Accustomed to interstellar warfare, where battleships exchanged fire and devoured enemies beyond visual range, the Devourers felt as if they had suddenly been pulled into a completely unfamiliar domain, leaving them bewildered and at a loss.
What's more, many Devourers were still in a state of utter shock.
Such ancient tactics they had only seen in history; the civilizations the Devourers had defeated in the past always featured battleships dominating the skies and artillery barrages cleansing the ground.
Either the enemy civilization was technologically inferior, and they only needed to pilot their battleships to eliminate those primitive, bloodthirsty creatures.
Or, it was a nearly equally matched civilization, like Eridanus, where the war between the two sides, from beginning to end, was also a battleship-to-battleship bombardment in the universe, making such a situation utterly impossible!
But now, the proud Devourers encountered a civilization that defied convention—Humanity!
They actually piloted their battleships, like unreasonable The Bandit, unceremoniously smashing through the outer armor of battleships and leaping out to engage them in completely unfamiliar, ancient ground combat!
The first batch of guards, dispatched by Cracked Jaw, initially thought they could easily crush these 'bugs' with their superior height.
But almost immediately, they profoundly experienced the terror of the Astartes!
Their reflexes were almost superhumanly fast; even when automatically locked on by firearms, they could still, with their incredibly high reaction speed, immediately find cover or dodge a fatal blow.
Their seemingly fragile armor could withstand ray guns from the Devourers!
Especially the chainswords, a seemingly outdated weapon, standard issue for every Astartes, could easily tear apart their protective suits!
Most importantly, these men were utterly fearless, each one extraordinarily brave, like tigers among sheep; even with their ten-meter height, in front of these men, they seemed to become prey awaiting slaughter!
The roles of hunter and prey had been reversed!
Olson made a great leap, cleaved a Devourer hiding in the shadows attempting to ambush him, then smacked his lips, "This expedition is too easy, isn't it? If I had known it was this simple, I would have let the new recruits come for some training."
Yes, for him, this was practically a "vacation"; such intensity—had almost no pressure on the Dark Angel.
Ten meters tall?
Sorry, in the Dark Angel's usual simulated battles, the opponents were often xenos of the level of Daedan; merely by height—it's not quite enough.
"After all, their civilization level is still very low," the Chief Librarian nodded, commenting, "Their tactical level is still stuck in the era of battleship bombardments, so having such strength is normal; they don't even reach the level of a typical Astra Militarum."
Emrys was a bit speechless listening to these two complain, unsure what to say.
To be fair, from a normal logical perspective, the Devourer civilization's development is more in line with the laws of civilization, at least with physical laws.
Warhammer's tech tree was truly skewed.
The Chief Librarian of the Dark Angel, because he had always been at the rear, seemed to have been identified by the Devourers as a "Soft target" and was also the Commander of this army.
Thus, a squad of dozens of Devourers rushed towards him!
"Hmm?"
The Chief Librarian frowned slightly.
He, was he being treated as the Commander?
Watching these Devourers charge at him, fearless of death, he was momentarily speechless, glanced at the true Commander, their beloved Chapter Sir, who was happily slaughtering in the front, and sighed helplessly, lightning surging in his eyes.
In an instant, the gravitational force in the surrounding space was distorted, and those Devourers attempting to ambush him were immediately crushed into a pulp, blood splattering everywhere!
Emrys continued to survey the overall situation.
This surprise attack relied on speed and suddenness; he didn't want to invest too many resources, so he only brought four main forces.
The Iron Man Legion of the Transformers, the Ultramarines Silver Templars Chapter, the Dark Angel Dawnbreakers Chapter, and the Iron Warrior Punishers Chapter.
The majority of the Iron Man Legion primarily provided fire support, while also being responsible for opening paths, engineering work, and various other tasks.
The differences among the remaining three great Chapters were also evident here.
The Dark Angel moved with extreme speed, like a sharp spear, tearing through the Devourer's ground forces' defense line from the front, then handed it over to the Ultramarines to stabilize the line, establishing fortified positions from both flanks, while the Iron Warrior in the middle advanced steadily, meticulously, and ruthlessly, crushing one enemy after another attempting to block their path.
The three Chapters, with their distinct characteristics, cooperated seamlessly, demonstrating maximum combat power with a limited number of personnel.
The three great Chapters, numbering only a few thousand in total, managed to force a Devourer army of over a hundred thousand to retreat repeatedly, utterly powerless to resist.
This is not to say that the Devourer ground forces' combat power was truly that poor, but rather Emrys keenly noticed that the Devourer's overall command seemed somewhat chaotic.
There were always units that chose to stubbornly resist at inopportune times, neglecting the Space Warrior encircling from both flanks, leading to their complete annihilation.
There were also units on the front line that suddenly began to rout, allowing the Space Warrior to tear open a fatal gap in the front!
With a fatal gap, what awaited the Devourers was a situation that almost drove them to despair!
The Dark Angel swiftly plunged into the gap, the Silver Templars encircled and cut off the retreating forces on both flanks, and the Iron Warrior consolidated the front line, advancing relentlessly!
Despite having an absolute numerical advantage, and even not that significant a difference in their weaponry, the hundred thousand strong Devourer ground forces were continuously cut, encircled, and completely annihilated by the three great Chapters due to chaotic command, slowly being whittled away!
"Is the Devourer civilization only this capable?"
Even Emrys was a bit surprised; the Devourer civilization's command was even worse than a hive gang!
However, he did not know.
At this moment, in the Devourers's command channel, it had almost descended into ran, the culprit being the recently appointed 'incompetent'—Cracked Jaw.
"Brain, Brain, what should we do now?!"
Cracked Jaw, with a mix of fear and urgency, asked the 'omnipotent' Brain, "Quickly give me an idea, what should I do now?!"
"Apologies, Your Excellency, the Supreme Commander, due to 'protocol' restrictions, I cannot make decisions on behalf of the Commander," the Brain said coldly.
When it was designed, it was only meant to assist the Supreme Commander, a tool for collecting war intelligence and providing analysis, not to replace the Commander.
This was also the Devourer civilization's method to prevent AI from developing consciousness and backfiring on the civilization.
"Then, then what should I do?!"
Cracked Jaw was dumbfounded, looking at the reports and requests for support flying in like snowflakes, which almost caused his brain to crash.
"Where is our Commander?!"
"Damn it, these bugs have already occupied the living quarters, we need support! We need support!"
"Where is the Commander?!"
"We're finished!"
Boom!
With a loud bang, Cracked Jaw fell to the ground, staring in horror at the constantly being overrun areas.
"What—what should I do? What should I do?"
Just then, a projection appeared.
It was the Elder of the Supreme Council; he glared at Cracked Jaw, gnashing his teeth and roaring, "You useless piece of trash, you have betrayed the Imperium's trust! I now declare—you are hereby relieved of your duties! You, Cracked Jaw, are immediately sentenced to death! Your position will be taken over by Stonefang!!!"
Humanity quickly captured several areas, making the Elders of the Supreme Council finally experience fear, and they no longer cared about power struggles, immediately deciding to awaken Stonefang.
As for this useless piece of trash?
Death penalty! It must be the death penalty!
"No, no, Elder—Father, Father!!!" Cracked Jaw cried bitterly, shouting in terror, "Spare my life, please—please—spare my life, I didn't mean to, Father!!!"
But unfortunately, the Elder no longer wanted to listen to this useless individual's excuses and ordered the guards to drag him away!
The original intention was for Cracked Jaw to gain experience, but unexpectedly—he almost brought down the Imperium, so the Elder had no choice but to make a painful decision and provide an explanation to everyone.