Chapter 587: Decapitation Strike
The appearance of the second, larger, and more ferociously armed Gargant was like injecting a powerful stimulant into all the Orks.
The "WAAAGH!!!" roars instantly reached a new climax, and that crude energy field almost solidified into reality.
The green tide was no longer merely turbulent; it transformed into a true tsunami of fury, pouncing toward the Imperial defensive line with an even more ferocious and reckless momentum.
This new war machine had clearly learned a lesson from its predecessor's destruction.
It no longer rashly charged ahead like a lone giant. Instead, it was closely surrounded in the center by a tide of Ork Boyz and various roaring armored vehicles—from trucks retrofitted with steel plates and more gun barrels to clanking tracked "fortresses."
Its massive body became a mobile command node and a pillar of firepower. The dense array of secondary weapons on its torso—rapid-fire shootas, boom guns, and rocket launchers—continuously poured a barrage onto the Imperial positions.
Meanwhile, the giant, continuously spinning destruction roller covered in spikes and ramming horns on its arm provided a near-perfect mobile cover for the infantry tide pressing close to its feet.
It was like a steel mammoth guarded by countless hyenas, advancing steadily and firmly, each step making the earth tremble.
"Purple Unit-02, withstand the frontal pressure! Blue Unit-03, prioritize clearing the auxiliary units and exposed weapon hardpoints around it! Red Unit-01, look for opportunities to harass from the flank, but do not easily enter its melee range!" Ryo's calm and swift voice rang out on the encrypted channel, issuing highly targeted commands.
The battle instantly entered an even more arduous and cruel phase.
Shinji Ikari's purple Unit-02 bore unprecedented pressure.
Not only did it have to continuously deploy its A.T. Field to resist the seemingly endless impact of Ork infantry, but he also had to constantly divert his attention to guard against the Gargant's intermittent, yet fatal, main cannon bombardments.
The shockwaves from the massive shells smashing against the purple force field were far more violent than the impacts of the Ork Boyz, and he could clearly feel the machine's energy consumption rate accelerating significantly.
Rei Ayanami's blue Unit-03 completely transformed into a precision sniper on the battlefield.
She calmly evaded stray bullets and artillery fire. Ice-blue energy beams sliced through the gunpowder smoke time and time again, precisely sniping the Ork Meks attempting to brave the crossfire to perform "on-site repairs" on the Gargant.
Or she destroyed the weak points exposed at the seams of the Gargant's armor, such as observation lenses and weapon servo systems, attempting to weaken the steel behemoth's senses and fangs.
Asuka's red Unit-01 relied on its unparalleled mobility, cruising at high speed on the fringes of the battlefield like a deadly phantom.
Using the terrain and wreckage as cover, she cut into the weak points of the Ork escort ring time after time, using the low-power continuous fire mode of the back-mounted Volcano Cannon to strafe the Gargant's treads and leg joints.
Or she executed swift ambushes with her power claws, leaving ferocious tearing wounds on the heavy armor and clearing out escort vehicles that got too close.
But the new Gargant's defenses were more comprehensive, and its escorts were tighter. She was consistently unable to find an excellent opportunity for a one-hit kill like last time.
At the same time, the pressure across the entire front line was increasing sharply.
The Steel Hound Legion's Titans became the primary targets of the Ork tide's assaults.
The steel frontline formed by Princeps Olaf's "Iron Fang" and the other two Warhound-class Titans bore the vast majority of the firepower.
Volkite cannons and turbo-lasers continuously roared, creating brief voids in the green ocean, but the Orks seemed inexhaustible, and those voids were instantly filled by new frenzied waves.
The Knights of the Collegia Titanica fought desperately around the Titans, swinging melta guns and chainswords ceaselessly, vaporizing or shredding swathes of Ork Boyz trying to get close to the Titans' legs. However, their armor was also covered in bullet holes and marks from blade chops.
Further back, the positions of the Imperial Astra Militarum and Planetary Defense Forces were plunged into a bloody melee.
Relying on temporarily constructed fortifications and the wreckage of armored carriers, the soldiers engaged in brutal close-quarters slaughter with the howling, charging Ork Boyz using lasguns, solid-slug weapons, and bayonets.
The defensive line was breached in multiple places, only to be quickly retaken through forced counterattacks amid the roars of officers and the bolter fire of Commissars.
The entire battlefield completely transformed into a massive, endlessly roaring meat grinder, greedily devouring countless lives with every passing minute and second. The air was thick with the heavy stench of gunpowder smoke, ozone, blood, and the unique foul odor of the Orks.
"This can't go on!" Princeps Olaf's rugged voice rang out on the communication channel, his tone carrying unconcealable anxiety. "Our ammunition and energy reserves are not infinite! There's simply no end to killing these greenskin runts! We must find the big guy giving the orders, drag it out, and kill it!"
While the fierce battle was raging on the front lines, inside the Adeptus Mechanicus transport ship in orbit, Ryo was analyzing the situation on the battlefield.
His calm voice responded, "The Ork command structure appears chaotic and disorganized, but the 'WAAAGH!' energy field generated by their collective consciousness naturally converges toward the most powerful individual among them, forming a trackable energy focal point. That is usually where the Ork Warlord leading the invasion is located."
A brief silence lasted only a dozen seconds, but to the officers and soldiers on the front lines, it felt incredibly long.
Subsequently, Ryo's voice rang out again, carrying a sense of certainty: "Positioning complete. The energy signal source is locked, located approximately fifteen kilometers ahead of your current frontline. The coordinates have been marked."
"The location corresponds to the former Planetary Defense Force's 'Charon' heavy underground bunker complex in the intelligence database. That facility possesses extremely strong defensive capabilities and has now been occupied and modified by the Orks."
"The signal strength far exceeds any other unit on the battlefield, and the fluctuation pattern matches the characteristics of an Ork Boss. It is confirmed as the core of this 'WAAAGH!', the command stronghold of the Ork Warlord."
Almost exactly as his voice fell, a striking highlighted marker and precise coordinate data synchronously appeared on the tactical holographic maps in the EVA squad's cockpits and the screens of the Steel Hound Legion's command nodes.
"That's the place," Ryo concluded, his tone resolute and decisive. "Only by thoroughly destroying this energy core can we fundamentally disintegrate the Orks' organization and end this war of attrition."
"Fifteen kilometers?! Are you kidding me? The space in between is densely packed with these damn greenskins!" Looking at the narrow path on the tactical map that needed to be traversed—a path almost completely covered by red markers representing enemy forces—Asuka couldn't help but blurt out. Even with the performance of the EVA-Titans, this was an extremely arduous task.
"We have no other choice," Princeps Olaf's voice deepened, carrying a do-or-die determination. "We need to organize an unprecedentedly powerful assault, concentrate all our spearheads, and like a hot knife through butter, tear open a path straight to the heart of their defensive line!"
"The Steel Hound Legion will concentrate all Titans and Knights that can still move to clear a path for your EVA squad and draw the main firepower!"
"But for the final assault on that fortified bunker and the mission to kill that Warlord inside, I'm afraid we must rely on the mobility and instantaneous explosive power of you three to accomplish it."
"I agree with this operational plan," Ryo swiftly evaluated the battlefield situation and feasibility before making a decision. "EVA squad, immediately conduct final checks and prepare to execute the decapitation strike."
"Princeps Olaf, Steel Hound Legion, please provide maximum fire cover and maintain the corridor at all costs."
"This is our best opportunity to secure victory in one fell swoop and thoroughly eradicate the threat on this planet."