060. Airstrike

  Frost-Pted forces moved swiftly. At the temporary airfield on the Grant border, two Z-11 'Vulture' jets, which had just pleted a bombing run, spent only three minutes in the hangar. After loading air-to-air missiles, they immediately taxied onto the runway.

  The dark starry camoufge paint blehe jets into the eerie skies, their sleek forms propelled nearly silently by triple-vectihey quickly disappeared into the endless night like swift-tail swallows.

  "Magic Stone Squadron, yent mission is to ehe safe arrival of the transport pnes in the operational airspace."

  "Roger that."

  The and came from the airborne warning aircraft 'Ice Pace'. Magic Stone One was uned, chewing gum as he switched to a private el, joking with his wingman: "Those womeoo fident, daring to take off without waiting for the escort squadron."

  "Throttle down a bit, let those Law IV ckeys suffer a little." Magic Stowo chuckled coldly. "Those dogs, used to being thugs and robbers, are about to experience real war."

  "Good idea, but don't make it too obvious. After all, they are our fellow citizens."

  "You think of them as fellow citizens? They don’t see you as one, just a man."

  "Don't say that. They don’t hate men; they just despise the poor."

  The profession of fighter pilot required a high level of education and physical ditioning. As a result, the air force was the only branch of Frost-Pted's military with a rge tration of highly educated men.

  These two fighter pilots saw the war clearly. To them, the Grant forces were defending their homend, which gave them a strhting will pared to the Law IV agents, who were merely pying at rest ies.

  More importantly, though the Law IV agents had siderable bat experiereet fighting was entirely different from the battlefield.

  They didn’t even drop their auxiliary fuel tanks, cruising fortably at Mach 3. Even if Grant had mao scramble some outdated Z-08 'Dove' fighters—exported from Frost-Pted—these obsolete jets, g stealth capability, would be no match for the advanced 'Vultures'. At most, they could harass uransport pnes.

  The thought of these old jets trying to go toe-to-toe with cutting-edge Vultures was ughable.

  As they approached the target airspace, Magic Stone One ected to the bat data link and his expression immediately ged:

  "Something's wrong! There’s no enemy aircraft data in the bat system!"

  "Could it be eleic warfare?" Magic Stowo barely finished speaking when they saw a transport pne in the distance suddenly explode into fmes, as if a bde had sliced it ly in two.

  "What the hell is that?"

  More explosions followed in rapid succession, transport pnes in the dense formatioing into fireballs oer another, as if struck by arrows, spiraling out of trol and crashing.

  "My god..." Magic Stone One swallowed. "Nothing is showing up on the radar—it's uified flying objects."

  "Must be drone support from the Red Arrow Empire," Magic Stowo specuted. "Those Imperial guys have the most advanced maes—hard not to suspect them."

  "There’s another possibility." Magic Stone One narrowed his eyes. "Magic Stone calling Ice Pace, we are utack by uified flying objects, suspected Gamma-tier batant involvement. Requesting approval for the AAF protocol to use TSL (Tactical Laser System)."

  "No Gamma-tier biological signatures detected, request denied," came the prompt response from the airborne warning aircraft.

  "No, I'm certain it's Gamma-tier."

  As Magic Stone One spoke, four more transport pnes were sliced in half and fell from the sky. This time, both he and Magic Stowo saw it clearly:

  "—Because ier could withstand speeds of Mach 6 and smash through aircraft like that!"

  Several transport pnes couldn't bear the pressure and prematurely deployed their parachutes. Female agents clutg their ons donned wingsuits to desd. Just as the lead agents were preparing to jump, a red-bck shadow crashed into them. In the blink of an eye, several of the women's upper bodies were shredded into a bloody mist, their lower halves bug and plummeting toward the ground.

  Bang!

  The red-bck figure burst into the , his gaze sweeping the se. Sensing something, he immediately stopped in his tracks.

  "Oh? Law IV has some iing toys here."

  The facepte split open, revealing Li Aozi's handsome face. He curiously walked over to the ons ste, taking down two shoulder-mounted missile unchers.

  【True Eye】 immediately identified the model: 'Viper' anti-vehicle missile.

  The Viper's warhead came with a thermite effect, making it an excellent anti-vehicle on. Most importantly, it was cheap, costing only 200,000 derbi. With a bit of luck, two shots could take out an old mobile armor unit.

  Li Aozi decided to stash these away for the Bemudes engio study, hoping to reverse-ehem.

  "Phew—the radar's clear of that flying target. Thank heavens, we’re safe."

  "Air Fortel was wrong. Grant still has air power. That speed was terrifying."

  The pilot, unaware that the female agents in the had been reduced to bloody ks, sighed in relief, thinking he had survived.

  Li Aozi casually walked fripping the alloy door with both hands. Under his modified arms, the door peeled away like dough. Fag the two pilots who had just escaped death, he smiled slightly before his facepte closed again.

  "Don't rush home yet. It's too cold up here. How about a little stop in hell?"

  In the moment, neuro-tendrils shot from his palms, pierg the pilots' skulls. The tendrils pulsed rhythmically, glowing with vibrant colors, as the pilots shriveled into desiccated husks, colpsing into their seats.

  【You have draihe life from twets. You ow extract their abilities and personalities for refi.】

  【Refi plete.】

  【You have obtained [Human Amber] (Small) – be used to craft "Exquisite Craft" quality her gear.】

  【You have obtained [Fearful Soul] (Small) x2 – be used to heal soul damage, craft "Exquisite Craft" quality gear, or as material for eerie-type spells.】

  【The targets were filled with fear and hatred. Due to the effects of [Aura of Goodwill], a check will be performed...】

  【[Charm] attribute overwhelming success. Cheplete, critical success.】

  【They choose tive you. Their souls have been purified.】

  【You have obtained [sed Soul] (Small) x2 – be used to heal soul damage, craft "Fwless" quality gear, or crushed for informatiorieval.】

  Satisfied with his gains, Li Aozi immediately crushed the souls, flooding his mind with a rush mented memories.

  First love, college graduation, enlistment, a friend's introdu te, taking his daughter to the amusement park, leaving his hometown for the temporary airfield at his mother's urging.

  "—This is it."

  Li Aozi leased.

  "The Eerie Storms inds are s, without an airfield, they couldn't have deployed these transport pnes. As I suspected, there's a temporary airfield on the Frost-Grant border."

  Now it would be easy. Destroying that airfield would cripple Frost-Pted's ability to deploy air power for the time being.

  FAL