Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 773 Attacking the Skull-Shattering Star

Contrary to what many people imagine, even when the Emperor conquered the Ulanor Orc Empire, there were only a few wars that could truly be described as earth-shattering.

In most other instances, both sides were probing and harassing each other, trying to weaken the other's strength while attempting to find the other's hidden fatal weaknesses.

War is a war where every move has far-reaching consequences. Before achieving a complete and overwhelming advantage, minimizing mistakes is more important than gaining victory.

The same applies to this war against the ghoul orc empire.

Loshi integrated some of the Solar Fleet's forces, along with the Night Lords Legion and the Salamander Legion's Space Marines, to build the impregnable Nostramore Line.

According to the intelligence received by Loxi, Marius Gage has led reinforcements from the Five Hundred Worlds to block the connection between the Limit Starfield and other cosmic regions of the Ghoul Cluster.

Only a large and well-equipped Ultra Warrior could accomplish this.

This time, Gage personally led the Four Heroes, along with a group of high-ranking Ultramarines officers, and brought over half a million Astartes in response to Lothie's call.

In fact, even Rosie was stunned when she first heard the news.

Five hundred thousand, that's a fucking five hundred thousand.

Moreover, this is only the first wave of Ultramarines to arrive. If the war becomes stalemate, even more Space Marines can be dispatched from the entire Alteramar.

The Great Otlam Kingdom can no longer be described as a "five hundred worlds".

As the inhabited planets surrounding the original five hundred worlds were annexed, the territory of Alteramar expanded by a large margin.

This monstrous Primarchy currently dominates the most expansive Extreme Starfield.

According to incomplete statistics, it may have nearly six hundred core worlds with widespread influence.

A world here is not a single inhabited planet, but a space system with powerful production capabilities, covering tens of light-years around it.

In addition to the Ultra Warriors, White Scars and Blood Angels also sent reinforcements.

However, their mobility was greater, so the two legions continued to patrol the northern part of the Extreme Starfield, looking for opportunities.

What surprised and surprised Loxi the most was that the orc empire in the Ghoul Stars also adopted the same strategy of waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, just like the humans.

Apart from a few sporadic probing attacks, these orcs managed to suppress their warlike instincts.

After nearly three months of probing and testing each other in Terra, Rosie realized that they could no longer afford to waste time in this stalemate, so she decisively issued the order to attack.

Humanity's vanguard fleet departed from the Nostramo system and headed towards Skullcrusher, an important planet located on the outermost edge of the Ghoul Orc Empire's sphere of influence.

Skullcrusher is an orc planet located between Nostramore and the Ghoul Cluster.

Before the war began, Loch had been collecting records from various sources about the geographical environment, planetary distribution, and historical situation of the Ghoul Cluster.

In the database of the Malicious Claw, the flagship of the Ash Claws Chapter, Lothie found some historical records about Skullcrusher.

This planet was once a forged world belonging to human colonists.

Although the exact time is unknown, it must have existed at least at the end of humanity's dark age of technology.

It is called Skullcrusher because humans found this orcish-style name in the database extracted from the wreckage of orc warships.

This planet contains an extremely large ancient hive city, as well as some giant forging factories and production facilities of unknown purpose.

The Ash Claws once sought to find something of value on this ancient human planet and exchange it for cooperation with the Mechanicus.

However, the industrial facilities on this planet are clearly not something that a mere Astartes Chapter could take away.

Moreover, the planet Skullshatter contains chemical waste and nuclear radiation exceeding lethal levels by dozens of times, meaning even Astartes need power armor to survive.

Furthermore, according to Zoe's recollections from the Ash Claws intelligence, this planet is inhabited by a type of "ghost" creature that is invisible to the naked eye and will launch a deadly attack on any creature that dares to approach.

Ash Claws clashed with these wraiths, suffered a minor setback, and then left the planet.

However, since the arrival of those green-skinned orcs with abnormally tenacious vitality, the wraith creatures that originally inhabited the area have naturally been wiped out.

Whether they are purely physically powerful mutated creatures or psionic beings connected to the warp, they are all just a piece of cake for the orcs who have formed a green tide.

The green-skinned orcs who took control of Skullcrusher Star unleashed their incomprehensible creativity.

