The Savior's holy hymn rose higher and higher amidst the thunder of artillery fire.
Across the ground stretched terrifying chitinous creatures armed with clawed limbs.
These executioners, under the command of Tyranid monstrosities, charged through withering bombardments, vaulting over heavy fortifications toward the trenches.
Their goal: to seize biomass.
To replenish their losses.
Inside the trenches of Defense Zone 1029—
The Cadian Shock Troopers stood firmly at their battle stations.
For thousands of years—
Cadian warriors, accustomed to the horrors that poured from the Eye of Terror, had long since become veterans of war.
They learned to follow orders and fight unwaveringly against any enemy of mankind.
Even in the face of losing their homeworld, their will to fight remained unbroken.
And now—
These indomitable soldiers had received new equipment: nearly all of them were outfitted with ceramite-reinforced carapace armor and helmets.
Armed with melta guns, heavy plasma weapons, and more, they were mightier than ever.
Such gifts—
Had filled the Cadian troops with gratitude toward the Savior, and with pride. They resolved to repay this with their lives.
Even when facing the terrifying Tyranids.
Under the coordination of the command center, they had been deployed to this defense zone—
To repel the Tyranid swarms in this sector.
However—
Though the battle had been underway for some time, aside from the deafening cannons and the Savior's hymn—
They had yet to see a single enemy.
This made the Cadians uneasy.
After all, they were used to being right in the thick of the fighting.
Suddenly—
The Cadian officer's communicator buzzed to life. He nodded. "Understood. Following your command!"
At once—
The atmosphere in the trenches tensed. Battle was imminent.
"Sir, are the bugs here?" asked a scar-faced Cadian, uneasy.
"No... but lunch is."
The officer's expression twisted strangely. "Command just ordered us to refuel quickly. The enemy is expected to arrive in twenty minutes. We have ten to eat!"
"Huh?" The scar-faced soldier swallowed hard. "Didn't we eat just a few hours ago?"
"According to the Savior's army standard, this is wartime lunch."
As he spoke, several low-flying transports landed across the zone. The officer barked, "Sentries, stay alert! Everyone else, go get your food, quick!"
Upon hearing this—
The scar-faced Cadian pulled his hand back from his field ration pouch.
Looks like he could save his precious Savior-standard CPR for later.
In times of war—
Imperial Guard troopers typically received a certain quantity of CPR—Combat Provision Rations.
Each CPR usually included a sealed meal or protein bar, some nutritional compounds, and a flameless heater.
The fancier ones had canned goods, salt, water purification tabs, and basic medical supplies.
But while these CPRs looked impressive, they were often dangerously bad—either tasteless or outright revolting.
Some were even worse than corpse-starch.
Completely unsuitable for long-term consumption.
A certain Imperial Guard colonel had once been captured by Orks, mistaken for some mutated good-luck charm, and was force-fed maggot-ridden meat daily.
When he miraculously returned alive, he cursed that the rotten meat was only slightly worse than Guard rations.
This tale alone—
Said enough about what the troops thought of those rations.
Especially the canned ones.
If it was canned Antelope Beef, then fine—it tasted decent when seasoned.
In a pinch, the cans themselves made decent throwing weapons.
But in reality—
Many protein foods were laced with mysterious ingredients.
Especially in combat zones with xenos.
Normally—
Protein bars were supposed to be made from Grox meat and other proper sources.
But many shady contractors, to cut costs, tossed in anything they could find—sometimes even bizarre xeno corpses.
Orks, ferals, and sometimes even toxic, unidentified lifeforms.
All thrown into protein paste.
One factory went so far as to add Chaos-tainted corpses directly into the grinder.
Many troopers who ate those bars suffered horrific corruption—causing a major incident.
Several regiments were executed as a result.
The factory was later visited by the Inquisition. Everyone, top to bottom, was purged.
And yet—this wasn't entirely the contractors' fault.
With raw material shortages, the Imperium's chronic delays in payment, and harsh tithe quotas—
They simply couldn't produce enough protein bars to spec.
But if they failed to deliver on time, they'd be charged with delaying military operations or even heresy.
And so—
To cut corners and meet deadlines—
Those factories risked everything to stuff whatever "protein" they could find into bars.
The Imperium could only turn a blind eye.
