43: Chapter 43 The Battle of the Shield of Hades (Part 1)

"General Melondester, our forces have arrived at the Pluto Galaxy."

"Continue the advance."

"Yes."

Baal.

The Chapter Monastery.

The Chapter Master has sent a mobilization message to all successor chapters via astropathic communication.

"Pass the word down; all companies are to prepare for battle."

"Brothers, with so many of us, we should be able to hold the line, right?"

"Hey, brother, have you forgotten? We held the line with 300,000 men back then; surely we can hold it with this many people?"

"You can't say that. If Brother Gao hadn't unleashed that Kamehameha wave like a cheat code at the last moment, we might not have won, right?"

The Shield of the Underworld consists of two defensive lines.

The outermost one is called the "Shield of Spikes," where even the most cold-resistant starship engines will fail.

Only short-range warp jumps can break through the Shield of Spikes, making them easily intercepted by the surrounding Astra Militarum.

The other defensive line is the "Lord's Ring," where the asteroids have long been hollowed out by Imperial miners and converted into dense firing points, while the surrounding star sector has long been laid out with dangerous minefields.

When the players opened their eyes again, they were already distributed across various defensive points of the Shield of the Underworld.

"Brothers, I have a question: who here knows how to pilot a warship? Waiting online, it's quite urgent!"

"Don't be afraid, brother, just charge bravely!"

"Same question, who knows how to fire the cannons? Waiting online, it's quite urgent!"

The Hive Fleet had already entered the freezing zone of the Shield of Spikes; the first batch of living ships to enter froze rapidly, collided with surrounding asteroids, and were smashed into pieces.

Seeing this, the Imperial Navy was quite pleased. The generals of the Imperial Navy immediately ordered: "Charge out! Seek to earn more glory for yourselves!"

"Quickly start the ships, we can't let other ships steal our credit!"

"Brothers, something's not right! If it were this easy, what's the point of playing? Which of the Thirty-Six Stratagems is this? Is it the 'Bitter-Meat Stratagem'?"

"Damn it, are there any brothers controlling the ships? You must not go!"

"Rest assured, brother, I won't let them go even if I die!"

"You can't say that either; what if he gets angry and kills you? Brother, drive slowly, don't forget that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

Just like that, the ships clearly controlled by the players always lagged significantly behind the other ships in terms of movement.

Just then, the main force of the Tyranids suddenly attacked, causing the navy fleet charging at the very front to be completely wiped out.

"Brothers, avenge me! Damn it, we were set up by this Commander of the Imperial Navy!"

"Brother, rest in peace!"

Seeing this, the fleet controlled by the players hurriedly retreated to the Lord's Ring.

At this moment, General Melondester issued an order to the Cadian Soldiers stationed at the first defensive line: let the vanguard of the Hive Fleet pass, attack their center to lure in the rear elements of the Hive Fleet.

Such an order was undoubtedly a death sentence for the Cadian Soldiers, but they would undoubtedly fulfill their duty.

"Brothers, it's not like we haven't preserved our strength, and anyway, this Astra Militarum general can't order us around. I've checked, and everyone who survived in the entire navy is one of us players."

"You're right, we can't let them sacrifice themselves in vain like that."

"How about this, brothers, listen to me! After the vanguard is let through, Old Li and I will launch the attack first, then you all follow up, and we'll form cross-fire points to provide flanking support for them."

When the Hive Fleet sailed into the first defensive line and emerged unscathed, the navy fleet controlled by the players suddenly opened fire, inflicting significant losses on the Hive Fleet, causing a large portion of the Hive Fleet to charge directly toward the navy.

This also relieved quite a bit of pressure from the Cadian Soldiers.

The players looked at the Hive Fleet, all of them eager for a fight.

"Brothers, fire!"

The cannons mounted on the Imperial Navy ships opened fire on the Hive Fleet almost simultaneously!

The firing points on the Lord's Ring also provided flanking support to the players, and there was even a faint trend of suppressing the Hive Fleet.

But this was ultimately an illusion. As time passed, the firing points on the Lord's Ring were picked off one by one by the Hive Fleet, and the players gradually began to lose ground...