CHAPTER 408: CHAPTER 351 DIVE BOMBING_1

While intense gunfire unfolded on the ground battlefield, the aerial combat was also fiercely raging.

The armed forces of the Wildwind Principality pressed forward with more than a dozen airships as far as possible and unleashed Divine Beasts to approach the airspace above the Eternal Domain’s positions.

Swarms of Griffons circled in the rear.

Mages mounted on Griffons and aboard the airships used magic force field shields to construct vast aerial obstacles within the airspace.

Facing the Eternal Domain’s swiftly maneuvering aircraft, the Wildwind Principality was aware of the strengths and weaknesses of its own air units.

If they couldn’t match the speed, they’d compete in small-scale maneuverability.

Within airspace filled with various obstacles, the maneuvering space available to the Eternal Domain’s fighter planes was once again compressed.

The aerial combat units of the Wildwind Principality prepared to use force field barriers to break through the Eternal Domain’s airspace. Just as they were about to act, the Eternal Domain’s artillery, having completed their long-range fire suppression mission, collectively elevated their gun barrels.

The ground-shaking roar resonated once again as 152mm and 122mm High-Explosive Shells were fired diagonally upwards.

The air units of the Eternal Domain, having received early warning of the bombardment, had already ascended to leave the area through which the shells would pass.

Sheets of High-Explosive Shells streaked over the Eternal Domain’s positions and slammed into the aerial barriers set up by the Wildwind Principality’s forces.

The explosions blossomed like spectacular fireworks, igniting the sky one after another.

Ground-based heavy artillery was inefficient against small, mobile flying units. However, it was perfectly suited for destroying the low-altitude aerial barriers, allowing the artillery to unleash its full destructive power.

The aerial obstacles set up by the Wildwind Principality in the sky were shattered.

The Gryphon Fighter Jets, descending in a dive from high altitude, arrived just in time, each fighter equipped with six machine guns.

Over a hundred Gryphon Fighter Jets wove a net of fire, unleashing their ammunition through the gap created by the heavy artillery.

This was the Wildwind Principality’s first aerial encounter with the Eternal Domain, and they proceeded with extreme caution. When they realized their tactic of advancing through aerial obstacles was futile against the enemy’s fierce firepower, the Wildwind Principality’s air forces chose to retreat.

It was at this moment that Yan Xing’s order to conduct pinpoint bombing on the Wildwind Principality’s temporary ground defenses was relayed to the Deer Hunter Dive Bomber squadron, which had been circling on standby.

Forty-two Deer Hunter Dive Bombers descended at a shallow angle in three waves.

Upon reaching an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters, the Dive Bomber pilots confirmed their targets based on tasks assigned by Chui Chui.

The group of Dive Bombers dispersed, each entering their bombing run.

After circling and adjusting angles, the Dive Bombers inverted and began a vertical dive from 1,000 meters directly above their targets.

At this moment, Chui Chui would assist the pilots in aiming at the targets throughout the process.

The piercing scream of the Dive Bombers was now the only sound in the entire sky.

Diving to a distance of 300 to 200 meters from the ground, they released the aerial bombs slung beneath their bellies.

The Dive Bombers immediately switched to level flight and then rapidly ascended to leave the danger zone.

The Wildwind Principality’s soldiers, hiding behind cover on the ground, were still oblivious to the nature of the howls filling the sky when a half-ton aerial bomb landed nearby.

The explosion seemed almost to tear the earth apart.

Clumps of earth blasted into the air could fly a hundred meters high, and a visible shockwave skimmed the ground, radiating outwards and sweeping away everything in its path.

When the smoke and dust settled, the defensive earth walls constructed with Earth System Magic were gone, leaving only a smoking crater.

One could faintly make out some scattered limbs and armor.

Explosions like these erupted one after another along the entire front line, each thundering roar striking at the heart of every person on the battlefield like a heavy hammer.

The entire battlefield even fell into a brief silence.

The Wildwind Principality’s soldiers, who had just been fighting bravely, turned and fled, shouting in terror. The piercing screech that had filled the sky moments before returned—a long, drawn-out sound from overhead, like a call from Hell unleashing fire and blood.

The soldiers of the Wildwind Principality ran even faster.

The Dive Bombers, having already dropped their main ordnance, continued to hurl smaller bombs, mounted on their wings, at the enemy forces.

At the same time, all light and heavy weapons on the Eternal Domain’s positions opened fire with full force.

The rear artillery group also joined in the bombardment of the retreating enemy forces.

However, the heavy magic projectors, having completed their redeployment, once again initiated a magical bombardment against the Eternal Domain’s positions.

Seeing the magic spheres flying in from the air, soldiers at the Eternal Domain’s front line immediately ceased all firing, desperately running toward the nearest bunkers while carrying their weapons.

Thanks to early warnings from high-altitude reconnaissance drones, the heavy artillery crews had already begun relocating. They were driving their vehicles and towing their cannons away as the first wave of magic spheres ascended from the fog of war.

The sky was quickly stained red with Magic, as Fire Magic created a continuous firewall in the air.

When the second wave of Magic rushed into the firewall, a compound magical reaction occurred between Earth System and Fire System Magic. Huge, burning meteorites smashed down toward the Eternal Domain’s positions.

The timely magical bombardment allowed most of the attacking Silvermane Principality soldiers to retreat safely.

The ground battlefield gradually quieted down.

However, the aerial war escalated quickly, entering a fierce close-range combat phase.

Standing inside the gondola of an airship, Marquis Anderson watched the entire battlefield situation unfold.

He saw how the Dive Bombers easily disintegrated his army’s tactics.

He also realized that the sharp screeching filling the sky would surely cause great psychological pressure on his soldiers in the future.

It was imperative to counter the precise, high-impact bombing these planes delivered to ground targets, or any ground offensive would be impossible.

No!

It wasn’t just the ground.

The gigantic airships were also easy targets for these planes. He feared that, given the bombs’ explosive power, the airships’ defenses couldn’t withstand more than a few hits.

Thus, while the Deer Hunter Dive Bombers were still in the lower airspace, Marquis Anderson decisively ordered the Divine Beasts, Griffons, and some of the Gargoyles from the airships to attack.

To protect the Dive Bombers, fighters from the Eternal Domain’s air fleet advanced to intercept the Wildwind Principality’s aerial forces.

The fire clouds continued to condense into burning meteorites, bombarding the ground below.

The Eternal Domain’s heavy artillery moved to a new position, and the gun crews set up their cannons as quickly as possible to suppress the enemy’s heavy firepower.

The aerial forces of both sides collided above the fire clouds.

Yan Xing, leading thirty Armored Gryphons, also joined the fray.

With enemy airships so close, no mistakes could be afforded in the air.

His Gryphon Armor shifted into combat mode.

In addition to its two main turbocharged engines, four smaller auxiliary engines extended from sealed module slots beside the main ones.

Its airfoils extended, alchemical stabilizers deployed, and airflow jetted from behind them.

Yan Xing drew a rifle from a weapon slot on the right shoulder of his Gryphon Armor.

The other Gryphon Armors also entered aerial combat mode, Knights holding rifles identical to Yan Xing’s.