Guilliman's departure did not affect the battle situation at The Wall. At this time, Zeke was sitting inside his battleship, watching the Void Black Hole gradually forming in the distance.
The 20 brilliant-class battleships stationed at The Wall had also arrived, meaning there were now a total of 40 brilliant-class battleships deployed in The Wall region.
They had all aimed their cannons toward the Void Black Hole.
In addition, a large number of Imperium of Man and Necrons warships had also reached the battlefield. The Black Hole-class battleships had likewise rushed to the location, their main guns charging, awaiting only the appearance of the Tyranid Swarm.
Roar—
A furious roar appeared in the cosmos. No one knew why sound could travel in space, but all the human fleets clearly heard the roar.
The next moment, a gigantic Tyranid warrior appeared in the space that had originally been empty and as deep as a black hole.
"As expected, they're here! Open fire!" The moment the Tyranid warrior appeared, Zeke slammed his hand down, and the brilliant-class battleships immediately opened fire.
With 40 battleships attacking one Tyranid warrior with their main guns, there was naturally no second outcome.
This newly emerged Tyranid warrior disappeared after enduring the brilliant-class battleships' bombardment for a full minute.
However, its disappearance did not signify the end of the war; instead, it completely sounded the horn of battle, followed immediately by a massive number of Tyranid battleships pouring out of the passage.
It took 40 brilliant-class battleships firing simultaneously a full minute to destroy just one Tyranid warship—a sight that neither the Imperium nor the Necrons fleets had ever witnessed.
These warships were symbols of invincibility in the eyes of the Necrons and humanity.
Attacks that could easily wipe out an entire star system with a single strike seemed so weak when hitting these Tyranids... This made it clear just how powerful the enemy they were about to face truly was.
As large numbers of Tyranid Swarm units emerged from the Void Black Hole, the Imperium of Man and Necrons fleets also entered the war.
The Black Hole-class battleships fired a beam of light that was the deepest black.
Moreover, the Necrons' world engines continuously used star god fragments as energy and launched attacks against the Tyranid Swarm.
Meanwhile, the more numerous ordinary warships continuously unleashed their firepower. However, aside from the star god fragment weapons used by the Necrons' world engines and the attacks from the Black Hole-class battleships, the impact of most warships on the Tyranid Swarm was negligible.
Only the moon of war could still effectively wound these Tyranids, but the effect was no longer the one-hit destruction seen before; instead, the battle entered a stalemate.
As vast numbers of Tyranids appeared in the void of space, the counterattack from the Tyranid Swarm arrived, and countless natural disaster missiles appeared in the cosmos.
Whether they hit a cruiser, a battleship, or even a powerful titan warship, anything they touched was instantly destroyed.
The only things capable of withstanding this kind of weapon attack were the moon of war and the Necrons' world engines; even the Necrons' Tomb Fleets were unable to hold up under such attacks.
Swaths of fleets were destroyed in the void, their remnants scattered everywhere.
However, Zeke paid no attention to any of this. His gaze remained fixed on the Void Black Hole; he was waiting for the most important entity to appear.
The Zorlin Primordial Mothership... Although these ordinary Zorlin Primordial units were powerful, they could not deliver sustained blows to humanity. Only the Zorlin Primordial Mothership could inflict continuous damage upon humanity.
The reason Zeke mobilized a large number of fleets here was to block the Zorlin Primordial Mothership from emerging and then destroy it.
If it managed to escape this area, the Tyranid Swarm fleets would continuously pour into this galaxy, which would not be a favorable outcome for the human military at this time.
The reproductive speed and horrifying nature of an unrestrained Tyranid Swarm were enough to cause massive headaches.
However, the Zorlin Primordial Mothership seemed to possess a different kind of patience. It was still waiting and had not yet appeared, while the Void Black Hole was still being maintained.
The fighting lasted for two days... Szarekh watched the massive losses sustained by the Imperium and Necrons fleets, and the entire Necron's heart was bleeding.
Even though he was currently just a small robot, his heart was still breaking when he saw this scene before him.
