Kronshtadt is only 20 kilometres away from Leningrad city centre, serving as a crucial outpost if the enemy attacks from the west.
As the 400,000 undead dragon riders swiftly approached Kronshtadt, they were met with a barrage of gunfire from various close-range cannons on the ships of the Baltic Fleet stationed in the area.
Among these, the most powerful firepower came from the only modern-class missile destroyer in the Baltic Fleet, armed with four AK-630 close-in weapon systems.
The intense barrage almost halted the advance of the undead dragon riders, despite the manual control required due to radar failure.
Apart from ground-based barrages, hundreds of aircraft from different Soviet military regions, including the Air Defense Force and the Air Force, engaged the soul-devouring dragon riders in the mid-to-high altitudes.
The weather was exceptionally clear with a vast sky and no clouds. Formations of various fighter jets and attack aircraft, such as Su-17, Su-24, Su-25, MiG-21, MiG-23, and MiG-25, launched infrared-guided missiles at the soul-devouring dragon riders from a distance of twenty kilometres.
Most of the soul-devouring dragon riders were unaware of the recent events in high altitudes. They mistakenly believed the incoming "arrows" were similar to heavy crossbow bolts from other human kingdoms.
They thought their dragon's armour and magical shields could easily withstand them.
At this moment, each dragon rider held a blue-glowing spear in their left hand, a unique enchanted weapon for the Nazgic dragon riders.
It could bypass any magical shield, causing direct harm to the soul. In their right hand, they wielded a staff to control their soul-devouring dragons, which spewed soul-devouring liquid.
As the "arrows" exploded near them, they realized their grave mistake.
Even though Soviet missiles suffered from insufficient destruction power against modern aircraft, and facing soul-devouring dragon riders relying on primitive equipment and magical defences was a different story.
Each missile explosion signalled the demise of at least one soul-devouring dragon rider.
However, this was only the first wave of attacks from Soviet aerial forces, as their equipment did not support simultaneous attacks on multiple targets.
Following the initial wave, the second, third, and fourth waves continued until all aircraft had expended their missiles.
After the missile barrage, many fighter jets were close to the soul-devouring dragons.
They continued flying towards the dragons and, while turning back, unleashed their machine guns. In this turning process, the machine guns' ammunition supply met the needs of the pilots perfectly.
Almost every aircraft returned from the soul-devouring dragon horde with their ammunition depleted.
Facing the gunfire from Soviet aircraft, the soul-devouring dragon riders were helpless.
Caught off guard by the missile attacks, they now faced close-range machine gun assaults from Soviet aircraft, resulting in many soul-devouring dragon riders being turned into minced meat and blood mist.
In addition to fighter jets, Soviet ground-attack aircraft began their performance.
After completing missile attacks on the soul-devouring dragons, a large number of Soviet ground-attack aircraft began to dive and attack the ordinary undead dragon riders in the low sky.
Although the Su-24 ground-attack aircraft couldn't carry a large number of machine guns, its 23mm GSH-6-23M Gatling gun, with 500 rounds, provided effective fire.
It possessed nine weapon hardpoints, and each of them had already launched nine missiles.
Not only the Su-24 but also another ground-attack aircraft, the Su-25, showcased its excellent performance and survivability.
Nicknamed the 'flying tank,' the Su-25 had two missiles launched initially and the remaining nine hardpoints were all machine guns.
Similar to the Su-24, it also had a 23mm GSH-6-30 Gatling gun, with each of the nine hardpoints carrying 250 rounds.
Due to the limited number of missiles, the Su-25 ground-attack aircraft initiated a dive towards the low-flying ordinary undead dragon riders, firing its machine guns.
During the dive, each short burst caused the death of several dragon riders.
After penetrating the first dragon rider, the bullets continued downwards, shattering the next dragon rider and proceeding further.
In the aerial clash between the Soviet Air Force and Air Defense Force against the dragon riders, the losses were devastating. Out of the 30,000 soul-devouring dragon riders, nearly 10,000 were already lost.
Thousands more undead dragon riders were shattered by ground-attack aircraft from hundreds of Soviet ground-attack planes.
Adding to the achievements of ship-based close-in weapon systems, the losses for the ordinary undead dragon riders approached 30,000.
However, the ammunition for Soviet aircraft was limited.
After expending the onboard missiles and ammunition, they began returning to replenish fuel and supplies.
Waiting for the second wave of reinforcements from other military districts would take at least twenty minutes.
