The Emperor’s Angel of Death

As the ancient behemoth ceased all movement, the Greenskins completely lost their courage to defend, and they began to flee towards the outside of the city in droves. The Taran didn't pursue them, as their primary task was to consolidate their victory. Furthermore, millions of enslaved humans had been liberated within the city. According to these humans, the number of those previously enslaved was ten times the current number. The Taran did indeed discover a large number of skeletons in the various underground caves and garbage disposal centers of Dark Iron Fortress, which almost filled the entire underground space of Dark Iron Fortress, confirming the Greenskins' atrocities.

However, reclaiming Dark Iron Fortress didn't represent victory, because a huge number of Greenskin tribes still existed on this planet. Previously, with the Tech-Boss stationed at Dark Iron Fortress, it was his territory, so other Greenskin tribes didn't dare to covet it. But after the humans took it back, Dark Iron Fortress once again became 'unowned,' and would soon attract many Greenskin tribes to compete for it.

This was also part of the operational plan designed by Oscar, because the existing strength and troops of the humans were too few to wipe out the entire planet's Greenskins. Plus, they liked to scurry around, so the best way was to let them come to the door voluntarily.

And Dark Iron Fortress was such a meat grinder.

After reclaiming Dark Iron Fortress, the three company commanders of the Space Marine Chapter—Fourth Company Commander Lothar, Fifth Company Commander Oscar, and Ninth Company Commander Telsach—met in Dark Iron Fortress for a meeting. Representatives from the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperial Guard also participated.

Through the analysis of the situation, the various parties had different opinions on how to defend the system.

The Space Marines had come with instructions from the Fabricator General. The order at the time was merely to liberate the key industrial facilities of Proctus. Subsequently, the forces of Ryza and more Imperial Guard would take over the defense.

However, because there was still a Greenskin fleet near the system, the Space Marines themselves weren't sure when the troops taking over the defense would arrive.

Telsach didn't really want to stay here for a long time. Based on the experience of previous battles, this place would most likely become a quagmire of a bad war. This was determined by the Adeptus Mechanicus's war strategy. They would only try to stall the opponent and then try to exhaust them to death. But the Greenskins really weren't afraid of this. They really had a stubbornness to see it through to the end. The Adeptus Mechanicus's idea was obviously not applicable to the Greenskins.

But there was no way. The brains of the Tech-Priests weren't necessarily much brighter than the Greenskins, and they had a bit more stubbornness and obstinacy.

But the Adeptus Mechanicus liked to fight bad wars, which didn't mean others liked it. At least Telsach didn't like it. He felt that the Space Marines' mission here had been completed and they should withdraw in time and maneuver to more important battlefields to strike the enemy's key targets. This was the Space Marines' greatest tactical value—flexible deployment, rapid offensive, and one-hit kill.

Instead of being trapped in endless trench warfare and attrition warfare, counting the number of casualties every day.

But Oscar felt that if they withdrew at this time, even if the Greenskins couldn't occupy Dark Iron Fortress again, the situation in Proctus would still be in a state of decay. Moreover, there were still many enslaved humans in the factories and mines that hadn't been liberated. It would seem too irresponsible to leave.

Telsach retorted, if they continued to defend here to the death, what was the point? What effect would saving a few million, a few tens of millions of people have on the war situation?

His idea had always been to find the Greenskin warlord as quickly as possible and chop him down with one blow, but after being in Ryza for more than a year, he hadn't even seen the shadow of the warlord. All he had done was some trivial bullshit, and Ryza only cared about their important industrial assets and didn't bother to find out where the Greenskin warlord was. So Telsach became more and more irritable and increasingly disgusted with the Adeptus Mechanicus.

But Oscar also said that when they came, the Chapter Master had told them that they were here to assist Ryza in defense, to fulfill their obligations as allies, and naturally they should focus on Ryza's ideas and plans. They weren't joining the battle on their own.

As the most inconspicuous and low-key, but almost the oldest Fourth Company Commander Lothar, he had to come forward to mediate the increasingly fierce dispute between the two.

As an old warrior who had served in the chapter longer than Chapter Master Soyan, Lothar rarely spoke or expressed opinions, but when he spoke, few people would not listen, even the 'outsider' Telsach had some respect for this old company commander.

Lothar's opinion was also very simple, the Greenskin threat couldn't be ignored, but it wasn't appropriate for three companies to be trapped on one battlefield, so they would wait three months. If Ryza's replacement troops didn't come after three months, they would leave and destroy the facilities on the planet to prevent them from being used by the Greenskins again.

This was actually a bit of mudslinging, but even mudslinging depended on who was doing it. Lothar's intervention could be said to be just right.

Of course, the Adeptus Mechanicus was definitely not satisfied with this decision. They naturally hoped that the Space Marines would stay as long as possible, preferably not leaving. Therefore, they immediately made their own request, hoping that the Space Marines would leave only after receiving direct instructions from the Fabricator General.

It had to be said that most of the Adeptus Mechanicus, from top to bottom, lacked emotional intelligence and empathy. As soon as these words came out, all three Space Marine company commanders were angered.

What did it mean to wait for instructions before leaving?

Were they Ryza's armed forces?

Or were they subordinates of the Fabricator General?

The officers on the Imperial Guard side were more aware of human relationships. They also hoped that the Space Marines could stay longer, but they knew what the Space Marines' style was, so they brought out those enslaved civilians, talked about the tragic situation in various parts of the planet, and the lack of troops after the Imperial Guard's many days of hard fighting.

For Space Marines, selling misery was definitely more useful than showing off.

And their goal was very clear, which was to play Oscar's personal emotional card. The result was really useful. Oscar personally promised that even if they had to leave in the end, he would definitely liberate all the enslaved humans on the planet before leaving.

Lothar also suggested that temporary armed forces could be formed from local residents, and weapons could be directly taken from the Adeptus Mechanicus's factories—the reason for emphasizing this matter separately was because a very abstract thing had happened during the Greenskin invasion. It was clear that there were many newly produced weapons in the Adeptus Mechanicus's warehouse, and the local garrison also hoped to develop the warehouse and distribute the weapons to civilians to form a militia, but the Deputy Fabricator refused this request on the grounds that it didn't comply with the procedures and regulations. The factory was even producing 'orders' for other battlefields instead of giving them to the local troops first. The Adeptus Mechanicus's rigidity annoyed everyone but there was nothing they could do, so that a large number of weapons fell directly into the hands of the Greenskins.

This time, the Space Marines directly brought it up, and the Adeptus Mechanicus couldn't object, and could only agree.

However, the development of things always exceeded expectations. In less than two months, Ryza's troops arrived, but there weren't many of them, and they also brought an urgent message from the Fabricator General.

The Greenskin warlord Gorax led a fleet and suddenly broke through Ryza's outer defense circle, and is now approaching Ryza itself. General Mobide von Hoddrick from the Sol System has set a trap on a key planet leading to Ryza, preparing to wipe out the Greenskin warlord in one fell swoop. Now the Fabricator General is urgently transferring the three companies of Space Marines to support.

Faced with such important military intelligence, the three company commanders did not hesitate at all, and immediately set off for the battlefield to participate in the most critical battle to determine the defense of Ryza.