Chapter 1154: The Fall of the Tau Empire 4

A piercing scream tore through the atmosphere as hundreds of black and red drop pods slammed down onto the scorched surface of the Tau Empire like hammers of divine punishment.

The surface of these huge steel coffins is engraved with the emblem of the Ultramarines Legion. The white "U"-shaped logo with a blue background, which symbolizes indomitable spirit and glory, is now burning red due to the high temperature generated by friction, as if silently roaring the Emperor's wrath.

"boom--!"

The violent friction between the metal and the air ignited the surrounding clouds, and the outer wall of the airdrop chamber burst into dazzling orange-red flames, like a destructive meteor shower.

The Tau anti-aircraft fire roared wildly below, and pale blue plasma pulse beams tore through the sky, exploding deadly energy vortexes above the heads of the Ultramarines.

The shock wave caused the airdrop cabin to shake violently, and the gravity field generator inside the cabin made a buzzing sound under the heavy load, but the giants standing in the cabin remained motionless like rooted steel statues.

Titus was now kneeling on one knee by the hatch.

His face, which looked like it was carved from granite, was illuminated by the plasma blast that came through the bulkhead. In his deep eye sockets, a pair of ice-blue eyes were as cold as polar ice.

He slowly raised his right arm, which was wrapped in fine power armor. The mechanical joints emitted a low hydraulic hum, and he placed the bolter firmly on the groove of the shoulder armor.

“Crack!”

The metallic impact sound of the explosive shells being loaded was particularly crisp in the closed cabin.

The sound seemed to turn on some kind of switch, and the other four Ultramarines raised their weapons at the same time.

Their power armor trembled slightly in the shock, the blue ceramic steel was covered with fine scratches left by battles over the generations, and the gold edging on the edge of the shoulder armor flowed with a liquid luster in the flickering firelight.

“Thirty seconds of contact.”

Titus' voice came through the helmet communicator, and his voice, processed by a voice changer, sounded like sandpaper rubbing against steel.

His eyes swept across the wildly jumping data stream on the tactical eyepiece. In the images sent back by the external sensor, the No. 3 airdrop module was directly hit by the plasma cannon in the front right and turned into a ball of burning metal wreckage.

However, the Space Marines inside were unharmed, and after losing the airdrop chamber, they chose to make a hard landing in the atmosphere.

Thanks to new transformation surgeries, the survival rate of these Space Marines has increased dozens of times.

The cabin suddenly tilted violently, the shock wave from a near miss causing the drop bay to spin and fall like a boat in a storm.

The servoskull fixed to the bulkhead shrieked in alarm, its mechanical eyes flashing red as it chattered in binary, calculating ballistic trajectories.

Titus grabbed the suspension strap above his head with his left hand, and the fingers in his power armor squeezed the metal webbing until it creaked.

The hydraulic piston in his right leg automatically adjusted the pressure, allowing him to maintain a fighting stance in a weightless state.

"Hold still."

He growled and saw that the knees of the new soldier Qasim were shaking slightly.

The young man, who had only experienced three airborne operations, was gripping the safety of his weapon with his armored fingers, his Adam's apple rolling up and down under his pale skin.

Titus extended his power gauntlet and tapped his shoulder armor, and the ceramsite steel collided with a dull "thump". "Remember Macragge's teachings."

A blinding red light suddenly lit up in the cabin, and the airdrop bay's braking rockets began to roar, accompanied by the Mechanicus' pre-recorded binary hymns.

Ten times the gravity instantly pressed down on the soldiers, and even their genetically enhanced muscles groaned under the heavy burden.

Titus clenched his teeth. He heard the slight creaking sound of his reinforced bones as they bore the pressure, and spider-web-like cracks appeared on his tactical eyepiece.

"For the Emperor!" he roared into the intracranial communicator.

The next second, the world was spinning with a deafening explosion.

The airdrop capsule smashed into the ground like a tin can kicked by a giant. Buffer gel gushed out from the ruptured pipeline and instantly solidified into a honeycomb-shaped protective layer.

Titus quietly felt the shock waves of the surrounding shells, his huge body swaying in the narrow space.

His power armor automatically injected combat stimulants, transforming the pain into burning fighting spirit.

The hatch's hydraulic lock hissed in a dying groan, and from outside the twisted metal frame came the distinctive hum of alien weapons.

Titus raised his bolter and the first thing he saw was the strangely shaped pulse rifle of the Tau Empire Fire Caste warrior and the oval eyes behind the visor that were enlarged with fear.

“Ultramarines!” Titus declared amid the roar of his bolters. “Forward!”

Hundreds of drop pods smashed into the Tau Empire's defenses like meteorites, leaving smoking craters in the charred land.

The Extreme Marines stepped out on the broken metal wreckage, their blue armor flashing a cold luster in the artillery fire, and their power backpacks spewing out hot exhaust gas, like a group of war machines out of mythology.

Titus's combat boots sank deeply into the soft scorched earth, and the servo system automatically adjusted the pressure on the soles of his feet to ensure that he could maintain a perfect fighting posture on any terrain.

Tactical data flowed across his helmet display like a waterfall, marking a Tau fortress three hundred meters ahead.

It was a honeycomb-shaped building made of silver-gray alloy, with pulse turrets sticking out deadly gun barrels from the firing holes.

"Witness the Emperor's wrath!"

His roar came through the loudspeakers of his power armor, echoing across the battlefield like thunder.

The surrounding Ultramarines roared in unison, and the sound of grenade launchers hammering merged into one.

Titus charged forward, the hydraulic system of the power armor's joints humming, and each step left deep footprints on the ground.

Three fire warriors leaned out from behind cover, their pulse rifles raised just as Titus' chainsword roared and slashed down.

There was a sharp sound of metal rubbing against each other and bones breaking as the jagged blade tore through the first flesh and blood, and blood spurted onto his breastplate like a fountain.

Before the second fire warrior could even scream, Titus' left fist had already shattered his visor, and the force field generator of the power glove allowed the blow to directly crush the opponent's skull.

The third foe stumbled back, but the Ultramarines were lightning fast and Titus stepped forward, slashing the Tau warrior in two from hip to shoulder with a single upward slash of his chainsword.

"For the glory of Macragge!"

In the trenches, the Ultramarines marched like the god of death, the roar of the grenade launchers rose and fell, and every bullet hit the target accurately.

New recruit Cassim followed closely behind Titus. His shooting posture was a little stiff, but every shot was filled with the unique tactics and powerful calculation ability of the Ultramarines.

A pulse bullet grazed his shoulder armor, leaving a charred mark on the ceramic steel surface, but he just growled and shot the sneak attacking fire warrior into pieces.

The narrow passage became a slaughterhouse for the Space Marines. The formation of the Tau soldiers was meaningless at such a close distance, and the bullets easily penetrated their light armor and blew their bodies into a bloody mist.

A Fire Warrior commander tried to organize a counterattack, but just as he gave the order, Titus's bolter accurately hit his head. The headless corpse shook for a moment, and was then trampled under the feet of the Ultramarines who followed the charge.