The Creators: From Night City

Page 475

But the demons had already surrounded them.

As I said before, in such an environment, losing speed is tantamount to losing life.

The commander simply made a tactical hand gesture, and everyone prepared to fight to the death.

They are about to employ the 'Dotuka tactic' and launch a desperate charge.

But instead of the psionic shield breaking, an even more dazzling explosion erupted from the great demon.

Then, a dense chorus of footsteps began to echo in the empty nest.

Their voices were like thunder, their earthquakes like raging waves, their marches and turns like a whirlwind, and their military bearing as orderly as the sun.

The 'Apostle' legion swept across all enemies with unstoppable momentum.

Accompanied by a sound like mountains collapsing and the earth crumbling, before the soldiers even arrived, dense firepower swept into the battlefield like an iron curtain.

The dense barrage of bombs was like the fiercest storm, leaving no gap between them even for a single Pink Fear Demon to pass through.

The 'Apostle' Legion didn't seem to be firing; rather, they seemed to be rushing to destroy expired bombs in a warehouse.

The 'explosive gun' in their hands, designed by a craftsman suffering from a phobia of insufficient firepower, is undoubtedly maxed out in terms of power, rate of fire, and magazine capacity, regardless of other aspects.

How terrifying is the firepower efficiency of 150 'Apostles'?

To put it simply, the demonic wave, amidst the hail of bullets, transformed into a carpet of flesh and blood, seemingly rolled up by an invisible hand, endlessly piling up backward.

The bodies didn't even have time to fall before they were pushed and shredded by more bullets, rolling backward into the new bodies.

The insane frequency of the gunfire made Titus shudder.

He had never seen anything like this, turning a bomb gun into a submachine gun.

Where did this group of nouveau riche come from, acting so arrogantly?

The Astartes weren't lacking in weapons with a rate of fire of six or seven rounds per second, nor were they incapable of using them.

The main reason is that in most cases, they can't afford it, and they don't need it.

For Astartes, accurate hip-fire within a kilometer is just the most basic operation. For them, an excessively fast rate of fire would lead to firepower overflow, resulting in unnecessary waste of resources.

War is all about logistics.

Warband resources are ultimately limited, and individual soldiers can only carry limited supplies during missions. Logistics efficiency is also limited, and the amount of Imperial supplies they can obtain is even more limited.

Even the Imperial Guard had to consider logistical issues.

After all, the manufacturing cost of each bomb is extremely high.

The explosive round is not a traditional bullet; it is a .75 caliber (approximately 19 mm) rocket-assisted grenade, and its manufacturing process is far more complex than that of a traditional bullet.

The cartridge case is typically made of high-grade ceramic steel composite material to ensure it does not rupture under high chamber pressure.

The high explosives and rare metal armor-piercing cores inside the warheads are strategic materials that the Empire is in high demand.

Meanwhile, during the manufacturing process, from melting the metal to engraving the sacred runes on the cartridge case, each step requires a technical priest to perform prayers, burn incense, and offer blessings.

While the cost of a single bomb may seem small, don't forget that it's a consumable item.

The amount of ammunition consumed in a single battle is often astronomical, and the cumulative losses of ammunition in small battles over the years will also amount to a huge expense.

The lack of guns and ammunition is a tragedy that some impoverished warbands cannot bear, while resource scarcity is a common problem for all Imperial armed forces.

This leads to the need to base everything from tactics and strategies to firearm design and the selection of mainstream weapons on this logic.

After all, even the wealthiest warbands or forces are not entitled to waste resources recklessly, and the Martian Cult, as the producer, dares not claim that its logistics are absolutely abundant.

After all, no one knows what scale of war they will face next.

In conclusion, eliminating an enemy with a single explosive bomb is the most cost-effective and suitable solution for Astartes, and it is also the norm for these superhuman warriors in combat.

Similarly, this is also the design philosophy behind most of the mainstream firearms deployed by the Empire.

But how did this unknown reinforcement force do it?

They opened fire, opened fire like crazy, to the point that most of their firepower was wasted blindly.

It was common for multiple explosive shells to repeatedly kill an enemy, with the shooter continuing to fire regardless of the enemy's mangled flesh.

Many more bombs exploded meaninglessly on open ground and obstacles, being wasted without purpose.

For them, killing the enemy seemed to be secondary; running out of bullets was the most important task.

But this was a reluctant choice made by Commander Flying Eagle based on the realities of the situation.

Despite their superior physical abilities, excellent equipment, and large numbers, the Reforged Apostles quickly revealed their greatest weakness when facing the immortal demons who had been immersed in war for hundreds or thousands of years.

Their combat experience was extremely limited, and their tactical coordination, marksmanship, martial arts skills, and tactical awareness were all very immature.

