Western Mu Continent.

The forces deployed here by the Soviet Union could truly be described as a copper wall and an iron bastion.

Due to its proximity to Australia, where humanity had vanished, and New Zealand, which was no longer habitable, this area had been a key defensive zone for the Mu Continent from the outset. According to an agreement between the Soviet Union and the Mu Continent, the former dispatched a marine corps to garrison this location, entrusting technical problems encountered in "unit development" to specialized research laboratories on the Mu Continent.

What did a "corps" entail?

The Soviet Union was not one to be taken advantage of; they dispatched a full force of 120,000 troops, stationed from the western coast of the Mu Continent to a depth of 300 kilometers inland.

The supply for this force was entirely the responsibility of the Mu Continent.

Both parties…

Were extremely satisfied with this transaction.

For the Soviet Union, maintaining a force of 120,000 was a significant expenditure; having someone willing to shoulder this burden was more than ideal. For the Mu Continent, supplying 120,000 troops was a trivial matter; their native population was the most critical factor constraining their development.

As for the Soviet Union's technology tree…

It wasn't that it was poorly developed, but rather that it was overly crude and its focus somewhat skewed.

The land warfare technology they commissioned the Mu Continent to research—the Steel Fortress, a war citadel that moved on large mechanical limbs and was armed with a triple-barreled 800mm super-caliber cannon—was quickly produced.

This behemoth was enormous, heavily armored, and ferociously armed. However, its overly cumbersome structure made its movement speed extremely slow; even in its amphibious transport mode, its surface travel speed did not exceed 5 nautical miles per hour.

However.

Transportation was never its primary function.

These three cannons, with a caliber of 800mm and shells weighing 7 tons each, could very easily overturn any ground vehicle or underground fortification in the world.

Steel Fortresses.

Their threat to large Honkai Beasts was self-evident.

Not to mention, across the entire western Mu Continent, there were… a full 80 of these steel citadels!

Relying on the now-stationary Steel Fortresses.

The Soviet forces deployed extensive defensive fortifications and mobile armored units.

The former primarily consisted of "Magnetic Storm Coils." These devices could not only release directional high-energy plasma streams to burn through and destroy armored targets at medium range but also generate a spherical electromagnetic field with a radius exceeding 200 meters to defend against incoming kinetic or thermal weaponry.

The latter featured "Magnetic Energy Tanks," carrying miniaturized "Magnetic Storm Coils," and "Union Tanks," equipped with twin-linked 203mm cannons and "Magnetic Harpoons," as their main combat force.

The "Magnetic Energy" tank was comparable to North America's "Phantom" tank, possessing immense destructive power while being somewhat fragile defensively. However, with the cover of the Union Tanks, this type of tank's role on the battlefield was definitely not to be underestimated.

Incidentally.

The Soviet military's "Magnetic Energy" technology tree was entirely a product of the Mu Continent's research based on the "Herrscher of Thunder's Core," and was considered a free gift. Forcing Mu Continent scholars to constantly research bigger, thicker, and more explosive things was simply too incompatible with their "aesthetic sensibilities," which led to the creation of the aforementioned two technologies.

After all…

According to the Soviet military's vision.

They even hoped the Mu Continent would develop a colossal super-aircraft capable of carrying a Steel Fortress into the sky.

After politely declining this request.

The Magnetic Storm Ccoil-centric Magnetic Storm Troopers were born.

Of course.

This massive army had one undeniable weakness:

Compared to the vast armored corps on the ground, this army's anti-aircraft defense capabilities were far too weak. With the Mu Continent's native air force tied down, and the North American air force annihilated by Cheche and the Great Whale's Cruise-class legion, just how effective such a powerful army could be…

Was about to be tested.

————

While full-scale offensives had been launched on the other three fronts.

The western 'Frozen' Legion, its vast ground forces primarily composed of [Frozen Chariot Beasts], was "gazing across the sea" at the Soviet positions, which were already thundering with artillery fire.

The [Frozen Emperors], the core of the legion, remained inactive.

