Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 189 The City Breaker

"My lord, there's a communication connection from an alien." Sophia revealed herself, standing beside the command throne, and asked softly, "Do you need to connect?"

Dum nodded and squinted; Ran Dan's communication was quite subtle.

At the perfect time, the Imperial fleet joined the battle, and communication resumed after the ground campaign ended in defeat.

“Connect,” Doom said, wanting to hear what Randan had to say, and then ordered, “Cover the bridge and my silhouette.”

"Understood." Sophia pointed her hand, and the holographic image went dark, with only the Imperial Double-Headed Eagle displayed in it.

The holographic image depicts a suspended, dark green brain with golden eyes and an ugly face, with slippery tentacles beneath it.

"I am Ran Dan War Commander - Lolos," Lolos said without any attempt to conceal himself, as he was not wearing any bio-armor.

Upon seeing the black image, the symbol of the human empire, its voice was slow and hesitant: "Human, do you not dare to face your adversary?"

Its voice was arrogant, its tone carrying a hint of spiritual pollution, enough to provoke anger: "I never thought you were such a coward. Humans are indeed inferior."

Doom's voice, processed, was as cold as ice that had never melted in a thousand years: "Stop your simplistic provocations, Alien!"

"You want to spy on my appearance and have the empire's lackeys gather intelligence on me?"

"I have never considered you as my opponents, a bunch of ugly aliens, filth that should be purified by the Light Spear."

As soon as the fleet made contact with Urian, the Grand Master immediately submitted the intelligence without any delay.

Doom spoke calmly, deliberately revealing to Lolos that he knew of the existence of a mole within the Empire.

His purpose was simple: he was testing Ran Dan to see how much he really knew about the empire.

The aliens knew nothing about the Nur fleet's intelligence, but Ran Dan certainly knew about their participation in the expedition.

They knew that the Empire had dispatched the First Legion, along with a specific number of troops, to lay a trap here.

If it had been other brothers instead of myself who came today, the battle wouldn't have been so simple.

The leak of imperial intelligence allowed Ran Dan to obtain data on imperial equipment and prepare for battle.

This demonstrates the formidable strength of the First Legion.

With complete intelligence on their equipment, they were able to fight the Randan warriors to a standstill, and their casualty ratio far surpassed that of the aliens.

In other legions, the cost to ground troops would likely be several times higher.

"Indeed, spies within the Empire of Man are gathering intelligence on you—Doom Norwick!"

Lolos readily admitted it, even calling out Doom by name, proudly showcasing his intelligence network.

"Oh?" Doom showed a hint of interest, his tone laced with sarcasm: "Then hurry up, after all, you know my information, but not much."

“You know very little about the fleet and technological strength of the ‘Nur Stars’.”

Lolos flicked its tentacles a few times, keenly capturing the key information about the "Nur Stars".

It has no cheeks, shows no expression, yet harbors utter disdain.

Lolos sneered inwardly, thinking that the super-individual opposite him, known as the "Gene Primarch," was overconfident due to his victory and unaware that he had revealed crucial information.

After the holographic image appeared, Doom's lips curled into a cold smile.

Information about the Nur Stars is sealed in the Imperial Archives and is classified as top secret, guarded by the Imperial Guard.

No more than one hundred officials in the entire empire were qualified to access Nur's archives.

That place is a trap. Whoever accesses the files in the near future is a mole controlled by Ran Dan.

If Ran Dan understands the risks and is unwilling to abandon the traitor, and instead travels thousands of miles to infiltrate the Nur Star System, then let them go.

“I have a proposal here,” Lolos said, changing the subject after receiving the information: “Our race is willing to withdraw from this star system and relinquish control of it.”

"They also wish to cease hostilities with humanity and pledge not to expand into this star system."

"Is there anything wrong with your slick, filthy brain?" Even though he knew the alien was changing the subject, and that the proposed solution might actually be real.

Doom couldn't help but shout, "Shake hands and make peace? Does Ran Dan seem intelligent, but actually lack one?"

"Get out of here, you mind-manipulating alien!" He waved his hand in disgust, signaling Sophia to shut down the communication.

He really didn't know whether Ran Dan was genuinely stupid or just pretending.

Having learned of Ran Dan's mental pollution and mind control, the Empire must eliminate Ran Dan, and completely eradicate the Ran Dan race.