Countless skilled technicians and master technicians reveled as they stormed into the human ruins, plundering anything usable.

They plundered countless materials from the hive, and even demolished the hive itself, rebuilding it into a junk city more suitable for the greenskin orcs to live in.

Normally, humans would stop such a serious act of aiding the enemy.

Even if the planet is destroyed by a vacuum implosion bomb and swallowed by the singularity, it's better than it falling into the hands of the Orks.

However, the humans arrived too late. By the time Lothie arrived at Nostramore with the Solar Fleet, Skullcrusher was already under the control of the Greenskinned Orcs.

It was like a nail, firmly driven into the outermost cosmic region of the Ghoul Cluster, becoming a bridgehead for the Greenskinned Orcs to launch their attacks outwards.

Now that neither side is willing to launch a full-scale attack, Roxi plans to start by targeting Skullbreaker.

He wanted to remove this green-skinned orc's thorn in the human defenses, and at the same time destroy those foundries and ancient hives that had been modified beyond recognition.

Of course, this is only the ultimate goal.

Skullcrusher is indeed the bridgehead for the Greenskin Orcs to wage war against the outside world, but Lothie can also turn it into the focal point for besieging and attacking reinforcements.

The benefits of besieging and pressuring Skullshatterer, forcing the orcs to send more orc lads into this meat grinder, are far greater than the benefits of directly destroying Skullshatterer.

To deal with this green-skinned orc's thorn, Lothie dispatched his most elite Space Marines and Mortal Astronauts to the battlefield.

Black Templar, Midnight Lords, Salamanders, and the Ash Claws Chapter, determined to join the war.

The Midnight Lord and the Salamanders each drew thousands of their most elite troops from their respective legions to form temporary battle groups, awaiting Loshi's command.

The Black Templars were originally a powerful warband that split off from the Fist of the Empire.

Only the Ash Claws have the shallowest foundation and the weakest strength.

When Zoe returned to Terra with crucial intelligence to inform Guilliman, the Imperial Commander generously provided additional troops and weapons to meet the Ash Claws' reconstruction needs.

However, due to the hasty nature of the war, Ash Claws had not yet been rebuilt before it went to the battlefield of Nostramore with Lothie, and the matter of rebuilding fell into Lothie's hands.

Using the genetic seeds previously stored in Ash Claws, along with outstanding candidates selected from the Limit Starfield Empire world, he produced more than two hundred Original Forged Ash Claws through Original Forging technology.

A mere two hundred or so Astartes are not even worth a ripple in a war of this scale.

Lothie then drew another thousand men from the Night Lords' original recruits and placed them directly into the Ash Claws' ranks as replacements.

Considering that the Ash Claws were originally a sub-corps of the Raven Guard, Lothie drew another thousand Raven Guard gene seeds from the Empire's gene seed bank and added a thousand original Raven Guards to the Ash Claws.

Even Zoe, the current supreme commander of the Ash Claws, was shocked by Loshi's simple and brutal method of replenishing troops.

Because in terms of personnel ratio, most of the current Ash Claws' soldiers are actually unrelated to the original Ash Claws.

Of the 2300-plus members in the warband, only 300 were originally from the Ash Claws.

It looks like the Ravenguard and the Midnight Lords each contributed half of the shares and pooled their money to create a subsidiary called Ash Claws.

However, Zoe wisely chose to remain silent.

A rogue warband like the Ash Claws, who roam the Ghoul Stars, wouldn't have any genetic seed obsession in order to survive.

Their original warbands contained gene seeds from complex origins, such as the Midnight Lords, the World Eaters, and the Sons of Horus.

They are all extreme pragmatists, and although they seem a bit strange now, at least the replenishment is done.

If the Warband culture is instilled in these original recruits, they will all become Ash Claws.

Anyone who dares to question it will have to ask whether the power sword of the Ash Claws is sharp or not.

After comforting herself, Zoe suddenly felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

Two thousand men! These are two thousand new recruits, all of them fresh blood equipped with standard gear.

It's true that it's good to have a powerful backer. The original Ash Claw probably sold off all their assets, but they still couldn't raise two thousand new recruits.

