Guided by the dim lights, Colonel Bokant finally met the Chapter Master of this mysterious Chapter.
Contrary to his expectations, what he saw was not a stern-faced, towering Astartes.
Instead, it was a delicate-looking, even somewhat cute and graceful young woman.
At this moment, Lion was looking at the map in his hands, a voice in his mind constantly telling his exactly where the enemy was.
He had already marked all enemy traces on the map, including the Chaos Astartes that had just been air-dropped!
"Who is this!" Colonel Bokant directed this question to the knight captain beside him.
However, the knight captain merely tapped the mortal's shoulder with a finger to remind him.
"You do not need to know who she is; you only need to know she is our Chapter Master!"
"Do not ask too many questions; knowing too much will do you no good!"
The powerful sense of oppression forced the Colonel into silence; he even felt that he should have sought an Astropath to read the Emperor's Tarot before leaving today.
First, he was beaten by a bunch of Chaos tin cans, and now the Loyalist Faction actually had a young woman serving as Chapter Master?
Sometimes he even wondered if he had been corrupted by the powers of Chaos, but, all signs indicated he was still loyal to the Emperor.
"Sit down!"
Lion did not reprimand the mortal for his rashness; besides, his current situation was indeed quite complicated.
Though he had lost his original body, the new abilities bestowed upon him allowed him to command the battlefield with ease.
Whether it was the newly awakened Warp instincts or the ability to view the battlefield from a third-person overhead perspective, they were all very strange powers.
If he had possessed these abilities back then, Lion could have absolutely slaughtered all the Fallen Angels.
If he couldn't kill them all, he'd blow them up—and in fact, his home world really had blown up.
A cup of rich Recaf was placed beside the Colonel; Lion wanted the Commander to refresh himself so they could discuss the upcoming battle plan.
When the Colonel picked up the coffee, the enemy markings on the map shocked him.
Because he had just been rotated off the front lines, logically, this Space Marine Chapter Master shouldn't know the specific details of the battlefield.
However, Lion had marked every friendly and enemy unit on the sand table.
She even knew exactly which ones were moving and which ones were attacking.
"Are you a Psyker?"
The Colonel even concocted a very reasonable explanation in his mind; perhaps the reason these veterans let this little young woman be the so-called Chapter Master was because of this ability!
Being able to know battlefield information in real-time and even mark the status of enemies.
This kind of 'cheat-like' command ability on the battlefield certainly qualified his to be a leader.
It could even save a lot of trouble and prevent unnecessary losses for the Battle-Brothers.
"Don't ask what shouldn't be asked! I brought you here only to have you reorganize your troops; after that, simply follow my commands! Many of your men have retreated in a rout from the front lines! Their morale is currently very low, I even doubt if they can participate in the coming battle!"
Lion fixed his gaze on the Commander before her; he didn't consider him heroic just because he had lost an arm.
In a battle of this scale, missing limbs were all too common.
Sometimes, in urgent tactical situations, even daring to retreat was considered a form of disloyalty.
Setting down his coffee, the Colonel saluted the young woman before him!
"Rest assured, your excellency! The 473rd Regiment of the Armageddon Steel Legion are all warriors absolutely loyal to the Emperor! Your arrival has greatly boosted their morale; in the coming battle, they will surely complete their mission, fighting to the death without retreat!"
"Mhm," Lion nodded indifferently. Although the quality of the Armageddon Steel Legion was considered top-tier in the current Imperium...
The quality of these personnel was still a bit lacking compared to the Solar Auxilia.
The 'quality' here didn't refer to discipline, but physical constitution.
After all, during the Great Crusade, almost the vast majority of the Solar Auxilia were augmented humans.
One could say the Solar Auxilia of that era were all equivalent to Tempestus Scions; even when facing Chaos Astartes, they wouldn't be defeated immediately.
"Listen! I need your men to occupy the two high towers inside the hive city. My people will hold the front, and what you need to do is hold off the enemies on the flanks. Leave the traitor World Eaters on the front to us, and those damned heretic traitors to you!"
Lion tapped the table seriously, his hands never stopping as he moved the pieces for both sides.
Lion was updating the sand table for both sides in real-time according to the voice in his head.
Whenever enemy units increased again, Lion would take a red fruit from the fruit plate nearby and place it on the gameboard as a substitute.
The vast majority of the areas on the gameboard were covered in enemy red dots, while his own people occupied only a very small portion.
The disparity in troop strength was quite vast; even the number of marked Chaos Astartes had reached a jaw-dropping level.
