Chapter 1085: The Titanium Army Becomes a Stepping Stone Again

Eidolon stood on the bridge of the Pride of the Sky, the Tau commander's blood still dripping slowly onto his power sword.

On the holographic projection platform of the bridge, the broken tactical interface flashed the final data - the remaining Tau Empire fleet was fleeing.

"Sir, we have detected that the enemy fleet is activating its jump engines." The communications officer's voice came over the encrypted channel, "They are trying to leave the battlefield."

Eidolon sneered, his fingers brushing over the blue blood on the blade.

"Let them run." He whispered. "This star field has become the stage for the Emperor's Children. They cannot escape-"

The alarm suddenly blew.

A piercing buzzing sound swept across the entire bridge, and the data stream of the tactical holographic console was frantically refreshed, and then completely distorted.

Eidolon looked up suddenly, and through the observation window he saw a scene that horrified all the imperial soldiers.

At first, it was just a shadow.

The pitch-black void seemed to be distorted by some invisible existence, the starlight was swallowed up, and the sensor readings fluctuated wildly.

Then, the shadow began to spread, like ink dropped into clear water, quickly dyeing the entire star field black.

"Detecting the number of enemies!" The voice of the sensor officer changed due to fear, "Biological ship signals detected - the number cannot be counted!"

Eidolon's pupils suddenly tightened. It was a Zerg fleet.

The shadow finally revealed its true appearance, a torrent of death made up of flesh, blood and shells.

Leviathan bio-ships slowly emerge like decaying whales, their shells covered with pulsating blood vessels and sharp bone spurs.

The escorting Zerg cruisers looked like giant, skinned insects, with acid sacs bulging in their abdomens and their hideous mouthparts opening and closing constantly.

What is most despairing is their number. Eidolon feels that this hive fleet has surpassed any hive fleet the empire has encountered so far.

The remaining fleet of the Tau Empire didn't even have time to complete the jump preparations.

The first wave of attacks came from the spore sac ejections of the Hive Fleet. Millions of spore missiles were fired from the cavities of the biological ships, drawing strange organic trajectories in the vacuum of space.

They collided with the hull of the Tau warship and exploded instantly, releasing highly corrosive acid and parasitic spores.

The Star Blade's shield collapsed within three seconds of contact. The acid ate through the ship's armor, and the spores multiplied wildly inside.

The Tau crew screamed as their flesh and blood were assimilated by the alien biomass, their bones twisted and deformed, and eventually became part of the swarm.

The second wave of attacks followed.

The belly of the Zerg cruiser split open, and countless space predators poured out like a tide.

These creatures, which resembled giant bats, let out shrill screams and pounced on the engine arrays of the Tau warships.

Their claws can tear through the synthetic metal armor on a warship, and the acidic saliva in their mouthparts can dissolve electrical circuits.

Several frigates tried to intercept with close-in defense guns, but the number of the swarm was too large.

The Predators covered the entire ship, feeding like piranhas. The last communication from the Tau crew was a garbled scream before the signal died completely.

In just seven minutes, the remaining fleet of the Tau Empire was completely wiped out.

However, the Hive Fleet did not linger for long at the site of the wreckage of the Tau Empire fleet.

After destroying the Tau fleet, the abominable biological ships slowly turned and set their sights on the Emperor's Children fleet.

Eidolon could feel an invisible pressure—the gaze of the hive mind, cold, hungry, and merciless.

"All warships, enter battle formation immediately!" Eidolon's voice exploded in the fleet channel, "Activate the void shield and charge the light spear array!"

The Emperor's Children fleet quickly reorganized, with battleships in the front and cruisers deployed on the flanks, forming a standard defensive formation.

But Eidolon knew that conventional tactics were meaningless against a swarm of this size, and they needed the Primarch to take charge.

The first wave of Zerg attacks came faster than expected.

The spore sacs were ejected again, this time targeting a cruiser in the Emperor's Children's fleet, the Purple Flame's Vengeance.

The acid spores hit the void shield, and the exploding corrosive liquid caused the shield's energy to drop rapidly.

"Close-in defense guns, fire!" Eidolon roared, "Don't let those spores get close to the ship!"

The automatic turrets fired crazily, and the barrage of bullets weaved into a web of death in the void.

But there were too many spores in the swarm, and some would slip through. One spore broke through the defenses and hit the port side armor of the Purple Flame Vengeance.

The acid instantly corroded three decks, and dozens of crew members were melted amid screams.

The second wave of attack was a pack of predators.

Tens of thousands of space predators swooped down on the Imperial fleet, their screams even disrupting the communication system.

Eidolon watched as a frigate was covered in the swarm, its engine nozzles eaten away, and finally dissolved into a fireball in a silent explosion.

"My Lord!" The communications officer's voice trembled with despair, "The Hive Capital Ship is approaching!"

Eidolon looked up and saw the nightmarish biological giant ship.

This monster is twenty kilometers long.

Its shell is covered with wriggling tentacles and bone spurs, and its abdomen has a huge mouth with layers of sharp teeth inside.

What's even more terrifying is that it is surrounded by hundreds of Zerg cruisers, like a school of piranhas around a shark.

The Leviathan's main gun, which seemed to be some kind of biological energy organ, began to charge.

"Avoid!" Eidolon roared.

Too late.

A torrent of green energy spurted out from Leviathan's mouthparts and directly hit an Emperor-class battleship.

The void shield collapsed due to overload at the moment of contact, and the hull armor was cut through like butter. The battleship's ammunition depot was detonated, and a huge fireball illuminated the entire battlefield.

"Your Majesty the Emperor!"

Looking at the countless Hive Battleships, Eidolon immediately chose to leave. The Tau Empire's warships were too fragile. If he was not careful, he and hundreds of the Emperor's Sons battle brothers around him would be buried here.

"Come on!"

Eidolon and a group of Space Marines boarded the Thunderhawk gunship that came to pick them up, but the Zerg had already discovered them as soon as the gunship took off.

Countless Tyranid war beasts pounced on Eidolon's Thunderhawk gunship, and the gunship's engine screamed wildly.

Eidolon stood by the hatch, his purple-gold-painted power armor glowing bloody under the red light inside the gunboat.

His fingers clenched the fixing ring of the bulkhead and he could see the chaotic battlefield outside through the observation window. The Emperor's Children fleet was exchanging fire with the Zerg fleet. Light spears and biological acid intertwined into a web of destruction in the void.

"Arriving at the Emperor's Wrath in thirty seconds!" the pilot shouted on the communication channel, "Hold on--"

His voice stopped abruptly.

A shadow fell over the gunboat.

Eidolon raised his head suddenly and looked out the window. The huge mouth of the hive mothership was slowly opening.

It was a bloody abyss with a diameter of hundreds of meters. The inner wall was covered with spirally arranged sharp teeth. Sticky digestive fluid dripped from the gaps between the teeth and condensed into disgusting slime balls in the vacuum.