Chapter 152: It’s so big and so green
Roast Axe, along with the evil iron tank of terror he was driving, was blown to pieces by fifty 155mm howitzer shells that fell from the sky.
With dense artillery fire coming down on him, he had just recovered his power and had no time to leave the explosion range.
And no matter how strong his armor was, it could not withstand such artillery fire.
Of course, accidental injuries are inevitable in this process.
Within two minutes, many of their own soldiers still didn't have time to run to a safe place. Even if they found shelter on the spot, they would still die if they were too close to the explosion area.
But this is the necessary price.
Gu Hang's proactive attack only reduced the cost to the minimum.
Of course, saving one or two hundred soldiers from dying is also valuable.
The death of Roasted Axe also marked the complete collapse of the front line that had led the orcs to confront the human army for more than a month.
Moreover, after the morale of the greenskins collapsed, they had no way to escape.
They were surrounded by human armies from all sides. Even if they could fly and hide, they could not escape.
And this is exactly Gu Hang’s goal.
What he wanted was not just a battle of defeat, but also a battle of annihilation without compromise.
Although the casualties were not small in general, more than a thousand soldiers were probably killed or wounded in the full-scale attack. But the result was that at least four thousand greenskins were wiped out. 70% of the enemies died in the artillery fire that rained down like rain in the early stage.
It was at this moment that Gu Hang saw new changes taking place in his [Event] panel.
【Event: Greenskin Threat】
【The green-skinned orcs that appeared inexplicably on the planet have grown into a threat that cannot be ignored in the past few years. But under your leadership, the brave warriors not only resisted the invasion of the green-skinned orcs, but also annihilated their main forces through orbital bombardment, artillery coverage, and full-scale assault. However, whether it is the intelligence obtained from the front or your own feelings, these green-skinned orcs look very unusual. They don't look like wild orcs that have developed independently on the Wrath of the Owl, but they also don't look like space orcs that invaded from outside the star.】
[Phase 1 goal: Completed]
[Phase 1 Reward: T5 Additional Arms Training Option - Beast Slayer, Already Obtained]
[Phase 2 Objective: Find out the reason for the rise of the greenskins.]
[Phase 2 Reward: An important piece of information]
…
In the [Event] panel, the first phase rewards of [Greenskin Threat] have been calculated.
Gu Hang can already see the training option of the new additional soldier type "Beast Slayer" in the [Soldier Card] interface. As long as it is a T5 or higher troop, spending more gifts can give the troop a special attack effect against green-skinned orcs.
As for the 'Beast Slaughter' trait given for free by the 3rd Independent Regiment, it can actually be counted as part of the rewards for the first phase, saving him sixty points of grace.
The second stage was what Gu Hang was supposed to do. It was just that the reward of the so-called "important intelligence" made him a little concerned.
What could it be?
You will know when the time comes.
After taking a quick look at the updated event information, Gu Hang stopped paying attention to it.
The situation on the battlefield is still the top priority.
After destroying the main resistance of the green orcs, the large army rested on the spot, and at 5 pm, they all had dinner delivered by the logistics department. After resting for another hour and a half, they set out again at 6:30 and headed deep into the ruins of the tower.
This is not radical.
There should still be a few greenskins alive on this battlefield, but it doesn't matter anymore.
We can't just ignore it. After all, the follow-up troops still have to carry out their mission deep in the ruins of the tower, and logistical supplies need to pass through here to be transported up. The safety of this area still needs to be protected.
Therefore, Gu Hang left the 6th and 7th Garrison Divisions, one in the north and one in the south, to continue clearing out the scattered greenskins who might still be alive in this position, and to serve as reserve forces to ensure the safety of the logistics line.
Let’s not talk about the clearing mission for now, it’s not difficult.
The main force also advanced into the depths without encountering any difficulties.
The previous orbital bombardment was no joke. Under an attack of that scale, only a very small number of greenskins could survive.
Especially the most important targets: the starting positions of the greenskin attack forces and their base camp were hit hard.
The firepower received by other places was relatively light, but the number of greenskins was also small.
As the troops advanced, they could indeed occasionally see some scattered greenskins popping up, but they posed no threat at all.
