232: Chapter 233 When in doubt, consult the boss

Not only did Iron Man 73 not choose to slow down and break free,

but he pushed the engine thrust directly to the absolute limit!

Braving its Void Shield, sea breeze no. 9 actually dragged the mangled flesh and blood of the cruiser wrapped around it, carrying its massive weight as it recklessly accelerated to crash into the mothership ahead!

However, at this life-or-death moment,

another unexpected event occurred in the deep space at the edge of the battlefield!

Against the pitch-black backdrop of the universe on the right flank of the combat zone, a blinding purplish-red sphere of light suddenly exploded without warning!

Following that, massive swathes of space began to ripple and distort violently, like a lake surface into which a giant boulder had been thrown!

"Holy crap!"

Ming Shen stared at this sight and said in surprise, "Someone is performing a Warp jump! They targeted a specific point and jumped directly into this combat zone from a long distance!"

Flash was completely bewildered and asked in the channel:

"Isn't our star system completely covered and blocked by that Hive Mind thing? How can they suddenly perform a jump?"

"If they have a powerful enough Psyker or a top-tier Navigator, they can usually tear through the shadow and break such a blockade by force!"

Ming Shen stared intently at the light,

"I just don't know who on earth is coming at this critical juncture!"

The ripples in space grew more and more violent, and the number of light spheres multiplied.

Clearly, what was jumping in was not a single ship, but a small fleet!

By now, the battle had reached its most critical, white-hot climax.

No matter which faction this sudden arrival belonged to, they could instantly tip the scale and decide the final outcome of the battlefield.

And in this universe, there were simply too many factions capable of Warp travel.

Ming Shen quickly speculated in his mind:

The most likely scenario was that the main fleet of the Imperial Navy in the Ghoul Stars had returned to reinforce them;

Or perhaps it was a squad of Space Marines from the Death Spectres Chapter stationed in a nearby sector.

If they were unlucky, it might even be those space pirates from the Ashen Claws, or even a Chaos Warband!

Just as everyone was holding their breath in suspense,

the largest ripple in space suddenly tore open, revealing the purplish-red Warp clouds within.

Then, a heavy warship, its bow carved with a massive Imperial double-headed eagle prow, slowly sailed from illusion into reality!

Watching this, Miracle Walker excitedly activated his system's first-person recording mode.

"Holy crap, brothers! This is a movie-level, epic rescue!"

Miracle Walker shouted,

"Look at that prow and paint job! It's definitely the loyalist Astartes big guys!"

Liver Emperor leaned toward the window, carefully identifying the emblem on the side of the warship:

"Look at this dark grey paint job and that bloody emblem... Holy crap! Is it the Carcharodons Chapter?!"

"No! This is a joint fleet! Look over there!"

Ming Shen pointed to the other side.

Aside from the ships belonging to the Carcharodons, several strike cruisers painted in bone-white and emblazoned with massive skull insignias also dropped out of Warp in succession.

These were ships of the Death Spectres Chapter!

Once the entire fleet had finished jumping and the radar signals stabilized,

Ming Shen quickly counted their forces:

"One Nova-class frigate of the Carcharodons, plus three Gladius-class frigates, and a few cruisers. Not many, a relatively small force. Thank goodness!"

At this moment, both the battling Hive Mind and The Guardian noticed this suddenly appearing small Space Marine fleet.

Had it been at the beginning of the battle, such a small-scale fleet might not have been taken too seriously by either side.

But now, both sides' forces were locked in a death grip, caught in an extreme stalemate.

The addition of this fresh force would directly determine the course of the battle!

After jumping out of the Warp, this joint fleet seemed to pause briefly for a few seconds, rapidly analyzing the bizarre situation between the two warring parties.

It didn't take long.

The Nova-class frigate belonging to the Carcharodons Chapter didn't even bother to send a communication greeting, opening fire brutally and directly!

"Sshhh—!"

A searing, thick lance beam sliced through deep space, striking with absolute precision the wreckage of the Tyranid vessel that was tightly wrapping its tentacles around sea breeze no. 9!

The high temperature instantly vaporized those thick, muscular tentacles into ash!

Immediately after, several warships also turned their guns, beginning a fierce crossfire bombardment of the Hive Mother Ship's outer defense line.

However, before the cannons could even fire a few salvos,

under the covering bombardment of numerous plasma torpedoes and Macro Cannons,

heavy boarding torpedoes, shaped like iron spikes, were launched directly from the bellies of the Space Marine warships!

There were even multiple Thunderhawk Gunships following closely behind, charging madly toward the Hive Mother Ship with a suicidal momentum!

Clearly! These unreasonable Space Marines also intended to execute a decapitation strike right from the get-go!

Furthermore, their reaction speed on the battlefield and the decisiveness of their tactical execution were outrageously efficient!

Watching this thunderous boarding action, Ming Shen sucked in a breath of cold air:

"Are these the special forces Space Marines of the Warhammer Universe? They're so damn fierce!"

Meanwhile, having lost the restraint of the tentacles, sea breeze no. 9

broke completely free under Iron Man 73's control.

Like a streak of burning light, carrying unmatched kinetic energy, it slammed hard into the fleshy armor of the mothership!

