Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 619 06.0618: "Main Battle on the Eastern Front"

With a wave of energy that made one's hair stand on end, the warship commanded by Horatio suddenly leaped out of the warp space like a giant beast struggling to break free from the abyss of chaos.

Horatio's eyes were fixed on the slowly rising steel curtain.

For a moment, the scene before him made him hold his breath involuntarily. It was an interstellar war that was enough to shake the stars.

The beams of light spears and railgun shells intertwined in the void were like a giant net interwoven with gold and blue, dazzling and illuminating the dark universe.

Countless aircraft formed neat flight formations, speeding past him in the distance at lightning speed. Their tail flames were like flowing bands of light, particularly eye-catching in the darkness, instantly illuminating the dead space.

In a flash, these firefly-like flying vehicles became entangled with each other, and golden fire-like explosions continued to bloom. They fought fiercely for the increasingly compressed air supremacy between the two fleets.

The successive explosions illuminated the dark space as bright as day, loudly declaring war to everyone without any disguise.

In the distant horizon, the warships of the Imperial Navy and the Ultramarines were arranged in a grand fleet battle line.

Several battleships, battle barges, and more battlecruisers, together forming a towering, insurmountable Great Wall of Steel, slowly moved forward. They tilted their hulls, with the muzzles of one side uniformly pointed in the direction of the Tau warships, and approached the enemy's main fleet with great momentum.

The huge ship was densely covered with various weapon turrets, and the sacred Sky Eagle symbol shone proudly on the bow. The muzzles of the heavy cannons flashed with cold metallic light under the light of the distant stars, exuding a chilling atmosphere.

The next moment, the battle line launched a round of ultra-long-range salvos.

The macro cannons fired in sequence from the bow, emitting three-stage salvos. That was the full firepower of the three macro cannon arrays on one side.

The huge shells whistled as they swept past the fighting flying formations and rushed towards the Tau warships.

The shells left long tails of flame, like meteors streaking through space, carrying with them a breath of destruction.

In contrast, the Tau Empire's fleet is full of futuristic warships. Their manta-shaped hulls are sleek and elegant, yet contain powerful lines.

The carrier-based aircraft were like a dense swarm of bees, shuttling back and forth and fighting fiercely in the vast space between the two fleets. The Imperial Navy's Fury Interceptors and the Ultramarines' Thunderhawk Gunships had tough lines that showed their power.

The ship's engine spewed out a blazing plasma tail flame, which looked like the displacement of stars from the ground.

Various missiles and machine guns are mounted under their wings. When approaching the Tau Empire fighters, they will spit out tongues of fire without hesitation, trying to tear the enemy into pieces in an instant. The tongues of fire flicker in space, exuding a breath of destruction.

The aircraft of the Tau Empire are known for their outstanding flexibility. They are small and exquisite, but can flexibly turn and dive in the air, like agile hunters, looking for the best time to attack on the battlefield.

The blue beam emitted by the pulse weapon constantly flashes in space. Once it hits the target, it will cause a violent explosion, instantly illuminating the surrounding vacuum. The light of the explosion is like a blooming blue flower, blooming brilliantly in the universe.

A Sword-class frigate was now under a frenzied attack by Tau Empire fighters. The small aircraft were like ghosts, circling the frigate quickly, constantly looking for loopholes in its defense.

The few anti-aircraft guns on the escort ship opened fire at full force. Laser beams and dense rain of bullets intertwined in space to form a tight defense network. The laser beams were like bright silk threads, flickering in the darkness, trying to resist the enemy's attack.

However, the Tau Empire's fighters, relying on their superb flying skills and the interference cover of tactical drone swarms, cleverly evaded the attacks with as few casualties as possible, and then fired deadly pulse beams at the right time.

The escort ship's shield kept flickering and twisting under the attack, as if it would break at any time and was in danger.

Suddenly, a Tau Empire fighter seized the opportunity, drilled into the shield, and flew straight to the close defense turret area on the side of the escort ship, and then launched a powerful plasma missile.

The missile, with a long tail of flame, swooped out like a ferocious beast and hit a turret accurately.

With a deafening bang, a huge hole was blown in the side of the escort ship and the top of the explosion. Flames and debris gushed out instantly, and debris flew everywhere and floated in the space.

On the other side of the battlefield, more than a dozen torpedo destroyers belonging to the Tau Empire's vanguard fleet formed several assault formations, blocking the battleship of the Human Empire's vanguard fleet.

However, the escort ships guarding the capital ships had already keenly discovered them through auspicious devices.

The battleship and the main warship following behind quickly raised their powerful main guns high in the air, and a round of salvos was launched from the front of the ship to the back, and then fired from the warships behind the flagship one by one, firing powerful shells at the approaching destroyer fleet.

Nearly a hundred shells whizzed through the space, leaving behind bright trails. Eight main gun rounds hit the target, causing a violent explosion on an unfortunate destroyer. The intensive heavy macro-cannon bombardment easily turned the little thing into tiny dust in the universe.

Two assault teams were instantly evaporated by the hundreds of artillery fire, but due to their numerical advantage, some remaining enemy ships were still approaching.

They used their small pulse cannons and heavy seeker missiles to launch a counterattack against the battleships. After the missiles were launched, they quickly rushed to the battle line, and were torn apart by the close-range fire nets fired by more than a dozen battleships on the way. The explosions were brilliant and brilliant, trying to tear through the heavy armor of the battleships, but they were still too far away from the battleships, giving the close-range firepower sufficient interception window, and the attack ultimately ended in failure.