He already knew what the so-called "original cast recruits" were.

These new recruits, who had just undergone the original forging and were instilled with basic combat experience, were already far more powerful than he had imagined.

Even the Ash Claw veterans who followed him in the retreat from the Ghoul Stars and escaped alive were not very confident of defeating the original recruits in a one-on-one fight.

The original recruits are far superior in terms of pure strength and physical attributes, and they can also use the Infinite Engine to unleash special abilities comparable to psionic powers.

Keep in mind that they are all veterans who have fought in the Great Crusade and honed their skills in the Ghoul Stars, while these are newly recruited soldiers!

They've only been away from the Empire for a little over a hundred years, how did they come up with such a monstrous Astartes? Times are changing too fast, even Zoe feels outdated.

However, having returned to the Empire and with Guilliman's personal guarantee, Zoe quickly changed her stance.

If they had known this would happen, why were they still suffering in that godforsaken place, Ghoul Stars?

Gearing, that stubborn mule, stubbornly insisted on sacrificing most of the chapter's Space Marines.

"We've just returned to the Empire, and now we're attacking those damned greenskins in the Ghoul Stars. Naturally, we need to contribute our manpower and resources. After all, we came from here, so we're more familiar with the situation."

"The Ash Claws will lead the way, continuing to hunt green-skinned orcs. This is both to avenge Gearing and to fulfill our duty."

Zoe was also eager to get her hands on the target, Skullbreaker Star.

"Chaptermaster, Sigismund of the Black Templar and Talos of the Midnight Lords invite you to a war council."

The voice of the chapter servant rang in Zoe's ears.

"The meeting will be held on the Midnight Lord's flagship, the Nightfall."

"I'm coming right now." Zoe didn't waste any words and immediately boarded the Stormbird and arrived at the Nightfall, the flagship of the Eighth Legion.

Although the Glory Queen-class battleships are outdated, their special significance still allows them to retain their status as flagships.

Despite being the flagship of the Midnight Lord, the dark and desolate environment inside the Nightfall made Zoe feel a natural sense of closeness and comfort.

In fact, these Dark Raven Guards' sub-units were even more adapted to the environment here than the Midnight Lords.

Zoe only brought two Ash Claw veterans as her bodyguards.

As they entered the intricate interior corridors of the Nightfall, a flesh-and-blood machine servant was already waiting for them and guiding them.

The representative of Ash Claws arrived at the meeting room, where representatives from the other warbands had been waiting for a long time by the cold campfire.

Talos, the Lord of Midnight, spoke first.

"Since you're here, please take your seats and let's discuss how to take down Skullshattering Star quickly and efficiently."

Zoe came to the empty corner of the campfire. Although he didn't understand the Eighth Legion's way of doing things, he respected it.

Ash Claw surveyed the figures around him. The one closest to him wore black and white power armor and had a golden crown on his smooth forehead.

He had no fancy decorations; a black power sword was chained to his right hand, emanating an extremely intimidating sense of oppression.

"The Black Knight, Sigismund!"

Zoe exclaimed inwardly, this was the first time he had ever seen this Imperial Sword Saint.

Previously, he had only heard of Sigismund's countless heroic deeds and remarkable achievements during the Great Rebellion.

Any one of those deeds would be enough to make a Space Marine famous, but they were just trivial matters that Sigismund couldn't even mention.

Beside Sigismund stood a fire lizard of extremely tall stature, resembling an iron tower.

That was Atok Abidemi, the representative of the salamanders, whose eyes, shining like lava, were particularly dazzling in the light of the campfire.

“Then let me first talk about the situation of the green-skinned orcs.” Zoe immediately understood when she saw Talos turn his attention to her.

"There are at least tens of billions of green-skinned kids and at least tens of thousands of heavily armed bosses on Skullcrusher. To annihilate this enemy, we must win the space naval battle now."

"Based on our experience of failure, the greenskin orcs have learned how to protect their orc warlords."

These cunning beasts won't show their leader unless they're absolutely certain of victory.

"That is precisely why it will be extremely difficult for us to use the decapitation tactics we used to employ."

Zoe talked for a long time, but Talos, Sigismund, and the others didn't seem to hear a word she said, wondering how to deal with these green-skinned beasts.

