Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

Chapter 436 Black and Red, a Plan in the Shadows (21) Seeds

boom!boom!boom!boom!
On the imperial defense line under the Fermara Mountains, on the permanent fortifications built on the granite structure of the mountains, the Space Wolves and the local defense forces once again received heavy artillery strikes from the demon engines.

And at this point in time, it has been a full week since the Word Bearers Legion appeared and launched the landing operation.

The dense rain of bullets screamed in patches in the sky, making the soldiers who heard them frown, restraining their instinctive urge to escape.

The cannonball hood cast by poor craftsmanship tore through the air, revealing black and red iron light in the violent friction of the atmosphere. The half-person-high cannonball had terrifying kinetic energy, with dark green tail flames hanging all the way, with an increasingly sharp whistling nature. Sliding down in pieces from high in the air.

The iron quilt cap shattered the moment it touched the resistance, and the hard warhead smashed heavily through the surface metal armor of the fortification along with the inertia.

The heavy projectile continued to advance for more than ten meters by virtue of the potential energy, and then, under the excitation of the firing pin in the warhead, the final explosion of the warhead sent a faint thunder to the surface.

Dust and crumbs of concrete fell down, and the lights in the outpost flickered on and off.Under the dim light, the dust on the communicator and the map was jumping, and the half-full military kettle broke free from the shackles of gravity and fell to the ground.

And when the impact point of the shells began to extend backwards, and the roar that made people feel frightened gradually receded, a hand that was also full of dust caught the kettle in mid-air, and then opened the kettle to use the remaining water. Too much fresh water washes chapped lips.

"Bah!" Sergeant Kramm spit the dust from his mouth together with the metal-tasting water on the ground, and then pushed the sentry in front of the artillery mirror away.

In the plain under the infrared vision, there are still burn marks left by the sun in the daytime, and at the end of the battlefield he is in charge of, there are already dark crowds appearing again.

"Report!" The sergeant ordered without looking back.

Communications soldier Yasen tacitly pressed the switch on the microphone, and while initiating contact with the superior command post, he simultaneously repeated the content of the sergeant's report.

"The call group pointed out that this is the post 0225, please provide artillery support, the coordinate number--scheduled observation units 09.09.c7 to c9.

Repeat, 09.09. c7 to c9..."

"Received." After the transfer, in the mountains dozens of kilometers away, the major of the artillery command post nodded to the adjutant while tilting his head and clamping the communication headset.

He used the data board to file the information of the outpost to the higher-level command post, while the adjutant picked up another communicator, and after carefully observing the atmospheric meter in front of him, he opened up the 16 guns on standby from hidden gun positions. Artillery command:
"Coordinates 09.c7-c9, no correction, three anti-personnel shells, ready for rapid fire!"

"Coordinates 09.c7-c9, no correction, anti-personnel shells, three rounds, rapid-fire preparation!" The gunners of each gun position repeatedly confirmed the instructions received, and the gunners of the group reported to the gunners when they were ready after loading. gesture.

"Let go!" The adjutant looked at the time on his wrist and gave the order the moment the fire channel got permission from his superior.

"Let it go!" The gunners waved down the command flags in their hands, and then tightly covered the noise-canceling earphones on their heads to avoid being blown away by the scorching flames.

The gunner in the firing position of the ground-shaking cannon stepped on the trigger, and the barrel of the locomotive-sized ground-shaking cannon retreated heavily.

In the huge roar, the scorching air raised smoke and dust all over the sky. The sweat from the bare upper bodies of the loaders was quickly evaporated. The chains of the bomb lifter that came with the fortress were rattling. In less than 20 seconds, the next heavy shell Already loaded.

"Release!" The adjutant confirmed again that the calculated parameters were correct, and ordered them to be released to each gun position.

"Let go!" The gunner waved down the command flag, and then took off his coat after hiding in the bunker. The temperature in the small concealed fortification rose rapidly within a few minutes, and the coat that was supposed to keep out the cold became a high-temperature steamer at this time.

But the bulletproof vest cannot be taken off, because when the shock wave from the muzzle of the ground-shaking gun is surging in the small bunker, any tiny fragments will become a deadly threat.

At that time, some recruits did not believe in this evil, but the facts soon educated him.

A 200-gram nut, with the fact that it embedded itself in the cranium of the unfortunate man, told the former that his survival was entirely dependent on the mercy of the Emperor.

Well, it would have been better if the hapless fellow hadn't been the gunner himself.

The gunners and solvers on the turrets did not have this kind of treatment. They could only throw their coats beside them and pour fresh water with salt into their mouths from the jug.

Sixteen artillery lines that were slightly lower than before extended to the sky amidst the roar of the ground-shaking cannon, and after the observer inspected the repositioning of the cannon body, the servo of the heavy artillery began to follow the prayers of the mechanical priest. The established parameters slightly lowered the muzzle again...

Boom boom boom!

