Chapter 65: The True War Begins
Chapter 65: The True War Begins
The designated battlefield had excellent terrain. A river flowed from the left side of the battlefield, originating from the valley town they had set out from, passing through Greenville and straight to the sea. The river was very turbulent at this point where it emerged from the mountains, making it nearly impossible for the zombies to swim upstream and threaten the flank.
On the right side of the battlefield, the rugged terrain of the mountain's foothills limited the zombies' ability to launch a coordinated charge.
This was a full-scale human operation, with no room for failure. That's why Liam noticed that even the elderly, the sick, and the weak were among the group. In battles against zombies, speed and decisiveness were crucial. Prolonging the fight would only result in more human casualties turning into zombies, adding to the enemy's strength. The attrition strategy was out of the question.
At this moment, Kenvi returned with his men, reporting that the number of zombies was too high near the outskirts, making it difficult to infiltrate further and gather more specific information about the zombies' arrival time.
Liam volunteered to conduct a reconnaissance mission. He and Kenvi drove a robot to the nearest safe point outside the city.
Upon arriving at the safe point, Liam fully activated the Life Magic he had recently learned. He immediately sensed the presence of a large number of foul, unnatural beings within the city. He concentrated his perception into a narrow beam and directed it toward the city. Due to his limited experience and skill level, his perception had a range limit and was quite blurry, making it impossible to distinguish specific units. However, it was enough to gauge the general distribution of zombies.
Upon learning that Liam's scanning range was limited, Kenvi maneuvered the robot around the city's perimeter. After circling the city, Liam roughly mapped out the distribution of zombies inside and marked several points where his perception detected stronger reactions, likely indicating the presence of elite zombies.
Liam believed that the presence of elite zombies had likely attracted all the scattered zombies from the surrounding areas. According to his perception, the number of zombies far exceeded the pre-disaster population of Greenville.
Back at the camp, Liam reported his findings to Dave. After hearing their report, Dave quickly ordered Kenvi to return to the town and use a steamboat to bring back all usable Plants.
Once the orders were issued, Dave turned to Liam and thanked him for the intelligence. This information brought both good and bad news. The good news was that the zombies were unlikely to launch an attack for at least 48 hours, giving the human forces enough time to fortify their position. The bad news was that after the failed decapitation operation, the elite zombies left in Greenville had attracted a large number of wandering zombies to strengthen their numbers during this vulnerable phase. Without this reconnaissance, the human side could have suffered significant losses.
Next came the construction of fortifications. The human forces operated robots to build high platforms and defensive walls within the battlefield, dug numerous trenches in front of their position, and diverted water from the river to flood the low-lying areas at the front, creating a swamp to slow down the zombies' advance.
By lunchtime, a steamboat arrived from the town, loaded with various Plants. This was largely thanks to Kenvi's experience as an old ship captain; no one else could have navigated such a turbulent river.
“Don't all these Plants have Battle Mode? Why do we need to bring more Plants from the back?” Liam asked Dave, puzzled.
“It's simple. Plants can only enter Battle Mode in areas with a high concentration of other Plants. Here, the Plants can't enter Battle Mode. I didn't expect there to be so many zombies. Initially, I thought the Plants on the robots would be enough to handle the situation, allowing us to save some Plant seeds for when we retake Greenville.
Unfortunately, the current situation leaves us with no choice but to deploy the Plants in this area and prepare for the worst. Not to mention, the Plants' combat effectiveness is reduced in Battle Mode. While they are still effective in urban alley fights, they are less suitable for this kind of open-field combat, where the original Plants are a better fit."
After saying this, Dave distributed the equipment and instructed each combatant to carry it.
By the time it was just after lunch on the following day, Liam was sitting in the tent practicing the Life Magic techniques left by Viking. Suddenly, an alarm sounded from the elevated platform. Liam rushed out of the tent and climbed up the defensive wall. He saw a vast, endless army of green Zombies marching along the road that existed before the Catastrophe, heading straight for the camp.
The number of Zombies was so great that they covered the small plain in front of the camp. Liam could even spot some exceptionally tall Zombies swaying among the crowd.
Fortunately, after more than 5,000 robots worked through the night, the human camp had been fortified with numerous defensive structures. The frontmost marshland and the camp's surroundings were filled with Potato Mines. The trenches were lined with Torchwood Stakes and various Peashooters, with Wall-Nuts providing additional shielding at the front.
Around the core of the camp, a seven-to-eight-meter-high protective wall connected to a ten-meter-high platform was constructed. The wall and platform were equipped with various Shooter Plants and Cob Cannons, giving them a longer range to support the Plants in the trenches. Additionally, robots loaded with Plants were operated by humans as reserve forces, ready to reinforce any areas where firepower was lacking.
Liam's role in the battle was to fight alongside the reserve forces at the front lines, providing real-time updates on the Zombies' movements to Dave, who was directing the battle from the rear, to help adjust the human forces accordingly.
Liam noticed that the human morale was high, as this was their first counteroffensive. The fear that might have been present had long since subsided after so many years of the Apocalypse.
As a shrill scream echoed from the Zombie ranks, they surged forward like a tidal wave, and the battle began.
The first wave consisted of mere cannon fodder Zombies, which quickly disintegrated under the Plants' concentrated fire. The subsequent waves were slightly larger in number but were eliminated before they even reached the trenches. It seemed this was a reconnaissance mission by the elite Zombies, but Liam also observed that the Zombies' attack was far less organized than the one he had encountered before. This was likely due to the scarcity of elite Zombies, which limited their ability to coordinate the attack effectively. This could be considered good news.
However, during the fourth wave, the Zombies launched a more threatening assault. They led with a few Ice Car Zombies as the vanguard, followed by a row of Football Zombies.
They charged straight for the human defenses, their superior durability allowing them to cross the marshland and reach the first trench despite sustaining some losses.
Seeing this, the reserve force that Liam was with moved into action. They rushed toward one of the Zombie vanguard points, ready to eliminate this wave of Zombies with the advanced Plants equipped on their robots.
(End of Chapter)
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