Chapter 405 Orbital Bombardment
The answer? Apparently, enough damage can flatten a city.
Of course, just dropping the metal rod would not make it reach optimal speed. This is one mistake that the scientists back then didn't consider. A free fall from orbit—even the Low Earth Orbit alone—could take thousands of years to touch down!
And so, we discussed this with everyone and devised a plan. Instead of free-fall, we would initialize the "rods" by pushing them to fly to the surface. To do this, we attached a special magnetic material to the rod's tip. It has a "partner" that would be activated upon touching the earth and would "pull" the rods from the geostatic orbit at a rapid pace.
In short, the rods aren't only going on a free fall but are also accelerating due to the pull of the special magnets.
"To add to that, these rods are packed with flame and space energy!"
Once it landed on the target, it would release all its energy, along with the release of kinetic energy from the drop! From our estimates, it would be as powerful as a meteorite about a kilometer in diameter striking the surface of the planet!
"...!"
I watched as the "star" was released by Ember and entered a rapid descent. Its rounded tip burned red as it reentered the atmosphere, descending at speeds surpassing Mach-10. As soon as I saw it pierce through the clouds, I shouted another command.
"Everyone! Deploy your barriers and take cover!"
As soon as I raised my voice, everyone retreated as far back as they could before deploying their own defenses. Others created a barricade around them, while the rest resorted to simple energy barriers.
Then, after a couple of seconds of delay, the rod finally reached the other end of the special magnet—the thing that I threw in the middle of the enemy lines, the "token."
*BOOOOOOOOOM!*
A powerful explosion spread, along with flames that devoured everything within range. It was as if an atomic bomb exploded, flattening the entire space around and beyond us.
"UGH!"
The explosion was so powerful that my own barrier was starting to fail. Thankfully, Goddess Blanc saw this and dragged me along with the other 8th- and 9th-stage tamers and monsters who were struggling into her gargantuan barrier.
The flash of heat and shockwaves lasted for but a few seconds, but the destruction it left behind was something else.
"Will, you little!"
Just as I was staring at the extensive damage that the attack caused, Goddess Zeta came to our side with a deep frown.
"What was that attack? It wiped out all the god-level demons within range at once!"
"I bet..."
I turned to see the scenery once more, and nothing was left behind. The demons were literally destroyed, leaving only their essence crystals behind, which aren't really affected by heat or shockwaves. Some did manage to survive but had more than half of their bodies burned away. Zeshion and Ajax didn't even need to exert themselves to finish the rest off.
"That attack is one we devised recently. It's called an Orbital Kinetic Bombardment attack, and the girls named it [The Eraser]."
I was planning to name it the same as in the old world, but since the concept was the only thing similar, they vehemently refused to use the name of that certain god of thunder.
Well, seeing its destruction, leaving only a gigantic crater behind, the name they gave it was given some justice at least.
"... You're not planning to dominate the world with this much power, are you?"
Goddess Zeta asked, squinting her eyes as she glared at me. I, of course, haven't thought of such a thing... Well, in truth, I did, but the girls stopped me. There's no way I would tell her that, though.
"Rather than that, we should do things faster. Support team, hasten the setup of weakening arrays! More demons are approaching!"
Although I'm basically dodging the topic, what I said was also true. Coming further south of our position were more god-level demons. Their numbers were comparable to those of the previous group we just hunted.
Although Goddess Zeta was curious, she couldn't waste time on me given that the enemies were already within attacking range. She teleported away in a blink, just like how she appeared behind me earlier.
The support team set up the weakening arrays with haste. It was basically a placebo given that the enemies were god-level, but we were already near halfway to our target anyway.
"Just 200 more essence crystals and we're done! Come on, chop chop!"
The progress was faster than we expected since the demons were the ones approaching us now that we had come this far. One problem, however, is that I can't help but have this tingling feeling like we're about to make a big mistake.
"..."
Well, there should be no problem as long as I keep watch.
The next wave was, as expected, about the same scale as the one before. Roughly a hundred or so god-level demons of various shapes and sizes.
Since we were not surrounded by the enemy yet, we resumed the crane wing formation to kill the demons that came within range as fast as possible. Getting focus-fired by multiple sprays of assault rifles, the demons fell one after another.