"Yes, I guarantee the mission will be completed!"
The Colonel didn't think the task was too arduous; he even believed that with the help of the Loyalist Faction's Angels of the Imperium, the front was almost impossible to break.
If the Steel Legion only had to hold the flank pressure, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Even if one or two Chaos tin cans occasionally leaked through, they could be overwhelmed using a large number of soldiers and resources.
There was a clear gap in military professionalism between the Chaos forces and the Loyalist Faction. Due to the influence of the Chaos bloodlust, Daemons or mortals would often lose themselves while hacking away.
Such elements were actually at a significant disadvantage when facing organized and disciplined units; even if their individual strength was formidable, they could be easily isolated and surrounded.
And so, a sturdy hive city defense line was established. The Deathwing Company plus the mortal auxiliaries had constructed an indestructible iron defense.
Heavy weapons were set up on almost every street, and massive amounts of explosives were packed into every gutter.
Atop the two high towers, large-scale anti-air weapons were deployed, and several still-functional orbital weapons within the hive city fired continuously toward the sky.
This firepower couldn't shatter the Chaos warships above, but it could prevent them from air-dropping directly into the interior of the hive city.
A thin Void Shield was raised, this was part of the hive city's inherent defense system.
Unless the ground forces inside were eliminated, the orbital warships above had no way to destroy this hive city.
Unless they directly used low-velocity Cyclonic Torpedoes to destroy the entire planet, they would have to use ground forces to slowly grind down these damned hive city fortresses.
And above the gameboard, Caleb had been watching this battle for a long time.
It was now the second day. Chaos had gathered another large army, preparing to launch an assault on the hive city defense line.
Caleb had done his best to deploy the defenses for the pieces. Even if these pieces could fight automatically, he still used his power to adjust the line to ensure nothing went wrong.
At this point, Caleb also understood how he was commanding these pieces.
He reckoned he could control the subconscious of certain pieces, making them believe they were making the correct decisions themselves.
Well, Caleb felt more and more like one of the Chaos Gods, perhaps even more abstract than them, because the Chaos Gods couldn't influence the real universe as he did.
The so-called Veil of the Warp simply didn't exist for him; all he needed to do was win this game.
"Mhm!"
Looking at the rock-solid defense line, Caleb nodded with satisfaction, He could only control Lion's units; he had no way to control these mortal teammate units.
Fortunately, the quality of this mortal force was reliable enough, they weren't the kind of disobedient, teammate-hindering trash Astra Militarum.
If the system had spawned those kinds of units, he really would have been better off letting Lion gun them down.
After all, 'pig-like' teammates were potential enemies; sometimes, without them, a campaign might be easier to fight.
The atmosphere on the gameboard gradually grew heavy, and the sound of gunfire and cannons began to ring out on parts of the defense line.
The shrieking sound of Skull Cannons could be heard even by Caleb above the gameboard.
On this small gameboard, a magnificent battle of offense and defense was playing out.
"Soldiers, the Emperor's reinforcements have arrived! The Angels of the Imperium will aid us in this battle!"
"Everyone, defend our home! We cannot let the hive city fall into enemy hands!"
Clearly, after seeing those Loyalist Terminators, the mortal soldiers were filled with confidence for the coming fight.
As long as the Terminators at the front remained standing, their defense line would also remain standing.
At the very least, the arrival of the Angels of the Imperium gave them hope; they were no longer facing those Chaos tin cans in despair.
"For the Emperor!"
"Loyalty!"
Without many words, the Commissars below arranged the soldiers into their combat positions.
They stared at the hills ahead; if any unit dared to show its head, they would fire.
There were no more allies ahead; that was the result deduced on the sand table.
Every unit appearing in front was an enemy; there were no teammates to speak of.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A crowd of mortal refugees suddenly surged forward, wailing and crying as they ran, as if fleeing a massacre by the Blood God.
However, they were met not with comfort, but with bullets.
Even if only a few Chaos cultists were mixed among these refugees, accepting them would be a danger.
The suffering mortals became the meat in the sandwich between the Imperial army and the Blood God's host.
They quickly became sacrifices in this battle, a bright red backdrop for this field.
"Sigh!" Caleb couldn't help but sigh. It wasn't that he didn't want to save them, but the current defense line simply couldn't move.
Because right behind these mortal refugees was a large group of World Eaters Astartes.
Clearly, they were just enjoying the thrill of slaughter, driving these mortals forward to waste the Loyalist's ammunition.
