Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 926

Chapter 918, Defending the Church

Chaos flames exploded from the church spire, signaling the climax of this desperate stand.

Tulsa, commander of the 8th Banyan Lizard Company, was fighting from the spire. He needed to command the battle from a height, but he was also engaged in combat.

He was a skilled marksman, setting up his sniper bolter from there and already emptied his third magazine. His sniper fire had already targeted over nine Chaos Space Marines and numerous Chaos Cultists.

Of course, the enemy wouldn’t just sit there and wait. They had long recognized the threat posed by the church spire as a high point and launched various countermeasures, but they were all met by Tulsa and his men.

However, the situation continued to deteriorate.

Three kilometers away, a torrent of twisted metal was engulfing the 4th Armored Battalion’s defenses.

The Lion King tanks, once part of the Imperial army, now bore bleeding sores on their turrets, their tracks crushing the remains of human flesh.

These corrupted tanks offered no advantage against the human armored forces. Yet, they continued their unstoppable momentum, crushing the human defenses like caterpillar treads through weeds.

The reason was simple—the enemy was simply too numerous.

How many troops were defending the cathedral? Besides the Primaris company of Rong Lizard and his men, there was only one Alliance division.

And what about the enemy? Right now, they outnumbered them tenfold!

This was true in terms of Chaos traitor numbers, armored units, and Chaos Space Marines.

The 4th Armored Battalion’s position had long been under relentless fire before they were mercilessly crushed.

In reality, the troops could no longer hold their ground. The battalion commander submitted a report to his superiors, and divisional headquarters reluctantly and tearfully agreed, reporting to Tulsa.

Then, the armored battalion launched a desperate counterattack.

Their decision was forced upon them. According to the battalion commander, they couldn’t stand by and watch their armored vehicles and tanks, the very foundation of their battle, sit there, unfired, and be destroyed by Chaos traitors’ long-range fire. Even though they knew their attack would end in failure, they were determined to make the Chaos enemies feel their boundless wrath!

The battalion commander personally led the charge, and after 30% of their troops perished under artillery fire during the charge, they finally broke through to the enemy. However, they were met head-on by a massive Chaos armored counterattack.

Facing a vastly outnumbered enemy, they resisted with determination, even killing some, but ultimately, without a single miracle, they were completely annihilated.

This was the last armored unit of the armored division assisting in the defense of the church. Only

a few of the 4th Armored Battalion’s positions remained, without tanks or armored vehicles.

When the Chaos Cult tanks approached, they were left with no means of resistance. The few remaining soldiers attempted to use individual anti-armor weapons, or even strapped explosives to their bodies, lying in ambush in trenches and tunnels, detonating them as the enemy passed. It was

a truly heroic act!

But it was all in vain.

These heroic actions played a minimal role in the overall situation, creating only minor ripples in the advancing enemy force, and were of no significance at all.

However, the human side was not without resistance.

The artillery battalions, previously suppressed in the enemy artillery barrage, and even afraid to fire freely and expose their positions, finally broke free.

Rapid rounds of fire, 1,500 rounds in two minutes, pounded the enemy’s advancing forces.

The effect was significant.

Numerous rebel tanks and soldiers were blasted into the air by this two-minute, intensive, carpet-bombing attack, suffering heavy losses.

Even with the Chaos rebels’ strength, they had to retreat and reorganize before launching their next attack.

This undoubtedly bought them some time.

However, the price of this time was the discovery of their artillery positions, prompting a Chaos counterattack.

Chaos artillery completely enveloped the artillery battalion’s position, which had no time to relocate. The surging Chaos fighters, with complete air superiority, recklessly dropped bombs, completing the bombing run.

Under the enemy’s counterattack, only one in ten of the battalion’s self-propelled artillery pieces was able to withdraw.

It was brutal, difficult, and heartbreaking to watch.

But in reality, all of this was within Tulsa’s expectations.

Before the battle began, after receiving the order to hold their ground, he and the Alliance brigadier general had foreseen the outcome when discussing how to conduct this stand. They had decided to employ similar tactics, pushing back against the enemy layer by layer.

They would gradually bleed the enemy,

but at the same time, they would undoubtedly suffer losses themselves.

They were maintaining this defensive posture, risking their lives, in a limited space, to resist the enemy’s attack and buy time.

They knew they couldn’t hold it alone. Their goal was to risk their lives, to buy time until reinforcements arrived.

Come on, attack, continue the same tactics as before.

The Union Army’s Skeleton Division still had 40% of its manpower available; the 8th Banyan Lizard Company still had sixty soldiers capable of combat. They still had space to fill, to sacrifice their lives, to block and slow down the enemy’s advance.

Until their blood ran dry, they would unwaveringly adhere to the battle objective of ‘holding to the death’, and would continue unwaveringly.

However, the enemy was no longer willing to let them hold out like this.

Tulsa suddenly felt the entire church foundation tremble.

He thought it was the enemy artillery fire again.

Before this, the enemy had also attempted to directly attack the church itself, which served as a high point and base. Long-range artillery and fighter bombardments continued,

but their attacks were not very effective.

Incoming fighter planes would be met with fierce fire from the anti-aircraft defenses stationed within the complex. Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft missiles would be lethal.

Long-range artillery bombardments offered no effective countermeasures, but the church complex was remarkably robust. Furthermore, it had undergone emergency special reinforcement before the war.

Even if some of the outbuildings collapsed, so what? The collapsed complex still served as a useful combat shelter. As long as no one was buried inside when the buildings collapsed, it wouldn’t be a major issue. Placing artillery, anti-aircraft defenses, and wounded battalions within the ruins would be safer. Even if

there were tremors, the main structure of the church had been able to withstand the heavy firepower it had previously endured.

However, Tulsa quickly realized that this wasn’t an enemy bombardment.

No Chaos rebel fighters were approaching, and he saw no traces of Chaos artillery fire streaking across the sky.

Soon, reports from his battle brothers let him know what had happened: three heavily armored Chaos Dreadnoughts had broken through the eastern alloy wall and charged in!

(End of this chapter)