Warhammer: Striving to Be a Grinding Man

Chapter 123 Divine Strategist Deploys (3) 941.M41

The order to launch a full-scale assault exploded from the soul of every Titan.

Cohen's broadcast still echoed on the communication channel, while the Warlord-class Titans' volcanic cannons had already begun their fifth salvo. Blazing white plasma beams traced four parallel streaks across the mid-level skyline of the hive, erasing the last few still-spitting turrets from their pedestals on the orcish defenses. Marauder-class molten cannons blasted molten craters into the distant ruins, while Warhound-class tanks rapidly maneuvered along the flanks of the armored forces, using plasma blasting cannons and Vulcan giant explosive cannons to clear out any orc anti-armor squads attempting to flank them.

The transport ships' routes over the landing zone never ceased. The fourth wave of deliveries continued, and the fifth wave was already being loaded into the cargo hold of the Fireseed. Ammunition boxes were stacked into low walls on the scorched earth, the white tents of the medical station had expanded to the third row, and stretcher teams were carrying more and more wounded soldiers from the front lines. More troops poured out of the cargo holds of the transport ships, and the delivery of hundreds of thousands of men continued, keeping the landing zone operational amidst the artillery fire.

Artillery positions were fully deployed behind the landing zone. The chassis of the "Petrified Lizard" self-propelled guns were arranged in parallel lines on the scorched earth, their barrels pointing towards the middle layer of the hive. Plasma shells exploded on the orcish defenses, and blue-white plasma clouds continued to expand. Wherever the clouds reached, concrete vaporized, steel flowed, and orcish battle fortresses vanished from the ground.

Under the barrage of artillery fire, the armored forces advanced at twice the speed. The Lemanrus Company no longer needed to stop at every passage to clear orc firing positions; the artillery barrage did that for them. Chimeras sprinted at full speed across the open ruins, with infantry rapidly following behind the tanks. The blue arrows of the Garros Legion stretched rapidly across Cole's sand table.

The ancient colossi appeared. Several steel giants emerged from the depths of the industrial zone in the middle of the hive. Their outlines magnified in the smoke and dust, transforming from blurry shadows into clear, crudely made, and suffocatingly large steel giants. The tallest one was at least fifty meters high, towering above a Warlord-class Titan, almost touching the bottom of the broken viaduct in the middle of the hive.

Their bodies were pieced together with crude welding torches and covered with armor plates salvaged from the wreckage of Imperial warships.

The Marauder-class Titan's molten cannon was welded to its left arm, while the Imperial Navy's macro cannon was fixed to its right shoulder. A plasma reactor salvaged from a space wreck was crammed into its chest, with energy conduits exposed and coolant seeping from the welds.

Grom "Iron Chin" stood atop the shoulder armor of the tallest ancient behemoth. His powered gauntlets gripped the edge of the armor, and the red light of his right eye flickered in the dust. The roar of the orc war chieftain crashed into the battlefield from a height of fifty meters.

"WAAAGH!!! The tin man is here!!! I'll keep the big one!!! You guys can dismantle the small ones!!!"

Gu Juji strode forward. Behind them, from every crack in the ruins, every passage, every shadow of collapsed buildings, green-skinned boys surged forth like a burst dam. Organized, driven by Grom's roar, a dense, green tide filling every inch of scorched earth. The muzzle flashes of rifles formed a shimmering net in the low sky, the blades of machetes reflecting a dim light in the smoke and dust. They disregarded casualties; those in front fell, those behind trampling over the corpses of their comrades to continue charging, their howls merging into a continuous sonic wave.

Grom's roar drowned out everything: "WAAAGH!!! Charge!!! Charge!!! Tear those tin men off the line!!!"

The green-skinned infantry surged in several streams, sweeping along the sides of the ancient giant's leg armor towards the flanks of the armored forces. They were so numerous that a single volley of fire from the Warhound-class Vulcan giant bomb cannon could only clear a brief gap before it was filled up again by the green-skinned infantry behind.

The Titan's Volcanic Cannon fired the moment the Ancient Colossus entered its range. Four blazing white plasma beams simultaneously struck the torso of the largest Ancient Colossus. The force field barrier flickered violently, and an arc of electricity exploded into a blinding blue-white sphere at the point of impact. The beams pierced the force field, leaving a molten groove in the armor plating.

