Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 842

Chapter 837, The Last Battle

Ricardo undoubtedly achieved a resounding victory.

After the armored troops emerged from the main gate, they not only completely routed the Ork army attacking the fortress, but also slew the enemy commander.

For the Orks, the loss of the commander was particularly devastating. A considerable number of Ork attacking forces remained, but they were instantly shattered.

It was a resounding victory by any measure.

However, on a planet-wide battlefield, a single victory of this magnitude wouldn’t be enough to completely change the course of the war.

Such victories might require a hundred, even hundreds, of them to completely reverse the tide of battle.

But was that even possible?

Ricardo knew it all too well.

Sheathing his Mjolnir, his expression devoid of excitement, he simply urged his troops on to continue their attack.

For a long stretch, Duamen encountered no larger or stronger enemy.

The earlier defeat of the Ork force had clearly made the rest of their journey much easier.

But at what cost?

The fortress gate itself had been breached.

The Ork counterattack was surprisingly swift. While intercepting the human armored forces from the front proved difficult, their actions had clearly caught the attention of Ork command.

Ork forces were already outflanking their rear.

This force, strategically mobilized from Ork headquarters, conveniently seized the main gate of the core fortress.

After the armored forces emerged, the gate was naturally re-closed. However, the human artillery positions, previously deployed to cover the armored assault, were exposed by the concentrated fire. Subsequently, under the Ork airstrikes and the concentrated counterattacks of the Ork artillery, the human artillery positions were essentially destroyed.

Without the support of heavy artillery, the gate was naturally untenable.

While Ricardo knew the fall was inevitable, the loss of the fortress’s last line of defense weighed heavily on his heart.

He could only console himself by thinking that after the Ork forces had been deployed to attack the main fortress, the forces left to encircle him might be smaller.

Perhaps that was a good thing.

While that meant the interstellar blockade would undoubtedly be destroyed, it was undefendable in the first place. Trading something undefendable for a smoother course of action seemed worthwhile.

However, simply thinking so didn’t guarantee a truly smooth operation.

The Green Orks were far more numerous and more elite than anticipated.

When two or three Ork Megatrons, clusters of Death Canisters, and War Beasts appeared on the battlefield, the human armored assault became increasingly difficult.

The enemy outnumbered the Humans in both the number and quality of their armored forces. A frontal engagement wasn’t certain to win, let alone achieve a breakthrough.

But Ricardo didn’t give up.

The current situation was largely within his expectations.

After issuing a final directive, demanding a relentless charge regardless of cost or casualties, he quietly led his Space Marines, each aboard a Rhino assault vehicle, away from the main force.

On the front lines, the armored forces of both sides collided like two torrents of steel, creating a chaotic battle. Invaluable war weapons were constantly destroyed in the brutal battle, turning into shattered scrap metal.

After circumventing the frontal assault, the team led by Ricardo felt much less pressure. The intensity of the frontal battle was a real draw for the belligerent Orks.

At this point, Ricardo encountered mostly small groups of troops, either coming to support or simply to “watch the fun.”

With his strength,

he led fifty Space Marines, and cut through these small groups one by one. During his breakthroughs, Ricardo swung his thunder hammer countless times, and countless Orc lads were reduced to shreds under his hammer. His green-and-white power armor had long been stained by the Orcish blood.

He wasn’t the only one affected; the battle-brothers behind him were also suffering. As they

fought their way forward, the number of their fifty battle-brothers steadily dwindled.

Orks were not an easy race to deal with. Even the most common Orc lads, armed with rudimentary muskets, rifles, machetes, or axes, could pose a threat to Space Marines in a head-on confrontation.

One, three, or five were fine, but when a Space Marine faced a relentless siege from dozens at once, the situation became completely different.

Those so-called small Ork forces might be called “small,” but they often numbered in the hundreds or even thousands. With

each attempt to break through the encirclement, one or two Battle-Brothers would be left behind, unable to break through.

However, this wasn’t the worst of it.

As the fighting continued, their breakout became the very source of excitement, attracting more Ork forces.

They began to face more battles.

As their numbers dwindled, their breakthrough slowed, making them more vulnerable to encirclement.

In the process, a Battle-Brother would silently vanish.

But Ricardo had no time for other considerations.

He was the strongest spearhead in the entire breakout line, bearing the greatest pressure of all.

How could he have time to look behind him? Before him, not only ordinary Ork scouts, but also killing cans, death cans, and heavily armored Ork warriors appeared one after another.

Among these high-level units, there are some that he cannot kill with just a hammer.

There was even an orc warrior who fought him fiercely for twenty rounds in a head-on battle.

Although, in the end, Ricardo won by smashing his head with a hammer, but the opponent also left a huge scar on his breastplate, so much so that the exposed wires inside the power armor could be seen.

He took off his helmet, gasping for breath, his eyes almost blurred by sweat.

After killing the warrior, he looked around, and there was no fighting brother left standing.

But the number of enemies around him did not decrease at all.

————

One more chapter

(End of this chapter)