If something went wrong, they'd deal with it then.
In the end—
The Imperial Guard got the short end of the stick. Every CPR was like opening a mystery box.
You never knew what you'd be eating.
Only caution could help.
The scar-faced soldier patted the Savior-standard CPR in his pouch, treasuring it.
That stuff was gold.
A single Savior-standard CPR—
Included breakfast, lunch, and dinner rations, fresh meat, fruit cans, vitamin tablets, coffee powder, chewing gum, a canteen, purification tabs, med injectors, fuel, and more.
On the battlefield, you could eat well—healthy and satisfying.
Many troops who tried it said it was better than food at some victory banquets.
The Guard couldn't help but marvel at the wealth of the Savior's domain. And envy his armies even more.
Originally, they thought this was the pinnacle.
But now—
The Savior's logistics teams were delivering freshly heated lunches to the trenches, including roast meat cuts, bread, fruit, and even juice.
Apparently prepared just moments ago!
In reality—
These were pre-cooked meals, reheated with minimal prep.
The Cadian troops stared at the hot meals in their hands, stunned.
"Are we really fighting a war? Even the camps never had it this good..."
Clearly—
The logistics division had gone completely overboard—in the best way.
The scheduled withdrawal from this planet, Higanbana, was in half a month.
Therefore—
The Savior's logistics team had prepped a month's worth of food.
By their standard.
By Imperial standard, that would last three to six months.
And more importantly—
The Sons of Man chapter was stationed here.
These Astartes could become galactic gourmet chefs at any time, supplying edible meals to the troops.
Theoretically—
As long as ammo held and the line endured—
Food would be endless.
The Sons of Man and Savior's forces could wear down the Tyranids, even "eat" them out of existence.
"You have seven minutes left!"
The Cadian officer called out, "Refuel fast—battle's coming!"
At that moment—
The scar-faced soldier was already happily digging in.
He devoured the food in his tray, then wiped up the last meat juice with bread—
And popped it into his mouth.
"I've never eaten this well in my life!"
He patted his belly, sighing with contentment. "Man, if we could always fight under the Savior's command... wouldn't that be amazing?"
His words struck a chord.
The others all nodded.
With gear and meals this good, who wouldn't want to stay?
Unfortunately—
Once the war was over, they'd likely be folded back into the Imperial Guard.
That thought brought some gloom.
But it couldn't be helped.
Lunch ended swiftly.
The Cadians picked up their weapons again, returning to their posts.
According to intel, the Tyranids were almost here...
Gradually, sounds of gunfire from nearby sectors echoed in.
Other zones were already engaged—some barely a hundred meters away.
But—
The Cadians didn't flinch.
Their orders were to hold this line.
Everything else wasn't their concern.
After a while—
The officer received fresh intel. He shouted:
"All guns aim left! Free fire once targets enter range!"
Screeeeech—
Even as he spoke, the shrieks of Tyranid swarms filled the air.
Several Tyranid Warriors led a horde of Hormagaunts charging toward the zone.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—
The moment they appeared, they were met with a coordinated artillery barrage.
If there was one thing this zone had, it was firepower!
The Savior's realm had designed the defensive walls to divide the battlefield, and had flooded the gaps with countless heavy weapons.
All firepower was centrally coordinated, bombarding the Tyranids precisely as they entered range.
This initial salvo tore into the Tyranid Warriors, heavily damaging them.
"Cadia stands!"
With that proud cry—
The swarm was drowned in a flood of melta and plasma fire.
The acrid stench of charred chitin filled the air.
After countless volleys—
No Tyranid remained standing.
This Cadian defense zone had successfully repelled the first wave.
"Sir! Big one incoming!"
The scar-faced scout called out—danger sensed.
The officer looked up—
And spotted it: a mass of toxic fog beyond a breach in the wall. Within the mist writhed sharp, twisted tendrils, with swarms of venomous beasts at its back.
It was a massive Tyranid combat unit—Toxicrene.
Its dozen split-ended tendrils were coated in deadly venom, capable of shredding even Space Marine armor with lethal toxicity.
Such monsters were well beyond mortal soldiers.
The officer knew the threat immediately.
If that thing broke through, even its toxic mist could inflict heavy casualties.
