Colonia Storm Tour

Clang!

Amidst the deafening sound of shattering glass, there were also some incredibly jarring sounds of bones cracking. Both the DEM Guardian and Provence's consciousness vanished amidst the cracking bones.

"Dead, all done."

Wang Jing patted his gloves, which were stained with dust and blood. Both Provence and the DEM guards had confirmed that they were unresponsive and dead.

"Alright, let's prepare to evacuate now. We can leave the cleanup to Chief Lin's nanodrones. We need to get Honjo Nia back to the Antarctic underground base for treatment as soon as possible."

Zhao Erjun and Peng Zhanluo swiftly lifted Honjou Niya onto the prepared stretcher and then carried her into the crew compartment of Yun Xuewu's giant crocodile vehicle.

After placing the stretcher in the aisle between the crew cabin seats, Zhao Erjun and Peng Zhanluo sat down in the crew cabin chairs.

"Commander Lin, we have brought the second spirit, Honjou Nia, onto the vehicle."

Peng Zhanlu reported to Lin Haiyuan.

"Dominator Squad, you all did a great job! The successful capture of Nia Honjo is the heaviest blow we've dealt to DEM recently. They've lost their only captured Pokémon so far, which is enough to make them feel extremely pained. Now, take Nia Honjo back to the Antarctic base immediately. The appearance of Nightmare is truly alarming."

After Lin Haiyuan finished speaking, Wang Jing strode into the passenger cabin of the giant crocodile vehicle.

"Chief Lin, wouldn't it be better to just blow up this research facility? Why leave it standing?"

Wang Jing held the plastic explosives in his hand, eager to try them out.

"We blew up your research facility. Our nano-recycling drones mostly collect waste that can't be recycled and is waiting to be incinerated. Keep your plastic explosives safe."

Lin Haiyuan didn't want this research facility, which was worth recycling, to be destroyed. He was counting on recycling everything in the facility to replenish his nanomaterials.

"Ok."

Wang Jing could only regretfully take back the plastic explosives.

"Alice, get ready."

Lin Haiyuan informed Alice that it was time to initiate the transdimensional teleportation.

“好的，超时空传送倒计时10、9、8、7、6、5、4、3、2、1……”

As Alice counted down to the last second, a teleportation point appeared above the Crocodile vehicle. Then, the teleportation point released a teleportation portal that enveloped the Crocodile vehicle, the Raccoon Jammer, the Enrager Support Vehicle, and the Phantom Rocket Launcher. The next second, the teleportation field took the Overlord Squad away from their original location, and the Overlord Squad was then teleported back to the assembly plaza on Nelly Road where they had started their departure.

Subsequently, a Jackal mobile vehicle, escorted by several terrifying drones, arrived at the scene. Honjo Nia was carried off the Crocodile vehicle by Peng Zhanluo and Wang Jing on a stretcher and placed into the Jackal mobile vehicle.

The mist-like nanodrones inside the Jackal Mobile Vehicle immediately began treating the badly injured Second Spirit, Honjou Nia, before the Jackal Mobile Vehicle nimbly spun around and headed towards the designated location.

Meanwhile, on Nelly Road Island, swarms of nano-recycling drones poured into the underground research facility to break down the nano-regeneration equipment and then send it to the nano-regeneration chamber for processing.

—Walker.net AI's Post-Battle Briefing—

We have completed the most crucial part of the entire retreat plan. Now that the second spirit, Honjou Nia, is in our hands, we will soon be able to deal with her and ensure that she will not reveal any information about the Burning Wind under any persuasion or temptation. Even if Ratatosk demands her, she will not be able to use her abilities to spy on the Burning Wind.

However, the conflict with Nightmare Kurumi Tokisaki during the mission was completely unexpected. We can no longer find any trace of Kurumi Tokisaki on Nellie Island, so we can only conclude that she has left the island...

The sun came out today, and I finally feel a bit better.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Bottleneck (I)

Military Operations: Bottleneck

时间：2014年3月22日6:30:00

Location: Mid-Atlantic - Anali Islands

-

"Establish Battlefield Control, Standby..."

Lin Haiyuan and Alice listened to Walker.com AI speaking familiar EVA voices to Odin and watched the holographic projection displaying detailed battlefield conditions.

The Anali Islands—whether they existed in the original world is unknown, but they do indeed appear diagonally in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

The entire archipelago is fragmented and scattered in a sea area. The largest island, Mike Island, is completely surrounded by cliffs. If there are residents there, they would have to rely on helicopters or slides to get around. The other islands are not so harsh. At least they have some slopes or are simply land above sea level.

