Something moved in the far corner illuminated by Mark's armor's light, and he resisted the urge to fire.
The soldier beside him, the motor of the assault gun in his hand roared like a wild beast ready to pounce, waiting for a clear target.
Sensors showed that there were more than twenty monsters in the dark tunnel ahead, and they briefly circled to find other paths to the Astral Knights - an effort that apparently ended in failure.
For a moment, the corridor was empty.
But in the blink of an eye, a group of blue and purple bodies rushed down the channel toward Mark like a flood pouring from a hole in a dam.
He opened fire, and the soldiers around him also opened fire. The barrel of the assault gun reached firing speed in just one heartbeat, and in the next heartbeat, a torrent of bullets roared through the corridor.
Mark's automatic sense activated the audio buffer the moment he pressed the trigger.
Even with the huge ceramite surrounding his body, the Terminator still felt a powerful shock wave filling the room.
Six or seven monsters were beaten to pieces within two seconds, and their bodies were evaporated by the fierce shooting.
The soldier holding the assault gun paused for a moment to allow the barrel and motor to cool before firing again.
Every devastating shot blasts everything in the Terminator's way.
Mark was also shooting with his storm bolter, but he was not immersed in the carnage. His attention was always locked on the sensor, and he soon discovered that a group of signals was moving along the corridor parallel to the passage he was defending.
He started moving away from the entrance to buy himself more shooting time.
But it's still too slow.
With the sound of tearing metal and falling to the ground, the Genestealer smashed through a door on the corner ahead.
In less than a second, they were in the same room as the Terminators.
"die!"
Mark roared, and the storm bolter fired a long series of shots furiously.
The fan-shaped sweep cut down the first row of attackers, but more enemies quickly came up.
Squeezing the trigger, Mark quickly loaded the gun and sprayed the hot bullets on the second wave of enemies.
At the same time, a soldier holding a plasma cannon next to him continued to project hot blue plasma balls into the area where the aliens gathered. Every shot would bring double-digit deaths.
For a moment, flames, pus, blood, and debris from broken walls filled the corridor.
boom--!
Suddenly, there was an explosion behind him.
Mark turned around and saw that a soldier threw a high-explosive grenade directly into the passage, which was crowded with gene stealers.
In an instant, the white-hot metal cut into the flesh like a sickle, and the broken bulkhead was filled with steaming alloy fragments.
Although this killed a large number of aliens, the huge breach created by the explosion also allowed more aliens to pass through.
Close combat broke out as the beasts flooded through the chamber, claw-like limbs digging into the Terminator's armor.
There are two huge mysteries about Gene Stealers. One is their psychic network, and the other is their claws with supernatural power. Regardless of whether they are big or small, it seems that the claws of Gene Stealers have the ability to tear apart all metals -
—The Terminator is no exception.
"It's time to prove yourself worthy of this armor, my brothers!"
Mark raised his power sword and storm shield and shouted.
"Block them!"
Standard tactical timing: 00.19.30
At the beginning of the first attack, Soshyan's team also broke through the siege of the aliens and arrived at a bottleneck ahead - the twisted passage closed into an independent room.
The room was less than fifteen meters wide, and the walls were covered with deep pits and huge cracks.
This place should have been some kind of pumping station in the past. Broken pipes protruded from the corners and ceiling. Thick liquid hung in spherical shapes on the edges of the broken pipes, dripping from time to time into the large greasy pits gathered under the walls.
The ceiling is littered with rusty remnants of ancient valves and wheel hubs.
Soshyan stood facing the open door, opposite where the enemy was expected to appear, with the loaded storm bomb ready to fire at any time.
Rick took up position beside him, ready to attack if any enemy appeared.
Not long after, the first Genestealer jumped from the pipe in the ceiling of the corridor in front.
It immediately stood up and started running, its elastically connected legs constantly twitching as it rushed towards the Terminator, its sharp claws scraping ravines from the floor tiles under its feet.
In the dim yellow light emitted by the ancient lighting system, the strange-shaped glasses emitted a strong light. There was no emotion in the eyes, but only the deadly intention of a predator.
"Perhaps... none of this is as illogical as I first thought."
At this time, Dietrian, who was under the protection of the team, suddenly spoke.
"What's the meaning?"
Dietrian's answer was interrupted by a Genestealer speeding along the ceiling of the corridor and leaping over the doorway.
It twisted in the air at an incredible speed to avoid bullets, and before landing, it stepped on Harry who was holding a flamethrower, and its sword-like claws scraped pieces of ceramic steel fragments from the Terminator's breastplate.
Harry staggered back under the impact, the armor's artificial muscles tensing but still holding firm.
Soshyan took a step back and smashed the Sheng Yan Sword into the monster's back.
The force field exploded into a blue flash when it hit the target. In an instant, the spine was shattered, the carapace was broken, and the genestealer fell to the ground awkwardly like a fish caught on the ground.
At this time, another Genestealer rushed into the side corridor before Soshyan opened fire, but the one behind it was not so lucky, and the burst of storm bombs blew it into pieces.
Soshyan checked the sensors and found that the enemy was becoming more and more cautious in their approach.
They gather into small groups out of sight and attack in short waves.
Although the Genestealers displayed more intelligence than the suicidal charge in the initial stages of the battle, this tactic was still crude and easily countered.
Soshyan recalled the last large-scale invasion by gene stealers in the underground mines, and he suppressed his uneasiness for a moment.
At that time, they gathered in hundreds, tearing apart and leaping over the fallen of their kind, overwhelming the squad of Astral Knights with sheer numerical superiority.
Only a small number of the enemies have awakened so far, but Soshyan knows that as the number of aliens awakening from hibernation increases, the attacks will become more deadly.
In addition, ammo was also an issue, with Harry reporting that the Spitfire's fuel tank was only half empty, and the rest of the team only had a few magazines left.
Soshyan understood that the pressure on Mark's team, which was in the rear defensive position, would only be greater, and they had to make a quick decision.
"Don't be obsessed with fighting, speed up."
Soshyan's calm and standard voice sounded, even though there were countless decisions pulling his attention.
At this time Dietrian also continued his previous answer.
"The signal of the reconnaissance robot is unstable and the information upload is interrupted, but I guess it is already in the data cabin."
"Last known location?"
"Somewhere on the T line, directly in front of your position, transmits frequency signals to the sensor network."
As updates came, images flickered and overlaid onto Soshyan's vision.
A red haze flashed on the map fifty meters away from his current position. This automated unit that was transported to the center of the space hulk for depth detection and reconnaissance was obviously malfunctioning or damaged.