Of course, in order to ensure stability and the later stages, a garrison division will be left behind for every 20 kilometers of travel.
While ensuring logistical routes, they are also responsible for clearing out the local green-skinned orcs.
Soon at around 12 o'clock that night, the troops arrived at the gathering place of the green-skinned orcs that the Space Marines had previously reported.
According to the latest intelligence before the orbital bombardment, there should have been more than 4,000 green-skinned orcs and three times the number of fart cannon fodder gathered here, as well as a considerable number of heavy equipment that was more sophisticated than what they had encountered before.
However, now there is only a huge crater and a large area of wreckage.
In the center of the greenskin assembly area was a huge bomb crater with nothing in it. In theory, thousands of people could be gathered in this huge bomb crater, but at this moment, all of them were gone.
There is literally no trace left.
Some suspicious debris began to appear outside the crater.
Looking at the appearance of the wreckage, one can roughly guess that these should be the corpses of some greenskins or fragments of equipment.
But it's just speculation.
The fragments are completely shapeless and the things that melted and cooled down can only be guessed.
If you go further away, you can see some parts that can be identified as what they belonged to before they were destroyed, such as fingers, half a thigh, etc. Here the corpses will appear to be more densely packed.
Only at further distances can one see some intact remains of equipment, such as overturned, charred trucks, immobile killing canisters, and relatively intact charred corpses.
The green-skinned orcs who gathered here in high spirits and ready to destroy everything suffered a devastating blow here.
I don’t know if there are any green-skinned orcs alive in the area bordering the bombing, but even if there are, there are definitely not many left, and they must have run away long ago.
Gu Hang was still very satisfied with the effect of this attack.
But the only thing that made him feel a little uneasy was why the Space Marines had not sent him any information about the effect of the attack before?
This shouldn't be the case.
The special operations team left the area that might be affected by the orbital strike after completing the marking of various targets more than ten hours ago. They have about ten hours to evacuate, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
There is even no need to retreat so far. As long as you maintain a certain distance and make sure that you are not marked by orbital strikes, there will be no artillery fire from space, and you will naturally be safe.
After the orbital strike ended and the magnetic field of the wireless communication stabilized, they also had a phone call with Gu Hang to report their safety, indicating that they were not affected by the orbital strike. At the same time, they also followed Gu Hang's request and went to the two most important targets, namely the gathering place and base camp of the greenskin army, to investigate the effectiveness of the orbital strike.
Logically speaking, given their distance, they would be able to find out the situation quickly.
But the actual situation is that the large army led by Gu Hang has seen the situation of the green-skinned orcs' gathering place with their own eyes, but the special operations team that should have reported the information long ago has not received any news at all.
It was twelve o'clock at night, very late. All officers and soldiers had been fighting since eleven o'clock in the morning, advancing through the ruins and clearing out the greenskins. In the thirteen hours since they arrived here, they had no rest except for a short break at lunch, and were now very tired.
It is also not a good idea to let large troops take action.
He found a signalman and sent a radio communication request to the Phoenix Regiment.
No response.
He felt even more wrong.
He called Perbov and arranged his troops to rest and, after that, send out reconnaissance in the direction of the green-skinned orc base mentioned in the previous intelligence early tomorrow morning. If they encountered green-skinned orcs on the way, there would be no need to carry out a special clean-up if it was not convenient. The most important task was to find the trace of the special operations team.
Gu Hang was quite worried.
Although, there are five Space Marines in the task force, theoretically there won't be any major problems, but...
Even when fighting against the original Cult of the Wrathful Owl, they had to sacrifice a Space Marine, let alone fighting against the Greenskins.
In particular, these greenskins look slightly different from the wild greenskins that developed independently from the spores.
Wild greenskins and space greenskins are all greenskins. There is no difference between them from body structure to social form. The only difference is that the latter are more developed and powerful, with more advanced technology, and are ruled by powerful orc generals or even orc warlords.
The most terrible orc disaster in the legend occurred seven thousand years ago, which almost destroyed the entire human empire.
But before removing those powerful space orc clans, the orcs who grew up independently on certain planets and have not yet become a threat to the galaxy are called wild orcs.
