Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 871

Chapter 864: The Universe is Burning (XI)

After Bonebreaker defeated the massive Zerg swarm, achieving a supreme waagh victory, the twin green-skinned gods were jubilant, as if they were the most impressive figures in the entire Warp.

The other gods, unwilling to face their might at this moment, remained in hiding.

But now, these two could no longer act with such arrogance.

Their representative in the mortal realm, King Bonebreaker, seemed to be in dire straits.

He had been driven to his doorstep by the superior human forces and was now firmly surrounded.

It was clear that Bonebreaker had no hope of breaking out, and

he didn’t seem to be thinking of doing so.

Having formulated a strategy, he had never considered wavering, determined to hold on to it.

It had taken the humans twenty days to conquer the defenses outside Throne Fortress. So, how many days would it take for the humans to take down this fortress, with its high walls, ample troops, and comprehensive array of artillery and fortifications?

Throne Fortress proved to be a formidable fortress indeed.

The earth shield extended roughly a kilometer from the walls of Throne Fortress, making it virtually impossible for human heavy artillery to reach its range.

Artillery could certainly be pushed in, since shields protect against high-speed attacks, not low-speed ones.

But if they got within a kilometer, wouldn’t everything be lost to the enemy? A casual attack could wipe out crucial artillery positions.

Human forces couldn’t attack the fortress without heavy firepower.

That would be suicidal.

Even with the coordinated efforts of Titans, tanks, Space Marines, and elite soldiers in exoskeleton armor, it wouldn’t work.

The enemy was already inside, unleashing heavy fire from dozens of kilometers away. Human forces would have to withstand the barrage and advance to within a kilometer before they could return fire. Even if they did manage to penetrate the earth shield, they still had physical fortress bunkers and established firepower points to blockade the enemy…

In that situation, no matter how many lives they sacrificed, it would be useless.

Unless they were willing to sacrifice their lives to exhaust their ammunition and artillery.

But the Throne Fortress must contain an arsenal, and it’s impossible to exhaust it all.

If such an attack were carried out, the current supreme commander in charge of ground operations, Chapter Master of the Phoenix, Sarath Matins, would be court-martialed.

The first issue to be resolved was the Earth Shield itself.

Matins briefly considered mobilizing elite Space Marine units to launch a devastating assault and destroy the shield generator within the Throne Fortress.

This strategy was well-known to the Space Marines, a go-to for any challenging situation; it had become a fixed approach.

But this time, he rejected the idea.

It wasn’t out of fear of death, but primarily because it offered little hope.

One failure wasn’t a big deal, but repeated failures—the loss of battle comrades was one thing, and the delay in the overall strategic plan was even more unacceptable.

Matins had another solution.

After thorough consultation with the Heavenly High Command, he ordered all units to concentrate all their heavy firepower.

Combined with the concentrated firepower of the naval guns from the sky, Throne Fortress was subjected to a relentless bombardment.

This wave of attack strained the Earth’s shields. No

matter how sturdy it was, no matter how much energy it stored, no matter how much it drew from the earth’s pulse,

it could not withstand such an attack. If it were just orbital fire, it might still be able to withstand it. After all, the heaviest bombardment would be intercepted; the rest, the Earth’s shields could withstand.

Throne Fortress’s own powerful anti-orbital firepower, coupled with the vast anti-orbital firepower deployed across the planet, outside of the Humanity’s key drop zones, posed a combined threat to Humanity’s orbital forces.

In the past twenty days, Humanity has lost over one hundred warships, with the most severe losses being two battlecruisers and thirty-one cruisers.

This once again proves that for naval starships to engage surface anti-orbital firepower is a highly disadvantageous and unprofitable proposition.

In other words, the number of ships Gu Hang had deployed to the battle was simply too great. The Orcs had just concluded their decisive battle with the Zerg and hadn’t had time to fully arm Ankachi VIII’s surface defenses. Otherwise, the tide of war would have been turned.

Under normal circumstances, the humans wouldn’t have been able to so brazenly use their starships to support the surface.

However, with the ground forces surrounding the Throneworld, things were different.

The artillery positions were practically connected.

The 155mm guns were arrayed in vast rows, their muzzles pointed skyward. Forty kilometers from their target, they formed a forest of barrels, surrounding the entire fortress.

At the command, not just ten thousand cannons, but hundreds of thousands, even millions, unleashed a volley!

The power of a single shell was truly insignificant against the earth shield, far inferior to the terrifying naval guns.

However, with such a terrifying number of shells raining down on the earth shield, hundreds of thousands of shells in a short period of time, the impact was truly extraordinary.

Fortunately, the human army’s supply transport was also limited. Even with orbital escort, the Ork air defenses still had a reasonable interception rate for transport ships heading to the surface, preventing the humans from unleashing their massive artillery fire without restraint. Otherwise, the combined support of ground artillery alone would have been enough to rip the Earth’s shield apart. However

, even the initial bombardment had Shattered Bones, sitting on the throne, feeling uneasy.

After all, the human army possessed a wealth of other heavy artillery besides its vast 155mm heavy artillery. There

were Titan-mounted laser cannons; the siege divisions at the army level and within the A-class divisions also possessed 400mm caliber heavy artillery, as well as electromagnetic cannons using hypervelocity projectiles… These devices were likely even more powerful than the smallest caliber S-class cannons on starships.

Not to mention the various missile launchers, rocket pods… and

the supporting firepower of the various regiments and companies, though less powerful, was far greater in number.

Under the frenzied bombardment, the human army had expended half of their accumulated artillery shells in just half a day.

In coordination with the ground attack, the human starships in the sky also fired those expensive naval guns as if they were free. No matter how high the interception rate is, or how big the risk of close-range bombardment is, just bombard to death!

No skills, all hard power!

Just like the two racial gods of the green-skinned orcs could no longer laugh, the Bone Crusher King looked at the earth shield that had been bombarded purple and red in just half a day, and his worries soared.

The firepower of the human army deployed to the ground still exceeded his imagination.

The earth shield is about to be broken.

(End of this chapter)