Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 994, page 08.993: "Let's arm wrestle!"

chap!
Valina cleanly and swiftly pulled her tactical dagger from the forehead of the Severus tribune who was already lying on the line of thinkers.

Warm blood gushed from the wound, flowing down the unseeing face and onto the cold control panel.

In the nearby corner, stormtroopers from the Navy Security Force were coldly carrying out their "cleanup" procedures.

The surviving surrendered soldiers were forcibly kicked to the wall and forced to kneel in a row with their heads in their hands, their bodies trembling violently with fear.

"Fire."

With a command, a burst of gunfire, suppressed by silencers, rang out. Living people were instantly transformed into a row of corpses, their heads steaming. Faced with absolute, unquestionable violence, many lose that courage—the kind of desperate, story-like courage—that exists only in tales.

Even though they knew clearly that they were about to die, their limbs trembled with fear, rendering them powerless to resist.

On the successfully captured control tower, everyone has their own tasks to complete.

After taking command of the control tower, the officers immediately directed the combat engineers of the dragoon brigade to clear the airport's main runway at full speed.

At this moment, only a few companies from the First Battalion have been dispatched to the ground. Larger ground units are scheduled to be sent later to the newly captured airfield.

This requires an open space that can safely accommodate the take-off and landing of an entire "devourer" class large landing ship.

"Report to 'Red Hat': Enemy forward unit spotted at airport 279."

Preliminary identification indicates that the force consists of 20 infantry fighting vehicles, 8 Leman Russ main battle tanks, approximately 500 infantrymen, and 60 troop transport trucks.

"Based on full load, we estimate the enemy's total strength to be around 1,500." On the anemometer platform at the top of the control tower, a Hell Soldier using a portable reconnaissance radar to survey the surrounding enemy positions reported, "There should be follow-up troops behind them."

Based on the heat signature, the enemy's total reinforcement force likely consists of two full-strength infantry battalions.

Valina walked to the observation window, raised the high-powered telescope, and looked in the direction of the report.

Above the dark desert, countless flickering car headlights, like will-o'-the-wisps, converged toward the airport control tower.

She couldn't see exactly how many enemies there were, only that they were coming on strong and in large numbers. Her lightly armed troops, fresh from their airdrop, were destined to be overwhelmed by this steel tide.

How long until the main landing craft arrive?

"It has departed from the track and is expected to arrive in forty minutes."

"Organize a defense. We must first break through their vanguard."

The temporary command team, led by Valina, began conducting communications and command in the most traditional way from the control tower.

The ODT soldiers, well-trained, retrieved their squad-level heavy weapons from the rear compartments of their infantry fighting vehicles and rushed to the rooftops or windows of buildings. Meanwhile, fire support squads quickly set up missile launchers, grenade launchers, and powerful laser cannons in positions with open firing ranges.

Snap. Snap.

"The distance is 2800 meters."

After two consecutive laser rangefindings, the Hellslinger in charge of reconnaissance reported to all combat units.

The members of the heavy weapons team, from windowsills and rooftops, began aiming at the approaching light source using the thermal imaging system built into the missile launcher.

These two-person mounted missile launchers are much heavier than the shoulder-mounted launchers used by the Hellslingers, but correspondingly, they are also more powerful.

They were capable of destroying the relatively thin frontal armor of the Leman Rus main battle tank, and if the ambush was timed correctly, they could even penetrate the armor of heavier tanks from the side or rear. They were quietly waiting for the order to fire.

“Sergeant Major…is this your family?” A young heavy weapons assistant gunner lay on the ground and saw the senior sergeant major next to him tightly clutching a broken seashell photo pendant with his rough fingers.

In that somewhat blurry photo, a woman and a man are holding a little girl, the three of them happily cradling a baby in swaddling clothes.

He was Poniatovsky's cavalry messenger and the former bugler of the 2nd Battalion. Now, he was the acting platoon leader of a heavy weapons platoon.

“They are my wife and children.” The veteran’s voice was a little hoarse. “I sent all the money I earned in the army to them so that they could return to our home planet, Polaria, from the planet where they were taking refuge.”

“I heard that…the passenger ship they were on was forced to dock in Minerva after arriving in the war zone. Then, all the Polaberians on board were driven into refugee camps by the Sintiras and subjected to apartheid.”

"In the last operation, although we liberated that refugee camp, I... I didn't have time to find them inside."

"They'll be fine. You'll have time to go find them after this battle." The assistant gunner pricked up his long, horse-like ears, vigilantly observing the enemy situation in the distance.

"Missile launch team, prepare to fire." The order to fire came over the communication channel.

"It's starting, kid. You need to focus. Here we go!" After a moment of hesitation, the veteran quickly composed himself and skillfully released the safety on the missile launcher, just as he had practiced in training camp. He made a final check on the target firmly locked on the launcher—a Leman-Russ main battle tank, its turret and hull at the junction, its cannon barrel raised high and advancing arrogantly.

boom!boom!
Suddenly, in his scope, the Leman Rus opened fire. The battle cannons spewed out dazzling flashes of fire, and the shells whistled through the air, landing in front of the airfield and kicking up a cloud of dust.

This is a deterrent.

"Fire!"

Whoosh!

A massive plume of flame erupted from the rear of the missile launcher's barrel, sending file racks and chairs tumbling about in the office behind them. Following its trajectory, the missile hurtled forward, flying out of the airport and merging with numerous other missiles launched from different locations, like a swarm of vengeful bees.

puff! Poof!

The Leman Rus main battle tank and the Chimera infantry fighting vehicle simultaneously launched smoke grenades. In the instantaneous burst of thick white smoke, most of the missiles lost their target lock due to the loss of heat source signals.

However, they can still be manually controlled through that thin wire.

The veteran estimated the approximate location of the enemy tanks and abruptly pressed the button in his hand. Pulled by the guide wire, the missile plummeted downwards.

boom!
His spotter saw a huge fireball flash by in the smoke. But because of the smoke, they couldn't see the missile's exact impact point, nor were they sure if it had successfully destroyed the target.

It wasn't until quite a while later that this happened.

Tank and infantry fighting vehicle tracks, kicking up damp dust, emerged from the gradually dissipating white smoke.

The Lemanrus was the first to charge out; it was only hit in the upper left corner of the frontal armor.

The missile left a charred, narrow crater, from which wisps of white smoke were rising.

However, the steel behemoth continued to move forward, without slowing down in the slightest.

"LOAD!!!"

(End of this chapter)