That was the main Necrons fleet from four galaxies, and now the ordinary Tomb Warships were being cleared out like cannon fodder.
The world engines, which had always been invincible on the battlefield and rarely suffered losses even during their civil wars, were constantly falling—
One world engine after another was destroyed, and the star god fragments within them broke free.
However, before these star god fragments could even celebrate their liberation from the Necrons' control, even more powerful Necrons warships appeared before them and converted them into energy.
The aggregation of star god fragments made the Necrons' world engines increasingly powerful, but even the continuously strengthening Necrons' world engines seemed slightly inadequate when attacking the Zorlin Primordial.
"Zeke, are we going to keep fighting? Why don't we retreat? What exactly are you waiting for? It would be better to fall back and use The Wall to engage them."
"If this continues, even if we win, The Wall's elite forces will suffer heavy losses in this battle. We will then struggle to hold out against subsequent attacks from the Tyranid Swarm."
Two days had passed with such enormous casualties, while the Tyranid Swarm had only lost 11 Male Tyranid Warriors, 21 Juvenile Tyranids, and 31 Larval Tyranids.
The Male Tyranid Warriors were the Tyranid Swarm's battleships.
Naturally, even larger Tyranid Warriors could function as titan warships.
But whether they were battleships or Titan ships, what did it matter even if all 11 were Titan ships?
Compared to the Titans and world engines—quasi-stellar warships—lost by the Necrons and humanity, the losses of the Tyranid Swarm were virtually negligible.
"Wait!"
"We must wait! So many people have already died. If we fail to persist and let the strategy fail, then all these people will have died in vain!"
Szarekh's heart was bleeding, but how could Zeke feel any better? His heart was also bleeding, but with so many already dead, humanity absolutely could not retreat now.
If the Tyranid Swarm Mothership happened to appear the moment they withdrew, then all the warriors and warships sacrificed here would have been for nothing.
"..."
Szarekh felt helpless, but since Zeke had spoken so resolutely, he could only turn away reluctantly.
"The losses are too great..."
"They should be coming out by now. Why is their passage lasting this long?"
"Wait, no. This passage should close in two hours at most. They have to come out soon."
"Two hours, just two hours. If it doesn't come out, then everything will be meaningless."
Szarekh was urgent, but Zeke was no better off, watching his own forces suffer increasingly heavy losses.
These fleets stationed at The Wall were the elite armies of the Imperium of Man. With such devastating losses, how long would it take to replenish these troops?
He desperately sensed how much longer the passage on the opposite side could last. Only two hours remained. If the enemy didn't emerge after two hours, it wouldn't be able to emerge at all.
That was what Zeke thought, but the Zerg Hive Ship inside the passage was somewhat afraid and unwilling to move forward.
The Tyranid Swarm is a very unique entity. The Zorlin Primordial is essentially the consciousness of the survivors, though this surviving Tyranid Swarm fleet has now become increasingly powerful.
Even so, various tribes still existed within the Tyranid Swarm.
The Tyranid Swarm fleet acting as the vanguard for this attack was the entire main force of one tribe from within the Zorlin Primordial.
Their Zerg Hive Ship, the core of this entire tribe, could feel its offspring being constantly lost.
Furthermore, through the senses of its offspring, it could perceive that 40 active brilliant-class battleships of the Terran Dominion were waiting for its appearance on the other side of The Galaxy / Milky Way.
As the production unit of the Tyranid Swarm, the size of the Zerg Hive Ship was immense, its massive body having already reached the scale of a quasar-class warship.
However, unlike other primary combat warships, its fighting power as the Tyranid Swarm's mothership was extremely low.
Its main job was never combat, but rather commanding battles and producing more Tyranid Swarm combat units. Now, two-thirds of the Tyranid Swarm fleet under its command had been lost.
Meanwhile, the 40 splendid-class battleships of humanity still existed, and their targets remained locked onto the black hole's exit.
It could guarantee that the moment its form appeared at the black hole's exit, the Emperor of the Terran Dominion would scatter it into dust without hesitation.
