The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 3007: The Battle for Westeros (5)

Not only the artillery, but also the tank units deployed at the front lines were doing their best to deal with the heavy Tyrant Beasts, Harpies, and Holy Brood, as well as the frenzied Butchers. However, considering it was a defensive battle, most of the tanks were deployed in the second line, mainly used as mobile support.

But no matter how much damage the swarm suffered, more would always replenish it, advancing wave after wave, endlessly.

In the sky, spore cysts rained down upon the earth, each landing signifying a further expansion of the ground swarm, and an ominous, ghastly green spore cloud had begun to heavily shroud the horizon.

In this defensive operation, Hayes' division was "unlucky" enough to be assigned to the command sequence of the Flesh Tearers Chapter. There were many bad rumors about this chapter. Hayes didn't quite believe that the Angels would do such things, but these red angels covered in blood did make people feel a little chilly. The key was that they had bad tempers. Although the Auxiliaries didn't suffer much torment, the militia was miserable. Hundreds of officers had been executed for poor combat performance, cowardly behavior, and other crimes. It was said that more than five thousand unfortunate souls had been sent on suicide missions for various reasons—carrying melta bombs to blow up the approaching large Tyranid creatures.

This made everyone tremble at the sight of those red giants, fearing that they would become the next unlucky ones.

"Plasma cannons, concentrate fire on those Warrior Bugs, ignore the Harpies, other weapons will deal with them! Heavy bolters and machine gun teams, prioritize shooting Warrior Bugs!"

Hayes tried his best to coordinate the firepower on the front lines. During the respite, the firepower of their company was further strengthened. It seemed that the higher-ups also knew that enemies like the Tyranids needed heavy firepower to fight against, so each company was given 2 extra heavy weapons teams, equipped with more meltas and heavy anti-vehicle rocket launchers. Especially the meltaguns, a squad of 12 men were all equipped with Ryza-pattern man-portable meltaguns. In addition, the company's personnel were also replenished, but they were all carefully selected local soldiers. Although they had not received much training in advanced weapons, it was easy for them to use a lasgun and throw a grenade, which could free up many tactical squad personnel to heavy weapons squads.

Now Hayes' company had 12 Ryza-pattern man-portable meltaguns, 4 heavy multi-melta, 12 Ryza-pattern rapid-firing plasma guns, 4 plasma machine guns, 2 heavy bolters, 2 multi-barrel lascannons, 3 mortars, 2 grenade launchers, and 4 heavy anti-vehicle rocket launchers, its firepower approaching that of the most elite Astra Militarum regiments of the Imperium.

But this did not give Hayes a single bit of security in the face of these enemies.

Hundreds of monsters were killed every second, but the swarm was almost endless. The crowded bugs stepped on the corpses of their brethren and continued to approach the defense line. Although they were only a company, they were the core of this 600-meter-long defense line. Because the number of Auxiliaries was insufficient, their left and right wings were those militia. If they collapsed, the militia units would collapse immediately, and a large gap would be opened in the defense line in an instant.

As for why some weapons were not distributed to the militia, it was not that Hayes was stingy, but that the situation in this world was too "backward". Many people had never even seen a lasgun, let alone touched one. Giving them technical weapons was basically a waste.

An hour ago, their left-wing position was breached by a Butcher. The militia had no means to deal with it. Fortunately, Hayes called in air support in time to destroy it, but those militia were already frightened birds. Before, Hayes saw that their weapons were too poor, so he distributed many grenades from his unit to them to give them some firepower. As a result, many untrained people either threw them too close or simply didn't know how to throw them, killing and injuring many people instead, which made Hayes very helpless.

Therefore, during the battle, Hayes had to pay attention to the militia regiments on the left and right flanks at all times. Fortunately, with the help of the servo-skull, he could understand the other party's situation through the data slate.

The sound of the enemy approaching gradually became clear in the rumbling of artillery fire. After paying huge casualties, the Tyranids rushed towards the defensive wall of the position in an avalanche, and the noisy roars and thunderous hoofbeats shook the earth.

Gargoyles and Warrior Bugs began to fire, and various acids and maggots had already made the concrete parapet pitted like moldy cheese, while some melee Warrior Bugs with Ripper Swarms began to try to cross the parapet, but the dense fire net made them fall backward, turning into twitching corpses. When the number of corpses reached a certain level, it became a gentle slope.

"Hold on! Hold on!"

Hayes personally operated a twin-linked heavy bolter on the machine gun watchtower, sweeping towards the endless sea of bugs. At this time, a large number of Hormagaunts had begun their deadly leaps. Some were shot down, but some fell on the parapet. However, the soldiers had experience. There were not only regular troops on the position, but also some militiamen specially selected by Hayes. They were all strong young men, holding sharp steel spears and forks. As soon as the Hormagaunts came to the position, they immediately swarmed up, using long weapons to control them and attacking the unprotected heads and side ribs of the Hormagaunts, quickly killing them. This was also the way to maximize the use of the militia—instead of letting them tremble on the position alone, it was better to use them rationally.

At this moment, a rain of maggots sprinkled on Hayes' position. He quickly bent down, and the alloy baffle of the machine gun then came a burst of crisp impact sounds, followed by the corrosive "sizzling" sound and a pungent stench. Even wearing a gas mask, Hayes felt as if there was a smell drilling into his nose.

Just as he was about to stand up and prepare to continue firing, he found that the bullets were gone.

"Ammo!"

"Uncle! Captain!"

Little Faydu carried an ammunition box to the machine gun turret, and then said while panting:

"Something happened on the left! Those wastes let the Tyranids break through!"

"Huh?"

Hayes quickly picked up the data slate next to him, but his heart turned cold when he saw it. A mutated Butcher had broken through the parapet. This type of Butcher was marked as a Rubble Kind by the Mechanicum, which was a siege-type Butcher variant.

Its whole body was covered with armor that was thicker than that of a normal Butcher. In addition to a pair of crushing claws that could crush concrete fortifications like kneading dough, it also wielded a bio-flail that was larger than a Space Marine. This thing was made of tough tendons and spiked mallets. Every time it was swung, it would cause terrifying destruction. Behind it, the parapet had been broken open with a gap nearly five meters long, and the surrounding defensive facilities had been destroyed. A large number of Ripper Swarms and Warrior Bugs were pouring in, and the defense line was in imminent danger!