Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 500 The battle is over
Outside the cave, the orcs' signature, battle-ready howl of WAAAGH! was replaced by sporadic bomb shots and the advance shouts of human soldiers.

With Warboss's instantaneous demise, the core spiritual force that sustained the orcs' fighting spirit collapsed, the intensity of the battle on the periphery suddenly decreased, and the orcs fell into chaos and retreat.

Ivanov reported concisely and forcefully in the communications, his voice carrying a hint of relief: "Team B has taken control of the Eagle's Nest area... the outer targets are being cleared, and the resistance has collapsed."

The engine noise of the storm assault boats gradually faded into the distance as they began their final battlefield cleanup mission.

Hathor Lupeka stood silently beside the fallen carcass of the behemoth, at the edge of the crater where the airdrop pod still radiated an astonishing heat.

The seemingly ordinary noble dueling sword had its tip pointing diagonally at the ground. A drop of fluorescent green, viscous Warboss blood was slowly gathering and dripping down the smooth, spotless blade, leaving a tiny dark mark in the dust.

She didn't even glance at the ugly head at her feet, a head that had once symbolized endless violence; her amber-gold eyes calmly swept over the battlefield that had just been cleansed by hell.

His gaze lingered briefly on Mikhail, who was struggling to get up, and on the shattered bodies of several Ash Knights in the distance, who were also stubbornly regenerating under the influence of Belisarius's Forge and trying to stand up again.

In that gaze was a barely perceptible hint of approval, like the warm sunshine of early spring, silently praising the iron will of these mortal warriors who persevered to the very end in the storm of destruction, and the immortal resilience bestowed upon them by the emperor.

Mikhail lay on the cold, sharp pile of scrap metal. The MK10 armor's servo system was struggling to restart and unlock, emitting a faint reset sound. His superhuman genetic enhancements began to slowly and effectively suppress the excruciating pain caused by the internal organ vibrations and repair the minor damage.

But he saw that incredible, illogical scene with perfect clarity.

Administrative secretary? Clerk in the Governor's office?

No! That instantaneous display of speed that defied the laws of physics, exquisite and terrifying skill, and absolute power that crushed war behemoths like ants...

That was definitely not human! It was definitely not ordinary!

That was an existence far beyond his comprehension as an Astartes, completely overturning all his understanding!

The chilling despair was replaced by a deeper, instinctive awe and an ineffable, soul-stirring shock and enlightenment.

Hathor's gaze finally settled on Mikhail, his eyes clear and deep, like an unchanging star, yet seemingly piercing through the damaged terracotta armor, life support system, and musculoskeletal structure, projecting directly onto Mikhail's soul, which was violently fluctuating due to severe injuries, shock, and a profound cognitive shock.

Compared to the Warboss she slew during the distant Great Crusade against the Orcish Empire, this guy in front of her was a joke—not big enough, not green enough, and certainly not WAAAGH!

She knew, of course, that ever since she personally ended the orc super-warlord Urlakk Urg, who had once threatened the newly established empire, causing the orc empire that spanned the galaxy to fall apart, the orcs had inevitably declined.

Even so, the weakness of her opponent was beyond anything she could have imagined.

Even the six so-called "beasts" that emerged later in the Beast Wars, weren't they all enormous creatures with bodies comparable to ancient giants and fangs as thick as tree trunks?

That was a terrifying force that forced the archenemies, the Imperial Fist and the Iron Warriors, to join forces.

And this thing in front of us? It's not even worth considering as a fart at the feet of those "beasts"!
"Mission accomplished, war leaders eliminated." Hathor pressed the small communication bead on his earlobe and reported to Chen Xi in a steady voice.

"Sounds not very enthusiastic? Didn't you enjoy your long-awaited return to the battlefield?" Chen Xi asked inquiringly from the other end of the communication bead. Hathor sighed softly, "The enemy is too weak; it's not even a warm-up. While it's certainly a troublesome target for ordinary Astartes, even if you send down a squad of Terminators or veteran Sword Guards, they can handle it."

"Haha, the capable should do more work. Sending them down, how could they be as efficient as you?" Chen Xi chuckled, then added, "Besides, we didn't bring Terminators and Sword Guards with us on this mission, did we?"

Hathor also knew that the Third and Fourth Companies, which participated in the operation, were just two companies composed mostly of new recruits and a small number of veteran officers. They had already done a very good job in this regard.

The company's organization indeed lacks elite units like Terminators or Sword Guard veterans who specialize in combating heavy elite units.

When heavy firepower teams are firmly tied down by suppression missions on the periphery, the pressure on Mikhail and his arbitrators, equipped with standard power armor, to confront a war leader head-on is unimaginable.

"However, this also exposed the shortcomings in the configuration of the Third and Fourth Companies," Hathor pointed out. "They need to strengthen their heavy firepower, and even more so, they need specialized forces that can quickly eliminate enemy elite units."

Of course, both she and Chen Xi knew that this was not an insurmountable obstacle.

“Then let’s adjust the configuration,” Chen Xi replied readily in the communication. “Add some veteran sword guards and heavy equipment units to the company. The modular design of the MK10 makes it easy to adjust.”

“Indeed,” Hathor agreed. “The Phobos and Gravis armors are essentially just replacements of parts from the MK10 platform, and this flexibility is extremely practical.”

Her praise for the MK10 was heartfelt.

Compared to the MK1 to MK4 power armors of the Great Expedition era, the MK10 represents a revolutionary leap forward in both practicality and overall performance.

She was particularly pleased with its ability to flexibly switch configurations according to the ever-changing needs of the battlefield.

The era of the Great Crusades is long gone, and Astartes has long been broken up into individual warbands.

Battle groups with only a thousand members can no longer be configured and operate in the same way as during the Great Expedition era; the approaches are completely different.

The Astartes Legion during the Great Crusades were a frontal force, the iron fist of the Empire that crushed all enemies.

The Astartes in the 40k era were special operations forces, a dagger aimed at the enemy's vitals.

Fewer personnel and more complex combat missions have led Astartes to shift its equipment requirements from fixed, powerful armaments to more flexible and adaptable equipment capable of handling various situations.

However, the empire is now facing an increasingly dire and severe situation.

The battle lines have been stretched to an extreme extent, and the complexity and intensity of the threats have increased simultaneously.

Special operations based on the battle group model over the past ten thousand years have gradually revealed their limitations in the face of some massive conflicts that sweep across star sectors or even star fields, such as insufficient power projection limits and difficulty in forming a decisive strategic advantage.

This model remains effective in dealing with crises that break out from multiple points and require rapid and precise strikes, but in total wars of imperial survival, its inherent size limitations have become a strategic weakness.

(End of this chapter)