More cunning, more powerful, and adept at concealing their weaknesses, coupled with an absurdly large number of Green-skinned Kids and Big Guys, how can any Green-skinned Orcs possibly be defeated?

We can only fight hard!

This is a pot of undercooked rice; even if it doesn't taste good, you have to eat it.

As Zoe spoke, she couldn't help but recall the bloody battle on the Green Star.

The entire Ash Claws chapter was deployed to the battlefield, but before they could even make a ripple, their attack was overwhelmed by the endless green tide.

Even though Astartes felt no fear, Zoe still felt a psychological trauma from these green-skinned orcs. He could never forget the orc leader who appeared at the last moment, even more terrifying than the orc warlord Bloodhowl Zak.

That being named Korck.

"There's no need to be so pessimistic. The reason the Ash Claws were nearly wiped out is because you were too reckless in choosing to attack the Orcs' homeworld without properly investigating the situation."

“Recklessness is not courage, and being ready to die is not always appropriate.”

"You lack the assistance of mortal support troops and the Iron Legion, and you have no advantage whatsoever on the space battlefield."

Sigismund spoke slowly, explaining that they had all watched the events of the Greenskin war through the recording devices carried by the Ash Claws.

This is also the only confirmed image data of the Kork orcs in the Empire's possession, and naturally it has been thoroughly studied long ago.

"But things are different now. Greenskin is a bridgehead planet isolated on the outermost edge of the Ghoul Cluster. Here, we humans have the home advantage."

"Moreover, we have gathered hundreds of thousands of Astartes and tens of thousands of Imperial Navy warships, and we also have the support of many Titan legions, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

"The enemy is strong, but we are stronger."

The Black Knight drew his black sword and used it as a baton, pointing and gesturing on the holographic projection.

"The first step is to use the Imperial Navy to directly crush the orcs' space fleet, which is not difficult."

"After destroying the enemy's orbital forces, we will then conduct orbital bombardment, focusing on destroying Titan units such as the Orcish Giants and clearing obstacles to our attack."

"After disrupting the Greenskin Orcs' strategic deployment, we will then dispatch infiltrating forces to ascertain their military strength and locate the Orc warlords on the planet."

"Once the orc warlords are located, the Black Templar will be deployed to the battlefield to carry out an extermination operation and completely destroy the orcs of Skullcrusher."

The green-skinned orcs, whom Zoe described as invincible, seemed to become fish on a chopping board under Sigismund's control.

The Black Knight's emotions didn't fluctuate at all; he was simply recounting something that had nothing to do with him.

Zoe was momentarily speechless.

He had considered that the gap between him and Sigismund was very large, but not to this extent.

"But what if the green-skinned orcs, like last time, set up an ambush underground on the planet?"

"Their waaagh gate can directly connect to the rear base, continuously sending orc boys to the front lines."

Sigismund turned his head and stared at Zoe.

"Then just kill them all, it's not that complicated."

"We'll kill as many reinforcements as they have. Even the green-skinned orc reinforcements aren't endless. Let's see if we can kill them faster or they can arrive faster."

“Zoe, I know that you and Ash Claw have been wandering among the ghoul stars, living a life full of danger and uncertainty.”

“But now that you have returned to the Empire, you should get to know the Empire as it is now. It is completely different from when you left.”

"Don't be so petty."

"The Empire is your strong backing."

The Black Knight patted Zoe's shoulder armor with his large hand, and the latter froze in place, stunned.

Three seconds later, Zoe gave a wry smile.

"Yes, I'm too petty."

Ash Claws had suffered a major defeat first, and then urgently replenished their ranks.

Although the number of troops has been replenished, compared to those well-established Imperial warbands, they still lack a certain fearless spirit.

……

For this attack on Skullshatterer, Lothie mainly dispatched several Astartes chapters, primarily composed of the Black Templars.

These extremely fanatical Sons of Dorne were all die-hard followers of Sigismund, determined to find their genetic father.

They insisted on maintaining the purity of their bloodline and completely ignored the original forging upgrade order given by Roxi.

Loshi didn't expect to persuade them with words, so he simply sent them to the most dangerous battlefield to let the facts and data speak for themselves.

