On Helson III, Sea Hare was in a bit of a bind.
The situation on the ice plain was much worse than he had anticipated—the Orks that had awakened from deep within the ice seemed endless, roaring and wielding crude but deadly weapons, displaying astonishing vitality in the extreme cold.
Alex had originally only tasked him with managing this planet, primarily dealing with the recuperation of the wounded; war was not within his purview.
But now, with Orcs continuously emerging from beneath the ice, he had no choice but to take charge and bravely command the troops to meet the enemy.
Fortunately, he was using a piece from the Lord of Cadia, and while not a famous general, he possessed basic command abilities.
His tactical deployments weren't brilliant, but at least they were by the book—defensive lines advanced in layers, firing points provided overlapping coverage, and fortifications were built sturdy enough.
Though this fighting style appeared rigid, even somewhat clumsy, it was precisely what the Imperial Astra Militarum excelled at.
The Astra Militarum was certainly mocked for its outdated tactics, like fighting a space-age war with World War I trench warfare.
But one had to admit, the Imperium had endured ten thousand years of war precisely by relying on this seemingly backward tactical system.
When enemies had to directly assault the Astra Militarum's defensive lines, they would discover that behind these "rigid" tactics lay an iron bulwark forged from countless lives.
Sea Hare was currently employing this very method—relying on the outer fortifications of the dome city to construct a deep defense.
Automated turrets, Lasgun arrays, and heavy machine gun firing points were all meticulously arranged according to standard tactical manuals.
For the Orks to break through such a defense, they would have to pave the way with their corpses.
And what the Astra Militarum feared least was this kind of head-on war of attrition.
It was true when facing the Necrons, and it was true when facing these Orks emerging from the ice.
Of course, the Orks had enough troops to fill the Astra Militarum's defensive lines, which was precisely why Sea Hare felt so overwhelmed.
On the ice plain outside the dome, the number of Orks was increasing at a visible rate.
They crawled out of ice fissures, surging towards the human defenses like a green tide.
The ammunition consumption of the automated turrets far exceeded expectations, and the soldiers' gun barrels glowed red from continuous firing, yet they still couldn't stop the advance of these barbaric creatures.
The Orks of the Warhammer World are not like the Orcs in other fantasy works, who need to be born or reproduce in other ways.
These war machines, created by the Old Ones for the War in Heaven, are a special kind of semi-plant, semi-animal organism that reproduces through spores, and every living Green-skinned Orc is a massive source of spores.
Sea Hare stood before the observation window of the command center, watching the Orks continuously spread spores during combat—when they scratched their bodies, tiny green particles drifted with the wind; when they were wounded and bled, their splattered bodily fluids also contained countless spores; even after they died, their corpses would rapidly decompose, releasing the last batch of spores.
Just as a mushroom can produce a large number of fungal spores, a Green-skinned Orc, by simply scratching his crotch or head, will spread countless fungal spores, which then multiply into a vast number of Orks.
How fast is their reproduction rate? They can engage the Tyranid Swarm in human-wave tactics, and fight them to a standstill.
On Sea Hare's tactical display, the curve representing the number of Orks was almost vertical.
Areas cleared yesterday would see new Green-skinned Orc tribes emerge today.
Even more terrifying, these newly spawned Orks seemed to inherit the combat experience of the slain Orks; each attack was more cunning than the last.
Therefore, even though Alex had already dispatched Blood Knights and a portion of the Astra Militarum regiments to reinforce, the Imperial defenders still suffered heavy losses.
The defensive line was shrinking daily, and casualty reports piled up on Sea Hare's desk.
Though the Blood Knights were brave, facing the endless tide of Orks, they too began to suffer casualties.
And those ordinary Astra Militarum soldiers, often a squad holding a position, would have only two or three left when they withdrew.
Fortunately, the dome itself was established for medical purposes, and it had sufficiently complete medical facilities; as long as soldiers weren't killed on the spot, the medical standards here could generally bring them back.
It was precisely for this reason that Sea Hare had been able to hold out until now.
But looking at the dwindling numbers on the supply reserve table, he knew this situation wouldn't last much longer.
Reinforcements had to arrive quickly, otherwise, when the last painkiller ran out, it would be the beginning of the defensive line's collapse.
The Blood Knights had attempted decapitation strikes, a common tactic used by the Imperium when facing Orc attacks: elite Astartes combat teams would eliminate the Green-skinned Orc warboss, causing their morale to collapse.
The reason for such a tactic is that the Orks themselves possess something called a WAR field, which is speculated to be some kind of psychic technology left behind by the Old Ones.
As long as enough Orks gather together, the WAR field will take effect; it will not only cause the biggest and strongest among this group of Orks to grow rapidly and become larger, but also make the various weapons cobbled together by Orks from junk work as they intend.
For example, if he welds a steel pipe and "I reckon" it's a gun that goes bang, it will go bang, even without needing bullets.
Political Commissar Yarrick, one of the Imperium's three legendary Political Commissars, famously heard that the Orcs "reckoned" his eyes could shoot red lasers that killed anyone he glared at, so he replaced his eye with a bionic one that could shoot red lasers.
Then, this bionic eye, which originally could only emit a laser to light cigarettes, became a powerful contraption, even more potent than a standard Astra Militarum Lasgun, truly capable of killing a Green-skinned Orc boy with a single glare.
It seemed quite idealistic.
And because of this, the Orks' weapons all look like they were assembled from a junk pile, and when enough of them gather, a warboss who commands all the Orks will always emerge, becoming bigger and stronger, as well as more cunning and treacherous, with the WAR field's blessing.
Of course, if the warboss dies, the gathered Orks will quickly lose the WAR field's blessing, and their morale will plummet, becoming easily routed.
The Imperium has repeatedly used this point to execute decapitation strikes; although often suffering heavy losses, it can achieve miraculous results.
But now, the Blood Knights had tried several times but failed to find a warboss among the Green-skinned Orc forces, so a decapitation strike was out of the question.
After all, Sea Hare had limited forces and no ability to conduct reconnaissance by fire to locate the warboss.
However, the Blood Knights' several raids were not without gain; besides eliminating several Warlords, they also discovered that this group of Orks was excavating an ancient ruin beneath the ice, which seemed to have a considerably important function.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"