Chapter 727 The Enemy's Atrocities on Our Land

After that, the Cerberus swarm that arrived launched a lightning-fast attack, engaging the Protoss and Zerg that attacked Ister's troops in an extremely cruel and bloody fight, as sharp, cold and sharp as a dissecting knife.

The Imperial army, whose pressure was suddenly relieved, regrouped and gathered its forces to launch a counterattack.

After that, the Jörmungandr swarm continued to increase its troops through the tunnel worms that continued to break out of the ground, and the battle continued until the stars slowly climbed to the horizon.

Even in the dark, fierce exchanges of fire could be heard in all directions, and the light of explosions in the sky flickered continuously, and traces of the battle reached tens of thousands of feet from the ground. Flares, laser beams, and plasma beams lit up the clear night sky again and again, and only the brightest stars were still vaguely visible.

This was a chaotic battle without any order. This raid completely disrupted the pre-deployment of the Imperial landing forces, and each Imperial force was forced to fight on its own.

To make matters worse, the satellites and ground communication base stations of the Imperial command system were suddenly hit hard by the Protoss. The attack range included the army, division, brigade and battalion headquarters of the Imperial Army. This was probably because the signals sent by the orbital satellite base station completely exposed the positions of the senior command units.

The enemy did not wait until they were ready to attack.

During this period, the communication between Istel's unit and the 7th Marine Infantry Division was once interrupted.

When a lieutenant colonel took over the command, they learned that the command center where the division commander General Ludvid was located was suddenly attacked, and he and his adjutant staff had all met with an accident. Not only the division headquarters, but even the battalion could not be contacted, and there was no news from the fleet in orbit.

That night, bad news came one after another.

When the battle broke out on this side, another insect nest force of the Jörmungandr swarm began to besiege the Water Source No. 4 Fortress, which the 7th Marine Infantry Division was about to reinforce, and wiped out thousands of defenders in just a few hours.

The second and third lines of defense were breached before they were fully formed, and they could not even delay much time. On a blood-red evening, the 19th and 76th Marine Infantry Divisions on the Jörmungandr swarm's route were massacred, with more than 20,000 dead.

The defeat was overwhelming.

Then, the Jörmungandr swarms that marched straight into the Water Oasis colony crossed the defense line, and a total of 21 divisions were besieged, dismembered, and annihilated. A blessing in disguise, the troops that Istel was in were not among them, but they were very close to the encirclement, almost under their noses.

At this moment, the Cerberus swarms on their side had long disappeared. After the battle, they turned around and disappeared in the Jörmungandr swarm's wormway network, continuing to pursue their enemies.

Obviously, the Lord of Cerberus had his own ideas about leading troops to fight.

In the case of a long-term inability to contact the command center and poor communication, the grassroots imperial officers united to take control and command battalion and brigade-level troops.

Lieutenant Colonel Grants took over the position of commander of the 7th Marine Infantry Division. He was leading the troops in a command vehicle outside and avoided the attack of the Protoss on the division headquarters.

The new division commander sent the Vulture Driver as a signalman to gather the troops and ordered them to continue to advance to Fortress No. 4 to rescue the troops besieged by the Jörmungandr swarm and meet them.

Istel could see Lieutenant Colonel Grants' intention: they could only advance, not retreat.

The flat oasis hinterland was almost defenseless. Retreating meant exposing the back and flanks to the bloodthirsty Jörmungandr swarm. Competing with the stamina of the swarm was a dead end. The return to New Richmond was a long way to go. In comparison, the water source Fortress No. 4, which they were originally going to, was much closer.

If they could gather enough strength to recapture the fortress and hold it until the arrival of subsequent reinforcements, they would not be wiped out on the first day of landing in the colony.

Will this be another Brocas Hull landing site massacre? Without those famous imperial generals, the remaining commanders simply seemed to be unable to fight.