They'll only truly accept the facts when they see the difference and casualty rate between first-generation Space Marines and original Space Marines.

The Black Templars, led by Sigismund, numbered approximately ten thousand.

With the addition of the 20,000 from the Midnight Lords, the 10,000 from the Salamanders, and the 2,000 from the Ash Claws, the total has exceeded 40,000.

If this were during the Great Expedition era, it would already be half the strength of some smaller legions.

In addition to these Astartes, Lothie also deployed an Imperial Navy force of five hundred capital warships to completely crush the orc warships entrenched in the Skullcrusher Starfield.

In terms of heavy firepower support, the powerful Gryphon Titan Legion will assist the human army.

This Titan legion not only had an outstanding record during the Horus Rebellion.

Even in more distant times, such as during the Randan Alien Wars and the Ulanno Campaign, numerous battle honors were established by following the Dark Angels and the Imperial Fist.

Under Sigismund's command, this expeditionary force, on which Loxi had placed high hopes, swiftly marched toward Skullshatter.

Such a large-scale military operation cannot be completely concealed.

As the human fleet approached Skullshatter, the green-skinned orc outposts used waaagh energy to send a final warning back.

After realizing their value, the Imperial warships used their light spears to evaporate these floating outposts in space as easily as shooting mosquitoes.

The Black Knight made no attempt to conceal his arrival; he even brazenly sent an indiscriminate broadcast to the entire universe containing the Skullshattered Star.

"You green-skinned bastards, the end is nigh!"

The Green-skinned Orcs' communication system is compatible with human broadcast communication.

These seemingly savage creatures actually possess an astonishing talent for language, which seems to be a manifestation of the ancient creations not having completely degenerated into beasts.

The green-skinned orcs were extremely vulnerable to provocation, and their warships, floating in space, immediately turned against the human fleet and began to retaliate.

Like other orc warships, the orc warships of Skullcutter are of questionable quality, but their numbers are definitely plentiful.

On Sigismund's flagship display, a massive swarm of crimson dots was swarming in from all directions, with even preliminary estimates suggesting a number of over five thousand.

These pieces of space debris floating in the void can unleash considerable firepower.

Under the orders of the orc warlords, they opened fire on human warships, launching countless massive cannons in an attempt to directly destroy humanity's space capabilities.

However, for the elite human fleet under Sigismund's command, this conventional attack was not very effective.

The fleet's numerous Void Annihilation-class warships, equipped with powerful Void Shields and Energy Shields, meant that while the Orcs' macro cannon fire was dense, it lacked focus.

For the Void Shield, it can either overload the power supply reactor by pushing it to its limit in one go, or it can only slowly consume energy to stop it from operating.

This makes the green-skinned orcs' counterattacks seem fierce, but in reality, they are not very effective.

However, the counterattacks from human macro cannons and light spears were able to easily destroy the orcs' trash warships, and there were even astonishing feats of a single macro cannon shot blowing up a warship.

Human warships, controlled by the main AI and the stone golems, have long since achieved automatic ammunition loading and automatic aiming.

Therefore, the hit rate and destruction rate of human warships are worlds apart from those of the green-skinned orcs.

Without the support of the Battle Moon, the Greenskin Orcs' regular, low-quality fleet was almost completely slaughtered by the humans.

Sigismund spent three days destroying all the green-skinned warships outside the atmosphere of Skullcutter, confining the orc forces to the planet's surface.

"They're not even willing to send out a combat moon?"

"Then keep fighting! Beat these green-skinned orcs until they're terrified and they have to pull out their trump cards!"

This human attack was originally intended to test and provoke the enemy.

Seeing that the orcs were still trying to hide their intentions, Sigismund simply launched the next phase of the orbital bombardment mission.

Hundreds of warships roamed in near-Earth orbit, pointing their most dangerous sides toward the surface teeming with green-skinned orcs.

Orcs have long since filled this former human world, with their garbage cities, foundries, plantations, and training grounds everywhere.

Urged on by the piercing alarm of Sgug, large numbers of orc boys hid in the underground space from the ground and then nimbly slipped into the anti-aircraft gun emplacements.

"Kids, those shrimps answered our invitation and joined this unprecedented waaaagh!"

