Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Elbow joint.

Even with high armor coverage, there must still be room for movement in the gap between the back of the neck and the helmet.

"Team A will set up an interception position 30 meters ahead of the passage to clear out the 'fart demons' and prevent them from interfering with the main battlefield."

"Group B will flank from the side, preparing to cut in from the left wing as it passes the T-junction below."

"Group C, follow me and launch a surprise attack from above."

Lawson took a deep breath.

"Number 5, listen to my command, use your power shield to withstand its first attack. Just one round is enough."

Number 5 raised his hand in greeting.

"Number 1, Number 3, the moment it's blocked by Number 5, focus fire on its knees. Use the bomb gun. The armor on the knee joint is the thinnest; two bombs stacked together should be enough to penetrate it."

"I jumped down from above and shot him in the back of the neck with a plasma pistol."

Everyone is clear about their position and task.

Lawson waited until Norber reached the center of the T-junction.

"Let's do it."

Group A fired first.

Laser guns number 7 and 8 swept the horde of scum behind Norber with their laser guns. The red beams plowed carbonized trenches through the scum pile, and six scum fell in the first volley.

The remaining fart demons screamed and scattered in all directions.

Norber reacted faster than Lawson had anticipated, turning around within 0.5 seconds of the first shot.

"Waaaaagh!"

Norber let out a roar powerful enough to make the metal pipe resonate, and raised his power machete to charge forward.

Just then, number 5 cut in from the front at an angle.

The power shield emitted a blinding blue light the moment it was activated.

Number 5 did not attempt to use his shield to block Norber's attack; that would have been suicidal.

He took a smarter approach: he held the power shield diagonally in front of him and rammed it into the side of the Norbert power machete at a precise angle.

The force field's deflection effect, combined with the angle of the slope, deflected Norbert's sweeping attack, which was powerful enough to cleave the roof of an armored vehicle, upwards by about thirty degrees.

"boom!"

The blade of the power machete grazed the top of Number 5's head and cut into the metal wall next to him, leaving a 20-centimeter-deep gash.

But No. 5 managed to get Norbert's power machete stuck in that wall for a moment.

Less than a second.

But one second is enough.

"Bang! Bang!"

Units 1 and 3 simultaneously opened fire from their firing positions after flanking out from Group B.

Two .75 caliber bombs hit Norber's left knee joint almost simultaneously.

The combined penetrating force of the two bombs shattered the metal sheet, followed by a mass reaction explosion inside the knee joint.

Norber's left knee exploded.

It let out a heart-wrenching howl and knelt down on one knee.

Even kneeling on one knee, Norbert is still nearly two meters tall.

It braced itself against the ground with its free left hand, while its right hand, wielding a power machete, was pulled from the wall and swung it at the nearest number 5.

Number 5 rolled backward to dodge.

The blade of the power machete grazed his back, slicing off a section of the hilt of the chainsaw sword on his back.

Just then, Lawson jumped down from the overhead pipe beam.

He grabbed a dangling cable with his left hand to slow down, while his right hand had already drawn the plasma pistol.

A burst of scorching plasma shot out at high speed from the muzzle and precisely pierced the eight-centimeter-wide gap in the back of Norber's neck.

Norber's neck was burned through by plasma, leaving a fist-sized hole.

But it did not fall.

Norber struggled, bracing himself on his still-intact right leg, while his power machete swung wildly in the air.

After landing, Lawson dodged backward, avoiding a chaotic sweeping attack.

"This is fucking awful."

Lawson muttered a curse under his breath.

An ordinary orc boy would have been paralyzed long ago if his spine had been burned through by plasma, but Norber's nervous system redundancy far exceeded that of his lower-level kin. Even with partial damage to his spinal cord, the secondary ganglia distributed throughout his body could still maintain basic motor functions.

With its last strength, it propped up its upper body, opened its mouth full of fangs, and let out a final hoarse battle cry towards Lawson.

“Waa...agh...”

Lawson walked up to it.

The Fang of Katachon flipped in his hand, the tip pointing downwards.

He aimed the blade at the top of Norber's massive head, at the spot his kind called the "Thinking Bone."

“The Emperor doesn’t take your souls,” Lawson said calmly, “but I do take your life points.”

The tooth of Katachon pierced through the top of Norber's skull.

Norber's body finally collapsed after a final spasm, and the ground trembled as his hundreds of kilograms of weight hit the ground.

A system notification sounded: 38 points of original soul energy. After purification by a high concentration of chaotic berserk factor, 25 life points were actually obtained.