Once these mortals became the backdrop, the armies of both sides truly began their head-on confrontation.
A massive barrage of fire shot out from both lines, the cacophony was so loud it even made Caleb feel a bit irritable.
"As expected of 40k, this battle scene is much more magnificent than Warhammer Fantasy! Right now, there are only two factions on the board. If a Greenskin faction were added for a massive free-for-all, it would be truly lively!"
Speaking of Greenskins, Caleb really had seen a few in that jungle earlier.
However, those Greenskins clearly didn't have a unified boss yet.
Perhaps he could find an opportunity to drop some Greenskin units down and let them become the real bosses.
At this point, the battle had only lasted two hours, yet corpses were already piled like mountains on the positions.
The outer defenses of the hive city had become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and these flowing rivers of blood clearly strengthened Khorne's power once again.
Seeing Khorne starting to spawn troops out of thin air again, Caleb couldn't help but complain.
The fewer the enemies, the more they become; the weaker they get, the stronger they grow!
If this continues, it won't be long before a Khorne Daemon makes an appearance!
Caleb's concern was not without reason, and things were indeed developing in that direction.
As the battle continued, the Blood God's army began to grow increasingly complex.
Chaos Spawn had even begun to appear on the battlefield.
Some Khorne units, after a killing spree, might undergo a so-called Daemonic Ascension ritual.
The failures of these rituals would turn into Chaos Spawn, which would then continue to be driven by Khorne as part of the Khornate host.
Clearly, when these bizarre-looking monsters charged into the mortal positions, gaps began to appear on both sides of the line!
The rock-solid defense line soon became a meat grinder for both sides.
Even though reserves from behind were constantly joining, the line was still being torn wider and wider by Khorne's army.
"Everyone hold your ground! Not one step back! Those who disobey will be executed on the spot! We must hold the final line!"
At this moment, Colonel Bokant was shouting at the soldiers on the position through a megaphone.
His voice, carried through the broadcast matrix, reached almost every soldier's ears.
But even so, some of the blood-crazed World Eaters Astartes still posed a heavy threat to their defense line.
The weapons of the mortal soldiers struggled to inflict effective damage on these tin cans.
And heavy firepower couldn't be moved, making it impossible to target these agile units.
"Dammit!"
Watching those red tin cans maneuvering from high above, even the Colonel, as the Commander, couldn't help but want to go down and join the fight himself.
However, at that very moment, a suddenly teleported Terminator squad used their Lightning Claws to directly pierce through those leaping World Eaters.
They lifted the World Eaters high and tossed them aside like rabbits.
Then, using the Assault Cannons in their hands, they wiped out the enemies before them, and through built-in vox-grilles, ordered the mortals to continue holding their positions.
"Are these the Angels of the Imperium! As expected, the gap between mortals and Angels is not just big!"
The Colonel had never seen an Astartes before; this was his first time seeing Loyalist Astartes.
He had only heard of the combat capabilities of those Angels of the Imperium back in the Schola Progenium; at first, he thought the lecturers were exaggerating.
But after actually seeing them in action, he realized the teachers had been a bit conservative.
When those tin cans can sprint across your lines at eighty kilometers per hour, you realize just how damn disgusting such units are.
These units are small and hard to hit; it's as if they have a third eye, able to anticipate your large-caliber weapons before they even fire.
When your tank fires, they will roll in advance, dodging your shell's attack.
Once they see the muzzle flash, it basically means the shell will fail to hit.
He had thought those Chaos tin cans were the limit of what he considered an Astartes.
But these dark green tin cans that appeared next showed him what true strength looked like.
One teleport, one Lightning Claw, and it was over.
Killing Chaos World Eaters for these larger Astartes was like slaughtering chickens.
"Ah, indeed, the gap in quality is still huge!"
"If I weren't keeping an eye on things, my home would have been raided!"
Lion rested his head, bored as he watched the constantly changing sand table.
He had already let the knight captain beside his move the sand table; he only needed to give orders to keep track of battlefield information at any time.
[Lion El''Jonson: Stop nagging, I'm not a child, I know how to fight!]
[You're making so much noise it's annoying. I am your Primarch, after all; I can handle a minor skirmish like this!]
"Mhm?"
Caleb thought something was wrong with him; he found that the gameboard was actually transmitting Lion's inner thoughts.
No wonder he could command Lion through some means; it seemed this piece had already defaulted to seeing him as the God-Emperor.
"Interesting..."
Caleb wondered if he should chat with this young woman.
He hadn't tried chatting with the pieces on the board yet!