Chapter 433 Black and Red, the Plan in the Shadows (XVIII) The Direction of the War

"For Allfather and Russ!"

Amidst the thunderous roar, a giant in gray power armor was sweeping his chainsaw sword across the crowd.

Pieces of bodies were chopped into pieces, black blood splashed everywhere like raindrops, and the buzzing saw teeth gradually quieted down because they lost their target. In the darkness in the distance, a huge figure holding a heavy hammer was attacking him.

In the blood-blurred eyepiece, the purple skin and blasphemous runes on the body were highlighted by the cursor. The giant in the killing posture stood up, turned his shoulders, raised the black gun in his other hand, and locked it from a distance.

Bang!

The dazzling fire flashed at the heavy muzzle, and the brass shell with inscriptions had not yet landed on the ground. The purple giant dozens of meters away had been knocked to the ground by one blow.

The diamond bullet broke the thick radius, then penetrated the developed chest muscles, ribs and even organs, and finally tore a gap in the steel column behind the target and exploded.

The huge penetration force broke the mutant's entire arm, and then stopped running, and finally fell to the ground full of industrial wastewater with a "bang".

He was still alive, but only alive.

Blood Claw Edro could see through the vision of the eyepiece, through the fiber short shirt unique to the bottom nest, that the fallen flesh was still twitching.

Especially the limbs on the remaining arm that had been transformed into tentacles were still unconsciously flexing in the night vision state.

But his spine had been broken, and his heart was crushed by the pressure of the bullet passing through the chest. The blue-armored giant stepped forward with a dull metal collision sound. He put down the gun in his hand while walking, and the chainsaw sword used for execution in his other free hand began to buzz.

Hmm?

The instinct of crisis made the giant stop abruptly, and the mutant who fell to the ground in his sight suddenly opened his eyes.

The infrared scanning array marked the warning on his abdominal cavity, and the mutant's only remaining left hand was pressed there at some point.

Law - Bless!

A high Gothic language with a Terran accent sounded behind the giant, and at the same time, a brilliant and deadly firework exploded in front of the giant.

The incandescent plasma flames appeared from nothing in front of the giant, then rose and bloomed, and a slightly blue transparent stand wall emerged from the void, isolating the giant from the destructive flame that was enough to melt the adamantium.

The bursting plasma licked the psychic stand, which stood still in a slight flicker. The subsequent shock wave pushed the giant and the stand shield together. He staggered back, but in such a sinister and deadly attack, he survived unscathed.

"Well done!" The giant who stopped looked back. In the open space dozens of meters away, a giant who was also gray but closer to the original color of metal was slowly putting away the war halberd pointing here.

The latter just nodded slightly to his praise, and then replied in the battlefield communication:

"Pay attention to the characteristics of the target, and deal with it from a distance as much as possible."

"Understood!" Edero replied in a muffled voice in the communication channel, and then looked up, just in time to see the mocking face of the veteran Cantu.

It was a small matter to be saved by a comrade in the brother unit, but it was very frustrating to be taught a lesson because of the details of battlefield handling.

"Collect the team!" Cantu confirmed the progress of the mission with the two gray knights, and then ordered the surrounding Astartes. The other three giants walked out of the dark corridor at the bottom of the nest, and the whole team began to return to the upper level.

Half an hour later, on the upper level of the nest, the blue-gray storm eagle appeared from the black cumulonimbus cloud, and this temporary hunting group also lined up to wait.

The two gray knights walked at the end of the line, and signaled to the members of the local Inquisition before boarding. With the roar of the storm eagle engine, they set off to another nest.

"Only one hour earlier than expected." In the black cockpit of the Storm Eagle, Longfang Cantu looked at the projector in front of him and said to the members of the hunting group.

"But it's still late." The deputy of the hunting group, the gray hunter Valko, said.

The team's mission was carried out smoothly, but the completion time was later than they expected.

The post-war summary is not a blame-sharing meeting for the hunting group, but if it can make the blood claws grow a little, it is not a waste of time.

"The mission location is too far, and we wasted a lot of time on the road."

Edro did not realize the purpose of this meeting. He was simply venting his disgust for the environment of the bottom nest. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he could hardly imagine how to live without the sky and the sea.

"Second." The remaining blood claws gave the same conclusion, and Cantu, after looking around all the members of the team, finally looked at the comrades of the two "brother troops".

"What about you?" Cantu asked. Compared with the familiar comrades around him, he was more curious about the opinions of these gray knights.