In the 'Frozen' Legion, which lacked Quillspike-class and even had very few Acid-class beasts, the Emperors were the most crucial anti-aircraft defense force.

It was the [Azure Beasts] that made the move.

One hundred "Frozen" Temple-class beasts formed a "Hundred Cavalry Formation," presenting a massive ring formation, and flew over the Soviet positions. The combined [Shield Bearing] unleashed by over a hundred Temple-class beasts was strong enough to ignore any level of anti-aircraft fire… even if the Soviet forces used "W-25" small nuclear warheads with a 1500-ton yield.

That's right.

The Soviet forces were well aware that they couldn't obtain anti-aircraft fire support in the short term.

So, they simply brought out low-yield anti-aircraft nuclear warheads. This insane design was not initially intended for Honkai Beasts; the hypothetical enemy was actually the large sky ships of other factions.

Now.

With their temporary allies, the "Zeus-class" sky ships, all crashed, these anti-aircraft nukes had become potent weapons against flying Honkai Beasts. Apart from Temple-class and Honkai Emperors, no other type of flying Honkai Beast could withstand the baptism of high temperatures and fierce flames; the consequences of being in the core of the explosion were even more self-evident.

Unfortunately…

Whoosh— (x100)!

BOOM!!!

Ice lances rained down from the sky, directly obliterating the Steel Fortresses the Soviet forces prided themselves on!

Without the threat of the 800mm heavy cannons, relying solely on 203mm cannons and magnetic energy weapons, they absolutely could not stop the advance of the [Frozen Chariot Beasts].

The average cooldown time for [Shield Bearing] in the hands of the [Azure Beasts] was about 240 seconds. With ample Honkai energy, the time required to re-form a [Spear Throw] was 300 seconds. This process did not affect the Temple-class beasts' movement. The distance between the Steel Fortresses arrayed across the western Mu Continent could be traversed by Temple-class beasts in about 200 seconds.

In other words.

Under ideal conditions, the time required to eliminate all Steel Fortresses was 24,000 seconds, which is less than seven hours. Considering the direct line of attack, this time could be nearly halved.

This timeframe…

Barring any accidents, was the countdown to the Mu Continent's destruction.

However!

"What are the humans waiting for?"

The number of Steel Fortresses eliminated by the same method was already approaching a quarter of the total. Apart from the identical response—launching nuclear warheads—the Soviet forces had not mounted any other effective defense. They hadn't even moved the Steel Fortresses to attack the 'Frozen' Legion, which was not far from the coastline.

Plague Temple asked, somewhat puzzled.

As the last of the Four War Temples to awaken, Plague Temple's talents clearly weren't focused on intelligence.

They were waiting for the complete annihilation of the Steel Fortresses, the humans…

"!?"

"As expected."

Death Temple's voice, like a song, slowly resonated. The attention of both Temples turned towards the north of their legion.

There…

Three massive fleets had already completed their assembly and were advancing:

Great Britain's Mediterranean Fleet, Shenzhou's "White Tiger" Fleet, and the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet.

Traveling thousands of miles, they had come from afar.

Given the "stationed" locations of these three fleets, to reach this place, they would have had to set out at least half a month in advance. For Great Britain and Shenzhou, due to their previous naval aid to Africa, this time might be shortened to a week, but it was definitely not something that could be achieved on a whim.

In other words.

While almost the entire world, except for the Mu Continent, was suffering from the Honkai Beast invasion, the high command of several major human powers had already guessed the possibility of a feint—for this possibility, no, it should be said, to completely eliminate the Honkai (and preserve their quantum energy weapons), they had mobilized almost all the fleets they could (by abandoning non-critical borders).

And this—

"Is as the Emperor foresaw."

Death Temple's melodious "tune" sounded again.

"Temple-class, continue your mission. Assault-class, cover the Drifter-class as they ascend for support. All Chariot-class, reorient your defensive posture."

"We are implementing Plan Two…"

"Besiege the strongholds to strike at the reinforcements."