Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

Koji was concerned about the current battle situation. He rushed to the screen and saw that during the time he had been hanging out with Mao Erge, he had lost more than half of the fighter jets he had sent out.

"Fetia, launch this thing as close as possible to those damned Eldar."

Seeing the green condensed energy ball that Komi pulled out of his pocket, Fitia didn't ask any questions and immediately began to prepare.

Just fifteen seconds later, the condensed gas ball, no bigger than an orange, was launched from the Punisher and flew rapidly toward the approximate location of the enemy scanned by the Spirit Bird Divination Device.

Chapter 456: Playing the Card Game

"Jack! We've received orders from above to temporarily put the machine's soul into hibernation!" Harlan said to Jack in the cockpit. Jack immediately retorted, "Why? Putting a fighter jet into hibernation is suicide, isn't it?"

“I don’t know why, I only know that it’s an order! It was personally issued by Saint Otto!”

When Jack heard Harlan say that, he gritted his teeth and said apologetically to Wing, "Honey, you should rest for a while."

He then turned the engine switch, stopping the fighter jet.

Just seconds after Jack finished these steps, the condensed aerosol that Gao Ge had given to Komi suddenly exploded.

Green ripples spread outwards, and the mist carried no foul odor, only a deafening roar.

This roar pierced through the void, and all things, whether they had souls or not, were stunned.

Biological systems become disordered as a result, and machines suddenly begin to make more errors in their operation.

Brother Gao has simply demonstrated my thinking power in a completely different way.

I wonder if this will work? I wonder if this will not work!

The Eldar warships unleashed their advanced fighter jets, causing chaos even among the Eldar themselves amidst the terrifying impact, and temporarily rendering their holographic field, which concealed their presence, ineffective.

"By the God of Myriad Machines! What is that thing?! Is it a kind of machine soul banisher?" Fiti asked Komi with wide eyes. Even though their warships were far away, they could not avoid the influence of the voice of the machine god. The lights on the bridge were flashing more frequently than the broken lights in a horror movie.

Komi took a deep breath, mentally retracing Mao Ge's blueprints before speaking slowly to Fetia, "Fetia... this isn't banishing the machine spirits; they merely chose to submit to the wrath of the God of Machines. Now, let's seize this opportunity and wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop!"

At Komi's command, the slowly advancing fleet sped forward. Because of the greater distance, they were less affected by the impact of the attack. The various devices on the bridge only flickered uncontrollably for a few dozen seconds before returning to normal.

Those Eldar fighters that were closer to the explosion's epicenter and hadn't even shut down were in a very bad situation.

The holographic field was paralyzed, and the psionic circuits throughout the aircraft were filled with angry roars, causing great pain to the ancestral souls and pilots inside the fighter jet.

The Imperial pilots, who had suffered heavy losses in their attack, restarted their machine spirits as ordered. Jack watched as a symbolic expression of nausea and discomfort appeared on the screen.

"Do you hate that sound?" Jack asked with some heartache. "But it's much better than never seeing each other again. Come on, girl, let's kill all these knife-eared aliens together."

Without the protection of the holographic field, the Eldar fighters were like livestock waiting to be slaughtered. They were unable to put up any resistance against the Imperial fighters' offensive and could only perish in pain and confusion.

Some warplanes that had killed many human comrades were reduced to ashes in the flames of vengeance, while others were severely damaged and would be sent to the Exterminator as spoils of war to demonstrate the victory of the Ancient Ones.

Pirate Prince Dorrank clenched his fists at the enormous loss. In the five hundred years since he had become the nightmare of the Imperial caravans, he had never lost a single fighter pilot. Yet, in less than a minute, his proud Void Warriors had become just another kill on the human fighter planes.

"The monkeys must pay for their actions!" Dorank swore under the watchful eyes of the other Eldar, vowing to atone for the loss of his race with the deaths of millions, even tens of millions of humans.

The Eldar Pathfinder beside Dolank suggested, "Your Highness, human warships are approaching us. Our holographic field has failed, and even opening the netgate has become difficult. We need to prepare for close-quarters combat."

Dorrank breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he would pay a heavy price for his arrogance, but he still didn't think he had lost control of the battlefield. It was just that the inevitable victory would be somewhat bitter.

The Eldar have a small population and low fertility rate, and every loss is worthy of mourning by the entire race.

In contrast, humans, who occupy a barren world and expand their population to tens of millions within a few hundred years, are as rampant as microorganisms.

The two Eldar ships flew through the asteroid using their superior maneuverability, and they also dropped many automatically operating spirit bone turrets, hoping that they could delay the Imperial Navy's approach, even if it was only for a second.

To prevent the Eldar from recovering from the roar of Gogo and escaping into the net tunnels, Koji kept urging the fleet to advance at full speed.