As the aircraft exited the battlefield, only the garrison in Kronshtadt and the fleet remained.
The barrage formed by the close-in weapon systems on dozens of warships, though dense, was riddled with vulnerabilities against the overwhelming number of dragon riders filling the sky.
Moreover, ammunition was running low, and the barrage began to thin.
Soon, many dragon riders broke through the barrage formed by the close-in weapon system.
They flew over the close-in weapon systems, controlled their dragons, and unleashed explosive fireballs onto the close-in weapon systems.
The close-in weapon systems hit by the fireballs quickly became inoperative.
Gradually, all the close-in weapon systems on the base were destroyed, leaving only naval personnel resisting with light weapons.
Watching the entire battle, Alex, in the rear, felt extreme fear.
In the first large-scale battle against this human kingdom, the Empire's most elite soul-devouring dragon riders were killed by a few hundred human pilots, resulting in nearly ten thousand casualties.
He was uncertain about how many more weapons and flying riders this human kingdom possessed.
He also observed the warships on the ground. The warships of this human kingdom were different from those of other human kingdoms, lacking sails and masts.
Yet, the weapons on them required nearly twenty thousand dragon riders to destroy.
Alex quickly regained composure and said to his subordinates,
"Immediately inform Lord Crazy Rick."
"In our first encounter with this human kingdom, we lost nearly ten thousand soul-devouring dragon riders, caused by just a few hundred flying riders."
"Request Lord Crazy Rick to urgently seek more support from Lord Death. Also, notify everyone to leave only a portion to deal with the human army here."
"The rest should rush to Leningrad. Their Emperor is there, and if we can capture their Emperor, everything can turn in our favour."
At this moment, the garrison in Kronshtadt was astonished to find that a large number of dragon riders began flying over them towards Leningrad.
If these dragon riders continued their attack, the garrison would be wiped out within an hour.
Some sailors had already been killed by the enchanted spears of these dragon riders, and their light weapons caused minimal harm to the undead dragons, only effective when hitting the undead on the dragon's back.
Upon seeing this, the garrison commander quickly had a communications soldier notify Leningrad, urging them to be prepared.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commander Petrov returned to the ground to command and observe the situation.
Upon receiving the report, Commander Gubanov immediately inquired of Chief of Staff Kovalev,
"Comrade Chief of Staff, are the city forces ready? Also, what are Moscow's orders?"
Even before they received the massive airborne attack, they had already reported to the Moscow High Command, hoping to get more reinforcements and further instructions.
Kovalev replied, "The High Command orders us to hold Leningrad city. Reinforcements are on their way, but they won't arrive until tonight at the earliest.
The High Command has also given us a special order: to record and study the combat methods, and command structures, and find weaknesses of these dragon riders."
Gubanov, upon hearing this, could only express his frustration,
"At this point, we've done all we can."
"Let's hope our forces can withstand it. Later, I'll have the deputy commander go to the elevated position in the suburbs to observe the battle, fulfilling the task assigned by the High Command."
For the dragons, covering a distance of twenty kilometres takes less than a minute, and even for the slightly slower ordinary undead dragon riders, it only takes about two minutes.
The first to reach Leningrad city were nearly twenty thousand soul-devouring dragons.
Upon seeing the vast city beneath them, the dragon riders descended from medium to high altitude towards the city.
Unfortunately, what greeted them was another barrage composed of various projectiles.
The "Shilka" self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles and some naval warships stranded in the Leningrad harbour's close-in weapon systems once again repelled these dragon riders.
Many dragon riders were killed during the descent, and their soul-devouring dragons fell like projectiles into the sea.
At this point, the number of "Shilka" deployed in Leningrad had reached several hundred, each with two thousand rounds of ammunition.
Even so, it only held back the soul-devouring dragon riders for two minutes. Once the nearly 40,000 undead dragon riders approached, many dragon riders penetrated the city.
In the city, they were met by artillery shells and bullets from armoured vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles of various units.
Soldiers raised their firearms on rooftops and behind sandbags, firing at these undead.
Unfortunately, the light weapons in the hands of most soldiers caused limited damage to the dragons.
Without hitting the undead on the dragon's back, several hundred rounds of 7.62mm bullets might not kill these dragons. Only the Soviet widely-equipped 12.7mm heavy machine gun, such as the DShK, could achieve a one-shot kill by hitting critical areas.
Another outstanding weapon was the KPV heavy machine gun, initially intended for anti-air but mostly used for anti-infantry.
