The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"All squads, our mission is to escort the transport ship into orbit. It has almost no maneuverability within the atmosphere and can only travel along a fixed route. We must ensure that there are no Tyranid flying creatures obstructing its path."

Kano's voice echoed throughout the Rahm Squadron. Due to the expansion of the Legion, the size of a single squadron was clearly insufficient. Therefore, during the previous Legion reform, Sorshyan detached the Rahm Squadron from the Astral Knights' Fourth Company and combined it with a portion of the White Templars' flight formations to form the Rahm Wing. In effect, it could be considered an independent company. Kano was also promoted from sergeant to wing commander, at the same level as a company commander.

However, Kano mostly served in the Astral Knights, concurrently holding the position of commander of the First Flying Squadron. The four squadrons under the Rahm Wing were not all within the Astral Knights. Two squadrons followed the White Templars when not in assembly. The reorganized Rahm Wing had 48 Wrath-class Strike Fighters.

During the previous naval battle, the Rahm Wing engaged in fierce combat with Tyranid void creatures. Relying on the superior performance of the Wrath-class Strike Fighters and the Space Marines' superhuman reaction speed, the entire wing recorded over three thousand confirmed kills, along with countless spore clusters, without suffering any casualties.

But after entering the ground evacuation phase, due to the significant increase in the number of ships, there was no need for these valuable fighters to continue risking themselves in the void. Sorshyan therefore deployed them all to the planet to assist in the evacuation operation.

The Tyranids can sense life signals, and they will definitely be eyeing the transport ships filled with refugees. Transport ships are actually very vulnerable within the atmosphere. Firstly, they are slow, and secondly, they are not agile. As civilian ships, their structural strength is also insufficient. Once attacked by Tyranid flying creatures, they can easily be destroyed or even crash, or be invaded.

As the first transport ship rose to an altitude of about five thousand meters, countless gargoyles formed a black cloud and swooped down, interspersed with some larger creatures. Beneath their huge wings, tentacled bio-missiles writhed, ready to fire.

"Large swarm of creatures detected, six o'clock!"

"Medium-sized swarm of creatures detected, eleven o'clock!"

Kano received signals from all directions and quickly responded.

"Second Squad, intercept enemies at eleven o'clock. Third and Fourth Squads, intercept enemies at six o'clock. Remaining Thunder Squadrons, continue escorting. First Squadron, intercept enemies at three o'clock, prioritize firing at the Harridans."

"Enemies sighted!"

As the Wrath Lightning's engines roared, countless Tyranid flying creatures appeared in the viewing scopes.

Giant Harridans were surrounded by gargoyles, hiding in the meat shield formed by numerous small creatures, their vicious and cold eyes staring intently at the transport ship struggling to rush into the atmosphere.

But before that, their attention was drawn to the rapidly approaching Wrath Lightnings.

"Bio-missile electrical signals detected!"

The Harridans' bio-missiles release a strong bio-electromagnetic pulse upon hitting their target, paralyzing the target's electronic equipment or extinguishing the engines. They are very fast, but due to the strong electrical signals, they are also easily detected. The augur arrays provide data to the pilots and calculate a plan based on the bio-missile flight paths, vectors, and speeds.

Subsequently, the Wrath Lightning fighters dropped a dozen small objects with parachutes. The bio-missiles immediately seemed to find their target and rushed towards the decoys—the Mechanicum confirmed through the dissection of wrecks that the Harridans' missiles chase electromagnetic signals. In other words, anything that can emit a strong magnetic field will attract them like a magnet.

Sure enough, hundreds of bio-missiles all crashed into the decoys and then fell as broken pieces of meat.

The Harridans screeched angrily, and the gargoyle swarms swarmed forward, attempting to take the opportunity to attack the transport ship. Kano was familiar with the Tyranids' tactics. They had cunning hunting intelligence but were not good at concealing their intentions.

The Wrath Lightning fighters fired fiercely at the gargoyle swarms, turning those small creatures into minced meat and bones, then suddenly accelerated and dispersed, bypassing from several directions. Due to the terrible output of the plasma ramjet engines, they shook off the gargoyle swarms in a few breaths. The Harridans, losing the cover of the gargoyles, were defenseless against the fighters suddenly appearing behind them.

Kano locked onto one of them and fired two air-to-air missiles at high speed with half-second intervals. They flew towards the target at extreme speed.

The Harridan accelerated and turned, using its unique biological agility to dodge the first missile, but the second one had already pre-aimed at its evasion route. A violent explosion then engulfed the monster, turning it into a burning wreck falling to the ground.

Then Kano suddenly pulled up, dodging a bio-missile fired from the right rear, then rolled, turned, and fired the autocannons continuously.

The firepower of the twin-linked plasma autocannons hit the Harridan, splashing flesh and chitin fragments and tearing open its wings.

Howling, another beast fell downward.

After the Great Maelstrom Crusade, the Astral Knights' Wrath Lightnings were upgraded with firepower, replacing the original lascannons with Ryza-pattern plasma autocannons that had a shorter range but greater power—this weapon combined the plasma engine technology provided by the Astral Knights, ensuring a certain rate of fire without easily overheating.

Faced with the Rahm Wing, which had an overwhelming advantage in speed and firepower, the Tyranid creatures' wings were obviously not enough. All they could rely on was numbers.

While the Wrath Lightnings slaughtered gargoyles and Harridans at a rate of knots, a large number of Tyranids still flew towards the transport ship at all costs. The escorting Thunderhawk squadron became the second line of defense. Fortunately, most of the Harridans had been dealt with, and the Thunderhawks' performance was already sufficient against the gargoyles.

As the altitude continued to increase, the transport ship's speed also increased. Soon, it would be able to get rid of the Tyranid flying creatures' harassment with its own speed.

However, the most dangerous area was also approaching.

"Giant enemy creature detected! It's a Harpy!"

When Kano received the distress signal from the transport ship, he was not too surprised, because they had encountered Harpies when entering the atmosphere. These huge Tyranid flying creatures seemed to be hovering in the middle layers of the atmosphere, specifically intercepting human aircraft entering or leaving the planet from space.

"Roger, First Squadron, follow me."

Kano changed course and rushed towards the enemy direction scanned by the augur at an extremely fast speed. Soon, the wingless, footless flying behemoth appeared in the tactical helmet. At this time, it was leading a large number of gargoyles towards the transport ship. If the gargoyles could only cause minor trouble to the transport ship, it could pose a fatal threat.