Gu Juji didn't stop. It raised its massive macro cannon on its right arm, and the cannonball struck the Void Shield of the Warrior-class Titan at a distance of less than two hundred meters. The energy membrane exploded into a blinding blue-white halo at the point of impact, and the force field feedback from the Void Shield caused a shrill scream in the cockpit. The shield maintained its operation, but its energy reserves dropped sharply.

Cohen stood before the sand table of the command bunker. His gaze lifted from the slowly moving ancient colossus markers, through the observation slits at the top of the bunker, and looked towards the middle layer of the hive. The shadows of those steel colossi stretched for kilometers in the smoke and dust. They were larger than Titans, rougher than Titans, but they advanced. A tide of greenskinned infantry surged beneath their feet, like a grey-green sea trying to devour everything.

"Emperor-level," he said.

Cole's fingers danced on the data panel, sending commands via encrypted pulses to the Fireseed's delivery deck.

"Fireseed, this is Garros Command. Emperor-class delivery window open. Repeat, Emperor-class delivery window open."

Edric's reply was swift. "Fireseed received. Emperor-class delivery initiation."

The rhythm of the binary hymns changed completely at this moment. The communication arrays of the Fireseed, the external speakers of the Titans, and every Imperial communication terminal still in operation fell silent at the same instant. The oldest hymns of the Mechanicus had a tradition during the Great Crusade: when an Imperial Titan was deployed to the battlefield, the binary hymns of all lower-tier Titans had to be paused to make way for the arrival of the Imperial.

ten seconds.

The battlefield was now filled only with the roar of cannons, the shrill whirring of engines, and the howls of orcs. In those few seconds, every Imperial soldier in power armor felt a surge of emptiness rising from the depths of their chests, an emptiness that instinctively made them want to kneel. The machine spirits of the Imperial Titans fully awoke from their slumber, projecting psionic pressure across the entire battlefield.

Ten seconds later, the binary hymn returned. The shrill pulses were so fast they were beyond human hearing, and every Titan's loudspeaker trembled on the verge of overload. The binary shriek pierced the orcs' force field barrier, seeping into the skulls of every green-skinned boy, causing them to writhe on the ground, clutching their heads. The Giganotosaurus pilots screamed through the pulses, their prosthetic limbs flailing wildly at the control panel.

The airlock on the delivery deck of the Fire Seed was opened.

The heavy elevator descended from the belly of the Fireseed, its thrusters ignited, and it plunged into the planet's atmosphere. It was twice the size of the elevator that transported the Warlord-class ships, and the exhaust plumes of its four main thrusters left four parallel blue streaks beneath the clouds. On the elevator's belly, the Emperor-class Titan "Burning Fury" was secured to its transport base by adamantite chains. Its volcanic cannons had already extended from the elevator's belly during descent, and the cathedral's spire was faintly visible through the clouds.

The transport ships over the landing zone automatically cleared a path the moment the elevator entered the atmosphere. Every pilot's finger automatically pulled up the control stick as they saw the elevator emerge from the clouds.

The elevator descended behind the landing zone. Tens of thousands of tons of steel crashed onto the scorched earth, the shockwave kicking up a ring of dust. Simultaneously, the adamantite chains on the anchor frame loosened under the drive of hydraulic push rods, the sound of the latches snapping open audible for kilometers.

The Emperor-class Titan "Burning Fury" descended from the elevator's belly compartment. The earth trembled as its massive feet struck the scorched earth. The Void Shield activated at full power the instant it stepped off the elevator, a nearly invisible, transparent energy membrane causing light to subtly refract across its armor surface. Its volcanic cannons were a full size thicker than those of a Warlord-class. The cathedral's bell towers chimed on its shoulder armor, each chime of genuine, adamantite-forged bells sending the air trembling.

The binary shriek switched frequencies at that moment. High Gothic hymns from the Imperial Titan poured forth from the ship's external loudspeakers, engulfing the entire battlefield.

"With the Emperor above, all evil retreats. Body of steel, wrath of the Emperor. His footsteps crush heresy, His cannons purify the impure."

The sound echoed from every corner of the battlefield. Soldiers in power armor straightened their backs to the hymn, and infantry squads suppressed by orc fire peeked out from their bunkers. Faith burned amidst the gunfire.

