Garrosh, the Chapter Master of the Rotting Embrace, personally led the charge, bringing his Warband's Space Marines to launch a crushing attack against the Imperium's populace and its PDF soldiers.
The PDF soldiers, of course, were no match for them; with just one engagement, these PDF soldiers were like small fry, clearly taken down by the Chaos Space Marines' bolter fire, each shot claiming several PDF soldiers.
Following this, the Astra Militarum formed from this planet also joined the war.
They became the second line of defense against the Chaos Space Marines, preparing to fight valiantly in the Midhive.
Although often the Astra Militarum seemed like a group of cannon fodder.
They could be easily wiped out by the great enemies of chaos, or even by anyone on an Imperial battlefield.
But this was merely to highlight the power of the Space Marines.
What is the Astra Militarum?
The Astra Militarum is the most elite unit, the most elite tens of thousands of people, selected from a planet's tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions, of inhabitants.
Every Astra Militarum soldier is a king among soldiers, chosen from one in a million, or even one in ten million.
They only appear weak because they are deployed on battlefields that should not be the responsibility of mortals.
But in reality, they are indeed one of the most powerful military forces in the Imperium of Man.
The 83rd, 86th, 113th, and 139th Regiments of the Drella Astra Militarum returned to their homeworld at this time and underwent reorganization.
They had returned to their homeworld to receive reinforcements and prepare to continue carrying out Imperial combat missions.
Unfortunately, however, the Great Rift opened after they had completed their resupply.
But fortunately, the opening of the Great Rift meant they had not yet left their homeworld, which allowed the homeworld to have some ability to protect itself in this dark universe.
Behind the four Astra Militarum regiments, there were over 2,000 other regiments from which to select personnel.
And now, when the Chaos Space Marines invaded, these Astra Militarum were deployed to the Midhive, fighting with all their might to resist the chaos invasion and protect their homeworld.
The Chaos Space Marines, of course, targeted the largest hive city on this planet, while other hive Cities were attacked by other Chaos units.
Endless Daemons of Nurgle poured into the other Imperial hive Cities.
The PDF soldiers fought with all their might; whether PDF soldiers, Ecclesiarchy Priest, or Sisters of Silence, all gave their last effort and shed their last drop of blood for the Imperium.
But the most important was this largest hive city on the planet, defended by the Astra Militarum and PDF soldiers.
This place had the most complete industry; if this hive city fell, then the entire planet would be lost.
Speaking of which, sometimes one has to mention the industrial division of the Imperium of Man, which is truly absurd; often, their main industries are all within a single hive city, and they do not separate them.
It could be described as a concentrated industrial production area.
The advantage of this is that as long as this hive city is held, they can continuously produce; the disadvantage is that once the hive city is lost, the entire planet is ruined.
Ease of defense and susceptibility to attack became a huge drawback of such an industrial zone division, and now both this advantage and disadvantage were occurring simultaneously.
The Midhive's alloy gate twisted and deformed under the impact of the Plague Colossus, as PDF soldiers used melta-guns to fire at close range, incinerating the charging Daemons of Nurgle into boiling pus.
But more Chaos Daemons poured through the breach, followed by Chaos Space Marines.
Amidst the roar of bolters, entire rows of PDF soldiers were torn to shreds.
The 83rd Astra Militarum Regiment's heavy stubber teams quickly filled the gap, their emplaced heavy stubbers sweeping at a rate of a thousand rounds per minute, pinning the charging Chaos Daemons to the rusted steel framework.
But even so, there were still Daemons of Nurgle with their lower halves blown off, still attacking with all their might.
With its legs and lower body destroyed, it simply crawled with its hands until its head was severed by an entrenching tool.
The 113th Astra Militarum Regiment utilized the Midhive's intricate pipe system to lay minefields.
When the Rotting Embrace's Terminator squad stepped into the narrow industrial corridor, a series of explosions dealt a negligible blow to these Space Marines clad in Terminator power armor.
Pus and blood filled the drainage channels.
Targeted, the Space Marines immediately counterattacked, their bolters firing faithfully, eliminating the Astra Militarum who had ambushed them.
After dealing with the first wave of Astra Militarum attacks, the Chaos Space Marines continued to advance, but after only a few steps, they were ambushed by flamethrower and melta teams.
The accompanying Nurglings screamed and carbonized in the high heat.
The PDF soldiers, meanwhile, used the main cannons of their venomcrawler tanks to blast high ground, detonating the Blight Spore Swarms attempting to flank them in mid-air, a rain of slime falling onto the armor of both sides' soldiers, corroding with a hissing white smoke.
