74: When tin cans meet gold cans

["abyssal overlord" Fortress - First Line of Defense Breach]

A pungent smell filled the air.

The smell of rust from red-hot metal.

The sharp tang of ozone.

The salty stench left behind by vaporized seawater after it cooled.

These three scents mixed together, seeping into every respirator and stimulating the olfactory nerves.

C-19 leaped down from the rear hatch of the Rhino Transport.

His power boots stepped onto the ground. The ground was still scorching hot.

The steel deck was baked by the residual heat of the bombardment, with temperatures exceeding two hundred degrees.

The Ceramite soles made a soft "click" as they touched the metal.

He looked up.

Before him was hell.

The Thunderhawk's bombardment had torn open a massive gap.

Twisted rebar jutted from the fractured walls, each as thick as an arm and covered in solidified metal droplets.

Shattered concrete lay scattered across the floor, exposing the internal steel mesh structure.

These ruins stretched toward the sky, jagged and uneven, with molten metal still dripping from their edges.

Beyond the gap was a wide alloy corridor.

The corridor was over twenty meters wide, tall enough for three rhinos to pass through side-by-side.

The walls on both sides were heavy armor plates, their surfaces covered in countless tiny weld marks.

Changes began to occur on the walls—circular turret hatches were opening, and mechanical arms pushed autocannons out from inside the walls.

The muzzles flickered with red targeting beams.

"First and Second Companies, disembark."

C-19's voice rang out in the communication channel.

No fluctuations.

No emotion.

"Use the rhinos as cover and establish a beachhead."

"Copy that."

Thirty-one black-armored Astartes poured out from the three rhinos.

They didn't look for cover. They quickly formed combat squads of five to six men.

Bolter gunners were in the front, Chainswords hanging at their waists.

Heavy weapons specialists were in the rear, carrying rocket launchers or heavy Bolters on their shoulders.

Sergeants were in the center, holding Tactical Data Slates.

Their movements were precise. No wasted steps.

From disembarking to being in position, it took a total of seven seconds.

"Fire."

C-19 ordered.

The Storm Bolter Turrets atop the three rhino vehicles rotated simultaneously.

Three heavy Bolters began to roar.

Orange-red muzzle flashes flickered around the turrets, as a rate of fire of six hundred rounds per second poured large-caliber bolt shells into the turrets on both sides of the corridor.

Boom boom boom boom boom—!

The bolt shells struck the turrets.

Some exploded on the armor's surface, leaving charred craters.

Some pierced the turrets' visual sensors, causing internal short circuits.

Sparks sprayed from the damaged turrets, followed by thick smoke, and then secondary explosions.

One. Two. Five.

Twelve turrets were destroyed within thirty seconds.

On C-19's tactical eyepiece, threat markers turned gray one by one.

"Advance."

He took a step forward.

The Astartes behind him followed his lead, maintaining a standard tactical formation.

The rhino vehicles' engines roared as they moved forward slowly, providing mobile cover for the infantry.

Just then.

At the end of the corridor, a golden light appeared.

"Contact," an Astartes' voice rang out in the channel. "Enemy heavy infantry."

C-19's eyepiece automatically zoomed in on the distant image.

They weren't the ordinary soldiers in diving suits from before.

It was a wall.

Fifty giants in golden power armor were arrayed at the end of the corridor.

They were over two meters tall, comparable to the Astartes.

Exquisite patterns of waves and sea beast totems were carved into their armor, reflecting a blinding light under the lamps.

Their left hands held massive Tower Shields, and their right hands gripped Ray Rifles. Blue energy coils were wound around the barrels, emitting a low-pitched charging hum.

Scan result: Pan-Pacific Royal Guard (Gene-enhanced)

—Individual Energy Level: T2 (Elite)

—Weapon: Ray Rifle (Volcano-type)

—Shield: Energy Shield (Can deflect projectiles)

C-19's brain instantly made a judgment.

"The real battle begins now."

He didn't stop.

"All units, suppressive fire."

Thirty-one Bolters were raised simultaneously.

Bang bang bang bang bang—!

Dozens of bolt shells whistled toward that golden shield wall.

The air was torn by the projectiles, making a sharp whistling sound.

Hum—!

A layer of pale blue Energy Shield emerged in front of the shield wall.

The shield was less than five centimeters thick, but it was enough.

The moment the bolt shells touched the shield, their trajectories were deflected and their kinetic energy dissipated.

Most of the bolt shells exploded on the shield's surface, sparks flying everywhere, but they couldn't break through.

Only a few bolt shells at tricky angles passed through the shield's weak points, hitting the shoulder armor of a Sun Warrior.

The armor dented, a fist-sized hole appearing as the golden shell peeled off, revealing the internal Ceramite lining.

The gold-armored warrior's body swayed, but he didn't fall.

"Shields effective. Bolter suppression efficiency dropping."

C-19 reported on the internal channel.

At the same time, the enemy counterattacked.

