Although the next port is just a small harbor and the throughput of the Veil Spirit Gate that can be opened at the same time is less than one-fifth of Queen Rose Port’s capacity, any increase, however small, accelerates the pace at which the Alliance can deploy troops and transport supplies. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Actually, the current shortage of manpower is a relatively minor issue. The main problem lies in maintaining a high-intensity offensive, which requires the human army to have substantial logistical resources. From fuel and energy to consumables such as ammunition, and even food supplies... Currently, more than a billion human soldiers are fighting in Comoros, and the amount of supplies consumed every day, every hour, is astronomical.

In fact, a significant portion of Queen Rose Port’s transport capacity is dedicated to the conveyance and storage of these supplies. Many second-line troops have also been dispatched to take on numerous logistical tasks, delivering all kinds of military supplies to the frontlines.

In short, as the human army advances triumphantly on the battlefield, the bargaining chips for the Dark Spirit Race wane.

But just at this moment, the human forces encounter a massive problem in their main offensive direction.

The ’Blood Rose’ Maze node and the rats.

This name was informed to humans by the Veselani diplomat. When describing this thing, her expression was full of pride.

As for its effectiveness, Veselani certainly wouldn’t tell. She merely claimed that it was an ’impenetrable defense.’

Many of its functions, the human frontline forces have already partially deciphered through the bloodshed of countless warriors.

The so-called ’maze’ isn’t a traditional physical structure but a war machine constructed by the Dark Spirit Race’s technology department under Victor’s control.

This massive living structure, occupying several city blocks, uses numerous mutated bone-like vines as its skeleton, while blood vessels weave into intricate passages, simulating the ecological fields created by ancient Spirit Race within its inner environment.

The core functions of the maze are threefold.

First, the white bone vines entwined with dark runes are movable. After entering, the human forces’ paths become completely unpredictable. For a support mission, the roads that were once passable may become blocked the next time someone uses them; an entire unit may advance only to find, unknowingly as the mist and vines shift, that they have been separated and divided.

In such an environment, human forces are very prone to being outnumbered in localized situations, quickly wiped out by the Dark Spirit Race troops, which excel in slicing, ambushing, and raiding.

Second, these bone vines can, at crucial points, form special patterns and shapes to construct a Spiritual Rune, which activates the high-speed Spiritual Energy transmission channels hidden within the ’maze,’ allowing forces to move rapidly.

Third, the scattered scarlet flowers all over can sense information and transmute energy; the energy signature and movement paths of anyone stepping in are recorded and analyzed, rendering the battlefield one-way transparent to the Dark Spirit Race.

Fourth, the Blood Rose ’maze,’ as a war machine capable of covering an entire city quarter, is an unequivocal energy consumer. But the living beings who perish within the maze are captured by the vines, quickly digested, and their energies are recycled back into the maze as an energy reserve. Especially during combat, the inevitable pain experienced in their dying moments provides an excellent nutrition source.

The entire Blood Rose Maze is both a living trap and a fortress offering nearly infinite battlefield support for its defenders.

And the Ratman regiment, cultivated by the so-called ’Shadow Eater’ family, is specifically trained for this environment.

Their hunched spines are covered with somewhat crude armor, and they are roughly the size of a human child around the age of ten. Low-ranking Ratmen, often merely cannon fodder, have undergone substantial brain structuring during genetic modification processes, replaced with biological neural nodes receiving maze commands.

When human armies step into maze neighborhoods, these "rats" silently ooze out from sewer outlets, ventilation shafts, and even the cracks in peeling walls; utilizing the maze’s sensing network, they accurately foresee human firepower avenues and, with their limitless numbers, madly engulf human forces.

They swarm within armored vehicles’ bellies or infantry formations’ flanks, their destructive manner primitive yet efficient. After all, not all are merely fodder; some are ’special units.’

Self-destructive rats carrying corrosive mucus spores gnaw at armor joints with acid, and upon being killed, they explosively detonate, regardless of whether they annihilate their own alongside, for rat units, no matter how costly, are deemed worthless; engineer rats equipped with Dimensional Interference Devices paralyze vehicle engines and communication arrays; hundreds to thousands of frenzied combat rats, stimulated by maze bioelectricity, tear through the throats of isolated soldiers with ghastly speed; the occasional Mouse Giants appear, standing over five meters tall, their formidable vitality withstands direct tank cannon rounds without immediate death, and their horrifying power can flip tanks over!

The maze vines become their best cover and conveyor, each human corpse fallen supplies more energy to the maze, spawning more twisted rat shadows.

In the early stages of encountering such a dire war environment, humans suffered tremendous casualties, and the offensive was forced to halt in several city quarters covered by the Blood Rose Maze.

Considering the prohibitive casualties and the ineffective destruction of bone vines during assault efforts, humans were compelled to study this piece of Dark Spirit Race warfare equipment and seek its resolution.

And the two hundred warriors from Black Hammer’s Fourth and Fifth Companies were tasked with this mission.

This regiment, from the newly established Blood Angel Original Casting Subgroup under the Alliance after the Blood Angel Corps’ merger, employed entirely Blood Angel Original Casting Genetic Seeds, boasting a remarkably high overall level. Although it has not yet reached the all-member Holy Blood Guard status, nor can it be regarded as an elite regiment, its capabilities exceed that of regular ones.

On the battlefield, two hundred Black Hammer warriors, along with four armored infantry regiments, were struggling through this living hell to advance to the core area of the "Cranial Fracture Crossroads" district. Their experimental mission attempted to seize the landmark signal tower there.

The tower’s base is wrapped by the maze energy core, theoretically, destroying it will cripple a vine formation channel.

According to the tactical map, we swiftly approached the targeted location. Here, there should be an alloy tunnel that directly leads to the tower’s base.

But on the way to the tunnel, they noticed a significant discrepancy from previous intelligence, as the white bone vines had altered the environment’s paths.

To avoid becoming trapped in the maze, they had to spend considerable time clearing visible bone vines and scarlet flowers.

Of course, they didn’t have to handle everything on their own.

After a call, it wasn’t long before the human air force arrived. Fighter jets and bombers dropped vast amounts of incendiary bombs over this area, almost burning every inch to open a path for them.

But it remained a challenge.

The vines prove resilient, requiring Thermic Sprayers’ high temperatures to incinerate them thoroughly. Incendiary bombs could burn some, but some stubbornly persisted.

Moreover, even after burning an area, new vines would extend from elsewhere. Worse, many bone vines remain hidden underground, or in walls, only to extend anew once the burning ends.

Clearing an area appeared effective, yet shortly after walking through, it reverts to its earlier state.

While the scarlet flowers are easily destroyed, they can hide in the smallest crannies, easily overlooked without notice.

Even with carpet-bombing clearance efforts using Thermic Sprayers, burning every inch of land or walls clean, eventually, white bone vines would reassert control and new flowers would sprout again.

Long story short, they had to brace themselves and keep going.

Along the path, in the charred area still exuding residual warmth from airstrikes, new vines surfaced.

Lu Baigang, the captain of Black Hammer’s Fourth Company, already anticipated the difficulty of this mission.