Although Chaos Space Marines are called demigods and are very difficult to deal with, the efforts of the Astra Militarum were not entirely without effect.
Dozens of Astra Militarum soldiers, in conjunction with a venomcrawler tank, directly launched a death charge against a Nurgle Chaos Space Marine, and in this attack, the Astra Militarum's assault was effective.
The venomcrawler tank's cannon fire breached the Chaos Space Marine's Terminator armor, and then several loyal Astra Militarum bayonets plunged into the Space Marine's chest.
The company commissar, who charged with them, was even more ferocious, carrying a melta-gun, he rushed to the Chaos Space Marine's face and plunged the melta-gun's large barrel directly into the Chaos Space Marine's chest.
Then, under the loyal melta-gun and the full might of the Astra Militarum, a Space Marine in Terminator armor lost his life.
Or rather, ended his sinful life.
As demigods of the Imperium, they did not protect humanity; instead, they rebelled and destroyed several human worlds; they deserved death a thousand times over.
After the Astra Militarum suffered hundreds of casualties, they successfully eliminated a Chaos Space Marine; perhaps the difference between mortals and demigods is vast.
But when mortals still gather courage and counterattack the Chaos Space Marines, the Imperium's loyal weapons will respond to their attacks.
The war song of humanity is a song of courage; do not cease resistance because of the enemy's strength.
Nor should you be afraid to bravely charge and attack because of the enemy's strength; only by doing so will you reap what you deserve.
The Astra Militarum's act of hunting a Space Marine naturally greatly boosted the morale of the surrounding PDF soldiers and Astra Militarum soldiers; their morale became even more fervent, and they decided to continue defending their homeworld in the Imperial environment.
This was their home, and they would fight to defend it.
The Astra Militarum's lasguns and the PDF soldiers' autoguns and lasguns were firing madly, eliminating the constantly charging Chaos Daemons.
It was thanks to this world being an industrial world that its governor possessed enough weapons to arm his PDF soldiers, allowing them to continue resisting the Daemons' attacks.
In addition to the army desperately resisting, the residents of the Midhive had also been organized by the governor; apart from those who continued to be responsible for production in the factories, the remaining people were also issued weapons, preparing for a fight to the death with the Chaos Daemons.
The Imperium of Man is indeed rotten, but it's better to rot to death within the Imperium of Man than to fall into the hands of Chaos.
The fact that a Terminator Space Marine was killed by the combined efforts of the Astra Militarum directly enraged the Chapter Master of this Chaos Warband.
Chapter Master Garrosh personally plunged into the core industrial zone. With a wave of his Rotting Scepter, the internal organs of an entire Astra Militarum assault squad splattered into blood.
The 86th Regiment of the Drella Astra Militarum Legion launched a suicidal counter-charge, attempting to sever his power pack with melta-bombs.
A dying Drella Astra Militarum soldier clung tightly to his legs until he was hacked to pieces by the arriving Plague Champion.
At this moment, the defenses of the Midhive had contracted to the final three factory zones. The Astra Militarum welded Leman Russ tanks into passageways as fixed gun emplacements, and soldiers carved the words "Until Death" with blood-stained bayonets on the walls.
Even Khorne's gaze in the Warp was drawn to these mortals; he cast his attention upon this planet.
Fighting Chaos Daemons and Chaos Space Marines inevitably led to heavy mortal casualties, but no Astra Militarum or PDF soldiers retreated or compromised.
When Astra Militarum soldiers were massacred on a large scale by Space Marines,
their reserve units would immediately fill in. Once the reserves were completely depleted, elite PDF units would replenish the ranks.
As for the PDF, they were even more fanatical. When PDF units suffered excessive losses, ordinary civilians would directly take up arms and fill the battlefield. In short, the Imperium of Man would never compromise or retreat!
Ecclesiarchy Priests raised holy symbols, and the sound of chanting echoed through the communication channels, temporarily dispelling Nurgle's whispers.
A PDF officer, riddled with bullets, used his last krak grenade to take three Chaos Daemons with him, the explosion overturning barricades piled with corpses.
Snipers from the Astra Militarum's 139th Regiment specifically targeted corrupted prophets, armor-piercing rounds piercing the sorcerer's skull and interrupting his ritual to summon Plague Daemons.
Nurgle's blessing allowed the fallen Chaos Daemons to rise again, their entrails dragging on the ground as they continued their charge.
The battlefield remained extremely brutal.
The Astra Militarum, PDF, and human resistance were incredibly fierce.
