Chapter 951, Fighting for Survival

Chapter 951, Fighting for Survival
Lu Baigang had already anticipated that his journey would not be easy, but things were going well up ahead.

The incendiary bombs dropped by the air force, which burned a path for them, were certainly valuable. Before the bone vines could multiply too much, the Allied army suddenly increased its speed and advanced a considerable distance.

During this journey, the enemy attempted to harass them, but these efforts were largely in vain.

Without the bone vines forming the foundation of the maze, the created ecosystem significantly reduced the threat posed by the enemy. The few ratmen sent out to probe were merely cannon fodder, unable to even get close before being easily mowed down by machine guns from a distance.

However, the difficulty increases in the latter half of the journey.

The white bone vines had quietly grown in large numbers. A thin mist had returned, causing some trouble in blocking visibility, which was only a couple hundred meters. At this distance, many of the human artillery pieces were at a disadvantage. For example, many tank guns could fire directly at targets more than two kilometers away; within the armored regiment, there were also some armored self-propelled guns that could normally fire at targets more than thirty kilometers away.

However, artillery units with a strike range of tens of kilometers do not actually rely on visual observation for their strikes.

It wasn't visible to begin with.

It mainly relies on the frontline troops to locate the target, and then after calibration, the bombardment is carried out directly, which is quite a test of artillery skills.

However, the visibility of the frontline troops is limited, only a couple hundred meters, making it difficult to reach further out and pinpoint the enemy's exact location. But that's alright; they can simply observe the direction from which the ratmen emerge from the fog, cover an area of ​​two hundred to one thousand meters, and bombard them relentlessly.

While it may not be as accurate as a normal bomb, it still has its uses.

However, tank cannons and machine guns were struggling to keep up, so they could only face the direction from which the ratmen were charging and frantically blast bullets and shells into the fog.

That was clearly not efficient enough; many ratmen still rushed from all directions to within 200 meters of the naked eye.

Further firepower would be much more difficult. Although the ratmen's weapons were terrible, at a distance of 100 or 200 meters, humans would inevitably suffer some injuries in a firefight.

Especially the rare rat trolls, which are highly resistant to damage, may not be able to hit quickly even with tank cannons or anti-tank weapons in the hands of minions at this line of sight.

If the rat trolls were allowed to charge into the soldiers' positions, it would be a massacre. Even if mortal soldiers used laser guns to fire at close range, the damage they could inflict would still be quite limited.

At times like these, the only option is for Space Marines to move around the position and deal with these high-threat targets as quickly as possible.

A single Blackhammer Warrior is in great danger when fighting a Rat Troll. The probability of killing it without taking any damage is only about 50%. It is easy to get injured or even die.

Only a three-person squad can guarantee the swift and safe elimination of the enemy.

Despite the interference of the bone vines and the obstruction of countless insect swarms, the entire army struggled forward through the fog.

Ultimately, after making considerable sacrifices, they finally reached their target location.

It was a tunnel, and according to intelligence, it led directly to a location very close to the mission objective.

The good news is that the tunnel is still there. Although the entrance is blocked by bone vines, they can burn it down once they find their target and use the thermal incineration jet weapon.

The bad news is that this underground main tunnel has been eaten away by the ratmen. The alloy tunnel, which was marked as a "safe passage" in tactical intelligence, has become extremely fragile and difficult to pass through after they actually arrived, although the road surface has not changed.

At least, the heavy armored forces of the human army, especially some of the Titan units and heavy tanks, really couldn't get through.

Only a few small, lightly armored vehicles could barely get through.

This situation was also expected. The main force of the operation was still the Black Hammer Space Marines, supplemented by a small number of armored regiments, including some elite companies, Sentinel mechs, and light armored units.

A total of less than two thousand people entered this underground passage, which was actually quite large.

The remaining troops, while waiting outside the passage entrance, were also responsible for providing support and ensuring the safety of the troops during their withdrawal.

The troops who entered the passage also began their operation.