Zzzzt—!

There was no sound of gunfire.

Only a tooth-gritting hiss, the sound made when high-energy particle beams pierce through the air.

Dozens of crimson rays shot out from behind the shield wall, leaving distorted heatwave trails in the air.

An Astartes charging at the very front was hit by three rays simultaneously.

His breastplate wasn't pierced.

But it began to boil.

That area of the Ceramite armor was instantly heated to thousands of degrees.

The metal began to melt, and the surface coating vaporized into black smoke.

The coolant under the armor boiled, making a sharp cracking sound.

Then, the internal flesh and tissue reached their ignition point.

Boom!

The Astartes' upper body exploded into a mass of burning flesh and blood fragments.

Charred remains scattered on the ground, still emitting blue smoke.

The power armor's legs lost their support and toppled forward, slamming into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

On C-19's tactical eyepiece, a green light went out.

Unit KIA. Cause of death: Volcano Weapon - Chain Incineration Effect

"Fall back!"

C-19 immediately ordered.

All Astartes quickly retreated, hiding behind the cover of the rhino vehicles.

The previously unstoppable offensive was abruptly halted.

"Commander."

C-19 opened the communication channel with Li Cang. His voice was still steady, but the information was transmitted quickly.

"We've run into trouble."

"The enemy's equipment counters us. Their shields can deflect bolt shells. Their ray weapons can directly Detonate armor."

...[Holographic Operations Cabin]

Li Cang looked at the extinguished icon on the screen.

His brow furrowed.

"Volcano Weapons..."

He naturally knew what they were. Energy weapons more advanced than Bolters during the Unification War.

Only a few top-tier warlords possessed this technology.

Trading fire head-on would be foolish.

"C-19."

"Shields can only deflect projectiles. At close-quarters range, they are useless."

C-19 on the other end of the line was silent for three seconds.

"Understood."

He cut the communication.

Then, on the channel for all Astartes, he issued an order that no one had expected.

"Cease fire."

"All units, draw your swords."

...[Battlefield]

The rhino vehicles' engines roared again.

But this time, they weren't providing fire support; they were acting as mobile cover, advancing alternately at twenty kilometers per hour.

In the shadows of the vehicles, the warriors of the First Legion threw down their Bolters.

They drew the Chainswords at their waists.

The teeth began to spin at high speed, making a piercing howl.

Fuel was pumped from the tanks into the motors, and blue exhaust sprayed from the bottom of the hilts.

They had no shields.

They only had the power armor on their bodies and the swords in their hands.

C-19 was the first to charge out from the cover.

He was met by a sky full of red rays.

On his tactical eyepiece, the ballistic prediction lines were dense.

His brain calculated the optimal path within a tenth of a second.

Not to dodge, but to use the thickest parts of his armor to tank the hits.

The first ray hit his right shoulder.

The armor began to melt.

He could feel the temperature rising sharply and the coolant boiling, but his twin hearts beat wildly, pumping blood to the damaged area to carry away the heat.

The second ray hit his left leg armor.

The Ceramite shell peeled off.

The muscles in his leg endured intense pain, but he didn't stop.

It took him only point-five seconds.

In those point-five seconds, he charged across the fifty-meter death zone.

The Astartes behind him followed closely.

They didn't shout a battle cry.

They just charged in silence, enduring the searing of the rays, closing in on that golden wall step by step.

The Sun Warriors clearly hadn't expected the enemy to give up their firepower advantage and choose such a near-suicidal charge.

Their formation showed a brief moment of hesitation.

Not panic, but a need for time to switch weapons.

But there wasn't enough time.

CLANG!!!

C-19's body slammed into the golden shield wall.

The massive kinetic energy sent the Sun Warrior stumbling back, his steps leaving two deep dents in the steel deck.

The Energy Shield in his hand flickered due to overload, its blue light becoming unstable.

Vrrr—!!!

The Chainsword in C-19's hand stabbed in fiercely at a tricky angle along the edge of the shield.

The teeth bit into the golden armor, making a piercing grinding sound.

Sparks showered between the two.

The high-speed rotation of the Chainsword left a deep gouge in the armor's surface, then broke through the shell and cut into the lining.

"You..."

The Sun Warrior tried to counterattack with his spear.

But C-19 simply let go of the sword hilt.

His left hand lunged forward, fingers splayed, grabbing the enemy's neck armor.

Then, he slammed his own helmet into the other's with all his might.

Bam!

Helmets collided.

The impact of the two faceplates produced a dull metallic boom.

Sparks flew at the point of contact. A crack appeared on the Sun Warrior's helmet, and the lens of his visual sensor shattered.

C-19 felt the lining of his own helmet absorb a massive impact; his tactical eyepiece display flickered once, then rebooted.

His grip on the enemy's neck tightened.

"Tell me."

Through the two layers of faceplates, he whispered to the enemy, whose helmet was already deformed and starting to leak blood.

"Does your god bleed for you?"

...