After dealing with their opponents, the Exterminator's fighters turned to attack the Eldar warships. The weapons they used to penetrate the thick armor of human warships were even more deadly to the Eldar warships, which were known for their agility.

When they got entangled with these fighters, Dorrank realized how difficult these ugly aircraft were to deal with. The weapons on their ships were not enough to tear these aircraft apart in one go; they could only tear off a layer of their outer shell.

Even though the Eldar warships' anti-aircraft guns dealt with every torpedo and plasma bomb with the utmost seriousness, a few eventually broke through the intercepting fire and struck the Eldar warships.

boom!

The explosion first created crimson flames, which were then replaced by the eerie blue flames unique to Eldar warships.

"Damn it... these monkeys are equipped with special equipment, they're specifically coming for us!" Dorank's expression was grave. He ordered his prophet to use psionic magic to directly attack the pilot's brain.

"Kane's wrath..." Psionic energy slowly emanated from the prophet's body, then condensed on his staff, and flowed into the psionic circuits within the warship.

He uses this to draw upon a much larger amount of psionic energy, much like how you need to add a mouthful of water to a piston pump before you can manually pump water out.

The psionic shockwave was released, mixed with the consciousness of the Eldar prophet, who attempted to touch the consciousness of each pilot and then inflict upon them the most terrible nightmare of their lives.

But before he could even touch it, the Eldar prophet sensed a strange aura emanating from the pilot's soul.

Is this what the folly of believing in an emperor tastes like?

The Eldar prophet muttered something, but because of the urgency of the battle, he didn't have time to think much and directly extended his psionic energy to touch the minds of these pilots.

This really terrified him...

The Eldar prophet screamed in agony as the failed spell and the shock of what he saw overwhelmed him, causing blood to spurt from his face and orifices.

Dorank was shocked and embraced the barely breathing Eldar prophet, asking anxiously, "What happened? Did a powerful psionicist among the enemy counterattack you?"

With his last breath, the Eldar prophet warned Dorrank, "Hurry...hurry! Those people's souls have been branded by another terrible being. If you fall into their hands, you will suffer the same fate."

The Eldar prophet died, and his soul should have flowed into the Soulstone in his chest, but this did not happen.

His soul flowed into the pure white hall, transforming into a soul brick that could not speak, think, see, or hear.

For Dorank and his companions, this was undoubtedly proof that demons were devouring souls.

The calm on their faces slowly crumbled. Looking at the cold, gleaming soulstone on the prophet's chest, Dorank said with despair, "What...is hunting us down..."

Chapter 457: Don't Underestimate the Spirit Clan's Poverty

Faced with the tragic fate of having his soul silently devoured, Pirate Prince Dokran was not defeated by despair. He remained remarkably calm, embracing the cold, gradually crystalline corpse of the Eldar prophet, and said, "It seems... we have to make a difficult decision."

"Abandon a portion of your people?"

“This is all we can do…” Dokran connected to the psionic communications between the two Eldar warships, issuing orders to the Eldar like a majestic prince. “Voidreavers, concentrate on the Eclipse-class cruisers. Those unable to fight, proceed to the Aurora light cruisers and leave immediately. The Webgate cannot be opened due to interference, but we will buy you enough time. If fate smiles upon you, and you escape the Imperium’s pursuit and survive in the dark void, return to the Ark, to your families and friends, grow stronger, and avenge the suffering we have endured today.”

Dokran's command sounded so sorrowful that the psionic circuits of these warships rippled with pity.

The Eclipse-class cruisers abandoned their plan to open the net gates and turned towards the Imperial Fleet, while the smaller and faster Aurora light cruisers fled in another direction with their less combat-savvy crews.

"The enemy is trying to survive by cutting off an arm..." Koken deduced this from the feedback of the spirit bird divination instrument. He would not let the spirits off so easily. This had little to do with racial hatred; he simply needed the souls and flesh of these spirits to create something more valuable.

So Koken said to Samuel, "Mentor Samuel, the enemy fleet has split in two. Can you lead the Dark Angels to catch up with the fleeing Eldar warships?"

"You can trust our strength, Saint Otto. Ravenwing is renowned for its swift and devastating attacks, and even our warships have undergone special modifications." Samuel wore a confident smile, which made Komi wonder which was faster, Samuel's strike cruiser or White Scar's strike cruiser...

However, since Samuel had given such a guarantee, Komi chose to place his complete trust in him, just as he was willing to believe that Captain Spiel could complete the reconnaissance of the Savavon world all by himself.

The chosen ones of the emperor, who have names and surnames and don't wear helmets to cover their faces, always have their ways.

The Eclipse-class battleships attacked the Exterminator, which was charging at the forefront. Brilliant beams of light shone on the Exterminator's void shield, and the attacks were sent into a corner of warp space amidst ripples.

