The heavy, blood-tainted breaths pouring into Gaia's lungs told her something through their thick, sickening texture.
That blood did not only come from the battlefield.
It also came from her.
Although she could ignore injuries and pain in combat, the steadily accumulating muscle damage was still pressing down on her superhuman body and pushing it toward the brink of collapse.
Her attempt to break through seemed meaningless. These greenskins kept shifting with her movements, clinging to her relentlessly, and the Orks coming to engage her now were clearly of a higher and higher grade.
At last, after she raised her hammer with all her strength and smashed back an Ork boss clad in a savage suit of armor made by an Ork Mek, another greenskin wielding twin blades burst forward with astonishing speed and slashed two wounds across her back.
Thanks to Gaia's sharpened reflexes, she dodged in time, so the cuts only skimmed the surface.
But the appearance of that first real wound meant one thing.
She had now truly entered a hard fight.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Panting as she battled these obvious standouts among the greenskins, Gaia began to think.
"The way these greenskins are behaving is far too disciplined..."
"So many of them, and organized too... could it be..."
"Did a Warboss appear among them?"
That thought made her pupils contract into pinpricks.
Under normal circumstances, greenskins only had one defining trait.
Ferocity.
But once a Warboss appeared, they gained another dangerous trait.
Cunning.
With a Warboss leading them, greenskins would no longer be scattered raiders. They would become a gigantic alien disaster capable of threatening entire sectors.
And because the technological tree buried in Ork DNA needed Waaagh! energy to activate, under a Warboss's influence they would become capable of building spacefaring warships, simply because they thought they could.
"Damn it. If there's a Warboss here, then our breakout means nothing, because these greenskins will keep sticking to us under its command."
Gaia gritted her teeth, raised her hammer high, and smashed the Ork in front of her into the ground while her mind raced at blistering speed.
What were they supposed to do now?
If they could not break through the greenskins' Waaagh! field, then they could not get the intelligence out.
And with a Warboss present, they could not escape.
It was a dead loop.
Was this the end?
A sense of helplessness climbed up her spine. Even if she had the strength to keep slaughtering these greenskins, she would still eventually fall beneath their endless sea.
When was the last time she had faced a dead end like this?
The sounds of battle around her gradually drifted away, and memories from the past began flashing before her eyes like a lantern reel.
She had thought that this time, once again, she would see her adoptive father's kind face.
But in the end, the face that appeared before her was Griffin's. That lone wolf was wearing his usual mocking grin.
He bared his uneven teeth, and in the light of the campfire his eyes reflected a fierce, invasive blaze.
"Life is plunder."
"You survive by always being ready to fight dirty and fight to the death, little one."
After saying that, his eyes, filled with a strange and piercing light, looked far into the distance to Gaia's right.
She instinctively followed his gaze.
And there, amid the endless green tide of Ork boyz, she caught sight of a gigantic figure hidden behind several war machines.
It was a horrifying beast nearly five meters tall, clad in a luxurious suit of Ork armor forged by a great Mek, and it was watching their direction with a cunning gaze.
Clearly, this was the leader of all the greenskins on Klaurund, the brain of the green tide, the terrifying xeno born amid endless war.
The Warboss.
Gaia stared at that cunning alien and froze for a brief moment.
Then a nearly twisted madness surged into her eyes.
She had thought of a way to break the deadlock.
To get the intelligence out, two obstacles stood in their way right now: the greenskins' high-intensity Waaagh! field and the Warboss keeping them trapped.
But if they killed the Warboss directly, then the Waaagh! field it was holding together would collapse.
That would not only break the greenskins' communication interference, it would also solve the planet's greatest disaster.
Once the Warboss died, the remaining greenskins would descend into infighting. At that point, the Astra Militarum could press the advantage and try to wipe them out in one decisive strike.
It would be killing three birds with one stone.
But beheading a Warboss while it was surrounded by countless greenskins might sound dangerous at first glance.
On closer thought, it was even less safe than it sounded.
Still, thank the God-Emperor, they happened to have the perfect anti-Ork weapon on hand.
At that thought, Gaia shifted her gaze to little Nia, who was standing blankly in the middle of the veteran soldiers protecting her.
As long as they made good use of the Untouchable's anti-psyker field, the greenskins, who relied on Waaagh! energy as a special form of psychic power, would effectively have their network set on fire.
When that happened, the resulting psychic explosion would be enough to paralyze the Warboss, and that would be the perfect chance to take its head.
But first, she had to bring Nia through the encirclement of greenskins in front of them.
It was incredibly dangerous.
But it was the only gap in this death trap.
After knocking back another enemy, Gaia leaped backward and retreated to Petrus's side, then quickly explained this plan, which sounded like a deliberate suicide mission.
As expected, even in the middle of such a battlefield situation, Petrus could not help showing open shock.
"Behead the Warboss in the middle of these greenskins? Are you joking?"
Gaia kicked away a howling Ork charging at her, pointed toward Nia not far away, and said with absolute certainty:
"That child is an Untouchable. Her power is enough to turn the battle."
"The condition is that she must reach that monster safely."
"This is our only chance."
Petrus looked at Nia, and hesitation flickered across his face.
"But she's still just a child..."
"Commander, I swear in the name of the God-Emperor that before I die, I will not let a single thing happen to her."
"And if we do not kill the Warboss, then after the Orks wear us down and kill us all, that child will die too... or worse."
A strange, unquestionable presence radiated from Gaia, and in the end Petrus, who had still been wavering, nodded.
"Then let a Chimera armored transport carry the child..."
"Unfortunately, most of our best veteran drivers were killed in the previous battles. The ones left to drive now are all green recruits, and I'm worried..."
Just as worry rose across Petrus's face, a deep voice spoke from behind him.
"Sir, I can drive the armored vehicle."
"We Cadians receive all kinds of professional training, including vehicle operation."
Petrus turned and met those bright violet eyes, and the unwavering resolve in them moved him.
"Then I leave it to you, Commissar Horne of the 72nd Conscript Regiment."
Nia did not understand what was happening, but the moment she learned Gaia needed her, the little girl practically bounced with happiness.
For her, being needed mattered more than anything else.
And so, Horne took control of a Chimera armored transport, carrying Nia, who was thrilled by the excitement of riding in such a big vehicle for the first time. Gaia stood atop it, cutting down incoming bomb-crazed Orks, while under Petrus's covering fire they charged straight toward the gigantic beast that was dictating the shape of the entire battlefield.
They were going to behead the mighty Warboss in the middle of the Ork horde.
(End of Chapter)
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