All the high-level personnel clearly saw the enemy's defeat.
Whether they tried to storm the island or find a breakthrough by circling around, the devils made no progress. Under Eleanor's precise strikes, every minute they lingered brought enormous risks. Such a high casualty rate was absolutely unacceptable for the Terror Beast forces.
Flying meant speed, agility, and freedom from terrain obstacles. Terror Beasts had ruled the skies for centuries and held absolute initiative on the battlefield. But now, even they probably hadn't expected to lose more than half their forces before even seeing their opponents.
Some devils had already begun to turn around and retreat... or rather, flee.
This was humanity's chance.
The core objective of Plan B was to achieve maximum results at minimum cost, and pursuing a victory has always been an excellent opportunity to expand the gains. This wasn't a novel concept, but only the Eleanor floating island could achieve a seamless transition between offense and defense.
This was also the most significant difference between an air carrier and other aircraft platforms.
As Tilly's order was issued, the command center immediately began to operate according to the corresponding procedures.
"Pipeline pressurization complete, all steam pressure indicators normal!"
"Hangar doors zero-one and zero-six are about to open, runway being cleared now!"
"Ground crew reports five more minutes of preparation time needed."
"The first wave of attackers is all in position!"
Because the floating island had a huge vertical volume, the hangar itself was equipped with takeoff runways, distributed in a scattering pattern beneath the surface with the warehouse as the center. These internal runways were tightly isolated by several heavy protective doors before being activated, and only steam engines could open them.
Although the length of each runway was greatly reduced, only about one-third of the ground airfield, it was still sufficient for the lightweight biplanes. Besides, even if they didn't gain enough initial speed, the height difference between the floating island and the ground was enough to allow heavy aircraft to pull up again.
"Aren't you going personally?" Roland looked at Tilly.
"This rare combat opportunity is best left to the newcomers for practice," the latter smiled, then picked up the microphone and said, "Attack immediately after the hangar doors open, target—leave none alive!"
……
Although Goode was not launching from the hangar runway for the first time, the previous times were just practice.
He finally understood why His Highness had repeatedly emphasized wearing ear protectors.
The roar of more than fifty biplanes starting their engines simultaneously in an enclosed space was truly breathtaking. Even if they were only two or three meters apart, the ground crew's loud shouts could only be seen as mouth shapes, but no sound could be heard.
From the moment the preparation order was issued, all communication between the sky knights could only be accomplished through flags and gestures.
He was the first to slide onto the runway and enter the takeoff position.
In the gushing steam, iron doors thicker than an adult's body slowly opened, the runway extending forward segment by segment, with a clear "Zero One" marked on the door at the end.
With Tilly absent, he was the undisputed leader.
He assumed Manfred was in the first position at door six.
A challenger, huh...
He smirked slightly.
Rachel, can you see this?
I used to only be able to look up to the nobles from afar, but now it's their turn to chase after me.
Although the other party hadn't expressed any obvious intentions, well… such a sentiment was not bad.
The ground crew pushed a wooden frame in front of him, with large cards displaying the outside wind speed, temperature, and the floating island's forward speed. Generally, the hangar door would open in the direction of the headwind so that the aircraft could gain more lift. Of course, considering that the hangar door might be attacked by the enemy during wartime, it was possible that the most suitable runway for takeoff would not be used. At this time, wind speed and other parameters were very important, and the pilot needed to be prepared to increase the throttle and descend.
Goode gave the ground crew a thumbs-up.
At that moment, the last gate finally rose upward.
Blinding sunlight instantly pierced the shadows at the end, gradually expanding from a slit until it illuminated the entire runway.
A strong wind rushed into the warehouse, dispersing the smell of engine oil lingering in the air.
A five-knot headwind—perfect for launching an attack!
The ground crew raised the green signal flag high, then waved it down forcefully!
"Road clear, Goode launching!" Goode shouted, while pushing down on the control stick.
The Fury of Heaven roared as it started, rushing towards the beam of light. During the acceleration, he caught sight of the workers in the warehouse lining both sides of the runway, waving vigorously at him.
Passing through the beam of light, a brief flash of white appeared before his eyes, but soon everything returned to form, and the vast, boundless world appeared before him—the noise in his ears disappeared, as if it had suddenly become much quieter, and the air, filled with the fragrance of plants, made him couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Goode took off his ear protectors and flew toward the top of the floating island.
Tracer rounds constantly shot out from the surrounding area to show him the way.
Watching the Terror Beasts fleeing at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour, he unhesitatingly chased after them!
……
Roland couldn't help but clench his fists in front of the magic projection.
This was the complete form of the air carrier!
The huge body, the rich armaments, the carrier-based aircraft that could be deployed at any time, just watching it was inspiring!
One biplane after another flew out of the mountain and turned to chase down those fish that escaped the net. Facing the sky knights who were several times faster than the Terror Beasts, the situation had become completely one-sided.
When blocking the Gods of Creation in the Impassable Mountains, they had lost dozens of aircraft before and after to suppress the enemy's Terror Beast swarm, but this time, apart from a few unmanned gun turrets, the more than two hundred Terror Beasts had not even caused any losses to humans.
"Now it's our enemies' turn to have a headache," Edith sneered. It was obvious that she had always resented the Gods of Creation's brute-force strategy of destroying humans through self-destruction, and now being able to retaliate with the same thing made her tone much more gleeful.
"They'll probably use more troops to launch a counterattack against us next," Iron Axe said in a deep voice, "Perhaps they'll even send out new Grand Duke-level high-ranking devils."
Roland silently recalled the information about the Grand Dukes—according to Valkyris, the most adept at attacking fortresses among them, besides the Disaster of Silence, was only the devil called the Bloody Conqueror. However, the latter was promoted from Hell Lord and was more suited for the ground battlefield, after all, no Terror Beast could withstand its huge body.
Looking back now, it was fortunate that the Devil King entrusted the Western Front to Hackzord.
"No matter what means they take, we will accompany them to the end... but the time left for them is running out." Roland looked at the map.
The last two hundred and fifty kilometers had been marked with a red line. Eleanor had only three days left to reach the decisive battle point.