Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 142: Fierce Battle on Gachis

As the Starfire approached Gachis, the detachment fleet sent a signal indicating that the space around the planet had been cleared. Subsequently, warship after warship slowly approached the planet, which had only a tiny bit of its orbital defense forces remaining.

Even from such a distance, Soshyan could see the Greenskins' floating dockyards trembling under the devastating firepower of the fleet.

Precise artillery fire annihilated the facilities used for modifying meteorites and the auxiliary tugboats one by one, also clearing away floating meteorites and large chunks of space junk that could pose a threat to the fleet.

The Starfire also joined the chorus of firepower.

Bursts of muffled roars echoed across the decks, and all cabins vibrated incessantly, like a massive gong being struck haphazardly within some empty marble palace.

A scent different from usual arose in the air, as if dust or ash had mixed into the central circulation system.

After half an hour of relentless bombardment, the next phase of the war gradually unfolded.

The fleet's ground forces began launching a full-scale offensive on Gachis. All the warriors of the Chapter gathered to watch the battle develop.

The low orbit of Gachis was now wide open, allowing various spacecraft of the Imperial army to transport large numbers of personnel to low-orbit staging areas. The massive hatches of those gargantuan Transport ships opened one by one under the manipulation of thick, heavy cantilever arms, resembling giant mythological rocs spreading their wings.

Further below was that planet filling their entire field of vision, looking extremely scorching to the eyes like an incomparably colossal orange.After the Transport ships arrived in low orbit, batches of heavy warships also sailed into view in formation. The warriors all watched with rapt attention.

A moment later, a cluster of tiny yet blazing fire suddenly lit up on that bright and dazzling orange-yellow land below—the Orbital Bombardment had officially commenced.

Numerous dark spots began to emerge on the planet, as if the skin of this orange had been stained with patches of bruises. As for those particularly bright spots, they were flashpoints produced when launched munitions and lasers collided with Void Shields.

During the suppressive Orbital Bombardment, the transport fleet that had reached the designated altitude proceeded to drop ground troops, like a group of imposing giants sprinkling seeds or chaff as fine as dust beneath their feet.

According to traditional tactics, the first wave of landing forces would open up a secure landing zone on the ground. Subsequently, heavy equipment would reach the surface via large transport aircraft to unload those war machines.

Even the simple minds of the Greenskins could understand the importance of not letting the enemy easily open up a landing zone. Therefore, they would definitely gather their forces in an attempt to wipe out the landing troops to a man right where they stood.

Thus, the first wave of landing troops had to engage in bloody battles with the enemy without the support of heavy firepower.

The casualties in this kind of warfare were often horrifying.

Yet, this was the role of the Astra Militarum. As the cornerstone of the entire campaign, regardless of whether they possessed powerful physiques and minds, they served as the foundation supporting the war.

The decisive strike, however, was usually held in the hands of more elite and far rarer armed forces.

The Astartes Chapters were born for exactly this.

Five hours after the landing operation was launched, Soshyan received a message from the commander of the detachment fleet stating that the Greenskins had come out in full force and were engaged in a fierce battle with the Astra Militarum—meaning it was the perfect opportunity to destroy their heart.

"We are going to the surface."

Soshyan turned to Sol and said:

"Are you going down?"

This sounded almost like a question, but it was actually a notification regarding the next step.

Sol nodded slightly.

Soon, a Thunderhawk arrived at the flight deck of the Starfire

. Twenty-five warriors, fully equipped and ready to go, included Chaplain Yazdan."Let's go."

There was no need for any pre-war mobilization; Soshyan believed his warriors were fully mentally prepared.

A few minutes later, the Thunderhawk, like a comet streaking across the sky, rapidly approached the Greenskins' core stronghold on Gachis amidst friction with the thin atmosphere.

The atmosphere of this planet contained certain components unsuitable for ordinary human respiration. The vast majority of Mortal troops landing had to wear respirators; only the Astartes did not need such protective measures.

They didn't even have to wear helmets.

During the descent, Soshyan constantly paid attention to the dynamics of the battle and the structural landscape of the planet's surface.

Most planets occupied by Greenskins would quickly lose their vitality. Only massive wastelands remained on the ground, looking as if they were made of a single piece of brown glass.

