"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Twenty rounds of 155mm High-Explosive (HE) shells, carrying a scalp-numbing shriek, smashed into the Helios Group's kilometers-long marching column without any fancy maneuvers.
Fireballs produced by the explosions soared into the sky over the dim Underhive wasteland. Massive shockwaves, carrying shrapnel and rubble, swept through everything in the vicinity.
Dozens of half-track trucks and light assault vehicles responsible for troop transport in the middle of the column bore the brunt of the first round of strikes.
Before heavy artillery, these "thin-skinned, big-filled" light vehicles were no different from paper mache; they were torn to shreds on the spot. The mercenaries sitting inside didn't even have time to figure out what was happening before they turned into a pile of charred parts.
In just this single volley, the Helios casualty count jumped directly to over 450 people.
There were even several expensive Basilisk self-propelled artillery pieces that, due to their weak armor, were flipped over by the shockwaves of near-misses. Setting aside the state of the hulls, the gun barrels were instantly ruined.
"Scatter! All armored units, scatter immediately!"
Zeman's voice exploded across the communication channel. Though tinged with the static of a "hot mic," it still sounded steady and powerful.
As an old veteran with extremely high combat literacy, Zeman had actually reacted the very second the radar alarm went off. Unfortunately, the speed of the heavy shells landing was simply too fast, leaving the light units no time to flee for their lives.
However, heavy armor is heavy armor for a reason!
When the smoke cleared, aside from the wreckage of light vehicles and infantry corpses littering the ground, the core combat strength of the Helios Group—the twenty-odd Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks and a large number of Chimera Armored Personnel Carriers—remained essentially intact.
Some tanks took a direct hit from a HE shell on their front, resulting in nothing more than a blackened patch of armor plate or a shattered external searchlight. The crew inside only needed a moment to steady themselves before they could continue firing.
This is precisely why the Imperial Guard equips the Leman Russ with such thick armor.
Their original design philosophy was to be able to charge through an enemy's wall of fire on open plains without any cover.
Unless it is a direct hit on a weak spot like the top hatch, or a direct shot from a large-caliber armor-piercing shell, these fragmentation-reliant HE shells are nothing more than a "tickle" to them.
Zeman leaned half his body out of the command vehicle. Looking at the carnage around him, his heart bled, but he did not panic.
As long as the tanks were still there, this battle could be fought!
"All crews, take note! Do not stop in place, maintain mobility!" Zeman ordered loudly.
"The enemy's artillery positions are over twenty kilometers away. Their precision isn't high; as long as we keep moving, they won't hit us!"
"Full speed ahead! Push through this area!"
However, when the first Leman Russ attempted to restart and roared forward, the driver discovered a desperate problem.
The road was gone.
The landing zone Bauer had chosen for the bombardment was extremely cunning.
This happened to be an industrial ruin zone; both sides of the road were flanked by crumbling concrete building remains dozens of meters high.
The previous round of heavy artillery saturation had directly snapped the load-bearing structures of these buildings.
"RUMBLE—"
Tens of thousands of tons of concrete blocks, rebar, and industrial waste collapsed like a landslide. The destructive power wasn't high, but it completely blocked the already narrow marching route.
The tanks in front were blocked, the tanks in the rear were jammed by debris, and the entire armored column instantly turned into a paralyzed dead snake.
"Damn it! They did it on purpose!"
Zeman slammed a fist against the hatch.
The opponent never expected to wipe them out with those twenty guns; they intended to use the terrain to trap this "Steel Torrent" here until it died!
In the complex terrain of the Underhive, once mobility is lost, a tank is just a tin coffin.
"Engineers! Where are the engineers?! Attach the dozer blades! Clear a path for me!" Zeman roared into the channel.
But clearing tens of thousands of tons of trash would take at least two or three hours.
"Motorcycle Mobile Formation! Ignore the main force!" Zeman made a prompt decision, switching to the vanguard frequency.
"Bypass the ruins from the side and break through at full speed!"
"You must reach the outskirts of the Acid Swamp before dark and set up our fire points!"
"As long as we can suppress their infantry, once I get the road open, I'm going to grind that damned artillery position into powder!"
Ten minutes later, seven kilometers from the outskirts of the Acid Swamp.
Dozens of heavily modified two-wheeled assault motorcycles roared out from the shadows of the ruin zone.
The riders were all daredevils from the "Iron Skull" mercenary group. Their skills were top-tier, managing to hit eighty miles per hour on a rotten road full of rubble and craters.
They bypassed the blocked ruins, becoming the first Helios troops to reach the pre-set positions.
"This is Moto-One, we have arrived at the target area."
The lead biker stopped behind a massive rock and mounted his vehicle-borne bolt machine gun.
"Visibility ahead is good, no enemy fortifications spotted."
"Establishing outpost fire network, awaiting main force..."
Before he could finish his sentence:
"SHOOO—!!"
A rocket trailing a long plume of flame flew out from the shadows on the flank without warning.
The rocket didn't hit the motorcycle directly; instead, it grazed the lead biker's helmet and slammed into the rock behind him.
"BOOM!!"
The violent explosion shattered the rock. Debris hit the rider's armor like bullets, flipping both man and machine to the ground.
"F***! Enemy attack!! Enemy attack!!"
The remaining riders scattered immediately, attempting to find cover.
But it was too late.
In the ruins surrounding them, figures wearing matte-black T-9000 heavy exoskeletons stood up one by one.
Bauer had long since spread out all 210 members of the Heavy Guard; this was a meticulously planned ambush.
"Frontal Group One, fire at will!"
Following the order in the comms channel.
A hundred heavy soldiers holding XPG-200 rocket launchers pulled their triggers simultaneously.
Although these guys' accuracy wasn't great, this was a "saturation strike."
Rockets loaded with Andy's custom-made shaped-charge warheads completely covered the area.
The motorcycle squad was instantly engulfed in a sea of fire, but that wasn't the most lethal part.
The real killing move was on the flank!
Just as the motorcycle squad attempted to maneuver to the sides.
Another hundred-odd soldiers carrying CBS High-Explosive Crossbows had already silently opened up a side line.
They weren't in a rush to fire; they were waiting for the light armored units attempting to escape to expose their side armor.
Although the CBS High-Explosive Crossbow was powerful—with a payload in a single bolt roughly equal to a small missile—confronting high-speed moving targets or heavy tanks like the Leman Russ head-on was not the optimal solution.
A tank's frontal armor is usually the thickest; high-explosive bolts hitting it would most likely bounce off.
Only by hitting the sides, the tracks, or the engine cooling vents could effective damage be dealt.
Therefore, they had been advancing on the side lines from the very beginning. As for the frontal troops carrying XPG-200 rocket launchers, they were responsible for drawing fire away from the CBS crossbowmen.
And now, these bikers had happened to expose their flanks.
Then there was nothing to worry about!
"THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!"
The dull vibration of bowstrings sounded.
Dozens of thick high-explosive bolts, carrying a silent howl, nailed themselves into the motorcycles and riders.
"BOOM—!!!"
Chain explosions.
This originally aggressive vanguard formation was completely suppressed seven kilometers from the base, without even seeing the gates of the Acid Swamp.