Zeke was waiting for its emergence, and it, in turn, was wary of Zeke, refusing to leave the passage.
As for reinforcements?
This black hole was actually one-way.
Moreover, the deployed troops were a one-time contingent.
There was simply no second wave of reinforcements; they were everything.
The Tyranid Swarm's mothership could only silently pray that Zeke would fail to hold out and leave first, rather than continuing to block the exit with his fleet.
None of the Void Realm Overlords, plus the old geezers of the Revival Empire, had anticipated that their operation would turn out to be such nonsense.
Clearly, everything was proceeding according to plan, so why did the specific incident of Zeke blocking the exit occur?
According to their estimations, this possibility could exist, but the actual occurrence of this particular event was highly unlikely.
Zeke shouldn't have appeared here without reason just to block their exit.
They had chosen the most dangerous location for the warp jump.
The edge of The Galaxy / Milky Way had numerous ordinary Zorlin Primordial units and other Tyranid Swarm combat units, but a true Fourth Calamity combat unit had never appeared here.
Theoretically speaking, Zeke should not have any interest in the fighting here.
How could small-scale battles here possibly attract the attention of the Emperor of the Terran Dominion?
As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest. Only after mutual deliberation and detailed discussion did they set their destination here.
How could such a thing happen out of the blue? Who could they complain to? They just happened to run into the period when Zeke was planning to leave The Galaxy / Milky Way. If they had been even slightly later or earlier, Zeke could not have succeeded in crossing.
Although the Zerg Hive Ship in the Void Realm black hole was extremely reluctant, it was also sensing that its exit was beginning to shrink.
It had to leave this Void Realm black hole before the exit began to contract, or else it would face being trapped inside, and as all the energy dissipated, it would be completely destroyed.
No matter how unwilling it was, when the two hours reached their final five minutes, it was forced to approach the exit.
"It's coming."
"Szarekh, get your world engine ready as well. Prepare to attack the creature about to emerge from the black hole. As long as we deal with that creature, this war can end, and we can retreat back to The Wall!"
Zeke's words caused the already impatient Necrons to suddenly turn their heads and immediately issue corresponding orders.
The Necrons and the Human fleet's moon of war world engine-level quasar warships ceased their attacks on the surrounding Tyranid Swarm and began preparing their main guns.
The Tyranid Swarm fleet, which had been slaughtering the Human and Necrons warships, seemed to receive a signal as well. They rapidly began to gather toward the exit, apparently preparing to use their metallic bodies to block the attack.
This scene gave Zeke a very bad feeling, and he immediately issued an order.
"Fire! At all costs, destroy the Tyranid Swarm warships blocking our firing line. We absolutely cannot let them jam the exit."
"This must be done! We have limited time!"
"If we fail to destroy this Zerg Hive Ship immediately, it is capable of entering faster-than-light jump and escaping. We must not let it escape! Destroy it!"
Following Zeke's command, torrents of energy began to launch from the warships. The attacks originally intended for the Zerg Hive Ship were redirected toward the returning Tyranid Swarm warships.
But just as in the previous fighting, these Tyranid Swarm warships were not instantly annihilated by the concentrated fire of Zeke's fleet, and now it was even less likely to happen.
After sacrificing one Titan-class, two battleship-class, and five cruiser-class warships, they successfully withstood all the main gun attacks from the Human side.
This included the 40 brilliant-class battleships. The Titan-sized Tyranid Swarm warship was directly destroyed by the splendid-class.
Even if 20 battleships fired their main guns simultaneously, it would be difficult to destroy a Titan-class warship in a single volley, as there is a world of difference between a Titan and a battleship.
This was only possible because the Terran Dominion's battleships were inherently much stronger than conventional battleships; otherwise, achieving this would have been impossible.
As for the Necrons...
Although they had touched the edge of ascension, their mechanical ascension ultimately failed, didn't it?
Honestly, it was already quite miraculous that the Necrons' warships could inflict damage upon these Calamity Tyranid Swarm units.
For an un-ascended civilization to cause such massive losses to an ascended civilization was sufficient proof of the Necrons' power.