Before we could eliminate half of the new batch, however, more and more god-level demons came. It was gradual, but we were slowly getting overwhelmed.
"Ember, I'll be firing another!"
I picked the second, and last, token from my [Spatial Storage] and threw it as far as I could possibly throw it. Then, with a short delay, another star began to fall. The red ball of fire was going straight for the middle of the enemy groups!
"Everyone, again, defend yourselves!"
I did try to send it further than before, but we were still within its killing radius. Without delay, all tamers and monsters set their defenses, while the rest hid under Goddess Blanc's barrier. A few seconds later, another large explosion occurred, painting the scenery with blinding light from the explosion.
"...!"
But there was one problem. The demons survived the attack!
"Damn! They copied us!"
The ones at ground zero died without being able to do anything, but the other demons set up defenses, emulating us, and managed to survive the attack!
Still, we have the advantage of being further from the explosion. The demons ended up wasting a large part of their energy on their defenses, so they became weakened right after.
Nobody missed the chance and rained bullets on the enemies, inflicting varying degrees of damage on them.
"Don't stop! Ride the momentum and wipe them out!"
"Left flank! Ajax! Stop that giant rock golem! Vermeil, you take out that ghost-like thing!"
"Zeshion, charge deeper into the enemy lines! We've got your back!"
"Tamers! Don't save your bullets! We already achieved our goal! Wipe them out so we can finally go home!"
Giving out orders one after another, I could feel my throat getting sore. I'm not accustomed to shouting all the time, after all, since if I'm forced to categorize, I'm an indoor type.
Still, the situation of the battle was rolling in our favor. The number of demons was diminishing by the second! In about another minute, we should be able to wipe out all of them.
"...?"
But the tingling feeling I was having just won't stop. This is different from Death's sixth sense; I can feel that something is about to happen but am not sure what it is!
"Reporting! Additional demons approaching! Their numbers... thousands!"
When a soldier popped to my side and reported, I suddenly felt as if my premonition had come true.
"Their levels?!"
"M-Most of them are god-level..."
Where the hell did they come from?! A thousand god-level demons? That should be an impossible number!
"Master!"
Just as I was about to start panicking, Ember appeared at my side from a portal, kneeling down from overworking herself.
"I-I managed to fit in four more rods to the satellite. Here are their tokens!"
"Four!"
That was double what we had before! Ember must've rushed the replenishment of [The Eraser] ammunition after the first shot.
"With this, we can clean up the enemies a bit!"
The god-level demons could raise their guard, but the immediate landing spot of the orbital bombardment is a sure-
kill zone. Still, to ensure that we drag in as many god-level demons into each pillar, I should make some arrangements first.
"Ember, can you call Goddess Zeta for me? I need her help."
"... As you wish, Master."
Ember quickly teleported away, and within the next few seconds, she returned with Goddess Zeta in tow.
"I need your help."
There's no time to be wishy-washy, so I explained the plan immediately. Goddess Zeta frowned, thinking deeply for a moment, before nodding her head.
"Alright. I'll try."
"I'm sure you can do it. You're the goddess of space, after all."
"Stop with the flattery. Now, begin! I'll keep track of your tokens or whatever!"
I nodded my head before holding the four tokens in my hand. I took a deep breath before teleporting the tokens to the four points in the surrounding area with the least number of demons present. I want to avoid as many variables as possible.
"It's coming!"
Soon after setting the tokens, four meteors burst out from beyond the clouds. They were bigger than before, so Ember must've compensated for the lack of energy infused inside them.
"NOW!"
At that instant, Goddess Zeta moved.
She created human-sized portals... a total of 4,000 of them and placed them before each of the demons. Then, as a finisher, she added 16 more, right where the tokens were.
Three seconds, two, one, impact!
*BOOOOOM!*
"Ugh...!"
As soon as the pillars landed, the explosion passed through the main portals and was sent towards the thousand exits for each. Goddess Zeta's nose started to bleed from trying to keep the portals open, despite the shockwaves passing through them.
Ten seconds—that's all it took for the army of thousands of god-level demons to be wiped out.
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