"This! You fraking dolt!"
Lion jumped up to knock the other's head; if it were before, he wouldn't have needed to jump at all.
At this moment, Lion felt only anger. Were these still the soldiers he had led?
How could they just blurt out such an important secret?
"What did you call me?"
"Lord Lion!"
"Wrong answer!"
Another elbow strike; even the Deathwing veteran in Terminator power armor was nearly sent flying by the blow.
"Don't call me Lion for now!"
"This is a secret of the First Legion. Until I change back, you are not to reveal my identity!"
"Especially to the Space Wolves. If anyone dares to reveal even a single word, you're all dead men walking!"
Caleb noticed that Lion, who had been charging forward like a boar, had actually stopped to lecture his 'cubs' because of his secret.
No wonder the First Legion was so obsessed with keeping secrets; it seemed this was inextricably linked to Lion's education.
As everyone knows, the First Legion has no secrets—because anyone who knows them is dead.
Furthermore, every gene-seed inherits a portion of the Primarch's personality, and clearly, the Chapter's trait of keeping secrets to the death was established from the very beginning.
Lion lectured his cubs for quite a while before letting the main force continue its advance.
If this were in the Inner Circle, the Deathwing Grand Master would have already given this brain-dead guy a thorough 'washing.'
"Sigh!"
Lion on the gameboard let out a slight sigh. Soon, following the guidance of the will in his mind, she arrived at a blood-red altar.
Profane runes were everywhere, and skulls of all kinds were piled high like mountains.
There was no other scent here; the air was thick with the smell of blood.
Whether from mortals or other species, all the skulls were piled here, serving as summoning offerings for the ritual.
Clearly, this was used to summon a Great Daemon, and the massive Great Daemon before them was about to crawl out from a rift in the Warp.
"It's time to end this!"
A Khorne Daemon named Skarbrand roared, attempting to crawl out from the Chaos rift.
However, as soon as this fellow poked his head out, he was stepped on directly by a pair of slender, jade-like feet.
Even though the mortal body before him was so petite, the leg strength the opponent unleashed had already exceeded the limits of the physical universe.
"Get back to your Warp!"
"The planets my Father has fought for are no place for your insolence!"
With a crack...
The Khorne Daemon that had just descended into the real universe was crushed just like that.
It didn't even get a chance to fully enter the real universe before being banished back.
"No!"
A pair of blood-red giant hands attempted to tear the person before them to shreds, but Lion, holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, casually blocked these two attacks.
None of the Terminators behind him stepped forward to help, because seeing Lion's ease, they understood their Primarch didn't need help at all right now.
"Very good!"
"It seems this altar is their Warp node!"
"You all, go and clear out the remaining daemons!"
"They must all be banished, and those mortals who have fallen to Chaos—leave none alive, kill them all!"
"Yes!"
The Terminator veterans, coordinating with Lion, acted with swift and decisive efficiency.
What should have been a defensive battle had been turned into a breakout, and then further into an offensive.
Caleb was still clutching a predator tank, but before he could even deploy the armored unit, the battle here was almost over.
[Successfully held for one day. Reward of 500 Antlion Cans has been issued.]
[Resources will be stored in your warehouse. You can extract them at any time. Extract now?]
"No, no, no!"
Watching the hive city gradually enter the night, Caleb immediately shook his head upon seeing the system prompt.
What kind of stupid joke is this? If I take these cans out, I have nowhere to keep them.
If Antlions spawned in my own home, my god, the entire residential area would be slaughtered by these bugs.
And besides, the domestic security forces might have a huge headache dealing with them; these aren't just 500 cans, they're 500 wild armored vehicles!
If the Antlion eggs inside the cans were accidentally allowed to hatch, it wouldn't take long before there were no living people left in this neighborhood.
Living ancestors that can tank a bolter round, I'm afraid with the current level of light weaponry on Blue Star, it would be hard to do anything about them.
[Cans have been stored in your hammerspace. You can use the gameboard table to extract them when needed.]
Seeing an extra item slot appear under the gameboard's pocket, Caleb's heart finally settled down.
