The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“Come on, you goddamn Warp-spawned asshole!”

Stark roared as he pulled the trigger. The massive autocannon roared like a wild beast. Two Catachan veterans gritted their teeth, holding the recoil-heavy weapon perfectly still.

Under the powerful influence of the 'Stabilizer,' the shells streaked through the air, accurately hitting the Hell Drake's head in rapid succession, detonating the twisted flamethrower in its mouth the instant it spat out flames.

The next second, with a screech, its entire neck was blown apart by the uncontrolled flames, and it crashed to the ground like a bird with a broken neck, dragging flames behind it. The other two Hell Drakes, startled, immediately turned tail and fled.

Watching the fallen Hell Drake being blown into countless pieces by the enraged Catachans, Stark exhaled, tossed the autocannon off the city wall, and pulled out two cigars from his bandolier, throwing one each to Hark and Marbo.

“You did well.”

Saying this, he took one for himself and lit it with the still-burning warpfire nearby.

Taking a puff of the warp-tainted smoke, Hark pointed to the Chaos Space Marine head on Marbo's waist and chuckled.

“These little runts are boring. If we're going to do it, let's go for something big.”

Hark, his arms flushed red, blew a smoke ring and laughed.

“How big?”

“I think Huron's would be nice.”

“Then we'll have to be quick. There are a lot of people eyeing his head.”

Just then, Stark seemed to notice something. He walked to the parapet with an annoyed expression, pointed below, and said:

“Hey! You over there! Yes, you! Jerking off at the Hell Drake, you motherfucking idiot! Do I need to pry open your skull to see if there's a horny poison toad living inside?”

Under Stark's command, the Catachan 2nd Regiment quickly cleaned up the battlefield. They became the first Astra Militarum force to break through the mid-hive defense wall.

The Cadian 8th Regiment, in second place, broke through the mid-hive defense wall 41 minutes later, and the Krieg 19th Armored Regiment, in third place, broke through the mid-hive defense wall 67 minutes later.

Thus, the initial critical phase of the Imperial Expeditionary Force's Ascension Day Offensive in the Badab Sector was completed. Commanders then rotated troops, replacing those on the front lines with fresh units, and immediately launched attacks on the mid-hive, giving the remaining enemy no respite.

According to Raif's plan, they would annihilate the enemy before the Emperor's Ascension Day and celebrate this most important Imperial holiday on the corpses of their foes.

Most Astra Militarum generals were optimistic about this, believing that after days of relentless assault, the Red Corsairs had lost most of their forces, including fallen Space Marines. The number of Chaos Space Marines that could be accounted for exceeded three hundred, and the actual number was likely over five hundred. According to previous estimates, the Chaos Space Marine garrison at Sarum was not expected to exceed...

But the reality was far more complex than the expeditionary force's generals had estimated, because after Honsou arrived at Badab to oversee the defenses, he immediately increased the garrison of Sarum Hive to 3,000!

Therefore, although they had lost most of the hive city, the Red Corsairs' strength had also been compressed to its limit, like a clenched fist, and under the pressure of death, they planned to launch a desperate counterattack.

The upper hive of Sarum was completely different from the chaotic mid-hive and the savage under-hive. Here, the original order and rules were maintained to the greatest extent. Only the churches that once worshiped the Emperor had been turned into bloody arenas. Around them, factories and slaughterhouses were tightly packed together, bloody processing machines towered, burning promethium occasionally erupted, and blackened piles of goods merged into a nightmarish urban landscape, stretching in every direction one could see.

However, on the other hand, there were not many huge temples or dark altars common in Chaos worlds. Huron strictly forbade his lords from conducting large-scale sacrifices and worship rituals to the gods, which was the biggest source of dissatisfaction for the Word Bearers.

Dietrich dragged his heavy steps across the ash-covered avenue. His personal guard followed him, a behemoth looming at the end of the road.

As an Iron Warrior, Dietrich no longer had much concept of brotherhood. He even found it difficult to fully trust the bodyguards who had followed him for thousands of years. The only thing he trusted was this.

The Word Bearers trusted their gods, but even the most powerful gods manifested in flesh and blood, rather than adamantium alloy plates and tempered steel.

For him, that was not a god, but his brother.

As he approached, he raised his head. From its heavy treads to its highest circular turret, the engine was over 6 meters tall, dwarfing even Terminators.

It was a Baneblade, but the name of the old legion had been erased. It had had many names: Blackeye, Light of Hatred, Toothbreaker Wolf, but after Dietrich obtained it from Huron, it had only one name—

Tyrant's Hammer.

As Red Corsairs, skilled in boarding actions and weak in land warfare, Huron had long realized the great weakness in his forces, and was actively changing it. Through long-term plundering, salvaging, and even purchasing, Huron had begun building his own armored forces fifty years ago.

However, this process was not easy. After spending resources and costs sufficient to equip a main fleet, Huron had only barely cobbled together six super-heavy armor companies. Each super-heavy armor company consisted of 6 strike squads and 1 command squad. A squad contained 2-3 heavy tanks or one super-heavy tank, depending on the situation.

If it were just the Predators commonly used by the Astartes now, it would not have been so difficult for Huron. The super-heavy armor companies he built all used vehicles from the Great Crusade era that were already very rare in the current 41st millennium, mainly Sicaran battle tanks and Scimitar tanks, as well as a small number of Baneblades and Cerberus heavy tank destroyers, with the goal of targeting the Empire's knight houses and Titan legions.

Of course, Huron's entire plan was to eventually build thirty super-heavy armor companies, so that he would have the real means to besiege and seize territory, rather than just attacking weak Imperial worlds whenever possible.

Dietrich led the Red Corsairs' Fourth Super-Heavy Armor Company, also known as the 'Huron's Iron Fist.'

When the Empire's expeditionary order had just left Terra, they were deployed by Huron to Sarum. When Honsou arrived at Badab, he had ordered him to return to Badab Prime, but Dietrich looked down on this mongrel and would never accept his wisdom.

As one of Huron's most trusted commanders, Dietrich had left the legion to join the Red Corsairs long ago. After gaining Huron's trust, he was also very loyal to Huron, but conversely, he also became very arrogant. He listened to no one but Huron's orders, and was not convinced by anyone, even several war leaders could not order him around. Huron's indulgence out of 'love for talent' further fueled his arrogance, and he did not even take the lords on Sarum seriously.

Therefore, he refused Honsou's transfer order on the grounds of Huron's order. Honsou then reported the situation to Huron, but Huron did not respond for a while. The two sides pulled back and forth in the void for half a year. By the time the Imperial fleet surrounded the system, it was too late to leave.

However, Dietrich did not panic. Sarum had been managed for so many years, the hive city was strong enough, and there were sufficient supplies. Holding out for a year or two was not a problem at all.

At least he believed that as long as they held firm, there would be a way.

Bonus chapter tomorrow! Asking for monthly tickets!