Indeed, that was the case.
The interstellar warriors' ability to carry heavy loads was exceptionally strong, and their tactically designed backpacks made full use of every inch of space, so they could bring as many supplies as possible.
However, the size of the bombs was there to see, much larger than ordinary bullets, so the quantity that could be loaded was ultimately limited.
Each Phoenix had taken at least six hundred bombs, but after the previous battle and fighting here for a long time, they were finally running low.
They had already started to consciously conserve ammunition in battle, but even interstellar warriors couldn't be forced to kill an enemy with every shot. Necessary fire suppression, reconnaissance by fire, and long-range shooting mishaps were all normal circumstances.
Not to mention, even if they could manage to kill an enemy with each bullet, the number of enemies was still greater than their ammunition.
Facing the new enemies' defensive tactics, Anat volunteered, seizing the lull after one wave of enemy offensive to break out alone. He circumvented their line of sight and, under fire, once the enemy became aware of him, used his chainsaw sword to eliminate the command sentry mecha hiding behind.
After accomplishing his objective, he indeed achieved his purpose.
No matter how brave the Stefanians were, it couldn't conceal the fact that this was a feudal army at its core. After the loss of the noble officers, the remaining common soldiers were clearly bewildered and hesitated.
At that moment, Phoenix's defensive line was finally able to breathe a little.
They shouldn't have to be so tense until the next batch of enemies reorganized, and the consumption of ammunition could be slightly eased.
As for what came after, the bullets would eventually run out.
Anat checked the panel built into his tactical helmet.
There were only around ten minutes left to the scheduled time.
At this moment, above the capital fortress of Stefano, there were consecutive howling sounds.
Over a hundred Windfalcon Fighters had arrived in the skies above the city.
Previously, the Windfalcon dared not come.
Conventional anti-air firepower was one thing—a mere formality. With an elevation in flight altitude and maintaining speed, dropping bombs would generally not be a problem. After all, the local forces of Heijian Star were downright pathetic in terms of air force construction. Although they also possessed Windfalcons, a kingdom had no more than a dozen, hardly daring to fly out for a fight.
However, they had spent a lot of money to build an orbital defense system. The Defender Real Ammunition Air Defense System, along with many precision anti-air missiles, could guarantee a certain interception efficiency even against starship to ground bombardment, let alone dare the air force to fly over the city's airspace.
But now, the interstellar warriors' raid had already destroyed the city's defense control system.
The Windfalcons could swagger over.
They brazenly circled at the very top of the court fortress, the first to unload soldiers and ammunition materials went down. The rest bombarded any potential targets that could threaten the airborne operations with all their onboard missiles, even lowering their altitude for dive shooting.
When the Windfalcons that finished unloading flew up to take over their duties, the remaining ones continued to unload personnel and supplies.
After rotating in this fashion for four or five rounds, all the equipment had been unloaded.
The entire process went smoothly.
Interstellar warriors did their jobs reliably. It wasn't just about anti-air gunfire coming at them—the areas around with potential threats had been cleared, with hardly a few common soldiers seen firing rifles into the sky.
After using up their missiles and machine gun rounds, the Windfalcons departed, satisfied.
What they left behind were over a thousand exoskeleton-equipped special forces of the Tenth Brigade and enough ammunition for them to fight intensely for an entire day.
After the Windfalcons went back, they would load up another batch of warriors and supplies and make another trip. Counting load times and travel, the next arrival would not exceed eight hours at most.
On the ground, the three special forces battalion commanders of the freshly landed Tenth Brigade, three majors, gathered before Matins.
They, clad in exoskeletons, saluted with awe the towering Battle Group Leader donned in the Terminator Power Armor before them with an Alliance Army salute.
After returning the salute, Matins began to assign tasks without any idle chatter.
Soon, each of the units took their personnel and dispersed in all directions.
Matins gazed at the entire city.
Hasty and chaotic, flames of war spread everywhere.
He was all too familiar with this scene; for the past several centuries, this was how he had lived.
Interstellar Warriors indeed always dealt with all sorts of formidable enemies resembling monsters and evil spirits, who were the most memorable. But digging a little deeper into memory, those routine rebellion suppression missions against laughably weak foes were actually the most frequent battles.
Sometimes he didn't understand. Even when his Battle Group, at its peak or later during the redemption expeditions, had been split into dozens of groups of a few dozen men, operating on the scale of companies, constantly on the move in the Star Sea, responding to support requests from Planetary Governors and the Imperial Military at the far corners of space, most of the battles were about helping planets suppress rebellions.
They truly did not have much time to rest, yet Planetary Governors always complained that requesting imperial reinforcements, especially Interstellar Warrior support, was something unattainable; by the time reinforcements might arrive, the conflict had already cooled down.
This contradiction often perplexed Matins.
He always felt that as The Emperor's Death Angels, as the Imperial Military's most formidable warriors, their enemies should be those Aliens, Demons, the great adversaries of mankind. Yet most of the time, their opponents were just humans, continually suppressing rebellions, over and over again.
Of course, he knew it was because the Empire's territories were so vast that, even though the Battle Groups were running themselves ragged everywhere, they could only quiet one rebellion at a time.
But what he truly did not understand was why there were rebellions everywhere? Even more so, why did rebellions they had just quelled sometimes resurface after a few years?
He had a long life, but his life had always been filled with battles, hardly providing him enough time to ponder this question.
But now, it seemed another person had come to contemplate this question in his stead.
On the Rage Owl Star, he had not only witnessed but also participated in Governor Gu Hang's unification of the world. He was initially indifferent, for he had assisted too many worlds to achieve unification and suppress rebellions.
However, he rarely saw that when so-called unification truly arrived, every single person, every group that had come under Governor Gu Hang's rule, significantly began to live a better life than before; the evil-doers also truly received their punishment.
He knew the state Rage Owl Star was in when Gu Hang first arrived, so he felt even more that everything they had done appeared to have real value.
At least, he saw no signs whatsoever of a large-scale rebellion arising on Rage Owl Star.
This scenario was also somewhat confirmed on the Heijian Star. The Luman Kingdom, after its conquest, also quickly settled down.
Though its development wasn't notably spectacular due to not being native and not having changed its political system completely, one no longer saw people dying of hunger or freezing to death.
Matins knew he wasn't particularly astute politically, but with his shallow understanding, he believed the Luman people wouldn't rebel anymore.
The Governor he had sworn allegiance to, seemed to have a more comprehensive thought process and an exact method to 'why people rebel' and 'how to eradicate rebellions' compared to himself, a warrior who only knew how to fight.
Let's just wait and see.
He had to admit that after he had sworn allegiance to Gu Hang, although the Battle Group was flourishing and showing signs of revival, there was a sense of shame in his heart that 'I once pledged loyalty to grand causes like The Emperor, the Empire, and humanity, but now it has become loyalty to one person, how shameful.'
Sometimes, he even asked himself if it was worth sacrificing the Battle Group's honor for the sake of its continuation.
And now, those inappropriate feelings of shame were gradually waning with what he was seeing and hearing.
"Then let me wait and see."
He said softly, hoisted his gun, and advanced toward the battlefield before him.
Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire
Compensating for yesterday, I won't finish today's, but I'll catch up with a full 8k update tomorrow.