Chapter 450: Can't Hold On For Long
Anconi Ben looked down on the current Phoenixes, calling them 'new recruits', and of course there was a reason for that.
Most of the members of the Ashes of the Dead were those who had withdrawn from the Phoenix's Atonement Crusade. Regardless of their willpower, all of them were genuine century-old veterans.
Another group of non-Phoenix members are also other rebellious Space Marines who were absorbed and merged by Jihua over the past few decades through fighting, coercion, inducement, and the favor of evil gods.
They are also veterans.
The beginning of the Phoenix Regiment's revival was when they ended the Atonement Crusade and cooperated with the Alliance.
Only ten years had passed. Even the Phoenix that appeared in this starship were from the earliest batch of space warriors, and their combat careers were only this long at best.
Generally speaking, it is not a problem for one veteran to beat three rookies.
This is the case with the same equipment.
Even more, when the numbers of both sides increase, the ratio of this attrition will increase. One veteran can beat three new soldiers, and one hundred veterans may be able to beat four hundred new soldiers.
The larger the scale of the battle, the more complex and changeable the situation may be, and the more the experience of veterans can be used.
They have two hundred veterans here, new Phoenixes. Can they produce eight hundred now?
According to the information they collected, it was obviously impossible to produce it.
So, Anconi Ben was just a little nervous, or even more like excitement after the emotions came to him.
This is a bit of a challenge!
Otherwise, there is no value in making him take it seriously.
And since we want to be more serious, we naturally can't be too casual.
Their core goal has never changed: the bridge of the Opera.
The most core assault force, the two hundred Ash Dead, were always placed in the frontal assault, but the auxiliary troops were guarding the rear on the sides to prevent the assault troops from being disturbed.
And now, they have to fight more resolutely.
Ankeny Ben decided to go to the front line in person.
Wearing Terminator power armor and leading an entire Terminator squad, he suddenly accelerated his advance as the spearhead of the entire army.
He also finally saw with his own eyes the Phoenix that blocked their way and restricted their attack for the first time.
The narrow passage could not accommodate too many people fighting at the same time. There were only about twenty loyalist space marines in front of him.
Looking at their bright red armor and the flamboyant firebird patterns engraved on their shoulder armor, Ankoni Ben was even a little dazed for a moment.
Is it nostalgia?
Of course not!
Anconi Ben's heart was filled with anger!
This is a kind of anger that cannot be eliminated unless the phoenix is killed and destroyed!
"I will never acknowledge those phoenixes in front of me. They don't deserve to wear this armor at all! Kill them all! Kill all these running dogs of the false emperor!"
Obviously, the other people among the dead in Ashes had similar thoughts as him.
Under the encouragement of Ankeny Ben, they all howled and were inspired.
However, when the Ashes of the Dead's Terminator Squadron began to charge at full speed, the Phoenix on the opposite side retreated directly.
Of course, this is actually quite sensible.
There were only a dozen or twenty Phoenixes standing in front of them, all wearing ordinary tactical power armor. It was impossible for them to withstand the attack of an entire Terminator squad, so retreat was natural.
But this made the Ash Dead's Terminators feel like they were punching cotton.
Just as we were shouting battle cries and charging forward aggressively, the other party actually retreated.
However, now they can advance a long distance again.
According to the usual structure of the Moon-class cruiser - the Musician-class is a variant of the Moon-class - they should now be not far from the bridge section which serves as the command center.
Ahead, after passing a large assembly center, we should be there.
The assembly center is the place where the Marines on the cruiser gather and set out; it can also be used for senior officers on the ship to gather their subordinates for training and group activities.
The space is relatively large.
When encountering boarding attacks, this type of area can be used as the main defensive space.
After all, in general, when facing boarding operations, the number of incoming enemies is limited, but they are usually elite. In narrow areas, elite troops can play a particularly large role. After all, it is difficult for the defenders to play a numerical advantage or a firepower advantage.
This kind of relatively large space is relatively easier to deploy troops and place strong firepower.
On the other hand, this kind of place is not very friendly to the attacker.
Although Anconi Ben was filled with rage, and although anger and bloodthirsty murderous intent were constantly churning in his chest, he was not blinded by anger.
He wouldn't rush in rashly.
He arranged a small group of elite auxiliary troops to enter the space first.
After the elite auxiliary troops entered, they found that there were indeed some defenses, but they were all marines on the starships, and there was no sign of the Phoenix.
That looks like a trap.
After thinking about it, Anconi Ben sent out more auxiliary troops to try to take over the place directly.
If it's a trap, then try it again.
The defense there was directly taken down by the auxiliary troops.
Anconi Ben was still worried, but since things had come to this point, he decided not to dwell on it any further.
Anyway, the distance from this assembly hall to the bridge command post is only about three hundred meters at most.
No matter what means those pseudo-emperor's lackeys had arranged in the assembly hall, let them arrange them. Anconi Ben had enough confidence to lead his team and rush through the distance of more than 300 meters regardless of anything.
With great confidence, he led the team and entered the assembly hall.
At this moment, the sound of gunfire was heard from all the passages leading to the assembly hall.
Even the retreat route they took when they came here was included.
Sure enough, this place was a trap just as he thought. The moment they stepped in, enemies came from all directions.
Moreover, the elite auxiliary troops he arranged in every direction said that they had found traces of the red-armored phoenix.
These auxiliary troops blessed by the power of Chaos should not be underestimated, but they are still mortals in nature. When facing ordinary marines, they can gain a great advantage, but when facing Phoenix Space Marines, they are still like chickens and dogs, and are easily destroyed.
