Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 873

Chapter 866, Broken Bones Appear

. Facing the bastion’s sturdy defenses, Owei’s response was relatively good.

Third Company advanced, mitigating the threat posed by the Goblin King Kong to the City Breaker mechs.

Second Company destroyed the scrap heaps, disrupting the Waagh energy supply to the bastion’s atop turrets.

The artillery directly suppressed the bastion’s turrets.

These responses were flawless.

But then, Owei spotted another bastion, seemingly battered and shattered. A rocket array emerged from its summit, rapidly shifting—direction, presumably, toward the three artillery battalions of the Alliance’s 223rd Division, which were setting up their heavy artillery.

“Colonel Maloney! Get your men out of area E7!” his roar crackled, the communicator crackling. “Now! Immediately!”

But it was too late.

The vehicle towing the artillery was blasted by rockets as soon as its engine started. The high-explosive ammunition detonated beneath the burning armor plating, triggering an even more horrific disaster.

The artillery position was silenced. While no report of the damage had yet arrived, it was likely significant.

“Chapter Master, the City Breaker’s steel drill is ready!” the Tech Sergeant’s voice finally reached him. “But we need to suppress the top turrets and the Ork Vorcinus for fifteen seconds! Otherwise, when the steel drill is activated, the energy shield won’t hold up and will be destroyed!”

Owe inserted his phase sword back into its magnetic lock and gripped his bolter with both hands. “First Company, follow me!”

The moment he leaped from cover, thirty Iron Fist Ambassadors formed a shield wall. The rest of the First Company, in their standard Iron Fist Ambassador combat stance, followed suit, providing fire support and covering, ready to charge out from the shield wall.

The mortal troops, who had been coordinating for a long time, followed closely behind.

The Ork heavy machine guns swished a barrage of fire overhead, occasionally hitting the shields, and even occasionally a bullet missed, striking Owe’s left shoulder armor.

But under his leadership, the fresh troops joined the battle. Together with the Third Company and the mortal troops who had rushed to support them, they attacked the charging Vorcinus relentlessly, preventing them from reaching the City Breaker mech.

Without comparable heavy armor, creatures like the Furious King Kongs were inherently formidable.

Furthermore, one of them rivaled the size of a Terran Warlord-class Titan—and with the added power of Ork technology, its actual combat effectiveness wasn’t much less than that of a Warlord.

They couldn’t ignore it, so they had to charge head-on.

The Third Company was the first to arrive, but they could only act as a defensive blockade, holding the Furious King Kongs back, preventing them from inflicting significant damage on the City Breaker.

However, this containment proved somewhat problematic.

The Third Company fought hard, suffering heavy casualties. Even with their heavy shields, the Furious King Kongs’ firepower proved insufficient to withstand.

On the contrary, their firepower proved ineffective against these Titan-class war machines, serving only as a distraction. However, the Furious King Kongs couldn’t completely ignore the Space Marines’ firepower, nor could they ignore the City Breaker’s defensive capabilities. Furthermore, while the City Breakers lacked inherent combat power, they were at least heavily armored, making them immune to a few shells—as long as they avoided direct fire from the Bastion Cannons above them.

But now the Bastion Cannons were firing.

Initially, Terran artillery provided some suppression, but when another Bastion rocket battery appeared, destroying the Terran artillery positions and weakening the artillery suppression, the situation worsened.

Of the twelve attacking City Breakers, six had already been destroyed.

But the Greenskins still felt it wasn’t fast enough.

One Kongo attempted to aggressively charge in, using its more powerful melee weaponry to more effectively destroy the Terran Siege Mechs.

However, its reckless action brought disaster upon itself.

It shattered the shield arrays of three companies and charged in fiercely, but was also struck by several melta bombs at its feet. It was ultimately paralyzed amidst the Space Marines, its maneuvering bay blasted open. The enraged Captain, accompanied by two of his personal guards, attacked and slaughtered the entire crew of Greenskin pilots.

It was a victory, but the price was indeed high.

The Ork infantry behind, taking advantage of the chaos and under the cover of the three remaining King Kongs, charged forward.

This wave of timing was actually quite good; the Iron Shield formation had not yet been restored, and in the chaos, the Space Marines were indeed rapidly losing men.

The Third Company suffered heavy casualties.

At this critical moment, a major force alleviated the problem: the brave Alliance Army soldiers.