As long as I don't have to deal with these cans myself, otherwise, figuring out how to handle 500 of them would probably give me a massive headache.
"Phew, it seems holding out for a day isn't that hard!"
"I still have over 300 deployment points unused, just by sending Terminator veterans, I've won this battle!"
"It looks like defending Soladis hive city isn't that difficult either!"
"Let's see what kind of troops the enemy sends next!"
Fiddling with the chess pieces in his hand, Caleb wanted to see what stage the campaign would develop into next.
Meanwhile, in the planet's orbit, the World Eaters' warship, having successfully broken through the Imperial Navy's blockade, had anchored in low orbit.
The hull, roughly 8 kilometers long, instantly blocked out most of the sunlight.
Even Lion, who was organizing the cleanup on the ground, looked up and saw this ship from the World Eaters.
"What profanity is this!"
By now, the surrounding Terminator veterans had already spotted this heretical warship.
They pointed their weapons toward the sky, preparing to face the assault from above.
Lion stood with hands on hips, gazing at the sky, where various skulls and icons on the hull were faintly visible.
Chaos corruption had made this former Imperial warship irritable and restless.
Although it didn't have writhing tentacles like those of Nurgle...
...constantly flowing crimson blood still dripped from orbit all the way down to the planet's surface.
*Splash!*
The massive warship caused a rain of blood to fall from the sky; it was the curtain of war, the beginning of the conflict's escalation.
Khorne, of course, also valued unit composition; although most of their troops were melee-focused, it didn't mean they lacked suitable ranged units.
The World Eaters Legion compensated well for some of the Khorne Daemons' shortcomings.
As they boarded drop pods and began landing on the planet's surface, an even more brutal and fierce battle was about to begin.
"Fight for Angron! Glory to the Blood God!"
As the first World Eater Astartes to land on the ground let out his war cry, the Chaos torrent that had barely subsided surged forward once again.
They pushed forward with far more Chaos cultists than before, and at the same time, the previously illogical army composition became balanced with the addition of the World Eaters Legion.
Bloodletter daemons, World Eaters, Skull Cannons, and even Chaos Dreadnoughts formed a very balanced offensive line.
They only needed to push forward with terrifying firepower and superior melee skills, and most mortal legions would already feel despair.
On the outskirts, the mortal soldiers of the Armageddon 473rd Steel Legion were supposed to garrison the outer defensive lines of the Hive World.
But due to the World Eaters' sudden strike, their lines collapsed instantly.
Pain and screams permeated almost the entire position; the weapons in the mortals' hands could not cause any damage to these hard 'iron cans.'
Even though they were well-equipped and unafraid of death, they still could not shake the World Eater Astartes.
Even the sturdy Sentinel walkers and Leman Russ Tanks were no match for these World Eaters.
One must know, among the mortal legions, Armageddon was famous for producing armored units.
The armor coverage of their mortal legions was already much higher than that of other legions.
And even so, it still couldn't stop a coordinated assault by the Astartes.
The slow tanks were quickly cut off and surrounded by the agile Astartes, then became sitting ducks in the center, torn apart piece by piece by these violent 'red rabbit' brothers.
The defensive lines that once seemed impregnable also collapsed at this moment.
Even the final command bunker, received special attention from the Chaos forces.
Legion leader Colonel Bokant was currently commanding the mobile units in an emergency evacuation.
He led the remaining troops back to the inner defensive lines of the hive city, prepared to resist to the death.
In this high-intensity battle, even as a Colonel, he had lost an arm.
The medic only provided a simple bandage and painkiller, before loading the Colonel onto a Chimera transport to quickly evacuate to the rear.
Many 'grunts' who couldn't keep up with the units became expendable fodder at the back.
They could only use the Lasguns in their hands to try and stall those incredibly hard Chaos iron cans as much as possible.
Yet, in such a brutal battle, these grunts did not show a large-scale retreat or rout.
The Steel Legion was named for steel; they were like the symbol of the Imperium, steel inside and out.
Even facing a 70% casualty rate, they still did not retreat.
If the Commander hadn't finally ordered an organized withdrawal...
