Ten, wonderful association

  Ten, wonderful association

  This morning at 7:30 suddenly lost power, just recovered now, today's update is supplemented.

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  "Bang! Crack!"

  "Ahhhroo!"

  "Bang! Crack!"

  "Ahhhroo!"

  "That's enough, stop yelling at me in a fake tone!" Sophia tossed the whip that had been dipped in seawater aside and collapsed onto the lounge chair, panting heavily. A young orderly rushed over to gently massage her legs.

  Lying on the deck, with all four limbs tightly bound by ropes, Holmes hastily turned his head around, squeezing out a few tears from his eyes. "Oh, please don't say that, great, respected, and almighty Admiral! I am truly heartbroken over my mistake earlier and have conducted a profound self-examination and sincere introspection, gaining valuable experience and lessons that I will put into practice in future work..."

  "Alright." Sophia flexed her somewhat sore hands from overexertion, lamenting the decline of her physical prowess before issuing new orders to her sole aerial force, "Since you know you were wrong, immediately launch another attack and bomb the enemy's position. This time, it's just you! Guard, strap explosives on him!"

  "Great, respected, all-powerful Marshal, I am more than happy to follow your orders and contribute my humble strength to the great conquest of the kingdom. However..." Holmes flapped his already drooping and somewhat twisted wings, then cried out in extreme pain, "Oh oh oh, it seems that my wings have been beaten into dislocation by Your Whip, possibly accompanied by comminuted fractures and various internal injuries. Of course, I am absolutely not afraid of death, just let me rest for a little while, just until tomorrow, I guarantee to be the first one to charge forward, absolutely will not disappoint your expectations..."

  "By tomorrow evening, most people here will be feeding fish!"

  Sophia interrupted him, picked up the whip and slammed it onto Holmes' head, which happened to get stuck in Holmes' still chattering mouth, instantly choking the old black dragon into a fit of coughing, spewing out many small fireballs and ice cubes, burning out quite a few black spots on the deck.

  "And another thing, stop playing the victim! Don't think I don't know your wings are naturally deformed!"

  The aged female marshal lifted her military boots and kicked the old black dragon's crotch with all her might, immediately causing a string of tear drops the size of chicken eggs to shoot out from Holmes' yellowed old eyes.

  At this time, the raft army that had retreated to the edge of the floating ice had regrouped once again. Sophia no longer had the heart to whip Holmes either; after all, it wouldn't have much effect even if she did whip him through the dragon skin. She stood up and waved her hand, saying, "Tie this lazy thing that refuses to admit its mistakes and throw it into the sea to soak for a bit! Perhaps the icy seawater can make it clear-headed. Let's set off!"

  "No, General! Cough, cough, just spare me...!" Old Black Dragon suddenly panicked, but the whip stuck in his throat made him unable to speak. He let out a few incoherent yells before Sophia, who had already reached the gangway, finally stopped in front of him, turning around to give new orders to the sailors moving Black Dragon.

  "Right, when throwing him into the sea, don't forget to hang an iron anchor around his neck!"

  "Roger."

  "Cough, cough, spare my life..."

  ****

  "General concealment!"

  The officers hadn't even finished kicking the new recruits' butts to get them into the shelters when the next wave of fairy troops landed. This time, no prodding was needed; the soldiers all ran back on their own. The only problem was that some shelters had three times as many people crammed in as they were meant to hold, while others stood empty. But no matter how badly they performed, the officers didn't have the heart to yell at them - they were too busy staring at the approaching flock of floating airships.

  This time, the invaders did not let the useless black dragon take the lead, but instead put the floating raft directly in front. Although there was no preset Zha medicine and the artillery was far from enough to seal off the sea surface. However, various small hand grenades had been issued to the grenadiers' hands, and the riflemen had also loaded their bullets, ready to fire at any time. On Phil's side, due to the lack of strong-armed guys in his motley independent battalion, he handed over the hand grenades to the half-human stone throwers, letting them launch them with slingshots.

  This time, the sprite army didn't leave many reserve troops. About 300 strange and bizarre floating rafts followed the signal flare's ascent, swarming towards the shore in a frenzy. They initially advanced at a fairly slow pace, flying while trying to form a vanguard array. However, when they reached the area where the explosion had just occurred, their charging speed increased significantly.

  The battle also rang out again at this distance.

  "Fire!"

  "Fire!"

  As the commanders shouted orders, the artillery began firing explosive shells, and hand grenades and lead bullets intermittently shot out from various shelters towards the approaching floating airship. Such a chaotic attack did not aim to hit the enemy, but only needed to disrupt the fragile balance of the airship through explosions and flying ice fragments.

  Due to the distance being relatively far, the first round of attack was not very effective. However, relying on the morale brought about by just repelling the enemy, the soldiers in the bunker surprisingly had the courage to exchange fire with the invaders on the raft, and some particularly brave ones even mounted bayonets on their firearms, planning to engage in close combat after landing on the raft.

