Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1078 (09.1077): The Odyssey

"Gather around, citizens! Listen to me! Listen to me!"

In the villages and towns that had just been "liberated" by the jihadist army, the smoke and dust had not yet cleared. The natives of Polaberia, dressed in rags and with confused and frightened expressions, emerged from their cellars and shacks and gathered in the small, muddy square in the center of the village.

"Citizens of Polyberia! Children of the God-King! We have come to liberate you! Join our sacred cause!!!"

A sworn priest stood on a makeshift platform, holding aloft a simple yet still gleaming Holy Grail. He was thin, his robes patched with holes, but his voice was filled with fervor.

The platform beneath his feet was pieced together from recently dismantled wooden yokes and racks. Just hours before, this had been a symbol of the Sintira nobles' punishment of serfs and their display of power. Now, this symbol of tyrannical rule had been transformed by the Jihad Army into a pulpit for preaching the "Gospel."

"The God-Emperor desires your freedom! The God-Emperor desires our equality! The God-Emperor loves all humanity equally! Calamity is imminent! The world is about to be destroyed! Only by uniting can we unleash boundless power to face all terror and calamity!"

"We are all warriors of the God-Emperor!!! Let us fight for the God-Emperor's cause!"

The Polabereans, freed from the land and slavery, stared blankly as the priest delivered his impassioned sermon.

Gradually, a glimmer of light ignited in their numb eyes.

That glimmer of light quickly transformed into a flame, a ray of hope and redemption.

That light was like the brightest star in the night sky.

"We are the descendants of knights! We are the warriors of the God-King! We are not slaves! We are not the livestock of nobles! We will reclaim our homeland!"

"Please provide us with weapons!"

"Drive the Sintila people away!!"

The crowd erupted in a deafening roar, drowning out the distant artillery fire.

Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat! Bang—bang—bang! Whoosh! Puff! Whoosh! Puff!

The roar of the logging guns tearing through the air and the heavy, deadly firing of the heavy arrows echoed mercilessly across this vast, fertile land.

High-explosive projectiles pierced the smoke-filled sky, like the warhammer of a god, striking the anvil of the mortal realm again and again.

Amidst the chilling pounding, a pair of eyes that had recently shone with the light of redemption and hope, like stars in the sky, have now completely lost their luster.

Flies buzzed and landed on the young face stained with blood and dirt, oblivious to everything around them, and laid their plump, milky-white offspring into the corpse's still desperately open, pale mouth.

The people of Polaberia, who not long ago were full of hope and vision for self-liberation and regaining glory, are now cold corpses hanging on barbed wire.

These poor people didn't even get to fire a few bullets or a few laser beams before they were torn to shreds by the crossfire network on the hills.

Their blood flowed down the hillside, into the land they had cultivated for generations, making the already fertile black soil even more fertile and muddier.

Yadwiga stood atop the watchtower, the cold wind ruffling her hair.

She silently gazed through high-powered binoculars at the designated "war zone" in the distance. Her heart felt as if it were being twisted tightly by an invisible hand.

The deaths of tens of thousands of Polaberians were like a rusty, dull knife, cutting into the heart of this high princess of a fallen kingdom.

Hurry——!
With a piercing whistle, another large horde of jihadist soldiers emerged frantically from their makeshift trenches.

"For the God Emperor! For justice!!!"

Shouting slogans, they surged forward like a dam breaking, charging toward the heavily guarded colonial defense positions on the gentle hillside.

Then, like waves crashing against hard rocks, amidst the symphony of machine guns and mortars, lives were harvested in droves, meaninglessly, turning into pools of minced meat.

The main force defending the gentle slopes and highlands consisted of professional mercenaries from the CSEC (Colony Security Company) and militias composed of Sintira landowners and their retainers who were armed to protect their lands.

Meanwhile, the "noble volunteers" brought by General Dumourier—the Sintira flintlock regiments that had been refitted as planetary defense forces—provided them with precise and deadly artillery support from the rear.

These "Shields of the Emperor," which were originally meant to maintain the military's blockade orders, have been transformed into the sharpest spearheads of the planetary defense forces.

