Magic? My Iron Torrent will sweep it all away!

Chapter 119 The Dilemma of Underground Defense

The time has come to the third day since the portal opened.

The entire Firefly Valley has been turned into a huge construction site.

On the plain, which is more than ten kilometers wide, apart from the town of Yingye that was preserved in the rear, the rest of the place is filled with the roar of construction machinery and busy figures.

At the entrance to the valley facing the demons, the defensive fortifications are already taking shape.

Thousands of soldiers worked day and night to dig three crisscrossing trenches.

Inside the trenches, there were heavy machine gun positions, mortar positions, and bunkers for individual rocket launchers.

The land on the outermost edge of the valley was turned upside down, and countless landmines were laid in different areas.

On the mountaintops on both sides of the valley entrance, the gray barrels of the land-based close-in weapon systems and the LD-3000 have been fixed, their dark muzzles pointing towards the sky and the ground.

The prisms of the land-based laser weapons reflected a faint light in the sun, and the anti-aircraft missiles were all deployed.

At the tops of the mountains surrounding the entire basin, the same weapon systems were deployed one by one, forming a fire network with no blind spots, completely eliminating the possibility of the demons breaking through from the flanks or from the air.

Inside the basin, missile launchers and rocket artillery vehicles are concealed under camouflage nets, ready to provide long-range fire support at any time.

But a fatal weakness lay before everyone in the operations command center: the underground!

"General Long."

An operations staff officer pointed to a red area on a 3D terrain map, his expression serious.

"The latest geological survey report is out. The soil structure of this basin under our feet is very loose. If you dig down less than ten meters, you will find loose rock layers."

Another staff officer chimed in, pulling up several blurry pictures of monsters.

"Based on the intelligence Commander Lin provided earlier, the demon race has a giant burrowing creature called the 'Earth Dragon'."

"Once they infiltrate our territory from underground, our surface defenses will be rendered useless."

Long Zhan crossed his arms, staring at the screen with a furrowed brow.

"What's our response plan?"

"Bunker bombs can take them out, but the problem is that to kill them in one shot, the explosion of a large missile would cause violent ground tremors." The staff officer shook his head.

"Our newly built fortifications might collapse due to their own own shock, resulting in a Pyrrhic victory."

"The only foolproof solution is to excavate the entire area dozens of meters below the base and then pour special concrete to form a single unit."

"But the current teleportation capacity is already strained, even for weapons, ammunition, and logistical supplies, so it's simply impossible to transport astronomical amounts of building materials."

Silence fell over the command center.

The Great Xia's defense system is built on the logic of modern warfare, perfectly countering all enemies from the ground and the air.

However, there was no good way to deal with these fantastical creatures that burrowed into the ground.

Real-time detection technology can currently only reach a depth of 15 meters. The giant earth dragon itself has a diameter of more than ten meters, so it must have been dug from a depth of at least 100 meters.

By the time they realize the enemy is launching an attack, they're already breaching the ground. What's the point of burrowing and exploding then? They might as well just blow it open.

Long Zhan frowned.

A moment later, he turned and walked out of the command post, asking the guard behind him:

Where is the Spirit Inspection Team?

"Reporting to the commander, they seem to be over at excavation area number three."

Having obtained his answer, Long Zhan headed straight for the construction site.

From afar, they could see Elder Muyu and several elves craning their necks, watching with great interest as a huge excavator dug soil with its bucket, their faces filled with curiosity.

Long Zhan's lips twitched. It seemed that men's tastes were all pretty much the same.

He stepped forward and spoke into the terminal on his wrist.

"Elder Muyu, Princess Fendona, greetings."

The smart terminal translated his words into Terran.

Elder Mu Yu withdrew her gaze, looked at Long Zhan with a puzzled expression, and bowed slightly.

"General Long, is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'd like to ask you about underground defenses," Long Zhan said, getting straight to the point.

"That's right, the demon race has a creature called 'Earth Dragon,' which can launch attacks by digging tunnels underground."

"How do you defend yourself?"

"Oh, that kind of creature is disgusting." Elder Muyu's face showed disgust.

"Our elven race is protected by earth elemental spirits. They are children of the earth, and no underground disturbance can escape their notice."

"Moreover, in our city, the roots of the World Tree become one with the earth, and the earth dragons simply cannot penetrate that root network."

Long Zhan raised a question:

"As far as I know, not long ago, your city of Lostia was attacked by an earth dragon."

Upon hearing this, Fendona sighed.

"You're right."

"But that time, the earth dragon only appeared on the outer edge of the area covered by the World Tree's root system."

"More importantly, at that time, an elite demon force infiltrated the heart of the city for some unknown reason, causing great chaos."

"It was only through the combined efforts of the demons and the earth dragons outside that they were able to get close."

Long Zhan nodded in realization and said:

"What about the other races? How do they defend themselves?"

Elder Muyu took over the conversation and explained:

Different races have different defense methods.

"The cities of the Holy Human Race are all protected by powerful protective barriers. The power of these barriers seeps into the ground and, with the help of abundant energy crystals, forms an indestructible barrier."

"Dwarves are natural-born master craftsmen; their dungeon walls are inscribed with ancient defensive runes, making them far more sturdy than any barrier."

"As for the orc tribe..." Elder Muyu shook his head.

"They had no effective way to deal with it, and many tribes were wiped out by the sudden attacks of the earth dragons, suffering heavy losses."

He looked at Long Zhan and said:

"General, please don't worry about this for now."

"We are now allies, and I will have the earth elemental spirits protect the underground safety of this land."

Long Zhan remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Thank you for your kindness. We will always remember the kindness of the elves."

The feeling of entrusting one's safety to the promises of others made the usually tough Long Zhan somewhat uncomfortable.

But he knew that under the current circumstances, this was the only option.

The terminal vibrated; upon opening it, I saw a message from the operations center.

"General, the elves are coming on flying beasts."

Long Zhan was puzzled, but didn't think much of it, assuming it was a messenger from the Elven race.

Now that the air defense system has been established, anything that isn't in the form of a demon can be allowed to pass.

He had originally planned to leave, but since an elf had come, he decided to stay a little longer, chat with Elder Muyu, introduce the excavator, and gather more information.

With smart translation now available, communication has become much easier.

A few minutes later, a loud eagle cry came from the sky.

A flock of griffins and various flying beasts swooped down from the clouds and landed precisely on the surrounding open ground.