The staggering killing efficiency displayed by the three EVA Titans on the battlefield did not cause the Ork army to retreat in the slightest. Instead, it was as if fresh fuel had been tossed into a roaring furnace, completely detonating the primal craving for violence and chaos embedded in the bones of these green xenos.
The deafening cries of "WAAAGH!!!" did not weaken; they coalesced into an even more frenzied tidal wave of sound. This roar began to manifest on a physical level as a crude energy field—invisible to the naked eye but clearly detectable by psionic sensors. Like a swelling bubble filled with primitive combat intent, it enveloped the entire engagement zone.
Stimulated by this bizarre field, the green tide became even more turbulent. The Orks cared nothing for the shattered remains of their kin beneath their feet and had no concept of their own staggering casualty figures. Driven by sheer savagery, they surged forward in endless waves, relentlessly battering the Imperial lines that were struggling to hold firm.
"Are these greenskins... insane?!" Asuka's voice rang through the comms, filled with intense confusion and a hint of irritation.
Her Red Unit-01 had just completed a clean, ultra-high-speed raid. Her sharp power claws had sliced through a roaring "Killa Kan" cobbled together from scrap metal as easily as a hot knife through butter. While the resulting explosion cleared a small area, more Ork Boyz howled as they filled the gap almost a second later, acting as if the previous destruction had never happened.
"They seem to be... stimulated by the combat itself," Rei stated calmly. The precision shots from her Blue Unit-03 continued to eliminate targets with mechanical stability, but the density of enemy blips on the sensors showed no significant decrease.
Shinji maneuvered the Violet Unit-02, maintaining a solid defensive stance. The A.T. Field deployed repeatedly, bouncing or deflecting the swarming Ork Boyz along with their crude choppas and heavy ballistic fire. He could clearly feel the constant, irregular feedback of impacts against the surface of the field. This pure, irrational war of attrition caused him a deep sense of physical exhaustion and discomfort.
At that moment, Osiris's steady voice cut into the encrypted channel, addressing their observations directly. "It is not insanity; it is the characteristic of their race. Orks are organisms born for war. Intense combat stimulates them to secrete more battle hormones and strengthens their collective 'WAAAGH!' energy field. Simply put, combat is not a burden to them—it is a stimulant. The stronger you appear and the higher your kill rate, the more excited and aggressive they become, as long as you haven't completely broken them."
His explanation was cold and objective, but it caused the hearts of the three pilots to sink. It meant that their efficient combat was, in a way, "fueling" the enemy.
"So you're saying the faster we kill them, the more of them come, and the more excited they get?" Asuka asked back in disbelief.
"You can understand it that way," Osiris confirmed. "A conventional war of attrition has limited effects on them and can even be counterproductive. They will only grow more frenzied until one side is completely annihilated or their energy field collapses because its core is destroyed."
Shinji grew even paler as he listened to this explanation and looked at the seemingly endless green tide. These enemies were fundamentally different from any Angel he had faced before. They had no clear purpose and no complex strategy—only the most primitive, pure, and despair-inducing desire for war. This irrational consumption exhausted him mentally and physically, and he felt a weight in his heart regarding the "total annihilation" Osiris hinted at.
Just as the front lines fell into a grinding stalemate, an unusually heavy and rhythmic vibration shook the ground, momentarily drowning out the clamor of the battlefield. From behind the Ork lines, a behemoth cobbled together from countless pieces of scrap metal, armor plates, thick cannon barrels, and creaking steam boilers emerged with earth-shaking strides.
It was an Ork Gargant.
Standing at approximately fifty meters tall, it appeared squat and clumsy compared to the EVA Titans, which typically exceeded eighty meters. Its main structure was crooked, covered in crude weld marks and exposed conduits. Several large-caliber ballistic cannons and rocket pods were mounted on its head and shoulders, constantly belching black smoke and emitting ear-piercing metallic screeches.
"Large high-energy signature detected! Identified as an Ork super-heavy unit—Gargant!" the Iron Hounds' battlefield monitoring system immediately issued an alert.
"Finally, something decent!" Instead of being nervous, Asuka became excited. Unit-01's sensors locked onto the staggering green iron monstrosity.
"Red One, do not be impulsive. Violet Two and Blue Three, provide cover and assess the target threat," Osiris's calm voice intervened, curbing Asuka's urge to charge in directly.
The Gargant had clearly spotted the EVA Titans, which were much taller than itself. It let out a roar like the grinding of rusted gears, and its short, thick cannon barrels began to rotate, aiming at the relatively close Violet Unit-02.
"Shinji! Look out!" Asuka shouted.
Shinji's heart tightened, and he instinctively concentrated Unit-02's A.T. Field to the front. Almost simultaneously, the Gargant's main cannons roared with deafening thunder. Massive solid shells trailed smoke as they slammed into the purple field, exploding in a shower of brilliant sparks and shockwaves. The field rippled violently but successfully withstood the bombardment.
"High firepower, but the accuracy and rate of fire are poor," Rei analyzed quickly. Her Blue Unit-03 took the opportunity to fire several energy beams, destroying exposed hydraulic systems on the Gargant's legs and causing its movement to falter.
"Now!" Asuka saw her opening during the brief stiffness caused by the Gargant's attack recoil and damage.
The thrusters on Unit-01's back erupted with full power. The unit did not charge in a straight line but closed in at high speed using an unpredictable zigzag trajectory, perfectly evading the frantic intercepting fire from the Gargant's secondary weapons.
In an instant, Unit-01 had lunged into the Gargant's rear flank—the blind spot of its main cannons.
"Taste this!" Asuka cried out. The formidable Nemesis-class Volcano Cannon on Unit-01's back rapidly adjusted its angle, as searing white energy coalesced wildly at the muzzle.
The Gargant's pilot—if one could call them that—seemed to sense the lethal crisis and tried in vain to turn the massive body. But it was too late.
"BOOM—!!!"
A thick jet of incandescent energy, large enough to consume the entire Gargant, roared from the Volcano Cannon. It struck the Gargant's relatively fragile rear engine block and ammunition magazine with pinpoint accuracy. The extreme heat and kinetic energy instantly annihilated the point of impact.
The Gargant's massive frame jerked, and then an earth-shattering secondary explosion erupted from within. A massive fireball, carrying shattered metal parts and green limbs, soared into the sky. The shockwave cleared every Ork within a hundred-meter radius.
As the smoke and flames partially cleared, only a massive molten crater and a heap of twisted, scorched wreckage remained.
"Target neutralized!" Asuka reported with a victorious tone.