Due to the massive pillars of light descending from the sky, everything was dyed with a faint orange-yellow hue.

As for the contrails produced when the Thunderhawk slipped past the Void Shields, they looked like a continuous string of bursting electrical sparks.

Looking down from an altitude of several thousand meters, one could already see towers of astonishing scale piercing the ground and reaching straight into the sky. These massive structures, like the spires of a Hive City, were completely in line with the Greenskins' crude and wild style.

They were spaced about ten kilometers apart, arranged equidistantly in some sort of pattern, resembling stalagmites growing in a cave.

Sol, sitting beside Soshyan, suddenly spoke his first words since boarding the aircraft.

"These are super-massive field generators. Being able to build such things indicates that there must be an extremely powerful engineer among the Greenskins here. They are generally called Big Meks."

Soshyan heard the implication in Sol's words—the Greenskins here would probably not be easy to deal with.

He carefully inspected outside the window. Facing such a massive extraterrestrial invasion, the performance of those giant shields was quite good, absorbing most of the power of the Orbital Bombardment.

On the tactical display, the Greenskins protected beneath the Void Shields were also preparing to launch their most powerful counterattack.

Through real-time tactical projections, Soshyan could see countless soldiers and armored vehicles sweeping across the wasteland like rolling massive waves, rushing through the scorching trails plowed by the Orbital Bombardment toward their targets.

Firelight was everywhere, and fierce firepower left mottled spots on the ground. Those mud fortresses built by the Greenskins on the surface gradually melted, but this was only the most insignificant part of their massive defensive power.

Thousands of billowing pillars of smoke scattered across the vast land rose toward the ochre sky. Damaged vehicles belching thick smoke were merely insignificant black dots on greenish hololithic projectors, buried amidst the surging, tide-like offensive.

This was exactly the backdrop of a grand painting of war. If paired with a general or commander standing with sword drawn and foot resting on a helmet, it would be enough to become a masterpiece handed down through generations.

Such a spectacular scene surpassed any painting he had ever seen.

But in a somewhat contradictory moment, he realized the conflicting facets within humanity: on one hand, the imposing and powerful general, flushed with success; on the other hand, the minuscule and fragile individual soldier falling abruptly, immediately disappearing beneath the footsteps of countless colleagues charging toward the Xenos' ramparts.

The Ork defensive line, spanning thousands of kilometers, poured fierce firepower upon the advancing grand army with the momentum of Crushing the Withered.

At the very forefront of the Imperial offensive, the Greenskins' astonishingly powerful weapons strikes reduced armored vehicles and Mortal bodies alike to wreckage. Even the air itself was distorted in the explosions.

Atop those hundred-meter-tall rock fortresses, massive turrets of various shapes rotated slowly, unhurriedly washing the land with shells severely overpacked with explosives—occasionally, one could even see these turrets suffer catastrophic detonation due to improper operation.

These explosions left charred, viscous, and steaming scars within the Imperial grand army's formation. Entire companies of soldiers were vaporized just like that.

At the same time, large numbers of super-heavy tanks advancing in formation prepared to fire. The mighty Baneblades raised their gun barrels and began bombarding those fortresses.

Greenskin architecture had never been associated with sturdiness. Those structures quickly fractured under the bombardment of artillery fire, sending large clouds of dust and debris splashing in all directions.

From Soshyan's perspective, those explosions appeared insignificant, the flying ash nothing more than drifting dust. But he understood that this was still the effect of comparing them against a macro perspective.

Those fortresses were actually incomparably colossal; every cloud of dust matched the scene of an entire city block being reduced to ruins.

The outer defensive line, assaulted with the full force of the Astra Militarum, showed little effect, and the gates leading to the Greenskins' core stronghold remained tightly shut.

Five minutes later, countless rockets soared from behind the Greenskin lines and smashed into the Imperial formation. Even super-heavy tanks disintegrated under continuous bombardment, the tankers and their vehicles turned into the charred wreckage of Incendiary Shells together.

Soshyan couldn't help but guess just how many Imperial soldiers had their souls frightened out of their bodies in that exact second?

In that moment, amidst that deafening roar.

Right then, a vibration suddenly transmitted from beneath his feet, and then the entire Thunderhawk shuddered.

They had landed on the land of Gachis.