Amidst such ferocity, a flicker of red light passed over some human soldiers.
It was the God of War's gift and blessing to these brave warriors.
Khorne is fair; as long as you display courage that he deems reasonable, courage worthy of his observation, you can receive Khorne's blessing.
However, the attack of the Chaos Daemons was also like this.
The Daemons of Nurgle, who had been thoroughly beaten by Noah in the War of the Webway, were now venting their anger upon an Imperial World.
In the War of the Webway, they had to face the relentless firepower of the Imperium of Man.
Powerful Psykers and mighty Grey Knights Forces attacked them.
Their Daemons were like rows of straw, easily reaped by the Imperium of Man's army.
Now they would vent this fury upon the Imperial World they could currently retaliate against.
Although the Daemons suffered heavy losses in the War of the Webway and lacked enough Daemons to continue attacking the entire galaxy,
when summoned to the universe under suitable conditions, the Daemons would attack with all their might and effort.
They feared being directly thrown into the Webway by the Chaos Gods to face that extremely terrifying Imperial Army.
The Webway—
This place used to be where the Chaos Gods constantly harassed the Emperor. Now, it is where the Chaos Gods banish Daemons they deem unworthy.
Of course, it's not the Chaos Gods themselves who do this.
It's likely the Greater Daemons; whichever Daemons they dislike are directly sent to the Webway.
Once a certain number accumulates, they periodically attack the Imperial Army in the Webway.
Such attacks are obviously ineffective; they are ultimately just charges to their deaths, Daemonstrating to those Imperial Army forces that the Warp is their Daemonic domain.
The Chaos Daemons' attack was extremely smooth for the first hour, but that hour was enough for the fleet mobilized by Noah to reach the edge of this star system.
When Noah's Patrol Fleet arrived at the edge of this star system, the detectors had already locked onto these Daemon warships.
In the next instant, the ion cannon on the titan ship fired!
An entire star system away, the ion cannon fired. The thick beam directly shattered the Chaos Warband's battleship, and incidentally also destroyed a cruiser next to it.
An attack powerful enough to shatter an entire star, now directed at just one battleship, its power was unimaginable.
The battleship's void shields overloaded in mere seconds, then shattered, and the battleship was reduced to nothing but dust.
The adjacent cruiser was also affected and similarly destroyed.
The sudden attack left the Nurgle Fleet somewhat bewildered. Their augurs had not detected any signs, nor had they predicted the arrival of this volley.
The surviving warships quickly began to contact their Chapter Master.
As the blue light of the ion cannon tore through the void, the Nurgle Fleet's communication channels instantly erupted.
"Report! The 'Festering Paradise' has been destroyed! Repeat, the 'Festering Paradise' has been destroyed!"
Garrosh, raising his scepter to eliminate another squad of Astra Militarum, asked, "What?! What kind of weapon was that?!"
"Enemy ship position unknown! Augurs are failing!"
Garrosh was also stunned upon hearing this.
The Chaos Fleet, having suffered such an attack, continued to be in disarray.
They had never seen such an attack—across an entire star system, a single shot directly vaporized a battleship and half a cruiser.
As for the remaining half of the cruiser that wasn't vaporized, it was actually already destroyed; it just remained visible.
The chaotic sounds from his subordinates made Garrosh realize something at this moment.
He had to return to his fleet now; only then could he stabilize the morale of his subordinates and prevent them from panicking.
Although doing so might result in him being obliterated within his warship, just like the battleship, he had no choice but to do so.
The most important aspect of interstellar warfare is naval combat.
Naval fleets are the most crucial asset of an interstellar empire, as ground units are used to capture colonies.
For a Space Marines Warband, this is also critical. If they lose their naval warships, then undoubtedly, by the time that fleet reaches orbit,
that fleet wouldn't even need to send ground forces to fight them; orbital bombardment alone could easily deal with their Warband.
But under the influence of this point, he realized the importance of the navy. He decided to return to his fleet and then command it to meet the enemy.
An attack capable of destroying his battleship in one hit could not possibly be used frequently; the enemy would certainly need time, and this time was the best for him to decide whether to retreat or counterattack.
Garrosh's idea was undoubtedly correct; the titan's main cannon indeed could not fire a second shot in a short time. However, what he hadn't anticipated was that in addition to the titan's main cannon, the battleship's main cannons could also fire.
Of course, he couldn't have known this, as Noah's battleships and the warships in the Imperium of Man and the Warhammer Universe were two completely different things.
Garrosh urgently returned from the ground battlefield to orbit, boarding the 'Throat of Rot' among the remaining cruisers.