But the battle was clearly not going to end so easily; the Orks quickly began to regroup.
Just as Alex popped the head of a greenskin, the sky was torn asunder.
There was no warning radar beep or the faint blue glow of deceleration thrusters, only the scream of the atmosphere being violently pierced, followed by a crude rocket counter-thrust only when close to the surface.
“Titanfall?!” He was all too familiar with that sound; he quickly sought nearby cover and covered his ears.
BOOM—!!!
The earth wailed.
A massive metal pod slammed into the no-man’s-land fifty meters in front of the trench.
The shockwave, mixed with a heatwave, instantly flipped countless Ork corpses.
But what he heard next wasn’t the hydraulic cushioning hiss of a Titan landing, but the roar of explosive bolts detonating.
Petal-shaped hatch doors were blown open.
Immediately following was an alien nightmare stepping out from the dust and smoke.
In that instant, the sounds of the battlefield seemed to be cut off.
Alex’s eyes widened, his breathing hitched.
What…
is that thing?
Blood-red ceramite armor gleamed under the harsh sun like coagulated blood, and a black raven was painted on the massive shoulder pauldrons.
If they were mechs, their movements were too fluid, fluid like organic beings; if they were humans, their size was too massive, and that movement speed which defied their bulk made mortals instinctively want to flee.
“For the Emperor!!” A roar erupted from the dust, accompanied by the drone of engines.
A figure carrying a massive jump pack soared into the sky.
It was Thaddeus; this young Assault Space Marine was like a red meteor, holding a Chainsword as he crashed directly into a group of greenskins that had just assembled.
He didn’t even slow down upon landing, directly crushing an Ork’s chest with his power boots.
Then his Chainsword roared, sawing two nearby greenskins, along with their guns, into two halves.
Flesh and blood flew everywhere, like tomatoes thrown into a blender.
“Die!
Xenos!” In the rear, a giant carrying a heavy bolter advanced steadily.
Every step Avitus took made the ground tremble slightly, and the expression inside his helmet was one of extreme loathing and fury toward every living thing before him.
Whether it was Orks or mortal armies.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Alex watched with his own eyes as those greenskins—who could usually bounce around as long as their vitals weren’t hit—had their insides explode upon being struck by those massive warheads, bursting into a shower of shredded meat from the inside out.
“What the hell is that caliber?” Alex felt his scalp tingle.
“Is that something an infantryman can actually carry?!” This group of red giants didn’t bother looking for cover at all.
They were moving cover, Walking Reapers, the Emperor’s Wrath, Angels of Death.
Only ten seconds had passed.
The Ork shock troops, which had been assembling for a counterattack, were turned into a field of smoking, shredded corpses.
A warrior with an Aquila emblem on his chest walked over.
His movements were steady, without any unnecessary swaying.
That was Tarkus, the actual command core of this tactical squad.
He stopped before the trench, his shadow looming over the mortals below.
“Blood Ravens…
it’s the Blood Ravens Chapter…” The Political Commissar crawled out of the trench, his entire body trembling.
It was the fanaticism of seeing gods descend to earth, as well as the fear of facing an apex predator.
“Praise the God-Emperor!
Praise the Angels!” All the Defense Forces Soldiers seemed to have their spines removed, instinctively kneeling on the ground and performing the highest form of the aquila salute.
To avoid standing out too much, Alex followed the Political Commissar’s lead.
Of course, at the Political Commissar’s mention of ‘Angels,’ he nearly lost his composure.
He remembered the small-fry goddess saying: I’ll send you to a world with elves, beast-eared girls, and angels.
He had already seen the beast ears and the angels; he had to admit, Alex was starting to look forward to what the hell the elves would look like.
The hum of these guys’ servo-motors sounded like the low growls of imprisoned beasts.
The overwhelming scent of machine oil mixed with the smell of blood created an intense pressure; some Soldiers with weaker mental fortitude had already begun to prostrate themselves.
