Chapter 588: Battlefield Advance
The operational plan was swiftly formulated and distributed to all participating units via encrypted data links.
The Imperial Army's front line subsequently underwent brief yet highly efficient tactical adjustments, shifting its originally relatively solid defensive posture into a more aggressive assault configuration.
On the Steel Hound Legion's side, all Titan units that could be diverted from the current intense firefight broke away from close-quarters entanglement with the Ork infantry tide, beginning to push forward with an unprecedented offensive posture.
They no longer sought area-of-effect suppression; instead, they concentrated their destructive energy precisely along the axis of the predetermined assault route.
The three Titans were like three white-hot forging hammers, smashing into and piercing through that boundless green wave with unstoppable momentum.
The continuous, fierce bombardment forcibly tore and shaped a scorched, temporary corridor littered with twisted metal and xenos remains within the dense Ork formations.
At the same time, the Knight mechs of the Collegia Titanica rapidly shifted formation, guarding the flanks of the assault Titans with extreme mobility.
These relatively small and agile war machines utilized their outstanding melee capabilities and auxiliary weapons to precisely and efficiently eliminate the Ork assault squads and light vehicles attempting to flank, interfere with, or delay the Titans' advance. Like loyal hounds driving away flies, they did everything in their power to ensure the safety of the main assault spearhead's flanks.
This sudden, clearly targeted, and ferocious offensive successfully drew the vast majority of the Ork legion's attention, especially that of the newly appeared Gargant.
Its simple combat logic immediately identified the steadily advancing Steel Hound Legion Titans as the greatest threat. Its thick gun barrels swiveled around, pouring ferocious artillery and rocket barrages, along with deafening roars, toward these three steel giants that dared to challenge it head-on. It attempted to rely on absolute firepower suppression to stop this deadly steel torrent from further penetrating its territory.
"Now! EVA squad, push forward!" Ryo's command rang clearly over the encrypted channel.
The three EVA-Titans, already fully prepared, instantly elevated their power core outputs to tactical mobility gear.
They did not choose to follow behind the heavy spearhead formed by the Steel Hound Legion's Titans. Instead, relying on their outstanding mobility that far exceeded conventional war machines, they became like three colored meteors skimming the edge of death. They began a high-speed insertion along the fringes of the burning corridor—a path forcefully carved out by the Imperial heavy firepower through the green frenzy, whose sides were still constantly surging and closing in.
"Red Unit-01, clear the path ahead! Eliminate hard obstacles and scattered resistance along the route!"
"Roger!" Asuka's response was crisp and decisive.
The crimson giant took the lead. With every swing of its massive power claws, it dismantled Ork trucks or makeshift armor attempting to block the road into a sky full of fragmented pieces.
The shoulder-mounted weapon platforms and precise burst fire from the Volcano Cannon acted like surgical scalpels, vaporizing any greenskin squads and their fortifications ahead that attempted to rally or establish temporary firing points.
"Purple Unit-02, support from the center! Focus on protecting Blue Unit-03 and provide area defense!"
"Y-Yes!" Shinji took a deep breath, piloting the purple giant closely behind the red machine's shadow.
He no longer used the A.T. Field merely to block frontal attacks; instead, he shaped it into a translucent barrier that continuously adjusted its form as the machine moved. Like a mobile fortress, it precisely deflected and bounced away the dense solid-slug crossfire, explosive shrapnel, and even howling Orks attempting suicide bombings that constantly poured in from both sides of the corridor.
Simultaneously, an almost invisible pale blue light with faint energy ripples—the standard-issue Void Shield of a Titan—flickered on the machine's surface. Together with the A.T. Field, it formed an incredible dual layer of protection, ensuring that any attacks lucky enough to penetrate the force field were mercilessly absorbed or dissipated by this second shield.
"Blue Unit-03, take charge of rear guard duty and suppress the targets posing the greatest threat to the assault force from a distance!"
