Changhui, gave him a thumbs up: "Lord Ivan, brilliant! Your plan is exactly the same as an idiom that Brother Xiang told me a couple of days ago, something like 'waiting for a pig to run into a tree stump'? Ouch, who kicked me?"

Brushing the dust off his feet, Xiang Feng rolled his eyes and said, "I kicked you. With your brain, you can't even understand an idiom. It's called 'waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump.'"

"Hehe, I forgot..."

"Alright, alright."

Faced with these two clowns, Ivan waved his hand helplessly: "Those who need to be on guard, be on guard; those who need to work, work; those who need to rest, rest. Everyone, disperse. We'll be busy again soon..."

......

To prevent the emergence of new rotten serpents, the main force remained on high alert, while the expansion of the construction team proceeded smoothly.

The soil used for the expansion was excavated from the seabed near the Qianhai base using equipment, and then transported here by the engineering team through a space teleportation channel. Therefore, the efficiency was very high. In just over forty minutes, the 200x300 square meter plot of land under everyone's feet was expanded to 400x500 square meters. This area was large enough for the missile launcher to drive in.

Meanwhile, more than forty minutes later, the pontoon bridge construction equipment, which had been urgently transported from various coastal military regions, arrived.

Although tactics and strategies have changed, these automated pontoon bridges are still useful, as they can be erected on the swamps surrounding the temporary camp to further expand the operational space of the main force.

As for missile launchers, the Qianhai base has fifteen Galaxy-5 missile launchers in its arsenal, which can be driven in directly through the teleportation channel. At the same time, Hong Jianjun at the general command is also requesting the military to transfer more missile launchers, but at least these fifteen are sufficient for now.

In addition, there are drones, which can also be directly transferred from the weapons depot at the Qianhai base.

Now everything is ready.

At exactly 3:00 PM China time, Ivan stood in front of the army, glanced at the time, and then waved his hand, saying, "Let's begin."

The next second, thousands of drones took off against the wind, flying in all directions like a swarm of bees.

The final battle has begun.

Chapter 498 I've Found You Again

"Team One, Team Two, report the situation."

"We are proceeding along the planned route and no abnormalities have been detected so far."

"Team Three, Team Four."

"Report: No abnormalities found at this time."

In front of the reconnaissance company's position, Ivan looked up at the swarm of drones flying in formation like a spider web high in the distance and narrowed his eyes slightly.

The space they are currently in, at the foot of the World Tree's roots, is not infinitely large. According to previous reconnaissance, this space is approximately 4000 square kilometers, roughly the size of a county.

In this operation, all drone operators of the reconnaissance company were divided into eight teams, and five thousand drones were used. These five thousand drones were enough to form a dynamic reconnaissance network covering the entire area at the foot of the World Tree.

Of course, there cannot be 5,000 drone operators on site, so the drones are not operated by one person per drone. Instead, a smart drone swarm system independently developed by Huaxia is used. With this system, operators only need to operate the lead drones at some key nodes, and the rest is all handled autonomously by the central AI. At the same time, the AI ​​can also identify and identify preset targets at a speed far exceeding that of the human eye.

This intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system can be considered the culmination of modern unmanned information warfare concepts on Earth, an absolute information weapon on the battlefield. Its existence is akin to having a cheat code for map vision in a game. Currently, the development of this UAV system is extremely difficult, and only one such system exists in China. It is both coveted and feared by other countries on Earth. Today marks the first time this technology has been used in actual combat, and everyone is eagerly anticipating its performance.

In front of the reconnaissance battalion's position, Ivan turned around and looked at a 100-inch electronic screen behind him. At this moment, the screen was displaying several small cropped images, which at first glance looked like surveillance footage. However, the source of these "surveillance videos" was the drones that were currently covering the entire sky.

The dozens of images displayed on the large screen were from the area near where the previously lost drones had discovered traces of Arrogance. These were images transmitted back by the newly dispatched drone network, and Arrogance was no longer visible at its previous location.

Ivan raised an eyebrow slightly.

As Ivan had predicted, Pride had already moved on after being discovered by the drone the previous time.

However, no matter how much arrogance moves, as long as it remains in this space, it will have nowhere to hide from the fully covered swarm of drones.

Sure enough, five minutes later, the second team's operators reported that the AI ​​had automatically identified the target at a location ten kilometers away from where it had been previously discovered.

Immediately afterwards, five drones near the target location also lost contact.

Ivan understood that Pride must have shot down the drone again, so he said, "Move the nearby drones to the target location."

"Yes."

Under the operator's control, drones from the reconnaissance network near the missing drone quickly approached the target location, while five new drones also took off from the camp to supplement the reconnaissance network.

A dozen seconds later, a nearby drone arrived at the target location and spotted the arrogant figure again.

This time, before Arrogance could shoot down the drone again, Ivan decisively issued the missile launch order.