Whether it was a fresh interpretation of the battlefield from a fresh angle or a distinctive personal opinion, he would not refuse anyone. And if someone could whip these wolf cubs with words for him, it would be even more wonderful.

"Nothing to say." The two Grey Knights looked at each other and gave an answer that Cantu didn't expect.

"Hey! We just fought side by side, this is too insincere!" Before Cantu could speak, Edero couldn't stand it anymore.

"..." There was another short silence, and then a Grey Knight spoke:

"The veil is being weakened, and the psychic awakeners, the kind of targets you just encountered, will become more and more..."

--

"The veil is being weakened..."

Thousands of light years away, in the northern part of the Jan Morrow sector, on the bridge of the Relentless Crusade on the front line of the war, Calvin was coming to the same conclusion at the meeting.

This is the border between the central sector and the northern galaxies, and it is also the gathering place of the main fleet of the Inquisition after the three northern galaxies lost contact one after another.

The intelligence station of the Inquisition here has been recovered by them, and the opponent of this battle has finally revealed its true face.

"The Word Bearers, the Dark Council..." The Inquisition scholar Chasov read the name, and the commander of the Exorcist Chapter, David, continued the words of the Primarch.

"The power of the warp is increasing, and more people with psychic physiques will be captured."

"Will there be a lot of people?" Ragnar asked, looking at the heavy-faced people. The first wave of battle reports of the front-line team had been summarized, and he also intuitively understood the threat of this existence.

Supernatural power is obviously a problem in the battle of the Astartes. Whether it is identification or handling, the Space Wolves lack specific experience and knowledge.

"A lot, and very troublesome." David, the commander of the Exorcist Chapter, said.

The mutants that have appeared at this stage are not serious, but it is only a matter of time. As the demon tide intensifies, more powerful mutants and even demon hosts may appear.

Once this kind of unit appears, with the help of some fallen people in a complex battlefield environment, it is a dangerous existence that can threaten the life of Astartes.

"There are also Word Bearers, they will accelerate this process." Chasov took up the topic and pointed out the threat of the dark apostles directly.

This legion is not outstanding in the context of the Great Crusade era. Its frontal combat power is not even in the top ten, but what they are best at is the spread of various beliefs and religious rituals.

This characteristic has already appeared when they were loyal to the Empire, and after falling into Chaos, it has become the core factor for them to control a huge demon army.

The Word Bearers are not scary, but what is scary is that once they appear, the demon army behind them will surge like a tide.

Unlike the Black Legion of the Eye of Terror, they rarely appear in an organized manner after the Great Rebellion, but even those Word Bearers who fight in warbands and squads can also pose a serious threat to the rule of the Empire with the help of a huge demon army.

And this time? How many of them showed up?

The fog of war prevented Calvin from getting an exact number, but from this huge warp storm alone, it was clear that they had invested a considerable amount of resources here.

The development of the war in Jan Morrow also echoed Calvin's conjecture. Several star systems fell in a short period of time, and the local imperial forces, whether the Inquisition or the Imperial Navy, failed to send out any effective information.

And no information is information in a sense.

It is extremely difficult to conceal battlefield information at the star system level. It is not something that can be easily done in the imperial army, let alone the Chaos warbands known for their chaos.

Based on Calvin's experience, this is at least a joint operation of several warbands. Even if we consider it leniently, it is the entire Word Bearers Legion, and it is unknown whether the fallen demon gene primarch will personally go down.

And if it is such an enemy in person, then Calvin will have even less time to reorganize the rear.

Judging from the current battle report, these polluters who have been discovered and dealt with are still relatively weak, and their mutated forms are also within the scope of what can be dealt with.

But if the warp tide continues, it is only a matter of time before more powerful psychics are captured by the warp.

The intelligence of the Inquisition itself has a lag effect, and there is a considerable time interval from obtaining it to processing it.

If it is handled in this way, the troops and resources that are tied up are unacceptable to the Inquisition.

Moreover, unregistered psychics are not within the vision of the Empire. For example, in the typical scene of the bottom of the hive city, once the pollution spreads, it will be a time bomb with huge threats.

The Astartes commanders present have cooperated with the Inquisition and naturally understand this situation. A few outsiders like Ragnar also understood the reason for the Primarch's concerns under the explanation of scholar Chasov.

The entire Zhan Moro has a total of 19 star systems, including hundreds of hive cities in nearly 100 planetary worlds. Just think about the number of psychics that may exist in them. It can be known that it is not a project they can clean up at all.

