Bone Shards clearly know that this direction is not only the fastest route to advance, but also where the general command of the human army is located on the surface of Ancache VIII.
Itâs possible that Bone Shards also knows exactly who the ground commander is.
As long as he extinguishes the command center for the humansâ coordinated multi-directional operations, it might not win the war, but it can at least throw the human sideâs offensive into disarray temporarily and ease his own pressure.
What he seeks is merely an extended delay in the progress.
Martins quickly realized that Bone Shardsâ attack was targeting him.
He first arranged the defense line to intercept, and also called for bombardment support from the fleetâs guns.
But Bone Shardsâ attack could not be stopped.
At this time, Gu Hangâs âElite Planâ was still being prepared. Leveling up was convenient and quick, strengthening with the Storm God Kingdomâs power was slightly slower, but in reality it didnât take much time.
However, these scheduled participants in the battle had to be brought over from various battle zones, which would take time.
And this wasnât a simple ring fight, where contenders face off in a boxing match.
This is war.
Apart from the elite team participating in the core fight, Martins also had to gather some elite forces from other directions to face Bone Shards in a decisive battle.
Before the troops and warriors arrive, Martins couldnât face Bone Shards directly by himself.
If he were caught, based on the various war reports from the front line, he wouldnât stand a chance, and even escaping would be quite difficult.
Martins had no choice but to flee everywhere with his command post and staff group.
This caused the human military to exhibit significant disarray across the board.
The other five directions might be slightly better. Without a central command, at least each army directionâs own command system was complete. Even though gathering actions meant some commanders, who were the elite among Interstellar Warriors, were drawn away, it wouldnât take the entire command post and staff group as well. Newly appointed military leaders might experience some chaos, but after all, they werenât in a rush to attack and were in a strategic defense position, thus the situation was relatively better.
But it was only Martinsâ direction that was troublesome because he was constantly pushed around, making the command system unsmooth and chaotic; moreover, each unit was hammered to a mess by the Green Skinsâ main force personally led by Bone Shards.
The initially best-progressing army direction, with the obliteration of the Ironfist Ambassador and Commander Martins being pushed around, practically became a complete collapse.
And it was beyond salvage.
The neighboring second army direction and third army direction did dispatch forces to help, but... saying they couldnât hold them off truly meant they couldnât hold them off.
In the end, they could only resign themselves to the chaos.
In such case, each unit must find its own method. Their duty was to defend their positions, but they were allowed to flexibly decide strategic tactics based on their circumstance, potentially retreat or hide as needed. Surviving and preserving what remains was also necessary.
This even allowed Bone Shards to connect with the outside world onceâunder the context of six landing zones, six army directions encircling Bone Shardsâ throne fortress, the planetary surroundingsâ broader lands were occupied by Green Skins.
Despite being subject to global bombings by the human fleet, the Green Skinsâ ecosystem or trash cities couldnât effectively prepare new soldiers or forge new war tools at full power.
But overall, their numbers were still substantial, and under Bone Shardsâ summon, they were rushing from all over the globe to support the core battlefield.
The channel Bone Shards opened to communicate with the outside carried significant meaning; suddenly he received extensive reinforcements, relieving his earlier plight of being surrounded, unable to get any supply, and having insufficient forces.
This would obviously impact the subsequent decisive battle adversely, but there was no other option.
However, during this period when Bone Shards couldnât find Martins and had to turn to break the encirclement, human forces for the decisive battle managed to assemble.
At the second army directionâs position, four Divine Chosen-level warriors, twenty-six Battle Group Champions, six Grade S Psychics, nearly a hundred Grade A Psychics, over five thousand Interstellar Warriors, with the squad champion ratio reaching 10% overall, meaning more than five hundred... that was the entire decisive force assembled by the humans.
No time wasted, the battle started immediately.
Martins personally led the troops to first target the communication channel Bone Shards tried to open with the outside.
Fourteen hours after Bone Shards opened the channel, it was closed.
Even though Bone Shards received considerable reinforcements during that time, time was limited.
The Bone Shards wouldnât easily abandon a channel opened with great difficulty.
He led his trusted army, facing the difficulty head-on.
In fact, Bone Shards already received warnings from the Green-skinned God; he knew humans had prepared a âgiftâ aiming to kill him.
But so what?
If he were afraid, he wouldnât be Bone Shards.
Just as, months ago, the Insect Swarm laid a trap for him, wasnât he aware?
No, he certainly was aware.
He only regarded it as an invitation, happily accepting it, and then took those pestsâ heads as toys.
Right now, similarly, he viewed the humansâ assembled decisive battle forces as an exciting opponent.
Indeed, it was full of challenge, yet like countless challenges in his life, he would undoubtedly accept, then use his axe to split apart all challengers.
...
"Roar!"
Bone Shards let out a roar!
Currently, he had at least six definite wounds, excluding other minor scars.
Among those six wounds, three came from the Living Saint Georgette, and the remaining three came from Martins, Youwin, and Rizzo respectively.
The conflict had erupted for two hours, or alternatively, it had never ceased.
After the humans re-sealed the channel, the outside Green Skins launched insane attacks; the inside Green Skins, led by Bone Shards, quickly reached the battlefield.
Consequently, human forces suffered attacks from both sides.
Yet this time, the human side was resolute. The so-called decisive battle forces werenât only engaging with high-end, cutting-edge power, but also elite forces, including all those who can be gathered swiftly, were brought forward as much as possible. Furthermore, continually, there were units arriving by airborne or surface to the battlefield.
They held off the fierce assault from both directions.
And upon Bone Shardsâ arrival, they immediately called for ferocious fleet bombardment.
Not hoping the bombardment alone could kill Bone Shardsâhad it been possible, they would have done it long ago.
Yet Bone Shards couldnât intercept every bombardment; some shots landed as expected. Among Green Skinsâ most elite troops, unless hit directly by the bombardmentâs center, a high survival rate still existed, but some would inevitably die.
After the bombardment ended, the ground forces charged.
They didnât allow the disoriented Green Skinsâ troop structure to recover easily and approached Bone Shards himself under cover from multiple Interstellar Warriors.
Around him were nearly a hundred of his strongest trusted aides, including warlords and Grand Shamans, equivalent to the human sideâs Battle Group Champions and Grade S Psychics.
The Psychics acted first, six Grade S led over a hundred Grade A, completely isolating those three Grand Shamans.
Their task was to prevent the Green Skinsâ psychic powers from influencing the battle and to quickly eradicate them on the psychic level, then assist in the siege against the Bone Shattering King.
Bone Shards glared intending to relieve his subordinates but only managed to kill two Grade A Psychicsâinsignificant to the larger picture.
The Interstellar Warriors had already charged.
Twenty-six Battle Group Champions separated the other warlords. They would quickly eliminate those warlords, then turn to jointly attack Bone Shards.
Four Divine Chosen Champions confronted Bone Shards himself.