As the elites of the two forces closed in, the disadvantaged Blood Pact Army sought to turn the tide.
They launched a sudden assault on the Breakers' formation, taking advantage of the moment when they were reloading their shotguns.
But Horatio was never one to leave himself without a backup plan.
The Armed Officer, having emptied his magazine, consciously retreated to the second line to load #10 shotgun shells into his firearm, while the second line of Armed Officer immediately followed suit, stepping forward two paces to take their positions and firing upon the enemy, who were hidden behind the mutated Ogryn's large shield.
As long as they dared to expose any part of their bodies from behind the large shield, a storm of shotgun pellets could instantly shear off their limbs.
Two unfortunate bloodletter had already fallen to the ground because of this.
"Stop! Shield up! Hold!" Horatio commanded from behind the Shield Guard.
The Navy Breachers formed a Roman shield wall and stood their ground, waiting for the enemy to approach.
"They're scared! They don't dare to advance! Warriors, kill these Corpse Emperor cowards, and let them see what true Blood God Warriors are before they die!" the Blood Pact Officer roared, glaring at the 'wet behind the ears' young Naval Officer in his eyes.
The Blood Army held their shields, with bayonets, spear tips, and axes behind them. As the distance continuously closed, the men behind the shields extended their spears over the top.
Amidst the flying bullets, shooters from all sides continued to fire at the enemies on both flanks, creating a scene reminiscent of a standoff between Greek hoplites.
But this standoff was quickly broken, as the Imperial Navy possessed equipment to handle all situations in void combat.
"Harpoons! Fire!"
When the distance was close enough, Horatio gave the order, and the Grenadier squeezed behind the Navy Breachers' firing ports, shooting harpoons at the enemy's shields.
The sharp harpoon tips pierced the enemy's shields, and the melta charge behind them instantly melted through the shield face.
The hulking Ogryn screamed in pain as a jet of molten metal pierced his armored hand, leaving a large, cauterized hole in the middle.
"Now! Kill!" Horatio shouted, brandishing his two swords.
"Charge!"
Thud!
With a rough, grating impact, the Naval Shield Guard collided with the shield-bearing Ogryn and Blood Pact Shield Guard. Bayonets and naval spears were raised overhead, plunging into the enemy Soldiers.
Hand-to-hand combat began on the flanks, Soldiers crashed into each other, rolling on the ground, grappling, and stabbing at each other with short knives and daggers. Axe-wielders activated the dismembering field of their demolition axes, mercilessly cleaving anyone they saw.
Whirr!!! — Bang!
"Ah!"
As a terrifying motor roar began, the Blood Pact Officer witnessed an extremely horrifying scene:
The wet behind the ears young Naval Officer swung his iron hand, picked up a massive Chainsword, and with a single strike, directly lopped off the Blood Pact Shield Guard's arm along with his shield.
Moreover, the wound wasn't a clean cut; the shield was sent flying by immense force, brutally tearing off the robust Shield Guard's arm.
The Blood Pact Shield Guard, missing half an arm, slumped to the ground, clutching the torn wound of his severed limb, screaming in agony, as gouts of blood continuously gushed from between his fingers.
Whirr!! —
Horatio expressionlessly swung his sword upwards, and a torrent of blood gushed forth, deepening the already crimson hue of his armor.
A human head flew into the air, tracing a perfect parabolic arc, and landed at the Blood Pact Officer's feet, the grotesque mask folded in half.
The traitorous PDF Officer's eyes widened as he stared at the Blood Pact Shield Guard's terrified, lifeless gaze, an eyeball dangling from its socket, suspended by optic nerve tissue on the bridge of his nose.
He slowly raised his head again, watching Horatio, wielding the Holy Blood Chainsword and the Navy Heir Power Dagger, carve his way towards him like he was butchering melons and vegetables, his legs beginning to give way.
"Mon... monster..." Aside from the Blood God Warriors and Khorne Astartes, he had never seen a mortal commit such exaggerated slaughter.
Whirr!! —
Another swing of the sword, and the slain man was cut in two, falling backward, a spray of blood from the Chainsword's swing splattering onto the Blood Pact Officer's golden mask.