This heavy machine gun used 14.5mm calibre bullets and was commonly mounted on tanks as an anti-aircraft gun.
Simultaneously, it served as the main weapon on various BTR armoured vehicle series. When used for anti-aircraft purposes, it proved to be excellent.
For instance, the well-known ZPU series was composed of this weapon. In certain regions on Earth, it was laid horizontally for strafing, and except for tanks and a few armoured vehicles, almost nothing could withstand its fire.
When facing dragon riders, even if it did not hit critical areas, the KPV heavy machine gun only needed a few rounds to shred them.
While there were powerful and effective weapons, there were also less effective ones, such as the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle widely equipped by the Soviet forces at this time.
The BMP-1 did not have a significant autocannon and was only equipped with a 73mm smoothbore gun and a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, making it virtually useless in the current situation.
The few BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles equipped with autocannons acted like small anti-aircraft guns, with some vehicle commanders opting for maximum firing rate and others for rapid firing.
The only consistent outcome was that many dragon riders were shattered by these vehicles.
Even with the Soviet Union possessing many advanced and excellent weapons, casualties among the Soviet forces rapidly escalated in the face of the onslaught of 400,000 dragon riders.
Numerous Soviet positions, whether situated on building rooftops or in the streets, were pierced or blown up by enchanted spears wielded by undead or explosive balls from undead dragons.
Faced with various combat vehicles of the Soviet forces, the undead also employed a substantial number of piercing explosive spears to deal with them.
The principle behind these spears was similar to the armour-piercing rounds (AP) used by humans.
They first penetrated the armour and then exploded to inflict damage on the personnel inside.
Undead had been using this method effectively against human kingdom armoured vehicles in previous battles.
Even in Leningrad, combating this human kingdom's armoured vehicles from another world proved to be equally effective.
After paying a significant cost, the undead successfully destroyed numerous Soviet armoured vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles.
Some of the "Shilka," which had exhausted their ammunition and were reloading, created openings in the previously dense barrage, allowing the undead a chance to fly in and use piercing explosive spears at close range.
Even if Soviet tank armour could withstand front-facing attacks from piercing explosive spears, it couldn't defend against attacks from above or targeting the engine.
Initially, the undead continuously attacking the front of these tanks with piercing explosive spears proved futile.
It was only when an undead accidentally threw its spear onto the tank's roof, causing the tank to explode, that nearby undead realized the true method of dealing with these human vehicles.
During this process, they also discovered that throwing piercing explosive spears onto the rear of these vehicles caused them to stop immediately.
Sometimes, human soldiers inside, escaping from the vehicles, were engulfed in flames.
During this period, Soviet tanks were not equipped with remote-controlled machine guns. Faced with attacks from the air, commanders had to expose themselves halfway to operate the machine guns mounted above the turret.
This resulted in many undead piercing explosive spears entering the tank, exploding, and significantly increasing the probability of a catastrophic explosion.
As the weapons in the city capable of posing a significant threat to the dragon riders became scarcer, Alex, high above in the sky, ordered some dragon riders to fly towards the Winter Palace.
He hoped to capture the emperor of this human kingdom, leading to the surrender of their forces and reducing casualties among his dragon riders.
Five minutes later, he received distressing news from his subordinates. There was no emperor in the Winter Palace, not even various concubines and maids.
Only some guards were resisting. Alex, with a fierce and malevolent expression, cursed,
"Damn human emperor! When I catch you later, I'll give you some good shit."
Subsequently, he ordered his subordinates,
"Since we can't find the human emperor, let's take down this city first."
"Then, wait for reinforcements from Lord Crazy Rick and the Lord of Death."
"Remember to eliminate all human military forces, leaving only one or two alive for us to extract their memories and gather intelligence about this country."
"Also, find out where the Legion of the Undead is and have them come over."
As he finished speaking, just five kilometres west of Leningrad, the once serene sky suddenly showed a line.
As this line slowly widened, a twenty-kilometre-long portal appeared.
On the other side of the portal was the Legion of the Undead, consisting of tens of millions of undead.
They crossed the portal and began charging towards Leningrad, wielding their weapons.
Even some undead, reduced to mere skeletons, continued charging despite losing their heads.
At the forefront were ten thousand xenomorphic undead empowered by the power of greatswords.
They carried enchanted weapons, and rode undead horses, and a magical shield appeared in front of them, protecting them from numerous light firearms within the city.