Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 914, 08.913: "Going First"

Horatio stood inside the Valkyrie assault transport plane, whose fuselage was shaking violently.

Instead of sitting still, he activated the magnetic boots' suction function, standing like a steel statue on the edge of the open rear hatch, letting the gale tear at the hem of his commander's cloak.

Below, a world of sand and dust, completely stained ochre by the flames of war, lay, with countless crisscrossing lasers and artillery fire, like frenzied strokes on a painting of hell.

Without a doubt, he has arrived in the war zone.

The swirling, muddy dust on the ground and the countless tire tracks left by vehicles indicated that this was not the natural climate of Minerva.

This is a steel storm sweeping across the entire continent, unleashed by an endless expanse of green-skinned people and their crudely made war machines.

Just like the battle in the void, the ground was also a chaotic inferno of four-way warfare—the Empire, the Dark Eldar, the Severus army, the Greenskins, and the Chaos traitors, all fighting fiercely on this land.

Now, the Greenskins have gained an overwhelming numerical advantage and are attempting to destroy their competitors in this world of sand and steel.

The green-skinned creatures on the ground roared, their countless tiny, scarlet eyes having already spotted the Imperial air vehicles descending from the sky.

Some vehicles stopped, and on the Hydra anti-aircraft guns captured from the Imperial Guard hung blasphemous metal plaques, crudely carved into the shape of hideous green monster faces, like masks placed in front of the Hydra's optical sights.

boom! boom! boom!
The Hydra self-propelled anti-aircraft guns captured by the Greenskins opened fire, and densely packed golden tracer bullets, like a swarm of angry wasps, rushed towards the squadron.

The machine guns atop those oddly shaped "killing cans" were also raised, spewing futile flames into the sky.

Regardless of whether these live-fire weapons hit their targets, the Greenskins relentlessly unleashed their endless firepower.

Some shells, launched from the distant "Mao Colossus" with erratic trajectories, exploded in mid-air around Horatio's transport plane, blasting open rolling black clouds.

His mech shook violently in the shockwave. He hadn't experienced this feeling of being violently shaken like a box since he became the captain of a ship.

The green scavengers on the ground roared and fired incessantly until an even more deafening sonic boom came from the higher horizon, drowning out all their clamor.

Like seeds of death, the high-drag bombs were released from the Fury interceptor's bomb bay, unfurling five drag-inducing metal blades in the air.

Before the bombs landed, the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth fighters of the Skyhawk Squadron, out of the eight Furious interceptors flying in a diagonal formation, began their dive.

They were an attack formation carrying ground-attack rockets, four fighter jets lined up in a row, like a four-pronged trident made of steel and fire, charging towards the ground. The rockets poured out like an angry swarm of bees.

A Leman Russ vehicle, captured by a green-skinned mechanic and subjected to a typical "I think" desecration by a young technician, now equipped with numerous gun barrels and externally mounted rockets, suffered a violent ammunition explosion. Its heavy turret was completely lifted off the ground and rolled helplessly in the dusty sky.

The high-drag bomb, like a spinning dandelion seed carrying the scent of death, finally fell to the ground.

The terrifying shockwaves forcefully blew across the land, which was teeming with green-skinned people, creating patches of scorched earth covered by densely packed orcs.

This scene is like a giant rock being thrown into a calm lake, causing the duckweed around the landing point to ripple.

The Skyhawk Squadron was just the vanguard. Above them were the other fighters from the 335th and 217th Interceptor Squadrons.

These pilots fly the 40-meter-class "Furious" interceptors. Compared to the 70-meter-class heavy interceptors, they are smaller and have a lower payload, but better protected and can operate both inside and outside the atmosphere, allowing pilots to launch directly from the orbital carrier without waiting for ground airfields to be built.

As arranged by Horatio, Colonel Sterling has made contact with the Astraklan forces on the ground and is urgently preparing to build three forward airfields of different specifications within the Imperial-controlled area. The most forward one is a simple, standardized vertical take-off and landing airfield for Valkyrie transport aircraft, followed by a slightly farther but more convenient standardized interceptor airfield for rapid deployment, and finally, a bomber airfield with a runway over a thousand meters long, storing heavy bombs and giant aircraft.

Once the airport is built, Anya Fasha and her team will board the "Lightning" and "Thunder" fighter jets.

These two fighter jets, designed specifically for atmospheric combat, are better suited for prolonged aerial combat under planetary gravity than dual-purpose air-to-ground fighters.

Taking off from an airport is always more advantageous for combat than breaking through the atmosphere and speeding hundreds of kilometers between orbit and the ground every time.

"Little Fasha, there are way too many enemies on the ground!!!" Veronica, piloting Skyhawk II, screamed into the communication channel.

"Attention! Enemy air units have appeared!" Anya Fasha reported over the radio while simultaneously pulling up the nose of her aircraft.

The laser cannons under the wings and the close-range omnidirectional air-to-air missiles fired simultaneously.
-
Amidst the swirling dust, Horatio saw his target below—a towering, austere Gothic monastery. Beside it stood countless "skyscrapers."

It wasn't a real building structure, but rather stacks of shipping containers piled up to be hundreds of meters high.

Each container contained tithes collected from various worlds of the empire, intended for endless wars.

"Captain, we've arrived. The energy hub is in a separate structure in the southeast corner of the monastery, just below us."

They walked over to Horatio, and together with her rose the five silent, iron-willed Black Shield monks, as well as the first squad of Hell's Vanguard who had participated in the decapitation operation.

She smiled and said, "We'll go first."

"May the God Emperor protect you."

"He will also bless you."

The young judge, carrying a gravity-powered umbrella, gracefully turned her back to the ground and leaped backward.

She opened her arms in the air, like a black angel, and waved to Horatio.

Immediately afterwards, the five black-shielded men also jumped down, their jetpacks igniting simultaneously and emitting blue flames.

The members of the Hell Vanguard First Squad also stood up, and they were deployed on several Valkyrie fighter jets.

"Captain, I wish you success in your mission."

Valina stubbornly wore her red beret, refusing to wear her terrazzo helmet no matter how dangerous the battlefield was.

A long hatband was tied tightly across her chin.

"Good luck, Instructor. Remember to wear your helmet next time, or you'll get a mouthful of sand," Horatio said, pointing to the combat helmet hanging on Valina's waist.

"You little rascal, didn't you ever go without a helmet before?" she laughed, tightening the chin strap, pressing the breathing filter on her face, and checking the tactical goggle system that resembled a diving mask.

Horatio shrugged and just smiled.

His cloak fluttered wildly in the gale.

"See you later. I'll keep an eye on that girl." Valina punched Horatio's shoulder armor, then leaped away as well.

One after another, hell soldiers, like black raindrops, began to fall from the sky.

However, amidst the blurred vision of the swirling sand and dust, a discordant "puffing" sound, like an engine malfunction, rang out from not far away.

Horatio immediately noticed the anomaly. The sound was like a malfunctioning engine struggling to burn impure promethium, producing thick smoke.

call--

A swift, elegant, and deadly flash swept past him.

His brow furrowed.

The images captured by the tactical eyepiece clearly showed him what it was—the Dark Eldar's distinctive vehicle and troop carrier, the "Raider" airship.

This bizarre, blade-covered airship was like an iron hedgehog, unapproachable to anyone. Captured Astragalus soldiers and battle nuns hung from its sides—most of them tortured to death.

Horatio couldn't imagine how outraged Sister Arabella would be to see such a scene.

However, the Dark Eldar hunters could cling to it with an inhuman, graceful gait, like evil apes leaping about on tree branches in a storm.

Who is the monkey, really?
(End of this chapter)