The young Naval Officer walked towards him with a cold expression, mercilessly hacking anyone who blocked his path into pieces. The Holy Blood Chainsword's rotation frequency was terrifyingly high, and the flesh and blood on its rotating teeth were churned into a bloody pulp by the high-speed rotation.
[This is a monster!] The Blood Pact Officer choked on his own saliva in fright, forced to remove the grotesque iron mask uniformly worn by the Blood Pact Army.
"Sto-sto-sto... Stop him! Kill him! Shoot him dead!" He clutched his mask, shoving the trembling Blood Pact Army elite next to him in front.
The Blood God's servants raised their guns, aiming at the approaching Horatio, their arms trembling as they aimed.
The Navy Breachers, as the officer's bodyguard, were not to be trifled with.
Seeing someone raise a gun at the officer he was guarding, the Armed Officer raised his hand and shattered the fellow's skull with a boltgun.
"Come and duel me for your master!" Horatio coldly commanded the Blood Pact Officer.
The Blood Pact Officer gasped for breath, slowly backing away.
There was no one left in front of him to block Horatio.
[It's impossible to win against this freak!]
The traitor, who had been spouting arrogant words earlier, lost all will to fight upon seeing such a terrifying opponent and turned to flee.
How could Horatio let him go?
"Don't you want this Chainsword? Here!"
His iron hand hissed with superheated steam, and the Chainsword spun out of his grasp. To the astonishment of everyone present, Horatio threw the Holy Blood Chainsword he was holding.
For some reason, even though no one was holding the motor's switch, the saw teeth continued to hum and spin violently.
Thwack!!!
The spinning Chainsword, as if swung from above, cleaved down from behind the Blood Pact Officer, piercing his chest. Blood gushed out, splattering for a hundred paces.
"...Pain... So much pain... Ahh! Cough!" The pain, exceeding his tolerance threshold, made him collapse to the ground like a ragdoll, his front teeth shattering.
But he wasn't dead yet, lying on the ground, coughing blood.
He didn't understand why he wasn't dead; it was as if the Corpse Emperor deliberately didn't want him to die too quickly, granting him torment, punishing him with retribution.
He could clearly feel the searing pain that pierced his brain, causing tears to stream uncontrollably down his face, despite priding himself as a true believer of the Blood God.
"Ah! Ah!!" His heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the entire gun deck.
Horatio expressionlessly walked to his side and stomped on the crimson officer's sash.
"You are not worthy of an officer's honor. What the Corpse Emperor can grant you, he also has the power to take back," the young Naval Officer said coldly.
He used the power field of his Power Sword to pry open the officer's red sash at his waist, trampling the red velvet, which symbolized an officer's honor, onto the dirty, sticky deck.
"Kill me! Kill me!!" the traitorous PDF Officer screamed.
Horatio pulled his Chainsword out of his back.
"Ah!!" The pain of the sword being pulled out made the traitor want to smash his head on the deck and die.
But Horatio kicked him over onto his face. He didn't intend to let the traitor die so easily.
Flash!
Suddenly, a laser beam struck Horatio. The Sacred Rose rosary glowed, and an energy field flashed close to his body.
Horatio looked at the attacker, the criminal with a face full of tattoos.
He saw his sneak attack blocked by an energy field, and Horatio glared at him with anger.
The disgruntled criminal was startled by the fierce gaze of the Naval Officer and wanted to escape.
"I'll give you a ten-second head start," Horatio growled threateningly at him.
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
...
The criminal gasped in panic, stumbling and bumping into several contract workers blocking his way, almost falling, looking utterly dishevelled.
"Three!"
"Two!"
Horatio plunged the Holy Blood Chainsword into the ground, snatched a naval spear from a Sailor passing by, and assumed a javelin-throwing stance.
"One!"
It's the beginning of the month, I humbly ask for your support, dear readers! This week is a three-update reading trial week. I will update three chapters daily this week to see the reading effect.
The update schedule is: the first chapter at midnight, one chapter at noon, and another chapter in the evening!