Chapter 1676
Chapter 1676 - 1672: The First Test
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The battlefield has always been the most sensitive to the changes of the times and technology.
Especially in modern history, the error rate of predictions before the war is too high.
It’s often only after the fighting starts that someone exclaims, "How did war become like this?" or "Isn’t that a toy? How could it be on a battlefield?"
Often, after the war, it is time for nations to thoroughly update their technology, equipment, and even tactics; a massive downsizing or overhaul of the military is, in the end, a transition from an "outdated" military structure to a new era.
"....Let’s take a look at the new era."
Above Lu Ping’an’s head, dark clouds descended.
Slaughter is not a game, but those drone-like toys have turned warfare into a sort of "game."
One drone after another locked onto the Fishmen’s barracks and patrol teams.
Swaths of dark clouds clearly divided the labor amongst themselves, finding their respective targets.
They descended like a swarm of bees, and the moment the swarm leader triggered the fire control system, at least a dozen "AI drones" from other directions locked onto their targets with simple and brutal firepower.
After a burst of silenced gunfire, all that was left on the ground were shredded flesh and bloodstains.
And if there were more targets, they would automatically allocate the attack targets... and when their rudimentary arms supplies were exhausted, a simple and direct suicidal detonation could almost certainly take one down with them.
In themselves, they are not strong—a single ordinary Fishman Warrior could easily take down several, but when the sky is full of such devices, how many javelins can you throw before they land?
No mercy is needed for identification; any Ethnic group from the Foreign Domain that exists on the map automatically becomes a target to be eliminated.
Search, lock-on, kill....brutal and efficient, the indifferent efficiency of the killing machines makes one doubt whether the Controllers behind them really regard it as an electronic competition.
"....Take me to your camp, we’re just passing through this battlefield, let’s see what we can do to help you in this time."
In the background, the swarm of drones is still rapidly scouring the area.
Occasionally, high-level Fishmen explode with desperation... and the next moment, they are met with even more snipers, Advanced Combat Powers, and even idle Rule-levels.
The map is being cleaned up at high speed; the technology of the new era is fully deployed on the battlefield for the first time, achieving unexpectedly good results even to the users themselves.
Even though strategists and simulations have repeatedly emphasized the real combat effectiveness of the new era’s drone swarms, their memories filled with World War II movies and Exotic Realm hand-to-hand combat scenes could not have fathomed the effects would be this good.
The attack wave ended quickly; when the first batch of drones returned to recharge and resupply ammunition, several core battlefields in the Mountainous Country became clean and tidy.
Only pools of blood and scattered flesh remained on the ground, the only answer, as large batches of drone wreckage were being collected by specialists.
The battlefield that was always fiercely contested in the past has this time fallen into a strange calm, and even Lu Ping’an felt his scalp tingle at the sight of the results.
"So many Decree-level and above Life forms, and even Rule-levels...." The death of ordinary Fishmen was expected, but the large-scale harvesting of High-Tier Life was somewhat unexpected.
In front of these drone swarms, even if it’s a Decree-level Strongman stranded alone, unless their flesh and blood are impenetrable, they are just capable of taking down a few more expendables... The death of Rule-levels in this environment exceeded everyone’s expectations.
"Clear out everyone around him, and he will naturally be exposed, outnumbered on our side, and quickly resolved."
"Without reinforcements, or even comrades-in-arms, being beaten to death alone on the battlefield is a bit tragic."
The results of actual combat are the most effective feedback. This scene of a shockingly bountiful harvest of kills brings joy to Lu Ping’an and his group, and they also cherish the rarity of this surprise attack.
Everyone knows that the most effective use of new weapons is always the first time; countermeasures and preventative measures will eventually emerge, and even the most useful weapons and tactics will be weakened as the War continues.
Even if the Fishmen couldn’t come up with "drone disruptors" or "EMP" devices specifically engineered to be killer weapons in the short term, they would still find various quirky and makeshift solutions, which would naturally not be as effective.
"How are the losses?"
"Negligible. At this level of resistance, we are producing them faster than they are being consumed."
Lu Ping’an checked and found that the combat losses were approximately thirty thousand units... which seemed daunting, but in reality, the losses were less than 2%. With the current production capacity of Dragon Moon Island, they would be replenished within two days.
"What about the ammunition?"
"Do you know how many arms factories there are on Dragon Moon Island now? Their biggest worry at the moment is that stockpiles of arms might become so high that they pose a fire hazard."
At this point, Lu Ping’an understood the shamelessness of this tactic... Minerals, industrial bases, the arms industry – it was a complete set that could drain your resources for a lifetime.
This first encounter was more one-sided than anyone anticipated.
The battle of top combat powers in the sky had also ended without achieving a kill; after all, it’s hard to intercept a Quasi-God who wants to flee without sufficient resources.
But, following this million-drone strike, the tide of the battle had definitely shifted.
In the end, including both main forces and civilian drones, at least two and a half million various drones and high-positioned combat powers were deployed, achieving kills exceeding five hundred thousand... Large areas of Fishman territory directly became blank spots, and Middle-High Tier Transcendents without cover were prioritized for assassination as well.
In front of such drone swarms, even Decree-level life forms are under threat, especially as many "Extraordinary Drones" were hidden among these "mortal contraptions."
Lu Ping’an saw this, but Lu Ping’an didn’t ask now, as this should also be part of the official’s hidden technology... Lu Ping’an sensed a lot of "illegal" elements in it, including but not limited to electronic virus AIs, artificial souls, and weaponized Transcendent limbs.
"How is the underwater situation?"
In this area, Lu Ping’an was quite interested.
There are mechanical dogs on land and drones in the sky; as the main battlefield, the ocean naturally has its own specialized unmanned weaponry for mortals.
In the recent encounter, the large ships deployed many underwater unmanned devices, and Lu Ping’an noticed how they operated, but he did not see any reports.
He guessed that the news wouldn’t be good.
"...This is the only sore spot."
"What? Didn’t win underwater?"
"That’s one aspect, but it’s not a big problem. The weapons can be improved upon, but the main issue is... they can’t keep up."
"Oh, then there’s no solution."
Lu Ping’an sighed, not because he didn’t understand but because he was a professional in this business (especially with Mercury 42), he knew all too well about the problems in this area.
Land and aerial mechanical creations have mature technologies and are relatively easy to handle, but the underwater part, that’s really a conundrum.
First of all, the underwater environment itself: water pressure greatly reduces the power of most automated weapons, and more frustratingly, the current underwater apparatus doesn’t match the Fishmen’s mobility.
Machinery unable to outswim the flesh and blood bodies is abstract, but it’s the reality... Those small unmanned devices have very limited power, and increasing power greatly expands their dimensions, reducing their threat level. But the most helpless part is the cost issue.
Whether it’s underwater weapons or mobility, money can solve the problems, but the result is an exponential increase in construction cost. And right now, the approach to unmanned apparatus is to trade quantity for power. If we were to produce mid-to-large size underwater combat drones, their colossal size and cost would already have lost the biggest advantage of drone swarms.
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
"Perhaps, I can try solving this problem..."
But now, clearly, it wasn’t the time to ponder over these issues, as the high-level officials from Mountainous Country were hastily arriving with plans for a full-scale counterattack.
— End of Chapter 1676 —