Shake hands and make peace?
Before long, the mental spies controlled by Ran Dan will infiltrate every aspect of humanity, eventually enslaving the human race completely.

As for abandoning the Morse system, it was merely a temporary compromise to redeem the Randan warriors.

Tens of thousands of elite Randan warriors, mid-level alien combatants—they could not accept such a massive loss. Analogous to the Empire, the Empire would never abandon an entire legion.

Doom sat on the command platform, shaking his head and focusing his attention on the defensive line to prevent Randan's surprise attack.

Randan's fleet was enormous, crammed into the Chemos system.

The original concept of the Xenomorph was probably to hunt itself or other Primarch brothers.

They deployed a large force in the world of Morse to destroy an Imperial legion.

But now the situation has reversed, and the Randan warriors trapped in Morse have become a fatal weakness for the Xenomorphs.

If they hadn't been trapped, the Randan fleet might have already left.

The plan has failed, and Morse World is no longer worth Ran Dan's efforts; the sooner she leaves, the better.

Ran Dan's fleet relentlessly assaulted the human blockade in an effort to save his compatriots and preserve his elite fighting force.

Doom did not focus on the ground battlefield, and his "slow-motion cutting" strategy was naturally carried out by someone else.

Morse's Randan must be eliminated; eliminating him slowly versus eliminating him quickly will have drastically different effects.

The ground commander who carried out the Primarch's orders was a Legion warrior named Atum.

As one of the original ten warriors, Atum was among the first to enter the War Academy and showed great interest in war.

He was highly regarded by Doom.

Atum, commanding the fortress, dared not slacken his efforts, knowing full well the expectations placed upon him by the Father of Genetics.

The Primarch wanted the Doom Warrior to be a generalist, not a brute who specialized in combat.

On a grand battlefield, a superhuman warrior can be useful, but cannot completely change the course of the battle.

Unless that warrior can single-handedly break through the enemy's defenses and kill the enemy commander.

The Primarch requires that each of the Destroyers, in addition to their personal combat prowess, possess the ability to command at least a million troops.

Atum has taken command of the mortal forces and will lead a million-strong army to attack the hive capital occupied by Randan.

The command center was large, and besides Atum, there were also black-armored Doomsday Warriors and gold-armored Royal Guards.

Several iron figures stood at a distance, exchanging information and discussing Randan's threat and his magical mind control.

They do not participate in command; they are stationed in the command center and on standby at any time.

"Ra!" he whispered to his brother over the comms, issuing the battle order: "Can you destroy the Nest City power reactor using the Atlantean mech weapons?"

To instill fear in aliens, their protective shield must be removed.

"Yes," came the affirmative reply from Ra, filling Atum with joy.

“But it won’t work…” the brother said again, “You should know the specific reason.”

"Understood." Atum nodded, then looked for other solutions.

The father of genetics strictly forbade the use of special units and even prohibited telepathic communication in order to test the abilities of his offspring.

Using standard Nur weapons, they captured the alien's hive.

Under various restrictions, Atum had no choice but to suppress his eagerness and wait for the auxiliary army's equipment to arrive: "Then let's wait for the equipment to arrive."

The father of genetics, in control of the overall situation, was not in a hurry to eliminate Randan's army; he proposed a "slow and steady approach."

When faced with a shield, Nur has a special method: prying open the seemingly unbreakable tortoise shell.

As the star disappeared, the Morse hemisphere, where the battle was taking place, was plunged into darkness, and the battlefield fell silent.

Sparks exploded in the night sky as spaceships were continuously destroyed.

The ground battlefield was eerily quiet. Randan hid in their hives, while their human servants took detours to return to their respective hives.

Atum didn't care about the vassal soldiers; they would always surround him.

An army with no protective capabilities? The Nur Auxiliary Army's armory contains a considerable number of weapons of mass destruction.

"My lord, the 'city-breaking cannon' is assembled." The voice of the mortal technician rang out, excitedly reporting the progress to Atum.

"Alright!" Atum stood up from the command platform and walked outside the command fortress. He wanted to witness the attack of the siege cannons with his own eyes.

A giant cannon with a muzzle diameter of 100 meters lay on the ground, flanked by super-heavy tracks level with the cannon. Behind it were four plasma reactors, powered by energy pipelines ten meters thick.

This colossal cannon, known as the "City Breaker," is 500 meters long, its muzzle menacingly pointed towards the capital.

(I'm too tired today, so I'll stop here.)
(End of this chapter)