It's more than three times higher than the 7 points of an average orc boy.

The principle that "the stronger the enemy, the greater the benefit" has been proven once again.

Chapter 21 The First Temporary Outpost Among the Destroyed Ships (Third Update)

Lawson nudged the giant power machete with the tip of his boot.

It's too heavy; humans can't use it.

But the dynamic field generator on it might be of research value. He had Number 2 put the entire knife into the armory space for purification and storage.

Norber's heavy armor was dismantled and absorbed into the steel reserves.

After the post-war debriefing was completed, Lawson made a strategic decision.

From the moment they boarded this wrecked ship until now, they have been doing two things: running and killing.

Running is for survival, killing is for accumulating resources.

But endless guerrilla warfare is not a long-term solution.

Without a stable rear base, the suicide soldiers cannot get enough rest and equipment maintenance, and newly acquired suicide soldiers also need time to familiarize themselves with the battlefield environment and the team's coordination rhythm.

To wage aimless, wandering warfare in a wrecked ship with a diameter of 120 kilometers is no different from getting lost in the jungles of Katachán; you think you're moving forward, but you're just going around in circles.

He needs an anchor point.

A stronghold that can be used for defense, offense, and accumulating strength.

Then create a relatively safe area in an unsafe environment.

"Find a place."

Lawson issued orders to all the assassins through telepathic communication.

He listed the hard requirements for the location of the outpost:

First, the number of entrances should not exceed three.

Second, there must be at least two independent evacuation routes.

Third, the space must be large enough to accommodate at least twenty people for activities and rest.

Fourth, there is a sufficient buffer distance from the main activity area of ​​the green-skinned people.

Nine assassins split up to search, while Lawson simultaneously reviewed each candidate location through mind communication.

An hour and a half later, No. 4 found a near-perfect position on the east side of deck 74.

This medium-sized carrier-based aircraft maintenance dock, once used to maintain Thunderhawk assault transport aircraft when the ship was still an independent warship, has an area of ​​approximately 800 square meters and a ceiling nearly ten meters high. There are three entrances: a main entrance four meters wide at the front, a standard personnel passageway on the left, and a maintenance pipe opening with a radius of less than one meter on the right. A two-meter diameter ventilation shaft in the ceiling leads to the upper level, and a sewage pipe on the left rear of the ground connects to the lower level, providing two separate evacuation routes.

After personally inspecting the site, Lawson made a decision.

"Right here. Begin constructing defensive fortifications."

The assassins immediately sprang into action.

The main entrance at the front is the focus of defense. Two waist-high metal barricades are erected on either side of the entrance, with firing ports cut out at the top. A narrow zigzag passage is left between the barricades, forcing any charging enemy to make two turns, reducing their speed to a minimum while being completely exposed to crossfire. Ten meters outside the main entrance, grenade traps and tripwire triggers are placed.

The left door was reinforced by two thick metal pillars thrust horizontally, and a trap was also set in front of it. The right-hand maintenance pipe opening was the narrowest; creatures larger than a fart spirit couldn't squeeze in, but Lawson still installed a bell alarm with metal fragments strung together on wire. Two escape routes were also prepared.

The entire defense system took about three hours to build.

Then he exchanged for a new assassin.

[Consumes: 300 Health Points, 3 Cubic Meters of Refined Steel.]

[Exchange Sequence: Katachon Jungle Warrior x3.]

Number 10, number 11, number 12.

Including Number 6, the lone warrior who has been guarding the armory all by himself, Lawson now has twelve assassins.

For the next two days, Lawson implemented a three-shift rotation system: one team went out hunting, one team maintained perimeter security, and one team rested and maintained equipment within the stronghold. These three fixed patrol hunting lines radiating outward from the stronghold achieved real-time tactical coordination through communication that far surpassed any Imperial communication equipment.

The effect was immediate. While Team A lured the Greenskins into the ambush, Team B, based on information exchanged between them, blocked their retreat from the flank, and Team C caught any survivors in the withdrawal route. This tactic was executed repeatedly, more than ten times, each time more smoothly than the last.

The number of suicide soldiers steadily increased to eighteen within two days, and the reserves of refined steel climbed to more than three hundred cubic meters. The orc meat killed during the hunt was systematically processed: cut, roasted with flamethrowers, some was eaten directly, and some was stored in the armory space for preservation. Through unrestricted transmission, even Number 6, who was far away in the armory, could have a hot meal.

But Lawson didn't forget one thing.