Chapter 993: The Bull of Khorne and the Great Unclean One
The human side's tactics are actually not complicated.
It can't be complicated.
In the process of fighting against the Chaos Demon Army, killing the enemy leader is a very effective tactic that can gain a huge advantage.
Human armies are much better in this regard. The army is much more organized and usually relies on the entire system rather than individual officers/generals.
If the commander dies, there are deputies, chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, and a series of candidates who can be replaced in order. Even if all of them die, they can be replaced from the lower-level officers.
In the human army, there is a complete and comprehensive system of military ranks and positions that can solve this problem.
There are actually similar ones in the Chaos Army, but they are not as systematic as those on the human side.
The fundamental reason for this is that the Chaos Army's organizational system is fundamentally disorganized. The army relies heavily on the personal strength and prestige of its leaders.
Each leader formed an army; the biggest leader led the army and also had his own troops under his command; many big leaders accepted the leadership of the most prestigious one...
No matter what chaotic force it is, there is a similar trend.
Such is the nature of chaos. They need a strong individual, a representative of high prestige, to oppress and suppress their subordinates with fear and authority. Otherwise, they will naturally tend to become a loose sand.
Even the most sophisticated Tzeentchian faction was the same. Following the death of its leader, Gallardo, Tzeentch was eliminated. While a significant number of Tzeentchian cultists still existed within Terra's orbit and within the ranks of the Solar Fleet, they could no longer be reunited into a cohesive, functioning power structure.
A similar situation also exists with this Nurgle demon army.
Their leader is the former Prime Minister of the Empire, now confirmed to be the Demon Prince who has ascended to the devil - Qi Bodu.
But it’s different from Gallardo of Tzeentch.
Gallardo's method of self-protection was to hide himself, refusing to be found. If Gu Jing hadn't followed the clues and directly tracked him down, then based on the coalition's intelligence, they would have neither known Gallardo was the leader of the Tzeentch Cult nor his exact location. This was accomplished due to a certain amount of luck.
However, Qi Bodu’s situation is different.
That guy didn't hide his intentions at all.
When the Siege of Terra began, Zilberdur had already appeared. He still held the title of Prime Minister of the Empire, declaring himself the legitimate ruler and commanding the Nurgle army to conduct military operations.
And why not decapitate him?
That's because it can't be executed.
Qi Bodu certainly also has means to protect himself.
His throne has always been at the very heart of Nurgle's army. He is constantly protected by a vast army. He never ventures forward, never leaves the protection of his army. He will never rashly deploy his vast and elite army; luring the enemy away from their mountain range is simply ineffective.
There aren't many options left.
A head-on battle, defeating the Nurgle army and overthrowing the corrupt throne of Qibodu is the only option.
This current action is precisely for this purpose.
Robert led the main forces of the Imperial Guard and the coalition forces out of the palace and headed towards the Cauldron of Corruption, which was a frontal attack; the elite alliance led by Martins first dropped the advance team, and then when the frontal attack began, they quickly rushed forward and attacked from the flank.
There's nothing special about it. It's just a matter of using force to defeat force, nothing fancy.
So far, the progress has been relatively smooth.
Martins's side was indeed on the enemy's flank. Although there were many enemies in terms of numbers, there were not many of them compared to the front battlefield, and they were not as elite as before. They could not withstand the assault of 5,000 of the best Space Marines.
In addition to them, the Holy Lily Battle Sisters, the Glory Guards and the Alliance National Knights, who were on the orbital aircraft carrier and had been ready to participate in the battle at any time, also came down.
Under the ground cover of the Space Marines, they walked out of the landing ship in a heroic and confident manner.
As Martins and others advanced, the various troops that joined them along the way quickly increased their total number to over 100,000.
The Sisters of Battle and the warriors of the Honor Guard, as the main infantry units, were responsible for occupying and clearing positions; the National Knights' more than one thousand Titans, including eighty-nine Warmaster-class Titans, were definitely an extremely powerful armored force.
With the fierce advance, it can be said to be a crushing force.
On the other side, the frontal battlefield was also fought quite well.
Although the number of Titans is not that large, unlike the team led by Martins, which is small in number but all of them are elite, the assault effect is good.
However, there are also top-notch assault spearheads over there - the Imperial Guards!
