Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

In the landing zone of the Iron Star, even the Redemption-type combat suits suffered losses under the onslaught of the dead. The defensive capabilities of these easily produced combat suits depended on the quality of the metal itself and the coverage of the Xuan-style defensive armor.

When the outer coating of these armors is attacked and scraped off, the inner Xuan-style defensive armor is gradually broken apart, and the gaps that are not protected by the armor are also attacked, exposing the less-than-sturdy nature of the Redemption-type combat suit.

There are 24 combat suit units under the direct control of Gete. Twelve of them have damaged legs and can only stand on the ground like fixed turrets to fire. The other seven are severely damaged and can only serve as cover for the infantry.

Four mechs died along with their pilots. By the time the medics dug them out of their twisted and deformed cockpits, their lives had already been drained by the mineral spikes that had burst from their chests. These were injuries that the Beast Brews carried in the medics' backpacks could not heal.

“Damn it…” Gate dragged Ella’s combat suit backward with one hand of his own, draping his shield over her tattered suit. She had been fighting the dead for too long, and when surrounded, Gate had to aim his Howler shotgun at her fuselage to wash away the dead that had climbed onto her. He grumbled, “When are those damn airmen going to get here? I’ve had my beacon out for almost ten minutes!”

“It was actually one minute and forty-seven seconds.” Ella aimed at the more threatening dead and fired, then punched a dead body that was emerging from the ground. “And the beacon I threw lit up for twenty-six seconds.”

"You remember so clearly... Do you really think they'll come? I have a feeling this thing is just a placebo! Instead of relying on air force bombing, we might as well call in a fleet for an orbital bombardment!"

"Even the lightest macro cannon on the Exterminator could send our entire landing zone flying. If you want to be buried with these dead, I won't stop you."

Just as Gates was about to complain more, several pale white cracks suddenly appeared in the dim sky, so abrupt that even the surging dead stopped in their tracks.

Then one after another, fighter jets took off, and Gates swore he had never seen such a beautiful sight.

The fighter jets resembled white shooting stars streaking across the sky, and the white trails closely following their tails were actually the result of the spirit bones on the fighter jets bringing out a small part of the soul path.

Their engine noise drowned out all the gunfire on the battlefield, and their formation of flight blocked out the sky above Gates.

"Ugh... Damn it... I thought the second flight would be better. Are these spirit bones really useful?" Jack blinked hard. He felt as tired and exhausted as when he first flew through the Soul Path. His vision was blurry, with only the light from the beacon standing out.

Despite his physical discomfort, he reminded the other fighter pilots who had come with him, "Remember what I told you, don't worry about anything else, just scatter all your ammunition around that beacon!"

"Yes, sir!"

All the weapons on the fighter jets opened fire, targeting the scattered beacons and tearing everything around them to shreds.

The solid, petrified bodies of the dead were nothing to these weapons; they were instantly shattered into pieces, sent into the sky by the shockwaves, and then crashed down.

The air raid by hundreds of warplanes wiped out tens of thousands of dead before Gates' eyes, leaving the crowded battlefield empty.

"Wow! That's fantastic! Our air force brothers have such fierce firepower. May these dead guys rest in peace!"

Ella chuckled at Gates's drastically different attitude; she felt that this chief warrior was indeed quite naive at times.

The fighter jets flew into the distance, and many people witnessed them as white shooting stars.

Some soldiers knelt down on the spot, clutching the small statues issued by the Ministry of Military Affairs and praying, "This is a miracle of the Emperor! It is his mercy!"

Chapter 518: Growing Up in War

It worked! That's great!

Komi, who witnessed all of this on a spiritual level, cheered. If he could succeed once, he could succeed a second time. This time, the Soul Path was activated, and the air raid took a little over a minute. The next air raid would definitely take even less time, ultimately allowing the fighter jets to respond to the beacon's call within seconds, giving the enemy no time to react.

Okay, now it's time to do another task.

After sending the fighter jets into the battlefield, Komi also had to send them back for resupply.