Meanwhile, the troops that remained in the Sintila flintlock regiments and were responsible for the "blockade" were also openly and covertly assisting the colonial government. Under the pretext of "maintaining the blockade to prevent the war from escalating," they blocked trucks that volunteered to provide supplies to the Jihad Army, but then let go of the heavy armored trains that the colonial governor was collecting grain.

The larger the number of the jihadist army, the more significant the danger of food shortages became. To solve this problem, the jihadist army leaders came up with their crazy solution—to send the newly "liberated" Polaberia recruits, who had only received a little military training and knew how to fire a gun, to charge the enemy positions alongside the jihadist army.

This is an extremely cruel calculation problem involving human lives and food.

If they die, it will save precious rations for the elite troops in the rear.

If they miraculously manage to break through the lines using sheer fanaticism and numbers, then the jihadist army will be able to capture the supply depots behind the lines.

thump.

Behind Jadwiga, the dull thud of the elevator reaching the top platform could be heard.

"Has the Holy War Army launched another attack...?" Horatio's voice came from behind her.

He walked up to Yadwiga, and the soldiers of the rail landing force standing guard beside him gave him a solemn salute.

"How many charges have we made today?" he asked solemnly, raising his binoculars as well.

"The seventh time."

"I'm holding up my binoculars," Yadvig replied in a low voice. Her answer was lifeless, as if her soul had been drained by the carnage before her.

Perhaps realizing that responding to the commander in such a negative tone was inappropriate, she took a few deep breaths of the cold, gunpowder-scented air and forced herself to report in a more composed tone: "Reporting, Commander, this is the seventh assault. Today alone, they have suffered at least 60,000 casualties on this hill."

"Sixty thousand..." Horatio repeated the number in a low voice. "I fought alongside the Kriegs in the Carpathians, we crawled and rolled together in muddy trenches."

Even the Kriegs wouldn't lose 60,000 men at a single point. Nor would they lose 60,000 men and then remain within a single meter of their battle line.

“This is no longer war.” Jadwiga put down her binoculars. She didn’t want to watch anymore, but her duty compelled her to continue. “This is suicide, this is suicide.”

Poniatovsky has already begun selecting a group of dragoons to collect supplies at night, and she must keep a close eye on the changes in the battle lines to prevent her comrades from falling into the war zone.

Now, with the sky filled with artillery fire and anti-aircraft fire, the Imperial Navy's reconnaissance planes are unable to take off at all—both sides will indiscriminately concentrate their fire on any non-friendly vehicle attempting to fly over them.

In the eyes of both sides, those vehicles must be the other's "eyes," spies that must be destroyed first!

“Lina told me,” Horatio broke the silence, “that Major General Jean Lannes is already on his way to Polaberia. We’ve made contact.”

"How should I put it?" A glimmer of hope finally appeared in Jadwiga's eyes.

He said that a regiment of grenadiers he had sent before the main force assembled had arrived at Dangesk Starport and taken control of this crucial passage connecting the sky and the ground. If we need to evacuate, we can leave from this starport at any time.

If we don't leave, subsequent supply ships will also arrive at Dangoske Star Port.

But we must find a way to secure a supply line across the blockade zone.

He pointed to a railway line on the tactical map that had been abandoned and changed since the blockade zone was established.

"Valina's reconnaissance team reported that there is a station to our southeast with several old trains that were abandoned after the local evacuation."

If we can take control of this station and repair those trains, we can head west along this railway line toward Tangesk Star Port and gain control of the stations along the way that connect to Star Port.

"This will be an Odyssey-like journey, Jadwiga." Horatio said in a deep voice, "Poniatovsky's second half of the brigade will be responsible for protecting the base. You and I, with the first half of the brigade, will head west, clearing the entire lifeline and ensuring that all train stations along the way are under our control."

If the operation fails, everyone will starve to death.

Yadwiga's eyes, dimmed by witnessing the massacre, instantly regained their luster. A sense of mission fueled her fighting spirit.

She looked eagerly into Horatio's eyes, awaiting his command.

"Okay, when do we leave?"

“Tonight.” Horatio put away his binoculars and turned toward the elevator. “Before anyone discovers our operation.”

(End of this chapter)