Under the personal leadership of a major political commissar, the most elite squad of the commandos suddenly rushed forward, blocking the space for the Greenskins to rush in. Although almost all of them were killed in the end, they attracted the King Kong’s firepower and briefly blocked the Greenskin infantry’s attack, buying the Third Company a valuable opportunity to adjust.

At this time, the First Company, led by Owe himself, finally rushed to the battlefield.

Owe personally confronted an Orc boss, who lunged at him with his power claws. He detected the attack and fired two shots, briefly stalling him. Unsheathing his Phase Blade, he sliced through the boss’s throat and severed his head.

“Shields raised! Charge!”

“Citybreakers, follow!”

he bellowed, and the heavy shieldmen of the First and Third Companies began to charge at an accelerated pace. With their heavy shields at the forefront, they charged forward with all their might, crushing and sending flying any who stood in their way.

Owe, along with his personal guards, the First and Third Company Captains, and their men, formed the sharpest assault force, accompanying the charging heavy shieldmen. Any threats they could identify that could hinder the formation’s assault, such as high-threat Ork heavy armored bosses or Death Can armor, were dealt with first. If the heavy firepower of the King Kong came over, the heavy shieldmen would charge in, proactively blocking the incoming fire. While this often resulted in shattered shields, it effectively blocked the blast radius, minimizing the impact on their fellow battle brothers.

In this desperate charge, speared by courage and shielded by sacrifice, they smashed through the enemy lines head-on and reached the vicinity of the three remaining Gorilla.

Owe’s respirator reeked of blood, but he could hear the sound of victory.

“Metal Team!” He only had time to roar. Clad in heavy Terminator armor, he and his guards resolutely attacked a Gorilla, successfully attracting its attention.

A massive Gorilla fist, nearly half his size, came crashing down. A Terminator heavy-shield guard, standing in front of him, was sent flying by the fist, lying motionless. But the fist, with its power reduced and its angle shifted, missed him.

A ferocious shoulder strike prevented the Gorilla from withdrawing its fist, and then, with a ferocious flurry of slashes from his phase sword, he managed to sever the massive fist from its extended wrist!

The Melt Team arrived in time, and when the King Kong was slightly off balance, they crossed the energy shield, placed the bomb, and blew up the King Kong.

Looking up again, Ovi saw his third captain had fallen at the feet of another Vorpoise. His sacrifice, and that of his captain’s command group, had created an opening for another unit, and that Vorpoise was also destroyed.

Without time to grieve, Ovi set his sights on the final Vorpoise.

But this Vorpoise was more resourceful.

Protected by the Ork infantry, it retreated while bombarding the Space Marines with long-range fire.

Simultaneously, the cannons and rocket pods atop the bastions began directing their fire towards the Space Marines and human soldiers.

The slower, belated breachers finally approached the walls and metal gates.

Concussion grenades with drills were unleashed, softening the target, and the drills began to impact at close range.

Streams of crimson light sliced through the metal and concrete softened by the shockwave, sending molten metal cascading down like a cascade. Ovi saw the gates begin to buckle, but the rockets atop them continued to pour down their fire.

The Orks knew the battle had reached a critical juncture. They bombarded the Space Marines and the City Breakers madly.

The last King Kong, after overturning a City Breaker mech, was destroyed by Owe’s men.

Looking around, the enemy fire from the top of the bastion remained fierce. The City Breaker had been half destroyed, and the walls were crumbling. The two companies that had followed his attack were reduced to mere remnants, and the mortal army soldiers were scattered across the ground in the blast.

“Kalion!” Owe’s roar almost drowned out the explosions. “How long will you take?!”

He was calling out to his Second Company Captain.

At that moment, purple psychic lightning suddenly exploded in the southeast corner.

The Librarians operating with the Second Company had finally succeeded.

Led by Captain Karion, they rushed from the scrap heap to support the main battlefield.

Behind them was the disintegrating Waagh force field generator.

The auspicious readings connected to Owe’s tactical eyepiece suddenly became clear. He saw the weak points in the gate structure “pulsating,” and the firepower of the deadly cannons and rocket launchers atop the bastion had suddenly dropped by more than half.

“Everyone fall back!” He grabbed the two battle brothers who were still firing, “It’s going to explode!”