Inside the orc anti-air bunker, the greenskin commissar was enthusiastically encouraging the mobilized orc lads.

"This is a gift from Mao Zedong; they gave us a thoroughly enjoyable war."

"Skullcrusher Star is orc territory, and no matter what, we will never back down an inch!"

The morale of the green-skinned orcs reached an extremely high level.

Their waaagh energies resonated with each other, eventually condensing into a visible dark green field shield that clung to the planet's surface.

This is the response of the green-skinned orcs to the human bombing, and what is to come is a confrontation between pure destructive power and the orcs' waaagh stance.

As the first luminous spear of the human fleet completed its charging and crashed to the ground outside the atmosphere, the continuous bursts of light from the high-energy laser weapon even surpassed the brilliance of the sun.

The ship-borne light spears were powerful enough to destroy Titan-class units on the ground, while the green-skinned orcs' waaagh energy shields met them head-on without flinching.

If you look down from outside the atmosphere, you can see a faint green light appearing between the orbital bombardment and the orc fortress on the ground.

Countless light spears fell, creating dense indentations on the green light.

The Waaagh energy shield, seemingly composed of only a layer of green light, was incredibly resilient, managing to hold out against the human orbital bombardment for a short period of time.

"This is unbelievable. Even a planet's Void Shield defense system would be overloaded under this kind of attack."

"Their unique green-skinned technology always brings us endless surprises."

Talos looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but admire the resilience of these enemies.

"If we can't break through the enemy's shield, it must be because our punches aren't strong enough."

Sigismund, his face cold, immediately ordered the fleet's main guns to fire as well.

As it turns out, the Black Knight's theory that sheer force can work wonders was correct.

Under the relentless bombardment of the human fleet, the green-skinned orcs' waaagh energy shield began to crumble in less than a day.

Countless green-skinned boys, as if drained dry, collapsed listlessly at their posts.

The waaagh energy in their bodies had completely disappeared, so they obviously couldn't survive.

The waaagh energy shield continued to shrink and weaken, and the green-skinned orcs could no longer maintain a planetary-level defensive position.

Under the orders of the orc warlords, they simply reduced the range of the energy shield and increased the shield strength per unit area.

Although this order caused most of the Orc buildings and Greenskins on the planet to vanish, it preserved the larger Orc fortresses.

After achieving this, Sigismund immediately ordered the fleet to drop viral bombs, further reducing the number of green-skinned orcs.

Without the seamless protection of the waaagh energy shield, the forbidden weapon, loaded with the "Life Eater" virus, was deployed onto Skullshatterer Star.

These viruses, designed to target organisms, begin to spread rapidly as soon as they escape from the sealed container, infecting any organic cellular structures they come into contact with.

Those green-skinned orcs that didn't die completely from the orbital bombardment, along with various green-skinned fungi, were all contaminated by the viral weapon.

Even the robust green-skinned boys became listless after being infected.

Their flesh and blood began to rot and melt, turning into a pile of organic sludge within hours.

The viral weapon was ubiquitous and quickly infiltrated the orcs' underground fortresses, spreading death to other orcs.

The green-skinned orcs are also rapidly developing antibodies against this viral weapon.

After the old generation of orcs died, a new generation of green-skinned orcs was born from their molten bodies.

Their spores are incredibly tenacious; even viral weapons cannot completely infect or kill them.

The green-skinned orcs, with their stronger antiviral capabilities, survived.

But before they could organize an effective counterattack, the organic putrefactive gases that had accumulated in the atmosphere reached a certain concentration and immediately began to transform into a firestorm.

Billions of greenskinned orcs died painfully from the infection of viral bombs and the burning of firestorms, but this still could not kill all the greenskinned orcs.

The orcs' incredible adaptability meant that some greenskins hiding in underground bunkers always managed to escape, and then they would continue to reproduce, giving birth to a new generation of offspring even better suited to the environment.

This achieved the effect Sigismund wanted, with a large number of orbital drop pods falling one by one from the lower deck of the warship.

Each drop pod carries deadly Astartes, which will infiltrate the planet Skullshatterer like mercury, searching for the Orc warlords.

(End of this chapter)