Because of its remoteness from shipping routes, limited resources, and extremely fragmented terrain, even after British explorers discovered this impoverished and desolate region, no one chose to settle there. They simply made a hasty declaration of sovereignty over the archipelago and that was it. Later, because of the uninhabited nature of this archipelago, which was rarely visited, DEM wanted to do something shady and chose to take over the Anali Islands through various means and use them as the location of secret research facilities.

On the verdant summit of Mount Ira on Mike Island, in a forest sparsely populated since its inception, warm sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, dappling the ground. Birds chirped merrily in the branches, while common small animals peeked out from among the dense foliage and grass, creating a vibrant and lively scene. However, this beautiful natural landscape was soon shattered.

As the brilliant blue light emitted by the hyperspace teleportation appeared, a mobile sonic detector and three Destroyer vehicles appeared in the forest.

This unannounced visitor immediately startled the birds and small animals in the forest. The birds cried out and flew into the distant sky, while the small animals fled in the opposite direction of the sound.

After the steel rear door of the Destroyer vehicle was lowered, the fully armed Valkyrie battalion assembled on the summit of Mount Izawa.

The mobile acoustic detector also began its deployment with a start-up sound and hydraulic hum that pleased a commander. Once the quadruped and antenna were fully in place, communication and detection in the area were guaranteed.

"After completing the construction of Fraxinus and Fraxinus EX on Yostvandak Island in the Virgin Islands, we parted ways with Ratatosk. Our Fraxinus EX completed its mission on the moon and returned to the Antarctic underground base with Camp Valkyrie. However, we received bad news from Ratatosk today: their Fraxinus has experienced a major malfunction."

WalkerNet AI and Odin, who were tasked with the EVA mission, immediately projected the battlefield view from the holographic projection to an area a few nautical miles from the Anali Islands.

The first Fraxinus to emerge on Jostvandak Island didn't seem to be in good shape. Her flight altitude was fluctuating, and she wasn't using camouflage or automatic avoidance. The Ratatosk flagship, Ulmus, was following closely behind Fraxinus.

"Unfortunately, the radar deployed by DEM in the Anali Islands has detected the malfunctioning Fraxinus and has deployed heavy air defense weapons on the islands."

The battlefield view shifted to the islands following this statement, with the Patriot missile emplacements towering above them being the first thing to come into view.

This Patriot missile turret employs a design unlike any known missile launcher: a twin six-tube missile launcher, similar to a Gatling gun.

Compare the icons of the Patriot missile defense facilities in the original game and MO, and they are exactly the same as the huge Patriot missile turrets deployed by DEM on the island. DEM created physical objects that match the icons, instead of those square things.

"This kind of super-large defense facility should detect the enemy with radar and then launch anti-aircraft missiles comparable to Scud tactical ballistic missiles to deal with the locked targets. According to the DEM database, this missile defense facility is called Avalon Missile Battery and is part of DEM's Avalon defense plan. However, due to the lack of operational targets, it was only kept in the Anali Islands."

The holographic projection of a giant Patriot missile turret is encompassed by a square crosshair, with a diagonal line drawn along one side indicating "DEM Avalon Air Defense Missile Turret".

Lin Haiyuan and Alice were both amazed when they saw the enormous Patriot missile turret.

"DEM has built such a massive missile defense facility, so it seems their budget isn't entirely being spent on magicians and display devices."

Lin Haiyuan was also puzzled by the DEM display device development department. Instead of developing equipment for magicians and elves, they started working on defensive weapons that were clearly designed to deal with large aerial targets.

"Initially, this missile defense platform was intended to counter incoming air warships and ballistic missiles, for the absurd reason that it could be used for ultra-long-range strikes from Latatosk. As we all know, it was later retained only in the Anali Islands."

Alice couldn't fathom what kind of paranoia DEM had, naively believing that Ratatosk would launch such an attack on DEM's headquarters in the UK.

However, Walker.com's AI and Odin hadn't finished their introductions yet, and the two continued listening to the two AIs speak.

"This huge anti-aircraft missile launch platform does not seem to meet the requirements of DEM, and a design similar to our Gatling gun has also appeared in the Anali Islands."

The battlefield view then shifts to other flat islands that rise above sea level, where a massive Gatling gun is mounted.

"These twin-mounted Gatling guns are similar to the Gatling guns we designed, but they look much more rudimentary than our Gatling guns."

The large Gatling guns deployed on the islands are less similar in design to the Gatling guns of Epsilon and more similar in design to the Chinese Gatling guns in Command & Conquer Generals.

However, there is also a radar antenna on the twin-mounted bracket, which is obviously for aiming at targets. The muzzle of these DEM Gatling guns looks to be about 155mm thick!

