Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 190: The General Offensive Begins

"Prepare for landing!"

Before the aftershocks of Vorenus II's crash had fully dissipated, the orbital drop descended upon the surface of Vorenus Prime under the cover of searing energy.

Although the falling moon was intercepted mid-air by the Orks' terrifying firepower and shattered into many pieces, these fragments still inflicted immense damage upon the Ork ground fortifications and energy shields. A portion of the power generators even overloaded and were destroyed by the falling rain of fire.

Under the apocalyptic rain of fire, the dull yellow planetary surface turned a viscous, bloody red.

Hundreds of Astra Militarum regiments landed first in the eastern section of the Vorenus System's main fortress zone. They established a solid defensive line in the wilderness between two primary sectors, severing direct communication for the Orks.

Accompanying them were three armored regiments equipped with heavy armor, including Baneblades.

Close behind, over two hundred warriors of the Lamenters Chapter, cooperating with the mortal auxiliary forces of the three Chapters—including the Astral Knights' Armoured Assault Battalion—landed in the northern sector, launching a furious assault on the Orks' primary energy supply center.

As covering fire, Soshyan would lead the Astral Knights and the battle automata of the Legio Cybernetica in a fierce attack against the outer strongholds to the west of the Warlord's fortress. By clearing the path of advance, they would tie down the enemies from the main fortress.

Once the outer strongholds were eradicated, the six hundred-plus warriors of the Excoriators Chapter would launch the final charge against the main fortress.

The first two fronts seemed to face more enemies, but because they were closest to the main fortress, the Astral Knights were actually bearing the greatest pressure.As supplementation, the Freeblade Knight suit Scorpion Sting was ordered to assist them in combat.

But in the end, they still had to rely on themselves.

Inside the Thunderhawk gunship "Obsidian Legacy," the cabin trembled violently. The impact of lasers and the aftershocks of nearby explosions pushed and shoved it about, making it difficult to maintain balance.

Meanwhile, the orbital fleet's final lance volley successfully punched through the shields in certain areas, raising a screaming wave of explosions across the energy barriers.

In an instant, an ocean of fighters dove like raptors, relentlessly bombing the breach. The aircraft-mounted cannons and heavy bolters chased enemy fighter craft arriving from all directions, turning them into separately scattering fireworks.

Soon, the sky was filled with human fighters and bombers. Although aircraft were continually destroyed by Ork ground fire, they couldn't possibly intercept any more targets even if they tried their hardest—Logris possessed exceptionally deft piloting skills, steering the Thunderhawk swiftly through the narrow safe corridor to land safely above the outer surface of a secondary redoubt.

Then, in a final shudder, it landed successfully. The massive downdraft of the engines pinned it firmly to the redoubt's metallic shell, causing the lowered boarding ramp to hiss.

"Maintain formation!"

Soshyan leaped out first, followed closely by the rest of the warriors. Armin served as the standard bearer this time, holding the Chapter banner high.

At this moment, countless fighters circled above their heads. The dim, blood-red sky was illuminated one after another by the fireworks detonating across the battlefield—burning aircraft, blinding gas clouds, and crisscrossing laser beams.

This time, he had committed all of his available forces into the battlefield—not just twenty-six warriors, but the entire Legio Cybernetica contingent. Now all of them had arrived at the outer defensive line west of the Ork main fortress, sweeping their way inside.

Their lascannons and rapid-fire cannons ground the first defensive outer wall to dust. Subsequently, stacks of krak missiles flew into the breach. After turning the space behind the wall into ruins, the Knight Titan Scorpion Sting leapt in right after, using its melta cannon to begin purging the surviving defenders.

The Astartes' landing zone was situated at the top of a secondary redoubt. Amidst the creaking sounds of their footsteps, they fought their way deep inside.

"Covering fire to advance!"

As the Emperor's Angels of Death breached this fortress of iron and steel, the combat in the claustrophobic confines abruptly became bloody and brutal.

Ork forces fighting with their backs to the wall flooded out from every dark corner, their myriad weapons firing continuously, sending endless pings and crackles echoing off power armor.

Quickly, the Chapter split into three endlessly sprinting squads, maintaining tight formations as they drove into different corridors.

When they collided with the oncoming enemy forces, the erupting combat caused the ground beneath their feet to shake violently.

Soon, the interior of the redoubt was overwhelmed by the sounds of death and destruction—crude armored shells were shattered, barricades and cover burned fiercely, scorched corpses were ground to powder, and splattering blood alongside torn chunks of flesh were scattered everywhere.

Soshyan was also fighting strenuously, carving a downward path right through the enemy hordes while his battle brothers followed closely by his side.

The Orks had constructed this redoubt with extreme complexity. The spiderweb-like interior corridors connected, forked, and merged again. The Greenskins used this terrain to continually reposition, massing in ever-increasing numbers around them.

Soon, the auspex inside Soshyan's helmet pinged a signal, indicating they were closing in on the redoubt's center.

The reason they chose to attack this redoubt wasn't just because it was a supporting pillar for the entire sector's defenses, but also because it acted as one of the nodes for the energy shields.

As long as this place was destroyed, the Imperial Navy could deliver more ordnance across the entire defensive line.

Compared to the triumphant advance of the Astral Knights, the defenders had fallen completely into despair—they built barricades out of their own kind's corpses and erected makeshift walls with burnt-out armor, but this proved entirely useless at halting the Angels of Death's offensive.

Melta cannons and lascannons fired in overlapping succession. In an instant, the cramped passageways were filled with spewing torrents of death.

Boundless halos of light illuminated the walls on both sides. Then, warriors who had long been unable to restrain themselves charged forward, leaping into the dancing, twisted flames, dragging the armored wreckage aside to clear the path for the follow-up forces. Amidst endlessly echoing battle cries, this process played out repeatedly, leaving only overlapping deep green corpses lying on the ground behind them.

BOOM————!

When a barrier shattered in an explosion, Soshyan took the lead and entered the redoubt's command core.

The first thing to leap into view was a tall, broad energy regulator with pale blue electrical arcs dancing at its peak. Hundreds upon thousands of Greenskins had already gathered nearby—they had even excavated an intricate network of defensive trenches right into the open deck.

Evidently, what they were protecting lay right in the center of the hall—that energy node tied to over a dozen shield generators. Densely packed on its sides were engines resembling beaded necklaces, these bizarre contrivances occasionally emitting piercing shrieks during energy transmission. Heavy cables formed a complex webway above the energy node, their terminal ends disappearing into armor-shod conduits and power transmission lines.

From the highest point, a battery of linked rapid-fire cannons began sweeping downward, manned by a mob of howling Gretchin.

The Greenskins huddled deep in the trenches, opening fire on the Astartes with assorted firearms.