The 48 special anti-personnel shells prepared for unarmored units flew tens of kilometers under three precisely calculated parabolas, and finally arrived at the same time and covered the five-kilometer horizontal battlefield.

With the support of the laws of physics, nearly [-] kilograms of powder charges and prefabricated fragments cut off the dense array of rebels, and the high-temperature impact and metal jets crushed and shredded all affected bodies and machines, stirring Under the mushroom cloud is the battlefield where the whole earth is trembling.

This is undoubtedly a successful artillery support, especially when the enemy's counter-battery strikes are powerless against the hidden positions behind the mountains because of the parabola.

But what the enemy lacks most is precisely troops, and this level of attack is nothing more than a tiny spying on each other's reality before the real decisive battle begins between two behemoths with the Astartes battle group as the core.

The counterattack came soon after, the checkpoint signal was captured by the warships in orbit, and red meteors fell from the sky immediately.

The meteorite-like airdrop pod smashed through the tops of the outpost and the defense legion, and the Word Bearers who appeared on the flames dyed the two fortifications of different sizes into the same blood color as their armor in just ten minutes.

The Space Wolves can only counterattack passively.

Space dominance means air dominance, and air dominance means the right to maneuver within the atmosphere.

Losing it deprived the loyal Astartes of the ability to transfer in a large area, and the consequence of forcibly taking a fighter plane was often a more tragic loss,

Therefore, the hunting group of wild wolves could only give up the convenient way of marching. After half an hour of forced marching, they harvested an abandoned position covered in blood.

And this is just a corner of the countless battlefields in the Otto galaxy. Before the two fleets are victorious, similar scenes will be repeated countless times.

A week after the start of the war, the fierce battle between the Empire and Chaos in space and on the ground at the same time has completely destroyed the satellite systems of all planets in this galaxy.

Under the condition that the space naval battle failed to determine the winner, the air supremacy in the atmosphere has not yet fallen into the hands of any party, and neither the enemy nor the enemy has time to wait, so the war has developed to the present, and the way both sides observe the battlefield has degenerated To the era of the naked eye.

The war ahead is still going on, and the sound of devastating artillery fire is just a muffled thunder in the sky.

Under the dark dome of the tunnel, the workers are used to this kind of hustle and bustle. They don't know, and have no way of knowing, that a group of living compatriots who were tens of kilometers away from them quietly died on the battlefield.

The order in the huge underground transfer station remained, and the crowd did not cause any confusion due to the shelling.

The workers silently wiped off the sweat from their foreheads, and followed the fluorescent marks under their feet to carry the materials brought in from behind.

Weapons and ammunition, weatherproof uniform and goggles, gloves and boots, bedding and water bottles.A large amount of materials were placed by the headquarters in various tunnels leading to the battlefield according to different marching routes.

And with the roar of the next rail train, the soldiers of the Supplementary Corps stepped down from the carriages in batches and lined up.

Then, under the command of the commander, they passed by the distribution point in rows, and rushed to the battlefield ahead with weapons that were not wiped clean with gun oil.

The passing of the crowd is so insensitive here that no one is interested in making eye contact.Because death is so cheap here that any small emotional investment seems so extravagant.

thump... thump...

In the dark of the dome of the underground station, two giants on the high platform are leaving from the railing. This is the first time Ragnar, the alpha wolf, has arrived here since the beginning of the war, and he is accompanied by three giants temporarily assigned by the Sea Wolf Dalian. The leader of the pack - Barnegg.

"You shouldn't be here." Barnegg couldn't help but said.

This inspection of the ground battlefield was a unilateral action by Ragnar, and as the supreme commander of the fleet flagship Hrafinkel, Ragnar's adventure was opposed by all the wild wolves.

"Then where should I be?" The giant in the darkness stopped and looked back, the sharp canines in his slightly open mouth were shining with a faint light.

"Watch you fight in those coffins made of steel, and then wait impotently to die?"

"I didn't mean that..." Barnegg lowered his head to defend, while Ragnar continued.

"Where is that? My friend. You see, you are bleeding and dying here, and I can only watch the dull battle between the battleships from space.

If we win, I don't have any sense of honor, and if I lose..."

Ragnar put his hand on Barnegg's shoulder and said meaningfully:
"Then would you like to see a High King of Fenris who died on the throne instead of on the battlefield?"

"This..." Barnegg wanted to refute but couldn't open his mouth. The wolf had already spoken so far, and he really couldn't find any more words to refute.

He wanted to deny Ragnar's pessimism, but he couldn't deny the cruelty of the battle. In the end, he could only say "We will win!" as an expression of his will.

"Yes...we will win." The gate in front of Ragnar slowly opened, and the icy air on the tarmac under the moonlight blew his silver hair.

He looked back at the old sea wolf, and said finally before returning to the Grafinkel himself:
"But the alternation of life is also part of fate. So, look after those cubs for me.

We will die, but they are the wolves of tomorrow. "

　Update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)