The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Kusackla, are you alright!"

Riccas was the closest and immediately went to help him up, discovering that the chest of his armor was dented inward, showing the force of the impact.

"Wow, of course, something's wrong! Why don't you try getting hit by a Ravener."

"Forget about what's wrong, let's go!"

Urged by Jacob, they sprinted towards the designated landing point, with the Tyranid swarm hot on their heels. Riccas couldn't shake the feeling that the ground was trembling slightly. As someone who grew up in the desert, he was quite sensitive to vibrations, because in the desert, vibrations mean danger is approaching.

At this moment, the swarm once again closed in on the four, and according to the tactical display, they were still nearly a kilometer away from their designated escape point.

It seemed short, but in reality, it was very long.

"Comet! Comet! One more aerial support run!"

"Roger that."

In less than three minutes, the four heard something exploding in the sky, followed by burning fragments raining down. Because the nearby spore mines had been blown away by the shockwave of the nuclear explosion, the sky was temporarily safe. When Jacob looked up, he saw burning Tyranid corpses falling from the sky like rain, along with six fighters diving down. They were followed closely by a dozen Harpies, and hundreds of smaller creatures detached from these airborne mother-ships. They quickly folded their wings and swooped down like eagles towards the fighters, but their biological limits meant they couldn't keep up with the Vulture-pattern fighters running at full engine power.

The six fighters quickly pulled up as they approached the ground and flew in different directions, like a scattering of celestial flowers, before releasing their deadly gliding bombs.

As the bombs rapidly descended, countless smaller bombs were released, creating a rain of death. This time, they chose to deploy cluster bombs.

In an instant, the space around the four-man squad was cleared, and the six fighters climbed again, attacking the Harpies from several directions.

They immediately began to move, but in the process, Riccas saw something that made him uneasy. Swarms of Ripper swarmed over the devastated battlefield, meticulously scavenging every bit of biomass. When they encountered a Tyranid wreck, they would swarm it and devour it until only the exoskeleton remained. After that, a slower-moving variant of Ripper would appear. These variants had huge mandibles, and they even crunched the bones clean. They were emerging directly from underground and seemed oblivious to the Space Marines running past.

"Has this world been completely hollowed out by them?"

A terrible thought arose in Riccas's mind.

"It hasn't been that long."

"Is their bio-reclamation efficiency really that high?"

At this moment, in the squad's comm-channel, Kusackla voiced the question in Riccas's mind.

Jacob then answered breathlessly:

"Of course, otherwise, why would the Tyranids be so troublesome? They are the most perfect biological enemy the Imperium has ever encountered."

The Tyranids' reclamation operation was swift. When the Rippers retreated, a Tyranid tide composed of thousands upon thousands of creatures of all sizes surged in from all directions. And they seemed to know where these people were running, with a considerable number of flying Warriors blocking the four-man squad's path at top speed.

Of course, they were met with fierce fire.

"Night Watch One! We are approaching the extraction zone!"

"Roger that, hold on for two minutes."

But the Warrior and Hormagaunt sea was already close. Jacob realized that he couldn't call in air support either. He looked around and spotted a huge raised platform, which must have been the foundation of some building, but the surface structures were gone. However, it was suitable as a landing point for Night Watch, so he roared:

"Throw grenades! Throw all the fragmentation grenades! Then take the high ground!"

With a series of explosions, the four rushed out of the gap, but it was immediately blocked by Warriors falling from the sky.

Jacob simultaneously ducked to avoid a bone-sword aimed at him, and backhanded with the Jagged Star, the plasma blade made a sharp noise as it cut through the chitinous shell, and then directly severed the creature's waist.

The grenades continued to explode, sending flesh flying, and the four rushed onto the platform.

But it wasn't over yet. Those variant Hormagaunts with short wings appeared again. One of them jumped directly onto Neil's shoulder. The Sergeant grabbed its arm with one hand, controlled it, then slammed it to the ground and stomped it to death.

Riccas used the last of his energy to activate his meltagun, creating a narrow wall of fire, but a Warrior charged straight through, its whole body burning, and swung its bone-sword at Riccas. Riccas rolled away, then dropped the gun and picked up his chainsword, successfully severing the creature's claws. He then shot it in one of its red eyes with his pistol, before charging forward and beheading it.

Strapping the energy-depleted gun to his back, Riccas was more concerned with the ground shaking more and more violently.

"Captain! There!"

Looking into the distance, Riccas couldn't help but shout. Jacob kicked away a Hormagaunt and looked over, his heart sinking.

In the re-emerging yellow smoke, a mountain-like creation strode out. It was a hunched, massive monster, with four insect-like legs supporting its body. Its forelimbs were twisted, carrying two giant symbiotic cannons. Its more vulnerable abdomen was protected by spiky tendrils, which writhed as if they had their own consciousness.

"Titan... They actually have Titan-level creatures..."

The massive living Titan strode towards the four. The distance seemed far, but in reality, it would soon be shortened by its four long legs towering like hive-city spires, and the bio-cannons on its arms had already begun to twitch, ready to unleash deadly destructive firepower on these few meddling little things.

"Captain, how are we supposed to deal with it!"

Kusackla's words elicited desperate sighs from the three.

"Deal with it? Try using your ass to deal with it and see if it works!"

But compared to the approaching bio-Titan, the swarm about to engulf the four was just as deadly. All bullets and energy had been used up. The four now only had plasma pistols and melee weapons. They stood back to back, constantly hacking and shooting at the creatures charging towards them.

And exactly two minutes had passed.

"Hold on, brothers."

A voice sounded in Jacob's comm-channel, followed by a burst of concentrated fire, sending the surrounding Tyranid creatures flying. Rivers of foul-smelling alien blood dyed the earth purple. Then four Stormtalons sped past over the four's heads, and they launched another volley of missiles at the distant Titan, which exploded and caused the creature to emit a series of angry roars, but without any substantial damage.