After all, Astartes generally need decades of training to be considered to have left the recruit stage, and only those who survive decades or even centuries of endless battles are qualified to become veterans.

Normally, these Astartes veterans are the fighting force capable of fighting on equal terms with the demons.

After all, you can say chaos is bad, but you can't say they're bad.

In comparison, the 'Apostles' are like balloons that have been forcibly inflated, possessing martial prowess but unable to unleash their full combat potential, falling far behind in close-quarters combat and small-scale tactical applications.

The 'Apostles' who set off with high spirits were quickly awakened by reality. After paying the price of several 'Apostles', Commander Flying Eagle did not hesitate at all. He quickly recognized the gap between himself and the enemy, changed his combat style on the spot, changed his 'cool and stylish' multi-level cooperative combat strategy, played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses, reset his skill points on the spot, and turned around to max out the skill called 'Firepower Advantage Theory'.

And so, the scene that unfolded before us came to be.

Chapter 964 has been found!

However, the members of the killing squad were unaware of the inside story.

In their current mindset, the main weapons equipped by this unknown reinforcement force completely contradicted the mainstream ideology of the empire, making them nothing short of 'heretics'.

The members of the killing squad came from all over the world and were quite knowledgeable. However, including the technical sergeant Galian who had studied on Mars, none of them had ever encountered these firearms filled with 'heretic' design concepts before, or even heard of them.

This is obviously not normal.

It's important to understand that every Astartes is born for war.

Weapons are the two essential tools of war.

Even a new recruit of the Astartes will master the use of most of the Empire's firearms and related knowledge through decades of training.

But soon, the true appearance of the reinforcements silenced them on the spot.

It's hard to describe what it feels like to see hundreds of heavily armored Astartes advancing in perfect unison, and even more unbelievable is that these are suspected to be hundreds of 'Guardians of the Caliphate'.

Yes, with a typical height of nearly 3 meters, their power armor, coated with adamantite, also shines with a golden light. The combination of these two features is the iconic characteristic of the Imperial Guard.

Of course, the Astartes quickly deduced from various subtle details that the other party was not the Imperial Guard.

This was already surprising enough for them.

Of course, there were many other things that surprised them, the most obvious being the armor on the other side.

First are the [Slayer] and [Judge], which are suspected to be unknown models of Terminator power armor.

The Terminator Armor, officially known as the "Tactical Dreadnought Armor," is a heavy armor developed by the Mechanicus during the 30k Great Expedition to counter urban warfare and boarding maneuvers. It is renowned for its high defense and heavy firepower.

The Tactical Dreadnought Armor is equipped with an energy deflection field, which can effectively deflect various physical and energy attacks. At the same time, the Terminator Armor itself contains a large amount of adamantite in its physical armor, making it far stronger than any ordinary power armor.

The armor also has a built-in teleportation device, which can be used to directly teleport into enemy ships during space battles to strike vital enemy targets. This fundamentally solves the problem of long-distance deployment of heavy armor and greatly enhances its tactical value.

The least noteworthy aspect is the heavy firepower it can carry.

During the Great Crusade in the 30K era, various models of Terminator armor were developed, such as the Hades, Ironclad, and Unyielding, and were mass-produced and issued to various Space Marine Legions.

Following the Great Rebellion, the massive loss of technology made mass production of the Terminator armor impossible, making each damaged suit one less available.

Even within the wealthiest Ultramarines Chapter, which possesses 500 worlds, the Terminator armor is reserved for the most elite First Company warriors, and each suit of armor is considered a sacred relic of the Chapter, requiring rigorous selection to wear.

The fact that the Killing Squad didn't even receive approval for a Terminator armor during this mission, given how precious it was, speaks volumes about its value.

How many of these armors appeared in front of the Killing Squad?

The answer is more than 30.

It's important to know that the normal equipment structure for the [Apostles] is a squad of 12 people, with each squad equipped with one [Slayer] and one [Judge].

This is because this ratio is most suitable for dealing with most battles. The combination of light and heavy infantry can achieve the effect of "infantry-tank coordination". They can cover and restrain each other, so as not to lose the balance between mobility and firepower. Otherwise, given Jiang Bing's personality, it is not impossible for all his troops to change their equipment.

When more than 30 heavy and tall Terminator armored vehicles lined up in a square in a little-known industrial world, even the Killing Squad, a group of veterans with an average service age of over 200 years, were enough to intimidate them.

Every single one of them, even Titus, who came from a 'wealthy family', had never seen such lavishly displayed 'muscles'.

That's incredibly extravagant!

The Archdeacon Tzeentch vanished into the dust the instant it was attacked; its massive body, protected by psychic powers, was more elusive than even the Inquisition's top assassins.

The Black Shield Psionicist had been watching the Chaos foe closely, and when it disappeared from sight, he couldn't help but want to shout a warning.

