Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 872

Chapter 865, Attacking the Fortress

Chapter 865:

The Earth Shield of the Greenskins who had entered the fortress was shut down before it could be forcibly breached.

Bonebreaker had done it on his own initiative.

He couldn’t allow the Earth Shield to be bombed to the point of overload and explosion. Even with Greenskin technology, repairing such a large and powerful defensive device would be a massive undertaking, essentially rendering it unusable for the entire war.

Rather than that, he decided to shut it down himself.

It would be destroyed anyway, sooner or later.

After shutting it down, the Orcs’ technical prowess would work tirelessly to repair and maintain the Earth Shield and replenish its energy. It was estimated that the shield would be operational again in ten days or so.

Undoubtedly, the ten days between the Earth Shield’s shutdown and its reactivation would be the most dangerous for the Greenskins.

Would the humans give the Earth Shield a chance to be reactivated?

Clearly not.

Upon seeing the Earth Shield disappear, Gu Hang issued his orders: decisive victory must be achieved within these ten days.

Although time was somewhat tight, the human forces didn’t let the pressure of the offensive force spur them into a hasty, all-out assault.

While the ground artillery still had ammunition, two more days of bombing were necessary.

Meanwhile, the human starships in orbit also intensified their bombardment.

It was as if they were taking advantage of the Ork lair’s loss of its shields, leveraging their unmatched and uncounterable superior firepower to completely blast the Throne Fortress into ruins.

The effect was remarkable.

Without their shields, a flood of artillery fire fell heavily on the Ork fortifications.

Direct casualties were secondary. After all, they would retreat into the steel and concrete fortifications. Simply to destroy a few Ork units, the steel and concrete would have to be blasted through, resulting in a very low firepower cost-effectiveness.

In fact, using naval guns to bombard enemy light infantry units was inherently uneconomical.

In terms of cost-effectiveness, nothing could compare to using infantry to counter the enemy’s attack—naval guns were so expensive. Not to mention, a close-range starship bombardment would also threaten the starship itself. Once a starship is destroyed, the cost is equivalent to that of many ground troops.

But now is clearly not the time to consider cost-effectiveness. Whether it is human lives, expensive ship guns, or even the starship itself, as long as victory can be achieved, it is worth it.

Even if it is said that destroying a Glory Queen right now can immediately achieve victory, Gu Hang would order the Glory Queen to charge to the ground without hesitation.

The most important target of the human army’s current attack on the fortress is still the various heavy firepower points deployed on the fortress.

Anti-aircraft guns, anti-orbital guns, fortress defense guns, firepower deployment points… these places are all subject to bombing.

Especially the first two.

This put the Orc Throne fortress in a dire situation: the less defense it faced against the railguns raining down from the sky and the intensive ground fire, the more its anti-air and anti-orbital defenses suffered. The more these suffered, the more they were destroyed, and the more the Orks could no longer withstand the firepower…

It was a vicious spiral.

After two days of intense bombardment, the human forces finally began their ground offensive.

Even as the ground infantry began to fire into the fortress, the bombardment didn’t actually cease.

Naval guns continued to bombard the fortress’s core, but at a distance, there was no risk of collateral damage.

Ground artillery, as instructed, generally advanced five to ten kilometers.

Previously, they hadn’t pushed so close, and when the earth shields were still in place, they could easily be hit by a single strike. Even so, many of the Ork’s counter-artillery fire struck the Human artillery positions, causing considerable damage. However, compared to the vast number of human artillery, the losses were still within acceptable limits.

The Earth Shield had been down for two days, and the Ork firepower had suffered heavy losses in the previous indiscriminate bombardment, making it a much less threatening threat. Furthermore, if the human artillery was hit, they could immediately launch a counterattack.

After all, there was no shield to protect them.

The main task of the advancing army artillery at this stage was to provide fire support as the human soldiers advanced into the fortress.

Urban fighting was brutal.

Even more so, the task of capturing a fully militarized, massive military fortress, housing an unknown number of greenskin Orks.