No, they were still excellent commanders. The many victories that Emperor Augustus brought to the Terran Empire had made Istel forget how hard they had fought.

The brain worms were always learning and getting stronger. They had survived the first total war and the battle of the hive. Every time they fought with the Protoss Empire and the Terran Empire, the swarms learned lessons and never made the same mistake again.

In front of the swarm, they only needed to make a wrong step, and they would be doomed.

If Lieutenant Colonel Grants wanted to save his army, he had to fight to the death.

That night, Istel's platoon was fighting all the time.

They followed their company to the Water Source No. 4 Fortress, advancing behind the slow barrage of siege tanks. The armored forces and all the raider companies gathered together to take the lead, almost stepping on the bodies of enemies and comrades.

The blood that flowed freely made the hard ground under their feet become muddy and slippery. I don't know how many people died that night and never saw the sun the next day.

Later, part of the troops from several nearby divisions also joined Istr. Many troops were wiped out, and the remaining people either joined other troops or disappeared.

This battle was very difficult. The number of Jörmungandr swarms was more than ten times theirs, and they kept attacking the shaky weak points.

People kept falling down, and there was no time to transfer and treat the injured.

Most of the medical transport planes were shot down, and the remaining ones had to keep lowering their altitude to avoid the Protoss Phoenix fighter fleet. Their air force was already gone.

Since the army was always on the move, the field hospital was useless at this time, and they could only hope for those armored ambulances equipped with medical equipment. But in this case, even finding those ambulances was simply a pipe dream.

Lin, who was injured the day before, was not transferred to Haven for recuperation as Eastel expected. The hydralisk that attacked him evolved a new toxin gland, which turned the spinal needles it sprayed into a poisonous dagger coated with toxins, which may come from some venomous snakes from New Trinidad.

Before a new antidote was developed, it was hopeless.

Rioyol kept carrying Lin on his back, and Eastel could only scold him and let him put down Lin's body. In the end, Rioyol cried.

At noon the next day, the 7th and 11th Marine Infantry Divisions finally broke through the defenses of the Jörmungandr Swarm and joined the remnants of the other two divisions.

At this time, as a second lieutenant, Istel became a battalion commander like a rocket, which meant that the company commanders and platoon leaders before him had died or could no longer command their troops.

Since the fleet in orbit never sent reinforcements, the lost troops could not be replenished, and the experienced commanders also suffered heavy casualties, and could only be compensated by larger-scale temporary promotions.

This situation has become more and more common in the increasingly tragic battles in recent years. The grassroots officers of the Imperial Army still maintain the tradition of the Revolutionary Army era, often taking the lead in charging, which greatly increases their mortality rate.

In this situation, the bottom-level soldiers and non-commissioned officers have more opportunities for promotion, which is very similar to the end of the old federation.

Although he has become the battalion commander, the soldiers under his command have been reduced to less than one-third of the original number, and the original platoon has been forced to be mixed with the other two platoons to maintain combat power.

When Istel led his troops to retake the Water Source 4 Fortress, he realized that this was an impossible task.

The towering steel city still stood, but it had completely become a nest of the Zerg. The Zerg had infected the entire building, and a large number of spine crawlers, spore cannons and bile projectiles grew vigorously along the fortress walls covered with veins and connective tissue, forming a terrible firepower network.

In the past, the Zerg had never done this before.

Just when they were on the verge of despair, support from orbit finally arrived.

They received support from personnel and supplies one after another, and at this time Istel became a real battalion commander, and he found that he was fully capable of this position.

Three fully staffed Kemorian airborne divisions were also thrown into the battle. These troops composed of workers, miners and explorers wore rusty brass armor to distinguish them from the imperial army.

These Kemorian people had a strong fighting spirit, even not inferior to the imperial elite troops such as the 7th Marine Division.