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a violent shudder of the hull, the bow of sea breeze no. 9 wedged itself firmly into the skin of the Tyranid mothership! The boarding was successful!

Ming Shen drew his weapon and roared at the Scourge Legion players who were tumbling around in the cabin:

"Don't just stand there dazed! If we wait any longer, those big guy NPCs are going to steal our Boss first kill! Charge out! Grab those military merits!"

The players finally snapped out of it, realizing how quickly the battlefield was changing.

They activated their jetpacks one after another, rushing out of the broken hatch doors with weapons in hand, stepping onto the slimy surface of the Hive Mother Ship, and quickly organizing into combat formations.

"Don't scatter! Meet up with Flame Fist, Brother Kun, and their group first!" Ming Shen commanded. "Then we'll figure out a way to dig a hole and break into the mothership's interior!"

...

Meanwhile,

on the bone-white strike cruiser in the distance,

Captain Roshiam of the Death Spectres Third Company was standing on the bridge, looking at the brutal battle on the tactical display screen with a face full of confusion.

The absolute order he had received before setting out was to try and bring back a group of outstanding mortal soldiers from this system who dared to fight the Tyranids,

to replenish fresh blood for the Chapter.

In Roshiam's estimation, when facing a Tyranid swarm of this scale, the mortal Defense Force of this system should be hiding in trenches on the surface, desperately defending.

But he never expected this!

As soon as they jumped out of the Warp, what he saw was a group of mortals wearing strange Power Armor, piloting an unidentified model of a junk ship, conducting a suicidal boarding action against a Hive Mother Ship in space?!

What on earth was going on?

Since when did the weak mortals of the Imperium become so brave and reckless with their lives?!

Then, Roshiam's gaze shifted to the distance.

He saw that pyramid-shaped space fortress that was continuously spewing out ghostly antimatter light.

Aside from the densely packed gun barrels on its surface,

three massive icons were prominently printed on the fortress's outer armor:

In the very center was the double-headed eagle symbolizing the Imperium;

On the left was the half-gear, half-skull emblem belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus;

and on the right was a unique pattern of a burning torch held in a hand.

This was the first time Roshiam had seen this strange torch pattern in the Ghoul Stars.

Just as he was about to turn around and ask the ship's Librarian about this faction's background,

a mortal comms officer ran over in a hurry and reported loudly:

"Captain! Those guys from the Carcharodons... they didn't follow the plan we agreed on earlier to rendezvous with the mortal soldiers on the surface and establish a defensive line! They broke formation without authorization and went to try and board the interior of the Tyranid mothership!"

Hearing this news, Roshiam's scar-covered face didn't show much surprise, as if he had expected it all along.

"Let them be."

Roshiam snorted coldly and sighed,

"What tactical cooperation is there to speak of with those bloodthirsty lunatics? All forces prepare for battle, cover the right flank's fire."

...

Meanwhile, on the surface of the Hive Mother Ship,

more than three hundred members of the Scourge Legion fought their way through a bloodbath, braving the acid spewed by the defensive organs on the mothership's surface.

Finally, in a depression on the mothership's spine, they successfully rendezvoused with Flame Fist, ikun, and the other survivors of the second boarding party, of whom only about twenty remained!

"Old Ming! You guys finally made it!" Flame Fist panted heavily, swinging his power hammer to smash a leaping Warrior Bug to pieces.

Without a word, Flash directly pulled out his melta greatsword as planned.

Activating the high-frequency melta, he began to dig frantically into the thick, purplish-red skin of the mothership beneath his feet!

Several other players who had melta cutting axes or high-frequency vibration weapons also stepped forward to assist, acting as makeshift excavators.

The three hundred-plus players had a clear division of labor.

The outer circle of players held their guns, killing the guard bugs swarming from all directions in an attempt to repair the armor;

while the dozen or so in the center dug holes like crazy.

After a full twenty minutes of frantic work,

they had indeed dug a massive flesh pit three meters in diameter and over ten meters deep into the mothership's shell. The players jumped into the pit one after another to use it as cover.

But...

"It's not working, brothers!"

Flash looked at the biomass below, which was still incredibly tough with no sign of the internal skeleton,

"This mothership's skin is too damn thick! If we dig like this with infantry weapons, it'll take forever! Is there any easier, more violent demolition method?"

Ming Shen frowned in thought as he fired his gun:

"According to the game setting, a mothership of this level must have dedicated heat exhaust vents or thick nutrient-transporting ducts we can crawl into!"

"But this mothership is just too massive. We don't have any schematics, nor do we know where those access ports are! There are swarms of bugs everywhere outside. If we search blindly like headless chickens, the efficiency is too low, and we'll eventually be worn down and killed here!"

Hearing this,

the blood-soaked ikun, hiding in the flesh pit, immediately opened the private message interface of his pv terminal.

"When in doubt, find the boss! This is our fine tradition!"

ikun rapidly typed in the battle situation,

"I'll send the frontline coordinates and our predicament to the boss right away! Let's see if his old self has some large-caliber heavy firepower that can precisely open a big door for us from afar!"

Once the message was sent,

all the players hiding in the cover raised their heads, looking toward the pyramid fortress in the distant deep space with great anticipation.