Under normal conditions—
The Cadians would have to stall at great cost, praying for support.
Or go down with it in a blaze of glory.
Following the war manual, the officer immediately contacted HQ—
Requesting reinforcements.
His voice grim:
"Command, this is Defense Zone 1029. We've encountered a major Tyranid unit. Requesting support from the Angels!"
From the comms device—
The officer in charge at the command center responded quickly:
"Received… Defense Zone 1029, your support has already arrived. Please coordinate with their defense operations."
???
The Cadian officer was stunned.
Support had already arrived? They didn't even need to stall for time?
In reality—
Most of the high-risk Tyranid units inside the battle zones had already been tagged by sniper teams with tracking devices. They were under constant monitoring by the command center.
Their movements and trajectories were being calculated precisely.
Then—
Based on priority, the command center would dispatch suitable Astartes squads to intercept them.
Usually, it was standard to send forces with twice the enemy's combat capability to eliminate high-threat targets.
This was the command center's strategy: divide the battlefield using terrain and firepower.
Then—
Deploy strike teams based on the flow of the battle to systematically strangle key Tyranid command organisms.
As for the scattered swarms, they were left to the zone defenders to handle.
Whoosh—
Before the Cadian officer even hung up—
The roar of aircraft engines filled the air.
He looked up—
A Thunderhawk gunship shot through the sky.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Its twin assault cannons laid suppressive fire on the Toxicrene. Then the bay door half-opened, revealing six Terminators of the Sons of Man, clad in dark green.
One by one, they dropped from the air—
Heavy ceramite boots cracking the earth as they landed.
Under suppressive cover fire from support units in the air—
The Sons of Man Terminators steadily advanced toward the Toxicrene.
These veterans had fought the Tyranids for over a thousand years.
Their movements were as though rehearsed countless times.
They ignored the poisonous mists, wielding power swords to expertly deflect and slice apart the creature's venom-laced tendrils.
Disarming the beast's deadly limbs.
Between strikes, they even pulled out bolt pistols to target its weak spots.
These Sons of Man Terminators—
Surrounded and mercilessly beat the Toxicrene down, overwhelming it with focused fire and grenade blasts.
In no time—
The massive creature collapsed with a thud, falling silent.
"Nice! Tastes like chicken!"
The Terminator sergeant rushed forward, hacked off the most delicious part, then activated his jump pack and led the team back aboard the Thunderhawk.
In a flash, they were off to the next defense zone.
Before leaving, the Thunderhawk fired a few more melta blasts into the Toxicrene's corpse—just to be sure.
The Cadian troops watched the Astartes depart with awe.
These were the cleanest and most efficient Angels of Death they had ever witnessed.
After the Sons of Man left—
The lesser Tyranid creatures, drawn by the biomass, began to stir and crawl toward the trench.
But—
They were no longer a threat to the Cadians.
Another round of concentrated fire began.
Once the wave of bioforms was purged, the soldiers felt immense satisfaction.
"Damn, this is how you fight a real war!"
The scar-faced Cadian cursed with glee. "We used to get screwed all the time—this is how you crush xenos!"
Soon after—
Another few waves of Tyranids assaulted the trench.
Fortunately, none of them included high-threat bioforms.
After repelling them, Defense Zone 1029 entered another quiet phase.
During this lull—
A few gentle Sisters Hospitaller came by to carry away the wounded for treatment.
"Hey, sir, if we keep waiting like this… you think dinner's coming soon?"
The scar-faced trooper dragged his eyes away from the retreating figure of a sister.
He was already looking forward to what would be served next.
——
Defense Zone 672.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—
Heavy weaponry thundered without pause.
Ogryns stood outside the trenches, gleefully mowing down wave after wave of Tyranids.
Their fingers never left the trigger.
They loved the roaring noise of gunfire.
"I'm gettin' a bit tired..."
One Ogryn muttered.
Normally, his guns would be limited after a while.
Sometimes, they even got scolded by the "small lads" for shooting too much.
But the dark-gold big guy's gun had loads of ammo.
And the dumb little servitors kept handing them new guns and mags.
Ammo? Unlimited.
They could fire as much as they wanted.
Sometimes a single bug got shredded into pulp by several Ogryns firing at once.
Now—
It seemed they were getting tired from firing so much.