For some reason, when the fighter jet is traveling in the Soul Path, the fuel consumption rate is incomprehensible. The short distance Jack jumped from outside the Ark into the Ark consumed the fuel that would have taken him an hour to run out.

To ensure that the fighter jets do not stall halfway through the Soul Path, the fighter jets that came to provide support this time have been modified, with the ammunition depots greatly reduced to allow the fighter jets to carry more fuel.

With fewer ammunition and the unfamiliarity of traversing the Soul Path for the first time, the pilots of the fighter jets used up all the ammunition they had brought within seconds. Only Jack, the more experienced pilot, still had some ammunition left, leaving them with no way to continue flying. They could only consume fuel in the sky and had no other purpose.

Clearly, the Soul Path Air Strike needs to be deployed on the battlefield more often before it can mature and eventually become the lightning-fast, surgically precise strike envisioned by Komi.

Envisioning the future, Koji opened the Soul Path, and Jack immediately ordered the fighter squadron to enter the Soul Path rift and embark on the return journey for resupply.

The pure white shooting star disappeared on the battlefield, but remained in the hearts of the surviving soldiers. Once supplies are replenished, they will return to the battlefield.

In the ship's command center, Griffin was stunned by the sudden air raid. His lips twitched, and he glanced around, finding that his adjutant, communications officer, and the mechanical priests were all in the same state of shock and silence.

Can anyone tell me what that is? How much more is Saint Otto hiding?

Griffin clenched his fists, then coughed lightly, focusing his attention on the current battle situation.

The airstrikes by the warplanes stabilized the precarious defenses of the landing zone, allowing subsequent troops to deploy in landing craft to a safer location, rather than rushing out like a crowded flock of sheep.

Komi and Griffin's forces had essentially taken control of the landing zone, while the other forces' attacks suffered a major setback.

The only things that can be praised about the Imaran jihadists are their bravery and fanaticism. Facing the horrifying, lifeless dead, they can charge forward with rudimentary weapons, and even a casualty rate of over 95% cannot shake their steps.

In addition, their other traits could give an old Astral Army general nightmares for three days straight.

First, there was the serious impact of being disorganized and unplanned. Although Imaran had absolute command over the jihadist army, he was not a good general. In battle, he only liked to emphasize that devout faith could be the shield and blade of his warriors.

Before the landing operation began, Imran simply gave an inspiring speech in the assembly hall and had the state church choir bless and pray for the jihadists. Then he waved his hand and ordered the jihadists to launch a fierce attack on the ground.

One after another, landing craft filled with personnel rushed into the atmosphere, and it was a miracle they didn't collide in mid-air.

When they landed, their landing craft were too close together, and the troops that came out bumped into each other. The heavy weapons squads couldn't find any open space to set up their weapons, and the Jihadist soldiers had difficulty holding their guns level, so they could only hold them to their chests and aim at the sky.

Without being able to deploy, the troops were unable to fight. When the dead were resurrected and surrounded by the Black Stone, only the outermost troops could fire. Those inside had no idea what the battle was about, let alone how to find cover amidst the black beams of fire.

The troops landing at the beachhead were wiped out wave after wave. Imaran's almost ruthless fanaticism made him indifferent to the huge casualties. He continued to send more troops, claiming that the warriors who died for the emperor would return to the throne and be bathed in glory. Under the influence of the religious fanaticism, no one questioned Imaran. On the contrary, they seemed to be afraid that they would not die fast enough on the battlefield.

Although Harald's troops did not fall into this avoidable chaos, the mercenary legion did not show the courage they should have shown when faced with the staggering dead. If they had not known that the landing pods would not take them back, these rabble would have fled for their lives long ago.

As for the troops brought by Friss, they performed reasonably well, completing the task of capturing the landing zone in a standard manner.

The four legions successively established positions on the world of Ironbreaker Star, and then they will cross this land to attack Ironbreaker Star's main base.

The main nest was built on the edge of the rusty red ocean, which for many years provided the factory with a lot of coolant, and the filtered rusty water also sustained many hardworking workers.

