The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2862: A Song of Fire and Acid (Part 1)

Under the light of distant stars, countless sharp shapes cut through the ocean of stars, reflecting the approaching sea of blood and fire.

The bridge of the Eternal Crusader was bustling with voices, but Solzhenitsyn was now blind to everything. His left elbow rested on the armrest of the command throne, and his right hand held a huge golden goblet. Although his eyes were fixed on the flickering star chart, he was actually staring at a distant place invisible to others.

He could already feel the substantial malice of the Tyranids. He could even see a vague outline, like a cloud of black mist full of tentacles, gradually covering the starlight and bringing everything into darkness.

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But the deepest feeling was not that thirst, but hatred.

He felt an逼ren hatred.

Where did this come from? And who is it aimed at?

Is it himself?

Can the Tyranid consciousness recognize him?

Or is this malice aimed at a broader existence, all life?

"Lord Commander, the enemy's vanguard has passed through the asteroid belt on the edge of the galaxy."

Losar's voice interrupted Solzhenitsyn's gaze, he coughed lightly and sat up straight.

Looking at the tactical observation instrument in the star chart, it showed the icons and runes of all the ships in the fleet, and represented the location of the Tyranid Hive Fleet with dense light spots. To compare the two, it was a sea of scarlet and some scattered emerald green.

With just one glance, you could tell that this wave could easily swallow this little light.

The first to feel the malice of the Tyranids, besides Solzhenitsyn, were the Astropaths and Navigators.

"They are coming! The Great Devourer is coming!!!"

The Astropaths' sensitive psychic nerves were almost vulnerable to that malice. They let out painful and frantic roars. Fortunately, there was already a response plan. A large amount of tranquilizers were injected, and then all the Astropaths were sent into cryogenic protection pods, but this also meant that the fleet temporarily lost the ability to communicate over long distances.

The Navigators were asleep from the beginning, so they were not harmed.

"Is this the Tyranid swarm?"

Compared to Solzhenitsyn's calmness, the company commanders in the battle group were seeing the real Tyranid Hive Fleet for the first time, and they were all shocked by their scale.

This was also the first time in their lives that they had seen a scene that could "fill" the void. Even the largest Imperial fleet could not do this, but the Tyranids did it. Looking at the edge of the entire galaxy, even the starlight disappeared. Only countless monsters covered with thick armor and wriggling tentacles, like migrating fish in the ocean.

"This number... what kind of creatures are they?"

On the bridge of another battle barge, Soulbringer, Bakhram was also staring at the terrifying scene in the observation mirror, and was shocked by it.

"Or are they really creatures?"

"What kind of terror is there outside the galaxy that can breed such a thing?"

Jacob, who was next to him, withdrew his gaze from the observation mirror, and also looked incredible.

"How many are there? Are there a million?"

"I'm afraid more than that, I guess it's hundreds of millions."

"Looking at their size, those big ones are probably the size of cruisers. With this number, do we have a chance of winning with this fleet?"

"You have to believe in the Lord Commander."

While the warriors were talking, Bakhram couldn't help but gasp. The pressure brought by this dense group of creatures was really much more terrifying than a huge fleet. Even the tenacious will of the Astartes would inevitably be shaken when faced directly, and another pressure came from the fact that he knew more.

The Tyranids in front of him were not the full strength of the Hive Fleet. This was already one of the three parts, although it was the largest.

If it was the full strength of the Tyranid fleet...

Even though Bakhram had unconditional trust in Solzhenitsyn, he couldn't help but have the question in the warriors' mouths.

Do they really have a chance of winning with this many ships?

But he would never doubt Solzhenitsyn. Besides, this battle was not about defeating the Tyranid fleet. Solzhenitsyn made it very clear at the tactical meeting that the purpose of this naval battle was only to delay the Tyranids' digestion of the galaxy.

"...Whenever a bio-ship is killed, the Tyranid fleet will give priority to recovering those biological remains for re-transformation. This sounds terrifying, but it will also delay their ground operations. Nothing is absolutely perfect, even the Tyranids."

When Solzhenitsyn said this with a smile, the fleet had approached a planet on the very edge of the galaxy.

"So we only need to kill enough Tyranid ships within five hours to achieve our tactical goal."

When the Imperial fleet approached, the Tyranid Hive Fleet immediately reacted. Whether it was the aggregation of a large number of organic lives or the heat waves generated by the burning engines, they all attracted the attention of the hungry devourers and determined that this was a viable target. Then the huge fleet began to change its formation with an incredible degree of coordination, forming a semicircle like a giant hand, surrounding the Imperial fleet and the nearby cold planets.

It wanted to swallow this "snack" in one bite, but it didn't know that it was a poisonous fruit covered with thorns.

"All ships move into battle positions."

Solzhenitsyn's voice was transmitted to the surrounding warships through the ship's internal communication network. Knowing that the Tyranid will had the ability to interfere with communication, he specially asked the Adeptus Mechanicus to improve the fleet's communication network, using a short-range but very stable technology.

Soon, this huge fleet of more than one hundred and fifty ships began to change its formation, turning into a three-line formation commonly used for defense. The advantage of this formation is that it is easy to change the formation, but the disadvantage is that it lacks aggressiveness.

But now is not the time to attack.

As the broadcast echoed on the gun deck, the turrets opened along the sides of the huge warship, and the torpedo tubes on the armored bow also opened. The gunners began to shout out firing plans, drawing the movement routes of the projectiles and the enemy's movement trajectories on the display screen.

But what really completed this huge task was something else.

In a room on the Eternal Crusader that no one could find, the Omnissiah stood quietly, with countless cables and cogitators surrounding it, and its body was also full of lines.

It was not only directly connected to the scanning devices on the ship, but also connected to data receivers. Scanning data from the entire fleet was gathered here, and all firepower and projectiles were finely quantified into standard values, and compared with the number of Tyranid creatures to analyze all the tactical data Solzhenitsyn needed.

"Third Cruiser Squadron, torpedoes ready!"

"First Viper Squadron, missiles ready!"

"Second Viper Squadron, missiles ready!"

According to the Imperial standard naval warfare procedure, the first wave of strikes was naturally launched by torpedoes. Solzhenitsyn did not choose any novel tactics this time, because there was no need.

But he had novel weapons specially prepared for the Tyranids—