The Emperor’s Angel of Death

At least in Dietrich's strategic vision, although the Imperium now had some advantages, as long as his armored fist remained, the Imperials would taste the most painful defeat.

“All crews are ready, sir.”

Sergeant Vsevolod of the company's No. 1 strike squad came to his side, interrupting his inspection of his beloved vehicle. The warrior's voice was excited, and Dietrich didn't need to take his eyes off the majestic form of the Tyrant's Hammer to feel his subordinate's desire for slaughter.

Vsevolod was one of the few vehicle commanders in the company who had sworn allegiance to Khorne. Although he had not repainted his power armor in the colors favored by the Blood God, he had never cleaned the ceramite surface in over six centuries of slaughter, and his armor was now covered in a thick layer of black, dried blood.

Generally speaking, Dietrich did not like unstable Khorne worshipers joining his company and driving valuable steel chariots.

But Vsevolod was an exception. Although he craved killing, he was able to restrain himself and turn the Blood God's fury into valiant tactical skill.

“Before the butchery begins, the machine needs further inspection.”

“It is done, Khorne demands skulls.”

“Khorne always demands skulls.”

Dietrich said calmly:

“And He will soon have them.”

He turned to look around. The 6 strike squads, a total of 15 various heavy vehicles, had started their engines, emitting life-like roars. Most of the engines had been modified to adapt to the power of Chaos. Huge trophy racks were strung with skulls, and living sacrifices dedicated to the Dark Gods were chained to the turrets and engine covers.

Dietrich had a servitor equip him with a command backpack consisting of cables, data lines, uplink plugs, and a servo-skull, and then boarded his command vehicle.

“These upcoming combat plans, everyone, every vehicle crew, must strictly execute! I don't want to see any unauthorized actions or know-it-alls!”

Soon, the battle plan was transmitted to every vehicle.

This was actually the counterattack plan that Dietrich had wrestled from Lord Satusash for a long time. At the start of the attack, they would concentrate their forces to attack the No. 3 giant substation in the mid-hive and the News transport hub. According to reconnaissance, the defending troops there consisted of only 2 newly recruited local regiments from the Maelstrom, with weak combat effectiveness. At the same time, the terrain in this area was relatively flat and wide, suitable for armored forces to advance.

After breaking through this area, the Red Corsairs would split into two routes. One route, composed of mortals, would mainly attack the two large armories and supply warehouses on the front line of the attacking forces. The other route would be the main force, responsible for attacking the command headquarters of the adjacent Cadian battle group.

Although the Imperial army had broken through the mid-hive, there were still many residents hiding in the ruins, constantly transmitting information to the Red Corsairs. Therefore, the Red Corsairs were still relatively clear about the deployment of the Imperial army. They envisioned that once the command post of the Cadian battle group was taken down, the Cadian legions would fall into chaos. At that time, launching an attack from their front would provide an opportunity to severely damage this spearhead force. In addition, with the front-line supply warehouses destroyed, the Imperium's subsequent offensive would likely be delayed.

As long as they could stall for time, everything would not be completely hopeless. As long as Honsou of Badab launched an attack, everything would be fine.

In summary, their intention was to try to knock off one of the Imperium's attacking 'fingers' first, and then find a way to knock off another one after the Imperium felt the pain and loosened its grip.

For this plan, Lord Satusash not only brought out the Fourth Super-Heavy Armor Company, but also took out all the Daemon Engines and mixed them with 500 Chaos Space Marines and tens of thousands of pirate auxiliary troops to form a Satusash counterattack group. They would launch an attack on the Cadian's front, while nearly 1,000 Chaos Space Marines and tens of thousands of the most elite pirate boarding teams would use various vehicles to form an assault cluster, assisting the Fourth Super-Heavy Armor Company in opening a breakthrough.

It could be said that this operation basically used up all of the Red Corsairs' remaining main force on Satusash. The remaining forces were basically useless militias and slaves. Of course, several Chaos Sorcerers would also assist in the battle. They would use these lives to perform various rituals, interfering with the Imperium's communications, creating hive-specific rust storms, and summoning a small number of daemons—in fact, if their level wasn't too low, the Red Corsair lords would have had them summon daemons on a large scale long ago.

Faced with the crisis of death, the Red Corsairs were much more efficient. They acted immediately after the plan was finalized.

On the Imperial side, with the offensive proceeding smoothly, they were not very prepared for the Red Corsairs' counterattack. While concentrating their main forces in several directions, they only placed some second-line troops to defend some key points.

Therefore, when the roaring super-heavy armor rushed into the News transport hub and its adjacent areas in an assault formation, the two defending regiments were completely unprepared, and the weapons and small number of vehicles in their hands were completely unable to threaten these ancient engines from ten thousand years ago. The suicidal anti-armor squads were intercepted by the Chaos Space Marines following the armor, and the Tyrant's Hammer destroyed fourteen Chimeras and five Leman Russ tanks in the battle.

In the end, the two defending regiments were completely defeated and withdrew from the key positions. At this time, only thirty minutes had passed since the Red Corsairs' armored forces launched their attack.

After stepping over the corpses and positions of the defenders, the Red Corsairs' Fourth Heavy Armor Company immediately turned west, heading straight for the command headquarters of the Cadian battle group.

Almost at the same time as the breakthrough, the Red Corsairs' frontal counterattack also began. A large number of twisted Daemon Engines appeared in front of the Cadian lines, catching the Cadians, who had just finished their attack, off guard.

But under their superb military skills, the front-line Cadian forces quickly stabilized their positions, and at the same time, reinforcements were successively transferred from the rear to support the front line.

Reports of the Red Corsairs' counterattack were quickly transmitted upwards, but the front-line troops still did not understand the scale of the Red Corsairs' counterattack, and still believed it was a last-ditch effort. Even the commanders of the Cadian battle group had some disputes over whether to report the matter, with some generals believing that this “small trouble” could be solved by themselves.

But when the news that a gap in the defense line had been exposed and that the enemy's heavy armored forces were rushing towards them at an extremely fast speed finally reached them, the Cadian generals were dumbfounded.

The Red Corsairs actually still had super-heavy armored forces!

At this time, the Red Corsairs' Fourth Super-Heavy Armor Company was less than sixty kilometers away from the command headquarters of the Cadian battle group. Even the Tyrant's Hammer's terrifyingly powerful main gun had begun to launch intimidating bombardments around the command headquarters. In this situation, the Cadian generals could only hurriedly mobilize troops to intercept and quickly transfer the command headquarters.

The only force that could arrive in time to intercept the enemy was the Cadian 1652nd Armored Regiment, the “Iron Lords.”

However, just as the 1652nd Armored Regiment was urgently mobilized, the Cadian generals, who were frantically organizing the evacuation, received what could be called good news.

A nearby Krieg 98th Siege Regiment happened to be in transit. After receiving the combat warning, they quickly contacted the Cadian battle group and applied to join the Cadian 1652nd Armored Regiment to intercept the rampaging Red Corsairs' Fourth Super-Heavy Armor Company and the assault cluster behind it.

At the same time, the Astral Knights Chapter, after receiving the Red Corsairs' counterattack signal, immediately became alert. Chapter Master Raif immediately traveled from orbit to the hive city on a Thunderhawk, intending to personally lead the team to the battlefield.