...it's likely this elite unit would have fought to the last man, like the Death Korps of Krieg.
"Oh, damn it!"
"Those bastards actually chose to drop from orbit!"
"If it weren't for those scumbags joining in, I might have been able to hold out a little longer!"
Colonel Bokant, supported by a lieutenant under his command, complained angrily; his arm had been severed by a power sword used by a World Eater.
Afterward, his loyal guards sacrificed their lives to cover his evacuation.
That World Eater seemed to be in a killing frenzy and didn't notice him.
That terrifying Chaos World Eater chose to hack at his subordinates rather than him personally.
The good news was that he survived, but surviving seemed to be the only good news.
The rest was mostly bad news: heavy losses for the troops and serious damage to equipment.
Production in the hive city's armories had almost ground to a halt; the remaining troops were simply no match for those Chaos Space Marines.
Looking at the corpses strewn across the streets, the Colonel frowned deeply.
He had expected some chaos within the hive city, but he hadn't expected people to be almost wiped out.
"What's the situation inside this hive city?"
"Could it be that it's already fallen?"
"What are those guys in the Adeptus Arbites and Departmento Munitorum doing?"
"The interior has been infiltrated to this pathetic state, and there wasn't even a peep?"
The lieutenant beside him hurried to defend their superiors: "Maybe they just didn't have time!"
"This battle was very sudden, and those legendary daemons even appeared!"
"I used to think those creatures from Warp rifts were just legends, but now it seems those terrifying tales from Rogue Traders are all true!"
Recalling the battle just now, the lieutenant before him was clearly still a bit timid.
But as the legion Commander, Bokant showed no cowardice; he gazed at the spire reaching into the clouds and couldn't help but say:
"If it's true, then it's true. So what?"
"Our mission is to garrison the defensive line and hold the Imperium's territory for the Emperor!"
"Even if we can't hold it, we cannot let this world fall into enemy hands!"
"If we fail, we must go to the core area, overload the entire hive city, and blow it up!"
The lieutenant's mouth hung open; he had never considered such a mad plan as blowing up the entire hive city.
But thinking carefully, they might have to; if they failed, they had to ensure this Hive World could not fall into enemy hands.
And it was at this moment that the constantly advancing team came to a halt.
According to reports from subordinates, it seemed someone ahead had blocked them.
This was very strange; as a dignified Legion Colonel, what could possibly block him?
Clutching his throbbing shoulder and enduring the phantom limb pain, he walked to the front of the team.
When he reached the front, intending to interface with the newcomers...
...the scene before him shocked him.
"Angels of the Imperium, how is this possible?"
Arranged before the Colonel were all battle-hardened veterans among the Astartes.
None of the Dark Angels' Dreadwing company were green recruits; they had to endure hundreds of battles to have the chance to become these so-called Terminator veterans.
"Could it be they already knew we were to garrison here?"
"This is wonderful."
"If that's the case, maybe we're saved, or at least we can hold out much longer than I anticipated!"
Upon seeing the First Legion Terminators, Colonel Bokant, who had previously lost all hope for the Hive World, suddenly felt he could do it again.
Mortal troops alone might not beat those traitors, but if you add the Imperial Angels of the Loyalist Faction, then anything is possible.
"You are the Commander of these people, right?"
"Hmm, very good. At least you weren't scared witless like those cowards!"
"Come with us!"
"Our Chapter Master will meet you!"
"He wants to discuss the upcoming battle plans with you in the War Council!"
"And incidentally, verify your loyalty to the Emperor!"
The Deathwing Master in Terminator armor accepted the other's Aquila salute; even though the man had only one arm left, he still respected the Imperium's etiquette.
"Praise the God-Emperor!"
"Praise the Emperor!"
Although their lines differed by only one word, the meanings expressed between them were actually worlds apart.
One was the Emperor of Mankind who could walk among men during the 30k era, while the other was the God-Emperor already seated on the Golden Throne, imprisoned by the throne.
In the current environment of the Imperium, both contexts were fine.
After all, the Emperor himself had stubbornly insisted in his Truth that he was not a god.