Not all the Imperial Guards were deployed; a considerable number remained as a backup within the inner ring of the Imperial Palace. However, even if only around 5,000 men were deployed, it would still be a decisive force.
In particular, they also showed off many of their unique skills.
From the secret chambers beneath the Imperial Palace, they retrieved many items they would never normally have taken out. Some of these secret weapons were top secrets passed down for millennia, inherited from the glorious era when the Emperor still reigned, or even from an earlier, golden age before humanity's decline.
Some are also cutting-edge technological products captured from the countless alien races and alien species that the empire eliminated and conquered during the founding expedition period.
These things have played a very good effect on the battlefield.
Cooperating with more than 15,000 Space Marines and the large Allied forces that landed... In this decisive battle with the Nurgle army, although the human side was far outnumbered by the enemy, relying on the excellent quality of individual soldiers and very decisive frontal assault tactics, they were able to be said to be unstoppable all the way!
Although the casualties were reported to be heavy, they were getting closer and closer to their target, the 'Cauldron of Corruption'.
Moreover, as the elite main assault force, they are all on the move and remain in good condition.
The human forces that launched attacks from two directions seemed to be about to meet in victory.
But just when the boiling pressure on the battlefield reached its peak, a completely different, yet more primitive and brutal terrifying energy slashed into the battlefield like a red-hot battle axe!
The earth began to tremble at a terrifying, violent frequency that completely defied common sense. Even the crumbling remains of the thousand-meter-high buildings in the ruins of the hive city groaned. Then, a metallic roar, more violent than thunder, a roar that shook the soul to its core, shook the heavens and the earth!
Blood-red behemoths surged out of the smoke and dust at the edge of the battlefield, like uncontrolled torrents of lava, sweeping away everything! They were not Nurgle's slow and swollen creations, but the mounts bestowed by Khorne on its most furious believers—burning, angry bronze bulls!
Each bronze bull is covered in layers of huge armor engraved with blasphemous blood runes. Its size is comparable to that of a small Titan, and its red compound eyes are spewing with materialized desire for killing.
On its back sat the Champion Knight of Khorne, clad in heavy scarlet armor and holding an axe big enough to split mountains!
How can there be no presence of Khorne on such a grand battlefield?
When the war reached such a point, the persistent summoning of Khorne's believers day and night finally succeeded, and they summoned this terrifying army that could destroy the world from Khorne's demonic realm into the real world!
The target of this violent cavalry formation was the chaotic battlefield itself - no matter whether it was the slowly crawling Plague Legion phalanx of Nurgle or the elite armored cluster that was bravely breaking through in the vanguard of the coalition forces, they were all indiscriminately swept up, swallowed up, and trampled into a mixture of flesh and metal under this devastating momentum!
It is difficult to say which side these Bronze Bull Riders caused more damage to.
More likely, they themselves don't care.
The Khorne Champion Knights, who finally managed to come to the real universe and run wild, didn't care who their opponents were. They just wanted to release their desire to kill and destroy everything they saw!
They thirst for human blood, and they also hate the corrupt zombies of Nurgle, so they chop them down without discrimination!
Although this group of Bronze Bull Riders were not targeting human troops entirely, their appearance undoubtedly disrupted the progress of the human frontal assault.
But this operation is very costly. If it is not completely hopeless, we will not give up so easily.
Caught in the Nurgle tide and attacked by a wave of Khorne Knights, it was difficult for the army to retreat.
There is no way to give up halfway. If you don’t want to lose, the only way is to win.
The troops led by Martins went from being a small force to being the last resort in deciding the outcome of the battle.
…
"The time has come!" Martins' voice penetrated the legion-level communication channel like a cold steel blade, cutting into the minds of all soldiers, instantly freezing and crushing the chaos and fear in the channel.
The devastating chaos unleashed by the Riders of the Bronze Bull is sweeping across the front lines of the Cauldron of Corruption. The Nurgle defenders are plunged into deeper chaos in the crushing storm of flesh and brass, and huge holes are torn through the thick yellow-green fog in the area by the violent bloody whirlwind.
"Khorne's folly has torn apart Nurgle's rotten ramparts and temporarily paralyzed the blasphemous will of Qibodru!"