Behind the Emperor-class Titans, the ranks of the Mind Control Legion poured out of the cargo hold of the transport ships. These were several hundred Castellan-modified Mind Control mechs, part of the fifty Mind Control Battalions that Lucis had allocated to the Garros Legion. A few elite units, in addition to their repulsive grids, were equipped with atomic deflection shields, their armor seams emitting a faint, dark blue glow when idle. Lucis had reverse-engineered these technologies from the Starfortress mechs and transferred them to the Castellan mechs, but the core components of the shield generators could not be mass-produced, enough to equip only one assault squadron. These ten battalions formed the backbone of the Mind Control Legion, painted in Lucis's deep red, with gear and skull insignia etched on their shoulder armor.

They lined up beneath the shadow of the Imperial Titan's leg armor, heavy explosive cannons' ammunition belts dangling from shoulder-mounted ammunition boxes. Hundreds of intelligent mechs deployed on the Imperial Titan's flanks and rear, forming a mobile steel barrier.

It wasn't just the Intelligent Control Legion that came from behind the landing area.

The Silver Robe Sisters emerged from the stern hatch of another transport ship. A combat squad of twelve, led by Sister Valeria herself. They wore grey and white power armor, with silver rose emblems etched on their breastplates, and their helmet visors were closed. Chainsaw swords hung at their waists, and explosive pistols were gripped in their hands. They marched in unison, silently, on the flank of the AI-controlled machine formation.

The Emperor-class Titan "Burning Fury" began to walk. Its steps were extremely slow, each foot taking several seconds to complete the entire process from lifting the leg to stepping down. However, its stride was enormous; one step was enough to cross the artillery positions behind the landing zone, and the second step brought it behind the advancing armored forces. Void shields continued to operate on its armor surface, and intelligent mechs deployed on its flanks.

Cohen emerged from the command bunker. He wasn't wearing a helmet; the hem of his Sage's Robe clung tightly to his leg armor in the circulating wind. The clouds overhead tore open again, and another heavy elevator dropped from the Fireseed—the last four Warlord-class Titans landed hundreds of meters behind the Emperor-class, silently joining the rearguard.

Cohen's gaze swept over the steel figures of the defenders as they unfolded, then locked onto the front—the colossal shadow of the Emperor had already covered the entire battle line.

Ahead, the Gigantamax's lines visibly faltered the moment the Emperor-class Titans entered the battlefield. The Gigantamax's shoulder armor screamed, the green-skinned boy in the cockpit frantically pulled the control stick, and the force field barrier covering the Gigantamax's surface began to flicker erratically. Their Waaagh! Cracks appeared in the force field under the Emperor-class's pressure. This was caused by the collapse of the greenskins' racial beliefs.

Grom stood atop the shoulder armor of the tallest ancient giant, his power gauntlet gripping the edge, the red light in his right eye flickering violently in the smoke and dust. A hoarse, bloody roar escaped his throat.

"WAAAGH!!! Don't back down!!! There's only one giant tin man!!! Crush it!!!"

The largest ancient Titan's right arm macro cannon fired again, its armor-piercing shells slamming into the Emperor-class Titan's void shield. The energy membrane flickered violently, but the Emperor-class void shield did not experience a sudden drop in energy reserves; the force field feedback was evenly distributed to every generator node by a multi-layered energy distribution network.

The Emperor-class Titan's volcanic cannon locked onto the ancient behemoth while it was moving. The muzzle completed its angle adjustment in a fraction of a second, and the hum of the charging coils made the surrounding AI-controlled mechs instinctively take a half step back to the sides.

Fire.

A beam of incandescent plasma erupted from the Emperor-class cannon, a torrent of plasma as thick as a well, lasting nearly three seconds. The beam pierced through the Ancient Giant's force field barrier, which shattered under the continuous burning of the plasma torrent. The beam struck the Ancient Giant's torso, melting the armor plates, exposing its internal structure, and directly hitting the plasma reactor.

The fifty-meter-tall giant satellite, from its antenna tower at the top to its hydraulic pushers at the base, vaporized layer by layer in the plasma torrent. Just seconds before it stood there, just seconds later, all that remained of its location was an expanding cloud of plasma and a semi-circular vitrified crater on the ground.

