Between the ruins of Guelbryn City, shrouded in a green toxic mist and gunpowder smoke, a Helldivers Company advanced at an astonishing speed. They ignored the deadly chemical environment around them, running forward while throwing specially made gas canisters into every building remnant that might hide enemies, their movements as practiced as if it were a daily chore.
Suddenly, a fiery red figure, like a comet streaking across the sky, flashed past with a shriek that tore through the air.
The squad at the forefront of the company didn't even have time to react. In less than three seconds, their bodies were torn to pieces by an irresistible force and a scorching energy blade. Limbs, broken armor, and internal organs splattered in all directions.
Before the soldiers in the rear could react, the air around them began to ripple and distort. The next second, XV-8 Crisis Battlesuits, painted in ochre and white, materialized out of thin air, their optical camouflage systems disengaging the moment the attack began. These silent war machines caught the Helldivers off guard, and a one-sided slaughter commenced.
The glowing energy blades in the hands of the Fire Warriors could easily cut through the Helldivers' carapaces and flesh, like a hot knife through butter.
However, the heavy lumbering guns and grenade launchers, which the Helldivers prided themselves on, only left faint, powerless marks on the dark, shimmering iridium alloy plating of the XV-8 Battlesuits, sometimes not even a scratch.
This was clearly not an even fight, but rather a one-sided massacre.
Just as the Fire Warriors believed that this Human Company would be annihilated in another ten seconds, the expression beneath the faceplate of the figure in the custom fiery red battlesuit—Commander Farsight—suddenly changed drastically.
"Retreat! Disengage immediately!" he commanded sharply through the encrypted channel.
Before he finished speaking, the vector thrusters on his back erupted with scorching plasma, and he flew backward at an astonishing speed, instantly putting hundreds of meters between himself and the Human soldiers.
Although the Fire Warriors present were filled with questions, their absolute trust in their commander led them to loyally execute the order. They activated their jetpacks almost simultaneously, abandoning the easy victory, and retreated to the rear.
The reason for Farsight's order was quickly revealed—
Just as the Fire Warriors had disengaged from close-quarters combat with the Humans, the Helldivers soldiers on the periphery, who had just been futilely resisting, suddenly erupted with dazzling pure white light from within!
Several miniature suns rose simultaneously on the battlefield, releasing terrifying thermal fusion energy that instantly incinerated themselves and everything around them. One Fire Warrior, who hesitated slightly and was half a beat slow in retreating, didn't even have time to scream before being directly vaporized in the destructive light and heat, leaving not a trace of ash.
"They actually strapped melta bombs to themselves…" Farsight hovered in mid-air, looking at the remaining Helldivers who immediately reformed their ranks and cautiously looked around after the explosion, feeling an unprecedented sense of helplessness.
Clearly, even the battle-hardened Farsight couldn't understand how these Humans dared to do such a thing. This was a rapidly changing battlefield, not a children's playground. Stray bullets, explosions, falls on the battlefield… any tiny accidental factor could cause the melta bombs on them to detonate. Were these Humans not afraid that an accident would cause the melta bombs to detonate in their own ranks?
But Farsight also had to admit that this insane tactic caused him and his elite squad a great deal of trouble. These Humans had turned themselves into hedgehogs, curled into a ball, covered in spines. Trying to strangle this hedgehog with bare hands would inevitably leave his hands covered in blood.
So Farsight immediately changed tactics and ordered the use of long-range firepower.
Initially, he only had his squad use plasma rifles and pulse burst cannons, singling out the remaining Humans one by one. However, after a full thirty seconds, Farsight, through his battlesuit's battlefield analysis system, discovered something amiss—the firepower density of these Humans seemed to have not diminished at all!
He decisively ordered an upgrade in firepower. Missiles and fusion cannons, originally used to destroy enemy armored vehicles, were fired without hesitation. Under a wave of devastating firepower, this tenacious company finally fell silent completely.
"What exactly is going on with these guys…" Farsight vaguely understood why the Kroot, always considered top hunters, had collapsed so quickly. At the same time, he keenly realized that his original battle plan—take advantage of the time difference between the two sides and first defeat this large but individually weak Human force—was likely to fail.
If every battle continued as the last one, then forget about a quick resolution; it would be good if they weren't dragged on for ten days to half a month. By then, those genetically modified Human warriors in blue heavy armor would have already rushed over, and his squad would be at risk of being encircled.
"But… the remaining Humans don't seem to have melta bombs strapped to them?" Because all the Helldivers wore identical attire, Farsight couldn't discern any clues through long-range observation, so he could only make such a guess, "Perhaps that company was a special 'suicide squad'?"
Farsight decided to verify his judgment through action. He quickly led his squad to intercept another Helldivers Company that was rapidly advancing. At this point, the Helldivers command had already learned, through the company commander who resurrected at command after dying, that the T'au Empire had dispatched hero-level units and elite troops to intercept them. However, the Helldivers continued to advance, for a simple reason—they wanted to be the first to meet Sicarius.
This time, Farsight only used long-range attacks. This company naturally quickly replicated the fate of the previous unit, being rapidly vaporized by powerful firepower. Only, from beginning to end, there was no repeat of the tragic melta bomb self-detonation incident from last time.
"Was that Human company really special?" Farsight wondered.
So, after the third engagement, Farsight once again tried to command the Fire Warriors to charge forward for close-quarters combat.
As a result, this time, the highly vigilant Helldivers, upon discovering the enemy, unhesitatingly detonated their melta bombs again! Even though the Fire Warriors, under Farsight's prior warning, were ready to activate their vector thrusters and retreat at any moment, two team members were still caught in the core blast radius due to insufficient evasion and were instantly vaporized.
Farsight, of course, didn't know that players had something like a shop, where they could buy things at any time. He could only understand it as: these Humans actually all had melta bombs strapped to them! Once the enemy got close, they would immediately self-destruct!
This made Farsight incredibly distressed. Fire Warriors in XV-8 Crisis Battlesuits were to the T'au Empire what Primaris space marines were to the Imperium of Man, perhaps even more so.
Each of them was an elite selected from countless warriors, the most precious asset of The Greater Good. Not long ago, under the deployment of another commander, they had inflicted devastating damage on Imperial armored forces without a single casualty.
From a player's perspective, each one was worth thousands of exp.
But now, they were being taken out by such simple, brutal, and unsophisticated suicide attacks, with Humans exchanging three hundred cheap lives for three of his precious team members! Farsight's heart bled!
Indeed, long-range strikes didn't have to worry about such suicide attacks, but the efficiency was too low. How many missiles and fusion cannons could an XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit carry to attack infantry units?
As for anti-infantry plasma rifles and pulse burst cannons, from the previous test, Farsight highly doubted how much effect these conventional weapons could have against this abnormal Human force, fearless of death and with unceasing firepower…