Joseph and William put on their helmets, climbed onto the roof of the command vehicle, and looked towards the direction from which the red dot was flying.
The field of view of their helmet-mounted displays automatically adjusted, instantly locking onto the rapidly approaching target, and then continued to zoom in, quickly going from blurry to clear.
"What is this?" Joseph's voice was actually a little shocked.
William said nothing, just stared at the incoming target.
The anti-aircraft vehicles in the tank force have also locked onto the target, and the four-unit anti-aircraft guns quickly aimed at the target. The original version of the anti-aircraft tank should have been a quadruple high-energy laser. However, in the environment of Planet 4, the laser energy attenuated extremely seriously, so it was replaced with a combination of two lasers and two artillery. At the same time, each anti-aircraft vehicle also carries ten high-performance missiles.
It's just that these missiles are also limited on Planet 4, and they will miss their targets before they can fly very far. Therefore, it has only been used to deal with winged beasts in actual combat. Anyway, there are only war beasts in the sky, as long as you hit something.
Just before the anti-aircraft tanker was about to intercept, William ordered over the communication channel: "No firing, the queue disperses!"
Although the Lancers were puzzled, the tanks quickly dispersed, and the anti-aircraft tanks still locked onto the target while maneuvering.
William and Joseph stared at the distant sky. At this time, the target was clearly visible. It was a long cylinder that was constantly expanding and contracting. Every time it ejected a ball of gas from its tail, it propelled it to fly rapidly in the air. It has four small wings like shark fins, which seem to play a role in guidance and balance.
It's just that this shape looks weird.
As it approached the chariot formation, it drew a high arc and fell toward the chariot formation.
William stared at its arc, his raised hand never falling, and no anti-aircraft tankers opened fire.
The strange flying object seemed to have poor accuracy. The arc of its descent was somewhat insufficient, so it flew far past the tank troops and landed 300 meters away.
After it hit the ground, its body exploded and a large green smoke filled the air, covering dozens of meters in an instant.
William and Joseph were no strangers to this green mist, and immediately ordered to open fire. The other lancer soldiers were well prepared and opened fire immediately upon order. Dozens of tracer bullets were fired into the green mist, igniting before it fully spread. Immediately, a purple-green fireball appeared, and the roar of the explosion shook the earth. Trembling.
After the explosion, it took a full three seconds for Joseph to recover from the shock and said: "I saw it right, is this damn thing..."
William's face was unusually solemn, "Although I don't want to admit it, if I'm not blind, this thing... should be a ground-attack missile."
"But isn't this thing alive?"
"Living surface-attack missile."
"Fortunately, its accuracy is very impressive."
"Maybe we'll see ground-attack missiles with eyes soon."
"That's really a ghost! What else will we see in the future? A living tank, a living mecha?" Joseph was chattering there, and suddenly his voice rose an octave: "What a ghost! What is that?!"
Including William, everyone's helmets rang with piercing alarms, and at the end of their field of vision, a large number of dense red dots appeared, flying towards them at high speed!
Those are live ground-attack missiles, hundreds of them in number, spread throughout the sky!
"Intercept! Intercept with all your strength!" William shouted as he rushed towards his mecha.
Joseph moved a step faster and was now under his mecha, anxiously waiting for the cockpit hatch to be fully opened.
The anti-aircraft tank finally opened fire, tracer bullets shot into the sky one after another, and the fragments exploded also created a shining fluorescent effect. At the same time, green lasers shot into the sky, shining on the incoming target.
Just a few tenths of a second of continuous irradiation caused smoke to emit from the irradiated part of the missile, burning a large hole that continued to penetrate deeper.
The missiles actually let out a painful scream, sprayed violently, and flew around in the air. Some of them accelerated towards the ground and exploded in advance, ending their painful lives.
Compared with other planets, the power of high-energy lasers here is attenuated too much. It takes three times as long to intercept a missile as on other planets. Moreover, there were too many missiles. Although anti-aircraft vehicles were fully engaged in interception, and even infantry combat vehicles and main battle tanks also joined the interception ranks, one-third of the missiles still broke through the interception network and fell to the ground.
The chariot troops were instantly covered by the diffuse green mist, followed by an earth-shattering explosion!
After a while, the smoke gradually dissipated, and Joseph's voice sounded on the communication channel: "It's really difficult to deal with! I was almost injured. William, William? Are you still alive?"
"If you don't die, how can I die first?" William's voice came from the smoke.
Joseph breathed a sigh of relief and was about to check the team's casualties when William called from behind: "Wait a minute! Come back and pull me up."
Joseph turned around and strode into the smoke, and saw William's mecha lying on its back, with one leg in a strange twisted state, obviously seriously damaged.
Joseph leaned over, grabbed William Mecha's chest, pulled him up, then squatted down to check his legs, pulled out a metal fragment from the joint, and said, "Okay, can you move?"
William moved his legs and said: "The 30% impairment of athletic ability is acceptable. You don't need to worry about me, go and see the situation of the troops."
Joseph stood up and said: "What the hell, so many ground-attack missiles, are these beasts serious about their evolution?"
While complaining, he patrolled the battlefield. When he encountered a damaged tank, he checked to see if the crew inside was alive.
The power of these weird ground-attack missiles was astonishing. There were destroyed tanks everywhere along the way. Even the main battle tanks were not spared. It was even more difficult for those weakly armored infantry fighting vehicles and anti-aircraft tanks to survive.
Fortunately, the Federation has always been in a leading position in tanks and mechas. Even if the tank is destroyed, most of the crew inside will survive.
Joseph and William quickly finished inspecting the battlefield and met again, both of them looking gloomy.
"More than a third of the tanks have been lost. I'm afraid we won't be able to move forward."
Joseph frowned, "But we have already walked half the way."
William said: "Even one mecha was damaged, and we can't move forward. What to do with those who lost their tanks? Throw them here, or take them with you?"
Before Joseph could speak, a large number of red dots suddenly appeared on the screen, so densely packed that it was impossible to tell how many there were.
Joseph's expression changed and he shouted loudly: "Get ready to fight! Beast tide!"
