The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Sir, the augur array is picking up abnormal readings on the enemy front. Multiple large units are surging into the forward threat zone!"

"All Hydra flak cannons, await my command."

Behind the battle lines, Arnie calmly watched as Hydra flak cannons and Earthshaker cannons leveled their barrels.

Then, he picked up his observation scope and saw many figures emerging from the smoke.

"Artillery! Concentrate fire on that vile machine!"

Just as Hayes dove behind cover, the first screaming shell unleashed its final death wail, culminating in a sudden, deafening explosion that shook the earth.

A dozen Earthshaker cannons fired simultaneously with astonishing force. Due to the low angle of the near-horizontal shots, the violent cannon blast swept debris off the ground and into the air, buffeting everything around it. Even Arnie, standing at a relatively safe distance, swayed.

Soon, a dense barrage of explosions erupted, interspersed with enraged roars, howls, and cries of pain.

"Three-round burst!"

Quickly, the second volley of artillery began, this time with armor-piercing shells. The screams were even more intense.

After the final round, the sounds ceased.

Arnie raised his binoculars. The "Daemon Gate" had been reduced to a pile of burning metal wreckage, but soon something pushed the debris aside, and hordes of Daemon Engines "squeezed" out of the ruins.

"Keep firing! Suppress the enemy! Hydra flak cannons, suppress the advancing Chaos Space Marines!"

Then, the Hydras roared to life, unleashing a hail of ammunition onto the battlefield. Many Chaos Space Marines, just emerging from the smoke, were immediately met with what felt like a wall of metal, sparks flying from their bodies, armor disintegrating, and soon falling, riddled with holes.

At that moment, Arnie noticed a strange flash in the distance. Just as he was wondering what it was, a beam of light with a piercing shriek streaked across the battlefield, accurately hitting an Earthshaker cannon, instantly melting it. The nearby artillery crew were also unlucky, turning into burning figures. Fortunately, it did not trigger a chain reaction of the shells.

He picked up his observation scope and saw a Chaos Sorcerer holding a long staff, wearing ornate robes and a bird-shaped mask. He immediately turned and summoned three battle psykers wearing psychic collars.

"Don't let him continue his rampage!"

As the sorcerer attempted to repeat his attack, the three battle psykers gathered together, jointly creating a psychic barrier to protect the Earthshaker cannon, then launching a psychic shockwave at the sorcerer, who raised a psychic shield in response.

With a deafening boom, lightning and shield collided, erupting in intense sparks.

In the instant the shield disappeared, one of the psykers clenched his hands into claws. The Chaos Sorcerer immediately clutched his head and began to convulse.

Seconds later, with a pop, his head exploded like a piece of fruit dropped on the ground.

However, the Daemon Engines' counter-fire forced the psykers to flee for their lives. Two Earthshaker cannons exploded in quick succession, and the horizontally-firing Hydras were also targeted, with rockets and plasma blasts constantly being launched. Soon, three were destroyed.

While the artillery crews struggled to suppress the enemy, Hayes and his men had to face the approaching enemy.

The barrel of his lasgun was so hot in his hand that it could have burned his fingers, but he still fired a laser beam into the face of a cultist trying to climb over the bodies of the dead towards him.

Then another, and another. He fired without thought or pause. Against such a dense mass of targets, there was no need to aim. These fanatics charged forward, screaming wave after wave.

Now the entire company was almost completely surrounded by a large group of heretics, cut off from other trenches and positions. Each circular defensive position had become a besieged island, trapped in an endlessly churning sea of enemies.

Amidst the fierce fighting, Hayes caught glimpses of the others around him out of the corner of his eye. Pike, covered in sweat, fired his shotgun at the enemy again and again. Habry, even with a bullet wound in his shoulder, persisted in operating the heavy bolter, firing at the most threatening Chaos Space Marines in the distance. The enemy kept targeting him, and his wounds were not limited to his shoulder. Winter, although nervous, worked tirelessly to carry ammunition for Habry and kept throwing grenades at the enemy. Hashet, as always, spewed obscene curses at the charging enemies.

Although everyone was somewhat afraid, Hayes saw a steely resolve and a refusal to die easily. He realized that regardless of their character, they were already what Imperial soldiers should be: brave, resolute, and unyielding in the face of the enemy.

But today might be their last battle.

"Out of ammo!"

Suddenly, Winter shouted, pushing the last empty ammunition box away. Then he threw a grenade at the enemy, his other hand reaching for his lasgun, which also meant that Hashet's heavy bolter would soon fall silent.

At this point, the battle had reached a fever pitch. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the enemy still surged onto the defenses. Almost every trench was a scene of close combat. Arnie, in response to the characteristics of the Chaos Space Marines, had deliberately placed a large number of thick metal obstacles in the second line of defense, making the space within the defenses extremely narrow, greatly reducing the Space Marines' size advantage. He also arranged for many melta teams to ambush in the final line of defense, inflicting damage on the enemy at close range.

Even so, facing the terrifying Chaos Space Marines, the entire regiment's casualties were rising sharply. Entire squads and companies were being slaughtered by one or two enemies. At this time, the warriors of the 310th Ababakari Infantry Regiment were relying entirely on their strong will to fight a bloody battle against enemies that seemed to have come from a nightmare, contesting every inch of ground.

At this time, Arnie knew that the front-line troops had reached their limit, and the enemy's offensive had also slowed down. So he decisively sent out the reserve troops, while he himself went to a hidden small space in the rear.

"Young Master, this battle is very dangerous, you should—"

Facing the nagging of his old retainer, Suhrab, Arnie waved his hand.

"Our mission is to hold this place until the orders from above arrive. This is a glorious battle, and I will fight to the end with my soldiers and my regiment."

At this moment, a huge metal container appeared. As two Tech-Priests opened it, a strange suit of armor emerged in a cloud of steam.

It had a very unique name: the Jägerharnisch.

Jägerharnisch is a special cultural practice popular among the upper-class nobles of certain hive worlds, possibly originating from the infamous Necromunda. While under-hive gangs fight endlessly for limited resources, those high-ranking nobles send people to intervene in conflicts for other reasons.

Generally speaking, the members of Jägerharnisch teams are basically composed of young upper-hive individuals who have never experienced hardship. These pampered playboys have always treated the under-hive people with a "let them eat cake" attitude. However, as part of their coming-of-age ceremony, they must join a Jägerharnisch team, descend to the under-hive, swear an oath to the Jägerharnisch team's patriarch, and complete tasks such as "designated area individual survival" or "kill quota", and are not allowed to return to the upper-hive until they have completed the task. When performing this ritual, they wear a unique and powerful suit of power armor, which is the origin of the Jägerharnisch.