Hidden behind the spires of the hive and the Void Shield glowing with an eerie blue light, there are land-based macro cannons aimed at the sky. The presence of these war machines prevents the fleet from hovering over the hive for orbital bombardment.

Apart from the central spire, the savage, aesthetically pleasing honeycomb-shaped residential area and the tombstone-like factories are connected as one. The useless slag selected during refining is piled up around the edges of these factories. After being reinforced and modified, it has become a series of walls protecting these factories, equipped with a large number of cannons and firing ports, causing huge losses to any enemy that tries to attack the factory area.

Following the standard offensive tactics of the Astronautical Army, they would bombard these walls with heavy artillery to shake the enemy's defenses as much as possible, and then send out a large number of infantry to charge. If the attacking force was well-equipped, tanks could be mixed in as the spearhead of the attack.

But the one launching the fierce attack was not the Astral Army, but the Komi army. They had no artillery, no armor, only tough orc soldiers, flexible and combat-ready combat suit troops, and soul-path air raids that were becoming increasingly effective in actual combat.

Troops on the battlefield became increasingly adept at dropping beacons, and the fighter squadrons in the Far Eye Fortress gradually became familiar with the air strike process. They shortened the response time to the beacons step by step, from one minute to within ten seconds, when they could drop bombs at the location indicated by the beacon.

When the fifth wall blocking the attacking forces fell under the bombardment of the warplanes, Fetia was able to cooperate with Novia to open and close the Soul Path. A combat system responsible for reviewing and directing the air raids was also quickly established in the Eye of the Faraway Fortress.

Half a month has passed, and the speed of the Komi Force's attack is so fast that it is as if the Space Marines have arrived on the battlefield. While other troops are still fighting to the death at the city walls, his combat suit troops have already reached the edge of the towering spire. They even took down two land-based macro cannons on the way. Such offensive efficiency is something that the Astrakhan Army could never have.

Chapter 519: Allied forces in trouble... Unmoved as a mountain?

On the outskirts of the main city of Ironbreaker Star—the Encohard Heavy Industrial Zone—the enemy successfully used the terrain and the weapons they produced to repel wave after wave of attacks from the Fris army. Dried blood and rotting corpses covered the hardened ground of the factory area.

Perhaps unable to bear seeing more people die in the war, Frith requested Griffin's support. If he could help her break through the current defensive line, she would not object to the question of who would control Ironstar.

Griffin told Furis about her idea to Komi. After thinking about it, he felt he could lend a hand. Anyway, his attack was going quite smoothly, and even if one or two regiments were taken away, it wouldn't affect the overall situation.

So he selected a unit that was becoming increasingly elite during the war and sent it to the Nkohad heavy industrial area.

Forty kilometers away from the Encohard Industrial Zone lies the first line of defense built by Frith's family's personal guards. It took them a great deal of effort to break through the paved roads and build trenches and access roads. You can deduce the heavy price they paid for building this position from the white bones embedded in the trench walls.

In the front-line command center, buried deep underground, Colonel Hayes and his adjutant Locke of the 27th Assault Regiment of the Child family, who were under the command of Fritz, were looking at the battle map in front of them with a headache.

Colonel Hayes's hair hadn't been washed in a long time, making his chestnut-colored hair shiny and tangled like an unsightly mop.

Behind him were equally busy and exhausted communications soldiers, constantly receiving battle reports from the front lines and inputting this information into maps.

Soldiers must fight desperately to carve out a way out of their nightmares, while commanders walk on thin ice, fearing that a single wrong command could lead to the demise of the entire regiment.

Those who can face death tolls with a calm expression are probably only civilian personnel who don't have to be on the battlefield. Their ears can't hear the rumble of artillery and the cries of the dying, their noses can't smell the smoke of gunfire and the stench of rotting corpses, and their eyes won't be blinded by the glare of explosions. Sometimes, these civilian personnel lack awareness of the cruelty of the battlefield and then develop an unrealistic fantasy.

They would take a sip of Reca coffee, toss the list of the dead on the table, and say: "The soldiers on the front lines only need to pull the trigger, but we back-end personnel have a lot more to consider."

