Chapter 590: Clearing the Embers
The energy gathered at the muzzle of the Nemesis-class Volcano Cannon on the back of Red Unit-01 had reached its critical point.
That blazing white light even temporarily overpowered the flying flames and explosions on the battlefield, reflecting a pale white glare onto the surroundings.
The terrifying energy fluctuations warped the very air. Even the Gargant wrestling with Purple Unit-02 in the distance instinctively sensed the threat through its simple sensors, letting out a roar mixed with anger and a hint of unease.
"Fire!" Asuka issued the final command without any hesitation when Red Unit-01 charged to a position less than a hundred meters away from the weak point on the left side of the Ork fortress.
"BOOM!!!"
It was not the popping sound of a traditional gunpowder weapon firing, but a roar of an even deeper, more terrifying energy release.
A searing jet of energy, with a diameter large enough to accommodate several main battle tanks driving side-by-side, erupted from the muzzle of the Volcano Cannon like the wrath of a mythical titan.
Wherever the jet passed, the air was completely ionized, forming a temporary vacuum channel. Everything in the surroundings, whether Orks, fortifications, or metal wreckage, was thoroughly annihilated by the extreme high temperature and kinetic energy in an instant, not even leaving ashes behind.
This devastating pillar of light solidly bombarded the ventilation shaft structure blocked by crude metal plates on the left side of the Ork fortress.
There was no stalemate, no delay.
Under the point-blank shot of the Volcano Cannon at maximum power, those seemingly thick metal plates rapidly melted and vaporized like ice and snow under the sun.
The blazing white jet penetrated the outer defenses without any hindrance and pierced deeply into the internal structure of the fortress.
The energy jet wreaked havoc inside the fortress, frantically spreading along the corridors and spaces.
The fortress's crooked structure simply could not withstand such a concentrated and furious energy impact.
The internal ammunition depots were detonated, fuel reserves were ignited, and thick energy pipelines were melted, triggering continuous chain sympathetic detonations.
Viewed from the outside, the entire Ork fortress was like a lit powder keg.
First, a series of muffled and violent explosions came from within, and blinding white light suddenly pierced through countless welding seams and armor joints on the fortress's surface.
Subsequently, an even more violent explosion erupted from within. Heavy armor plates were blown off from the inside, and twisted gun barrels and metal components were thrown into the air like toys.
A massive hole, churning with flames and thick smoke, rapidly expanded and spread across the left side of the fortress, centered around the struck ventilation shaft.
Deep within the fortress, that powerful and stable WAAAGH! energy signal source, like a power supply being cut off, abruptly experienced a violent, cliff-like drop on the sensor readings. It then became extremely chaotic and weak, before finally disappearing completely.
It was a success!
"Energy signal source has disappeared! Confirmed destruction of the core target!" Ryo's voice rang out immediately on the encrypted channel, confirming the battle result.
Almost at the exact same time the energy signal disappeared, a drastic, visible change occurred on the battlefield.
That Gargant, which was fiercely wrestling with Purple Unit-02 and had even forced Shinji to retreat step by step at one point, suddenly stalled in its movements.
The pitch of its roaring engine abruptly dropped. The continuously flashing indicator lights and runes on its torso, which represented its WAAAGH! energy connection, instantly went out for the most part, as if the power had been cut.
Its simple and frantic combat consciousness seemed to fall into a brief state of chaos and bewilderment due to losing its top-level commands and energy support.
It wasn't just this Gargant; all Ork units across the entire battlefield exhibited obvious abnormalities.
That deafening, endless WAAAGH!!! roar experienced a large-scale interruption and weakening for the first time, becoming sparse and chaotic.
The charging momentum of the Ork Boyz, who had originally been madly surging toward the Imperial defensive line like a tide, charging ahead fearlessly, slowed down significantly. Many individuals showed expressions of confusion and bewilderment on their faces, and phenomena of shoving and arguing with each other even began to appear.
The attacks from those armored vehicles also lost their previous coordination and accuracy.
"Beautifully done! EVA squad!" Princeps Olaf's excited roar came through the public channel. Even through the armor of the Titan, his agitation could be felt: "The greenskin boss is dead! Their WAAAGH! is finished! All forces assault! Crush them!"
The morale of the Steel Hound Legion's Titans and Knights surged. They immediately seized the excellent opportunity of the Orks falling into chaos and launched an even more ferocious counterattack.
Volkite cannons and turbo-lasers acted like the scythes of the grim reaper, wantonly reaping lives among the Ork horde that had lost unified command and whose fighting spirit had plummeted.
"It worked... We did it!" Shinji let out a long sigh of relief in the cockpit. His constantly taut nerves were finally able to relax.
The pressure in front of Purple Unit-02 dropped sharply. Although that Gargant was still struggling, its threat level was nowhere near what it was before.
Rei Ayanami also ceased her continuous firepower suppression. Blue Unit-03 stood quietly atop the pile of wreckage, its sensors calmly scanning the collapsing Ork front line.
After firing that devastating blow, Asuka's Red Unit-01 used the reverse thrust of its thrusters to rapidly retreat, evading the shockwave and the sky full of splashing, searing metal wreckage generated by the fortress's sympathetic detonation.
She looked at that burning, continuously collapsing Ork fortress, a smile mixing exhaustion and extreme satisfaction rising on the corners of her mouth.
"Hmph, couldn't even withstand a single blow."
However, the battle was not completely over.
Having lost the command of their supreme Warlord, the Ork legion did not immediately disintegrate but instead fell into an even more frantic and disorderly chaos.
Some larger Ork Nobs attempted to reorganize the ranks, but they lacked coordination with each other, and even began infighting to compete for leadership.
This made it so that although the Orks' resistance no longer posed the previous level of threat, the battlefield situation became more complex and chaotic.
"Do not let your guard down," Ryo's voice rang out again, carrying its usual calmness. "The Ork Warlord has been eliminated, but its remnant forces are still of considerable scale."
"Assist the Steel Hound Legion in thoroughly clearing out the resistance in this area. Focus on eliminating those secondary Bosses attempting to reorganize the troops."
"Understood!"
The three EVA-Titans mobilized once more, but their tactics had changed.
They no longer needed to execute high-risk, high-difficulty deep assaults. Instead, they transformed into battlefield scavengers. Coordinating with the Steel Hound Legion's advance, they efficiently cleared out the Ork clusters that were still stubbornly resisting or had fallen into infighting.
Relying on its high mobility, Red Unit-01 rapidly shuttled across the battlefield, precisely sniping those Ork Nobs attempting to howl and rally their troops.
Purple Unit-02 acted as a mobile fortress, providing solid protection for the advancing Imperial infantry and using its massive strength to crush the Orks' hastily established resistance points.
Blue Unit-03 continued to act as a sniper, using precise energy beams to clear long-distance threats and important targets.
Having lost the enhancement of the WAAAGH! energy field and unified command, the combat effectiveness of the Ork forces plummeted sharply.
Their crude weapons struggled to pose any substantial threat to the EVA-Titans, while every attack from the EVA-Titans could cause massive casualties.
The situation on the battlefield was proceeding in a completely one-sided manner, absolutely advantageous to the Imperial forces.