Chapter 1016: Siege the city and capture the village
Although Talos's idea is tempting in a sense, Soshiyan cannot accept it.
"No, doing so will break through the bottom line of many soldiers' hearts, let alone we are still fighting Chaos... and there are still many local garrisons and sign militias on the front line. If they know that their families were massacred by the Empire in the rear, they are likely to rebel and turn against each other, and then our defense will be in danger."
"It seems you've made a decision."
Soshiyang sighed softly.
"Talos, you can go to the Red Sand Mountains to investigate if there are chaos forces active, suppress them on the spot, and promote the policy that the empire will never cleanse."
"Okay, I'll arrange for Bahram and Sabrin to go there."
"When it comes to Bahram, I haven't communicated with him about the grimy matter yet. I guess he's been confused recently?"
"Don't worry, he is an idea-but very loyal person, your choice is right."
"Ha, it's rare to see you praise someone."
The two talked for a while, and then Soshyang summoned the commander of the battle group, communicated with Randall, and mobilized some defense areas. In the end, he decided to lead only two companies and some combat robots to the hidden assembly point where they were discovered.
The fifth day after Soshiyan made the deployment and decision-making-
"Captain of the Battle Team, be careful."
A strong wind blew his cape as he stared at the rebuilt fortress from the open assault ramp of Thunderhawks.
The majority of the Traitor Fortress was already rubble and slag, and the fortifications were razed to the ground, as if they were systematically destroyed.
Plasma bullets rained down, tiny suns blooming on the razed remains of the fortress. Despite its damage to the surface, most of the enemies were likely to hide underground, bombing destroyed anti-aircraft artillery and turrets, but as always, attacking the remains was still a difficult task.
Then, he jumped off the Thunder Eagle and landed for the last fifty meters.
When landing, the glass-like wreckage in the sand pit cracked at his feet, and the Thunder Eagle also landed on the ground, ejecting the wake to dispel the grey mist, and Soshiyang's face and hair were covered with a light gray.
A breeze blows from the direction of the sea, bringing the smell of salty sea water.
Strangely, this sea water is mixed with the smell of burnt meat, which is unexpectedly not very unpleasant.
Then he raised his head and saw the clouds burned away by the fierce fire of light spears on the tracks and plasma, leaving behind a sunny sky.
Under the indigo sky, he could see the figure of the Storm Crow gunboat.
Looking up, there were all around the airborne war machines, plasma trajectories that cut through the sky, and the wakes emitted by the jet engine when braking.
He chose to use noon as a moment of revenge, not as hiding as it was at dawn or dusk, allowing the brilliant sunshine to illuminate the sword from the sky.
"The entrance to the left!"
Maximilian, the first company commander of the Knights of the Astrology, roared and gestured to his Terminator Squad.
“Hot melt!”
The turrets under the fort were well built to withstand the most ferocious orbital attacks.
However, a few meters of the formation had been stripped away, revealing curved reinforced concrete tunnels and metal support structures, and soldiers gathered in one of the open areas.
A team of Terminators carries multi-tube hot melt, a huge weapon with a short range but devastating power.
Under the order of the first company commander, they opened fire on the exposed tunnel, and the joint blast of high-energy radiation turned the reinforced concrete into steam, leaving a large circular hole about three meters in diameter.
Just as Maximilian was about to jump into the passage, Soshiyan, wearing the Terminator, came.
"Company Commander!"
Mark turned around when Soshyan came to him and drew his sword.
"Captain of the Battle Team."
His voice was trembling, maybe it was excitement, but it was also possible that he was worried that Soshiyan had changed his mind.
But Soshyan's subsequent actions reassure him, and he waved his hand to keep the line going.
"Eliminate all the stubborn enemies."
On the other side of the battlefield, as Talos strode through a pile of melted inner walls, explosive bombs kept passing by him.
Then, the heavier whistle of the automatic cannon broke the hustle and bustle of the bomb. The firepower came from the crack of a bunker a hundred meters ahead. Because it was in a groove, the bunker avoided the attack of the shells, which was only one of the several fortifications to protect the sub-fort, which was built above a mine.
Soshiyan led a company to clear the underground passage of the main fort, while Talos led some of the 11th and 2nd companies to clean up the remaining ground buildings.
So far, this job is quite easy.
But as the air firepower stopped, the defensive firepower became even more fierce, and the shells exploded on the ground, and the roar echoed in the air.
Ustad was observing the stronghold from a corner next to a Land Raider track. The black paint of the armored armored on the front of the heavy troop was directly hit and struck by scattered shrapnel, and the surrounding ground was distorted by mortar shell craters.
"So cunning."
Ustad mumbled, then grabbed the laser turret on the side of the Land Raider's body and climbed onto the roof. The Space Marine, who was operating the heavy bomb on the top, turned around in surprise.
"Don't look at me, aim at the enemy and fire!"
Under Ustad's gaze, three Rands opened fire at the nearest fortifications at the same time, but a semi-formed blue light wall blocked the attack, and laser beams and shells were uselessly hit a few meters away from the fortifications.
"Do you know how many people are inside?"
"Based on the scanned data, we can only see dozens of people at most, and these people are enough to control the stronghold. If we cannot suppress the target, more people will be useless... It may take several days or weeks to force them out."
Ustad used his thumb to instruct the turret shooter to get up from his position, went down into the Land Raiders, went directly to the communication station, and adjusted the transmitter to the fire support channel.
"Storm Crow Team, I need a fire corridor, one kilometer wide and two kilometer long, coordinates have been transmitted."
"Received, the Storm Crow Team executes immediately."
Turning off the communicator, he walked out of the car and opened the assault ramp.
When it descended, he walked to the ground that was repeatedly crushed by tracks and repeatedly ravaged by artillery shells. The enemy's counterattack fire hit a few hundred meters away to his left, where there was a fortification. Before the explosion that tore the ground, the enemy troops hiding inside and outside the fortress seized the time to open fire and spit out flames.
"Hey!"
Suddenly, the ground was trembling, and a Sikaran battle tank arrived next to Ustad. Its tracks were covered with gravel and soil scraped from the ground, and the exhaust port was steaming like a dragon's stomach sac.
Then, its main gun fired a row of ripples at a nearby bunker, shaving the reinforced concrete with a ruby-colored beam.
A hatch on the side of the heavy armor plate opened and technical sergeant Rogris walked out.
"Brother, it seems you're blocked."
"You're here at the right time."
"The commander of the battle orders to carry out an accurate orbital bombardment to get your people back first."
"clear."
Ustad said, stepping onto the giant tank and starting to issue orders to the soldiers.