He then embarrassingly discovered that he could not contact the other party on any of the known universal Astartes communication bands.

By the time he tried to issue a physical warning, Tzeentch's attack had already begun again.

A massive figure abruptly emerged from beside the pile of demon corpses left by the 'Apostles'. A constantly fluctuating psionic shield withstood the 'Apostles' relentless bombardment, and a large amount of psionic energy began to soak into the blood and bits of flesh on the ground.

The piles of blood and bones began a terrifying and frenzied process of activation.

This flesh and blood frantically gathered in front of the opponent, turning into a filthy bomb. Once mature, it was directly transported through the subspace to the sky above the 'Apostle' battle formation under the catalysis of psionic energy, and exploded with a bang.

The filthy flesh and blood, blessed by the great demon Tzeentch, are so potent that every drop of blood could cause mortals to fall on the spot, and every fiber of flesh contains a malevolent power capable of corroding even the finest steel.

But it underestimated its opponent and overestimated itself.

The adamantine plating of the power armor became stained and began to peel off in patches, but its superior quality ultimately withstood the corrosive forces.

A faint glow emanated from their armor, the flames of the Great One protecting them from the malevolent attacks of higher dimensions.

"assault!"

Standing still and taking a beating is not the style of the 'Apostles'. Several thick adamantite shields were raised, and the [Arbitrators] formed a shield wall to block the opponent's flames, while approaching the Tzeentch Archdeacon.

Of course, the most lethal attack came from three [Judge] martial arts champions who used their vector jets to unleash the 'Flying Grass' technique.

The massive chainsaw sword couldn't get close to Tzeentch's psionic shield, but the frantic spinning of the adamantite serrations was also rapidly eroding his psionic energy.

The slash of the Twisted Scepter was blocked by the lead 'Brutal Bear' with his arm armor. The blade embedded in the arm armor spread out countless worm-like malice, which traveled through the armor and into his body. It was the deepest malice energy in the warp trying to corrupt him.

Sensing the invasion of the enemy, the 'Life Furnace' began to pulsate violently on its own, pumping out a scorching heat like lava that instantly spread out from his body.

The whispers were dispelled, the malice melted away, and a more intense golden flame blazed on the golden mask, the fighting spirit rising ever higher.

Tzeentch the Great Demon intended to use a filthy blood nova to shatter the enemy forces, but to its and the entire Killing Squad's surprise, the three 'Astartes' neither dodged nor avoided, choosing to wade through the exploding blood curtain with their bare bodies, even at the cost of damaged armor, determined to hold their opponent tightly.

Psionic shields ultimately have their limits.

One Arbitrator, at the cost of having most of his armor and flesh melted into a blurry chaos by the psionic flames of the Tzeentch Archdeacon, shattered the opponent's shield with his most ferocious plasma blade.

The next moment, another [Arbitrator] rushed forward and pierced the demon's chest with his plasma two-handed greatsword.

The third-ranked [Arbitrator] grabbed Tzeentch's bird head and, like killing a chicken, forcefully shoved the chainsaw sword into the opponent's collarbone.

This level of damage did not kill the great demon on the spot; the fully activated psionic energy endowed it with an unbelievably powerful vitality.

The activated blue psionic energy began to spread outwards like an eraser, its wild twisting and eroding all matter.

The three 'apostles' showed no intention of withdrawing their swords or retreating. Instead, they prayed loudly in unison, and recklessly activated the flames in their chests, holding fast to their positions and turning their bodies into anchors to fix the great demon in place.

The plasma blades were corroded first by the blue psionic energy, decaying rapidly as if they had traversed millions of years. Then, the three people's gauntlets began to gradually disintegrate from the outermost layer.

But what followed was a sudden burst of golden flames that exploded and swirled back, using the weapons to burn the ugly bird-headed demon as kindling.

Tzeentch let out a painful cry for the first time, desperately trying to use its power to break free, but the fourth, fifth... a continuous stream of blazing blades were held up by the other apostles and plunged into its body without hesitation.

Finally, the flames gathered in the demon's body, exceeding a certain delicate critical point, and in an instant ignited the demon's thoughts, psychic energy, essence, flesh and blood, everything.

In the blink of an eye, the Great Demon Tzeentch burst into a ball of golden fire, and the heat wave that burned everything spread in all directions, causing all living beings present to tremble with fear on a spiritual level.

Titus shot down a foolish pink demon with a single shot, but suddenly felt a familiar heat sweep through his soul, and couldn't help but turn around to look.

He saw that the great demon Tzeentch had burned into a golden torch, gradually turning into nothingness as it burned.

His eyes behind the scarlet goggles instantly sharpened.

found it!

Chapter 965 Trust Crisis

The battle was over, but the war had just begun.