Every terrain configuration was designed to maximize the defenders’ firepower advantage, naturally aiming to exploit any disadvantages.

Narrow attack routes, crossfire networks, and closed gates in key areas rendered impassable were all complications. But the   humans

, singing war songs and fearlessly advancing amidst the roar of gunfire, advanced bravely.   The Iron Fist Ambassadors were the core force attacking the fortress from Landing Site One.   The Iron Fist Ambassadors, skilled in frontal combat, adept at combining artillery and armor to form an Iron Curtain-like advance, distinguished themselves on the Ohmgerian battlefield. Their fighting style was perfectly suited to the Ohmgerian battlefield, where engagements with the Orks were largely conducted in a head-on, head-on fashion. Their strengths were fully realized on such battlefields.   The moment Chapter Master Owe of the Iron Fist Ambassadors burst from behind the iron shields, his ceramite soles crushed the skulls of three Ork lads.   With a single swing of his glaive, he slew one heavily armored Ork after another, until the Ork leader was decapitated, clearing the final obstacle to their current assault.   Around the Space Marines, tanks and armored vehicles rumbled by, and rows of Alliance soldiers, chanting resounding military songs, swiftly eliminated the remaining Ork forces.   Every time he saw them, Owe sighed in emotion.   This was the second most astonishing thing he had experienced since leading his Chapter into the Alliance.   The first thing that shocked him was that Governor Gu, whom he had only met once, had actually been able to quickly replenish his regiment’s personnel and equipment, instantly restoring it to its peak.   Nothing could have shocked him more than that.   But the Alliance’s army was still worthy of praise and boasting.

During his time wandering the fleet-based chapter with the Iron Fist Ambassador, he had witnessed countless armies of the Human Empire, but never before had he seen mortal forces assembled into such a massive elite force.

This understanding was especially profound after personally fighting alongside them.

Unlike many chapters whose combat styles weren’t well-suited to mortal forces and didn’t require much ground support, the Iron Fist Ambassadors’ Iron Curtain advance couldn’t rely solely on their own strength. No matter how skilled they were in frontal combat, or how quickly Governor Gu restored their health, it couldn’t mask the reality of a chapter with only a thousand men.

The accompanying mortal troops played a crucial role in the advance.

The artillery units seamlessly integrated with the Iron Fist’s artillery command system; the armored advance, the rapid infantry tactics that filled the front lines, the timely arrival of airpower, combined with the Iron Fist Ambassador’s role as the backbone and core of the advance—this comprehensive combination was the key to their chapter’s remarkable success in this war.

The more elite, reliable, and capable the mortal troops, the stronger the Iron Fist would be.

Honestly, Owe himself had never imagined his Chapter could ever reach such prominence.

Nothing of the sort had ever been recorded in the Chapter’s history.

In this sense, he hadn’t simply brought the Chapter back to its former glory. He could even say he had taken the Iron Fist Ambassadors beyond their peak, reaching a higher level.

Perhaps, the fragments of the Chapter’s history, referring to the true Punisher Legion of the Legionary Era, possessed such prowess.

Even the current parent Chapter, the Punishers, might not be able to mount such an offensive—not that they were superior to their parent Chapter, but rather that their parent Chapter probably couldn’t find a partner as skilled as the Alliance Army.

With the aid of this elite force, the Iron Fist Ambassadors were one of the most successful forces on the ground battlefields of Ankach VIII. Even though they were on the same offensive front and were even his superior, the Phoenix Chapter, led by Chapter Master Martins, achieved only comparable results.

Well, of course, some of that was due to the Phoenix Chapter’s failure to exert its full strength, ceding them many opportunities for direct attacks. Even in difficult and crucial battles, the Phoenix arrived at their call, providing significant assistance without ever taking over the lead.

Owe was deeply grateful.

A successful Chapter brought numerous benefits.

Just look at how Cyborg the Butcher, once far superior and the dominant force in their former camaraderie, treated them during their last collaboration.

From a Chapter on the brink of collapse and extinction, to this point, he was filled with satisfaction.

