The Bizarre Adventure of the Warhammer Guard

Ulanor, a world marked as conquered in the Imperial archives, is now once again teeming with orcs.

Its star system was teeming with orc warships, and the massive fleet shuttled back and forth between orc worlds within the system. Various types of ships departed from the safe zone of the host planet and sailed into the warp.

Orc ships made of various dilapidated structures are everywhere, their surfaces shimmering with strange energy fields as they teeter precariously as they sail in all directions.

Among them were captured Imperial ships, their hulls covered in Orcish graffiti. They were being towed by Orcish vessels, ready to be modified by the Orcs.

Thousands of oddly shaped ships filled the area around Ulano, hovering haphazardly in their orbits without any unified formation.

From a distance, Ulanno looks like a planet-sized garbage dump.

A crack appeared in space, then rapidly expanded into an irregular circle, its interior shimmering with an eerie and beautiful light. Immediately afterwards, a massive, sharply angled bow slowly emerged from it.

Countless rifts in the subspace opened up one after another on the outskirts of the Ulanno star system, and one imperial warship after another sailed out from these channels.

Once the last cruiser completed its jump, the massive Imperial expeditionary fleet was fully assembled.

After a period of rest, the fleet headed straight for the orcs' homeworld, Ulanor.

The orc warships had clearly detected the arrival of the humans, and they were slowly gathering their forces to block their advance.

Without warning or ultimatum, the battle erupted in the most direct way.

Hundreds of crude but incredibly powerful shells were unleashed from the orc fleet. While most were evaded by the Imperial fleet, dozens still struck the Imperial fleet's front-line escort ships, causing violent ripples to appear on the Void Shield.

"All fleet, fire at will!" Vulcan's command echoed throughout the entire fleet.

The next moment, a barrage of shells, missiles, and lasers rained down on the orc fleet. The first wave of attacks was remarkably successful, almost completely annihilating the orcs' initial assault.

Faced with such a massive Imperial fleet, the Orcs' small-scale attacks could not cause the slightest damage to the Imperial fleet.

Small-scale, intermittent battles continued for a week, and the Imperial forces had reached the skies above Ulanor and begun engaging the main Orc fleet.

The trajectories of their shells were bizarre, interspersed with giant scrap metal blocks, abandoned engines, and even howling orc boys.

Although most of their attacks lacked precision, their density and unpredictability still caused some trouble for the Imperial fleet.

The space battle turned into close-quarters combat, with fighter jets constantly weaving through the ships and exchanging fire, while the warships also engaged in close-range engagements.

The Imperial Navy's formation remained unchanged amidst the artillery fire, relying on meticulous tactics to withstand the orc fleet's onslaught.

The orc fleet's attacks were wild and unplanned. Backed by orbital defense platforms, they relied on their numerical superiority to launch relentless ramming attacks against the Imperial Navy.

The orcs' tactics did have some effect; the Imperial Navy's escort ships were besieged and crashed, the void shields of the main warships were overloaded, and most of the combat barges were also slightly damaged.

Ultimately, with the Imperial fleet's more rigorous tactics and the Primarch's personal command, the scales of victory gradually tipped in humanity's favor.

With the last orc warship struck by several beams of light and reduced to fragments, the resistance forces above Ulanor's orbit were essentially wiped out, leaving only a small number of remaining warships scattered throughout the star system.

"That's all?" The Primarch's gaze fell upon the star map projection. "A few orbital defense platforms and a few warships?"

"We have not detected any other orbital defense facilities, Primarch."

"I have dispatched the Third Core Fleet to continue clearing the Ulanor Orbital Defense Platform, and the Fifth Core Fleet is clearing the remaining Orc warships." Kurland approached the Primarch, his gaze shifting between the Primarch and the projection. "Within ten hours, we will have complete control of the orbit."

"I understand." Vulcan lowered his head in deep thought, his expression grave. "Can we really believe that in less than ten days, we have successfully captured the Ulanno railway at a minimal cost?"

"That is indeed the case, Primarch," Kurland replied. "Orbital control has been seized, and the Imperial Navy should begin defensive construction to withstand any counterattack. The next phase requires a ground assault."

"Very good," Vulcan nodded, "Go ahead and do it."

In the following days, the Imperial fleet did not rush to carry out a large-scale ground landing, but instead established a solid space base in orbit around the planet Ulanno.

Several large mechanical arks belonging to the Cult of Mechanics were deployed into orbit, from which countless construction machines flew out. Using orcish metal scraps salvaged from the battlefield and prefabricated modules carried by the fleet itself, they quickly constructed several orbital defense platforms, repair docks, and supply stations.

After several days of orbital scanning, the overall situation of Ulanno has been directly presented to everyone.

On the central continent, there is a vast and crude palace complex, built in a barbaric and distorted style, entirely from metal scraps and stones.

Even more disturbingly, data from the psionic detection array showed that the psionic readings in this orc palace were extremely high.

The number of orcs in the palace was also far greater than any estimate before the exploration, almost filling the entire palace.

"That must be the center of the orcs' power, and 'The Beast' must be hiding inside," Kurland said at the war council. "Killing more orcs won't help unless we kill it."

"Beast" is the code name given by the Empire to the true leader of the orcs. Although no one has ever seen what it looks like, based on the Empire's experience in wars with the orcs, the orcs must have a leader who governs the entire orc race.

Further information was blocked by the Waaagh field of the Orc Palace. In order to obtain more accurate intelligence, Kurland dispatched elite assassins from the Assassin's Court.

This was a near-suicidal mission. Only one assassin, who was far behind schedule, managed to struggle back to the rendezvous point, covered in wounds.

These elite assassins, supported by the Grand Master, paid a heavy price but successfully brought back scans of the orc palace's interior—exactly what the Imperial Commander needed.

Intelligence indicates that the palace's interior is extremely complex, riddled with traps, and infested with hordes of elite orcs. Deep within the palace lies a temple enveloped by an even stronger Waaagh energy field, but the scan cannot penetrate it.

Based on the available intelligence, the Primarch deduces that the Beast is in that temple.

Now it's time to launch the attack.