Inside the command center behind the third defensive line, O'Res'Ka stared intently at the gigantic holographic tactical map. The blood-red torrent representing humanity, like an enraged beast, slammed into its meticulously prepared pocket.
Its heart pounded with excitement, a thrill of successful strategizing almost making it let out a triumphant cry. However, it didn't immediately show this emotion, maintaining a cold mask on its face. This was only the first step, fully successful. Next, it had to ensure this pocket wouldn't be breached.
Indeed, as it expected, humanity's counterattack was incredibly tenacious. These illogical creatures seemed not to know what death was. Even as rows of tanks turned into burning wrecks under the bombardment of railguns, even as groups of soldiers fell under the sweeping pulse fire, subsequent units still advanced over their comrades' corpses, fearlessly pushing forward. The entire battlefield became a veritable meat grinder.
However, to O'Res'Ka's relief, under the cover of sturdy fortifications and absolutely superior terrain, humanity's fearless charge ultimately resulted only in massive, futile casualties. Their front line remained as solid as a rock. Clearly, this insane human army lacked the ability to break through this steel defense line, constructed from all of Sere Kl's remaining forces concentrated together.
Watching the red arrows representing humanity on the map gradually weaken and stall, O'Res'Ka could barely contain its inner elation. It knew its plan had succeeded!
It even thought with a hint of smugness, 'What if they're crazy and fearless? War… ultimately isn't won by courage alone. Victory belongs to commanders with superior wisdom and tactical acumen, like me.'
It was then that several new signals appeared on the tactical map, rapidly approaching from high altitude. Real-time footage from the frontline observation posts was immediately switched to the main screen.
O'Res'Ka saw several strange-looking aircraft. They had thick wings and bloated fuselages, appearing completely against aerodynamic principles, filled with that barbaric and crude industrial aesthetic unique to humanity. The T'au Empire's atmospheric air power had been almost completely destroyed during the previous orbital bombardment, so these were clearly the Imperium of Man's air force.
'What are they doing?' A premonition of ill omen rose deep within O'Res'Ka.
Close air support? But with just a few aircraft, the amount of ammunition they carried was extremely limited. They clearly couldn't inflict much damage on the heavily guarded T'au Empire forces on the ground and would soon be shot down by the hammerhead's powerful anti-air fire.
Its ominous premonition was quickly confirmed. After dozens of Helldivers paratroopers jumped from those few aircraft using grav-chutes, instead of pulling up and returning, they began to split up, adjust their attitude, and accelerate into a dive towards the T'au Empire's positions!
O'Res'Ka's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Immediately order the hammerheads to concentrate fire! Attack those aircraft!" It roared into the communicator.
In fact, without its order, the Fire Warriors on the front line also sensed something was terribly wrong. Dozens of hammerheads on the position immediately swiveled their cannons, aiming their deadly railguns and missiles at the sky. A dense anti-air firepower net instantly formed. Although the human pilots attempted evasive maneuvers, under such dense firepower, those few aircraft were quickly struck by several searing energy beams, trailing long plumes of black smoke, falling towards the T'au Empire's positions like burning meteors hurled by a trebuchet.
However, their trajectories precisely covered the core area of the entire position.
A thought, chilling it to the bone, flashed through O'Res'Ka's mind: 'Could it be... their objective was always to crash into the T'au Empire's positions?'
The next moment, its conjecture was confirmed.
There was no violent explosion, nor any deafening roar.
The instant those aircraft crashed, a white light brighter than a star swallowed the entire battlefield. All screens in the command center instantly turned pure white. Immediately after, all sound vanished in an instant, and the world fell into a deadly silence.
O'Res'Ka stared blankly at the tactical map, which represented all its hard work and hope. After a few breaths, the dense blue unit signals representing the core area of the position on the map vanished instantly, as if wiped away by an invisible hand, turning into a destructive, ever-expanding blank area.
The screen's image finally recovered, revealing a hellish scene.
Several enormous and ugly mushroom clouds were slowly rising over what was once the third defensive line. Destructive shockwaves were spreading outwards in concentric circles, tearing everything in their path to shreds.
A mix of despair and humiliated rage ignited in its heart, burning away that brief moment of emotional collapse. The responsibility of a commander, like cold iron pincers, forcibly dragged it from the abyss of breakdown.
It struggled to its feet, grabbing the communicator and screaming hysterically into it: "Quick! Try to contact all surviving units! Order them to regroup the position! Immediately!"
The surrounding surviving staff members, recovering from their shock, frantically began operating the equipment in front of them, which was already flashing with alarms.
O'Res'Ka gasped for breath, an even more terrifying thought surfacing in its mind.
It had realized. These madmen, who dared to use suicide trucks to kill enemies, then for them, were mere nuclear radiation and high temperatures some insurmountable wall?
Not to mention, those human armies serving as the vanguard were clearly also within the kill zone of the nuclear bombs.
Just then, a cheerful whistle pierced through the chaotic alarms and shouts within the command post, clearly audible.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Accompanied by several heavy thuds, the command post's alloy door was violently blown open, twisted metal curling inwards. From the dust, over a dozen Helldivers paratroopers, clad in black carapace armor and carrying grav-chutes on their backs, strode in, their hellguns still smoking at the muzzles.
The leading human soldier scanned the panicked T'au in the command post, then said in a tone like someone discovering a treasure: "Look what we've found?"
O'Res'Ka looked at them, its last shred of hope extinguished. It slowly slumped into its commander's chair, abandoning any resistance. Through gritted teeth, it squeezed out words mixed with hatred and incomprehension: "You... you demons, you madmen!"
"Demons, madmen?" The leading paratrooper interrupted it, his tone as if he had heard something ridiculous, "Hey, hey, hey, don't just throw insults around. Do you know what a real demon is?"
The player shrugged, looking at it with a pitying gaze: "As for madmen... in your eyes, nuclear assaults and suicide trucks make us madmen? Ah... indeed, your T'au Empire, in this universe, is just a sweet summer child. You know nothing and you will die knowing nothing."
With that, he stopped speaking nonsense, raising the hellgun in his hand. The paratroopers behind him also raised their weapons in unison.
The next second, the shriek of hellguns, mixed with the dying screams of the T'au, played out the finale in this small command post. The strong smell of blood and ozone instantly filled the entire space.
The leading player kicked aside the corpse in front of him, walked to the tactical map, and looked at the huge blank area on it and the new red torrent surging out from it, nodding with satisfaction.
"Command post cleared, complete." He reported in a relaxed tone over the comms channel, "Where do we go for fun next?"