  As the two sides drew closer, the power of hand grenades and shells began to take effect. One after another, the floating rafts shook, tilted, and fell under the intense bombardment. Even in a rifle duel, the defenders in their shelters had a much greater advantage than the attackers on the exposed wooden rafts. However, this time the Spirit Army also had a new countermeasure.

  "Whoosh——""Whoosh——"

  Sparks flew on the fuse, a sharp whistling sound echoed one after another on almost all the floating rafts, and rockets with white smoke rising from their buttocks shot out of simple rails, flying towards the shore. The fragile floating rafts could hardly withstand the recoil of the cannons, but the recoilless rockets did not have this problem. In an instant, these small things filled the entire sky, swooping down on the entire defensive line along the coast.

  "What are they doing with these useless rockets?" Looking at the white trails crisscrossing in the sky, Fili felt a bit strange. Although the military rockets of this era were also propelled by gunpowder, their shells were generally made of paper and could not be very large. Neither their power nor range could compare to the "Katyusha" rocket artillery from another world. Moreover, without the initial velocity of cannonballs, their kinetic energy was limited, and at best they were just a big firework. These rockets might still be useful in naval battles on the sea, but they had little power on land. Even if they directly hit a person, as long as that unlucky guy wasn't running naked, generally there wouldn't be much harm done.

  The soldiers in the bunker were also aware that these little things didn't have much power, except for tightening their helmets or pots on their heads and rolling their bodies in the snow, they continued to fire back with inaccurate machine guns. However, what happened next left everyone stunned.

  These rockets, spinning wildly, plunged into the snowy ground without exploding, but instead emitted a hissing sound and puffs of yellowish-green and white smoke, accompanied by a faint smell reminiscent of burning rubber. Due to the sheer number of rockets, the beach and port were shrouded in thick smoke everywhere, with the most severe areas completely enveloped in fog, rendering everything invisible.

  The soldiers in the bunker were initially nonchalant, but soon thought of something and were stunned. Many of them had seen Phil's metal ball magic bombs before and knew that they could emit terrifying stench spells or even death cloud spells. The familiar scene in front of them immediately triggered their wonderful associations, and its credibility grew rapidly in a short period of time, instantly breaking through their very limited professional ethics.

  If this were a determined and stubborn army, they might have continued to fight, at least considering countermeasures. Unfortunately, the Great Bear Legion was always prepared to retreat before the war began, and their will to fight was extremely weak. Many people did not notice the approaching enemy, but instead focused on the withdrawal signal from the command center, fearing that they would be left behind. The sudden appearance of strange smoke made them think they had found an excuse to leave the defense line and no longer needed to hold on. First, a few timid old soldiers took the lead, then large numbers of informed or uninformed new recruits followed, covering their noses and eyes, rushing out of the bunker, and fleeing towards the rear without looking back, shouting various morale-boosting slogans.

  Under Phil's supervision, the area was relatively remote and didn't take many rockets. However, under the influence of other defensive zones' collapse, the independent battalion, which had always been slack, became the first unit to completely collapse. The undisciplined and cowardly officers and soldiers quickly abandoned their duties, shouting as they began a massive retreat at a speed akin to sprinters. Although some people were occasionally hit by stray bullets from unknown sources, they still refused to stop, as if all their courage had been drained in an instant.

  Is this a gas war? Phil's mind was in shock and he couldn't believe it, knowing the high cost of metal ball magic bombs. Even at cost price, the amount of money spent to create a massive smoke screen that could cover miles of coastline would be enough to buy off the entire Giant Bear Army, which was completely different from the few ships on the Blue River.

  Moreover, the smoke in front of me rises slowly and disperses into the air after being sprayed, while the real stinky cloud is heavier than air and should stay in place. Besides, I can hardly smell any strong odor...

  "Come back, it's just ordinary smoke bombs, you bunch of cowardly earthworms!" The officer who found the situation had already lost control stomped his feet in anger and even rushed into the fleeing soldiers to grab and beat them, but to no avail. Although many soldiers also discovered the truth, they were swept away by the crowd of fleeing people and couldn't help themselves. Moreover, ordinary people are generally braver when running away than when facing the enemy head-on. Even the soldiers who didn't run away at first became fearful and thought that if they didn't leave, they would be at a great disadvantage. This psychological imbalance finally became the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the entire defensive line collapsed inexplicably.

  Like countless absurd but true examples in the history of war, soldiers who fell into fear and collapse due to strange associations were unreasonable. They stubbornly interpreted everything as a lie that deceived themselves to death, using gun butts to knock down obstructing officers, trampling unlucky people who slipped with their feet, and running wildly in all directions. Muskets, cannons, ammunition, and even military uniforms were scattered all over the ground, while the enemies they were avoiding were still floating slowly on airships, not a single one had landed!

  "This is what a low-quality army looks like!"

  Looking at the fleeing soldiers all over the mountains, Fili finally understood what the unease in his heart represented. He turned back to look at the hovercraft still ten or so yards away from the beach, then crawled back into the bunker and took off the copper pot on his head, putting on an invisibility cloak instead.

  "This battle is over, now it's time to strive for one's own life!"