The tragic situation on the front lines and the wails of the players were quickly reported to Robert.
He remained calm, as if everything was under his control. He first had someone call over the previous scouts—Name and AlphaBravo.
"When you scouted before, why didn't you report about the enemy's position?" Robert's tone was calm, without the slightest hint of blame.
The two scout players exchanged glances, looking a bit wronged. Name was the first to explain: "Company Commander, when we went there before, we didn't see any position at all! It was just an open processing area. We did see that trench firing wall, but because there were no defensive fortifications around, we thought it was just a steep slope used for dumping waste, and we didn't pay any attention to it at all..."
Robert nodded, his expression relaxing considerably: "That means the enemy's position was set up temporarily, not even counting as semi-permanent fortifications. That makes it simple, otherwise, I really wouldn't know how to fight."
Name asked curiously, "Then how should we fight?"
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Robert's mouth, and his eyes gleamed with the light of a tactician: "It's very simple: infantry-artillery coordination, creeping barrage."
"Infantry-artillery coordination?" AlphaBravo asked in surprise, "Isn't that too advanced for us at this stage? We don't even have basic coordination training; we should at least find some time to practice, right?"
"Who said we needed formal infantry-artillery coordination?" Robert retorted, his words carrying an air of self-evidence, "In fact, for us players, all that's needed is for the infantry to keep charging and the artillery to keep firing. As for how many people are killed by our own artillery... that's not important, as long as we achieve victory in the end."
He paused, then added: "Besides, real combat is the best training, isn't it?"
"Hiss..." AlphaBravo gasped, shocked by the Company Commander's hardcore playstyle that treated lives like grass, but upon closer thought, he felt it was incredibly correct, since they could revive anyway. "It seems... it really is?"
"Since there are no objections, then execute the order." Robert waved his hand, ending the conversation.
On the other side, at the rear position of the Company, a chimera Wyvern Suppressor was quietly parked. The Fourth Squad of the Helldivers Company was responsible for operating this Company's only indirect fire support artillery.
The Fourth squad leader received Robert's order verbatim through the walkie-talkie. He turned off the communication and said to the gunner and loader beside him: "Guys, time to work. In twenty minutes, continuously strike the enemy's position coordinates. Unless there's a new order, the shelling won't stop."
The gunner's eyes lit up upon hearing this: "Holy cow, that's awesome? Is the Company Commander really not going to care about merit points anymore? These shells aren't cheap."
"Merit points fired out are your own," the squad leader saw it clearly, "If you're timid and don't dare to fire, failing the mission, then you'll truly get no merit points at all."
He patted the gunner's shoulder: "Think about it, the main source of merit points in this game is completing missions, and this won't be reduced by the number of people. While the merit points gained from killing enemies are also considerable overall, there are over a hundred people competing with us for them."
"That makes some sense," the gunner felt his brain might have grown a few wrinkles, "Anyway, let's prepare to fire!"
He began rummaging around inside the artillery vehicle: "Hmm, where did those Fifth Squad guys say they put the firing table?"
"Look for it; I remember they said it was in the left storage compartment," the loader reminded him.
The gunner fumbled around and indeed pulled out a rolled-up, heavily modified parchment from the storage compartment. But as soon as he held it, he showed an incredibly surprised expression.
"...squad leader, you need to see this."
"What, did rats chew the firing table?" The squad leader turned back impatiently, his gaze falling on the firing table, and then his expression also froze, "...Holy cow?!"
A light blue information panel emerged from the old parchment:
Name: Hand-drawn Firing Table of the Helldivers Company
Type: Tool
Quality: Common
Attributes: None
Effect: Accurately marks the impact point of any curved trajectory weapon.
Equip Condition: None
Remarks: After being handled by various squads of the Helldivers Company and frequently modified based on practical artillery experience, this firing table has finally become perfectly accurate.
"What's going on?" The squad leader was in shock. "When did this thing get an information panel?"
You know, in this game, not everything can have an information panel. At the very least, it needs to be a standard laser pistol or a complete set of bulletproof armor. For things like steel pipes or stones picked up on the roadside, the system doesn't bother to generate an information panel for them.
Moreover, this wasn't just any Tool; it had an Effect! This meant it had transcended the realm of ordinary objects!
"I don't know!" The gunner held up the firing table with an innocent expression, "This is my first time in this vehicle, and as soon as I held it, this information panel popped up by itself."
The squad leader quickly calmed down from his shock, his eyes bursting with ecstatic light: "I'll report this to the Company Commander immediately! You don't worry about it for now; continue preparing for the bombardment!"
He grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, and excitedly patted the gunner's back: "With this Tool, we're really going to rake in the merit points this time!"
After the squad leader reported the discovery of the firing table's special effect, Robert's side only sent back a calm "Understood, prepare for bombardment as planned."
The twenty minutes of preparation time flew by in an instant.
As soon as the agreed-upon time arrived, the Wyvern Suppressor at the rear position immediately roared. The dull sound of artillery tore through the noisy industrial sounds of the processing area, and high-explosive warheads, trailing arcs, accurately slammed into the genestealer cult's temporary position.
Robert stood at the safe passage entrance, holding binoculars, watching with satisfaction the bursts of fire and dust rising in the distance.
Thanks to that miraculous firing table, the Fourth Squad's bombardment was incredibly precise. Every shell seemed to have eyes, mercilessly falling into the enemy's position. The automatic turrets and heavy weapon bunkers that posed a huge threat to the infantry were almost individually targeted during the bombardment, blown into twisted scrap metal and rubble.
It seemed this might be a perfect infantry-artillery coordination.
The long-suffering players, seeing the bombardment begin, could no longer hold back. Under the command of their squad leaders, they shouted and charged out of the passage, crossing the open ground that had once made them unable to advance, and launched an assault on the enemy position ravaged by artillery fire.
They clearly intended to repay, with double interest, the humiliation of their first attack, where they achieved nothing and were slaughtered at will by the enemy.
Indeed, after ten rounds of precise bombardment, the genestealer cult's position was a mess. Although the remaining cultists still resisted the charging players, their firepower was greatly diminished. A large number of firing points had either been directly hit by shells and completely vanished, or had collapsed due to the temporary fortifications not being sturdy enough to withstand the violent explosions.
The players encountered almost no decent resistance and successfully charged the enemy's position, engaging in bloody close combat with the genestealers who emerged from cover and ruins. Laser beams and biological claws intertwined, the roar of chainswords and the shrieks of aliens mixed together.
The battle thus entered the war of attrition that players were most familiar with and most skilled at. With their fearless charges and the advantage of infinite resurrection, victory was already within their grasp.
Robert calmly issued the next command via walkie-talkie: "Fourth Squad, extend the bombardment position forward by one hundred meters, conduct a barrage suppression. Friendly forces have already charged the enemy's first line of defense."
A panicked shout immediately came from the other end of the walkie-talkie: "Oops! Couldn't hold back."
Before the words finished, a familiar whistling sound of shells once again descended from the sky. Another round of Wyvern bombardment precisely covered the first line of defense that had just been occupied by players, blowing both the players and the genestealers, who were engaged in bloody combat there, into the sky. White light and flesh flew together; the scene was quite spectacular for a moment.
Robert was silent for a moment, then said in an emotionless voice: "...After this, if other players complain about you, I won't say a single word to defend you."