Since the rise of the Empire, the internal rule of the Kemorian Federation has been declining. The current corporate coalition government has long been following Khama's lead and handed over the command of the Federation's army to the Imperial Supreme Command without any hesitation. Anyway, the army is trained and organized by the Empire, and those shrewd businessmen and politicians have no say in command and dispatch.

But the nature of the Kemorians makes them never become Tyranids, which Ister is absolutely sure of.

Not only the Kemorians, but also the Umoyan United States has sent troops.

The Umoyan Democratically Elected Parliament was originally worried that the power of the Tyranid Empire would erode and control their country, but after the Golden Fleet and the Zerg effortlessly destroyed several United States territories, the Umoyan National Defense Army immediately stood firmly on the side of the Tyranid Empire.

At the same time, several mercenary corps also arrived. Many of these veteran mercenaries were unwilling to join the Imperial Army during the Federation era and could not find other better jobs after retirement. Their combat effectiveness is stronger than that of ordinary Imperial recruits, but the price is very high.

Even if the world is about to be destroyed, the commission must be collected, and not many people will question this.

The newly supported support forces mean that the fleet in orbit has been able to free up means to provide fire support, so Lieutenant Colonel Grants once again ordered an attack on Fortress No. 4.

On the second night, they used tactical nuclear bombs and flamethrowers to open the way to enter and recapture the fortress.

The remaining troops of seven divisions, about 30,000 people, took advantage of the weakening of the offensive of the Jörmungandr swarm to repair the fortress and held on until the third day.

But on the third night, the bodies of the comrades who had not been burned in time dragged their horrifying corrupt bodies and staggered over. The terrifying spores took root and sprouted on their broken bodies, twisting people into monsters.

Istel and his warriors had to kill them again.

On the fourth day, a legion of fanatics appeared in front of the fortress, attacking like a tide. They mobilized the only reserve troops, and even the medical soldiers took weapons to fill the gaps in the front line. On this day, Istel used up all the stimulants. He basically didn't sleep much in the past nearly a hundred hours.

The army's casualties have reached an unbearable proportion, and they are on the verge of collapse.

At the same time, the war situation in orbit is not optimistic, and the follow-up fleet of the Golden Fleet has arrived.

The fleet commander had to admit that they had to abandon the planet and ordered all transport ships to be lowered to pick up the troops on the surface.

"We have held on here for four days and nights, but in the end we still have to give up here. So, what is the meaning of our sacrifice?" McGinn sat next to Istel on the Hercules transport ship returning to the fleet.

He was the last survivor of Istel's original platoon except for himself, and the others stayed in the water source forever.

The water source oasis has now become a corrupt puddle.

Now looking back at the direction of New Richmond City, you can only see black smoke rising into the sky. The ugly creeping fungus blanket spreads like a scar on the earth, leaving no grass and desolate land wherever it goes. The vibrant land is now lifeless.

In just a few days, Istel almost completely forgot what the water source oasis looked like before, but could vaguely recall the impressive lake and blue sky.

Now it is a ruin of rubble.

Look at the atrocities committed by the enemy on our land. The Protoss and the Zerg are killing people wantonly.

Amon admired this wonderful doomsday play very much and personally arranged for the actors to appear on stage.

"I don't know." Ister rubbed an identity card in his hand.

Heinlein was blown to pieces by a baneling buried underground. Not even a piece of broken bone could be found. Ister only found his identity card.

These people trusted him and regarded him as a leader and an authority in combat, but could he live up to these trusts? In the end, there was only this little thing left to prove that they had existed and fought here.

Ister thought of the last words of Emperor Augustus:

I have signed the order, ordering every inch of land and every inch of blood. I am just an ordinary person, but I ask you to be as selfless and holy as a saint, asking you to pay, sacrifice, and dedicate.

The transport plane rose into the clouds, and the ruins of the city of New Richmond below were only small black dots.

Finally, they watched numbly from high orbit as the Protoss fleet destroyed the Heliok III, until anger and grief poured into their throats like boiling chili oil.