Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 998, 08.997: "The Night Breeze is Quiet"

"Target spotted: Leman Rustank."

Inside the Arion tank, where the red emergency lights were on, Battalion Commander Poniatovsky's cold gaze was pressed against the rubber eyepiece of the periscope.

In the rearview mirror, the outline of the tank wreaking havoc among the building ruins was magnified, the menacing rebel insignia on its turret clearly visible. He released the call button, his calm voice ringing out on the vehicle's communication channel.

"Gunner, aim at the exposed rear of the enemy tank. We need to destroy its engine compartment and kill it with one shot."

"Yes! Locking down."

The gunner beside him immediately carried out the order.

The young gunner gripped the control lever tightly with both hands, operating the tank in actual combat for the first time. He was visibly nervous, but also very excited.

The slender laser-powered cannon on the roof of the vehicle turned silently and smoothly to the left, driven by a hydraulic system.

In the gunner's eyes, the crosshair on the tactical screen was steadily locked onto the rear half of the Leman Rustank, with a red square representing the engine core flashing, confirming the lock.

"Target locked! Awaiting your orders, Half-Brigadier Citizen!" The gunner's voice carried suppressed excitement.

"Fire!"

炯！
A sharp whistling sound tore through the air.

The air along the path of the energy beam was instantly transformed into plasma, like a spear of judgment from the void piercing the night.

Just as the orders required, it pierced the rear engine armor of the Leman Rustank.

After the firing ended, the ultra-high temperature energy beam melted a hole as thick as an arm in the thick armor plate, and the metal at the edge was heated red-hot, emitting a scorching dark light, like a brand from hell.

A plume of black smoke, mixed with the stench of burning, suddenly shot out from the hole. The tank's tracks struggled to turn twice in despair before losing all power.

The engine's deafening roar turned into a mournful, metallic groan before finally fading into silence.

This rampaging steel behemoth went from roaring and attacking to being on its last legs in just one second.

The crew members were clearly still reeling from the sudden loss of tank functionality.

A moment later, the side armored hatch was pushed open with a "bang," and a Severus armored soldier poked his head out, looking around warily. Then, he carefully climbed down from the vehicle, picked up his gun, and crouched down to walk towards the rear of the vehicle, wanting to see what had happened to the engine.

He saw the scorching hole still emitting black smoke, and just then, he seemed to hear a strange, low buzzing sound coming from the darkness.

Boom!
A dull, loud bang, as if it were a signal.

Suddenly, dozens of blinding lights shone at the same time!

The entire assault convoy, which had been lying in ambush, simultaneously turned on their searchlights. The dazzling wall of light instantly illuminated the entire street as if it were daytime, banishing all shadows from every corner.

The passenger who got off the train and the Severus infantrymen who were preparing to provide support in the nearby passage were blinded by the sudden bright light, their eyes filled with white light, tears streaming down their faces, and they instinctively raised their arms to shield their eyes.

"What the hell..."

He didn't finish his words.

炯！
Another laser beam hurtled in, and this time, it hit the soldier precisely.

His upper body vaporized and exploded in the beam of light, before he could even let out a scream.

The energy beam, still powerful, struck the same spot in the tank's engine compartment again. This time, the impact point was closer to the side fuel tank. Although the Lemanrus's engines were robust and reliable, capable of using almost any fuel, promethium remained the most common and highly flammable military fuel used by the Empire.

boom!
The fuel tank exploded instantly. The scorching promethium transformed into a towering pillar of fire, completely engulfing the rear half of the tank.

Orange-red flames then flowed like a flood across the ground, turning the area around the tank into a raging inferno.

The remaining passengers were finally forced out of the vehicle by the rapidly rising temperature. They frantically pushed open their hatches, only to find in despair that they were completely engulfed in flames.

Jumping off the train means falling directly into a sea of ​​fire; not jumping is tantamount to being roasted alive in a sealed oven.

Ultimately, the instinct for survival triumphed over fear.

Some people chose to wrap themselves tightly in their marching blankets, hoping to use them to protect themselves from the flames for a moment, before jumping off.

Some people even tried to use car fire extinguishers to spray the ground in an attempt to clear a safe place to stand.

dong dong dong dong!

The moment they leaped out of the hatch, the 50mm rapid-fire cannon opened fire.

The dense barrage of armor-piercing incendiary shells, like the scythe of death, lashed the tank hull with a shrill whistle.

The flying armor fragments and ricocheting bullets instantly tore the crew members who had just jumped out of the vehicle into indistinguishable pieces of flesh and blood.

The tank engines roared, unleashing devastating firepower as it relentlessly charged past the still-burning wreckage of the Leman Rustank.

They moved nimbly through the airport's buildings, following the enemy coordinates provided by the Hell Scouts and the safe routes planned after scanning by the Bird Radar, like a group of efficient hunters, precisely hunting down enemy armored vehicles that had penetrated deep into their own territory.

A Chimera armored vehicle belatedly realized the threat behind it, and its turret had just begun to rotate, attempting to aim its multi-barreled laser cannon at the ghostly enemy that had suddenly appeared.

"Die! Fire!" The second brigade commander, feeling the adrenaline surge from speeding through the fire, roared excitedly into the communications channel.

"Bang! Bang bang bang!"

A laser beam and a barrage of armor-piercing incendiary rounds from a 50mm cannon arrived almost simultaneously, slamming into the Chimera's weakest point: its tail armor.

The vehicle jolted violently, and the turret, which was halfway through its rotation, abruptly stopped.

Moments later, the hatch of the troop transport compartment at the top was kicked open, and a blood-covered Severus soldier jumped out of the vehicle in a panic. Before he could run two steps, he was torn to pieces by a hail of bullets from a Gatling gun and automatic grenades.

From her command vehicle, Yadwiga calmly observed the entire battlefield situation via data link.

On the holographic tactical board in front of her, the red icons representing the enemy were going out one by one, while the blue arrows representing the friendly forces were like a sharp scalpel, precisely severing the enemy's arteries.

“Very good.” She picked up the car radio and connected to another semi-brigade commander’s channel. “The offensive of Severus’s forces has collapsed, and they are retreating! The Hell Scouts at the front observation post reported that the enemy is fleeing along the road they came from, and their direction perfectly matches our prediction of the enemy’s General Staff’s location.”

Citizen of Hunyati, order your troops to immediately join my forces. We will then execute the second phase of the operation.

"While they're in disarray, let's take them down in one fell swoop!"

Once the order was given, the wheeled armored vehicles scattered throughout the battlefield began to regroup.

With unstoppable momentum, they turned in a new direction, and the previously not very noticeable engine sounds converged into a roar of steel.

Behind them lay the burning airport and the ruins of the defeated rebels. Ahead of them lay the true end of the Battle of Minerva.

(End of this chapter)