Avitus turned around, his red eye lenses coldly scanning the group of mortals.
His voice came through the vox-grille, carrying undisguised, irritable contempt: “I thought we would see a field of corpses.
These weak mortals actually didn’t all die?” “Watch your words, Brother Avitus.” Tarkus’s voice was much calmer.
He removed his helmet, revealing a determined face covered in scars, which shocked Alex even more—this was actually a human, not some kind of robot.
Tarkus glanced at the field of Ork corpses, his gaze finally landing on Alex and the mountain of kills piled around him.
“The line still holds,” Tarkus appraised, his tone flat.
“Better than expected.” “But it’s meaningless!” Avitus roared, the heavy bolter in his hands still smoking.
“We’ve wasted too much time in this mud pit!
The Argus Gate is being besieged!
Every second there is worth more than the lives of these mortals!” “That recruit.” Thaddeus, who had been silent while analyzing the battlefield, suddenly pointed at Alex.
His voice was young and carried surprise.
“The mortal’s marksmanship…
is interesting.
That suppression fire just now even locked down the Orks’ flank.” Cyrus, a light-armored warrior wearing a camo cloak, crouched down, ran a finger over the skull of an Ork corpse, and looked at the wound.
“Impact points concentrated.” “Shooter is stable.” The gazes of the four giants focused on Alex simultaneously.
In that moment, Alex felt like a lab rat being watched by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“Good luck,” Avitus snorted coldly, clearly not believing a mortal could have any real skill.
“Since you’re not dead, don’t get in the way.” “We need to move.” Tarkus ignored Avitus’s complaints and looked at the Political Commissar.
“Our Rhino transport was destroyed in orbit.
We are commandeering your vehicle for fire support.
We need to reach the Argus Gate immediately.” “Yes!
Yes!” The Political Commissar was so excited he nearly fainted, turning to roar at the rear, “chimera!
Bring the chimeras that can still move over here!” A battered chimera armored vehicle rumbled over.
Tarkus glanced at the narrow hatch, then at the mortal drivers who were already trembling.
“We need fire support and a guide who knows the terrain,” Tarkus said.
The Defense Forces Soldiers looked at each other, none of them daring to move under the gaze of those giants.
That physiological fear—it made it difficult for them to even stand up.
Alex looked at the chimera, then at the group of giants in a hurry to get to the next meat grinder.
The Argus Gate?
It sounded like a place a hundred times more dangerous than here.
And he had to charge with these berserkers who never ducked for bullets?
Wasn’t this the perfect graveyard?
“I’ll do it!” Alex even beat the Political Commissar to the punch.
He strode out of the trench and patted the multi-laser turret on top of the chimera.
“Let me go too.
I want to kill more greenskins.” Avitus stared intently at Alex, seemingly trying to see through the mortal’s soul.
A few seconds later, the irritable heavy weapons specialist let out a mocking snort.
“We’ve got one who isn’t afraid to die.” Avitus turned his head.
“Then get in, mortal.
Don’t expect us to stop for you.” “Very well.” Tarkus nodded and put his helmet back on, the eye lenses glowing.
“The rest of the 78th Regiment, hold this position.
mortal, with the veteran squad, mount up.” “Thaddeus, you lead the way.
Avitus, rear guard.” “For the Emperor!!” Thaddeus activated his jump pack again, leaping into the air in a gust of wind.
Alex climbed into the chimera’s turret and gripped the cold firing handles.
Looking at those red silhouettes striding through the sand and wind as if the terrain were nothing, he let out a long breath.
The way these giants walked was as if they were stepping on the world itself.
This time it’s for sure.
Alex gave himself a mental thumbs-up.
Charging into a swarm of Orks with these monsters—even if I had a hundred lives, it wouldn’t be enough to survive, right?
Argus Gate…
here I come!
The chimera’s engine roared, kicking up clouds of yellow sand as it followed the footsteps of the Angels of Death, charging toward the burning sea of fire at the edge of the horizon.