What to do? After thoroughly understanding the difficulties faced by the Primarch and the Inquisition, the head wolf Ragnar did not rush to express his opinion, but looked in the direction of Calvin.

It was the first time for him to look at the problem from the perspective of the Inquisition, and it was also the first time for him to understand so thoroughly the serious harm that Chaos pollution caused to the Empire.

"Don't let go of the wrong killing." This principle of the Inquisition, which he had sneered at in the past, became the best way to deal with it at this time.

"We still have to find a solution from the source." The Primarch nodded first when he felt the gaze of the wolf leader, and then looked at the holographic projection in front of him.

From the capital of the Zhan Moro sector to the north, several galaxies in the middle are still under control, but from the Ferma galaxy where the forge world Heper is located, and the adjacent Hubble galaxy, there is a huge blank.

The three lost galaxies of Padilla, Hess, and Shadow in the north and the two industrial galaxies of Alto-1 and Alto-2, where Calvin is now located, which are mainly engaged in mining, form the star cluster in the north of Zhan Moro alone.

The Primarch turned to look at Tibers, who was in charge of diplomacy: "What is the situation in Heper's Forge World? Haven't you heard back yet?"

"Yes, they still refuse our entry, but they said they can support our material needs." Tibers replied.

This is not right. Calvin instinctively sensed the problem with the Forge World. The two star systems of Alto-1 and Alto-2 are the main sources of Heper's raw materials. The oil man has never been so indifferent to his own wealth.

"Where are the troops I want?" Calvin asked.

"Two knight families and the attached guard corps, this is the greatest support they have given."

"Two knight families?" Calvin looked at the local star system information provided by the Inquisition, and indeed found the names of these two families on the garrison list of the two star systems.

"Shadow Song Family, Hadley Family?"

"Yes." Tibers confirmed.

Local troops? That means no support?

Calvin looked at the list without saying a word, but unconsciously rubbed his chin with his ceramic steel gauntlet.

People who knew him well knew that this was a manifestation of his anger, but he finally suppressed his emotion and decided to visit this forge world alone after the war.

"Got it, send a team of people over in the name of our representatives, at least to ensure that we can intervene at any time." Calvin gave an order to Tiberus, and this was just a safety measure.

"Understood, but we don't have extra troops now..."

"Let the Honor Guard go! Remember to bring the transmission beacon."

"Understood!"

Tiberus walked to the astropathic deck with the order of the Primarch, while everyone present was still waiting for the next order.

Calvin looked down at the map of the entire star zone again. After temporarily ignoring the position of Heper, he estimated the remaining troops in his hand and examined the position between the galaxies.

The geographical location of the two galaxies is not bad, especially in the context of the local production of metal ores, the construction cost of their planetary defense system is very low, and naturally it is also carefully constructed by Heper's mechanical priests.

And if these two passages leading to the center of Jan Morro are blocked, there will be only one way left for the enemy, that world that has been abandoned since the Great Rebellion-Morro.

Well, this is the only way to arrange it, Calvin thought.

It's difficult for him, and the pressure from the enemy is also not small. Because this magic tide created by countless souls can't defeat the rules of the universe after all, and it will fade away sooner or later.

As the party that paid this heavy price, those servants of Chaos will inevitably launch a substantial attack on the defense line where he is stationed before the magic tide recedes.

"Ragnar." The Primarch said softly.

"I'm here." The wolf leader looked at Calvin's burly figure and waited for his order.

"The Alto-1 galaxy on the left wing is your defense zone. Take your direct troops there. The local Imperial Navy and Defense Force will also be included in your command sequence.

I have only one request. Without the help of any reinforcements, you have to defend to the last soldier. Can you do it?"

"As you wish!" The wolf leader stood up and clenched his fist and slapped it towards his heart.

The Primarch looked at him and just nodded, then watched him turn around and leave.

"David, Xavierian..." Calvin turned his gaze to the leaders of the Exorcists and Dark Hunters, and the two stood up and waited for orders.

"Take your men to take over the defense of Alto-2. My request remains unchanged. No reinforcements, hold there until the last soldier."

"Understood." The two partners of the Inquisition took the order and left.

The only ones left on the bridge were the headquarters of the Grey Knights, Hoffman of the Sea Wolf Company of the Space Wolves, and a representative of the chapter that Calvin had always subconsciously ignored - Blood Raven.

Update, Kavin, large-scale wars are so damn hard to write...