It is difficult to trace the path of the greenskin infection to another planet. During an interstellar voyage, a cargo of greenskin spores invisible to the naked eye was loaded onto an interstellar spacecraft. When unloading, it fell to the ground or was blown to a certain place by the wind. When it encountered a suitable environment, it began to take root and sprout, and the first Squig Beast grew. This aggressive and ferocious little beast secreted and split many spores when hunting, fighting, being injured, defecating, dying... and began to give birth to more Squig Beasts, Fart Spirits, and even Orc Boys.
Generally speaking, before the greenskin ecology of wild orcs on the planet is fully developed, the greenskins are in a primitive tribal state. There is no technology to speak of, and no organizational structure. They are just a group of beasts with relatively high intelligence.
They would kill each other and fight among themselves. After all, fighting was the nature of the green-skinned orcs, and they didn't really care whether the target of the fight was their own or a foreigner.
In the fight, they will select a greenskin boss as the leader of the tribe. Under the leadership of the boss, the greenskins who make up the tribe will start to fight with everything around them. If they can't find anything, they will split up and fight against themselves.
In this process, their numbers will gradually spiral upward, with a large number of greenskins dying in internal friction, but although the number fluctuates, it is still rising overall. At the same time, as more battles are fought and the number of greenskins increases, their so-called 'waaagh' force field will become thicker.
This supernatural power, which is closely related to psychic power but is not psychic power, is similar to some kind of "idealistic technology". It will make their tribe stronger and stronger, and technology will advance inexplicably. Various weapons and equipment that "I have thought of" that only greenskins can use will allow them to embark on a journey to the starry sky one day.
Of course, if there is no external force, this process will be very long.
But if there is an external force, for example, if they have eaten enough foreign brains, or if they have seen enough war technology of humans or other intelligent races, then the orc technical boys, goblin technicians, technical masters... a series of technical greenskins who have received "enlightenment" will rapidly speed up this process.
According to this standard, in the ruins of the tower, the orc tribe, which only counts tens of thousands of people, should not have such things as killing cans and fear cans. They have guns and firearms, which can only be said to be developing fast enough.
Similarly, in past reports about Junk Town, there has never been any mention of large-scale wars between greenskins.
This doesn't quite match up with the wild greenskins.
But it’s even more different from the space greenskin.
If there really is a greenskin clan that can cross the starry sea and set their sights on the Angry Owl Star, then forget it, there is no way we can resist it.
The green-skinned orcs that appeared in the ruins of the tower on the Angry Owl Star were indeed an exceptional case.
But it may also be that humans have not yet fully studied the ecology of the green-skinned orcs, and Gu Hang’s recent frantic cramming of knowledge can hardly cover this area.
That's why he is worried about the current situation of the special operations team.
This clan of green-skinned orcs is so special, who knows if they will do something that even the Space Marines cannot handle?
The Emperor's Angel of Death is, in many cases, worthy of its demigod name; but in the confrontations among the many monsters and demons in the universe, sometimes they die one after another.
The greenskin is just one of those many 'monsters and demons'.
…
We can’t say that Gu Hang has a bad mouth, but the special operations team is indeed in big trouble now.
Going back to 11 noon, when the orbital strike landed, they were indeed not harmed.
They waited patiently for a while. After the residual heat from the bombing dissipated and radio communication was restored, they reported safety to the Governor. Then they followed the Governor's instructions and went to the site of the orbital bombing.
The main attack locations that need to be explored are actually the gathering places and base camps of the green-skinned orcs.
They went to the base camp first.
Here, the scene was almost the same as the starting point, with a huge bomb crater and all the surrounding buildings razed to the ground. The difference was that there were many more fart spirits and craftsmen in the destruction here, and many more wreckages of green buildings.
That's all.
They wandered around the site of the attack for a while, assessing the effects of the attack and looking for any survivors nearby.
The Greenskin Military Factory was confirmed destroyed;
The greenskin camp was confirmed destroyed;
Three greenskin hatchery farms confirmed destroyed;
And it must be said that the greenskins were really tenacious. Even with this level of destructive bombing, which was more powerful than a nuclear bomb, the greenskins who were farther away from the center of the explosion, especially those who happened to be in some sturdy bunkers when the attack came, were really fine.