He was deeply grateful to the Alliance and determined to continue contributing in the coming battles.

Owe also envisioned that after the Battle of Ankach, Iron Fist’s reputation would resound throughout the Dark Side Crusade and, with it, spread across half the Empire!

And now, he faced the city gate at the end of a marching avenue.

Defeat it, and Ambassador Iron Fist would earn the title of “the first to reach the fourth ring of the fortress.”

Incidentally, they were also the first to penetrate the Fifth Ring, the outermost defensive perimeter of Throne Fortress.

Helmet-mounted displays projected the battlefield situation onto their retinas, and flames blazed furiously above the bastion’s steel gates.

Even though several permanent bunkers and turrets had been destroyed in the previous bombardment, the greenskins persisted in their desperate resistance. They used the destroyed turrets to establish new firing points. If the old cannons were useless, they would at least deploy heavy machine guns and mortars. Greenskin techs were also making improvisations on the battlefield to repair positions.

But Owe would not give them another chance.

As he gave the order, twelve heavy city-breaker mechs emerged from the rear and slowly advanced.

As their name suggests, these massive vehicles, modified from Nemesis Knight mechs and only slightly smaller than Titans, were designed specifically for city breaching.

Compared to their integrated combat prototypes, city-breakers were significantly heavier. While sacrificing flexibility and single-player ability, their heavy equipment makes them incredibly destructive against all kinds of fortifications.

Their shoulder-mounted reactive armor deflected two melta shells, and the oscillating drill mounted on the end of their robotic arm began to warm up, blue-white arcs dancing across the composite ceramic tip.

As the City Breakers advanced, a hail of shells rained down upon the enemy positions.

This was intended to create opportunities for the City Breakers to attack and suppress the Greenskins.

Even if the Greenskins fought back with all their might, their mere appearance would often only result in them being blasted to pieces, and it would be difficult to halt the City Breakers’ advance.

“Metal teams, move forward!” Owe continued his command. “Once the shockwave wears off, we’ll burn through them…”

A warning sign suddenly exploded within the tactical chain, completely ripping away the rusted metal plates atop the bastion, and a thirty-meter-tall war machine rose from the ground. A massive jet nozzle, welded from Zerg carapace by an Ork technician, faced the City Breakers, its scrap metal spewing dark green smoke.

At the same moment, the steel gate they had targeted suddenly swung open, and several oversized Greenskin battle mechs burst forth. Following them, a swarm of heavily armored Greenskins followed, and the gate quickly closed again.

“What the hell! They’re still hiding something like this?”

Ouwei’s brow furrowed in surprise. He had

assumed that after the bombing, the Greenskins would be left with only their last breath, offering a futile resistance.

Unexpectedly, they had such a hidden weapon.

Previous aerial reconnaissance and probing attacks hadn’t revealed it. Was that cunning Greenskin commander waiting for this moment?

The newly emerged Greenskin troops would pose a significant threat to the City Breaker mechs, which were of average direct combat effectiveness.

Under the sudden onslaught of the new cannons from the bastion, one City Breaker mech was dissolved in a torrent of green energy, its operator’s screams silencing the communication channel.

“Titan Support Group, this is Ambassador Iron Fist. We need to eliminate…”

“No Titans left, Chapter Master!” the voice of an Engine Prophet of the Mechanicum echoed with the murmur of data streams. “The last two Warhound-class Titans were disabled by the Ork Death Squad twenty minutes ago. New Titans are on the way.”

More bad news…

The tactical eyepiece showed that the defenses of the Third Bastion were stronger than expected.

Ovi called up the energy readings. Those seemingly random piles of metal scrap below the city walls were forming Waagh force field amplifiers.

“Carrion, take your Second Company and cooperate with the 2577th Regiment to destroy the scrap pile in the southeast corner… Third Company, cooperate with the 2578th Regiment to quickly support the city-breakers… Artillery Company, cooperate with the 113th Division’s artillery battalion, and suppress that bastion cannon!”

As they spoke, the troops quickly completed their countermeasures.

(End of this chapter)