Within the human army's command center, Commander-in-Chief Wendell Gage immediately noticed the anomaly in the ground forces via the tactical projection.
The red arrow representing the Helldivers Legion suddenly broke away from the overall advance rhythm of the front line, pushing forward like a red-hot blade.
He immediately asked in a deep voice, "What's going on? Why has the Perditia Third Suicide Legion suddenly accelerated?"
A liaison officer immediately stepped forward, stood at attention, and reported, "Commander-in-Chief, their recently submitted tactical report states that it's to reduce the harassment from T'au guerrilla warfare and to reach Guelbryn City as quickly as possible to launch a general assault."
Wendell frowned tightly: "Is the T'au harassment that severe?"
"That is precisely what I was about to report to you, Commander-in-Chief," the officer's expression also became serious, "Although the T'au's guerrilla tactics are cowardly, they are indeed causing considerable annoyance to the Emperor's warriors."
"Because our chosen landing zone is close to the mountains, the xenos always find excellent locations to launch sneak attacks, causing a small number of casualties each time before quickly withdrawing, disappearing without a trace using their familiarity with the terrain and advanced stealth technology."
"According to frontline feedback, small units of a hundred or so men sent to pursue are almost certain to fall into carefully laid T'au ambushes and be wiped out; while large units of a thousand or more men sent to pursue would severely impact the overall marching speed, and fighting in complex and unfamiliar mountainous terrain might not yield any significant results.
This passive situation of being constantly attacked has already begun to cause a decline in our morale..."
"Alright, that's enough," Wendell raised a hand to cut him off.
The officer immediately fell silent, took a step back, and respectfully returned to the crowd.
Wendell gazed at the flickering dots on the sandbox, his finger tapping lightly on the edge of the command console, pondering for a moment before finally giving the order: "In that case, notify the Tanathalis Titan Legions and the space marines chapters, and ask them to also speed up.
And other Astra Militarum Legions, likewise increase your marching speed to keep pace with the Helldivers Legion."
"Also..." Wendell paused mid-sentence.
"Also what, Commander-in-Chief?" The Chief of Staff, who was rapidly recording orders nearby, looked up in confusion.
"Never mind, let it be," Wendell waved his hand, ultimately giving up on the thought.
He had originally intended to add, "Specifically tell the Helldivers Legion that next time they encounter such a situation, they must report it before acting," but on second thought, Wendell felt that telling those guys such things would be a complete waste of breath.
He was almost certain that after his order was conveyed, those desperadoes would at most feign an aquila salute, then immediately dismiss it as a fart.
Why bother with such a futile and thankless task?
Thus, driven by the Helldivers' out-of-control engine, the entire ground force of the human expeditionary army began to accelerate.
At the same time, a strange phenomenon quickly emerged: even though other units had received orders to accelerate, they were still gradually left far behind by the Helldivers.
This legion composed of "players" had surprisingly become the vanguard of the entire army, closely following the massive strides of the Titan Legions.
The reason was actually very simple.
The "full speed ahead" of a normal Astra Militarum Legion and the "full speed ahead" of the Helldivers were not even remotely the same concept.
For any normal army, "full speed ahead" must take into account subsequent combat.
Considering the high-intensity siege warfare and brutal urban combat that might immediately follow the march, even the most elite Astra Militarum Legion would have to conserve their soldiers' energy, at most increasing their marching speed to a sustained jog.
But for the Helldivers, stamina? Fatigue? Such mortal concerns simply did not exist.
Injecting combat stims, sprinting at a hundred-meter dash pace all the way to Guelbryn City, then conveniently dying once, and resurrecting to fully restore stamina and status—this was their most economical and efficient way of marching.
At this moment, within the various companies of the Helldivers, the atmosphere could only be described as "fanatical."
"All personnel, combat stims, maximum dosage injection!"
As the Company Commander gave the order, all the players unhesitatingly activated the auto-injectors in their carapace armor, plunging them into their spines.
A cold chemical cocktail instantly surged into their blood vessels, their hearts pounded like they were being struck by a Warhammer, beating frantically, pumping scorching energy to all their limbs.
"Urah—!"
"For the Emperor!"
"Charge, charge, charge! Kill those xenos!"
The next second, this company of several hundred men transformed into an unstoppable torrent of steel.
Their legs erupted with strength far beyond human limits, and they sprinted wildly across the rugged terrain at a terrifying speed of nearly 50 kilometers per hour.
They were like a gale, whistling past an Astra Militarum Legion that was jogging forward in the blink of an eye.
The regular soldiers only felt a fierce wind whip past them, and before they could even see what it was, the group of black figures had already vanished into the distance, leaving only a trampled, ruined ground and a sky full of dust.
"Wh-what was that?" a panting soldier asked, dumbfounded.
Even the Storm Troopers, as the elite of the elite, who were rapidly flanking on the other side, were dumbfounded.
A squad leader couldn't hold back and exclaimed through his comms, "How can the Helldivers run so fast?! By the Emperor, that's already approaching astartes speed, isn't it?!"
"I heard the Helldivers really like to use stims," one of his Storm Troopers offered a conjecture, "Maybe they've all taken stims?"
But as soon as he said that, everyone else lost their composure even more.
"Are you kidding? To run at that speed, the dosage required would probably make your heart explode by the time you reach Guelbryn City, wouldn't it?"
"Perhaps Perditia people all have very high drug resistance?" another Storm Trooper suddenly remembered something and said in a tone of having discovered a shocking secret, "I once fought alongside them in the Hydas Sector, and I noticed a very strange phenomenon.
When a Helldivers was injecting a liquid, his comrades would often say to him—'Why is your head so pointy?'"
He paused, feeling he had grasped the truth: "I was very curious at the time, so I asked.
They told me that this was a famous historical figure on their planet, renowned worldwide for his pointy head, frequent use of stims, and extremely high drug resistance!
From this, it seems that Perditia culture highly values people with high drug resistance, to the point that you must have a certain level of drug resistance to even qualify for the Helldivers Legion!"
This astonishing "discovery" silenced the entire squad's communication channel for a moment.
Immediately after, another Storm Trooper drew an inference and said with sudden realization, "If that's the case, when we meet the Helldivers in the future, to start a conversation and show friendliness, we should compliment their pointy heads?"
Upon hearing this, the other Storm Troopers all felt that this conjecture was well-founded, logically rigorous, and perfectly explained all the Helldivers' irrational behavior.
This, most likely, was the truth!