Fortunately, there are not many of them and they are scattered.
As long as they were not discovered, they did not waste time to clear them out. Of course, if it was particularly convenient, they would just kill them.
Given the characteristics of the green-skinned orcs, as long as their leader is killed in the bombing and there is no leader among the remaining green-skinned people, they will become "intelligent beasts", acting completely on instinct and fighting each other until a leader emerges from among them.
During this period, they are at their weakest. As long as humans seize this opportunity, they can completely exterminate them.
Then, carefully clean up every inch of land where the orcs have passed, and the orc crisis will be resolved.
Of course, with their tenacious characteristics and the way their spores develop, we must never let down our guard against the orc crisis. For a long time to come, this planet must always monitor and explore places where greenskin disasters have occurred, and regularly kill suspicious plants.
But as long as you don't let your guard down and follow the relevant regulations and ethics of the empire, the problems that arise will generally be minor and most of them can be nipped in the bud, so that a major crisis will not break out.
But just when they were gradually relaxing, a roar came from somewhere in the distance.
They were startled, but soon realized that it was not their whereabouts that had been discovered.
It was more like a green-skinned orc howling to gather his subordinates with sound.
Communication is basically done by shouting, which is a bit funny, but no one can laugh now.
The emergence of this situation means that there is still an orc leader with appeal, and considerable appeal, in this area.
And it is unlikely that it was just decided in the fight. On the one hand, it is not that fast, and on the other hand, a new boss who just came out of the fight is unlikely to have such a temperament.
Then the answer is obvious: under the previous powerful orbital bombardment, a powerful leader among the green-skinned orcs did not die.
I don’t know if it’s because I was lucky and wasn’t in the core area of the bombing, or for some other reason, but this is obviously not good news.
They decided to go check out the situation.
If there are already a large number of green-skinned orcs gathered under his call, then forget it, just pass the news to the Governor and then assign people to monitor them.
But if the number of greenskins gathered is not large enough, Martins and the other five Space Marines plan to kill the greenskin boss.
Decapitation tactics is one of the most effective tactics against green-skinned orcs.
A huge 'waaagh', even an expedition across the stars, requires a strong orc warlord to organize and initiate. Only a strong enough leader can unite the greenskins.
But at the same time, as long as the boss dies, the remaining greenskins will immediately become a mess, and usually more than half of them will be killed in internal fighting.
They have no intention of destroying their race or genocide, so they must first defend against foreign enemies.
Even in a specific battle, the death of a squad leader would greatly shake the entire greenskin squad; the death of a battle commander would cause the entire battle to collapse...
When dealing with greenskins, the best way is to find the biggest, greenest, and strongest one available and kill it.
So who is best suited to do this on the battlefield?
The Space Marines, of course.
In past wars, whenever the Phoenix fought against the greenskins, they would have to carry out similar tasks five, six, seven or eight times in one battle.
Right now, it's just a matter of returning to old business.
Even the Space Marines miss it a little.
However, when they quietly arrived at the place and saw the greenskins gathered there, they gave up the idea of a surprise attack.
The number was greater than they had expected.
There were more than a thousand orc boys there. They were not just light infantry, but also some combat trucks and killing tanks. A rough count showed that there were no less than fifty pieces of heavy equipment.
Moreover, there are sporadic greenskins constantly gathering here.
This number even surprised Martins.
Why are there so many?
During the discussion, they came up with a guess that could explain it:
It is estimated that this orc leader was originally leading his gathered troops to the assembly point. Halfway through, the orbital bombardment came.
The most important targets of the bombing were the base camp and the assembly area. Those two places suffered the most violent and unavoidable blows; but they happened to be on the road, between the two places, and were lucky enough to escape.
There must be a lot of dead greenskins. Martins and his men saw many orcs with wounds. After all, this wave of orbital bombardment was not just two large macro cannons, but also twenty small macro cannons and hundreds of orbital missiles, which fell everywhere. Those things were also very powerful.
But overall, thousands of greenskins survived.
The decapitation tactic is difficult to implement.
Not only are there a large number of enemies, but the green-skinned orc leader is also worth paying attention to:
It is so big and green.
————
This chapter is also 6k words
(End of this chapter)
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