Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 620 06.0619: "Act with caution and take the enemy by surprise"

Horatio frowned slightly, showing a bit of curiosity, and murmured in a low voice: "Let me see what the other 'sea beast' looks like."

After that, he held the eyepiece firmly with both hands, slowly turned it, and cast his sights on another battleship not far from the Explorer class.

At first, what comes into view is a deep and continuous cavity.

Seeing this, Horatio couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

?

He squinted his eyes subconsciously and gently adjusted the focus of the telescope with his fingers.

A moment later, as the field of vision expanded, the truth finally became clear: it turned out to be a large Tau warship shaped like a mobile void shipyard.

In stark contrast to the previous Explorer class, it abandoned the hull design that was as long as a stick and would easily fall apart once it was hit hard in the middle.

In its place is a completely new style of outsourced hollow, orbital shipyard-like structure.

This design also indicates that its size must be quite large.

Horatio looked at it sharply and found that the cavity in the middle could accommodate three Warden-class destroyers at a time.

In front of the wing of the warship, there is a structure similar to an "air intake". Behind the blue iris, there is a full shuttle apron.

This means that the battleship can release up to 18 carrier-based aircraft at the same moment.

The manta ray-shaped fins are covered with heavy railguns in a three-layer structure. Each gun exudes a cold and dangerous aura, making this mysterious new warship look extremely deterrent and exudes an aura that is not to be messed with.

There are four missile silos on each side of the bridge, which can launch eight heavy-duty Seeker missiles at the same time. They are like dormant beasts, ready to go.

Horatio stared at the warship, thinking to himself, this is clearly an all-rounder.

It has a huge reserve of carrier-based aircraft and torpedoes, and can deliver a large number of them in a short period of time. Its artillery firepower is also sufficient for a battle, and it can even release small warships to assist in the battle. He didn't recognize it for a while and asked in confusion: "What kind of ship is this?"

Louise, the director of the Operations Department standing beside him, responded quickly: "Our official intelligence did not record the class of this ship. We only know that this is a new type of alien warship, which the Navy Department classifies as a battleship. According to the report of the Imperial spies, the Tau people call it the 'Guardian' class, also known as the 'Guardian'."

[Guardian-class...] Horatio quickly searched the settings about the Tau in his mind. He didn't know much, he only vaguely remembered that the Tau Guardian Fleet did produce an extremely rare battleship called "Unique Seedling".

Until the time he traveled through, that was the only battleship class known to the Tau Empire.

[Could it be the ship in front of me?] This thought flashed through his mind, and soon he became certain.

At this moment, due to a series of coincidences, he was facing two enemy battleships, and their screen ships were completely unaware that a silent killer had quietly sneaked into their fleet's escort circle.

The screen ships were still patrolling the surrounding area diligently, scanning the surroundings vigilantly, but they did not explore the location where Horatio was.

Because in their perception, it is impossible for such a stealth assassin to slip through layers of guards and get right under the flagship's nose - unless it is through what the enemies call "teleportation" through subspace navigation, but even so, such precise operation is impossible to achieve.

The two battleships operated in an orderly manner, continuously releasing massive fleets of aircraft.

Those densely packed fleets of machines, like an overwhelming black tide, surged towards the advancing Imperial battle lines.

Around the Imperial battle line, the interwoven close defense firepower was like an impenetrable fire net, but even so, Tau fighters continued to successfully pass through. The leading battleship was overwhelmed by this intensive firepower attack, and before it could reach the enemy position, many of its turrets were destroyed by the air superiority fighters that could freely pass through the void shield.

At this rate, even if the damage control personnel performed emergency repairs with all their strength, and the modified emergency repair orders were able to repair three turrets at a time, the battleship would soon be stripped of all its air defenses and would be completely defenseless against torpedoes and air squadrons.

In the air combat situation, the Empire's air force was already at a disadvantage.

Moreover, only the fleet of the Ultramarine was equipped with carrier-based aircraft units. Fleets like Gothic and Baka, which relied on large ships and powerful guns, did not even carry many air forces.

In order to cover the offensive on the battle line, a large number of Imperial air formations were withdrawn to support close defense missions. This tactical move was equivalent to giving up the fight for air supremacy and only seeking self-preservation.

The blood of the pilots who had died in the battle for air supremacy seemed to have been shed in vain.

But war is cruel. The results that were fought for so hard before could be wiped out in an instant. In order to achieve higher strategic goals, the generals and staff officers believed that even if they had achieved many tactical victories, they still needed to stop the losses in time.

"It's over, we're done!" David Beatty's teeth were chattering, and he bit his fingers unconsciously. He whispered tremblingly: "Harvey, we are surrounded by enemy ships!"

"Lina, let's wait for the order from the Military Intelligence Command. Louise, pass the order down to lock on these two battleships." Horatio's face was grim and he decisively gave the order to prepare for the attack.

"Ah!!!" Upon hearing this, David Betty's eyes went dark, his body swayed, and he almost fainted.

"What are you doing? You're so jumpy." Harvey saw him and raised his hand to chop him on the forehead. He said unhappily, "If you have nothing to do, go to the Operations Department to map the torpedo route."

"Did you hear that? The captain is going to attack those two battleships!!! Once we launch the torpedoes, the dozens of battleships nearby will immediately rush over to kill us! Just like the legendary assassin, after killing the king, he was killed by the guards around him!"

David Betty's face was filled with horror, his eyes widened, "Maybe we will change the outcome of this battle, but no matter what the outcome is, we will die!"

"Do you need me to ask the military supervisor to come and cheer you up?" Harvey rolled his eyes at him, his face showing no fear: "If you don't even have the courage to die a worthy death, then why did you study at Zhongsi Academy in the first place?"

"Well... yeah, at least this time it's definitely enough."

David Betty, encouraged by his comrades, tried to suppress his fear and took a deep breath. Although he stopped shouting, his teeth were still chattering and he kept breathing cold air from his mouth. "I have seen worse, I have crushed worse. God Emperor bless you!"

Lina sat in front of the new cipher machine with full concentration, typing quickly on the keyboard with her hands.

Psychic signals are transmitted through cipher machines.

Soon, a piece of paper slowly emerged from the slot on one side.

Horatio reached for the slip of paper, on which was written a brief but clear order: Assemble the squadron and concentrate the response. Act with caution and surprise.

This was the reply Lina's father, Colonel Lord Elphinstone, received after reporting to Lieutenant General Samuel Hood.

Although it was not explicitly stated whether the Epic was required to attack, Horatio had already understood Vice Admiral Samuel Hood's strategic intention: to assemble his first attack squadron and carefully consider the timing of the attack while ensuring his own safety.

In short, it is actually equivalent to having no orders and making all the decisions by yourself.

[That's exactly what I want. Indeed, given the current situation, if I attack rashly, I'm afraid it will not only be difficult to succeed, but it will also likely lead to my own demise and the Epic.]
Horatio was secretly calculating in his mind, he looked at the Imperial fleet in the distance that was advancing towards the main fleet of the Tau Empire, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

If the Epic wants to kill two birds with one stone, every step forward will test the warship and crew's skills, timing, grasp of the battle situation, and the unpredictable luck.

(End of this chapter)