Immediately afterwards, the bomber groups released by the rearguard fleets of both sides rushed out one after another, taking advantage of the melee between the interceptors of both sides to pounce on the fleet group.

The huge fuselage of the bomber moved slowly in the space, casting a huge black shadow on each other's hull, as if foreshadowing that a more brutal battle was about to come.

Horatio stood on the command platform, his body straight, staring intently at the battlefield in front of him, his eyes full of shock.

This was the first time he saw a total of sixty or seventy ships from both sides fighting in the same airspace. Such a grand scene made him unable to calm down for a long time.

This grand interstellar war is not only a contest between two long-contradictory forces in the galaxy, but also a fierce collision between the two sides' technology and heritage, beliefs and strength, determination and faith.

In the vast universe before their eyes, the flames of war are raging, and he and all the officers and soldiers on the Epic are about to plunge into this magnificent battle that demonstrates courage and glory.
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"Help! Help! I've been shot down! Zizi--" The pilot's anxious shouts came from the communication channel.

"Our ship is under siege by enemy aircraft! Requesting support! Repeat! Our ship..." Another anxious voice also sounded.

"Each attack squadron fights freely and weakens the enemy fleet and disrupts the enemy formation at all costs." A steady command voice came.

The Epic's sound array was unprecedentedly noisy. Previously, in order to pay close attention to the surrounding situation, the Epic had opened communication receiving channels of various levels. Before they had time to switch, or even before they could sit down, the Epic had already arrived at the battlefield. All the officers and soldiers on the ship suddenly experienced the fastest subspace jump in their lives, as if in a dream.

"Liaison officer! Screen out those communications! Only keep the highest-level fleet-level communication channels and the military intelligence headquarters' dedicated line!" Lina looked anxious and shouted loudly to the liaison officer.

Just as they entered the periphery of the battlefield, the Epic's receiving channels were already filled with all kinds of noisy communications, so much so that Lina had to ask the liaison officer to filter out most of the channels and wait for Horatio's orders to decide whether the Epic should join the communication or maintain radio silence.

"The vanguard fleet has already engaged in a firefight! There are too many fleets involved! Who is in command now?" A man suspected to be the commander of the vanguard fleet asked anxiously through the communication.

“The main fleet has joined the battlefield. I am Lieutenant General Samuel Hood, the commander of the battle. In the name of the Holy Imperial Fleet of the Supreme Void Lord, as the highest-ranking officer present, I will take charge of the entire Imperial Fleet and Space Marine Void Forces in this combat zone from now on.

All participating fleet commanders will immediately join our General Staff channel and accept unified command. "A firm and powerful voice came over the communication.

Horatio heard that familiar voice, which made him feel much more at ease after accidentally entering the war zone.

"Captain, should we join the communication?" Intelligence officer Lina looked at Horatio with an inquiring look.

“Join, but not directly.”

Horatio looked at the girl's monocle that was reflecting the light from the crossfire of the spears, and said seriously, "Use this new cipher machine to connect to the Military Intelligence Command, which is your father, through psychic communication, and then ask him to help us establish a higher level of psychic communication. This will effectively prevent us from being exposed."

Horatio looked out the porthole at the spectacular gunfight and slowly exhaled.

The Epic's current position was very dangerous, surrounded by enemy warships. Because the jump was too sudden and the battle broke out too quickly, he did not appear behind the enemy fleet as expected, but... right in the middle of the enemy's main fleet and rearguard fleet!
The Imperial Navy's battleships and Space Marine battle barges were firing a terrifying number of shells from extremely long range. With each salvo, several shells would pass over the Epic's hull, fly towards the battleships behind her, and splash ripples on her shields.

Not to mention sneak attacks, in reality you can't shoot at friendly forces like in games. We should be thankful that we are not destroyed by our own people.

In the alien fleet, there were two particularly large and conspicuous warships that caught his attention. One of them was extremely long, similar in shape to a Merchant-class ship, but longer than any Merchant-class ship he had encountered before.

"This is... the legendary Tau 'Explorer' pioneer ship? God-Emperor, this is too big. Its size is comparable to our armed pilgrim ship. It is indeed an armed colony ship and an ultra-heavy cargo ship."

"Yes, I compared it with the identification book, and this is the rare 'Explorer' class." Louise said to Horatio while holding up the data tablet.

"Then we are really lucky." Horatio looked at the prey through the telescope, "We encountered this exploration ancestor that existed when the Tau first sailed to the starry sea. Even for these aliens, the 'Explorer' class is too rare and precious."

Through close analysis through the telescope, Horatio determined that its size reached an astonishing 20 kilometers, and there were three super-heavy twin-mounted railguns of impressive size on the backbone of the ship.

The front and middle parts of its side are large shuttle aprons, with countless carrier-based aircraft flying in and out. The rear section should be loaded with war supplies, with a large number of heavy transport boats continuously loading cargo and flying out to carry replacement parts for warships that have suffered combat damage.

In addition, it has three gravity grappling hooks, each of which can grab a destroyer and release it in the surrounding area for escort and alert.

"The other one is..."

He turned the telescope and looked at another large ship.

(End of this chapter)