The drill of the City Breaker mech hit the gate for who knows how many times, and the accumulated kinetic energy finally broke through the critical point. The heavy alloy gate shattered like glass, and the flying metal pieces knocked down many Orks who were fighting in the close combat and wanted to attack the City Breaker, as well as the human soldiers and Space Marines who were defending the City Breaker. Few people could get up again.

Two City Breakers also fell.

But they had completed their most important mission.

Owei was hit by another bullet or explosion fragment from nowhere, which seemed to have penetrated his power armor. He could feel himself bleeding.

But he still stood firm.

“Occupy the passage!” He replaced the magazine for the grenade launcher, “Follow up! Follow up! Hurry up! We have to hit the top and destroy the turret!”

When they rushed into the interior of the bastion, they didn’t care about the foul air at all. Owe used his phase sword to split the makeshift iron fence blocking the path, splitting the advancing Ork guards and leading the charge.

Second Company arrived first, followed by support troops, braving the barrage.

“Chamber Master! Three o’clock!” Captain Kalion’s voice warned. It was a heavy machine gun nest.

Owe rolled to avoid the first volley of fire, his bolter, even with an empty magazine, failing to penetrate the bulletproof steel.

He saw a squad of elite Army soldiers in regenerative power armor attempting to flank them, only to be hacked into six pieces by the Ork leader’s chainsaw axe. Two Iron Fist Ambassadors then dispatched the leader with melta-guns, only to be blown halfway back themselves.

“Use the melta-throwers! Incinerate these xenos!”

With the heavy machine gun fire destroyed, they attempted to continue their upward charge.

But the Greenskins were also frantic.

They had actually placed a massive number of bomb traps within their own bastion!

Fortunately, the technical sergeant was alerted in advance and issued a warning, so the casualties were not particularly severe.

Owei was blown six meters away by the air wave, and his helmet display shattered into a spider web.

He took off his helmet and looked forward, only to see that the upward passage had collapsed.

There was no way up, but this was not an obstacle.

The surviving city-breaker mechas were widening the gap on the outside. When it was large enough, they could come in and clear the obstacle.

Staying in the bastion would protect them from being bombed.

“Commander!” The voice of a colonel of the Alliance Army suddenly appeared on the communication channel. “My engineers have found the energy line! They are setting up explosives!”

This was an extra surprise!

A new mark appeared on the tactical chain. A remnant of the 257th Division had actually opened up an underground pipeline on the northwest side!

“Explode! Explode!” Owei did not care that the explosion might harm the troops he brought into the bastion, including himself.

Victory was the most important thing.

In the loud explosion, the entire bastion suddenly tilted fifteen degrees. Owe heard the groaning of breaking metal as the bastion’s power core exploded, inflicting irreversible damage to the structure.

Some soldiers were buried beneath the rubble, but the previously blocked passage had reappeared.

Owe led the remaining men upwards. Despite the resistance of the greenskins guarding the turrets atop the bastion, they succeeded in destroying the turrets.

Despite the remnants of the greenskins holding out below, and despite the numerous greenskins rushing to support them from behind the bastion, Owe knew he had succeeded.

Without the suppression of the bastion’s cannons and rockets, the human forces could quickly support them.

His reserves were also substantial.

The 257th Division was nearly destroyed, but there were still ten divisions behind it; if that wasn’t enough, there were still ten more!

More city-breakers would surge, tearing down the walls in sections, widening the route of advance to the point where even heavy tanks could enter.

The achievement of being the first to break through the fourth ring was within reach, practically guaranteed!

Despite the heavy casualties suffered by the Chapter, it was still an undoubted victory.

However, the attack on the third ring of the fortress would have to be slowed down a bit.

He had to wait for the Titan support to arrive.

If he had had a few Titans available for use in the previous battle, the battle wouldn’t have been so difficult.

Just as he was thinking about this, he heard a sharp alarm suddenly pierce all communication channels.

His helmet was broken and he couldn’t see the tactical eyepiece, so he could only look to the side and ask, “What is that?”

His Second Captain, Karion, said in a somewhat stiff voice, “A massive biological signal has been detected…”

But soon, Ovi didn’t need anyone to tell him.

Standing on the top of the burning ruins of the bastion, Ovi could see with his n*ked eyes that a huge orc figure, holding a huge battle axe, was emerging from a green tide and heading towards the ruins of the bastion. The roar it uttered shook Ovi, a veteran with hundreds of years of combat experience, to the depths of his soul.

“Is that… Broken Bones?”

(End of this chapter)