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Chapter 843: Temporary Conclusion
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 07:01:53 +0000 UTCTransformers Begin : Table of Content/Chapter List
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The howling missiles drew closer to the ground with each passing moment.
Lightning glanced up at the sky, a faint smirk playing on his somewhat grim face.
"More missiles. Earthlings seem to have exhausted their tactics," he sneered.
He surveyed his surroundings and issued a cold command, "Prepare to evade this wave of missiles. Contact Starscream and have him send another batch of Vehicons to support us!"
Above the sky, the Decepticon aerial squadron, which had been entangled with U.S. Military aircraft, had mostly ceased their engagements.
Most of them bore various injuries, and three of their high-ranking warriors had fallen to the U.S. Military's aircraft.
However, the U.S. Military had also paid a heavy price for this confrontation.
Over three hundred aircraft of various types had been shot down, adding to the losses from the previous skirmish, approaching nearly four hundred aircraft. Despite the vast resources of the U.S. Military, this battle had cost them dearly.
But Lightning was not satisfied with this outcome.
His aerial squadron had too few members. Only seven or eight had joined the advance team upon their arrival in the Solar System. In the previous battles, they had pushed the energy within their sparks to the red alert line in a short time, only then achieving this victory.
Now, even though there were a few Elite Warriors left in the squadron, they were all wounded. Without an immediate supply of energy, they would be unable to continue their aerial combat in the short term.
Three high-ranking warriors from the squadron had perished, and the remaining Decepticons had been pushed to their limits by the very humans that Lightning had looked down upon. Being as proud as he was, Lightning could not accept this result.
The order for reinforcements was quickly transmitted in encrypted form by a Decepticon communications officer towards the Moon.
Moon Base had specialized equipment for communication with the Decepticons, and it wouldn't be long before they intercepted and deciphered the message, dispatching reinforcements to Earth.
However, events took an unexpected turn.
On the other side, the U.S. Military had gained control of the airspace at a great cost, and they had no intention of letting their advantage slip away.
Although they currently had no plans to send additional ground forces, they had learned their lesson when a fully-equipped mechanized infantry division, the Tombwind Unit, with over four thousand soldiers, had been nearly annihilated by just thirty Decepticons in less than an hour. Combined with the earlier encounter with a mechanized infantry brigade in Great Canada, the Pentagon had a clear understanding of the devastating power of the Decepticons when they formed into larger groups.
As a result, they became more cautious and decided not to send ground forces until the U.S. Military had eliminated most of the invading Decepticons in the air.
On the aerial front, the U.S. Military aircraft that had gained control of the airspace began a relentless pursuit of the remaining Decepticons.
Missiles rained down on the ground indiscriminately.
Whenever radar detected possible Decepticon units on the ground, U.S. Military aircraft formations, sharing data through a network, would deploy several aircraft to simultaneously launch at least a dozen missiles to bombard the target location.
However, the Decepticons were not mindless machines.
Despite the injuries they had sustained from the missile onslaught, the surviving Decepticons were all elite warriors. After nearly wiping out the Tombwind Unit, they had stopped engaging in close dogfights with U.S. Military aircraft and reluctantly abandoned the skies.
With the loss of airspace control, these Decepticons immediately ceased their slaughter of the few remaining retreating Tombwind soldiers and took advantage of the complex terrain of the River Valley near Seville to go into hiding.
As a result, the achievements of the U.S. Military aircraft, after gaining control of the airspace, were not as significant as they had hoped.
Except for a very few Decepticons who were severely damaged or killed by U.S. Military aircraft, the majority of invading Decepticons took refuge in the complex terrain of the River Valley region.
They had received Commander Lightning's orders and believed that reinforcements would arrive soon. Thus, they patiently endured their temporary setback, waiting for the reinforcements to arrive for a counterattack and slaughter.
The battlefield seemed to have temporarily reached a stalemate.
Apart from the sporadic missile launches from the increasingly sparse U.S. Military aircraft and the resulting explosions in various parts of River Valley, the once tumultuous area had finally quieted down after nearly a day of intense combat.
However, at this very moment, urgent alerts began to blare within the U.S. Military's communication system.
"Warning... warning. Unidentified attacks detected in your area, preliminary assessment indicates unknown missile types. Prepare for immediate evacuation."
"Repeat, unidentified attacks detected in your area, preliminary assessment indicates unknown missile types. Prepare for immediate evacuation."
In the River Valley region, where some Tombwind soldiers had been routed and were now using the complex terrain to their advantage, some soldiers hiding behind concealed rocks in the River Valley or within the dense northern forests unique to the area began to look up in alarm. They spotted streaks of "meteors" falling from the northwestern sky.
"Are those more invading aliens?" one Tombwind soldier despaired.
However, some experienced mercenaries among the Tombwind soldiers began to show intense expressions. "Damn it, those are missiles! They could be our tomahawks!"
Tomahawk cruise missiles were one of the most commonly used multipurpose cruise missiles within the U.S. Military, and as a result, many soldiers were aware of their destructive power.
Though these defeated Tombwind soldiers had escaped the pursuit of the Decepticons, they knew that if they were unlucky enough to be near a Tomahawk cruise missile when it exploded, it could cost them their lives.
Amid curses and shouts, the alert Tombwind soldiers who sensed the impending danger began to assess the possible attack locations of the missiles. They either searched for safer hiding spots or fled in the opposite direction to save their lives.
The Decepticons in the River Valley region were doing much the same as the fleeing Tombwind soldiers.
However, due to their confidence in their powerful mechanical bodies, they chose not to flee but, instead, relied on their experience in dealing with Tomahawk cruise missiles. They calculated the likely attack positions of these missiles and moved to safer locations.
In an atmosphere of despair and curses, one missile after another from outer space finally descended to the Earth.
As the first missile landed, the explosion of the warhead caused a rapid and violent reaction with the chemicals inside. Consequently, the temperature within a radius of nearly eight hundred meters around the explosion site dropped rapidly. The previously muddy, cratered ground that had been pounded by missiles and artillery fire froze over at a visible rate. Even the sky above, due to the condensation of water molecules in the cold air, began to produce snowflakes and ice crystals.
"So... so cold..." muttered several unlucky Tombwind soldiers who had not managed to escape the blast radius. Frost quickly formed on their hair, cheeks, military uniforms, gloves, and the weapons they held, and their lifeless bodies soon lost their breath.
The unlucky Decepticons in the River Valley region didn't fare much better.
With each successive explosion of the temperature differential bombs, one after another, they found their seemingly invulnerable mechanical bodies rapidly covered in frost and ice, with some even forming ice blocks.
In the blink of an eye, a sudden conflict appeared to be frozen in place, coinciding with the explosions of these temperature differential bombs.
Seville, situated within the Arctic Circle, a region almost perpetually blanketed in white snow, had once again returned to quietude after experiencing its most eventful day in history.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 844: An Unpleasant Reunion (Part 1)