"Holy crap, 155mm caliber, and it even uses a rotary launch principle. The DEM guys are really going all out to take down airborne warships."

Lin Haiyuan believed that if it weren't for the existence of the near-omnipotent arbitrary field, not to mention the barrel life, the recoil alone would have been enough to prevent the existence of this super-heavy Gatling gun, which is equivalent to a modern version of a large-caliber anti-aircraft gun.

"This 155mm Gatling gun is called the Avalon gun group. It was used to deal with swarms of attacking magicians or airships by firing deadly barrages. Due to the lack of combat targets, it was only kept in the Anali Islands."

The square front sight encompasses the Avalon gun group and is marked with a diagonal line that reads "DEM Avalon Gun Group".

"Message coming in..."

A few seconds later, a new holographic projection unfolded, and Elliott Baldwin Woodman, sitting in the captain's seat, appeared in it along with his secretary, Karen Mira Messer.

"Lady Alice, Lord Lin Haiyuan, I am very sorry, but we need to trouble you again to lend a helping hand to Ratatosk."

Woodman immediately apologized to the two women and then quickly got to the point.

"The Avalon air defense missiles and Avalon gun emplacements deployed by DEM in the Anali Islands pose a huge threat to our Fraxinus. Once we get close to the Anali Islands, the warships' Free Domain cannot withstand such fierce firepower for long. Moreover, these two weapons, which can be used for close-in defense, are also protected by Free Domain. Our warships' main guns cannot destroy the Avalon defense facilities before the Free Domain is breached."

Woodman also did not want to face the attack of the two massive defensive structures directly, because he and Karen and other Ratatosk elites were still sitting on the flagship "Ulmus," guarding the "Fraxinus," which only had Ratatosk staff and magicians from Yostvandak Island on board.

"Our magician forces have arrived at the Anali Islands and will soon deal with the Avalon missile batteries and Avalon gun emplacements that threaten the safety of the two airships."

Lin Haiyuan replied.

"Thank you very much. Please be careful here, everyone from Burning Wind. According to the data we obtained from the DEM's display device development department, the Anari Islands are also one of DEM's important research bases, specializing in how to use magic to modify and greatly enhance the combat power of magicians."

Woodman cautiously gave them both a piece of advice.

"Those DEM magicians who have been magically modified, our girls will have a way to quickly deal with them. The most important thing is when will your 'Fraxinus' be repaired?"

Lin Haiyuan wanted to know how long it would take Ratatosk to restore Fraxinus to normal operation, as that was related to the safety of the Valkyrie camp.

You should know that she is still using Artemisia's body, while her original body was still lying dead in the nanotherapy chamber of the underground base in Antarctica.

"According to the technicians on the Fraxinus, they need another 15 minutes to complete the repairs on the Fraxinus, which has suffered a major malfunction. That's enough time for us to fly over the Anali Islands."

Woodman responded with a helpless expression.

"It seems that time is still quite tight, but fortunately there are not many Avalon missile emplacements and Avalon artillery units."

Lin Haiyuan thought that DEM's decision to cut off the Avalon missile turret and the subsequent construction plans for the Avalon artillery was extremely wise.

"The support from the Last Fortress is available on call during the battle. If you encounter any ground problems that are difficult to resolve, you can call me for air support."

Alice's role throughout the operation is to provide air support and chrono-space teleportation/recall services to the Valkyrie battalion.

"Yes, this is the Wind God Valkyrie Camp. Begin operations!"

Lin Haiyuan shouted over the communication channel.

Yes! x17

The magicians atop Mount Eze on Mike Island responded in hushed tones.

Lin Haiyuan, now in the role of Artemisia, held the fully charged Heroic Spirit War Maiden in his hands and looked at his teammates who had become somewhat different from before.

"Have the neutron rifle and the hyperspace displacement device been checked and confirmed to be in good working order?"

Lin Haiyuan provided the magicians participating in this operation with experimental chrono-air force equipment for magicians.

"Check complete, everything is correct!"

Charlotte and the other magicians replied.

"They look like a group of high-status disinfection workers now."

The description of the appearance of modern female magicians by the flower gardenia is most apt; they also carry a time-traveling backpack that looks like a tortoise shell.

"It's inevitable that they'd be mistaken for workers responsible for disinfection, since they have wiring suits and don't need to wear extra protective gear to support the equipment's operation."

After explaining, Lin Haiyuan continued, "Your first target is the Avalon artillery group in the southwest. The defenses there are currently the weakest, with only a few magicians and DEM mercenaries guarding it."