The alloy walls gleamed with an oily sheen in the dim light, traces of digestive fluids secreted by living vines. The air was thick and viscous, like a shroud, the pungent stench of humus and decaying flesh filling every helmet's filter grille.

At first, there were only scattered clumps of fungi rolling off the occasional white bone vines, making "poof" popping sounds and spraying slime.

But as we entered the middle section, large patches of writhing scarlet flowers suddenly peeled off the dome, and hundreds of ratmen rushed towards us like a cascading waterfall of filth!

They didn't roar, only made a creaking sound from their joints rubbing together at high speed, and the dull, unpleasant sound of their cheap weapons firing bullets.

The human forces launched a counterattack, arriving late but arriving early, frantically sweeping away the surrounding enemies. The roar of the heavy bombs instantly tore through the creep tunnels, the bombs shredding the ratman remains into a muddy mess of flesh and blood.

Each time the plasma pistol is charged and roars, it can evaporate a straight line of rats. The high temperature of the plasma even temporarily carbonizes and solidifies the bacterial carpet.

The rusted metal walls on both sides suddenly softened, and vines swiftly extended out, glowing with eerie blue runes. A teleportation light flickered, and hordes of elite ratmen units were transported into the crowd.

The engineer rats teleported alongside the Space Marines and human armored forces. Their presence caused considerable trouble for the human troops. Their onboard electromagnetic bombs caused heavy armored vehicles to stall in the dense fog, and Sentinel armor suffered severe interference. Even the Space Marines' power armor, while relatively resistant to interference, still produced a significant amount of static in their helmet-mounted sonic communications, making it extremely unpleasant to the ears.

The exploding rats that were teleported in not only caused significant damage from the direct explosion, but their highly acidic spores also vaporized and spread during the explosion, quickly obscuring vision with corrosive yellow-green smoke, which was also highly toxic.

The Space Marines could only tighten their formation, their chainswords forming a razor-sharp jungle to annihilate any survivors who managed to break through the bomb net.

But when some crazed combat rats charged, though they were barely knee-high to the Space Marines, they moved with the agility of real rats, swiftly scrambling to the feet of the armor while their brethren were being slaughtered. They then used precision drills to relentlessly chisel at the joints of the power armor through the gaps in its construction!

A warrior's power gauntlets, their joints rendered useless after being immersed in liquid metal, forced him to sever his bound left leg at the knee with a chainsaw sword as more and more rats swarmed around him. This freed him and allowed him to quickly kill many of the nearby rats, but ultimately, he was overwhelmed.

"Abandon vehicles! Advance! Charge!"

Lu Baigang roared the order through the communication channel inside his helmet. The soldiers began a forced assault on the signal tower base. The heavy explosives team, under the cover of their comrades, continued to suppress the rat horde, but every step forward was treading on the remnants of the ratmen.

After exiting the passage, the view opened up slightly, and the base of the signal tower became clearly visible. However, the plaza surrounding the base was completely covered by thicker, bulging white vines. Even more terrifying, these vines were contracting, like a heart.

As the advance team stepped onto the edge of the plaza, their "heart" suddenly contracted violently! The plaza beneath it abruptly collapsed, forming a bottomless pit of flesh and blood, catching many soldiers off guard and causing them to fall in! At the bottom of the pit, a gelatinous digestive fluid was secreted, and swarms of rats rained down from above!
The Space Marines' robust bodies and power armor are strong enough to withstand the tearing, but the corrosive slime at the bottom of the pit is melting their foothold at a terrifying rate.

Lu Baigang had no choice but to reluctantly abandon his comrades who were trapped in the pit. But as they moved forward and got closer to the base, they felt that everything was terrifying.

Lu Baigang felt that this entire area was a maze trap!
The so-called signal tower was already a hollow shell riddled with insects; the giant vine-like organism beneath it was the key node supporting the teleportation channel.

"Detonate bombs everywhere, focus fire on the base!"

Lu Baigang's order was imbued with a sense of despair.

