There was definitely more than just the Black Sovereign. Currently, the key was to see just how effective modern weaponry would be against abyssal creatures.

Around half an hour before noon, Yu Guanzhi suddenly opened his eyes as he said in the commander's seat, then yelled, "Deploy the scout robots!"

With that order issued, the battle finally commenced.

Thousands of scout robots of all descriptions were instantly deployed, rushing toward the abyssal army.

There were several dozens of large screens in the control center, and all of them adopted the first-person perspective of the scout drones as they flew rapidly toward the core circle of the northernmost region.

Everyone's attention was focused on the robots as they looked on with serious expressions, and the vast majority of robots were advancing very quickly, with the exception of those that were burrowing into the ground.

"All departments get into position and get ready to depart. Make sure to maintain communication over the designated soul communication channel. The time for the final battle is upon us; I wish everyone the best of luck!" Yu Guanzhi declared.

All of the leaders in the conference hall quickly departed, carrying soul communicators that were connected to military audiovisual equipment, allowing them to see the footage being captured by the scout robots.

Even for federal soldiers, this was the first time they had ever participated in a battle of this scale, let alone the major Soul Master organizations. After all, when had the eight major legions ever acted as one? An army of such a grand scale hadn't been assembled even in preparation for the invasion of the other two continents.

In around two more days, the Southern Legion was going to arrive, and the army would be fully assembled.

Tang Wulin and the others returned to the encampment near the secondary tree of life and were currently paying close attention to the footage being broadcast by the scout soul tools up ahead.

The northernmost region was still a world covered in snow and ice, with freezing temperatures, fierce winds, and unforgiving conditions that made the region completely inhabitable to normal humans. Even in terms of soul beasts, there were only very few that had great affinity with snow and ice that could reside here.

The perspective of the footage was constantly switching to different soul tools, and around 10 minutes later, the scout soul tool flying at the very forefront finally discovered the first signs of abyssal creatures.

A four-clawed bat was flying through the air, and it seemed to have immediately noticed the scout soul tool, upon which it flew directly toward the soul tool.

The scout soul tool was extremely fast and agile, instantly swiveling around to flee the scene like a miniature soul aircraft.

These soul tools were all remote-controlled from afar and were far more agile than actual piloted aircraft.

However, the four-clawed bat suddenly let loose a sharp screech, releasing a burst of invisible soundwaves that caused the scout soul tool to plummet rapidly out of the sky.

The four-clawed bat then pounced onto the soul tool like lightning and destroyed it with a single claw strike.

"That looks like a soundwave attack; all four-clawed bats and six-clawed bats possess this ability," Cao Dezhi remarked.

Having faced abyssal creatures on so many past occasions, he naturally had a very thorough understanding of their abilities.

There was a huge number of four-clawed bats and six-clawed bats in the abyssal plane, and they weren't very powerful in battle, but they had outstanding scouting skills with soundwave abilities that allowed for both offense and defense.

The scout soul tool was very fast, but it couldn't outrun soundwaves, and it didn't possess sufficient resistance against soundwave attacks, so it was instantly felled.

Immediately thereafter, more and more scout soul tools began to appear, but more four-clawed bats and six-clawed bats also emerged to meet them.

They were spread out in a very large area, keeping all scout efforts at bay.

None of the scout soul tools were able to withstand the soundwave attacks, and large numbers of them quickly began to fall out of the sky.

Similar situations had happened in the past, but the federal military had never deployed this many scout soul tools at once.

The scout soul tools that were burrowing along underground would still take some more time to arrive on the front lines.

At the control center, Yu Guanzhi issued an order through the public channel. "Deploy the First Air Regiment to conduct reconnaissance by fire."

Everyone's hearts stirred slightly upon hearing the term "reconnaissance by fire".

Essentially, the First Air Regiment was putting their lives on the line to scout for the enemy's location through active fire.

At this point, Dong Zi'an had already returned to the control center of his Western Legion, and his eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this order. "Looks like Yu Guanzhi isn't completely shameless."

Qiangu Dongfeng was standing right beside him. "Hopefully a positive outcome arises from this."

Dong Zi'an turned to him, and said, "I know what you're thinking about, but everything has to be built upon the foundation of securing victory in this battle."

Qiangu Dongfeng nodded in response, but the cold look in his eyes didn't abate in the slightest. Many methods had been used to try and revitalize that disabled arm of his, but all to no avail, and that was a clear testament to the Golden Dragon Spear's power. He harbored nothing but seething hatred for Tang Wulin.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, he had received a message from Ghost Emperor through a special soul communication channel just the night before.

A piercing shriek rang out as a series of silver soul aircrafts with the federation's insignia imprinted upon them sped through the air, flying rapidly toward the core circle of the northernmost region.

Each air regiment was comprised of around 50 fighter aircrafts, and this was generally consistent across all regions.

Battle aircrafts were the most expensive war machines for the federal military, and even the Central Legion only had around 500 such aircrafts; this was already the most out of any legion.

Fighter aircrafts weren't as versatile as mechas, but they were far superior in speed. Of course, that speed advantage didn't hold true in comparison to divine-grade mechas.

In the military, purple mechas were the highest caliber of standard mechas that were distributed; all mechas above that level were personally owned by their pilots, so it would be unfair to compare them with the fighter aircrafts.

At this moment, 50 fighter aircrafts were speeding through the air, and the field of view on the footage being broadcast was quickly widening, while the vantage point was also rising to a higher altitude, allowing everyone to see further ahead.

The fighter aircrafts were extremely fast, and through optimal acceleration, they quickly broke through the sound barrier.

Yu Guanzhi wore a grim expression as he looked on with tightly clenched fists. The First Air Regiment was comprised of the best fighter aircraft pilots the Central Legion had to offer; it was a part of the legion's very core. Only the most important of missions were assigned to the First Air Regiment, and it had never disappointed him before.

As the commander-in-chief in such a massive battle, Yu Guanzhi knew that he had to lead by example. If he weren't even willing to risk his best troops, how could he expect others to do that? Of course, he didn't want to send his troops to their deaths, so he immediately chose to deploy his strongest air regiment in the hope that this would minimize casualties.

These 50 fighter aircrafts were the most cutting-edge aircrafts that the federation currently had to offer, and all of them were fitted with the most advanced radar and anti-jamming technology.

Upon departing from the barracks, the aircrafts immediately split up with two aircrafts per group.

Normally, in a group of two fighter aircrafts, there would be a lead aircraft and a wing aircraft.

As the name implied, the lead aircraft led the way, and it was also responsible for attacking the enemy, while the wing aircraft acted as the lead aircraft's guardian and lookout. If the two aircrafts could cooperate effectively, then they would be able to execute many battle techniques.

It wasn't always the case that a group was comprised of two fighter aircrafts, but the lower the number of aircrafts in a group, the more skilled the pilots in the group were implied to be.

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