Amidst the buzzing of the refresh, the map in front of Colonel Hayes changed. Some companies broke through the enemy's defenses, adding a touch of soothing green to the glaring red. Other companies suffered heavy losses in the attack, their symbolic dots flashing a few times before disappearing. Then, the number bar in the upper left corner changed, reminding Colonel Hayes how many men he had left to fight.

The 27th Assault Corps currently has 37,000 men, with 15,000 killed in action.

"Damn it... these traitors deserve to die..." Colonel Hayes muttered as he glanced at the changing numbers. He knew many of these fallen brothers; they had all grown up in the same family training base and swore an oath to dedicate their lives and loyalty to the Emperor and the glory of the Child family.

Their fathers also knew each other and left behind many heroic and fearless stories that inspired them to complete those arduous, even life-threatening, military training sessions.

Once they received their weapons and donned their gleaming armor, Colonel Hayes thought he could lead these brothers, who were as close as family, to replicate the miracles of their fathers, to make traitors tremble at their regimental number, and to make aliens beg for mercy under their regimental boots. However, he never expected that this first battle to quell the rebellion would be so agonizing for them.

There are no cowards in the 27th Assault Corps, not a single one!

But... there are just too many crazy people...

Colonel Hayes didn't even dare close his eyes for long. He felt the evil aura of this land was consuming his and his men's sanity, and every day he received execution lists from below.

The number of soldiers shot for madness has reached a thousand, and this is considered a good situation. Colonel Hayes heard that in the combat zone of the Elo Sixteen Drainage, seven or eight hundred madmen are executed every day!

I hope I won't be the next one... I hope Lieutenant Locke won't be the next one...

Colonel Hayes glanced to his side and saw that Lieutenant Locke looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hands behind his back were waving constantly. His breathing was heavy and long, taking ten seconds to complete a single cycle from inhalation to exhalation.

Colonel Hayes reached into the breast pocket of his coat and pulled out a regular, thick cigarette. Normally, he could have as many as he wanted, but now he only had one left to ease his tension.

The only problem is that the supplies at the front lines are being consumed too quickly and too much; even if supplies are brought up from the rear, they will be exhausted within a few days.

Colonel Hayes first held the cigarette to his nose, taking an even more exaggerated deep sniff than Lieutenant Locke's heavy breathing, before putting it in his mouth and lighting it.

With each sucking motion, a large amount of invigorating and addictive smoke was inhaled into the lungs, swirling for a long time before being exhaled onto Lieutenant Locke's face.

Whew... I feel much more energetic...

A puff of smoke eased Colonel Hayes's troubled and solemn face considerably, and the secondhand smoke he exhaled also made Lieutenant Locke blink a few times to soothe his red eyes.

Boom boom boom...

An explosion rang out, causing dust to fall from the ceiling of the command post onto the two men. The Engine Prophet, who had been transferred to the Imperial forces by the Mechanics Guild, immediately calmed the machine spirits, preventing these precious objects from malfunctioning in the dust.

tata tao...

Confident, even somewhat arrogant, footsteps drifted into Colonel Hayes' ears from the tunnel outside the command post. He looked towards the entrance and saw a group of soldiers striding towards the command post.

Are these reinforcements?

Colonel Hayes brushed the dust off his clothes, stubbed out his cigarette with his fingers, and, not wanting to throw away the remaining bit, put it back in his pocket as he went to greet them.

"Hello, I am Colonel Oro, the commander of the 55th Special Operations Regiment sent by Saint Otto."

Colonel Hayes was stunned for a moment because Colonel Oro's helmet had a very special structure. Two triangles were attached to his helmet, just like Colonel Oro had left space for his ears on the top of his head.

Colonel Oro smiled amicably, removed his helmet to reveal the beast ears that proved his demi-human identity, and some of the people busy in the command center showed obvious disgust at this biological feature that humans should not have.

Colonel Hayes had long heard that Saint Otto liked to incorporate demi-humans into the army, letting them cleanse the impure sins in their blood through battle, but he never imagined that a demi-human could hold such an important position as colonel.

Chapter 520: The Troops Trained by Komi