The remaining soldiers unleashed their last heavy weapon fire at the base.

Under the bombardment of high-explosive bombs and molten rays, the creep was torn up and charred in pieces, but what was exposed below was not the energy core that was imagined, but countless writhing giant rat fusion embryos. They were connected to the creep by countless tubes, like a deformed heart parasitizing this death maze!

The heavy firepower only temporarily disrupted its pulse, but could not truly solve the problem.

On the contrary, from that pulsating 'heart', countless rats 'hatched' and surged towards Lu Baigang's troops.

The edges began to collapse and expand, and more Space Marines and soldiers staggered and fell to the ground.

"Evacuate! Abandon the objective!" Lu Baigang issued the order at the last moment before the communication was cut off. The remaining soldiers detonated the pre-set molten metal bombs to create a wall of fire to temporarily block the rat horde, and dragged each other back through the twisted passage.

However, at the entrance to the passage, the troops responsible for meeting them were ultimately unable to reach the people they were supposed to pick up.

……

Two hundred Space Marines deployed simultaneously in a single operation is already a considerable investment. Moreover, those two armored regiments are elite units within the Alliance army. They possess Sentinel mechs, Titans, and heavy armored tanks, and a significant proportion of their soldiers are equipped with power armor.

This is definitely an elite force.

The Alliance is not incapable of deploying more resources, such as more troops, or having its entire membership comprised of Space Marines.

However, that wouldn't make much sense.

A full complement of Space Marines, perhaps two or three full-strength chapters, could probably take down that target. However, even with the considerable number of Space Marines under the Alliance's command, only a few dozen chapters are fighting here. With Space Marines needed everywhere as the backbone of the front lines to hold the line, forcibly drawing so many men might capture this district, but the cost to other areas would likely be far greater.

Overall, the alliance is currently facing a bloody maze, and the war is not going well.

On another battlefield, the alliance is also suffering losses.

The Dark Eldar have opened up a new battlefield in the real universe.

Of course, not a direct confrontation.

After all, in direct confrontation, even in their homeland of Comoros, they had to rely on mazes—living weapons of war—to barely hold off human attacks, let alone going into the real universe, to the Alliance's territory, to fight against the Alliance.

However, they don't need to do that.

Over the long course of history, the Dark Eldar have accumulated a considerable number of Veiled Spirit Portals throughout the universe. Only a small fraction have been discovered by the Alliance.

They emerged from unfamiliar regions, ventured into the Alliance's territory, specifically targeting non-core planets, and launched surprise attacks with just a few warships.

Eldar Dark Eldar commandos annihilated and massacred Alliance planetary government officials, plundered people and resources, and then wreaked havoc.

All their actions were swift; they struck and ran.

Even more heinous was their deployment of biological weapons on several agricultural planets. While the effects differed slightly from human extermination weapons, the outcomes were similar. Within days, a genetic plague spread rapidly through the air and water, infecting all living organisms, destroying the planets' ecosystems, and causing the deaths of billions.

This is also a blow to the league.

The Alliance's remaining troops and fleets were deployed everywhere to capture the Dark Eldar, but these dark-skinned creatures were slippery and difficult to catch.

This forced the alliance to commit more resources and deploy defenses in various locations.

However, the Dark Eldar's guerrilla tactics were so difficult to counter that even with a hundred times the strength of the enemy, they still suffered heavy losses in some areas from time to time.

This undoubtedly sided with the other side, clearly proving the warning previously issued by the Dark Eldar diplomat, Vislani.

The Dark Eldar are not made of clay. Even if we take a long-term view, they may eventually be wiped out. But before that happens, the Dark Eldar, fighting for their own survival, will bring immeasurable losses to humanity.

Peace talks have once again been put on the table.

Gu Hang received two reports from the Allied Military General Staff and the Allied Government, who had seriously discussed the Dark Eldar's conditions. They believed that accepting peace talks was not entirely unacceptable.

As long as the conditions are right, the benefits will be sufficient.

(End of this chapter)