No matter how much Anconi Ben looked down on the Phoenixes today, no matter how much he disparaged them as 'new recruits', they were still legitimate Space Marines and could not be fought by ordinary mortal troops.
But……
"So what? You're just shooting yourself in the foot!"
This is how he commented.
He decisively ordered all the auxiliary troops stationed around to stay where they were, to hold out to the end, and to delay the besieging Phoenixes as much as possible. At the same time, he led all the Ash Dead and set out on the road to charge towards the center of the bridge.
The Space Marines moved very quickly, and when they all ran, the distance of 400 meters seemed to pass in an instant.
No matter how fast you break through, can it be as fast as mine?
With this thought in mind, the two hundred Ash Dead advanced at full speed.
But just as they stepped into the passage leading to the bridge, an extremely bright ray of lightning shot straight towards them from the end of the passage!
Anconi Ben's reaction speed was very fast. He quickly lowered his head and turned sideways to avoid the shot. But a Terminator veteran behind him was not so lucky.
Anconi turned his head and saw a hole with a diameter of half a meter on the chest of his fighting brother.
The lightning directly melted through the heavy front armor of the Terminator!
What weapon is this?
I'm afraid even a plasma gun can't do this!
Could it be that the defenders on the starship placed a plasma cannon at the gate of the bridge command post, pointing it at this side of the passage?
Aren't they afraid that the plasma cannon will blast through their own starship? !
"Be careful, it's a psychic." The warband wizard warned at this time. After saying this, the wizard added: "It's not an ordinary psychic, it's very strong."
Ankoni Ben was about to speak when he heard the roar of a grenade launcher coming from the other side of the passage.
Immediately afterwards, he and his Terminator team could hear the sound of being bombarded.
But at the same time, the veterans fought back fiercely without him giving any orders.
Normal bolters can cause damage to Terminator power armor, but the damage is not great; on the contrary, the Terminator's larger caliber heavy bolters and even revolver howitzers have the ability to cause fatal damage to ordinary Space Marines wearing tactical armor.
The two sides were not equal in terms of armor and firepower. Even if the other side pulled out a melta gun or plasma gun, the situation would not change much. Of course, such weapons would pose a greater threat to the Terminator, but they fired slowly and had a relatively limited firepower density. The Phoenix who dared to use such things to charge energy to attack them would surely die first under the Terminator's firepower.
However, the reality surprised him again!
In front of him, at the other end of the passage, a blue film of light suddenly appeared, continuously blocking their firepower.
This light film looked a bit like an energy shield, but he knew it was definitely not.
If it is an energy shield, it is at most a micro shield, otherwise it cannot be placed in this position; and if it is just a micro shield, then it cannot withstand the volley attack of the Terminator and the many Ash Dead behind it.
Then it could only be the 'powerful psychic' that the warband wizard had just reminded him of?
But isn't this a bit too strong?
During this process, another flash of lightning suddenly flashed and another Terminator veteran fell.
At this point, Anconi Ben finally started to panic.
He raised his head and saw two beings that attracted his attention under the azure light.
One of them was a man wearing a bright red phoenix power armor and a black and white skull helmet.
Although his face was never revealed, Anconi immediately recognized who it was: Rizzo, the Chief Chaplain of the Phoenix Chapter.
That was the person who provided him with great help during his previous career as a Space Marine.
He seemed to be able to feel the cold gaze through the skull helmet.
This kind of psychological pressure even made him turn his head away, not daring to look at him.
Another person who attracted his attention was a man in general's uniform.
He didn't look tall, just a normal mortal body.
But the bright blue light flashing in his eyes was terrifying.
The moment he looked into those eyes, Anconi Ben felt his soul tremble.
This kind of soul-trembling does not even just come from the intuitive feeling of power, but something deeper.
The most intuitive thing was that the power of the chaotic grace coming from the tyrant's kingdom of God, which he could feel all the time, faded a lot under this man's direct gaze.
Is this the 'powerful psyker' the wizard was talking about?
At this moment, the voice of the warband wizard sounded in his mind again:
"Charge, kill him at close range, I can only hold out for a while..."
His voice was filled with stress and pain.
Ankoni Ben couldn't remember how long it had been since he had heard of his warband wizards in a similar state.
In the past, that guy was the chief think tank of the chapter. He had powerful psychic abilities and a strong physique as a Space Marine. He was even more powerful than the so-called A-class psychics who awakened among normal humans.
Not to mention, after they threw themselves into the arms of the tyrant, they received the grace of the Chaos power and became closer to the Warp. The former Chief Think Tank, now the Chief Wizard of the warband, has become even more powerful in terms of psychic powers.
In other words, the tyrant does not like the power of psychic energy and wizards, but rather advocates blood and fire. Otherwise, if he were to turn to other powerful people, the chief wizard's ability would become even more powerful.
But even so, since leaving the Phoenix, Ankoni has never seen many beings who can be compared with the warband wizards in terms of psychic power.
But now, the warband wizard did not say how long it would take him to destroy this mortal, but how long he would not last in the hands of that mortal? !
This found it unbelievable to him.
However, this is definitely not the time to be surprised.
He never thought that a psychic, a mortal, would become the biggest obstacle in this battle that he thought would not be difficult. However, the tyranny of the evil god Grace rushed to his head at this moment.
He had no intention of controlling it at all.
What we need now is this strong impulse!
"Charge!" he roared and took the lead!
All the dead from the ashes charge forward with him!
They even gave up shooting. Chainswords, flesh-tearing axes, skull-crushing hammers...all kinds of powerful and brutal melee weapons appeared in their hands!
Let’s fight in close combat for the final duel!
(End of this chapter)
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