A brief silence fell over the battlefield. The cannons still roared, the engines still whirred, and the Emperor's Hymn still echoed through the loudspeakers. But everyone who witnessed it—Imperial soldiers and orc lads alike—caught their breath. A brief gap appeared in the greenskin infantry tide where the ancient behemoth had vanished, only to be quickly filled by the surging greenskins behind it. They cared nothing for the behemoth's fate; they only recognized Grom's roar.

The frequency of the imperial hymns rose again, becoming deeper and heavier.

"His wrath consumes the mountains, and His judgment is inescapable. With the Emperor above, all evil shall be banished."

Thirty seconds later, the second Giganotosaurus was pierced through the torso by the second volcanic cannon shot from the Emperor-class Titan. A third Giganotosaurus attempted to approach from the flank, but two Warlord-class Titans simultaneously turned, and the crossfire of the volcanic cannons tore through its force field barrier. The Marauder-class's molten cannons followed up from the flank, melting through its leg joints. The troop of intelligent mechs inserted themselves from the flank, and the barrage of heavy explosive cannons tore the Orc infantry trying to crawl out of the Giganotosaurus wreckage to shreds. The Greenskin infantry tide did not recede; they circled around the collapsed Giganotosaurus wreckage from both sides, continuing to surge towards the flanks of the armored forces, only to be chipped away layer by layer by the firepower of the Warhound-class and Marauder-class, only to be replaced wave after wave.

The Battle Nun's squad did not participate in suppressing fire. They moved along the flank of the intelligent mech formation, on the edge of the Emperor-class Titan's shadow. Their explosive guns were pointed at the Orc anti-armor squads emerging from the rubble, attempting to attack the Titan's joints with molten metal bombs. Valeria's chainsword cleaved through the skull of an Orc boy in close-quarters combat.

She didn't stop, her gaze fixed on the end of the ruins ahead, deep within the still-smoking industrial area.

There is an access interface for the Void Shield network there, an interface left by Imperial engineers when they built the hive.

Cohen stood on the edge of the Emperor-class Titan's shadow. Over a thousand members of the Stormstrike Force spread out behind him, covering every firing position on the Titan's flank and rear. His gaze pierced through the smoke and dust of the battlefield, through the still-burning ruins of the ancient colossi, through the endless, gray-green tides of orcs, and landed at the edge of the ruins.

Kara's voice suddenly broke through the communication channel. Hoarse, panting from running, but every word was clear.

"Command post, eastern detachment. We are behind the orc front and are infiltrating towards Grom's command post along the edge of the industrial zone. Ten minutes ago, we encountered an elite orc squad—equipped with heavy bombardment rifles and power claws, suspected to be the war leader's personal guard. The orc heavy armor cluster on the east flank has been mostly destroyed by orbital bombardment. The Techmaster repair node is 400 meters to our southwest. Coordinates have been sent."

Cohen pressed the communication button. "Roger. Maintain mobility, don't get entangled."

He switched to another channel. Rellano's signal came from the west, hoarse and mixed with bursts of grenades and the whistling of chainsaws cutting through metal.

"On the west side, the relay station has been cleared. It has tied down the western flank reserves. They are retreating but are being held back by three combat fortresses. Two routes are blocked, and their speed has slowed down. The main force on the west side has not moved east. You continue pushing."

Cohen didn't reply. Kara was waging guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, while Rellano was holding off the pursuers on the western flank. Both squads were tearing at the orcish lines in their own ways. He switched to the all-channel broadcast, his voice low, each word carrying the weight of the artillery fire: "Gallos Legion, all units. The Void Shield node is ahead. Take it. The Imperial Navy and the Allied Fleet in orbit are buying us time with steel and flesh. Attack with all your might."

The communication channels were filled only with brief confirmation pulses from various units and the continuous low-frequency hum of the Emperor's Hymn.

The Emperor-class Titan took its third step. Its cannons were pointed at the still-burning horizon at the edge of the ruins, the Void Shield continued to operate on its armor surface, and the ranks of intelligent mechs spread out on both flanks. The crimson steel ranks and the gray-white battle nun ranks moved forward alternately, the dark blue glow of the repulsion grid merging into one in the shadow of the Emperor-class.

The scorched earth of Invernus trembled beneath the emperor's massive feet. The empire's march did not cease.