Rei Ayanami's Blue Unit-03 remained steadily at the rear of the formation.
She calmly piloted the machine, her shoulder and arm-mounted energy weapon platforms rotating and locking on fluidly.
The ice-blue high-energy particle beams no longer sought dazzling destructive power, but rather ultimate efficiency and precision, like the cold fingertips of an invisible grim reaper.
Every flash of a beam was inevitably accompanied by an Ork rokkit boy in the distance being accurately detonated, or an Ork squad manning heavy solid-slug weapons turning to ash amidst blinding energy overloads, effectively neutralizing threats from the flanks and rear vantage points.
The three giant gods of different colors, yet equally massive, formed a highly efficient and deadly triangular assault spearhead. Along this corridor barely maintained amidst explosions and flames, they pushed fiercely into the deep zones of the Ork front lines.
Their speed far surpassed any traditional Imperial war machine. Often, by the time the Ork commanders' simple brains registered the existence of this squad and before they could even rally troops to form an effective interception line, these three deadly flashes of color had already ripped through their hastily constructed defenses.
The Orks along the way did not refrain from trying to stop them.
Howling, they leaped from the wreckage and craters on both sides of the corridor, firing their crude weapons, driving roaring vehicles in attempts to ram them, and some particularly fanatic individuals even threw themselves directly at the mechs, attempting mutually assured destruction with explosives.
However, in the face of the EVA-Titans' absolute power, astonishing speed, and near-flawless dual protection, all these forms of resistance seemed so futile and fragile.
Where the crimson lightning passed, only shattered green corpses and still-burning metal wreckage remained; the purple bulwark was indestructible, coldly shutting out all attacks; the blue ethereal light swept silently across the battlefield's sky, precisely reaping any potential threats.
These fifteen kilometers deep into enemy lines might usually just be a brief sprint for the EVA-Titans, but at this moment, every step tread on the edge of death.
The Ork legion clearly fully realized the deadly intent of this elite squad and began mobilizing troops with reckless abandon.
Ork units that were originally entangled with the Steel Hound Legion's main force were forcefully peeled away, and reserves from further back were thrown in. Like an agitated swarm of bees, they surged from all directions, attempting to use absolute numbers and frenzied offensives to completely submerge and snap this poisonous stinger, plunged deep into their body, within the green frenzy.
"Large gathering of Ork armored units ahead!" Asuka reported.
"Ork artillery positions are being constructed on the high ground to the left!"
"Fast mobile units attempting to flank from the rear!"
Over the communication channel, the reports from the three pilots and Ryo's commands intertwined, tense yet orderly.
"Red Unit-01, do not get bogged down in prolonged combat; force your way through the armor cluster! Blue Unit-03, prioritize destroying the artillery positions! Purple Unit-02, stabilize the formation and prevent flanking from the rear!"
The battle reached a fever pitch.
Asuka's Red Unit-01 acted like a sharp blade, forcefully crashing through the Orks' makeshift armored interception line. With swings of its power claws, it tore Ork trucks and tracked vehicles to pieces.
Rei Ayanami's Blue Unit-03 utilized a precise volley to turn the newly erected Ork artillery, along with its operators, into a fireball.
Shinji's Purple Unit-02 suddenly turned around, fully deploying its A.T. Field like a massive wall. It blocked the Ork buggies and biker boyz attempting to rush up and tear at them from behind, the collision between the force field and crude metal emitting ear-piercing grinding sounds.
Coordinating with each other and fulfilling their respective duties, they forcefully carved out a path of blood through the green ocean.
Finally, that massive complex—modified from an abandoned Planetary Defense Force heavy bunker and covered in Ork-style add-on structures and crude fortifications—appeared in the vision of their sensors.
The WAAAGH! energy fluctuations radiating from there were the strongest, almost solidifying into substance.
"The target is right in front of us!" Ryo's voice carried absolute resolve. "Prepare for the final assault!"