On the missile launch site at the rear, the launch pad behind the leftmost launch vehicle quickly rose with the support of the mechanical lifting structure. On the tilted launch pad, the silver-painted warhead of the Yinhe-5 cruise missile emitted a cold, eerie light. The next second, with a command from the missile launch team leader, a Yinhe-5 cruise missile streaked into the sky with a tail flame of over a thousand degrees, drawing a perfect arc in the sky and rushing towards the target location at subsonic speed.

......

On the intertwined, crimson roots of the World Tree, Arrogance opened its eyes and looked at the several small, palm-sized aircraft that had appeared in the sky at some unknown time. Its brows gradually furrowed.

"Hmph, here we go again..."

Several red rays shot out from the arrogant eyes, instantly striking several drones high in the sky. After a series of exploding "fireworks," all the drones in the sky crashed.

However, before the arrogant man could even look away, he spotted an even larger number of drones rapidly approaching from the horizon.

"Damn lowly creatures of Earth."

Arrogance narrowed his eyes, preparing to shoot down the newly arrived batch of drones again before moving on. However, before he could make a move, he suddenly noticed several green bright spots appearing on his chest.

"What's this......"

Just as the question popped into Arrogance's mind, a sharp whistling sound from the horizon suddenly caught its attention.

Arrogance turned its head and looked, only to see a black dot trailing firelight rapidly enlarging in its line of sight.

His arrogant pupils contracted instantly, and the next breath later, a blinding burst of fire exploded in mid-air.

This scene was also captured in its entirety by a drone in the distance that was responsible for guiding the Galaxy-5 missile with a green laser, and displayed on a large screen in front of Ivan in the temporary camp.

At this moment, Ivan, Xiang Feng, Qin, and the others all stood in front of the screen, their eyes fixed on the fireball in mid-air that had not yet dissipated.

A few seconds later, the flames landed, the smoke dissipated, and arrogance was nowhere to be seen in mid-air.

Qin asked, "Did you miss?"

Ivan shook his head: "It hit, but it must have moved again... Company Commander Zhao."

"exist!"

Zhao Xiujun, the company commander of the reconnaissance company, saluted Ivan.

"Have the soldiers fully deploy the drone reconnaissance network and conduct a carpet search."

"understand!"

......

On the other side, thirty kilometers away from the bombing site, on a World Tree root that was decaying into a swamp, a red energy ball emerged from a root that was not yet completely rotten, eventually taking on an arrogant shape.

At this moment, the arrogant creature's expression turned gloomy, and the red color on its body surface had faded considerably compared to before.

The Galaxy-5 cruise missile that just hit him did cause him considerable damage. The missile's high speed, coupled with his arrogance and momentary carelessness, left him no time to dodge. If his physical strength hadn't recovered to one-third of its peak, the power he had recovered over the past week would have been wasted.

Of course, even so, this bombardment also shattered the amount of destructive aura it had absorbed over the past three days.

"Damn Earthlings."

Arrogant's eyes radiated a chilling killing intent. It clenched its fists and looked down at the dozen or so rotting root snakes writhing in the swamp below. Suddenly, it stretched out its palm and swung it downwards, unleashing a large amount of red mist that spread down and covered the entire swamp. The dozen or so rotting root snakes, shrouded in the mist, began to convulse and curl up, emitting continuous hissing sounds. In just a few seconds, the dozen or so rotting root snakes lay motionless in the swamp, while clusters of red orbs emitting faint cries flew out from the snakes' bodies and soared into the sky above Arrogant.

Immediately afterwards, the arrogant mouth suddenly twisted and split at an extremely bizarre ninety-degree angle, siphoning in all the light orbs and swallowing them into its belly.

As these orbs of light entered his stomach, the red color of Arrogance's body brightened again.

Arrogance has just devoured the destructive consciousness within these rotten serpents.

The birth of these Corrupted Root Serpents is the result of arrogance controlling and catalyzing them. The destructive consciousness within these Corrupted Root Serpents has only recently been born and is few in number, less than a thousand.

Because of their scarcity, Pride initially intended to cultivate these nascent destructive consciousnesses into powerful pawns that it could control, without any intention of directly absorbing them. However, this choice may now need to be changed.

Just as the arrogant creature was absorbing the destructive consciousness of the Corrupted Serpent, it was unaware that several hovering drones a few hundred meters away were capturing the entire scene on camera.

Inside the makeshift camp, Ivan's lips curled into a slight smile.

"I've found you again..."

Chapter 499 Arrogance, Unleashing Power

"I've found you again."

Ivan smiled slightly as he looked at the arrogance on the screen, which was absorbing the consciousness of destruction.

Xiang Feng asked in surprise, "These giant snakes... were all killed by it?"

"Yes, that missile should have caused it some damage. It should be recovering by absorbing the destructive energy within these giant snakes. We can't let it get away with this."

With that, Ivan pressed the radio on his shoulder: "Prepare for attack."

On the missile launch site, the leftmost launch vehicle, number one, is once again poised for launch.

Each missile launcher is equipped with three Galaxy-5 cruise missiles. One has just been fired, and there are two left.