Ha... what a weak blow.

With all of the ship's aircraft destroyed in the battle, her only bow pulse spear could not serve as a threat that would deter the enemy from attacking.

Jack and the other pilots from the Exterminator also launched an attack around the Eclipse-class cruiser, giving this sailing warship, which had huge solar sails and looked beautiful under the starlight, a sense of war damage.

"Power the Void Shield and Plasma Engine! We must launch a glorious boarding maneuver on this warship. Every piece of Xenomorph's flesh and blood should be properly disposed of, not just die cleanly under the bombardment of the macro cannons! The Savior is merciful, but his mercy is also stingy. The abominable Xenomorphs are not within his consideration!" Koji shouted the order, and he himself led his guards into the boarding torpedoes whose hulls were welded with many Xuan-style defensive armor plates.

He believed that there were some troublesome individuals among the Eldar pirates who needed his help, and that he couldn't put all the pressure on the newly formed army.

In the boarding torpedo preparation compartment next to Komi, several technicians covered in oil and sweat were doing final checks. The stench emanating from them was comparable to that of the slobs and geeks who rolled around in scrap metal.

"I think this is fine, right? That's what Sage Sem taught." A technician said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand while holding a wrench.

Another technician leaned over, glanced at the man, and replied, "I think it should work...it looks fine."

Their words made the soldiers wearing the new gear feel uncomfortable.

"Hehehe! What are you talking about? Are you saying that the thing I'm wearing wasn't finished before it was shipped off the production line? That's so irresponsible of you!"

The old technician frowned as he listened to the soldiers' comments. "It's not our problem," he said. "That's how Sage Sem taught us. Look, it's written in this booklet too."

A book, completely different from his own, without a trace of greasiness or filth, danced in his hands. Some sharp-eyed soldiers noticed the words inside; apart from the mysterious binary language, they were all vague phrases.

Tighten the screws this much... fix the solder joints like this... the wiring and connections should be intuitive... those with a sincere heart will instantly understand the divine will of all things, while those with a cluttered heart will remain trapped in their own ways and unable to extricate themselves...

Ever since he ate that fart-infused blood sugar pill, Sage Semi's attitude towards technology has become just like that of a novice engineer just beginning to understand engineering.

The young technicians didn't know why they were doing it, but they just felt it would work!

Perhaps in the future, the Sage of Sem will be able to go a step further, transforming from the vague imitations of the Tech Boys' inventions into the well-thought-out plans of the Clever Tech Master.

But right now, the nonsense that Sage Sem wrote in his book is tormenting the busy engineers on the Exterminator's deck.

They struggled to understand what Sage Semim was trying to achieve by writing all this, yet they were forced to work diligently according to the book's contents, and occasionally even had to watch Sage Semim personally demonstrate manufacturing techniques at learning and exchange conferences...

These days, the technicians on the Exterminator no longer need to use razors to control the length of their hair, because the difficulty of mastering the art of technology has already caused them to lose clumps of hair. If it weren't for the beast brew that nourishes their bodies, these technicians would have long since become bald men capable of inducing hysteria in the Holy Blood Angels.

Whether it was the technicians' experience or the excellent teaching demonstrations by the Sage of Sem, the technicians managed to get through the difficult days of being completely bewildered and gradually came to understand the state that the Sage of Sem wanted them to achieve, but they found it difficult to express in words.

Don't speak, just feel with your heart.

This phrase has become the technicians' new catchphrase.

Drop drop!

An alarm sounded, signaling that the Punisher was about to reach the boarding torpedo launch position. The technicians put away the mysterious booklet and immediately urged the fully armed soldiers to board the torpedoes.

The boarding torpedoes, which could once accommodate more than a hundred people, now only carried ten soldiers and twenty floating servo skulls.

These warriors were not wearing the bulletproof breastplates commonly seen in the Astral Army, nor the heavy void combat suits of the Navy's boarding squads.

The equipment they wore resembled that of an alien civilization unknown to the human empire... namely, the Tau Empire's Crisis Combat Suit.

Chapter 458: Thoughts on the Army

The unborn Imperial Commissar, Kefas Kane, made this remark upon seeing the combat uniforms of the Tau Empire on the border of the Human Empire—

The dancing searchlight beams revealed a group of blurry, humanoid figures, more than twice the height of an adult male, and I held my breath. Dreadnoughts, or at least something comparable to those in the hands of the Tau. Like their Imperial counterparts, they were not only heavily armored and armed, but also far more agile.

For Komi, who had read more stories, the combat power of the combat suits was even more exaggerated than Commissar Kane had described, both in terms of quality and quantity.

Komi often pondered the question of what kind of army he should build.