On the holographic tactical map, a golden-red arrow, sharper and more resolute than the previous main attack direction, ignored the quagmire in front of it and pointed like a precisely thrown armor-piercing dagger directly at the only constantly rotating yellow-green huge energy vortex at the core of the thick fog - the coordinates of Qi Bodu's throne!
"Phoenix, transform into the empire's fiery spearhead! Blood Angel, protect the flanks with flames! Saint—" His gaze seemed to penetrate the helmet and space, falling on Dante, "You will be the rearguard shield, blocking all pursuers and harassing attacks! We are heading for only one place—the head of Qi Bodu!"
The order is the law.
The array of 5,000 warriors completed the transformation in an instant like a sophisticated war machine. The roar of the engines suddenly increased to the limit, no longer concealed. The silent molten flow suddenly erupted into a dazzling golden rainbow that tore through the sky, and pierced the core of the Cauldron of Corruption at the speed of a group assault!
Wherever it passed, the sparse Nurgle army was unable to stop it!
The three-way melee on the front battlefield attracted the vast majority of attention. It's not that no one was watching over Martins, but it was simply too much to handle.
As they penetrated the layers of chaotic and weak outer defenses at an astonishing speed, they crashed into the final core area like sharp arrows, where the yellow-green poisonous miasma condensed like a solid entity and exuded ultimate despair!
But at this moment, even the battle-hardened Space Marines could not help but hear a shrill overload alarm from the vital signs monitor built into their power armor.
They are prepared for Nurgle's toxins, and each warrior is equipped with a corresponding blessed object to resist the erosion.
But this corrupt toxin is even more terrifying than expected, as if it is the manifestation of Nurgle's evil power in this material universe.
Their vision was swallowed by a thick, living, poisonous fog. Sounds grew blurry and distorted, and metal wailed and corroded. Behind this ultimate curtain of death stood a scene that truly comprehensible to them the true meaning of blasphemy—seventy-seven massive, slowly pulsing, utterly rotten creations, as massive as hills!
Seventy-seven great unclean beings!
They are the highest-ranking daemons of Nurgle's host, the embodiment of the Garden of Nurgle's favored creatures. Each one is so colossal that one must gaze upward, their bodies a mass of countless swollen, bursting, and oozing masses of rotten tumors. Billions of obese maggots writhe and crawl within their wrinkled ravines of rotting flesh and exposed abdomens. Misshapen bone spurs pierce their festering skin, dangling from their apex the melting remains of their victims. Foul methane emanates from their slavering maws with blasphemous whispers, and with each heavy gasp, like the shifting of the earth's crust, the war-torn earth groans like a living thing, slumps, and oozes deadly juices of corruption.
These seventy-seven profane flesh mountains did not stand in disorder, but were arranged in some kind of profane geometric array, precisely and layer upon layer, guarding the very core - a horrifying throne composed of billions of crawling maggots.
On the throne, a huge figure covered with countless plague cysts and flowing with eternal pus is slowly raising its single eye that is hotter than a furnace and full of pure malice!
That is the ultimate form of Qi Bodu's corruption and depravity!
"Humble... like a maggot... crawling here..."
That grand, blasphemous voice, filled with the sound of sticky phlegm and the explosion of corrupt bubbles, resonated directly in the depths of the souls of all the warriors, carrying a desperate malice that made people vomit madly, "I am the Prime Minister of the Empire... The power of the Empire should be controlled by me... I will offer the Empire as a sacrifice to my loving father... You... will eventually become the new bait... in this sea of pus..."
As its whisper, carrying billions of germs, fell, seventy-seven Great Unclean Ones simultaneously let out a chaotic roar that dimmed the stars and was filled with endless pain!
Their rotten, bloated bodies began to defy the laws of physics, squirming and crushing forward at an accelerated pace. Simultaneously, they raised the destructive force imbued in their rotting arms, flowing with abyssal darkness—plague bolters as massive as ancient turrets, arrays of putrefaction spraying with a humming deathly green light, and blasphemous scythes that tore through the sticky air...
The filthy muzzles and ejection organs lit up with the light of death. The Nurgle fel energy in the air instantly became thick and solidified like a solid entity. The feeling of suffocation strangled every throat, and even time seemed to freeze in front of this blasphemous array.
Who could have thought that they would have to deal with such a lineup!
(End of this chapter)
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