"Yup yup! The middle spot! Me real smart, I got it!"
"Smarts," the Ogryn squad leader, was receiving orders from Command.
The staff on the other end had patiently explained it three times in simple terms.
And—
Smarts proudly declared that he understood.
He ended the call and slapped a few of the trigger-happy Ogryns, bellowing:
"Listen to Smarts! Point the gun at this spot! Yeah, here!"
The Ogryns followed orders, all aiming their heavy cannons at the center of the zone.
They waited—
And just as they were getting impatient—
The ground shook.
BOOM!
Rubble erupted.
A massive sand serpent burst from the earth, shrieking toward the sky.
But—
The serpent barely got halfway through its roar before it froze.
Its beady eyes widened—
As it saw countless barrels pointed right at it.
Next moment—
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The Ogryns, who'd been holding back, unleashed hell.
The sand serpent convulsed, twitching uncontrollably.
"RAAAHHH!!!"
Several Ogryns charged forward, wielding power hammers crackling with energy.
They beat the serpent to a pulp.
Then—
Smarts followed Command's instructions and took out a giant bomb, shoving it down the hole the serpent had dug.
BOOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion shook the area, blasting dozens of bugs out of the earth—
Dazed and broken.
Only to be torn apart by relentless heavy fire.
"BUGS CAN'T FOOL SMARTS!"
Smarts roared with joy, blasting away with his autocannon.
——
In a ruined alley—
SSSCCCCHHH—
A mutated Tyranid Warrior led a swarm into a shadowy alleyway.
Suddenly—
Its eyes flickered with fear.
A moment later—
Melta blasts engulfed it.
This one alley had over five melta guns installed.
With the rising red glow—
The swarm shrieked, fleeing back the way they came.
As if the alley itself housed a predator far worse than they.
——
Across the inner defenses—
Similar scenes unfolded.
Key Tyranid synapse creatures were either trapped or precisely hunted down by Astartes.
The Tyranid swarm was being systematically butchered, their numbers dwindling...
——
At the edge of the swarm's command net—
The Hive Tyrant fell into a state of rage and panic.
It realized that as soon as its forces entered the human defensive zone, they began vanishing.
As if some unseen predator was devouring them whole.
The battlefield itself had become a devourer.
Worse yet—
Its scout bioforms were being eliminated, blinding it.
This Tyranid synapse creature, which had consumed countless human planets and star systems, now felt something rare—
Helplessness.
These human forces… were unlike any it had encountered before!
SSSHHHK—
Suddenly—
The Hive Tyrant calmed.
It received a transmission.
It had discovered the secret behind the humans' efficiency: their command node.
Destroy that, and the swarm would regain the advantage!
Even better—
Its infiltration team had successfully penetrated deep into enemy territory.
They would soon destroy the command node!
——
Watchtower.
Massive claw marks lined its surface.
The ground bore signs of massive beasts.
SZZZZKKK—
With a dull thud and smoke, enormous iron claws scratched the tower again.
At the top observation deck—
Eden overlooked the battlefield, pleased.
Thanks to the Savior's limitless funding, the battle was going exceptionally well—
The maximum damage inflicted with minimal losses.
It was just a bit… expensive.
Still—
He could afford it.
He just hoped there wouldn't be too many battles like this.
Otherwise, his heart might break.
Though things were going well, Eden remained wary.
The Tyranids were too quiet.
He and Dante had waited a long time, but no big monsters had shown up.
That was… unusual.
He suspected the swarm was building up to something.
Eden sent a transmission to Command, ordering heightened vigilance and a search for anomalies across the zone.
With such highly adaptive enemies, there was no room for carelessness.
One mistake—
And the tide could turn instantly.
Once the Tyranids gained momentum, it would snowball beyond control.
Entire planets, even systems, had fallen this way.
BOOM!
Crimson smoke rose.
The tower shook slightly under another impact.
Eden frowned and shouted:
"Redflame! Settle down! Don't bring the tower down!"
At his rebuke—
The movements below ceased.
The beast below quietly lay back down, not daring to make another sound—
Afraid of angering its master.
Dante looked toward the base of the tower—
Where he saw a terrifying molten iron behemoth, shrouded in red flames…
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My Patreon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/zaelum]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]